Cameo followed them and handed Knox a beer and he eased down onto a log beside Skye. He thanked her by tipping the bottle towards her and grew deeply aware of Skye as she leaned into his side, as she laughed and talked, as her happiness filled him too.
Afternoon turned to evening, and Maverick and Rune joined them, congratulated him and Skye and then made off with two of the brownies Holly had set out on a table for dessert. She chased after them, chastising them, causing Saint to chuckle.
Saint looked towards the Creek and Knox looked there too. He smiled when he saw Rath and everyone coming out of the woods. The four cougar brothers had relaxed a lot over the past few months, the uneasy truce between Black Ridge and Cougar Creek becoming a solid friendship that often saw them visiting each other to pass an evening like this.
As night fell, the smell of steaks had Knox’s stomach growling. He rubbed at it, his mouth watering at the thought of them as he watched Lowe working his magic.
A howl cut through the darkness.
Everyone fell silent.
Rune stiffened and looked off towards the woods behind Knox, on the other side of the creek.
And then he was gone.
“What—?” Skye twisted, looked in the direction Rune had sprinted and then back at Knox.
Her nerves ran into him through their bond.
He took hold of her hand as the wolf howled again, as she tensed and turned a fearful look on the dark trees across the creek. “Rune will be fine. He just really hates wolves. He’ll chase it off so we’re all safe and then he’ll be back.”
Saint looked at Maverick.
Maverick nodded and gave chase.
“The way you said that… Was that a regular wolf… or are there werewolves up here too?” She cast another glance at the woods.
Knox slid his arm around her shoulder and tucked her against him, making her look at him again.
“The wolves live in the valley next door. Run a lodge there.” Saint came to sit on the other side of her and Knox appreciated the hell out of the male reassuring his mate and making her feel safe and protected.
Her voice gained pitch.
“Wait? White Wolf Lodge? The tourist cabins?” Before anyone could answer that, she shrugged it off. “I’m starting to see this world in a whole new light.”
Knox tugged her closer to him and she glanced at him, lingered as their eyes met. “Welcome to my crazy world.”
She smiled. “Our crazy world.”
Looked as if she wanted to kiss him.
“Honey-bourbon-glazed steaks are ready,” Lowe announced.
Knox groaned, torn between kissing her and grabbing one before the others could. Skye must have felt the war within him, the pain caused by the thought of everyone but him getting their hands on the delicious, sweet steaks that he was sure Lowe had made just for him, a special treat to celebrate his mating, because she frowned at him.
“You really should keep a hive if you love honey that much.” Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. I just got why you have a honey obsession. You’re a bear!”
Everyone laughed.
Even Skye.
Her eyes lit up with it, with the love he could feel in her. His female. His mate. His Skye.
Knox growled and silenced her with a kiss.
Might have thought about drizzling her with honey and bourbon and licking it off her.
The End
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The Black Ridge Bears series will return in September with Unleashed by her Bear. Order your copy from http://www.felicityheaton.com/black-ridge-bears-shifter-romance-series.php
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Read on for a preview of the next story in the highly addictive Black Ridge Bears shifter romance series, Unleashed by her Bear
Unleashed by her Bear - Preview
Another wave of sickness rolled over her, bringing darkness in its wake again, and Callie fought it, fearing she would pass out. She couldn’t pass out. She panted hard, each rapid breath stirring the old brown pine needles as she flopped onto her side, battling the encroaching darkness. She had to stay awake. If she passed out, she would shift, and if she shifted…
Sickness washed through her again, her stomach turning at just the thought.
So she waged a war against the pain that burned inside her, fire that seared her right hind leg and was growing stronger with every agonising second that trickled past. She waged a war with her body, refusing to let go of her wolf form, desperately clinging to it because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
Callie mustered enough strength to continue her assault on the thick wire that had tightened around her right leg, twisted and frantically chewed on it. The metallic taste of it was joined with that of blood on her tongue as she bit closer to her leg. The snare had already cut deep into her flesh. If she couldn’t get it loose, if she couldn’t stop the pain from forcing her to shift back or the darkness from taking her, something that would also result in her returning to her human form, that snare was going to cause her a world of pain far worse than it was now.
As her ankle grew, the wire would slice into her flesh and hobble her by either causing a wound so deep she wouldn’t be able to place weight on her leg or by snapping the bone. Hell, it might even take her foot clean off. Wounds and broken bones she could mend, but she couldn’t grow her foot back.
She snarled and growled, bit the wire and shook her head, trying to loosen it and free herself.
All the while aware of her surroundings, that at any moment the men who were after her could catch up with her.
She stilled, somehow made it through another wave of nausea that threatened to have her blacking out, and gave herself a moment to recover before attacking the old hunter’s trap again. She couldn’t afford to waste a second. She had to keep moving.
She had lost Carrigan and his men at the start of this valley, but every second she spent trying to free herself was a second that brought them closer to finding her.
She cursed and it came out as a mournful howl, something she regretted as the night went deathly still. That howl would carry for miles, giving away her position, but her wolf side was agitated, her instinct to call for help strong. Somewhere out there was White Wolf Lodge. She had to be close to it by now. If she called for help, someone might hear her and come to find her.
Someone might save her.
She should have reached that place of sanctuary by now, feared she had missed it somehow, even when she wasn’t sure how that was possible. By all accounts, the lodge was large, with many tourist cabins on one side of the property, and just as many cabins for the wolf shifters who called it home on the other. It wasn’t possible that she had managed to miss such a large group of cabins.