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

had to relive the night that stripped everything from her.
    When she opened her eyes again, they had adjusted to the minimal blue moonlight filtering in through the bedroom windows. Kellen crouched near her ankles, staring at her like he’d never seen a woman cry before. Denison and the rest of the crew, all but Connor, stood just inside the doorway, looking haunted.
    “We thought someone was hurting you,” Tagan said, his voice a soft stroke against her ear.
    How did she explain that someone was hurting her? All the time.
    “She’s okay,” he told his crew. “Go on back to bed. I’ll watch her until she falls asleep.”
    Kellen squeezed her ankle under her flannel pajama bottom pants and gave a sad smile. It should’ve felt too intimate coming from a stranger, but instead, a comforting warmth spread up her leg. Denison stepped forward and brushed his fingertips over her head, and the same warm tendrils flooded her, making her feel dizzy, like she’d taken a cheap shot of whiskey. The other men did the same, one by one.
    “Why did they do that?” she asked when they had gone.
    Tagan slid his arm under the crease behind her knees and lifted her onto the bed. “Because touch is important to us. You were hurt. None of them would’ve been able to sleep tonight if they didn’t reassure themselves you were okay.”
    “It felt…”
    A slight frown took Tagan’s face. “It felt like what?”
    “Comforting.”
    His eyebrows shot up, as if she’d caught him by surprise. Seconds ticked by as he studied her face—for what, she didn’t know. “I’m going to get you a drink of water, and then we should talk about what happened to you.”
    Brooke lifted her chin and shook her head. “I don’t want to do that—”
    “But you will, or that nightmare will follow you to the grave. Wait here.”
    Panicked at the idea of sharing that night with anyone, she clutched the comforter and eyed the window. She could just leave. She could leave here and keep the hurt inside where it belonged.
    Tagan returned, disrupting any thoughts of escape. He handed her a glass of water and turned to flip the switch on an old-fashioned sconce on the wall. The soft glow of a lightbulb bathed the room, and Brooke drew the covers over her lap like armor. No doubt her hair was a rumpled mess, and she was wearing the least attractive pajama set she’d ever laid eyes upon. It was the reason she’d bought it, so she could be invisible.
    But here, in front of Tagan, with him studying her with that unsettling calmness about him, she wished she’d brought something cuter. He wore a thin, gray cotton T-shirt, still rumpled and tear-stained from her earlier meltdown. Black sweats were slung low across his tapered waist and his feet were bare as he drew one under him.
    As she cradled the glass of cold water, he reached over and tugged at the bandage on her neck. The one she never removed unless she was switching it out for a new one.
    She allowed it. God, she was actually going to let someone see the ugliest part of her. And not just someone, but Tagan, who felt…important.
    She scrunched her face as the adhesive pulled at her skin.
    “Brooke, why do you have a bandage over an injury that is healed?”
    “Because it doesn’t feel healed.”
    “It still hurts?”
    “No.”
    Tagan folded the bandage carefully and dropped his gaze. His motions were slow, calculated. “What happened?”
    Tagan thought she was weak. She saw it when he’d helped rid her trailer of the mouse, and she could see it now. But she wanted to be stronger. She wanted his respect. Tilting her chin up and straightening her spine, she said, “I was mugged. He was caught. He went to jail for three months, and now he’s free. I left Boulder because I wanted to get better.”
    He huffed air from his lungs and dragged his gaze to hers. His eyes were such a strange color. Blue and green and brown all at once. Churning, as if something she’d said had angered him. “That’s a