ROMANCE: Awakened by the Alpha Bear (Werebear Fantasy Billionaire Romance) (New Adult Contemporary Alpha Male Bear Shapeshifter Paranormal Romance Short Stories)) (17 page)

Chapter
4

 Natalie looked at herself in
the mirror in her bedroom, holding a dress up to her chest. She then frowned
and tossed it on her bed, before pulling another out of her closet. It was a
turquoise and purple dress with a full skirt and a sweetheart neckline. After
holding it up to her chest, she decided it was her best option. She pulled it
on and took a deep breath. Her primary concern was that she reeked of onion
rings. She hoped it would impress Drake.

Why do I even care?
she
thought to herself.
For all I know, he could be a drug dealer—or worse!

Trying to shake the thought of
Drake being involved in anything illegal, she hurried towards the kitchen of
her apartment and stared at the front door. She was a little anxious to leave
because she wanted to rid herself of any negative thoughts about the man as
quickly as she could. Since she was truly interested in him, she wanted every
reason not to believe something was strange about him.

Someone knocked on her door and
her heart skipped a beat. She opened it and cleared her throat. Drake held out
a handful of flowers and she blushed, accepting it.

“Thanks,” she murmured, setting
the bouquet on the counter-top. “Er, should I put these in a vase?”

“Nah,” he muttered, waving her
off. “They'll die either way. I just thought I'd bring some pretty flowers to a
pretty lady.”

Natalie's face flushed.

“Well, I suppose we should get
going if we want to make the movie, right?” she said, cocking an eyebrow.
“Shall we?”

Drake gave her a nod and held
out his arm for her.

“We shall.”

Natalie hooked her arm in his
and followed him towards his car. As they walked into the parking lot, she
raised her eyebrows in surprise. She did not expect him to bring a limousine.
Quickly, she gasped and gave him a confused glance.

“Really?” she asked. “A
limo?
”

He chuckled and nodded.

“Yes, a limo,” he said. “My
driver is off though, so I hope you don't mind sitting in the backseat alone.
There is champagne back there if you want it, or if you don't. Either way is
fine. You mind riding like a queen for a minute?”

Natalie was dumbfounded. She
slowly shook her head, but she found herself speechless. Drake grinned and
opened the back door for her. She scooted into the limo and looked around the
small compartment.

It was the most luxurious ride
of her life.

***

Drake chose to take her to a
film called
The Transformation of Myra.
The general concept was that a
woman named Myra could transform into a wolf at will. Natalie was not sure that
she cared for the movie, but Drake kept elbowing her, asking her what she
thought about the concept. Natalie frowned; she found his lack of movie theater
etiquette particularly annoying. After the third playful jab to the arm, she
had had enough.

“I don't know what I think!”
Natalie hissed, annoyed. “I haven't finished the damn movie yet, so I just
don't know. If you'd let me watch it, maybe I could assess its artistic value,
okay?
”

Drake pursed his lips and
nodded. Then, he twisted his neck and cleared his throat, murmuring, “Sorry.”

“It's okay,” Natalie replied, giving
him a dark look out of the corner of her eye. “I'll tell you what I think
afterward, okay?”

Drake gave her a nod and
continued to watch the movie. He seemed entranced by it, but Natalie still
could not see the appeal. The flick was nearly over, and there seemed to be
little to no plot development throughout the entire thing. The wolf-girl did
not seem to have any interesting concepts. Instead, she was concerned about
being bullied and how difficult her life was considering her situation. Natalie
was not sure she liked the angle of the indie film, but she appreciated that
Drake thought to take her. Even though it was sort of an odd movie, she could
not help but smile as she watched him grin at every single line the characters
spoke.

The credits began to roll, and
he looked at her excitedly. He looked as though he was going to burst.

“So, what did you think?” he
blurted. “Did you like it? What did you think of Myra?”

Natalie chuckled and said, “It
was okay.”

“Just okay?” he asked,
frowning.

Natalie stood up and slung her
purse around her shoulder, replying, “Yeah. It was alright. What else do you
want me to say?”

Drake furrowed his brow and
took a long sip from his soda. It made a loud sucking, clattering sound as he
tried to find the last bit of liquid at the bottom of the ice-filled cup.
Natalie rolled her eyes.

“Are you coming?” she asked.

Drake sighed and got to his
feet. He did not seem interested. Natalie frowned, unsure why he was upset.

“I'm going to go home and have
a beer,” he murmured. “Would you like a beer?”

Natalie thought for a moment
and then decided she could, in fact, use a beer. She nodded.

“Sure, why not?”

***

Drake's apartment was probably
the most beautiful apartment in all of Rose Hills. Natalie had been inside the
apartment complex with her friends several times before, but none of her
friends' apartments were as lovely as Drake's. He had decorated it in rich
jewel tones and luxurious woods. His furniture was plush leather and he even
had a full bar. She was sinking into his couch when he handed her a
lemon-flavored shandy. She took a long drink.

“That's delicious,” she
murmured, looking at the label. “Never had this kind before.”

“Yeah, a buddy of mine brews it
himself,” he said, gesturing to it. He chuckled and added, “Don't worry or anything.
He has a license for it. He's been doing it for years.”

“Ah, right,” she said, crossing
her legs.

Drake sat beside her and
muttered, “So, I was wondering about something.”

“What's that?”

“Why exactly didn't you like
the movie?” he asked, cocking his brow. “I mean, I'm not saying you have to
like it or anything. I'm just curious.”

Natalie made a face and said,
“Well, I just think the plot was a little boring. I feel like, if you're a
wolf-girl, you could probably do a whole lot with yourself, you know?”

Drake chuckled and asked, “So
you didn't have a problem with her being one? You just think the plot sucked,
basically?”

He took a swig of beer and
Natalie nodded. She took a sip of her beer and chuckled.

“I mean, she's a mythical
creature. What's to have a problem with?” she asked.

“What if she was real, though?”

Natalie gave him a strange
look, but she shrugged and said, “Well, I don't know. If she wasn't doing
anything bad with her wolf powers—”

“Shifter powers,” he corrected.

“Uh, okay.
Shifter
powers.
If she didn't do anything bad with those, I wouldn't have a problem with her,”
she muttered. “Does this really matter this much? Is this some weird test?”

Drake shrugged and took another
sip of his beer.

“I wouldn't call it a weird
test,” he murmured. “I was just curious. So, what would you like to do?”

“Well, first, I get to ask you
a question since you asked me one,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye. “How
are you so rich at your age?”

“
That's
what you want to
know?” Drake said, laughing. “Well, if you must know, I come from an ancient
line of rich people. You probably know me as something called a trust fund
kid.”

Natalie frowned and replied,
“Well, that's not that interesting, but I suppose I'll take it.”

“It's probably a bit more
interesting than you'd know,” Drake said, with a knowing sparkle in his eyes.
“We'll talk about that another time, though. It's a bit early.”

“What? Are you a prince or
something?” she asked, chuckling.

Drake chuckled and murmured,
“Prince Charming, maybe?”

Natalie laughed and shook her
head.

“Is awkward charming?”

“I don't know. Can it be?” he
asked, getting closer to her.

Natalie bit her lip and
murmured, “I suppose so.”

They closed the gap between
their lips for a short moment. Natalie quickly pulled away, blushing.

“I want to know something else,
before we do anything,” she whispered, putting a hand on his chest as a gesture
she did not want him to come closer until her question was answered.

“Well, what is it?” he asked.
He gestured to the throbbing tent between his legs and murmured, “You've
already got me on edge, if in case you couldn't tell. Ha, ha.”

Natalie chuckled and scratched
the back of her head.

“Well, I saw something the
other day that really had me a little nervous about you,” she murmured. “There
was some guy with a trench coat that you referred to as your colleague. He
looked sorta sketchy, in my opinion. I just wanted to make sure I'm not about
to hook up with a murderer or a drug dealer or—”

“His name is Oliver,” Drake
interjected, seemingly upset that Natalie had asked. “He's an old friend of
mine. If you're here, you'll probably see him a lot.”

Natalie frowned and asked,
“Well, who is he? You're being really secretive, and it's freaking me out. I
can't sleep with you if I'm afraid of who you might really be.”

Drake took a deep breath and
put his hands in his face.

“I'm not sure you'd like who I
really am,” he murmured.

“What does that mean?” Natalie
asked, her heart pounding in her chest, mostly because she feared his answer.

“Well,” he said, taking her hand
in his. “I could tell you, but I'm not sure you'd believe me. Maybe it's better
that I show you.”

Natalie felt a lump in her
throat. She did not know how to reply to his request, because she did not know
what his secret was. However, he did not seem to be very threatening. In fact,
he seemed to be more afraid of her reaction than anything. Thus, Natalie gave
him a slow, unsure nod.

“Okay,” she whispered. “Show
me, then.”

Drake gave her a dark look, but
slowly nodded nonetheless.

“Okay,” he agreed. “Watch, but
please don't run, okay?”

Natalie's stomach churned, but
she agreed, anyway.

“I won't.”

Drake closed his eyes really
tightly. The room was silent, and Natalie began to look around, nervously.
Finally, when she averted her gaze back to him, she noticed a change. His skin
was slowly becoming a strange white-and-black striped pattern. Natalie's eyes
widened and she scooted away from him, not sure what was happening. His eyes
turned a golden color and his hands began to morph. When he opened his mouth, words
did not come out. It was more of a roar. Natalie screamed and jumped up from
her spot on the couch, backing away from the tiger slowly. It approached her,
flicking its tail back and forth. Despite her poor reaction, the tiger still
wrapped itself around her leg, purring loudly. It licked her denim-clad legs,
and she blushed, patting its head. Suddenly, everything made sense to her. She
understood why he asked her to see the strange film. She understood why he was
acting so strangely. He was special in a way that Natalie did not know existed,
but it only made her like him more than she had. She finally knew his secret.

The tiger backed away, and
slowly, it lost its stripes and returned to its bipedal origin. Drake took a
deep breath and gave her a desperate look.

“So?” he asked. “What do you
think?”

Natalie smiled and replied, “I
think it's pretty cool you're my favorite animal.”

Drake laughed, but he seemed
relieved.

“Really?” he asked.

Natalie nodded and approached
him. She took his hands in hers and pressed her lips to his. Drake smiled
against her mouth and ran his hands up her sides. Natalie groaned and fumbled
with the belt of his pants. Drake melted into her as he pulled her dress over
her head. It fell to the floor.

Natalie sloppily kicked off her
heels and tossed the belt across the room. Drake unzipped his pants, and they
fell to the floor. The two of them breathlessly fell onto the leather sofa
together, their hands exploring the bodies of one another. Drake cupped her
breast and Natalie moaned, hooking her finger in his boxers. Drake pushed them
off his hips and threw them across the room. He pulled her close to him, and
she gasped as she felt his throbbing manhood through her thin panties. She
pulled them off and let them fall beside the couch, swirling her tongue inside
of Drake's mouth.

“I want you so bad,” he
murmured.

“So then have me,” she
whispered.

Drake grinned and pushed
himself into her. Natalie gasped as he kissed her shoulder and began to thrust
inside of her. Her womanhood tightened around him and her eyes widened as she
encouraged him to keep moving inside of her.