Heat Wave (California Bears #1) (3 page)

Callie moaned again, grinding her hips against Rogue's rigid cock.

"Do you
still
want me to leave?" Rogue growled.

Callie shook her head no, only wanting for Rogue to force himself inside her harder and harder. Rogue groaned watching as his cock ground inside her with one final convulsive thrust. Both Rogue and Callie came together at the bottom of her apartment stairs. Their bodies were kept warm by the dry Los Angeles heat.

Callie pulled herself off of Rogue's length.

"Now, go get some sleep," he commanded her. Callie could barely walk up the stairs and nearly tripped before Rouge caught her.

"Sometimes I wish I never met you," Callie uttered in a weak tone.

Rogue didn't answer. He just held her, making sure to carefully lift her up the stairs. Rogue shouldered open her apartment door. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Marlow fast asleep on her futon. He toted Callie to her bedroom and then eased her down on her bed. Even though he lived his life on the edge, he wanted nothing more than Callie's safety. He had claimed Callie's as his the first day he saw her, and he would let no one come and do her any harm. Callie could barely keep her eyes open when Rogue pulled up her covers all the way to her shoulders. And when she fell into a deep sleep, he softly kissed her forehead and vanished into the night.

C
allie awoke to a knock at her door. Her eyes widened when she glanced through her peephole. She recognized the faces of the savage looking men at her door.

“If you don’t get away, I’m going to call the police!” Callie cried.

When Callie refused to open the door, the three werebear thugs from the night of her first date with Rogue came shambling inside. They nearly broke the hinges off of her door.

“We’ve got some unfinished business that needs to be settled, sweetheart,” The most brutal looking man standing in the middle growled. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Charge and that’s Strike and Ravage.”

Callie shook her head, shivering all over.

“If you’re looking for Rogue, he’s not here!” she shouted.

Charge hunkered down closer to Callie, so he could look upon her at eye level “If we can’t find, Rogue...we can just take the next best thing.”

Callie flung a pillow at Charge’s face and then booked it to her kitchen. Charge and his bloodthirsty werebear brethren just laughed deep in their stomachs. Callie got cornered against a wall, she turned her eyes away from Charge’s craving gaze.

“Let me guess, you’re just another small town girl looking for fame in Hollywood. Let me tell you, we see little curvy girls like you and each one of them goes back home with their ‘tails’ between their legs— with nothing but a broken dream,” Charge grunted pressing his nose up against Callie’s neck and inhaling her sweet scent.

Callie trembled underneath Charge’s weight, feeling his rough hands move slowly up her thigh.

“We’re here to even the score...” The two other werebears snickered.

Charge then grabbed Callie’s arm and dragged her through her living room. The other werebears just stood by, watching as Charge forcefully led her to his motorcycle. Marlow had already left to do her day shift and Callie’s cellphone got abandoned in her bed room.

“
Please
, Rogue and I don’t even talk to each other anymore...” Callie squealed.

Charge whirled around. “That’s not what it looked like last night,” he grinned.

Oh my god! Was Charge and his thugs there the whole time last night when Rogue came to see me?
Callie couldn’t feel more embarrassed, especially knowing Charge had seen her in her most intimate moments.

“You love him. It’s written all over you face,” Charge jeered Callie, he loved making her feel like he had all of the control.

“Rogue would
never
let you get away with this. Once he finds out I’m missing—he’s going to come looking for you...” Callie insisted.

Charge shrugged and said, “That’s exactly what we want...”

Charge then forced Callie into a kneel and tied her wrists behind her back. Her bright red curls cascaded over her face as she struggled against him. He’s then stationed her on the back of his motorcycle. Charge stomped his foot on the gas, and the three of them rode off into the valley.

*

“R
ogue!” Marlow hollered at the top of her lungs. Rogue veered around when he saw a hysterical Marlow speeding towards his direction. Rogue started preparing to rehearse for his stunt—the jump over Death Gorge.

Rogue cocked his head to one side. “Marlow? What are you doing here? It’s dangerous, I only have a few hours before my show,” he snarled.

“It’s Callie. I showed up early from my shift at the diner, I-I-just to pick something up from our apartment. Then I saw that someone had completely and utterly
trashed
the place,” Marlow recalled. “Then I saw claw marks scrawled on the side of our wall, and the message said ‘bring us Rogue we’ll kill the girl.’ ”

Immediately, Rogue knew that it must have been Charge and the rival clan trying to get back with revenge. Charge’s clan was so far in the valley that Rogue would have to make a choice between making the jump over Death Gorge or rescuing Callie and saving her life.

Rogue had been waiting his entire life for this moment. The moment that he could follow in his brother’s footsteps. He been training for hours, healed from several broken bones and near-death injuries—all for this moment. The noise of the rowdy crowd already echoed in his ears as he entered the stadium. They all came to see Rogue. And leaving also meant he’d have to disappoint them.

Marlow started to lose her patience. “We can’t just stand around any longer. You need to make a choice! I know you and Callie have been distant lately, but that’s because she’s worried about seeing you kill yourself trying to prove something that really doesn’t even matter...”

Rogue sniffed the air, grunting. He didn’t care whether or not any of this mattered to Callie. What he cared about was the legacy of his brother, Thrash. Rogue then moved quickly, and straddled his bike ready to ride off into the middle of the stadium. But as he reached the exit, the memories of how he and Callie met started flooding to the front of his brain.

As much as he wanted to make his brother Thrash proud, he also did not deny the love that he had for his one true mate. Callie came out of nowhere and made him see how reckless he had been with his own life. And now, he had to go find her—save her, before it was too late.

“Get on!” Rogue roared at Marlow. Marlow’s body stiffened as she hesitated to get on the back of the bike. Then she took a deep breath and hopped on. They blazed down to the dark L.A. streets, swerving through traffic and speeding through red lights.

Rogue growled to himself. “Callie, I’m coming.”

E
verything smelled like dirt and it made Callie twitch her nose. Callie stomped her bare feet in the grass as she struggled against her restraints. Charged looked out ahead, devoid of emotion. Two hulking werebears, Strike and Savage, crunched on fish bones. One of them came lumbering towards Callie with lustful eyes. Hot drool watered from his mouth.

Callie, with her wrists tied behind her back, tried to shove him away, but the giant bear fiercely nuzzled its nose against her warm breasts and then stuck out its sopping wet tongue and licked her face.

“God, you have the
worst
breath!” Callie squealed, getting sick of werebears or were-whatevers already.

“I think I see something out there,” Charge said seeing a light break on the horizon.

Strike and Ravage shuffled around with their jaws turned up in a snarl.

Suddenly, the lights disappeared in the dark.

“What kind of game do you think you’re playing, Rogue...” Charge grunted glowering into the night.

Charge then hit down on the earth hard and roared in the air. Dark black fur pierced through his skin and claws violently grew out of his nails. Charge brashly sniffed the air—now completely transformed as a werebear. He stalked through the dirt seeking out any scent of Rogue on his territory.

“
Coward
!” Charge ferociously growled. “What are you hiding for? Do you want to save your precious
bitch
or not?”

Suddenly, a brown blur vaulted out of the darkness, pouncing on top of Charge and knocking him over. Charge whirled around, lifting his shaggy arm and slamming his paw heavy against the earth. Rogue barreled out of the way and roused up to his haunches.

“We don’t have to fight Charge, just give me Callie and I’ll never cross into your territory again,” Rogue grunted, fixing his gaze onto Charge.

Rogue knew that he had to watch his back, or Charge’s clan would try to ambush him.

“There’s only one way out of this Rogue. It’s either her life—or, yours,” Charge laughed in the pit of his heavy stomach ready to attack Rogue at any moment. Rogue now saw there was no reasoning with his enemy, and he had to fight him to the death.

Rogue trampled towards Charge and gripped his back with his claws. With a forceful rip, Rogue snatched out a chunk of Charge’s fur when he bit down on his back leg.

“
Rogue
!” Callie blurted out, recognizing his dark red eyes.

Marlow stayed close to the ground, straying towards Callie so she could untie her. She, too, noticed the two bears circling around her best friend and keeping watch. An idea came to Marlow’s head. She scooped up a few rocks and then tossed them out in the dirt.

The bears’ ears twitched. And one of them quickly nodded to the other, giving the bear permission to check out the noise. In that second, Marlow hoisted up a rock and hurled it at the back of the remaining bear’s soft furry head.

The bear collapsed over on its side—out like a light.

“Marlow...” Callie started to shout, but her voice softened when she saw her best friend press her finger against her lips.

“You’ve got to keep quiet, okay? We’ll get you out of this...” Marlow whispered untying Callie’s ropes.

Meanwhile, Charge and forced Rogue on his back, thundering all of his weight on Rogue’s chest.

“Guess, this is one stunt you won’t be able to fight your way out of?” Charge growled with a wicked grin spreading across his wet hot muzzle.

Slowly, Charge lifted his heavy paw. Again, he moved to lash Rogue one last time across the face.

Rogue rammed his back legs into Charge’s low hanging belly. Charge crashed onto the ground, and then Rogue attacked him. He clamped down mercilessly on Charge’s neck.

The more Charge tried to struggle free from Rogue’s jaws. The less air he could breathe in his lungs. Rogue held on fiercely, unwilling to let go knowing that in a few seconds Charge would run out of breath. Charge’s hulking limbs started to jerk and he moved much more slowly now. Until, his body went stiff and cold. Rogue stepped back, and saw Charge lying there—lifeless.

Rogue shifted back into his human form and desperately looked around for his mate Callie.

“Callie!” he roared hot into the dark night. “
Callie!
” he called again.

Marlow ushered Callie forward, they both hid low to the ground for safety.

Rogue prowled forward as Callie rushed to see if he was okay.

Callie gasped when Rogue collapsed to the ground.

“Rogue!” she cried, grabbing up by his bare shoulders. “Are you okay?” she asked, staring deeply into his amber-red eyes.

Rogue grunted in pain. “I’m always okay as long as I know you’re safe.”

*

W
hen they all managed to get back to Marlow’s loft, Callie had a
lot
of explaining to do. Marlow, up until this point, had been blissfully unaware of the existence of shifters. It took her some time to wrap her head around it, but she thought it was cool more than scary.

Marlow swerved out of the living room to give Callie and Rogue some privacy.

Callie stroked through Rogue’s hair, he lay on the couch with a blanket covering his naked waist.

“I bet you’re regretting the day you met me...” Callie said half aloud, feeling like Rogue’s pain was somehow her fault.

Rogue brushed her cheek, taking in the sight of his curvy lover.

“Before I met you, I didn’t have much to live for. Now, that we’re together, I have everything to live for.”

Callie softly smirked. She never had a man confess his undying love to her. She didn’t think girls like her had “happily ever afters.”

“What about your stunts?” She genuinely wondered, still not comfortable with Rogue’s love of the adrenaline high.

“I’m done. That part of my life is over...” he grunted.

Rogue didn’t feel the need anymore to finish off the legacy his brother started. He realized he already started a legacy of his own.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Callie asked.

“I’m thinking of racing motorcycles...” Rogue seriously considered.

Callie arched a brow. “Y’know, that’s not any less dangerous?”

Callie was about to say more, but Rogue sat upright and kissed her deeply, eager to taste her again.

Rogue shrugged then said, “Besides it’s L.A., we can do anything we want here!”

Callie lay forward on Rogue’s hot chest, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. Never in a million years, would she have thought she’d snag a werebear biker with a daredevil streak. And she couldn’t be happier for it. She looked forward to what else she would discover in the city of dreams.

“You know, Marlow’s gone...” Callie cheekily said. “What should we do now?”

A perverted grin stretched across Rogue’s cheek, he snatched the blanket away from his naked waist and pinned Callie underneath him.

“I think I’ve got a good idea...” he growled.

––––––––

T
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