Then I literally woke up in his den. Master Augustine will loan me out, share me, send me as a package to stay overnight with someone he wants to reward-but all those times were with vampires. Even the time when-
Don’t think about that.
Master Augustine never loaned me out to a shifter before. As far as I know, he disdains shifters, even though he owns one as his submissive. I shouldn’t be here. The longer I stay, the angrier my master will be. I have to go, no matter how good the bear makes me feel.
I’m not just worried about punishment at the hands of my master now. I’m worried about my life. Augustine is to be feared, especially when he believes he’s been betrayed.
And then there’s what the big bear said on the phone a second before I snuck past: The king and I have an arrangement. That should be enough reason to leave. No shifter tangles with a vampire and wins, but this guy sounds like he’s struck a bargain with one. If there ever was a sign I should skedaddle, that’d be it. I can’t get involved with vampire turf wars. My master won’t like it. I’ve got to get back to him and explain what happened. I’m not even sure what happened, but maybe on my way back I can think of something.
I peer over the truck bed back at the house. It looks like a long box, one half stuck in the mountain and dark as a basement, the other half-the kitchen and large living room sticking out of the red rock. Big picture windows and a stunning view. Light, lots of it. I noticed as I was leaving. I even thought I wouldn’t mind claiming it as a den.
My fox is stalling.
I just have to take off down the long drive, except that’d be the most obvious escape route.
Maybe I can climb down the mountain. I go to the edge and look over all the red stone. My fox might blend right in.
I take a step and a big hand closes on my nape.
“Gotcha,” the bear growls. He moves quiet for such a big guy.
My body jerks once, my feet scrambling uselessly. The big man turns me to face him, clamping me to his hard body and I go limp. All the fight goes out of me, submission so programmed into me I hardly know how to resist. But if truth be told, I’m relieved to be caught. I’d rather be enslaved to this grizzly bear than with a cold, punitive Augustine any day. Not that I think he’s enslaving me. There’s way too much kindness in him for that. He believes he’s protecting me, helping me. He just doesn’t know how ruthless Augustine can be. What he’ll do when he gets me back.
“That’s right,” his deep, delicious voice rumbles in my ears. “No running. Not from me.”
He throws me over his shoulder and I remain limp, arms hang down as he strides away from the overlook’s edge. I’m eye level with his behind, and boy, is it a nice one. I probably shouldn’t be checking out my captor, but his backside and thighs fill out his ripped up jeans perfectly.
He carries me across the parking lot, past his big shiny truck and into his house. “No use trying to escape. You’re gonna be with me awhile.”
Okay, maybe I am his slave now. And that shouldn’t make me so terribly excited.
I wait for him to drop me to the floor and punish me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he tromps down the hall, stopping a moment. A thud and his boots hit the floor. He took the time to toe them off. He strides to the room where I woke up and lays me on the bed.
He leaves a moment and I lie there, blinking at the low ceiling. I realize I’m toying with my collar, and I lower my hand.
A few minutes and he returns, shutting the door to close us in a warm, dark cocoon. Automatically my head tips back and I show my throat, acknowledging him as dominant. It’s always nerve-wracking to expose my throat to an apex predator, but I have to do it. Instinct is a bitch. With any luck this will appease him. In a perfect world, the submissive act is one of ultimate trust. I expose my neck, the ultimate show of faith. Offering my life if he wants to take it. I should be more afraid than I am, but something about him soothes my fox. In a perfect world, a dominant protects the weak. Maybe this one will protect me.
A hiss of indrawn breath and strong fingers wrap around my chin. “What is this?” A rough thumb traces my shivering pulse. His anger vibrates through me, but somehow my fox knows it’s not directed at me. I lie docile in his grip, obedient when he tips my face up to meet his blazing eyes. He’s close to shifting.
I put my hand to my neck. As soon as my fingers touch the seam running up my neck under the white leather, I remember. “It’s nothing,” I tell him. “A bite.”
“That’s not a bite,” the bear growls. “He fucking gnawed on you.”
I can only nod. My vampire master usually fed neatly from the artery, but that night he’d wanted to punish me.
Rough fingers fumble with the strip of leather. I realize he’s trying to unbuckle the collar and I panic, grabbing his wrist. He growls and I lie flat again, closing my eyes and pressing my hand to the bed. The leather tightens as he tugs, and when the buckle doesn’t yield he snarls again. A claw slides against my neck, close to my beating pulse, then a flick and the collar flies away. I grip the blanket, my breath coming faster.