Alpha's Rescue (Shifter Ops 5)

I whirl on them, and they fall silent. “No modeling. And, as for whether or not she knows what we are…I don’t know. She might have seen me turn, but she hit her head, and there are blanks in her memory. I’m trying to figure out what she knows.”

“You could seduce her,” Canyon waggles his brows. “Get her to tell you.”

“We’re not dating.” Mate, my bear reminds me. I gnash my teeth. “Is she really famous?”

“Uh, yeah.” Hutch digs for his phone. He clicks around and presents the screen to me. In the photograph, Lana smiles sleepily at the camera, her hair styled in a soft fro. A yellow bikini caresses her curves, and her brown cheeks have a subtle glow that mimics the flush of an orgasm.

Mine, my bear growls.

“Geez, Teddy, don’t grip it so tight.” Hutch tries to grab his phone back, and I hold him off. “You’re gonna break it!”

I’m breathing hard. “Can you delete this?”

“No, it’s on Instagram. There are a whole bunch of them, see?” He scrolls through the feed, and my body temperature must hit 103 degrees. There’s Lana in jeans and a flirty little white off-the-shoulder top, perched on a Corvette. Lana as a pinup-girl, with bouncing curls and scarlett lips to match her tight red dress. She looks incredible. My dick pulses in my jeans. I’m probably one in a million men who are jacking off to this bombshell.

Hutch won’t meet my eyes. “If you downloaded any photos of her, delete them. Now.” I shove the phone back into his hands.

“So you are screwing her,” Canyon says. “Or you want to.”

“No. It's…complicated.”

Bern bows his head, so his hair falls in his face. “So it’s like Tiffany all over again.”

“No,” I growl. “It’s not going to be like that.”

“Are you going to tell Lana about us?” Hutch asks. “About what we are?”

“She might already know. She saw Everest taking care of the bees. And yesterday she saw Axel raiding my freezer.”

“Oh yeah,” Canyon says. “Axel told us. He says he just wanted the deer sausage–”

“He has his own fridge,” I say. “I don't know why he puts stuff in mine.”

“The same reason we put the chickens by you,” Hutch says. “And why Everest keeps the hives over here. We’re keeping an eye on you, for Ma. She’s worried.”

I throw up my hands. “Ma’s asleep!”

“Well, she would be worried, if she wasn’t hibernating. Matthias said it was good for us to check on you.”

“Matthias doesn’t know what’s best for everyone,” I snap. “New rule. No one comes over here unless they’re in human form. Tell Axel and Everest.”

“But Everest has to check the bees,” Hutch says. “You know he likes to do it in bear form. He says they don't sting him as much.”

“Tell him to wear the beekeeper’s suit.”

“He hates the beekeeper’s suit.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Fine. I'll deal with it.”

Canyon steps into my space. “What are you going to do about Lana?”

Tie her to the bed and claim her, my bear suggests. “I don’t know yet.”

“You're not going to mindwipe her, are you?” Canyon glowers.

No! My bear shouts so loud, I’m surprised everyone can’t hear him. “If she knows what we are, that’s exactly what I have to do.”

“But it's not fair,” Hutch sidles next to Canyon. Now there’s a wall of three scrawny brothers blocking me from returning to the cabin. “She wouldn't tell anyone.”

“You don't know that.”

“She won’t. You can trust her. She’s not Tiffany,” Bern says, and I whirl on him, ready to throw a punch.

Three identical faces glare up at me.

I marshall my temper. These are my little brothers, and they mean well. “Look, I have to mindwipe her. She may have seen me turn. She hit her head and doesn’t remember.”

The Terrible Threes wilt. “When are you going to do it?” Canyon asks.

“Soon. I’m waiting to make sure her head heals, so it doesn’t mess her up more than it already will.” I’m fooling myself. Getting memories wiped will affect any human. I can only hope it doesn’t alter her too much.

Bern shakes his head. Hutch looks like I ate his pet hamster.

“It’s wrong,” Canyon says, his hands bunched into fists. “Can’t you just–”

“There’s no other way.” I need to shut this down. Now. “We can’t trust humans. You know that. And family comes first.” I push past the line of my brothers and head towards the cabin. “I’ll tell Lana you said goodbye.”

7

Teddy

When I get back to the cabin, the shower is running. I shuffle around the kitchen, cleaning up.

It’s now or never. I should call Matthias to call a car and take Lana to the nearest leech. If she protests or struggles, we’ll have to sedate her. That’s what we had to do with Tiffany.

The thought of treating Lana like that makes my stomach churn. But I can’t risk letting her off this mountain without being sure she doesn’t know our secret, and I can’t keep her here forever.