Shifters with Secrets (An MMF Bisexual Threesome)(31)

“What happened to your clothes?” she asked. Barbara’s clothes were hanging off her body in shreds.

“Do you know those men?” she asked.

Alexi squished her eyebrows together, deciding to play dumb. “What men?”

“Save the lies dear, I know you saw. I could smell you. Do you know those men?”

She could smell me?

“Yes,” she replied looking at her feet.

“They obviously weren’t here for a social call,” she said, walking to her open cooler beside the Adirondack chair. She grabbed two beers and handed one to Alexi. “I’m not sure what kind of trouble you’re in but they looked like they meant business.”

Alexi cracked open the beer and took a long sip. “My…the person who is after me…he always means business.” She took another sip. “I just don’t know how he found me.” She opened her arms and looked around at the forest. “I mean look at this place. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

Barbara glanced at Alexi’s Lexus, parked in the driveway. She walked over and stuck her hand inside the wheel well of the driver’s side. She shook her head and moved to the passenger’s side. She reached inside over the tire.

“That’s how he found you,” she said, tossing a metal box on the ground.

“What is that?”

“A tracker.” She lifted up her heel and stomped on it. It smashed into pieces. She was able to do all that damage to a metal box with bare feet. She remembered the way that the man’s eyes changed colors this morning at the diner. What is with all of these people around here?

Barbara downed her beer and cracked opened another one. “They’re going to come back for you.”

Alexi’s shoulders slumped. “I know.” She didn’t want to pick up and leave again. She was tired of running. Why couldn’t Greg just leave her alone?

He would never leave her alone. She would have to leave.

But why was she so upset? Her rental was a dump and her job was nothing to get excited over. Ellis flashed in her mind, stuttering and standing awkwardly in front of her. Every cell in her body was screaming at her to stay. To get to know this man better. It was as if her body had already chosen him and her mind had no say in the matter.

“Now they know where you live,” Barbara said. “And I can’t be here to protect you all of the time.”

Alexi knew that she had to leave. She felt a pain in her chest at the thought of not seeing Ellis again.

Barbara looked at her with a grin. “But I know who can.”





five





Ellis hung from his fingers off the side of the cliff. The fall was over eight hundred feet onto jagged rocks. Even his tough bear skin wouldn’t survive that.

He was dangling by one hand over his death, hanging on by the tips of three fingers, and all he could think about was the new waitress, Alexi, from this morning and how his bear had reacted to her. It wasn’t just his bear. He was interested too. He couldn’t get her off his mind.

And he had ruined his chances.

He glanced down at the rocks below. I should just drop. What do I have to live for if I can’t have her?

His bear grumbled at the brief thought of taking his own life. He hoisted himself up and grabbed onto the rock with his other hand. He continued climbing the vertical face of the tall cliff.

His bear rumbled inside him. Dude shut up. His bear had been in a tizzy all day, huffing and fuming the entire afternoon. He was demanding that Ellis go back to the diner to claim his mate. His bear had chosen her and was furious that Ellis was keeping him caged up.

Dude she doesn’t want you, Ellis told his inner bear as he leapt up to a rock over his head. He snatched it right on time. His body swung like a pendulum, his feet dangling in midair.


This is no use. Usually Ellis went rock climbing whenever his inner bear was acting up. The dangerous height of the cliffs had always worked to quiet him in the past. It seemed that his fearless inner bear was terrified of heights.

But today was different.

There was no quieting him. Ellis raced up to the top of the cliff and started the jog home.

He didn’t know what to do. How do you live when the person that you’re supposed to be with doesn’t want anything to do with you? He wondered if his life would ever be the same. If he could ever enjoy the little things without having her to share them with.

A branch whipped across his arm, drawing blood, as he raced down the mountain. He didn’t bother stopping to bandage it. It would be healed in a minute or two.

He pushed his legs, sprinting dangerously fast down such a steep incline. His bear egged him on, pushing him to go see her. To take her. To seize what was rightfully his.

Ellis screamed out in frustration. Would his bear ever leave him alone again?

Sweat trickled down his chest as the ground began to level out. He decided to ask Matteo for advice. The number two in the clan had been through something similar. His bear had found his mate but she left. He hadn’t seen her in years. Was that why he was so serious and angry all of the time? Did his bear make him like that?

Ellis pulled off his shirt and used it to wipe the seat from his forehead. You better not make me bitter like that, he told his bear.

His bear grumbled in response.

He was nearly home. He could see the dirt airstrip and the old hanger that housed their Casa 212 airplane through the trees in the distance. Ten small log cabins were laid out in a line in the field. At one time they were all full. Each one of the ten crew members had their own. Three were empty now. It still hurt to look at the empty cabins of their fallen brothers. They served as a constant and painful reminder.