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UnBearable Secrets

A More than Mated Novella

Terra Wolf

Family drama and bear politics have driven Olivia Bradwick on a vacation to Grayslake. Finally, she can enjoy some peace and quiet, or so she thinks. When the handyman at the local B&B stumbles into her bathroom, she realizes he might be the escape she came looking for. But Sam isn’t as innocent as his seems and Olivia must decide if she can trust him at all.

Sam Hunter is running. He’s left home and all of his Louisiana comforts behind for a life of solitude. He truly believes it’s the only way to not end up like his blood thirsty father. But when a cute little werebear shows up at the B&B he can’t help but fall for her. He knows that if he claims her though, it’ll ruin everything.

Olivia and Sam both have skeletons in their closets. Together they must decide if they can overcome their past to be together in this Romeo and Juliet-esque landscape.

Prologue

Olivia

The water was dark as the moon reflected onto their faces. There were five of them, like always. Her parents had always wanted a soccer team full of cubs. More children to leave their little kingdom to.

She could remember how cold the water was. How the ripples felt like ice against her skin.

“It’s too cold!”

“You’re all being pansies. We can take it, can’t we, Bianca?”

“Sure.” She heard her sister’s teeth chattering.

“We’re going in. You two crazies can stay out here for all we care. But you’re going to be sick tomorrow, and Mom won’t care about your crying.”

That was a good point—she wouldn’t. Not that her mother didn’t care about them, but she was all about natural consequences, and she had told them it was too cold to swim tonight.

But they didn’t listen; they never did. And her mother didn’t argue, probably for fear of a full mutiny.

“Last one in does the dishes for a week,” her youngest brother called, and the three boys took off, making a small wake behind each of them.

“Bianca, we did it! No boys for once!”

But when she turned around, Bianca was gone. Lost in the water.

Drowning.

Chapter One

Olivia

Olivia Bradwick’s bags dropped onto the ground as dust wafted up around her. God damned heat was more than she could bear. She watched as the taxi sped away in front of her. In its place was an old bed-and-breakfast. She had seen it online, but it looked so much bigger in person.

Now or never, I guess. She picked up her bags and took a deep breath as she ascended the steps onto the covered porch. Her hand rested on the metal doorknob for no more than a moment before she pushed it open and was welcomed by fresh blueberry muffins sitting on the reception desk.

Could she take one? She looked around the room, a parlor of sorts, but no one was around. It was still sweltering. An old air conditioner struggled to combat the heat off to her left. Her bear’s senses were on high alert. She had grown up around other shifters, and Grayslake was very well known among her people. It was the only place she could think of to come to. The only place to escape.

A vast white reception desk sat in front of her, a small bell on top of it next to the enticing muffins. Just one wouldn't kill anyone. Though it would totally ruin her diet. But so did the pizza last night, and the hamburger she had for lunch yesterday. Screw it.

She grabbed a muffin off of the tray and hit the bell with her other hand. The buttery goodness of the muffin was practically gone by the time a woman walked through what Olivia assumed was the dining room to come to the reception desk.

“You must be our new guest!” she said with a broad smile on her face. She was an older woman, maybe in her late fifties, with light chestnut hair piled high on top of her head. She looked like she wasn't sweating at all in the damn heat. Freaking Southerners. Whereas Olivia's dark, curly, massive hair was sticking out in every single direction and she had sweat coming out of places she didn't even know could sweat.

“Yes, that's me!”

“Perfect, we’re very happy to have you here! Things have been a little bit quiet here lately. Now this is the parlor, and we have books in the library off to your left. Breakfast is served back in the dining room each morning until 11 AM. I'm afraid you've missed it this morning but I'm glad to see that you've taken a muffin, these were leftovers. We just haven't had a lot of foot traffic through here lately,” she said with a sigh.

“Well I don't really know how long I'm saying.”

The woman tapped an open reservation book in front of her. “I see that. Well, you don't need to worry about your room—we’ll make sure not to sell it out from under you!” she said with a small laugh. She was too sweet, sweeter than the muffin that had been in Olivia’s hand and was now taking up residence in her stomach.

Olivia tried to smile back at her, but the innkeeper beamed a little too eagerly again and so Olivia stopped.

This woman was on some serious drugs. Or maybe she was just happy to see someone. Either way, it was overwhelming. “Great. And which way would my room be?”

The woman dangled a key in front of her hanging off of a four leaf clover keychain. Yep, nuts. “You're just upstairs and off to the left, and of course, we gave you the room with the bathroom included. And your deposit is already down so you'll just pay the rest whenever you leave.”

Olivia licked her fingers before wrapping them around the keychain. Ladylike behavior was not her strong point—three brothers did that to her. “Sounds good. I'll just grab my bags and head on up. I need to take a shower!”

The woman's mouth dropped open a little bit. “There's actually no shower in that room, just a tub. And it can be a little bit temperamental, but I think the handyman was already up there today. So it should be fine for you.”

Handyman? Why was it that her new tub needed a handyman? “But it's going to work, right? I need water on my body as soon as possible.”

“Oh yes, dear. I'm sure it will work.”

Olivia wasn’t convinced. “Great. So I’ll see you later.” She picked up her bags and trudged up the stairs behind the reception desk before hearing the cheery voice call to her, “I look forward to it!”

Her room really was just off to the left. It was the first door. She hadn't realized how small this place was when she looked at the website. But considering they had no social media presence, she should've known better. And when she entered the room, what she found was even worse.

There was an entire wall of cat plates. What was this woman smoking? She tapped one with her finger before putting her bags at the end of the bed and turning around to close the door. They didn't move or anything, but they definitely made her feel little bit creeped out. Sure, she could shift into a bear pretty much at will, but a hundred cats staring at you while you slept? Not her idea of relaxation.

But after she closed the door and examined the rest of the room, she found the bathroom. It was the holy grail of ensuites. A gigantic claw foot tub sat directly under a window which had been frosted so no one got to see all the guests’ goodies. There were granite countertops throughout the whole thing and multiple vases of flowers. It was perfection.

She immediately started to strip and run the bathwater. She left the temperature icy cold, just to calm her body down. She took a look in the mirror as the water filled up the tub and saw that she had been completely right about her messy hair. Her dark ringlets were sticking out at every end. She tried to contain them within some sort of ponytail, but that was now off to the left and the majority of her hair was on the right. “I don't even know how this happens,” she said to herself. She removed what remained of the once existing ponytail and turned off the water before breathing in the scent of the fresh flowers. She was exhausted from traveling.

She had never really ever left home before. This was the first time she vacationed alone, but she needed the escape. Constant questions, people giving her shifty eyes wherever she went, and these were people that knew that she was part bear. She felt like she couldn't go anywhere anymore without someone walking up to her and giving her condolences or patting her lightly on the shoulder and calling her sweetheart or honey. She just couldn't handle it anymore. She had to get away.

And that was how she found Grayslake. A simple week away to decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life was certainly allowed. Even though her parents disagreed with it. They wanted her to stay close to home, where they also could keep an eye on her and question her at every turn. It was like living in a prison. So two days ago she had packed her bags and left a note for them, promising she would return. But she didn't give a deadline. She couldn't, not until she figured out what she wanted for herself.

The icy water surrounded her skin and filled her with relief. It was supposed to be fall, didn’t the southern states know that? For a moment she missed the vibrant colors of the north, the leaves abandoning their trees. She was just about to close her eyes and dip her head under the water when she saw a gigantic man come barreling into her bathroom.

“Oh my God!” she shrieked, covering her upper body the best that she could.

The man turned toward her, clearly not realizing that someone was occupying the bathroom. “You're naked!”

She nodded. “Yes I am! And you're in my bathroom. What the hell?”

“I'm Sam,” he stammered. “I'm here to work on the pipes.” He held up a tool box as if to prove that he had a purpose for being there.

“Hi Sam, I'm Olivia. And I'm still naked.”

The giant man turned around and Olivia couldn't help but admire the view. He had shoulder length wavy blonde hair that led down to his mountainous shoulders. A slim waist allowed her eyes to follow down onto an even tighter ass. Those jeans were killing her slowly. And here she was in a tub full of icy water, probably looking like a drowned rat. Great introduction.

“Sam, turning around is probably not going to work. You should probably go.”

He grabbed a towel from the dresser in front of him and backed up slowly with his arm extended toward her. “Or you could just cover up and then I can do my job.”

She was outraged. “Are you kidding me?” she said as she stepped out of the tub and snatched the towel from his hand. She quickly wrapped it around her, stealing a glance at herself in the mirror. Yup. Drowned rat.

“I'm staying in this room. You can't just barge in here and work on the pipes.” He stayed facing the other direction. “I wrapped the towel around myself, you can turn around now.”

As he did, she could further examine his face. Okay, so maybe she wasn't ready for him to work on the mechanical pipes, but he could certainly help her warm up hers. He had thick, dark eyebrows that sat just above dark brown eyes. He was super tan and his chest looked almost restricted against a gray T-shirt. He was built like a statue, with chiseled features and arms bigger than Olivia's head. If Olivia hadn't been so angry at the intrusion, she would've dropped the towel right then.

“I didn't mean that I needed to finish the job now. Maybe I could come back this evening and check on the pipes. I was supposed to do it this morning, I got tied up. I really don't want Lucy, the innkeeper, to realize that I wasn’t doing my job. Can't you cover for me?” His dark chocolatey eyes pleaded with her. He knew she couldn't say no.

“Fine. Well, can I finish my bath first? I was kind of enjoying the peace and solitude.”

“By all means,” he said as he put his hands up in surrender. They stood for a moment staring each other down.

“You're still in my bathroom,” Olivia shouted at him.

“Yeah, bye.”

Sam quickly exited the bathroom before shutting the door behind him. She then heard the bedroom door close as well, but peeked out of the bathroom door just make sure he was definitely gone. Once the coast was clear, she dropped the towel and slipped back into the icy cold water once again. She was glad that it was nearly frigid. Now she had more than one reason to cool down.

Chapter Two

Olivia

As Olivia finished getting dressed, there was a knock at the door. “At least someone around here knows how to knock,” she said aloud.

As she pulled open the door she saw Lucy's smiling face back at her. She had a little twitch next to her right eye—clearly something was bothering her. “I'm here to apologize. I heard that you had an unfortunate interaction with our handyman Sam. I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight, to make up for his mistake. I hope that this won’t affect your review.”

So Sam had spilled the beans. Olivia wouldn't have to cover for him later, good. Though looking at Lucy's strained expression, Olivia felt sorry for him too. He had clearly gotten in a heap of trouble about it. “Dinner would actually be great. I'm starving and I have no idea what's available in town.”

Lucy clapped her hands together in front of her chest. “Wonderful, I'm making chicken Alfredo. Does that sound good to you?”

Olivia nodded. “Sure. Will I be dining alone?”

Lucy tapped on her chin for a moment. “I think the Winterbournes might be joining you. But you’ll have your own table of course, as private as you would like. Or I can even deliver room service.”

Olivia shook her head. “The dining room is fine, Lucy, thank you. And really, the whole thing with Sam before was just a misunderstanding. I hope he didn’t get into much trouble for it.”

“Then I will see you in the dining room in about an hour?”

Olivia noticed how she had specifically excluded the part about Sam from her response. “Wonderful. See you in an hour.”

Lucy waved as she left and Olivia closed the door behind her. She made her way over to her suitcase and began to put some of her items into the dresser located across from the bed. As she pulled out a dark purple sundress, she realized that maybe her shorts and T-shirt weren’t appropriate for dinner. She slipped into the dress and decided to take a blow dryer to her hair. She wasn’t trying too hard, but just in case a certain handyman was also around for dinner, she wanted to make sure he saw her with clothes on.

When Olivia arrived down at dinner, the Winterbournes were already seated. She assumed that they were the older touristy couple who were sitting in the middle of the dining room. They waved to her and asked her where she was from, but she hated that part about bed-and-breakfasts, the chitchat. She quickly answered the questions but didn't ask them anything about themselves and scoped out the table situation. There was only one table far enough away from them to not continue the conversation, and it already had an occupant. Sam sat at the table poring over a book, flipping through the pages furiously. She sighed heavily before waving to the Winterbournes and pulled out the chair across from Sam. He didn't look up.

“Reading something vastly interesting?”

Suddenly Sam's eyes darted up, resting right on her breasts.

“I'm up here. Eyes up here. Now what’s so great about that book?”

“I saw you naked.”

Olivia nodded. “You sure did.”

Sam closed the book in front of him and slid it off the table. She thought she heard him set it on the floor. The handyman was hiding something. “I saw you naked and I didn't even apologize. I'm really sorry about bursting into the bathroom like that. And once I was in there, not having any idea what to do.”

Olivia laughed. “You have no idea what to do with a naked woman in a bathtub?”

A growl whispered across the table. “I know exactly what to do with a naked woman in a bathtub, I just didn't know what to do with you.”

“What does that make me?”

Sam shook his head, his blonde hair shifting back and forth with his movements. “That makes you a stranger. You're clearly not from around here, are you?”

Olivia evaded the question; she wasn't ready to talk about home, about why she was here. “You're right, I'm not. Just a little vacation. What about you? Born and raised?”

Sam took his fingers and pulled them through his mane. “Not me. You can’t tell by the accent?”

“You have a southern drawl, we’re in Georgia. No, I couldn't tell.”

“I'm from Louisiana. Just north of New Orleans.”

“Mardi Gras, fun.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“So what brings you here? I mean, why Grayslake?”

Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “A vacation, just like you. I've been traveling a lot lately, so I needed a job to make up for a little bit of the cash I’ve been losing. Lucy here was kind enough to offer me one.”

“She seems… interesting,” Olivia admitted.

“Interesting is one way to put it. Kind is another.”

Olivia set her lips into a thin line while she fingered the tablecloth in front of her. Each one was a different color, another of those cutesy things that they only did in bed-and-breakfasts. Luckily, this one didn't have flowers.

“So do you always eat by yourself? This is a pretty dark corner to read.”

“I'm not a guest. I'm a hired hand. I always eat by myself. And usually there aren't any other guests for dinner. Actually, there's hardly any guests at all.”

“Why?”

“Think about where you are, Olivia. Grayslake isn't really a tourist stop. Not even for those who are like us.”

Olivia sucked in a breath. She hadn't realized that he was a shifter. She certainly should have—his large size should've given it away immediately, except she was too busy thinking about what was underneath his clothes to notice. “Like us? I guess you have me all figured out then.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Not quite. But I think I might like to.”

Olivia began chewing on her lower lip, a nervous quality that her mother always scolded her for, as Lucy bustled out of the swinging door from the kitchen and delivered their food.

“You two… are sitting together?”

Sam beamed at Lucy. “It seems that way. Dinner looks amazing, Lucy, thank you.”

Olivia could smell exactly why Sam had such a fondness for Lucy. The Alfredo sauce wafted into her nose and gave her all the tingly good feelings about food that she loved. “That smells awesome!”

Lucy set the pasta down in front of them. The delicate China pattern was light blue and white. She certainly had an eclectic taste.

“Well, I hope you two enjoy,” Lucy said hesitantly. “Be nice to our guest here, Sam, maybe show her around the downtown later.”

Sam nodded as he twirled some linguine on his fork. “I think that could be arranged.”

Lucy smiled and walked away as Sam stared into what Olivia felt was her soul. What was it about this guy? Why did he make her feel so crazy?

Chapter Three

Sam

Sam stared across the table at the girl in front of him. She had on this perfectly form fitting purple dress that made his cock stir in his pants. But of course, she had interrupted a deep train of thought, so as he lifted his eyes, she had caught him staring at her breasts. She was always catching him doing things he wasn't supposed to be doing.

Like reading the book, for example. He was studying werebear law. Trying to figure out the best way to eventually return to Louisiana, to home. But there wasn't anything in there that gave him any indication he'd ever be able to go back. His whole family history was in the book, everyone who had ever been clan chieftain. There was no information on how to take a clan back, especially when you were trying to take it from your own blood.

The history had given him some other insights into his past, though. He learned all about his mother's lineage and how her family had settled in the area nearly fifty years ago. He learned all about how they had kept their secrets from the humans so that no one would suspect them.

It made him laugh to think that the humans believed in their voodoo and vampires, but shifters were completely foreign to them. In their eyes they were just mystical beings that didn't exist, when the truth was he didn't know a single vampire. And most of the people who practiced voodoo were just for the tourists, but shifters were very real.

Grayslake was a perfect example of that. He knew why Olivia was here—people spoke about the different towns all over the country that accepted shifters. Where their own kind had infiltrated the police force or the mayor's office, so that they could go unnoticed.

She crossed her legs underneath the table and accidentally kicked him.

“Sorry,” she said, smiling at him through a mouthful of Alfredo.

She liked to eat. He could certainly appreciate that. Lucy’s cooking was some of the best he had ever had. He was lucky that she had taken him in. He showed up on the doorstep one day asking about a job that he had seen posted on the town's bulletin board. She eagerly offered it to him with a place to stay almost immediately. She had an air-conditioning system that wasn't running at the time and as soon as he proved that he could fix that, she was enamored with him. Sure, Lucy was a little quirky, but he didn’t mind. She was kind above all else, and to him that was the most important quality a woman could have. But as he looked at the woman across the table from him, suddenly he was thinking that her feisty nature was what drew him into her so deeply.

“Good dinner?”

She nodded as she sat her fork and spoon down. “Some people say I’m a little overzealous when I eat. And my mother says that I’m not a real lady.”

He watched as slight crimson rose in her cheeks. Damn, she was cute.

“No, I think it's great that you like to eat. When we go downtown later, I can take you to a couple of the local places I like to go.”

She picked up a fork again and began twirling the pasta on the spoon. “Places you like to go? Anyplace in particular?”

He shook his head. “Not really. Grayslake has a lot of good spots. It’s one of the reasons I like it here.”

Part of him was hoping that she would agree, maybe even let him know how long she planned on staying. But she didn’t respond. Instead, she just smiled and took another bite. Why wasn't she telling him where she was from? What was the pretty girl with the dark hair hiding from him?

Chapter Four

Olivia

“This is downtown?” Olivia said, trying not to sound as unimpressed as she was. The streetlamps were just beginning to come on around them and she noticed the temperature finally drop enough to be bearable.

“This is town. Lucy may have exaggerated a little bit when she used the term downtown.”

“How long have you been here?”

“What does that mean?”

“Well you said you’re not a local, but you’re pretty familiar with the place, so how long have you been in Grayslake?”

He studied her for a moment as they continued to walk along the sidewalk. “A couple months, I guess.”

Their hands brushed against one another as they walked side-by-side. Olivia pulled her hand away and crossed arms, pretending to be chillier than she was. “So why don’t you tell me about Louisiana? Is it this hot there too?”

“Why are you so full of questions?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “It's called making small talk. That's what civilized people do, you know?”

“But maybe I'm not civilized.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow at him. Part of her wished that he wasn't. Part of her wanted him to pull her into one of these darkened alleyways and have his way with her. She knew hardly anything about him though, which made that whole fantasy even more alluring.

“Fine. What do you want to know about me?”

“Where are you from?”

Shit. Of course he would ask that question first. He couldn't ask what was her favorite color, or favorite food group. No, it had to be a heavily loaded question… That she had already asked him.

“Fine. New topic. What type of ice cream should I buy at that place?”

She pointed across the street at one of the only places that seemed to still be open. An ice cream parlor with a gigantic cone in front of it let her know that it was her type of place.

“Any kind you want. But I definitely suggest the salted caramel. It’s one of my favorites.”

She smiled at him and cocked her head a little. “You have a favorite ice cream?”

He scowled at her and made her giggle a little bit. “Only idiots don't have a favorite ice cream. And I didn't say that salted caramel is my favorite, just what I would recommend. They make all the ice cream themselves.”

“So there's a dairy around here?”

“Yeah, a couple towns over, what about it?”

“I was just thinking with all the… you know. People like us around, that it might be hard to keep the dairy running.”

He stopped on the sidewalk right before the crosswalk that would lead them over to the ice cream shop. “What the hell does that mean?”

Olivia was already in the middle of the crosswalk by the time she realized that Sam hadn’t followed her. “What do you mean? Come on, let's just go get some ice cream.”

“No, what did you mean? You act like we’re savage.”

“Savage?” she asked as she turned around and approached him. “We’re a bunch of bears, we’re predators,” she said as she lowered her voice to a whisper. A young family passed by them pushing a stroller and she smiled weakly. They weren’t really talking about this here, not out in the open.

“Listen, I'm sorry if I offended you or something, but I just really want to get some ice cream.”

“I just don't like the assumption that we can't contain ourselves. I don't know about you, but I have my bear completely in check.”

Clearly she had pushed a button that she wasn't supposed to. Sam's chest was heaving and his eyes turned a familiar black. She knew what was coming. “If that's so true, then why are your eyes turning colors right now? Colors that signify a certain change.”

Sam shut his eyes tightly and shook his head. Whatever she had set off in him, she regretted it. She put her hand on his enormous bicep and tried to calm him. “Listen, I'm sorry, okay? Can we please just go get some ice cream now?”

He nodded slowly, opening his eyes, and they returned to the dark brown Olivia had become accustomed to seeing.

“I just don't want that to be anything I'm ever known for.”

As the light changed again they crossed the street, this time walking next to one another.

“Why is that? Usually guys want to be all big and burly and the protective type. What's your deal?”

“I'm fine with being protective. Burly is an interesting way to describe a guy, but a savage beast is a real punch in the gut for me. I'm not savage.”

He said it like he knew someone who was. Olivia decided not to pry any further; whatever Sam was hiding underneath that tough exterior was something that could wait. A level of honesty that could be reached after ice cream.

“So salted caramel still?”

“Actually, you seem more like a mint chocolate chip girl to me.”

He opened the door for her and she heard the bell go off above them. The place was busy, but not packed; they would have to wait for just a few minutes. “Mint chocolate chip?”

“Yeah, mint chocolate chip. Something unexpected with a little bit of a chill. And somehow refreshing at the same time.”

“Are you calling me cold?”

“I also called you refreshing.”

So she was cold but refreshing. Sam certainly had a way of making her feel like her head was spinning. And as the girl behind the counter took their order and he chose a banana split, she realized maybe he was the one who was unexpected and refreshing, and exactly what she needed.

Chapter Five

Sam

The next morning, Sam was working on the radiator in the sitting room at the end of the hall in the second floor. It had been acting up again. Steam was springing out at all ends and he honestly had no idea how to fix it. He tore off his shirt and wiped his forehead with it so the sweat didn’t drip down into his eyes. He didn't know which guest had decided to turn it on; it certainly wasn't cold enough outside yet, but they turned it all the way up. And now that it was broken, he couldn’t turn it off. It was like a freaking sauna in that room. He bent down behind it once more, but as he saw that a gasket was loose, he reached for his wrench in his toolbox and remembered it wasn't there. He let Lucy borrow it for some projects she was doing in the potting shed out back. He’d have to go down to the front desk to retrieve it from her.

Of course he had forgotten to get the wrench back from Lucy—he could hardly think about anything but Olivia from the night before. Why had he acted like such an asshole? She had no idea the issues that he had with his father. That wasn't her business, anyway. So why did her comment about their animal side bother him so much?

He was a bear.

He was a ferocious shifter.

He was a predator.

But every time he thought about Olivia, he didn’t feel like a vicious animal—he wanted to be the bear she could curl up with on a cold winter’s night. He could be cuddly! Well, maybe he wanted more than spooning. Truly he wanted to tear into her and make her his mate. But he hardly knew her! Sure, she had that adorably cute little body, and the dark ringlets that framed her face had a bounce to them when she laughed, and she was feisty. Stubborn, even. And he liked that. None of that mattered—she was just a guest in the B&B and he was the handyman working on the radiator like he was supposed to. He needed to go down to the desk to grab that wrench.

It was early enough in the morning that none of the guests were up and out of bed yet. Lucy would be the only one downstairs, so he didn't think to put his shirt. But just as he was passing by Olivia's room, she came out with headphones in and a tank top and shorts and running sneakers. Shit. Of course she was up. Why couldn’t he just do his job? With her around, he felt like everything was chaos.

He watched her from behind, her delicious ass filling out the skintight shorts better than he could've imagined. Sure, he had already seen her naked, but skintight fabric just did something for him. He was right behind her as she fumbled with her keys.

“Let me help you with those,” he said, reaching for her.

She jumped, spinning around to smack him, and he fell with his back against the wall. She clumsily fell right into his arms. It couldn't have happened better if he had planned it that way.

She didn't pull away as she pulled her headphones out of her ears. “Sorry! I always jam out before a run.” She stood up and backed away from him slightly, but the hallway was still tight and her breasts were still just grazing the front of his chest. He felt compelled to kiss her. So without any warning, he threw his hand behind her head and pulled her into him, playfully nibbling on her bottom lip.

For a moment, he expected her to pull away, to protest that they didn't know each other well enough, or that she wasn't that type of girl. But instead, he felt her body melt into his. He began ripping off her tank top and throwing it to the side on the floor. His mouth released her lips and reveled in her flesh as he moved down to her breast. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around him, grinding against his already hard cock. She was giving a whole new meaning to morning wood.

He inhaled the scent of her body, the smell of sex filling up the air. He tasted her, teasing her bare skin with his lips. His rough hands found the smoothness of her body so appealing and she rocked against him.

Just as he was about to remove her shorts, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Someone's coming,” she gasped against his skin.

“Sam? Are you working on the radiator? I have your wrench!”

Lucy was just about to come around the corner as Sam dropped Olivia and she scurried back into her room. He stood in the middle of the hallway still shirtless and now breathless as well. He saw Olivia's tank top on the floor and he dove for it just as Lucy popped up around the corner. He looked up at her from the floor.

“You all right, Sam?”

“Yes. Yes, ma'am. I just dropped this.”

“You dropped a hot pink tank top?”

“He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I mean… you know men can wear pink too.”

She handed him the wrench; it felt heavy in his hand. He knew there was more weight to it than just the metal on its surface. He knew she didn't believe him.

“Whatever you say, Sam. Just get that radiator fixed. It's so hot up here. And then you need to take a shower before the guests wake up, you smell all…” She put up her hand and made a circle around his body. “You just smell. I'll see you downstairs in an hour for breakfast.”

He nodded to her and sighed heavily as she walked away. He stood in the hallway for a moment, half expecting Olivia to pop her head out of her guest room door and invite him in, but she didn't. He trudged back down the hallway with the wrench in his hand, frustrated at the interruption and intrigued by what could have happened next.

Chapter Six

Olivia

Shit. Why did Lucy have to come up at that exact moment? Olivia wasn't sure what would have happened next but she was positive it would've been good. But instead she was left wondering and waiting. However, she realized she would be having some pretty good dreams that night. She had lost her tank top but she still had a sports bra on, so after she was sure that Sam had passed by the door she snuck out quickly and quietly to avoid any further suspicion. As soon as she was outside and her sneakers hit the pavement, she took off like a shot.

She didn't really know what she was running from, Sam was hot, and he made her feel things that she didn't quite understand. But she knew one thing: she wanted to be his. Gravel crunched under her feet as she turned off the main road and onto a path into the woods. This was where she could be at peace, finally clear her brain of all the thoughts that she was having about leaving home and now about finding Sam. She could just listen to the wind in the trees and the sound of her feet slapping against the ground.

The woods were beautiful. There was a nice breeze today, so it felt more like fall than the day before. Finally, not so muggy. Maybe the South wasn’t so bad. Maybe she could stay here a little longer, get to know Sam better. She would have to consult with the local Itan, of course. She would need permission to stay, but no one needed her back home. Grayslake could be the escape she had been dreaming of. She would have to get over the cats in her room, though. They had kept her up for hours last night with their beady little eyes and blank stares. Or maybe she was up because she had been running over her semi-date with Sam instead.

Why had he been so upset about her assumption that cows would go missing? She knew the damage shifters could do when unchecked. She had seen it a thousand times before. Without a release, the bear could take over completely. She then considered taking her clothes off and shifting, going for a run as her wild side. But just as she was about to find a rock to hide her belongings underneath, she heard the sound of water. She ran through the trees to the left and found herself at a wide expanse of lake. Immediately, she stopped. She was breathing heavily and put her hands on her knees as she watched the water lapping up on the shore. The lake was peaceful and serene and beautiful and it should've evoked some sort of calmness in her heart, but instead she had only one thought.

Bianca.

The sadness crushed against her body like a waterfall and she fell to the ground. It didn't matter how loud her music was—all that she could hear was the water.

There were so many questions. So many secrets. Things that she would never know.

Bianca was dead.

And it was her fault.

Chapter Seven

Sam

Finally, the damn radiator had stopped making noise and blowing steam. Lucy was happy and the guests hadn’t noticed the issue, so everything was good. He could finally get away for a bit.

He had stopped by Olivia’s room, considering knocking and asking her to walk with him multiple times, but he decided he needed to wait for her to come to him.

He took one final look at her window as he began walking. He didn't have a car; there was really no need for it in such a small town like Grayslake. So he walked everywhere—to the store, to the park, and to the den once every few days to check in with the Itan, Ty. He hated having to report to someone, but that was the rule. While he had been traveling, he figured it was better to follow the rules then to break them. He didn't need some crazy Itan on his ass just for not checking in. It was better to fly under the radar.

He kicked a stone as he passed the lake, the fall breeze rustling the leaves of the trees above him. He would give anything to just rip his clothes off and shift, running the rest of the way as a bear, but so many people in the town didn't know that they housed a large shifter population. So instead he took a shortcut through the woods on his way to the den. Finally, he arrived at the cluster of homes, the largest one being where Ty and his mate Mia lived. The door was wide open as usual. Anyone who knew about this place was coming to see him.

Sam ascended the stairs, the boards creaking under his feet. He walked in the front door and could smell breakfast coming from the back of the house. The place was kind of dark, but it had a cozy feel to it, and there were always people milling around. Between the brothers that lived on the compound, and bears from the town, it was always busy. But it was still early morning, and that was when Sam liked to get there, before other prying eyes could arrive. If one word got back to his father about where he was, he would have a much bigger problem then moving things too fast with Olivia. It’d been two years since he'd seen him, and he liked it that way.

He ascended the stairs and went up to the office. If Ty wasn't there, he could check in with one of the brothers. Any of the clan members would tell Ty that he had checked in. But as he knocked on the door, he could feel the tense attitude on the other side of it. Even though Sam wasn’t a member of the clan, his inner bear still respected Ty as the leader. Anything he said, went.

“Come in.” He heard Ty's voice on the other side of the door.

He walked in to see Ty sitting at his desk and Mia perched on the corner.

“Sam! Lovely to see you again. How’s it been going?”

Sam liked Mia. With all of the space that Ty had built between himself and Sam, Mia closed the gap in seconds—she just had that warm way about her. She was welcoming but not too welcoming, sweet but believable.

“Busy. There's a guest at the B&B, and her pipes needed some checking.”

Mia covered her mouth as she giggled. “And how did that work out for you? I mean with her pipes.”

Sam rolled his eyes. Luckily for him, Ty backed him up. “You want to go check on the baby? I've got something I would like to discuss with Sam in private.”

She hopped down off the desk and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Sure,” she said as she passed by both of them exiting the room.

Sam didn't understand, though. Anything that could be said to Ty could be said in front of his mate. She was the Itana, after all. Practically royalty. So why was he trying to get rid of her?

“Why don’t you sit down?”

Sam shuffled his feet over to the chair and studied Ty as he sat down on it. “What's going on?”

Ty raised an eyebrow at him. “Why don’t you tell me, Sam? We’ve been doing a little bit of digging into your past.”

Shit. “A little bit of digging? And what did you find out?”

Ty crossed his arms. “Who your father is.”

Sam set his lips into a thin line. He would neither confirm nor deny his birthright. He ran away from that life, started fresh. Grayslake really felt like a place he could settle. Why was his past constantly catching up with him?

“Sam, I know you're a Hunter, and not the common name type. Which also means you know that you can't stay here.”

Sam sighed. “Why can’t I stay? I'm not joining your clan; I'm just staying as a nomad. I’m alone here. I haven’t created any problems for you.”

“But that's just it, you're not part of the clan. We support nomads here, sure. I let you go for this long because I figured at some point you’d just move on, like the rest do. Now knowing that you’re the potential next in line for another southern clan, I can't have you stay here. Even if I think your intentions are pure, the other clan members won't.”

Sam shook his head; he couldn't believe this was happening again. The last clan had found out who his father was as well and they shipped him off only a couple days later. Why couldn't he just keep his head down and have his past not follow him everywhere? Why couldn't he just live?

“So how long do I have?”

Ty shrugged. “I don't know man, a few days, maybe a week? But I won’t be able to keep your birthright quiet for very long. I'm also not the only one who knows about it.”

Great. So other members of the clan had already voiced their concerns. That meant he didn't have long at all. A week was pushing it.

“Fine. I’ll find somewhere else to go, I guess.”

“You know there's another option. You could give up your birthright and you could join the clan. Stay in Grayslake forever.”

Sam knew that Ty understood that that wasn't an option. “You know I can't just give up my birthright. If I do, my father will come and find me, and he'll probably kill me for it. But thanks for the offer.”

Ty dipped his head at him. “I like you, Sam, I don't really want to see you dead.”

Sam stood to leave but Ty stopped him. “There's one more thing. The girl at the B&B? She's one of us.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. “She doesn't seem like she's from around here.” Though Sam didn’t mention that she didn’t say where she was from.

“No, she's not a clan member. But I saw her arrive, and I know where she's from. She's running, like you. We’re going to let her stay a few days, escape whatever problems she's coming from, so keep an eye on her for me. I'll try to give you an extra few days in exchange.”

It may have sounded negotiable, but that was a direct order from the Itan. He had to follow it.

Sam nodded. “Sure.”

So now not only did he want to be close to Olivia, he had an excuse to be.

Chapter Eight

Sam

Sam spent the rest of the day getting his affairs in order, telling Lucy that she would have to find a new handyman, packing up some of his things, and pulling out a map to figure out where he was headed next. He had been constantly moving for two years, and Grayslake was the longest he had been anywhere. He had a real job, a stable roof over his head, hot food in his belly every night, and now, he had to give it up. Once again his birthright was hauntingly close to catching up to him.

It wasn't that he didn't want to run his part of Louisiana; he was prepared to be a clan leader. But his father wasn't giving up. And as soon as some of the clan members started mentioning that Sam should be taking over shortly, his father had snapped. He banished anyone who spoke out against him, and anyone who spoke out twice was dead. Sam's mother had convinced him to leave in the middle of the night and never turn back. Whenever the old man did finally kick the bucket he would go back and take over the territory, that is, if his father hadn’t given it to someone else by then. He was constantly starting battles with the wolves and the mountain lions. Sam wasn’t even sure there’d be a clan to go back to in the end. But that wasn't his focus right now. As he pored over the map he picked a few places up in New England where he could go. Places where nomads were accepted. He could continue to fly under the radar of different clans, maybe find a place in the mountains to hide out for a couple months. He had saved up a little bit of cash, and it would be enough to get something rustic. And he didn't mind hunting for his food. As the sun started to set, he heard a knock on his door.

“Sam! Oh Sam, I'm so glad you're here.” Lucy looked distraught. That woman was always a little bit tightly wound, and stress got to her a little bit too easily, but this was more than usual.

“What's the matter, Lucy?”

She stood trembling in front of him. “I told the guest, what is that girl’s name?”

“Olivia?”

“Yes her, I told her where to run in the woods. She said she wanted to go on a hike, but that was so early this morning. And she's not back. She said she'd be back in time for dinner, though you haven’t come down to eat either.”

He sighed. “Just looking over some maps. I'm going to go visit family up north.”

“Oh? That's where you’re headed next?”

He nodded, attempting to confirm his lie. “I'm sure Olivia is fine.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“But I will go over to the hiking trail to check and make sure.”

She clapped her hands together. “Thank goodness! I'm just so worried about her. She seems like such a sweet girl, and new to the area. Those paths can get very confusing at night. And you know, there’s bears in those woods!”

Sam smiled at her; if she only knew what Olivia truly was. He half expected to find a bear wandering around the woods rather than the sweet girl she was referring to.

He grabbed his jacket off of the chair that sat in his room and walked toward the front door as she continued chattering. He barely heard what she was saying as he left.

Chapter Nine

Olivia

She had been throwing rocks into the water for hours. This was the closest she’d been to any body of water since the incident.

She heard the crunching of stones behind her, recognizing the footsteps.

“Hi Sam,” she said without turning around.

“Olivia,” he said as he sat down next to her. She looked over to him and saw that he had dark jeans on and flannel shirt. He was carrying a jacket. His hands rested on his knees as he surveyed her.

“Lucy sent you, didn't she? Thinking I was lost?”

He laughed at her. “Well, are you?”

“What?”

“Lost. I mean I assumed that you weren't, but I also don't know many people that sit by the lake after dark.”

She shuddered. “I haven't been to a lake in a long time.”

“Your bear isn’t a big swimmer? I prefer the river myself. Get to catch some live fish. Nothing is better for dinner than fish.”

She chewed on her lower lip.

“You're not a fish eater?”

A single tear slipped on her face. “It's not bad.” She felt the tears trickling at the backs of her eyes, and she knew she couldn't continue to hold the dam that was forcing them back. But Sam wouldn’t judge her. He didn't know everything that had gone on, who she was. She could just tell him the truth and he could judge for himself without any outside opinions. “My sister drowned in a lake.”

She looked over at him as the tears started streaming down her face and she saw his mouth drop open. “She drowned? When?”

Olivia was blubbering now but she couldn't help it. “Six months ago. She and my brothers and I were messing around swimming one night. She went underwater just for a moment. I didn't think anything of it. We'd been swimming for hours, and she wasn't as strong of a swimmer as the rest of us but I didn't think…”

Sam wrapped his jacket around her with concern etched into his face. “Of course you didn't. No one would think that.”

She threw her hands up, exasperated. “But everyone does! Everyone blames me. My brothers had gone back to the shore, and I was the only one out there with her. And I still don't know what happened! One minute she was there, the next minute all that I could see were air bubbles. I dove down to get her. It was too late. I swam as hard as I could and I dragged her onto the shore and nothing helped. She was just gone.”

“I'm so sorry,” Sam said solemnly.

“I thought that there would be more, you know? A struggle. Something to tell me that she was in trouble. But her death was silent. And it happened so fast. I can hardly remember the details even though I've gone over them a thousand times. With my parents, my clan, the police, and then everyone who asked questions for the past six months. I came here to escape. But I realize that I'm never going to get away from it.”

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Sam put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him. He smelled like the woods, and she inhaled deeply, pulling his scent into her.

“We all have our secrets.”

“You have a secret?” She recalled the book he hid from her.

“Doesn't everybody?”

“I guess so. Hopefully yours is not as depressing as mine.” She attempted to mask her pain with an awkward laugh.

“Kinda, daddy issues.”

She nodded. “Family can be the worst.”

“Yeah. Does your family know how you feel? Because I'm kind of getting the impression that this is the first time you’ve let all of this out.”

She chewed on her lip for a moment. “I mean, I think they know. It's something we all struggle with, but maybe they don't realize how much I blame myself. My brothers feel guilty as well, but so much other stuff is going on that we never talk about it.”

“Then maybe you should. They can’t help you if you don't let them. You have to let people in, Olivia.”

“I think that's what I'm doing.” She looked up at him, his messy blonde hair falling into his dark brown eyes. His seductive lips pulled her into him. “Aren't I?”

He leaned forward and placed a hasty kiss on her lips. Warmth surged through her body and suddenly, she felt overly connected to the world around her. The rustle of wind through the leaves, the crisp of the air prickling the back of her neck, the water lapping onto the shore. It was like everything that was around her was suddenly inside of her. And the warmth coming off of Sam was unrivaled. In that moment, he was everything. He put his hand up onto her cheek and ran his fingers through her hair, pulling her even closer. He laid back against the rocks and she fell onto his body. He bit her lower lip playfully and her want for him only became stronger. Sam was so delicious and made her feel so free—maybe her escape from home wasn't so much of a place as it was a person.

Chapter Ten

Olivia

Olivia awoke to find herself in her bed with Sam covering her with a blanket. It was still dark outside.

“Where are you going?” They had stayed out most of the night watching the stars. She wanted to relive the experience in the hallway from earlier but she was a blubbering mess, and she appreciated that he didn’t try anything more than kisses. But now that she had slept for a few hours, her lust was back with a vengeance.

“To my room.”

“Why?”

“To sleep, we both need sleep.”

She was still groggy. “Wait, did you bring me back from the lake?”

“Well, yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I wasn’t going to sleep with rocks in my back all night.”

He put his hand on the doorknob.

“Stay,” she requested.

“What?”

“Stay. Let’s finish.”

“Finish what?”

“The hallway, my tank top. Let’s finish.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He locked the door instead and climbed onto the bed with her.

Olivia growled as she started to stroke his arms. She had never wanted to be anyone’s mate. She loved the idea of being free. Olivia had spent her whole life being told what to do and she was taking the opportunity to do whatever she wanted to do in Grayslake. It was the first time that she had truly escaped from home. This was the first time in her life that she could lose control, yet wanting something and knowing what to do with it once you had it were two completely different things. But she knew she wanted Sam.

“I want you,” Sam said as he turned to face her. Moments ago, she was sleeping as he had carried her to her bed. Now, she was wide awake and wanting him in ways that she had fantasized over the last few days. She had made that apparently clear to him. She needed satisfaction and Sam was the one to do it. She moved closer toward him but fumbled around. She was trying to rip his clothes like a bear with no paws. He held on to her arms and then inhaled. “Breathe like me. Don’t let your bear take over.”

“I won’t, I can handle it.” But could she? She could feel the familiar twinge of the change descending upon her, this had never happened before. At least not in bed. Shit, he was hot, but hot enough for her bear to come out? This was new.

“Look at me!” Sam commanded, holding on to her arms. She was moving from side-to-side, growling like a wild beast, and he could have taken her. She knew it. Even in human form, he was bigger than she was as a bear. “You ruin this bed and we’ll both be in trouble.”

She laughed, relaxing, and her bear began to calm down.

His cock was telling her otherwise, but as Olivia started to listen and he moved on top of her, she continued to relax. She knew that if she didn’t she would lay on the bed alone. He wouldn’t take her, and the craving that she had burning deep inside of her, driving her insane would only get worse if she screwed this up. Calm down, bear! She didn’t lust after anyone. Only Sam.

“Sorry, I lost control.” Olivia stopped panting and slowly started to manage her breathing. Sam knew that he had the upper hand. He tugged at her shirt and once he got sight of her breasts their roles were reversed. She was at his mercy now.

Olivia was aggressive as he held her in his arms so tightly and faced her. Only the moonlight flooded the room and she knew he could see her dark hair covering her breasts. He sunk his head into them as if he had never touched breasts before. He didn’t hesitate in helping her unclasp her bra. “They’re beautiful,” he hummed as he started to delicately lace his tongue to her nipples. Olivia smiled at the idea that Sam had found her breasts beautiful—to her they were small and could fit into his big, powerful hands. The more Sam devoured her breasts, he growled as she started to tug at her pants.

She could see his cock was erect, and as he took a moment, her sex ached to be taken by Sam. Her nipples were erect and missed the touch of his tongue and lips, which blew gentle kisses on her body as he started to remove her panties with his teeth.

She laughed as they snapped in between her legs, “You’re so damn wet!” he snarled as he rubbed his fingers in between her legs. Just enough for her to anticipate his touch, but not close enough to her pussy to satisfy her.

“I want you,” she purred as she moved her back from side-to-side like an eel on the bed.

“I need you to breathe gently, deep breaths,” he said as he tracked his fingers inside her legs. The smell of her pussy was too much for him to bear. He rubbed his body against her and she felt the roughness of his skin against hers. Her animal instincts had to be controlled as he hovered above her, and then he fucked her mouth with his tongue. Sam overpowered her and as Olivia tried to regain her breath, flicking his tongue around her mouth. Olivia felt helpless, as if there was nothing more she could do—her body could no longer arch as Sam laid more of his weight on top of hers. He was totally in control and she was loving every second of it.

That was when Olivia could feel his cock so near to her sex, it took her by surprise. With just one movement it would enter inside of her, and she wanted him so badly. So she took her hand and put his cock in the right direction.

Sam smirked and said, “When I say so. You need to know that I’m in control. If I wanted it in, I would have put it in.”

Olivia was surprised that the shy guy that she was watching the stars with had turned into a complete animal in the bedroom. He undressed her and himself. There was nothing that she could do but wait for him. That was when she relaxed; she knew that she was no longer in control and instead of trying to fight it, Sam relieved her. Gave her the pleasure that she desired by sticking his cock in gently at first and then deeper inside of her.

“Uhhh,” she moaned as he finally filled her. Her wetness enabled him to change angles and for his cock to go further inside of her.

“Good girl,” he said as he took her hand and held it and leaned to the side. Sam was conscious that sex with another shifter was different—there was a power struggle—but with Olivia, all sense of control and only empowerment was going to be her pleasure tonight.

Their bodies rubbed harder toward each other as they started to sweat from the intensity that they were experiencing.

“More!” she pleaded as she could see when she did manage to open her eyes that Sam was watching her.

He smirked as he moved directly on to her. No longer giving her mercy, but giving her everything that she had requested and more.

He used his big hands to grab her tiny ass and he thrust himself deeper inside of her. The more she screamed the harder he did it, and she scratched his back so that she could transpire the painful pleasure that he was inflicting on her.

“ARRRHH,” Olivia screamed as Sam thrust all the way back and then quickly forward. He did that a few times, pumping her and letting Olivia know that she requested more and that was what he was giving to her.

“More?” he shouted and Olivia repeated the same thing. The bed was rocking and making so much noise. So much for not breaking the bed. The screams from Olivia made Sam only move faster and push her closer to the edge. It was an encouragement for him to know that he could go on, but he was too excited; as much as he had restrained from coming earlier, he was way past his control at the moment.

“I’m coming!” he shouted as she picked up his rhythm.

She held the back of his neck and her words seemed to even surprise herself. “Let’s come together.”

Even through the climaxing and the amount of time that Sam had been going back and forth on top of Olivia, she wanted him so badly and had allowed herself to be completely at his mercy. At first it had frightened her—she had thought about going back home and not living this kind of life. A life that allowed others to take advantage of you, and in the case of Olivia, a life that had allowed her to fall in love with a complete stranger.

She reached up to kiss him. Again, Olivia started to feel tense, until Sam panted, “I’m coming.”

He sighed heavily and kissed her. “Are you okay?”

She knew she was quiet through her orgasm, but she had expended all of her vocal energy before she got to that point.

She nodded and smiled. “I’m so much more than okay. Even better than being better…” Olivia wasn’t making any sense. All she knew was that she needed more. Her pussy was hurting and feeling empty as Sam rolled to the side.

“Where you going?” she asked as she looped her arm into his, trying to get him to hold her in his arms.

“To my room?” He lifted an eyebrow at her and she fell into his deliciously chocolate eyes.

“I want more.”

Sam laughed at the fact that she seemed to enjoy using that word. “More?”

She nodded as she lay on his chest. “So much more.”

Chapter Eleven

Olivia

“Olivia? Olivia, it's Lucy.” There was another knock at the door.

Olivia untangled herself from Sam's arms and grabbed her robe as she shuffled over to the door. What time was it? She felt her stomach rumbling; clearly they had missed breakfast. She'd been busy with other things, mostly all the delicious parts that Sam had to offer.

Another knock. Shit, she really hoped that Lucy would wake Sam up. Just getting her bear to agree to get out of bed was hard enough, though as she looked over her shoulder, she realized that waking him up might be harder than waking up the dead. He was out, and snoring loudly.

She swung open the door just as Lucy was raising her hand to knock again. “Yes?” she said, dragging her fingers through her hair. God, her bedhead was awful, and she probably looked like a mess. She smelled like sex too, a great combination for… what time was it? She looked across the hallway at the clock on the wall, almost lunchtime. Excellent, at least there would be something to eat soon.

“Oh, you are in here. I wasn't sure…”

Olivia raised an eyebrow at her. Today she had an apron on with dogs: dogs with clown noses. Yup, this lady really knew how to show off her fashion sense.

“Well, I'm here.”

“Have you seen Sam?”

She took a deep breath. “No.”

“Did you see him last night? I thought perhaps you two might've come in together.”

“Yeah we did…” Olivia pulled the door shut behind her and stood in the hallway with Lucy. “But then I assume he went back to his room for the night.”

Lucy's eyes scanned Olivia's body and she gave her judging glare. “If you say so. Anyway, I'm not here to gossip. But your brother is on the phone.”

Shit. “Which one?”

She wasn't even going to try to be annoyed about the fact that one of them had figured out where she had gone. Her brothers were cunning, and constantly looking out for her. She wasn't the youngest of the group, but they all had this little sister mentality about them.

“I think he said his name was Garrett?”

Well at least he was the easiest one to handle. He was four years younger than Olivia, and she could boss him around and tell him what to do. This conversation would be quick and painless.

“Where can I take the call?”

“There's a telephone at the end of this hall, or you can use the one on the front desk.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow at Lucy. “I'm still in my robe, so the one at the end of the hall sounds great, thanks.” Lucy turned on her heel and Olivia followed her to a sitting room at the end of the hall with a small old timey telephone. “I'll close the door as I go.”

Lucy shut the door behind her and Olivia picked up. “Hi Garrett. So I guess you found me.”

“And it's a good thing I did, Olivia! Mom and Dad are freaking out, Brock and Taylor are a mess, and you were nowhere to be found. What the hell?”

“Listen Garrett, I'm just on a little vacation…”

“Well that’s nice for you, but while you’re vacationing, we’re under attack.”

Olivia practically dropped the phone. “Attack? What are you talking about?”

“Wolverines, Liv. It's a freaking mess here. Some guy came into a bar outside of town and created a huge mess for us. He's ranting and raving about how the Wolverines are coming after us, and it's a nightmare. So if you could cut your little vacation a little short we would all appreciate it.”

“Wait, start over. What the hell is a Wolverine doing on our territory?”

“No idea. He just showed up one night, totally drunk and out of his mind. He swung on a couple of our guys and they ripped him up. Apparently got pretty ugly, and bloody. But this guy is talking about how the Wolverines want our territory, about how they're coming for us.”

She rolled her eyes. “So you’re telling me that I have to come home because a ranting drunk freaked you all out. Really, Garrett? This is some serious crap.”

“It's not, Liv. It's all true, and if you were here you would realize that the situation is a lot more serious. Wolverines have been a mess ever since…” He paused and Olivia waited for him to continue.

“Ever since when?”

“Ever since Bianca.”

Olivia's lip began to tremble immediately. She took a deep breath before responding. “What does Bianca have to do with any of this?”

“Apparently she was seeing one of the Wolverines.”

“What?” She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Bianca was brilliant, the smartest of the bunch. She would never go outside the clan to find a mate. And a Wolverine? Those guys were disgusting pigs. They treated women like crap. There was no way that she had fallen for one of them.

“She didn't want anyone to know, but I heard her talking one night. He's not from our clan, Liv. He's definitely one of theirs.”

“I don't believe you. Maybe she was flirting, sure, but nothing serious.”

“Whatever. But since the incident things have been really temperamental with the Wolverines. They were making a lot of threats, and apparently Dad and Brock just haven't been telling us about them. With this guy making a general declaration in front of a bunch of our clan, we have to react. You know Dad, be proactive, not reactive. They want to send a clear message back to the Wolverines: don’t mess with our territory.”

“So let him. You don't need me for any of that.”

“We do. Mom and Dad are panicked that something is going happen to you while you're gone. You need to be here where everyone can be safe. Olivia, you can't trust anyone.”

She thought back to Sam sleeping in her bed and how she had divulged so much to him the night before. Was he really on her side? Was he really the escape that she had been needing? Or would her freedom be cut short because he was digging for information? Suddenly she felt like she couldn’t believe anything anyone was saying. Her own sister had been hiding secrets from her. This changed everything.

“I'll come back when I'm ready.”

“Oh, you’ll come back in the next couple days, because otherwise, Dad is sending out a search party for you. And you know me, Liv, I'm no good with secrets.”

“You're a pansy who doesn't like to get beat up by Dad when you know something you’re not supposed to.”

“Same thing.”

“Fine, just give me two days. I'll come home.”

“You know we all miss her, right?”

He was talking about Bianca again. She could hardly take it. “I know.”

“No, you say you know but you don't. We all miss her, and we all blame ourselves for that night. I know it's harder on you than the rest of us but you have to know that you're not going through this alone. You have to stop acting like you are.”

“I said I'm coming home, okay? I don't need you to throw me some guilty shade right now.”

“Fine, I'll see you in a couple days.”

“Fine,” she said before hanging up the phone.

She took a deep breath and left the sitting room, shuffling down the old carpet of the hallway. She was going to have to wake up Sam. She was going to have to tell him the truth about who she really was. But first she needed to decide if she could trust him or not.

Chapter Twelve

Sam

Sam's hand clutched his cellphone on the bedside table as it continued to ring. How had his pants gotten over there?

“Hello?” he mumbled into the phone. But in just a minute, he was sitting straight up at full attention as Ty's voice met him at the other end of the line.

“Sam? I need a favor.”

“Sure, what's up?” Sam asked groggily as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes.

“That girl, Olivia. You need to bring her to the den. I need to talk with her, Itan business. Bring her here as soon as possible.”

Sam immediately felt his bear's reaction; the Alpha had given him a direct order. Even though he didn't want to take Olivia to the den, he didn't have another choice. But he could still question why.

“Ty, what's going on? I know you said you knew that Olivia was a shifter, but do you really need to meet her?”

“Do you know what Olivia's last name is, Sam?”

Sam shook his head. Damn, he was now the type of guy who slept with a girl without even knowing her last name. That would be his first question for her whenever she came back into the bedroom. Where was she anyway? “No.”

“It's Bradwick. Like the Bradwick royal family. She is shifter royalty, Sam. And she shows up in my town along with you, who is next in line for the Louisiana territory. Do you really think I don't know what's going on here?”

Sam was dumbfounded. Olivia was a Bradwick girl? Every major shifter family in the country knew about the Bradwicks. Their home base was one of the largest shifter populated towns in the United States. They had connections all the way through North America. What was she doing in Grayslake, after all? Just trying to get away after her sister's death didn't make sense anymore.

“A Bradwick? Ty, if you think I knew that, you're crazy. I had nothing to do with her coming here. It was a freak accident, I promise.”

He heard Ty sigh on the other end of the line. “I want to believe you, Sam, but I need to see for myself. Bring the girl here, immediately.” Sam wanted to protest even more but then he realized that Ty had already hung up the phone.

Shit. This wasn't going to be easy.

Just then Olivia walked back into the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. Clearly she didn't realize that Sam was awake.

“We need to talk.”

She took a deep breath and nodded at him. “Yeah, we do. My brother just called me. There's some issues at home. I have to go, and soon.”

She crossed the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to him. She was still wrapped in that delicious little robe that she wore, and it took every ounce of him not to allow his fingers to creep up under the silky fabric, but he had to focus. He had a job to do.

“You need to go home to the Bradwicks? You kinda failed to mention that you are shifter royalty.”

“So what if I am? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Because that's why you think everyone blames you about her sister's death. That you knocked her off to get closer to the top, is that what you believe?”

“People can believe whatever they want. Hell, clearly you can believe whatever you want. But what happened to Bianca had nothing to do with power. Like you said last night, it was an accident. A devastating one that has broken my heart and ruined my world. But at some point, I need to move on, I hoped you’d do that with me. I was hoping you would come home with me.”

“Well, we can't do anything right now.”

She crossed her arms, annoyed. “And why is that?”

“Because the local Itan wants to meet you. He knows who you are. He wants to know why you came to Grayslake, and he wants to know why we’re together.”

“My sex life is none of the clan’s business. It never has been and it never will be. Besides, I don't have to answer to some local clan leader.”

“And that's where you're wrong. You're in his territory, so you have to follow his rules. Your little stunt with freedom here, it's never quite that easy. Trust me, I know.”

She sighed heavily and then fell back on the bed. “Shit. Okay, so we going to meet with him and then what? There's no way he just wants to meet me. He’s probably known that I've been here the whole time. He could've pulled me out of here at any moment, so why didn't he?”

That was his turn for the truth. “He asked me to keep an eye on you.”

She immediately pushed off the bed and sat straight up, staring at him. “What? I don't need a babysitter!”

“I wasn't trying to babysit you. I was looking for an excuse to get close to you.”

She stood up, flailing her arms, “What? So you could get in my pants? Is that what this is all about? Here I am asking you to come with me, and you’re just trying to get information. My brother was right!”

Sam stood so determined to convince her that that wasn't the case. “No. This had nothing to do with getting in your pants. This had everything to do with the fact that I'm pretty sure you're my mate. Not to mention I'm falling in love with you.”

That stopped Olivia in her tracks. She turned around to face him; they were only inches apart now. “What did you say?”

“I'm falling in love with you. I know it's completely crazy. But it's the truth. And here's more of the truth: I left Louisiana because my father is the clan chieftain. He's also one crazy asshole who I can't stand. So if you’re going back home, I will go with you. I can't stay here. And honestly, at this point, if you were leaving I wouldn't want to.”

He wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her into him. She reached up on her tiptoes and laid a kiss on his lips. “So I guess we both have our secrets then, huh?”

He nodded, leaning his forehead down to touch hers. “I guess we do.”

“So if we’re together are we considered one of those power couples?”

He laughed at her. “Yeah. I think that's why Ty has a bit of a problem with us.”

“Yeah, I guess I can understand that. So your dad is a chieftain?”

“And you’re Bradwick royalty?”

“Yeah, I guess things just got a lot more interesting.”

“Yeah, they did.”

Chapter Thirteen

Olivia

Olivia stood grasping Sam's hand at the bottom of the stairs to the den. “Do I look all right?”

Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “You look fine, why are you so nervous?”

“Because this is the first kind of political thing I've done. Usually my dad handles all the stuff or my brothers. Bianca and I just always kind of hung back. We stayed out of the spotlight.”

“Well, now is your chance to shine, sweetheart.”

Olivia rolled her eyes at him. “I guess so.”

She ascended the stairs in front of him but never let go of his hand. She hoped that this conversation would go better than she was anticipating. But as she entered the home, she could already feel the tension. Clearly Ty hadn't believed Sam that they weren’t staging some sort of coup against him. She understood why the local Itan was convinced that they had ulterior motives for being in this town. She really had just been on a vacation, and then she happened to find Sam, but that was an unexpected benefit of her little escape. She walked into what looked like a living room. The place had darker furnishings but a woman sat in a chair by herself, beaming at them.

She stood up and extended her hand to Olivia as soon as she entered the room. “Hi, I’m Mia! It's so nice to meet you. Please come in.”

Sam dipped his head at her and he and Olivia sat side-by-side on the sofa.

“Can I offer y'all some sweet tea? I think there are some scones in the kitchen too.”

“Sweet tea would actually be great. It's the one Southern thing I haven't done since I've gotten here,” Olivia said. “I don't know how you all do it. This humidity would kill me. I can literally feel my hair rising as I'm talking right now.”

Mia laughed. “I guess it's something you just have to get used too. I’ll be right back.”

Olivia's knee bounced as they waited for Mia to come back with the tea. Just as she reentered the room with a tray Sam put his hand on her leg to try to calm her. “You need to relax. You’re giving off a very weird vibe.”

Olivia nodded at him as Mia poured the tea on the coffee table that sat adjacent to them. Just as Olivia went to reach for her glass, a large man in a Sheriff's uniform entered the room and Sam and Mia stood. Mia crossed the room in a couple strides and flung her arms around him giving him a kiss full on the mouth while Sam casually sat back down.

“I guess this is the Itan?”

Sam nodded to her. She felt her heart flutter in her chest. She knew she needed to calm down, as they hadn't done anything wrong, but still she was panicked. Her mother always said she was a worry wart.

“Olivia, I presume?”

Olivia stood and offered her hand. “It's nice to meet you.”

He had a hard grip on her hand as he shook it. “I wish it was under better circumstances.”

She nodded. “As do I.” He let go and sat in a chair across the room near the front windows. Mia delivered a glass of tea to him and sat sipping her own.

“So tell me about your business here.”

“I came for a vacation, to be honest. Since you know that I'm part of the Bradwick clan, I'm sure that you know about my family. And about my sister Bianca.”

“Yes, I was sorry to see that you recently lost her. I'm sure that's been very hard for you.”

“Yes it has,” she said, taking another swig of tea out of her glass. She needed a moment to collect herself before continuing. “It's been hard on my whole family, but I was there when it happened. It's been especially difficult for me, so I came to Grayslake to get away from it all. But unfortunately, while I was here some events have started to transpire back at home. I have to leave immediately to get back to my family.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at her. “Events? You never did say why your brother called you.”

Olivia took a deep breath. “We have Wolverines that neighbor our territories. They’re feisty and scrappy and they make ridiculous accusations whenever they get a chance. They also like to drink a bit more than they should. Since I've been gone there has been an allegation made against my sister and my family. According to a Wolverine, Bianca was seeking the attention of one of their men. Apparently this guy has lost his mind or something, I don't really know, but it’s led my father to believe that they will attempt to attack us. And although we have a lot of territory and a lot of members in our clan, the Bradwicks are an old family. We don't have a ton of allies anymore, and if the Wolverines really make a claim to our territory, I don't know that we can stand against them. So you understand my need to get home, to make sure that they see that the family stands together. I don't really want to cut my trip short, as I really like it here, but I don't have another choice.”

Olivia looked at Ty and saw that he was considering her situation. He set his glass down on the side table and leaned forward, his badge shining in the sunlight coming through the window. “So you really didn't know that Sam was from the Louisiana clan?”

“No. I had no idea until you invited us here and all of this came to light. Sam and I had a little bit of a come to Jesus moment right before we got here. We told each other everything.”

Ty set his hands into a steeple below his chin. “And what did the two of you decide?”

“Well we…”

Sam interrupted her. “Olivia hadn't told me why she needed to go home. This changes things.”

Olivia's breath caught in her chest. What did it change? Did he no longer love her just because there was possible danger around the corner?

“She wanted me to go home with her. To continue our relationship there, but I think that we need to perform a mating ritual. I need to claim her, so that way the Wolverines see that she has the Louisiana clan behind her as well. They would never think to attack two clans.”

“That's an interesting concept,” Ty said as he leaned back in his chair.

“But Sam, I thought you didn't want to accept your birthright. I thought that's why you left your family,” Mia said from the corner.

“As long as my father still lives, I can't go home. But that doesn't mean that I don't have some friends there still, friends that will fight with us if I ask. If my birthright helps Olivia out, then I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this work.”

Olivia's heart swelled in her chest. She couldn't make him do that. This wasn't his responsibility, and it wasn't his fight. “We can discuss that at another time. That's not what’s important right now. What's important is that I get home to my family and see if this is even as big a deal as my younger brother says it is. He does have the tendency to exaggerate a little bit. But I still want Sam to come with me.”

Ty nodded. “This is a very unique situation. Nomad going out with the Princess. But as long as you don’t bring those Wolverines here, I don't have a problem with it. No offense, but I'd rather the two of you not be in my territory much longer. The relationship makes many of our clan members uncomfortable.”

“But how do they even know?”

“If you really think that innkeeper doesn't gossip when she plays cards at the local church? Then honey, you have another thing coming to you,” Mia said, smiling.

Of course, Lucy. She had them figured out from the moment that she met them. She probably knew that they were meant to be together before Olivia or Sam did.

“I should've known,” Sam said, shaking his head.

“Yes, we should have. So what does this mean? We’re free to go?”

Mia clapped her hands together. “There's one more thing. We’re hosting a little bit of a party tonight, just getting some of the locals together. End of the summer thing, ya know? A local caterer is doing all the food, so you know it will be fabulous. Have you heard of Cadence?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah she makes cakes sometimes for the inn.”

“Fabulous! So we’re going to go out back and let you meet some people, and assure them that you're leaving, make everyone else feel little bit more comfortable.”

Ty stood from his spot near the window. “In case I don't get to see you at the party, Olivia, I hope that things work out between your family and the Wolverines. I know what nasty little creatures they can be. Always trying to take on someone twice their size. Don't underestimate them.”

Olivia nodded. “Thanks for the tip.”

Mia and Ty walked out of the living room while Sam and Olivia sat clutching one another.

“You want to be my mate? Really?”

“If that's what keeps you safe. Anything.”

“I don’t know what to say, Sam,” she said. It was the first time in a long time she was truly at a loss for words. Olivia always had a comeback, but this time she was dumbfounded. He really cared about her that much.

“Let's just go eat. If there's one thing I learned about Grayslake, it’s that they really know how to throw a party.”

He stood and took her hand, leading her out of the living room and toward the back of the house through the kitchen and into the backyard. Night was just beginning to fall and some teenagers were lighting up a bonfire near the back of the property. Tables and tables of food stood in front of them and everything smelled absolutely delicious. Loud country music blared out of speakers and people began to dance. Olivia held Sam's hand as she smiled, watching Mia and Ty scoop up a little girl and dance together. Ty may have looked rough on the outside and a little stoic to her, but she realized that that was just his position weighing on him. When he was with his family, he looked so much more relaxed.

“Is he always like that?”

Sam shrugged. “I've only known him a couple months. But he seems happy, don't you think?”

He did. Olivia wondered if she would be happy like that one day, twirling around with Sam and a child. Was that in her future?

Sam took a deep bow and held his hand out in front of her. “Can I have this dance?”

She smiled broadly and curtsied at him. “It would be my honor.”

He pulled her in close to him and they swung around spinning, as the stars began to come out. She could hear laughter all around her—people truly having a good time.

For a moment, everyone seemed to not have a care in the world. And even Olivia could let go of the Wolverines and her family back home for an evening. They would leave in the morning, and then she would have to face the real world once again. But for now, for tonight, all she needed was Sam, the music, and the moon.

Chapter Fourteen

Sam

Sam spun Olivia around like she was a ballerina. She giggled at him, her dark ringlets falling into her eyes. He couldn't believe the nervous girl from the den had so quickly changed into this fun-loving dance partner of his. The music stopped and turned to a slower tune, but Olivia was out of breath. As much as he wanted to continue dancing with her, he knew he should grab a drink. Maybe that would even loosen her up a little more. It certainly couldn’t hurt to try.

“Want me grab you something from the bar?”

She paused, chewing on her lower lip for a moment.

“That is, unless you're ready to go?” he offered. “I know that you're ready to get back your family.”

She shook her head adamantly. “That journey can wait until morning. Tonight I just want to dance and eat and have a good time. Before we have to go back and deal with all the drama, does that make sense?”

He nodded at her. “It makes perfect sense. So what would you like from the bar?”

She cocked her head a little to the side. “An amaretto sour? I mean, if they can make me one. If not, lemonade with a shot of vodka would be great.”

So the girl had a drink. Something else he would have to learn about her. He kissed her on the cheek before leaving her out on the grass that had become the dance floor and made his way toward the makeshift bar, which was mostly tables with a couple guys standing behind them, pouring drinks. It wasn't fancy, but it didn't need to be. It was just an end of summer picnic with a bunch of shifters, nothing strange about that. The first guy behind the table was someone that Sam had encountered a few times in the den. His name was Van, and he was a nice guy, one of Ty's brothers. But Sam hadn't had too much interaction with him.

“Do you know how to make an amaretto sour?”

The guy raised an eyebrow at him. “Course I do. And what are you drinking, because I know that's not for you.”

“Always bourbon.”

Van nodded as he began to work. “So I heard you're leaving town, got yourself a woman and everything.”

Sam looked over his shoulder and noticed Olivia talking to a couple other clan members. She had a bright smile on her face, not a care in the world. “Yeah, something like that.”

“A Bradwick girl. I never would've thought you the type.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Those girls are trouble. I met the sister once, and she seemed all poised, smart, and pretty relaxed, but deep down, she had a lot more going on.”

Sam didn't want to gossip about Olivia’s sister but at the same time he wondered if Van had information about this whole Wolverine issue. He pretended to be interested in a few of the bottles on the table while he continued the conversation. He held up the bourbon he wanted and passed it to Van.

“What do you mean? Olivia is feisty, but I like that about her.”

“No it wasn't that. Her sister didn't want the territory. Kind of like you in that way. I don't know if there were family issues or what the problem was, but this guy passed through here few months ago, said that sister was going to be with a Wolverine, bring their two territories together. I guess her parents weren’t too happy about it.”

“Wait, her parents knew she was with a Wolverine?”

“Knew or found out the rumor, I’m not really sure. And you and I both know that there can definitely be a difference. But yeah, as far as I heard they told her that she had to call it off immediately. But of course, then you know what happened.”

“Yeah, I know what happened.” Van set the drinks down in front of Sam and he stood holding the chilled glasses for a moment longer than he should have. Questions swirled in Sam’s head.

“You okay?” Van asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah, I just… something doesn’t make sense. You said that the Wolverine came through here? Ty didn't mention that.”

Van shook his head, “I don't think he knew. Those guys are pathological liars though, so I don't even believe all the crap he said. He was only here for a day, stopping through.”

“Stopping through on his way to where? There's no Wolverine territory in the South.”

Van shrugged. “I didn’t think to ask. I mean, this guy was drunk off his ass spouting crazy stuff. I just try to keep my head down and just listen to these types of matters if you know what I mean. You get better information that way.”

“Yeah you do.” Just like when you were standing at a makeshift bar and you find out there could be enemies among the group.

Van smiled reassuringly. “Enjoy the drink man, and good luck on your trip.”

Sam raised glasses up to him, still confused by the information. “Yeah, thanks.”

As he walked back over towards where Olivia was standing he was trying to make sense of what he had just heard. A Wolverine in Grayslake? And a couple months ago, just when he arrived. Was Ty so focused on Sam that he hadn't noticed that Wolverines wandered into their territory? He was tempted to find Ty and ask him. But first he would deliver the drink to Olivia, check in with her. But as he continued to walk over toward the group of people that Olivia had been talking to, he realized he couldn't see her in the crowd anymore.

The caterer, Cadence, was standing there, talking to a few clan members that Sam wasn't familiar with. “Hey, did you see where Olivia went?”

Cadence shook her head. “I'm sorry but I didn't. She was just here a moment ago, nice girl, that one.”

Sam craned his neck, searching the crowd, but Olivia was nowhere to be found. The ice was beginning to melt in her drink. He swished the ice cubes around and scanned the crowd once more. Where was she?

Chapter Fifteen

Olivia

“Let go of me!”

Olivia had a man flanking her on either side, gripping her upper arms. She attempted to drag her feet at first, but now she was kicking and threatening to bite them if they got too close. One moment, she was standing talking to some clan members and the caterer, Cadence, about heading back home, and the next, a group was shuffling her toward the woods. And now here she was, standing in the dark with two strangers leading her to an unknown location.

She was in so much trouble.

“I swear to God, you better let me go, or you're going to be in some serious pain.” Freaking asshole, as soon as she could she would let him have it.

One man laughed, a deep cackle. They were both slightly shorter than her but a lot stronger. How had she gotten grabbed? How could she have not been paying enough attention to realize that as the group moved toward the trees a couple of the guys were pulling her away. She just been so enamored with the party, she let her guard down. That was a mistake.

“What the hell do you want with me anyway?”

Suddenly she heard a voice from behind her. “It's not you that we want.”

“What? What do you want?”

A man walked forward out of the protective shadows of the trees, wearing a dark gray suit with a navy tie. He was short like the men who were holding her, with black hair slicked to one side. He looked slimy. But she couldn't let him know that she was afraid of him. For now, she wasn't afraid of anything.

He stepped closer to her, the moonlight illuminating his face. He had a sickening scar from the top of his forehead down through his eye and partway on his cheek. She didn't recognize him. She didn’t like what she saw, though. Someone with a scar like that had been through some serious shit.

“I want Bianca.”

Well, that was unexpected. Olivia's brows came together in confusion. “My sister is dead. And what do I have anything to do with that? What do you want with her anyway?”

“I understand that she didn't tell you about me,” he said as he put his hands behind his back and began to pace in front of her and her assailants. “I'm not sure why that is. I have to find her; you understand that now. Now that you've met Sam. It doesn't matter that you’re from such different clans, you want to be together.”

This guy was an effing nut job. There was no doubt in her mind.

“I don't know what you're going on about, but I've no idea who you are and Bianca is dead. Now just let me go!” She struggled against her attackers, but one growled at her in response and bared his teeth. An ugly little man who was balding, he had more hair on his arms than his head. She could feel her bear prowling beneath the surface. But even if she shifted, she couldn't take on three at once. She wasn’t a skilled enough fighter to handle them, and they knew it. It was why they sent two men to collect her. They knew she could have taken out one of them, but not all three.

“Bianca isn't dead.” He said it so confidently she nearly believed him for a moment.

“Like hell she isn’t! I was there. What do you know about it anyway?”

“I was there too, at the lake. The night in the dark. She was supposed to run away with me. Get away from your parents and all the prying eyes of being shifter royalty. We were going to combine our clans and make our territory great. But I couldn't find her that night.”

“That's because she drowned. I don't know how else I can say this to you. I'm sorry your little fantasy didn't come to fruition, but my sister is gone.”

“They never found the body, did they Olivia?”

Olivia sucked in a deep breath, trying to steady herself. She knew the truth—they hadn't ever recovered her body. They buried an empty casket on the family plot. The police force found it hard to believe, but it was a huge lake, and some of the crevices couldn't be searched properly. They assumed that she fell into one of those cavernous spaces, the deepest, darkest places of water. Olivia had pushed all that from her mind for so long; she didn't want to think about her sister's body down there all alone in the dark.

“No,” she said in a low voice, simply unsure of what else to tell him. This guy was clearly a crazy man, and she doubted Bianca even ever gave him the time of day. He was a stalker, nothing more.

“That's because she got out of the water, Olivia. She was supposed to come with me, but somehow our plans fell apart. And now I’ve spent months looking for her, waiting for one of you to come out of the compound you call home and get the information I need.”

Olivia's arms were starting to hurt from them squeezing her. She considered fighting against them once more but she knew it was useless. Sam would realize that she was missing soon, and he would come for her. She just had to keep this guy talking long enough to buy her some time. “You're wrong. I don't know what you think she told you, but none of that ever happened.”

He stopped walking and got close enough to Olivia that she could smell his overbearing cologne. “I know so much more about her than you ever will.”

Olivia rolled her eyes. “I was her sister, you idiot! I knew everything about her. And I know that her body is at the bottom of that lake.”

“You think you know that. I should've tried to snatch one of your brothers instead. I'm sure your parents have told them the truth about where they’re hiding her. Boys, you can let her go, she's not going to be of any use to us.”

The man to Olivia's right looked up at her and bared his teeth. His eyes turned a familiar black color that she had become accustomed to her whole life and she realized quickly that the things that were sprouting out of his mouth were not consistent with the bear. These were the Wolverines. Just as the man in the suit began to walk away from her, she heard the pounding of paws on the forest floor. The man in the suit looked over his shoulder at Olivia and said, “Until next time.”

Like hell.

He dipped his head at her and then tore off through the trees. She considered running after him but first, she would deal with the muscle he left behind. Her teeth became the jaws of the angry grizzly that she held inside and she tore into the man on her right. He screamed in agony, pulling away from her. Just as she turned to the left to take care of the other one, a black bear came barreling at them, taking the man on her left without a problem and snapping his neck before he even hit the ground. The man on the right had already begun the change and she watched as his body twisted and contorted itself until it was a small Wolverine bearing its fangs just a few feet away from her. His neck was still dripping in blood—she had made her mark. She felt her claws start to come out of her fingers as another bear came from the other direction, behind the Wolverine, and jumped on its back. He ripped its head off and shook it before throwing it into the woods. The black bear shifted back first and Sam stood in front of her, trembling with anger.

“What the hell happened to you?”

Olivia flung her arms around his neck. “I was talking to these people one second, and the next, I was in the woods and this guy is yelling at me about Bianca being alive!”

The other bear swiftly transformed into a human once more and Ty stood towering over both of them. “Why do I have two dead Wolverines in my territory?”

Olivia threw her hands up in the air. “The hell if I know! There was a third, he was crazy! Blabbering on about my sister. Acting like they were together and she was going to leave with him? It doesn't make any sense! Bianca is gone.” The words came rushing out. She could hardly control her bear she was so anxious and confused. This night had fallen apart so quickly. Crazy ass Wolverines.

Sam ran his hands through his hair and Ty began to walk through the night back toward the party. “Follow me.” It was an order and both Olivia and Sam walked dutifully behind him as he talked.

“A couple months ago, a Wolverine came through here, spouting some craziness about your sister. It's how we knew she had passed. I didn't think anything of it at the time, as Wolverines are horrible liars and just generally not great guys. But staging a kidnapping on my territory? During a God damned party? No way in hell am I to let that go!”

“The only reason they came here is because of me! We shouldn't have stayed for the party; we should have just left. I'm so sorry, Ty.”

“No. I'm sorry. When you mentioned Wolverines back at the house I should've told you that one had come through here. But I didn't realize that they were still around. He must've heard that you were here.”

Olivia nodded vigorously as she stepped over twigs and branches on the way back through the woods. “He said that he was waiting for one of us, one of my family to leave the clan. He was targeting me, but he acted like I should know something. He said that my family was hiding Bianca from him, but that can’t be true. I'm sure she's not at home.” She couldn’t be. Not after all this time. Olivia’s head swam with thoughts of that night. Pieces of her memory fading in an out of view. Diving down to grab her sister’s hand and coming up empty. The boats searching the lake. Bears wandering around sniffing out her scent. But nothing. No one had ever found a clue.

So they ruled it an accidental drowning. But what if it wasn’t?

“She might not be at your home, she might not even be alive, but the Wolverines definitely think she is, and you have to tell your family about that.”

Ty stopped at the edge of the woods. “I’ll set up a perimeter, I wish half my guys weren’t plastered right now, though. It would help to have a couple sober bears around here.”

Sam sighed heavily. “I wish we could stay and help, Ty, but clearly we have some business to attend to.”

Ty shook Sam's hand and looked down at Olivia. “It seems that you do. But if things get really ugly up there, know that you can count on the Grayslake clan to have your back. I'll send out some of my best guys to find this man who attacked you. Justice will be served.”

Olivia took a deep breath and gave him a weak smile. She knew that Ty wouldn’t catch him, since he was already long gone. But eventually, she and Sam would find out the truth: what really happened to Bianca that night, and who this Wolverine really was.

Ty left them in the protection of the trees and Olivia once again put her arms around Sam's neck. “That was an eventful evening,” she said trying to catch her breath.

He looked into her eyes and put his forehead against her own. “A little too eventful. I was just trying to get you a drink. You didn't have to go do all that to get attention.”

He pushed her so that her back was against a tree, and she felt its rough bark on the back of her arms. “You weren’t worried, were you?”

He shook his head. “I was more pissed than worried. I know you can handle yourself. Besides, I missed out on a good glass of bourbon chasing some Wolverine ass through these woods.”

She laughed at him. Of course he was worried about his bourbon, when she was worried that they would never truly be safe. Not until all of this was resolved. But for now they were safe; that crazy man wouldn’t be dumb enough to come back tonight. No, he was gone. Maybe she would be lucky and he would let this go. But she doubted it. If in his mind he really believed Bianca was alive, he wouldn’t give up. To him, the truth didn’t matter, if it wasn’t the one he wanted to believe. But still there were so many questions about that night and the deep dark water…

“Do you really think what he said was true? About Bianca being alive?”

Sam shook his head, his blonde locks reflecting the moonlight. “I don't know. But I guess we need to find out. You ready to do that?”

Olivia nodded. “It's time to go home.”

Sam moved forward and pressed his lips against hers and she inhaled his deep woodsy scent. She'd only been gone a few days, but so much had changed.

Bianca might be alive.

She was going home after meeting the love of her life.

And the Grayslake clan had her back.

Not bad for a little getaway, not bad at all.

Hi Reader!

Thanks SO much for reading UnBearable Secrets. I really hope you enjoyed it, if so and you want to find out more about Sam, Olivia and all my couples head on over to my Amazon Page to find more sexy shifter stories!

Xoxo,

Terra

You should definitely also take a look at these other Grayslake Books….

A Bite of Love from Ally Summers

There was a beautiful girl in his bed.
A dead body outside.
And a shifter war in his backyard.

Case
Kings aren’t supposed to run, but what choice did Case Maddox, king of the jaguar Tribe, have when he lived in the same town as his fated mate ex?
Arriving in Grayslake angry, vengeful and broken, Case needed an escape. Shifters in the south are encroaching on his territory. His shifter warriors have lost hope. The last thing this king was looking for was redemption … or love.

Cadence
Living in a town of shifters hasn't been easy, but Cadence Hathaway was born and raised in Grayslake and there was nowhere else she wanted to call home. Resigned to end up as the town spinster, she threw herself into work, until a broody stranger showed up at the old Maddox estate.

One look at the town’s newest resident and Cadence knows she's in trouble. Broody, dark and mysterious she is ready to find out about the King's tastes, both on and off his plate.

Waking the Bear from Ruby Shae

After suffering the ultimate humiliation at her cousin’s wedding, Audrey Harris leaves her old life behind, and drives until she reaches Grayslake, Georgia. Faced with staying put, or heading north, she decides to stay. Unfortunately, the atmosphere at the B&B where she’s staying isn’t conducive to her plan to give up men, and soon, she ends up at the local bar looking for an ego boost. 

Bear shifter, Tad Mitchell, knows first-hand what it feels like to be betrayed by a lover, and he has the physical scars to prove it. Once a romantic, he gave up on women five years ago when his ex-girlfriend threw him away like garbage. When his fated mate walks into his brother’s bar, he easily rebuffs her advances until he’s forced to do the right thing. 

Now that Tad has Audrey in his home, he can’t get rid of the sassy, curvy beauty, and the worst part is, he’s not even sure he wants to. No, he definitely wants to, but she’s so stubborn. And sexy. And smart…and he really does need an office manager. When Audrey’s life is on the line, Tad has to decide whether or not to live in the past, or to claim his mate and embrace the future.

Dirty Lion Bastard from Renee George

Curvy tiger shifter Scottie Monroe, along with her mom and Aunt Tig, own the Pitch & Paw Bar and Motel--a neutral safe haven for shifters who want to avoid conflicts as they pass through the area. Scottie has a hard fast rule. No hooking up with the customers, but that was before tall, dark, and flirty Shane Largos walked through her door. 

Shane, a lion shifter, has travelled to Georgia to find the man who walked out on his human mother after getting her pregnant, leaving her with a bastard shifter son, and no pride to protect either of them. Shane plans to challenge his father, as is his right, even if it means he’ll probably be killed.

From the moment Shane meets Scottie, his animal and human side want her more than he wants air to breathe. A lie of omission leads to a night of scorching passion, but when Scottie discovers Shane’s real purpose for coming to Georgia, she is determined to save him from himself, even if it means putting herself in harms way. 

Can Shane’s love for Scottie overshadow his long standing anger? Or is hate and revenge stronger than a shifter’s instinct to claim his mate.

Bears Do It Better from Jessie Lane

Misha and Borys sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G …
Misha falls in lust at first sight with the big, sexy bear shifter, but she doesn't have time for his mating nonsense. Raised in Russia by tiger shifters, she came to America to follow up on her first real lead for finding her biological family.
Borys wants the smokin’ hot bear who recently wandered into town. Now all he has to do is convince Misha that she’s meant to be his. The stubborn woman won’t give him the time of day, though, saying she’s looking for her kin.
His biggest problem? He might be the family she's looking for.

Unbearable Love from K. Collins

Lily Love is running—from her father—from her future husband—from her life. When a message flashes across her computer screen claiming open season in Grayslake, she takes her only chance to experience life before her father drags her back to Montana to bear an heir for the clan. Once in Grayslake, her quest for anonymity vanishes when she’s forced to register at the sheriff’s office as a guest. It’s there she meets Eli Silver. Big, tall, and grumbly, Eli prickles her senses in ways she can’t explain. 

Werebear Eli Silver lives alone in the woods. After a painful betrayal, he’s sworn off love for good and is happiest when it’s just him and his bees. Or so he thinks, until a curvy, beautiful woman walks into his life and stings him right in the heart. Every roaring cell of his body wants to claim Lily, there’s only one problem—she’s not willing to commit. 
With the past swarming around them, can Eli and Lily dig deep to find the courage their love requires? Find out in Unbearable Love.

Bear Up from Mina Carter

Girl meets boy = classic love story. Girl meets bear... Wait, what?

Small town girl Kacie has always known there was something odd about Lizards Lick, but she doesn't expect that oddity to almost claim her life or land her in the arms of her long-term crush; hot veteran Dean. Okay, he's nuts but she can't argue with that, not with a body like his or when he's whispering things like 'fated' and 'destiny'. Even if he does claim to be a werebear...

She's his mate, but she's human. He's so screwed...

Leader of the Lizard Lick bear clan, Dean is between a rock and a hard place. His fated mate is human but he daren't claim her. The elitist asshats in the clan would have kittens. But when an attack brings her over into the bear world, he's out of time and out of options. Even worse, the town has an rogue bear problem and internal clan politics that put Kacie in the crossfire.

Forced to fight battles on all fronts, Dean must bear up or risk losing her forever...

Make Her Howl from Flora Dare

When you’ve loved and lost a fated mate, can you dare to hope for a second chance? 

After her human mate was tragically killed years ago, wolf shifter Magda fled Grayslake and all it meant. She only returned to protect her adopted daughter and she’s determined to stay out of local shifter politics. 

Marc has spent years protecting Grayslake’s shifters after a tragedy of his own. When Magda walks into his life, his inner wolf awakens. He never thought it possible, but she’s living proof that miracles happen. She’s his mate. 

Now he just has to convince her that everyone gets a second chance at love.