Read Online Bear My Love: BBW BWWM Paranormal Shapeshifter Werebear Mail-Order Bride Romance (Shifter Grove Brides Book 4) by Anya Nowlan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anya Nowlan
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wondered what kind of a man she’d be dealing with if he hadn’t gone through everything he had. If prison hadn’t shaped his body and his mind, and if he hadn’t got betrayed by the woman he loved. Would she still be there now? Would Keesha have ever met him?
“Ryder keeps reaching out. He thinks it was his fault. I think we’re both just glad my mother didn’t live to see the day when her only son got thrown in the slammer. I can’t go back there. Not yet. It would feel like crossing into a bad dream, a nightmare I’d rather forget, but that doesn’t want to forget about me. I’ve been inching closer ever since I got out. Bitterroot isn’t far from here. But I don’t think the Longbrooks – at least some of them – have forgotten about me. I think they want me dead. For a while, I thought it was all in my head, but…”
A thought came to Keesha and she frowned.
“Is that why you acted so weirdly in the store? You… recognized someone?”
“Not so much as I recognized someone, but that he recognized me. I don’t know. There was a guy there and he was looking at you like…”
Battle’s face twisted in fury and if she hadn’t known him, she would have been scraping at the door, trying to break out and escape his teeming presence. Finally, for the first time after parking the car on the clearing, Battle looked at Keesha. His gray eyes were so wrought with emotion that Keesha thought she could easily drown in them. This big, scary beast of a man had been carrying this huge burden with him for so many years, trying to escape it, and now it was here to haunt him again.
Keesha leant forward and pecked him gently on the lips, lingering there for a moment longer. Her body remembered his hands on her, caressing her curves and pumping into her. Even though this was probably the worst possible time, she could have easily just straddled him out of relief and lust.
So he wasn’t like all the others after all…
“I can’t let anything happen to you, Keesha,” he murmured, slipping his hand behind her neck and pulling her to him so that their foreheads rested against one another. “I just can’t. I won’t. I might have overreacted. Hell, I don’t know. It might just have been some guy checking you out, but there was something familiar about him, something that tugged at me, telling me to fucking run. Or smash his face in, like my bear so helpfully suggested. I know it’s insane and I know it’s too early, but I have to protect you. If something happens to you, I’m going to die inside. I know it.”
The last words came out so confident and sure that they knocked Keesha back. Her hands wrapped around his neck in the cramped confines of the front seat of the truck and he pulled her on his lap, letting the seat slide back on the rails.
Yes, it was insane. Yes, it was too early. But a very vocal, very real part of her was telling her that if something happened to him , she couldn’t go on either. He might have been a fool for feeling so strongly about her, but what did that make her?
“What are we going to do now?” Keesha asked, burying her head in the crook of his neck.
With a sigh, Battle curled his arms around her tighter, making her feel warm and safe – like no wolf could get her, like nothing could destroy their little moment, the little world they’d created for themselves in the truck parked in the middle of nowhere.
“We’re going to figure this out. And we’re going to stay safe,” Battle said.
She could hear what he wasn’t saying, though… If staying safe meant killing another wolf, he’d do it – for her, at the very least.
What have you got yourself into, Keesha…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Battle
Battle had been on high alert since the trip to town. He hated that he had to be so on edge, but the alternative would have been worse. What if he let his guard down and something happened to Keesha because of it? What if someone was already lurking around his house, just
“Ryder keeps reaching out. He thinks it was his fault. I think we’re both just glad my mother didn’t live to see the day when her only son got thrown in the slammer. I can’t go back there. Not yet. It would feel like crossing into a bad dream, a nightmare I’d rather forget, but that doesn’t want to forget about me. I’ve been inching closer ever since I got out. Bitterroot isn’t far from here. But I don’t think the Longbrooks – at least some of them – have forgotten about me. I think they want me dead. For a while, I thought it was all in my head, but…”
A thought came to Keesha and she frowned.
“Is that why you acted so weirdly in the store? You… recognized someone?”
“Not so much as I recognized someone, but that he recognized me. I don’t know. There was a guy there and he was looking at you like…”
Battle’s face twisted in fury and if she hadn’t known him, she would have been scraping at the door, trying to break out and escape his teeming presence. Finally, for the first time after parking the car on the clearing, Battle looked at Keesha. His gray eyes were so wrought with emotion that Keesha thought she could easily drown in them. This big, scary beast of a man had been carrying this huge burden with him for so many years, trying to escape it, and now it was here to haunt him again.
Keesha leant forward and pecked him gently on the lips, lingering there for a moment longer. Her body remembered his hands on her, caressing her curves and pumping into her. Even though this was probably the worst possible time, she could have easily just straddled him out of relief and lust.
So he wasn’t like all the others after all…
“I can’t let anything happen to you, Keesha,” he murmured, slipping his hand behind her neck and pulling her to him so that their foreheads rested against one another. “I just can’t. I won’t. I might have overreacted. Hell, I don’t know. It might just have been some guy checking you out, but there was something familiar about him, something that tugged at me, telling me to fucking run. Or smash his face in, like my bear so helpfully suggested. I know it’s insane and I know it’s too early, but I have to protect you. If something happens to you, I’m going to die inside. I know it.”
The last words came out so confident and sure that they knocked Keesha back. Her hands wrapped around his neck in the cramped confines of the front seat of the truck and he pulled her on his lap, letting the seat slide back on the rails.
Yes, it was insane. Yes, it was too early. But a very vocal, very real part of her was telling her that if something happened to him , she couldn’t go on either. He might have been a fool for feeling so strongly about her, but what did that make her?
“What are we going to do now?” Keesha asked, burying her head in the crook of his neck.
With a sigh, Battle curled his arms around her tighter, making her feel warm and safe – like no wolf could get her, like nothing could destroy their little moment, the little world they’d created for themselves in the truck parked in the middle of nowhere.
“We’re going to figure this out. And we’re going to stay safe,” Battle said.
She could hear what he wasn’t saying, though… If staying safe meant killing another wolf, he’d do it – for her, at the very least.
What have you got yourself into, Keesha…
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Battle
Battle had been on high alert since the trip to town. He hated that he had to be so on edge, but the alternative would have been worse. What if he let his guard down and something happened to Keesha because of it? What if someone was already lurking around his house, just
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