“No.I did feel dizzy a few times when I woke up.I’m just tired.Groggy.”
“It is the middle of the night.That’s okay, I have something that will help you feel better.”He pulls out a plastic-wrapped syringe and preps it and a vial of some sort of medicine.The liquid looks clear, but when the light hits it a certain way, it has a red tint.“A dose of this will counteract the drug, okay?”
“Okay.”I must look worried because he rests his hand on mine.
“Do you trust me?”
When he gazes into my eyes like this, I’d do anything for him.Follow him anywhere.“Yes.”
He administers the injection, and I don’t even feel it.Maybe I am a bit numb.
Almost immediately, energy rushes through me, like I just went for a long hike, then drank a four-shot latte.“Whoa.”
“It’s potent, I know.It will heal you of any damage the drug did.”He holds my hand.It’s nice.“Tell me what happened.”
I explain everything from the moment the strangers showed up at my door to waking up in the hotel room and my conversation with my dad.“He says this guy wants to marry me.”
Matthias lets out an inhuman growl, and his eyes turn laser blue.
My eyes widen.I knew he was a bear shifter, but witnessing the signs firsthand sends goosebumps running down my arms.
“Not.Happening.”His words have a snarl to them.
Damn.That’s hot.So hot.
Is he growling overme?Would he make those sounds over any female from Bad Bear who got kidnapped?
Like…would he growl like that for Missy?
I want to think I’m special to him.When I was a teenager, I had this fantasy that one day Matthias would tell me that I was the woman he wanted and that he’d been waiting for years for me to grow up and be ready for him.
But that’s silly.He’s never shown any interest in me other than common courtesy.
“I’ll rip that guy apart before I let him marry you.”
Heat floods between my legs.I want to throw the back of my hand over my forehead in an old-fashioned swoon-pose and moan in a breathy Marilyn Monroe voice, “Take me, Matthias!”
Instead, I blush.Or at least it feels like I must be blushing based on how hot my cheeks and neck get.I clear my throat.“My dad says he owes a lot of money.”
“Hey, guys?”Teddy calls from the driver’s seat.“Wren called in a report from the hotel.Black Wolf helped her get eyes in the hotel, so she can monitor the mission.”
“And?”Matthias keeps holding my hand, his eyes on me.
“Lucky Lou discovered his men were missing.He knows Maisy’s gone.”
I tense.“They’ll be searching for me.”
“They’re not going to find you,” Matthias says.His thumb strokes the top of my hand in a soothing motion.“And even if they did, they have seven werebears to contend with.”
Werebears.He said it out loud.
Since the secret of Bad Bear mountain remains an unspoken one, I’ve never heard any of them acknowledge it.Not even the fact that Everest, the giant Polar-Grizzly who roams town, is clearly not a pet but a brother.I tried to ask Axel about it once, but he denied it, which hurt my feelings.
I turn to Matthias and rest my hand on his muscled chest.We’re sitting so close together I’m practically on his lap, but it feels right.“Why would this guy want to marry me?”
“I don’t know.But our friend Kylie’s digging into him to figure it out.Did you know Allen used to have a trust fund?”
“What?”The wordsAllenandtrust fundtogether don’t make sense.
