Read Online Dark Side Of The Moon (BBW Paranormal Were-Bear Shifter Sci-Fi Romance) by Catherine Vale - Free Book Online Page A

suddenly went limp under her arm.
    Before
she had a chance to adjust to this surprising event, Taso spun around, and she
and the alien fell off his back, landing hard on the ground. Taso was there in
an instant, all teeth and hot breath, pulling the alien out of her arms by its
face. She let go, gladly. There was a sickening crunch, and then Taso shook his
head, the alien’s limp body flailing back and forth.
    Taso
dropped the body, then spit. She didn’t know bears could spit, but a big glob
of saliva landed on the alien’s chest. She looked up at Taso from where she lay
sprawled on the sand. He met her eyes, and she saw something like respect in
the dark depths. Then he snorted, tossed his head, and turned away, spiky horns
glinting in the sun. She got to her feet, brushing sand off her backside, and
followed the bear.

Chapter Seven
     
    By
the time she got back to the wreckage Taso was back in human, alien— whatever —form.
His clothes were torn, bloodied, and she could see ragged cuts on his arms and
chest. She could only imagine what his back looked like.
    “Let
me take a look…” She reached for him, but he stepped away. She let her hand
drop. “Or not. But some of those look pretty bad. And how are you going to take
care of the ones on your back?”
    He
didn’t answer, but he didn’t move any further away.
    “Is
there a reason you won’t let me look at you?”
    He
frowned at her, something flashing in his eyes that looked a lot like what
she’d seen when he thought she was laughing at him.
    “Do
you think I’m not able to care for myself? That I am weak and need your help?”
While he was talking he was gingerly peeling his shredded shirt away from his
body. Beneath, he was covered in a welter of cuts and scratches, some of them
deep, all of them dirty and caked with sand and fur.
    “No.
I don’t think you’re weak at all. Just the opposite. But where I come from, we
look out for each other. If someone’s hurt, we try to help them. Like now, I
can…do something. Help somehow.”
    His
frown deepened, and he looked away from her for a moment. When he looked back,
something had changed in his gaze, some of the hardness dropping away, replaced
by what might be something resembling a glimmer of trust. “Where I come from, it
is considered a sign of weakness if a warrior asks for help, but you would not
know that, and I’m sorry I’ve been so stubborn. I will accept your help.” He
straightened his shoulders. “But I did not ask. You offered. Remember that.”
    “Okay.”
She couldn’t help, but chuckle to herself. It was a start. She looked around
the wreckage. “Do you have a first aid kit?” That got her a blank stare.
“Water?”
    He
nodded, pointed into the wreckage. They were in what looked like a storage
room, boxes and bags strewn on the ground. Along one wall were shelves, some
broken, a few still attached to the wall of the ship. She nodded and headed
towards a square container with a screw top, while Taso pulled off his pants.
From the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of well-muscled thighs— really nice thighs, not bear legs. Slim hips…and she drew a sharp breath and turned
away. Even dirty and covered in sand and blood, he was a pretty perfect
specimen of masculinity.
    Why
the hell that thought came to her she didn’t understand. And she didn’t really want to understand.
Something wild ranged through her, pent up energy, left over from the fight
with the alien. It was familiar, achingly familiar. It was the feeling she had
at the gym, when the guys who razzed her weren’t giving her a hard time. When
she watched them working out, watched their muscles sheened with sweat, flex
and move. Wished, for the thousandth time, that they’d look at her like they
looked at the cute girls in the tight spandex and yoga pants. Instead, they
looked at her as an adversary, someone who threatened them, or threatened their
ego. Someone they needed to take down to make themselves feel