I’m thirty-two years old and haven’t even had a whiff of my mate yet. I’m starting to wonder if she’s even out there. I’m having my doubts.
Although, my bear has none. He knows she’s out there waiting for us to discover and he believes it’s our duty to spend every second desperately trying to find her.
I admit it would be nice to finally be with my fated mate, but I can’t always put everything on hold to wander aimlessly around the planet until I run into her. It may never happen.
My bear knows exactly what he’s going to do to her when he finds her. He wants me to claim her body as our own and to mark her neck so that she’ll never be allowed to leave.
He starts rumbling angrily as I continue inside the house and grab the keys to my truck.
I don’t know if I’ll ever find her. It’s not looking good.
All three of my brothers—Adrian, Julian, and Logan—are bear shifters and not one of us has found our mate.
It must be something in the water.
Or, in our dry ass ranch’s case, the lack of water.Chapter TwoWillowI start to get that edgy scared feeling when I feel all three of the men staring at me as I hurry away. I wonder if all women have that sixth sense—the sense of knowing when a bunch of creeps are staring at us—or if it’s just me.
It started about two minutes ago when I was standing on the corner of the street waiting to cross. A gust of wind took up my skirt and gave the three guys standing in front of the convenience store a show.
“Come here, girl,” one of them hollered at me as I quickly crossed the road even though the light was still green.
I turned back and gave them the finger. That’s when they started to follow me.
Now, I’m clutching my stack of resumes to my chest as I hurry down the streets of Blackcloud Point, wondering when they’re going to leave me alone. My mother always taught me to head straight for the closest police station whenever I’m being followed, but I’m new in town and still don’t know where it is.
So, I just keep hurrying down one street after another, hoping they’ll get bored and leave me alone.
“Where are you going?” one of them shouts and they all laugh. “We want to see that ass again!”
I get a fresh spike of adrenaline and hurry down a narrow side street, which turns out is more of an alley. It’s too late to turn around, so I just keep going forward with my heart racing.
Blackcloud Point, Montana is a quiet town and even quieter in the middle of a weekday afternoon, so there aren’t that many people around.
“Oh crap,” I whisper when I turn around and see two of them following me into the alley. At least I’ve lost one of them. It’s a start.
“Show us those baby blue panties again!” one of the boys hollers.
“I bet they’re dark blue now,” the other one says and they both laugh. Their horrible laughter echos along the brick walls, making me tremble.
I’ve never been in a situation like this before and I’m terrified. I don’t know what to do.
I grab the tiny bottle of hairspray that I have in my purse and hide it by my side, ready to spray at any second.
I gulp when I glance back at the men following me. They look huge. Big muscular bodies that I can’t possibly fight off, especially with a measly bottle of hairspray as my only weapon.
Something snaps in me and I just start running. My legs burn and my chest aches as I sprint as fast as I can, running for my life.
I hear their footsteps behind me, getting faster, slamming harder as they chase me, but I don’t dare look back. It would only slow me down.
I’m so close to the exit of the alley. I’ll be out in the busy street in five seconds… four… three…
“No!” I scream when the third boy pops up in front of me. I slam right into his huge chest and his strong cruel arms wrap around me, holding me in place. My pile of resumes slip from my hands and they litter the alley as the wind blows them away.
“I caught her so I get first dibs,” he says with a vile laugh.
As he looks at his friends for approval, I quickly raise the hairspray and spray the fucker right in the eyes. He screams out in pain and shock. I knee him right in the balls and take off running. He tries to grab me, but I dart around his clumsily arm and run into the street.
I’m desperate for help. I can’t outrun these three, so I quickly look up and down the quiet street for help.