Love at First Roar (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Werebear Romance) (Grayslake Book 4) (3 page)

His bear had a similar reaction, perking up at the sight of this unknown female. His cock half hardened in his worn jeans, slowly easing to attention the longer he stared. She bent over, wiggling her ass as she lowered. Hand outstretched, she reached for one of the boxes that’d tumbled to the ground, only to bump her head on another. At least that one didn’t fall.

“Ouch.” She rose to her full, short, height. “Hello?” Her voice was raised once again. “It would be helpful if—”

“You stopped destroying my home.”

She squeaked and spun to face him, hands pressed to her chest. Her ample, full chest. Her breasts strained against her top, seeming ready to burst past the thin fabric.

He wouldn’t mind that. Not at all.

“Oh! There you are.”

Isaac dragged his attention from her chest, traced the slim line of her neck and finally settled his gaze on her face. Her heart shaped face with her pert nose and full lips. They were spread in a wide smile, the expression pushing away some of his annoyance.

He only wished he could see her eyes, glimpse them before she focused on his scarring and turned away. Unfortunately, dark sunglasses covered them, keeping them hidden.

She eased closer, hand outstretched, smile still in place. A
sincere
smile—not forced and not filled with strain. Huh.

“Hi, I’m Kira Kolanowski.” She took another two steps and promptly tripped. Her arms pin wheeled as she tipped forward. Isaac was quick to catch her and haul her close. He tried to ignore the feel of her curved body against his hard muscles. He was toned and firm, his bear keeping him fit, but she was a study in soft flesh and sweetness.

Sweetness. Yes. Blueberries and sweet cream wriggled in his arms, the scents embodied by Kira Kolanowski.

“Shit. You should really put all this stuff in order. I mean a half-blind someone could—”

Isaac growled.
He
should put
his
stuff in order? Gorgeous or not, she’d come into his home.

“Look, lady—”

“Kira. Or KK to some of my friends. Colon to the mean ones, but my best friend Zoey tends to straighten out those guys and now they only whisper real quiet,” she whispered, apparently attempting to mimic the “mean ones” and then she huffed. “They seem to forget I have amazing hearing and can—”

Kira—or KK—jabbered against his chest, seeming not to care that he held her so close and that his body reacted to her nearness. His cock twitched, interested in the luscious female. It filled and hardened, aching to sink into her heat.

Did she pull away? Nope, she kept going.

Isaac tore himself from her and stepped back, pressing a finger to her lips as he did so. He still clung to his frustration at her destruction, but her frown, her bow-shaped mouth tipping down, had it vanishing.

“What are you doing in my house?” He winced that his voice was rough, but he had his bear to blame. The animal reveled in Kira’s touch, in the way she didn’t pull away and seemed to sink into him. Horny bastard.

“Well,” she sniffed a quick breath of annoyance, but that turned into a deeper, slower inhale and her frown disappeared. “I came to introduce myself. I moved in next door.” She waved her hand behind herself, actually gesturing toward the park across the street. “And thought I’d come by. Count your house so if I wanna come over I can—”

“Count my house?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded. “You see, my best friend and I—”

“The one who defends you from…”

“Oh, yeah.” She flapped her hand as if it was inconsequential. He didn’t think anything was trivial with Kira. “It’s the whole Kolanowski thing. Kolanowski—colon.” She shrugged. “Anyway, so what I do is—”

A series of rapid, deep barks echoed off the walls a split second before a massive golden retriever bounded into his house. Of course,
it
knocked over yet another box, sending it crashing to the ground.

Kira gasped and then yelled at the mangy animal. “Ebenezer Hufflesnuffle, stop that right now.”

She even stomped, and Isaac wanted her to do it again. Her breasts bounced and stretched the material when she made the jerky motion. Yeah, he wouldn’t mind the beast tearing up his place if it meant she stomped a time, or twenty.

The dog didn’t listen to her, choosing to sniffle and snuffle Isaac’s belongings. When it paused and slowly lifted its leg, Kira not moving to stop the damned animal, Isaac reacted.

He hissed and snapped his fingers as he whipped out the pup’s name. “Ebenezer.”

The dog slowly panned its attention to Isaac, and he could swear the thing glared at him. He opened his mouth to issue another reprimand but got distracted by Kira poking him.

“Hey, why are you yelling at my dog?” She prodded him again. “You shouldn’t interfere between a guide dog and its owner.”

“Your dog was about to piss on my stuff. You know, the boxes that managed to survive your entrance.”

“Oh. Well, I wouldn’t have tripped if you had the lights on in this place.” She quieted and then focused on the dog. Well, in the general direction of the dog. “Ebenezer Snuffletruffle, you shouldn’t pee on people’s things.”

He ignored her words and instead focused on what she’d said combined with her actions.

Guide dog.

Half-blind.

“You can’t see?”

That had Kira snapping her hidden gaze to him. “Half-blind. A little bit blind, really.” She raised a hand and brought her pointer finger and thumb near each other. “Just a tiny bit. And it’s more fuzziness than anything.”

“So tiny, you knocked over three boxes—”

“No, just two. And it’s dark.”

“And you need a guide dog?” He crossed his arms over his chest. The vision issues didn’t bother him. She was gorgeous no matter what, and her scent did things to him
and
his bear. The pissing “guide” dog was an issue.

“More like a faux guide dog.” She sighed and glanced toward the animal. The animal pissing on his fucking boxes. “Oh, Ebenezer Snoffleblossom, what am I gonna do with you?”

When the dog moved on to another box and lifted his leg, Isaac had a good idea what she could do with the beast. It involved his bear and a nice run through the forest.

Two may go in…

Then the animal flopped and hopped its way toward her, slobbering all over her fingers and bringing out her smile once again.

Isaac mentally grumbled. He couldn’t eat the thing if it made her smile.

Dammit.

*

Kira
could not believe
that not only had she sent
two
boxes—not three—of the hottie’s belongings to the ground, but then Ebenezer also tinkled on his things.

Could. Not. Believe.

He was never gonna let her count his house. Well, count her steps inside his house and jot things down so she could… She mentally sighed. Hell, he probably wouldn’t let her near him ever, ever again. And he smelled
so
good. So, so, so
, so
good.

A million, gajillion, billion goods.

Her little twitching nose beastie wanted to snuffle and sniff him. In stereo. Her kind could do that. Her inner animal agreed. It rubbed and rolled, wriggling as if it chased the tastiest worm and this man held it between his fingers.

She took a deep breath, bringing in more of his scents, and released the air with a sigh. Deep, dark chocolate mixed with fresh turned earth. Utter. Perfection.

She also sensed a hint of anger coming from the male. Which, if she was honest, was to be expected when she was in the area. It was as if she were a life-size anger-mobile.

After twenty-nine-ish years, she expected it. Hated the reality, but accepted the truth. She always managed to piss off someone. But she didn’t piss
on
them. That was Ebenezer’s job.

Ebenezer slowly inched away from her.

“Ebenezer Hufflehaffle.” She snapped her fingers. “Get back here, right now.”

A low whine followed by a doggie huff preceded the clicking plod of the dog approaching. She always had to rely on her other senses, her inner animal’s domination over her sight making it difficult to see. She recognized colors, but everything else existed as blurs and blobs. She’d probably hate the condition if she knew any better. But she didn’t. So… she didn’t.

“Look, lady. It’s nice to mee—”

“Kira.” She’d told him her name, hadn’t she? She was pretty sure she had. Post-box tumbling, but pre-dog peeing. She did remember that she’d vomited way too much information about her name.

“Kira,” he sighed except it wasn’t a dreamy one. Nope, it was filled with frustration. Typical.

At least it wasn’t tinged by impending violence. Grayslake had quite a few dominant and massive bears, but for the most part, they were nice and welcoming. And if they weren’t, she had to tell Mia. Apparently, the woman was a disorganized unpacker and kind of a Big Deal in the tiny town.

She wished for once, she could make a good impression. The man she now dubbed “Mr. Unnamed” sounded so damned sexy. Just a big bowl of cookie dough and sin. But she’d already annoyed him. Her only option now was a not-so-graceful retreat.

“Look, Kira, it was wonderful—”

“What’s your name?” She wasn’t sure why she blurted out the question. It wasn’t like she’d see him again. Well, she still hadn’t seen him, but… whatever.

Another sigh. She wondered if he had a breathing problem. “Isaac Abrams.”

“Oh.”
Oh.
He was a bear. A big deal kind of bear, hence the scents of nature clinging to him. She should have guessed since she was now living in a bear town, but he’d seemed… different.

Her animal hadn’t been afraid of him even a tiny bit. It was the reason she’d tromped up his front porch steps and wiggled her way into the house. The little beastie wanted to meet the man behind the scent and Kira went along with the critter.

It wasn’t good to deny her animal side.

“So, you’re related to the Itan then?”
Of course
her dog pissed on one of the Itan’s relatives.
Of course.

Maybe her best friend was right. Maybe she should have just stayed in her old home, managing to avoid her family and the rest of the pack. Avoidance meant a lot less pain.

Maybe she shouldn’t have…

“Yes, he’s my brother.”

“Oh… that’s… that’s nice.” Her little beastie whimpered and curled into a tiny ball inside her. Great. “So that makes you the clan’s…”

Please don’t say Enforcer. Please don’t say Enforcer.

She’d heard bears could be big—duh—and mean and that Enforcers were the
worst
. Everyone in town was welcoming-ish so far, but destroying the Enforcer’s property was never a good thing.

“Healer.” He snapped off the word, and she sensed a big old ball of persnickety rolling in.

She released a relieved sigh. “Oh, that really
is
nice.”

He moved, easing his weight from foot to foot and his shoulders shifted as the rustle of cloth reached her sensitive ears. She imagined him crossing his arms, and she knew without touching his face that he had a frown in place.

Which meant it was time for her to skedaddle.

“So, uh, I guess I should go. Since you’re not gonna let me count your house or anything and I bet Ebenezer needs to tinkle and—”

“He already ‘tinkled.’”

“Oh. Well, I bet he’s hungry, so—”

“He’s currently eating a cardboard box. I doubt he’s hungry.”

She was gonna die. Or rather, wanted to die. Right then. After peeing on the man’s boxes, Ebenezer was now eating one. The most delicious man she’d
ever
met, and she’d all around ruined everything. She didn’t expect him to worship at her hooha altar, but she wouldn’t mind spending more time with him. She could have invited him to dinner, or cooked for him, or made up any excuse she could to be in his presence a little longer, but no, Ebie had to ruin it.

“Right. So, I’ll take him and go home and feed him real food and…” She let the words trail off, not really sure what she was saying. Zoey often told her she thought Kira talked to talk and didn’t really have anything to say.

She wasn’t sure Zoey was wrong.

“Ebie.” She clapped her hands, and the munching ceased. “C’mere, boy.”

Kira gazed around the room, hunting the shadows for her wayward dog. The sun waned while she’d spoken with Isaac and now most of the room was dark shadows. Shadows which made it difficult to see her dog. Great.

“Ebenezer Bafflepuffle, I mean it.” She snapped her fingers again. Not that it’d do anything. Other than the confrontation with the mover, the pup had been enjoying Kira’s new carefree attitude. Out from under the oppressive weight of the pack, she was now able to let her true personality free.

Ebenezer was letting something free.

She sought out the darkest corner, sure that she saw it move, and glared at the spot. “Get. Over. Here.”

“Kira?” It almost sounded as if he were choking back laughter, the chuckles muffled, but still present.

She drew in a bit of air around her, scenting his emotions. He was laughing at her. Wonderful. Her embarrassment was complete. Tears pricked her eyes and she fought back the urge to let them fall. It was as if she were living at home again, listening to her pack snicker and giggle when they weren’t trying to kill her. She always imagined them pointing and laughing as well, but at least she’d been too blind to see them.

Kira shoved her humiliation back and drew herself to her full height. It wasn’t much, but she refused to let this
bear
belittle her or make her feel bad. She may not be the best shifter and she may be half-blind, but she was her deceased mother’s weremole daughter and the youngest of Alpha Clarke’s two children. Okay, she was his bastard daughter brought to the pack after his true mate died, and the Alpha part didn’t matter since she hadn’t inherited his strength. She’d endured a lifetime as prey in the middle of a wolf pack.

She would be
damned
if she cried in front of this big, dumb bear.

Kira pulled on every ounce of the haughty bitch demeanor she’d learned at Alpha Clarke’s knee and blasted it at Isaac. “Obviously, Ebenezer is not nearby and while I’m sure you find my near blindness amusing, I would appreciate it if you could refrain from laughing until I’ve left. Can you please point me in the direction of my dog? I’d like to depart.”