Golden Binds

He tilted his head to the side, studying her. She shivered. “Gigi, I’m serious about this. My brothers and I intend to share you. You will be ours. I came here tonight to convince you to come back to the castle with me.”

She snorted. “If you think I’m returning with you you’re delusional. I’m not ever going back there.”

He narrowed his gaze. “You will.” Then his face lightened. “You just don’t understand what’s going on.”

“I understand you think you’re going to share me with your brothers. That you think one orgasm is all it takes to have me falling into your arms. Now, either you go, or I start screaming for help.”

He studied her for a moment. “I’m not leaving. Not until you understand.”

He moved closer, pulled her against him before she could move and kissed her. This kiss was different. Harder. Almost punishing. And definitely possessive. When he drew back from her, they were both breathing heavily.

“Gigi, you have to listen.”

“Nothing you say will convince me to be your fucking whore.”

Smack! His hand landed on her ass, and she jumped, gaping at him.

“Hmm, maybe I haven’t given Sawyer enough credit. That was quite satisfying.” His gaze pierced her. Held her. “That is the last time I want to hear you call yourself a whore. I will never allow anyone to disparage my mate. Including herself.”

“Your what?” Mate? What the hell was that? Like they were animals?

He leaned in, his face dark and dangerous. What happened to the fun-loving, carefree Garret from earlier? Who was this man? She gave a shocked gasp as something happened to his skin. It moved. She swore she saw it ripple.

“Fuck. Shit. I have to go.” His voice was a low growl. Something she could never have imagined would have come from a human. He opened the window and grabbed the rope, chucking it down. Then he turned back. His gaze glowed. He didn’t look like himself.

“I’m coming back, Gigi.” Then he was gone.

She ran to the window, thought she might have caught a flicker of a shadow, but that was it. That rotten bastard.

As he ran, he could feel himself changing. Could feel the bear taking over. He fought for all he was worth, but it wore at his control. On the outskirts of the city, he finally succumbed to the swirling rage, and darkness overtook him.

8

Joe paced up and down his office. He hadn’t been able to wait in the dungeon. Not with the scent of the female lingering in the air. Besides, he’d wanted to come here and check his parents’ records. See if there was anything he could find to help Sawyer. He stopped and ran his hand over his face, trying to calm his impatience. He wanted to go after the female. To find out for himself if she really was theirs.

Knowing Garret, the bastard had no doubt seduced her already. He clenched his hands into fists then forced himself to take a calming breath. Murdering his brother wasn’t going to help. If she was their mate, they would share her. That was a given. He’d always known that. Expected it.

He just hadn’t expected to feel so damn jealous over it.

A shuffling noise caught his attention and he glanced over as Sawyer walked in from outside. He’d gone out a while ago. Joe assumed he had private business to take care of. He couldn’t exactly use a bathroom in his state.

Sawyer saw him, opened his mouth, and let out a roar loud enough to shake the entire state.

“Don’t yell at me!” Joe snapped at him. “Don’t you think if I knew the answer, I’d tell you. I can’t find anything in their records about what to do if you get stuck in bear form and all I can remember from our lessons is that they said you had to use visualisation. You’ve got to imagine yourself in your human form.”

Why hadn’t they paid more attention to their lessons? Maybe because they hadn’t expected their parents to die as they had. Their small, private plane had encountered an unexpected storm. A flash of lightning hit the plane, frying the controls. There was nothing anyone could have done. A freak accident.

Only it had left the three of them without guidance. Garret hadn’t even been out of his teens. Joe had a shaky memory of those lessons at best. Why hadn’t this occurred to him before? He should have been prepared for this. This was his job, to protect and guide his family. But he’d figured they would instinctively know what to do.

Now, they were a mess. It seemed their mate could be a human. He had one brother who was stuck in bear form and another who was off having a grand old time with her. Without him.

“Maybe I should have gone,” he muttered.

Sawyer made a snuffling noise. Probably in agreement, although it was hard to tell.

“Garret will be too busy trying to get inside her pants to tell her any of the important stuff.”

Sawyer just looked at him. “All right, I know. It’s not something we can just knock on her door and announce. It’s not like he can say ‘Hey, how’s it going? I think you’re our mate. You’ve brought forth one of our bears, s