Love at First Roar (BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Werebear Romance) (Grayslake Book 4) (32 page)

Dead silence reigned and his mate flashed him an impish grin while everyone else in the family stared at Kira and then him.

They worried over his reaction and what they didn’t realized was that he no longer gave a flying fuck about anyone else’s opinion. Only Kira’s. And her teasing proved she didn’t care either.

Which just gave him another reason to love her.

And chase her through the house.

With a teasing growl, one that was answered by her wide smile, he leapt from his seat and bolted around his brothers, reaching for his mate.

Giggling, Kira released Mia and dashed away, racing past his parents, and their chuckles followed them to the stairs. She retraced their path and he had no doubt she wouldn’t have trouble gaining the stairs. She obviously trusted him as well. She depended on him to put things in order as they made their way to the kitchen.

Kira rounded the banister, eyes shining and smile wide.

Isaac released another snarl, causing her to giggle once again. “I’m gonna get you.”

“Isaac! We really need to talk about this!” Keen’s voice reached him, but he only cared about the woman currently running from him.

“Later.”

“But, it’s import—”

The bear thought ripping Keen’s head was a good idea. “
Later.
”

Isaac stomped up the stairs, following the patter of Kira’s lighter steps. He knew where she’d end up, he just had to pounce once he got there.

Except as he climbed the last few steps he watched Kira slide through the bedroom doorway, bare feet slipping on the smooth wood. Yes, he saw her slide in, then heard a fearful squeak followed by her trying to scramble back into the hallway.

Her panicked gaze met his, her near sightless eyes focusing on him.

He should have listened to his gut and not let her sweet-talk him into staying in his home instead of on clan land. Because there were only two things that would make his fearless Kira panic and tremble.

Her father and her brother.

Isaac vaulted over the last few steps, running over the ground that separated him from Kira. He stopped short when an armed male filled the doorway, his hand buried in his mate’s hair.

The man wasn’t old enough to be Kira’s father, no gray hairs and definitely not enough wrinkles, which meant he faced off with her brother Mitchell.

A brother who looked just like the male who’d driven past his home mere days ago. The male encouraged Vanessa to attack, tortured Zoey, and then tried to end Kira’s life at the home improvement store. It’d been a half-assed attempt at best. The man was desperate.

Desperate men, wolves, were dangerous.

The wolf brandished a gun, waving it toward Isaac which had him re-evaluating his next step. He couldn’t just rush the male. He didn’t just clutch a gun. No, his free hand was buried in his mate’s hair. It’d take hardly any effort to point the weapon at Kira or himself and end their lives. He had to play this out. At least, for a little while.

Then later, after the asshole was dead and gone and Isaac’s heart began beating again, he’d kick his own ass for being stupid.

“Who are you and what are you doing with my mate?” Isaac tried to keep his voice even, but the words came out with a snarl.

The man tightened his grip on Kira’s hair, tugging a moan from her chest. The male did it again, smiling wider and wider with each sound. If he had the patience, he’d pluck every hair from the male’s body. That’d be fun. Hair, nails, teeth…

The man, Mitchell, was nearly Isaac’s height, but nowhere near his bulk. Thin and wiry like most wolves. Definitely not an alpha then. Those guys were always massive and mean as hell.

His red hair looked like fire and the deep green eyes sparked with fury. Even his skin was pale and pasty white. Nothing like Kira.

If he’d seen the male on the street, a mere glance would have had him disregarding Mitchell as a threat.

He wasn’t disregarding the fucker now.

“She’s not your mate. She’s nothing but a meal ticket and she went and fucked it all up.” The man snarled and yanked, dragging Kira into the master bedroom by her hair. “Get in here. Now. We’re gonna do this and then I’ll get what I want and you bears can go fuck yourselves.”

“Mitchell,” Kira hissed. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Mitchell released Kira and she tensed. Isaac thought she was preparing to fight or run, but no, she was preparing for the strike. The strike of bone on skin that sent her rocking backward.

Isaac’s bear roared in displeasure. Someone had hurt their mate.
Thiers
.

He would die. Slowly as long as he got to the male before his brothers did.

Kira straightened and wiped at the corner of her mouth, gathering the droplet of blood that’d pooled on her flesh. “You still hit like a girl.”

What the fuck was she doing?

*

What the fuck am I doing?

Staring at Mitchell’s tight fist and then the gun he clutched tightly, she wasn’t sure. She did know that she needed his attention away from Isaac and on herself. Kira could survive just about anything. Hell, she had over the years. She didn’t think she could survive losing her mate.

No. She
knew
she couldn’t survive losing her mate.

“You stupid bitch.” Another strike, this one nearing her eye, but colliding with her cheek. The crunch told her he’d broken something. The pain… well, it didn’t give her any sort of clues.
I fucking hurt everywhere, dumbass
, wasn’t very informative.

“Yeah, you say that and yet I’m still breathing. Kinda hard to believe you.”

Mitchell kicked her, missing her chest and merely colliding with her shoulder. Pain seared her, but nothing broke.

Score one for Kira.

“Why wouldn’t you just die? I don’t understand. Why?” He almost sounded interested and she was half-ready to tell him.

Then she remembered he really wanted her dead so answering probably wasn’t a good idea.

“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Oh yes, Kira, antagonizing the crazy is so much better.

“Damn you!” Another punch, this one colliding with her jaw.

Hey, still nothing broken. She was doing okay so far.

Isaac eased closer, stepping onto the landing and moving forward until ten feet separated them. Of course, that’s when Mitchell noticed her mate’s approach.

“Back off!” Mitchell waved the gun around. “You stay back. I have something to do and I’m gonna do it
right
this time.” Her brother cocked the gun, some revolver that actually had a hammer to tug back. Huh. “I know what I have to do.”

Mitchell steadied the weapon and trained it on Isaac. Hell no.

“What do you have to do, Mitch?” She rushed the words past her swollen lips. It came out muffled and slurred, but the man focused on her.

“You want me to tell you? Hell no. I’m not that stupid.”

Yes, he really was, she just had to keep him going until… something. God, in a house of bears, someone had to realize a wolf had invaded. Right? Then again, there
was
a massive oak near the house whose branches were long and sturdy and… Dammit. And no one’s super-sniffers seemed to be working. Even
she
hadn’t scented him. She breathed deep, hunting for the scent that identified him and found… nothing.

“Of course you’re not stupid enough to tell me.” Another handful of disjointed words. “Hey, how come I didn’t sniff you?”

The wolf chuckled. “I did something right when it came to this, at least.” Mitchell lowered to a squat, his gaze intent on her. “I tested that on you, too.”

He ran the muzzle of the gun along her cheek and rubbed it along the column of her neck. He kept going, toying with the neck of her top and tugging on the material with the metal.

Isaac growled and suddenly the cool gun was gone, once again pointed at her mate. Dammit, why couldn’t the man shut the hell up already?

“What’d you test on me?” She spared a glance for Isaac and fought to ignore the man’s glare. He could kick her ass later. Like, after he gutted Mitchell and tore him into tiny pieces.

“Carve was just the beginning.” Mitchell looked to her once again. “Doupan, Douse, came next. Can’t really get them with Carve if you can’t get close, yeah? Doesn’t have the same effect if it’s just an injectable. Gotta get in there.” Her brother leaned close, running his nose over her skin, breathing deeply, and she fought the shudder that threatened to overtake her. “We know that, though. Don’t we?”

Yeah, she knew. “Yup.”

Mitchell’s stale breath bathed her, and her stomach lurched, threatening to lose what little it held. Though, if she vomited on him, she bet he’d let her go. And then
of course
when the wonderful idea came to her, her stomach decided to settle.

It settled because cold, hard fear took its place.

The third step creaked. Then the fifth.

Someone was coming upstairs and from the soft patter, she knew it wasn’t one of Isaac’s brothers or even his father. It was one of the females in the house.

“Isaac, sweetheart?” Meg. His mother was padding up the stairs as if she didn’t have a care in the world and she wasn’t about to walk into the middle of this shit-storm.

Everyone’s attention shifted to the edge of the landing where Meg Abrams would soon appear. Kira held her breath, hoping Isaac could convince the woman to stay downstairs.

“Just a minute, Mom.”

“This will only take a second,” she called and Kira’s heart stopped.

No, no, no.

She just found happiness and a family—a non-homicidal family—and she couldn’t lose it already.

“
Mom
. You really need to wait.” Isaac pushed the words through gritted teeth.

“You’re acting as if I haven’t seen what you’re packing. Albeit, for Kira’s sake, I hope it’s a little bigger than it was.” Meg huffed. “I just need to pass a message along from Keen. They don’t think you’ll snap at me and it’s important apparently. More important than your privacy. So you can go after your brother once we’re done.”

The eighth step groaned.

“Mrs. Abrams, I really need you to stay downstairs,” Kira tried. “I’ve… Uh…”

That was about the time Margaret Abrams, mother to the four Abrams brothers and ex-Itana, appeared at the top of the stairs. Her sweeping gaze traveled over them and then finally returned to meet Kira’s stare.

Oh, shit. This was so not going well.

Especially not when the sweet as pie woman seemed to swell in size, her chest widening and fur slithering over her skin. “Do you want to tell me why you’re holding a gun on my daughter? Or why she’s all bruised up? Lemme tell you, you’ve got two seconds before I take you down.”

“Which means Little Kira will die in one.” Mitchell practically purred the words. “And I know you’re not her mother. Her mom is dead. Come to think of it.” Her brother wrenched her strands, yanking even harder until she met his stare. “Your daddy is gone, too.”

Kira sucked in a harsh breath, fighting for air. “So, you killed Alpha Asshole?”

Best news she’d had all year.

Mitchell raised his free hand, fingers still clutching the gun, and brought the butt down on her cheek. Yup, more crunching. That one was broken.

“
Don’t call him that!
” Another strike, another creak of wood that had her brother blindly pointing the gun toward her mate and his mother. “He took care of you for eighteen years, you little bitch whelp. Dad isn’t dead. Your
father
is dead.”

She wheezed out a chuckle, taunting him with the sound as confusion filled her. “We have the same
father,
Mitchell.”

“No.” He shook his head. “The beta was your—”

A squeak, which meant someone else had climbed onto the steps. Mother fucker. Did they all want to die?

“The beta was my what, Mitchell?” The pain in her cheek was pulsing through her, but she took comfort in the fact he hadn’t coated the gun in Carve. That meant she’d at least make it through the whole ordeal. Though it’d be nice if someone killed her brother before he broke any more bones.

Was it too much to ask for someone to come in behind the man? Really?

The next sound had her blood turning to ice, freezing in place and sending a wave of pure fear through her body. Only, it wasn’t a single sound, but several, the rhythmic click clack of Ebenezer’s claws on the wood. Once again she remembered she needed to trim them and now he was coming upstairs and then he’d see Mitchell and then—

The growl told her he’d reached the landing, his canine eyes spying Mitchell even if his nose didn’t pick up the scent. If Kira hadn’t sniffed out the male, there was no way her pup had. If Ebie had scented her brother, he would have gone ape-shit.

There was no love lost between Ebenezer and Mitchell.

Kira pulled against Mitchell’s hold, tilting her head until she spied the dog near the banister, right beside Meg. His fur stood on end, hackles raised and fangs bared. The sounds coming from her sweet dog rumbled and vibrated the air, seeping into her bones.

“Ebie, it’s okay, boy,” she whispered, trying to soothe him before he came to Kira’s rescue. He was such a good pup even if he sucked as a guide dog. He’d saved her time after time and the last thing she wanted was for him to be injured.

Ebenezer snarled, seeming to yell at her for being so stupid. Yeah, well, she imagined Isaac would roar at her when things were done. Ebie could get in line.

“Shut
up,
you stupid bitch.” Mitchell shook her, which had the dog bolting forward with a bark and snap of his teeth. “And shut that fucking dog up before I kill him.”

“Shh… It’s okay, Ebenezer.” Again she fought to calm him. “Mommy’s fine.”

Mitchell’s growl joined her pup’s. “Why couldn’t you make this easy like you were supposed to?”

Kira refocused on her brother. “What Mitchell? What was supposed to be easy? Because I’ll do what you want.”

Now
that
had Isaac snarling and Meg was on his heels.

Mitchell bared his teeth and snarled back at their small gathering before returning to her. “We were flush for eighteen years and then you just had to
die
to keep it all going. But you wouldn’t.”