ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (246 page)

“Come on, we got places to be.”

Forrest watched them walk away with a deep frown under a brow pulled low.  He didn’t like this.  If they saw Rain, it had been from the back of his house.  That would make them fairly ballsy considering that he had been in the barn.  Granted the barn was a good hundred yards from the house, but still…

“What happened?”  Rain asked nervously. 

“Nothing.  I was just giving them a friendly reminder to stay off of my property.”  He opened the truck door for her, and willed his face to smooth out.  He didn’t need her to worry.  Maybe Scott had gotten a whiff of her and thought she would be a good mate.  Most lone shifters did choose humans to mate with. 

“Are you hungry?”  He asked, and forced a smile.

“Sure.  Since you bought the books, I’ll treat for lunch, ok?”

Forrest bit back the denial of her doing such a thing.  “If you insist.”

“I do.” 

“I just love this little place!”  Rain exclaimed after the waitress brought them their drinks.  It was an old fashioned diner complete with a booth and swiveling stools, which Rain had insisted they sit on. 

“Food’s good, that’s for sure.” 

“I can’t say that I’ve ever had a real cherry coke, complete with not only cherry syrup, but a real cherry!”

Forrest couldn’t honestly understand her excitement over such a small thing, but it was contagious.  His grin as he watched her sip the soda through a straw was broad and true.  He had sensed before that she was a broken woman.  Sadness had come off of her in waves, but each day that they spent together it seemed to lessen.  He hoped she would stick around long enough to heal completely.  Which brought him to his newest dilemma: could he allow her into his life without feeling like he was cheating on Sara’s memory?  The answer seemed simple enough: it already
felt
like she was part of his life.  He didn’t understand it, after all she had only been with him for two days, but he didn’t want her to leave anytime soon.  He wanted to build on the relationship and see where it went.  Orange wasn’t that far away, but once she was gone and life resumed for them both, it may prove too hard to continue a relationship over the distance. 

“Hello in there?”

Forrest snapped back from his reverie.  “I’m sorry, were you talking?”

“I was.  I was just saying that this seems like a nice town.  It reminds me of Orange, just a little bigger.”

“Did you grow up in Orange?”

“I grew up in Stafford, actually.  My mother and father moved to Orange when I was a teenager because he had taken a job at Woodmark as a foreman.” 

“Are they still there?”

“No.  I had moved to Richmond after I married Trevor.  He said the music scene was so much more “happening” down there.  After his death, I came home but they only stayed another year before going back to Stafford.  My father took early retirement after an injury.” 

“Why didn’t you go with them?”

Rain shrugged.  “I was twenty five when they left.  I wanted to be on my own, felt I should be, and I actually like little Orange.” 

“Oh.”

“My father told me I had wasted the money he had spent for my one and only year at college.  He said Trevor had ruined my life. 
Especially
after my only career ambition was to work fast food.”

“I take it your relationship with them is strained?”

Rain’s eyes hardened.  “Yes, you could say that.  My biggest act of rebellion in their eyes was dating Dante off and on for the past two years.” 

Forrest brought his brows together.  “Why?  Because he’s black?”

“Bingo.” 

“That’s just…well I do live in West Virginia…but still, color is just skin pigment.” 

“I agree.  So, I don’t worry about visiting much, and I think it’s a mutually agreeable situation.”

The waitress brought their food; a burger with all the trimmings with fries for Rain, and chili with cornbread for Forrest. 

Rain seemed tenser after talking about her parents, eating her meal in virtual silence.  Forrest didn’t push her to divulge anything else.

They made the trek home after spending several hours in town.  Their final stop was a trip to the local grocery and gas station to get gas for the generator.  The temperature had risen enough to begin melting the snow on the roads, but Forrest cautioned that the refreeze overnight would be a beast. 

Rain tended to Galadriel while Forrest was outside that afternoon with Leonidas and the horses.  By dusk he had the generator up and running. 

“Does it power the entire cabin?”

“Sure does.” 

“Awesome.”  Rain smiled.  “I can take another shower.”

“Yes, you don’t want to stink up the joint tomorrow.” 

“Ugh.  I’m telling you this may be a mistake.”

“And if it is, you aren’t obligated to go back.”

“True, but she seems like a nice woman, and she obviously needs the extra help.” 

When Rain emerged from the bathroom, she stopped in the hallway, eyes wide, and her hand over her mouth to hide the smile.  Forrest was standing on his couch with his arms spread wide and his knees bent as if he were about to attempt flight.  Galadriel eyed him suspiciously before kicking up her back legs and darting around the couch, making the cutest
ahhh
sound.  Up to that point she had only made a few noises which sounded like chirps.   Forrest lunged but missed her and landed on his stomach in a belly flop. 

“Are you alright?”  Rain asked and hurried to him. 

“Hell no, I’m not alright!”  He sat up and ran a hand through his hair.  “That damned animal has been playing the fool ever since you went into the bathroom!” 

Galadriel walked calmly to Rain’s side and licked her cheek.  Rain smiled and touched her back, forcing her down to where she was seated on the floor beside Forrest. 

“Aww, she just missed her Mama.” 

“What am I going to do with her tomorrow?”  He demanded. 

“Take her outside for a while.” 

“Maybe I should fix her a place in the barn.” 

Rain pouted.  “No, she’d be too cold.  She’ll calm down.” 

“She better.”  Forrest warned.

Rain laid in the semi darkness playing with the edge of the blanket.  Forrest had offered her his bed, saying she should take the bed so she could get a better night’s sleep, but she had refused.  He had told her he wished the extra room had a bed instead of just a few boxes he was storing. 

Rain sighed and sat up.  The fire was still burning steadily, and the generator had been turned off for the night.  There was an absolute silence about his home, which up until that very moment had done nothing but comfort her.  That night she was unnerved. 

What am I doing here
?  She stood and went to the fireplace to poke randomly at what was left of the logs. 
Does he really want me?  Do I really want him to want me?
   She couldn’t answer the first question, but she thought it was probably yes, and the answer to the second question was a resounding yes.  He made her feel safe.  He made her feel like an equal, and the way his light brown eyes rested on her, she felt beautiful.  She didn’t need a rebound romance to quell the disappointment of Dante, but she had been officially broken up from him for six months.  The invitation to come to the resort had been a shock considering that they had shared nothing more than a few phone calls and texts during the six months.  Dante had asked her to come and spend the night so they could “talk about things” on several occasions, but she had declined every time, except for the one occurrence that had landed her within Forrest’s care.  Perhaps it was providence.  Did she even believe in that?

Rain padded quietly to the sliding glass door.  The night was clear, and she could see a full moon high above the trees.  The reflection of bluish light on the snow gave the scene an ethereal look. 

Movement caught Rain’s eye and she squinted, leaning into the glass with her palms spread wide on the glass.  A dark haired man emerged from the trees.  He was completely naked.  Sinewy muscle rippled in the pale light, his broad shoulders working backwards.

Rain gasped and put both hands over her mouth, her eyes bulging from her sockets.  He was one of the men who had wanted to use the phone, and he was the main one Forrest had talked to on the street in town.  He swiveled his head from side to side, and suddenly convulsed, shrinking his height by half as he fell over his knees.  Rain dropped her hands and moved to open the sliding doors.  She thought he was having a seizure.  She froze when he convulsed again, this time falling into the snow.  Rain watched in horror as the man’s face changed and his body elongated.  Tan fur spread out over his body and his naked rear end grew a substantial tail.  He opened his mouth to the night sky and she could see fangs. 

Rain backed away from the glass as the man, now a mountain lion, looked directly at her.  She bumped into the end of the couch and what was building in her heaving chest came out as a glass shattering scream. 

Forrest jumped, his legs kicking the covers away and his arm reaching for a lamp that he had forgotten wouldn’t work.  Rain screamed again, and this time he was on his feet, running into the darkened living room.  She looked at him with the largest eyes he had ever seen and pointed to the sliding glass door.

“What is it?”  He asked frantically, grabbing her by the tops of her arms.  Leonidas was on his feet and at the sliding door, his hackles raised and his teeth bared.  “Rain!”  He shook her roughly. 

“A man…but not a man…”

“What?”

Rain’s words began to tumble out.  “I saw a man!  One you were talking to!  He was naked…and then he…then he…”

“What?”  Forrest was forceful as he bent to her face.

“He became a big gigantic cat!”  She yelled. 

Forrest let go of her and threw the front door open.  He ran from the house, and she heard him drop onto the crusted snow below.  He only had on boxer shorts. 

Rain slammed the door and looked down at Galadriel’s upturned face.  She grabbed a handful of hair on both sides of her head and yelled at the ceiling. 

“
Has the whole world gone mad?
”

Rain whirled as Leonidas jumped onto his hind legs and began barking.  His front paws were working furiously against the glass and his tail was wagging.  Rain heard a sound she had only heard in the wild once.  It was the definite roar of a bear.  She ran to the sliding glass door fighting Leonidas for position. 

“Sit!”  She commanded, and Leonidas reluctantly dropped to a seated position by her feet, his eyes still searching the snow beyond.  Rain gasped as a large brown bear ran into view and kept going until it had crashed into the tree line beyond. 

A strange calmness descended over Rain.  She took a seat on the couch and stared at the fire.  She began speaking to no one in particular, but Galadriel came and attempted to sit on the couch beside her.  Rain helped her up, not caring what Forrest would say.  She stroked Galadriel absently.

“Let’s see now.  A naked man came out of the woods and turned into a mountain lion.  Forrest left the house, nearly naked, and then a bear starts chasing the mountain lion.  Forrest is a bear.”  Leonidas turned and looked at her, and Galadriel licked her hand.  Rain began laughing hysterically. 

Forrest lumbered through the trees, ripping anything out of his path which might hinder his progression.  Scott would have the upper hand as far as speed and agility was concerned, but not in strength.  If Forrest could catch him, it was all over. 

Scott’s scent was strong, and he was trying to run on zig zags and circles to confuse his pursuer, but Forrest knew these woods better than anyone.  They were his woods.  He had grown up here.  He had helped carve the trails alongside his father; no one knew it better.

The cat was tiring.  Forrest could tell by the way the scent trail was growing tighter and changing more often.  He finally caught sight of the cat’s tail disappearing into the brush beyond.  Forrest kicked it into high gear and ran as fast as his bear legs could take him.  He crashed into the low brush and Scott laid on his back with his ears pinned flat to his head, his teeth shining white.  He swiped in fast jabbing strokes at Forrest catching him in the muzzle.  Forrest let out a ferocious roar and struck the cat across the middle, fur and flesh opening to his thick blunt claws.  The cat struck once more before scrambling to limp away. 

Forrest didn’t want to kill him, in his other form he was a man, but he wanted this to be a painful warning to stay out of his territory.  He knew there was something there with Rain, and he definitely wanted Scott to understand
she
was now his territory. 

He began the slow walk home.  His energy was spent.  He didn’t know about the cat shifters, but bears didn’t recover energy nor injuries as quickly as the wolves.  He would have a hell of a lot to explain to Rain.  The fact that he ran from the house into the snow in nothing but his underwear, was enough to send her hurrying back to Orange.  He should have thought this out better, but her screams and her frightened face was all he could see, and he wanted to make Scott pay.