Redeem the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #5)(15)

Panting, she searched the field with wide eyes. What had just happened?

Spirits didn’t rest well in these woods, but why? Was it her presence that angered them? Or was it something more?

Thoroughly frightened, she sniffed the air and identified the scent of campfire smoke, fur, leftover food, and the faintest smell of Brooks or Daniel, or whoever the hell he was. He must have come through here when he came back from Bear Valley’s camp. Following it, she found the first smattering of tents, interspersed through the quiet forest. She jumped when she saw a sentry leaned up against a tree, but relaxed when she realized he was snoring softly. Winding through the slumbering camp, careful not to step on any limbs, she tried to follow Brooks’ scent, but it became too muffled with all of the other shifters’ smells.

A murmured sound, like someone talking low, drew her attention, and she angled her direction toward a large tent with a light on inside.

From the shadows, a man and a woman were getting it on. Wait. No, they were fighting.

“Merit, I said no. It isn’t going to happen with me, so get the f*ck out of my tent.” That was Brooks’ voice.

Corin jogged to the tent, low to the ground, and crouched beside it. Merit was in there, trying to seduce Brooks, and something ugly and green reared up inside of Corin. She wanted to kill Merit. She wanted to kill everything.

The shadows only made her seethe with deepening anger as Merit straddled Brooks. “Come on, baby. It’s the night before battle and I know how you dominant males are. You need release. Can’t you smell me? I’m coming into heat and you can have me. All of me.” She pulled her shirt over her shoulders and tossed it against the tent wall right near Corin’s face. Skank.

Merit shrugged her shoulders and slid more firmly over Brooks’ hips. “I want you to come inside of me,” she purred, leaning down to kiss him.

He angled his face away and lifted his hands like he didn’t want to touch her. “I said no. I watched you f*ck Omar in front of everyone at the alpha challenge. You’re an alpha chaser, but I’m not your ticket. Go find someone else.”

A tiny furious sound wrenched from Merit’s throat. “I can’t find another alpha. The Long Claws killed them all.” Pushing him hard in the chest, she stood and stormed out of the tent.

Brooks grabbed Merit’s discarded shirt, and his knuckles came so close, Corin could’ve reached out and touched them through the thin nylon fabric of the shelter.

“Merit,” he called.

The woman turned, all raven hair and red lips as a faint glean of hope shone in her eyes. “Yes?”

“You forgot your shirt.” He tossed it to her and she gave off an angry screech before she stomped off.

Corin pursed her lips so she wouldn’t laugh out loud. Merit had always been a spoiled brat.

Brooks crossed his arms over his chest and watched the dark-headed seductress leave. The blue moonlight spilled over the tense muscles in his arms and stomach. Praise the Lord, the man slept without a shirt on. Shadows hid indentions and valleys down his flexed torso and warmth collected deep inside of her, spreading until she felt drunk with it.

His nostrils flared and he asked, “What are you doing here?”

His cold, ebony gaze slid to her and she froze, like doing so would make her invisible.

Dark eyebrows winged up as he waited for an answer. He could definitely see her.

“I was in the neighborhood?”

The muscle under his eye twitched once. “Wrong answer.”





Chapter Seven



Brooks yanked Corin by the hand and shoved her into his tent. With a quick look around, he ducked inside and zipped the flap behind him. His was a tent mansion, and Corin could stand to her full five foot five inches inside. A flap that would’ve separated the main room from the bedroom was drawn back and tied to the wall, making the space feel even bigger.

A lantern sat on a small table, but Brooks doused it and cast the entire shelter into darkness.

Unable to see, Corin lifted her hands and her fingertips brushed the hard, smooth plane of his torso. With a small, audible gasp, she froze, unable to move, unable to take her hand away from him.

He didn’t move either and they stood like that as seconds drifted by, connected only by the palm of her hand. His warmth pulsed against her and seemed to seep into her arm until the chill of the night was forgotten.

As her eyes adjusted, she could make out the outline of his face, but not his expression. Probably best, since his words came out growly and inhuman. “Get your hand off me.”

What she wanted to do was rush forward and hug him until he pried her off like a barnacle, but then she’d be no better than Merit. If didn’t want her touch, he didn’t deserve it. She dropped her hand and a poignant pain slashed through her chest at the loss of the connection. He might not be the boy she’d known, but her heart still yearned for some kind of softness from him.

His eyes shone bright and silver in the dark and she repressed a shudder. Backing away slowly, she tripped on the air mattress and fell onto the rumpled comforter that smelled like Brooks.

He crouched where he stood, apparently unwilling to come any closer. “Do I scare you?” A smile laced the words, like he reveled in her fear.

He’d be able to hear a lie. “Sometimes.” Even to herself, her voice sounded frightened.