Read Online Alpha Unmasked: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Greenwood Shifters Book 1) by S.A. Ravel - Free Book Online

for all they were worth. Two man-bears were in the middle of an all-out brawl behind her, and she didn’t want to stay around to find out who won. Not even if she’d spent the last half hour with her lips locked to one of them.
    In seconds, she burst through the tree line fifty feet away from her van. Rachel ran for it, tugging her keys out of her coat pocket. She slammed the door and locked it behind her. Could a locked car door keep out a full-sized bear? Even if it could, the windshield and window wouldn’t. Visions of her own bloody death flashed before her eyes.
    Reason told her that she should just start the van and drive away, but that meant leaving Dirk behind.
    The snarls from beyond the tree line stopped abruptly, leaving Rachel in silence. For the first time, it occurred to Rachel that Dirk might not win the fight. He was strong, but could he fight off Cass’s rage? A man approached the tree line, but Rachel couldn’t see his face in the shadows. One of them was headed for the parking lot, but Rachel couldn’t tell which one.
    She shoved the key into the ignition and turned it. Dirk lunged out of the trees and ran in front of Rachel’s van, holding his hands out. He was naked and covered in blood and scratches, but he was alive.
    He limped over to his car and tugged the door open, pulling out a black gym bag. Rachel averted her eyes as he pulled out a pair of shorts. A few minutes ago, Dirk’s naked body would have sent shivers of desire through her body. But this was wrong on so many levels. He reached for the door to Rachel’s van and found it locked.
    “Open the door, Rachel.” He leaned against the door, exhaustion evident on his bloodstained face.
    Rachel shook her head. She’d just seen him turn into a giant bear. That at least warranted a few questions. “What are you?”
    He sighed. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was about to collapse where he stood. “I’m the same guy I was twenty minutes ago. You just know a bit more now.”
    Rachel stared at him. He looked the same, blood aside. His eyes were still the same vibrant hazel they’d been earlier in the night. Gentle, if weary. His hair was mussed and dried leaves clung to it. But otherwise, he looked like the same man she’d spent the evening with. The same man who’d shared a quiet story with her earlier in the night. The same man she’d had the hots for since she met him. She unlocked the door.
    “Drive,” he said as he buckled his seatbelt.
    She didn’t need to be told twice. Rachel slammed her foot on the gas pedal and peeled away from the parking lot. Dirk pressed his fingers against the angry claw marks in his abdomen.
    “Where’s the hospital up here? All the ones I know are in the city.”
    Dirk shook his head as his eyelids sank. “No hospitals. I’ll be fine.”
    She wanted to argue, but his tone didn’t leave room for it. There didn’t seem to be much blood coming from his wounds, but they looked deep and probably needed stitches.
    “You killed him, didn’t you?” she asked. The question hung in the empty space between them. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth. She already suspected, but it was another thing to have suspicions confirmed.
    “It was you or him, Rachel.”
    She knew he was right. Cass’s rage-distorted face was etched in her memory. He’d spat the word “human” at her as if she were made of dirt. As if she wasn’t worth the time it would take to kill her, but he’d spare the seconds anyway. Deep down, she knew that if Dirk hadn’t turned into a bear to defend her, she would be dead.
    The last scrap of adrenaline leeched from her bloodstream and she started to tremble. At the beginning of the night, all she’d wanted was to lose herself in a fantasy, then head home for a warm bath. The fantasy slipped into a nightmare that almost ended with her dead beside a mountain lake.
    Dirk caressed her arm with his strong hand. “I’m sorry you found out this way,” he