Read Online Mountain Men II: Primal Hunger by Mandy Monroe - Free Book Online Page B

that they turned into animals, but it
never came. Gavin spoke first.
    "Maura, sit. Let us
explain."
    Her legs lowered her on a nearby
rock in an almost instinctive obedience to his instruction. She
scrambled away from them, needing distance to process what was
about to happen. She was still having difficulty mentally digesting
the fact that they weren't denying her accusation.
    "Are you like werewolves? Were you
bitten?"
    "No, we’re shifters. We can turn
into our animals at will. We don't have to wait till a full moon or
anything. We were born shifters. Our parents were and we
are."
    "How are you different animals?"
    Bain sat near her, lowering his
bulk to the ground. Even with her sitting on a sizable rock, he
still sat taller than her.
    "Gavin was adopted by my
mother."
    "Oh."
    "His mother found me and took me
in. That's why I’m named Gavin. It means lion. Barrett means bear.
I’m a lion raised by bears. My name means lion bear."
    "Oh."
    Maura's mind raced trying to take
in all that she was hearing. She couldn't reconcile this with the
world she knew around her.
    "The farmer couple are rabbit shifters whose
warren was raided by wolves."
    "So there are werewolves."
    "Yes, but they’re shifters also.
They have a stronger pull to shift and run during a full moon but
not in the way you see in horror movies."
    "And they’re bad."
    "No, their warren was raided by
rogue wolves. Shifters are like anyone else. There are some who are
good and some who like to hurt others. It's a tossup in any
population."
    Maura digested this bit of
information and surprisingly it made sense. She decided she had to
be sure of what she’d seen.
    "When you’re an animal, do you know
what you are doing? Do you remember things? Would you know
me?"
    Gavin ran a palm up and down her
spine as Bain reached to engulf both her hands in one of his. Their
warmth was soothing. It began to calm the nerves that had been
frayed in the past couple hours. She should be as wary of these two
as she was of Seth but just couldn’t muster the effort to remain
distant from them. Bain's deep voice washed over her when he
answered.
    "We know you in our animal form. We
can also speak to each other telepathically over great distances.
Our life span is quite a bit longer than the average human and the
cold doesn't affect us as much as it does humans."
    "Although Bain does have a tendency
towards hibernation in the winter. He likes his sleep."
    "And Gavin likes to laze and nap in
the summer sun like a big cat."
    Maura let a small giggle bubble
past her lips at the mental image that brought. Her mind whirled
taking in this information.
    Shifters.
    They turn into animals.
    She shook her head. Ever since
getting to this retreat she’d been worried that somehow, someway,
she was slowly losing her mind. Beginning with her affair with
these two men and now this. It was too much.
    “ Maura …,” Gavin began.
    “ No.” She shook her head again,
trying to clear her mind. “I need to go.”
    Gavin and Bain traded furtive
glances at one another. She wondered briefly if they would now
threaten her, or worse, to ensure her silence. Who would believe
her anyway?
    Hey, sure the guys that own the
most successful fitness retreat to date really turn into animals at
will. The river has the Lochness monster and Bigfoot leads hikes
into the woods, too.
    She’d be fitted for a straight
jacket faster than she could blink.
    Maybe she needed one because she was clearly
having a psychotic break.
    “ Maura …,” Bain began to speak,
but she cut him off again.
    “ No! Show me how to get
back.”
    Both men looked pained and
saddened, but she couldn’t accept that right now. They were
freaking animals for christsake! Luckily the walk back wasn’t too
terribly painful. She was still stiff and sore from her bumps and
bruises of the day, but that paled in comparison to the heartbreak
from her inner turmoil.
    Maura had really begun to develop
strong feelings for both of her men, shifters,