Lumberjack Werebear (Saw Bears Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

Kellen had already managed to drag her past three trailers, and she was having trouble seeing Tagan and Connor in the middle of the men who seemed to be trying to pull them apart.
    She didn’t belong to anyone, and some archaic fight sure as sugar wasn’t going to ensure that she picked either one of them. “I don’t understand.”
    Kellen spun her shoulders and leveled her a look. “I want you to stay. I like you, and we never have soft things around here. I want us to take care of you and fix your paintings, but you don’t want Connor. You don’t. And Tagan isn’t ready for a mate. Best you leave at first light in the morning.”
    “Okay,” she said, her voice wrenching up an octave. Kellen was telling her something important. The desperate look in his eyes said so, but his words were jumbled. Mate ? “I’ll leave.” She’d been planning on it, anyway.
    Kellen’s oversized hands slipped from her shoulders, and he looked back at her once as he walked back toward the men by the fire.
    Whatever relaxed moment she’d found by the fire with those strangers, there was something much deeper going on here. Something she couldn’t fathom, nor would she ever. These men were different from anyone she’d ever met. It took a certain kind of person to live out in the middle of nowhere, away from civilization, and it had apparently taken its toll on all of them.
    Kellen, Tagan, and her own instincts had all warned her off Connor, and now he was going to try and hurt Tagan for some notion of dibs on her. Brooke’s stomach lurched, and for a second, she thought she’d be sick right at the corner of 1010.
    She was nobody’s dibs, and Kellen didn’t need to worry. As soon as dawn streaked the sky, she’d been speeding off in her Volvo.
    Nothing, and no one, could make her stay.

Chapter Four
    Heart pounding, trying to get away. A scream trapped in her throat. Brooke slammed against the wall as the stranger’s palm connected with her cheek again. Whimpering. Was that from her? Scared, scared, scared.
    “You stupid bitch. All you had to do was give me your purse.” Fetid breath. Soulless voice.
    Couldn’t move. Crying. Tears burning tracks down her face. She was going to die in this stairwell. “I tried…” she whispered, desperate to explain. Purse wound around her arm. Couldn’t hand it over fast enough. Now she’d die for clumsiness. “Please don’t kill me.”
    Laughter, empty and cruel. Echoing down the empty stairs. Rotted teeth showed in an empty smile. A slash of light reflecting off silver. The blade.
    “Not gonna kill you, darlin’. Gonna mark you so you always remember the day you fucked with me.”
    Pain, pain, pain.
    “Nooo!” Brooke shot up in bed and fell over the edge. She couldn’t breathe, and the mark on her neck burned like hellfire. Where was she? It was dark. Too dark.
    Blue eyes, reflecting like an animal’s in the dim light of the moon. Terror seized her throat, making it impossible to scream.
    “Shhh,” Tagan said, falling to his knees beside her.
    “Don’t touch me!” she sobbed, trying to fling his grip off her upper arms.
    He didn’t let go. Instead, he drew her into his lap and held her tight.
    “Don’t touch me,” she said again with less feeling.
    “It’s okay. I’m here. No one is going to hurt you.”
    A low wail left her lips as she clutched onto his T-shirt in the dark. Her tears were dampening the fabric, but she didn’t care. For the first time since she’d been attacked, the touch of a man didn’t frighten her. She didn’t even flinch when he lifted his hand to stroke her hair away from her face.
    She squeezed her eyes tightly closed and allowed him to rock her gently until her heart felt like it was back in her chest. He smelled like soap and piney woods with an undercurrent of something rich and masculine. She didn’t deserve his comfort. She didn’t deserve anyone’s comfort.
    Stupid fucking nightmare.
    Every time it was the same.
    Every time she