I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in my life, but an auction for women?
That’s got to be on top of the list.
And they want to use my ranch for their next one.
It’s secluded in the Montana mountains where no one will interrupt their twisted little game for billionaires.
I sign the contract and let them use the space.
I’m mostly in my bear form these days anyway, wandering through the forest and I could use the easy cash.
On the night of the auction, I go check it out.
Not to bid on a girl, just to make sure everything is on the up and up.
I won’t allow any girls to be sold against their will. Not on my property.
That’s when I see her on stage.
I know immediately she’s my mate.
My inner grizzly does too.
Although, we seem to be the only ones who know this girl is off limits because the other men are bidding on her.
In a few seconds, they’ll know she belongs to me no matter who has the winning bid.
I’m taking her.
And I don’t care if I have to burn the whole place down to do it.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Warren
The new kid is trying to shout something over the deafening roar of my knuckleboom loader, but I can’t hear a thing. I just see his mouth moving. Fucking new guys…
He’s waving his arms and standing right where I’m trying to swing the freshly cut logs around the job site.
“Move!” I shout back, but he probably can’t hear since I’m glassed off in this machine with some pretty good soundproofed glass.
He keeps talking, but I can’t hear a thing.
How the fuck did this guy get his mate before me?
I’m happy for the kid, but Mitch is like what, twenty-two? He’s a black bear shifter and every day at the end of work, his mate is there to meet him in a mini-skirt and with a big kiss. I can’t even look.
Meanwhile, I’m thirty-three and no one is ever there to greet me. Twelve years of logging in these mountains and I’m yet to get off work and be greeted with a warm kiss.
“Move!” I shout again when he keeps talking as if I can hear a fucking thing over these loud machines. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. “I said MOVE! Oh, fuck this.”
I swing the huge metal claw that’s gripping three tree trunks and he leaps out of the way when it comes swinging at his head.
Some people can only learn the hard way. I told him multiple times not to stand near the machines while they’re going, but it hasn’t gotten through his thick skull. Maybe the sight of three giant logs flying at his fucking forehead will finally get it through.
He ducks under the logs and comes running up to the machine. I drop the logs on the pile where Sanders is watching the whole scene while shaking his head. Mitch gets on my nerves, but he drives Sanders fucking crazy. The grumpy old grizzly shifter has lost all patience for the rookie.
Mitch opens the glass door and the roaring of the machine fills the cabin.
“What are you doing?” I say as I stare at him in disbelief.
“Sorry, boss,” he says with his voice racing. “There’s something you should know.”
I wait for him to spit it out, but he just stares at me. “What is it?” I snap.
“Oh, there’s some woman on your ranch.”
My back straightens a little. A woman? On my ranch? Could it be her? Could it be my mate?
“She’s really weird,” he says as his face twists up. “Definitely not from around here.”
My shoulders droop back down as the familiar sense of disappointment settles in. Of course, it’s not her. It’s never her.
“What does she want?”
“I was there to pick up that file you needed,” he says, nodding his head like an excited puppy. “The Henderson one with the contract for the—“
“Mitch,” I snap. “The woman. What the fuck is she there for?”
“Oh, right. She wanted to talk to the owner of the ranch. She had a private jet and everything. Landed it right next to the barn.”
“A private jet?” I don’t know anyone with a luxury car let alone a private jet.
“And she had shifter bodyguards with her. Lion shifters from what I could tell. Three of them. I’ve never smelled a lion shifter before, but I’m pretty sure that’s what they were.”
“Lion shifters?” I say under my breath. What the hell is happening? Maybe this kid got hit on the head with a falling tree and hallucinated the entire thing. That’s a more likely explanation.
“Did she give a name?”
“Yeah.”
More silence.
“Well, what the fuck is it?!”
“Oh, yeah! It’s a Coco St. James.”
“Coco St. James?” What the fuck kind of name is that? “Did she leave a number or something?”
“No, but she’s still there. She says she’s not leaving until she speaks with you.”