Bear Necessities by Dana Marie Bell Read Free Book Online

the French silk pie.”
    “Two
coffees?” The waiter left to fetch their desserts after they nodded, leaving
them alone.
    He
stroked her fingers, refusing to let go of her hand. His eyes turned back to
the warm hazel they’d been before she began discussing her Outcasting. “Did you
really live in the woods all those years?”
    “Yes.
If it wasn’t for Gabe and his grandmother, I’d still be living out there.” Or
dead. But she wouldn’t say that in front of the increasingly growly Bunny. His
chest was actually rumbling.
    “Where
are you from originally?” The question was innocent, but Bunny’s expression was
anything but. In the dim lighting, she couldn’t quite see the color of his
eyes, but she thought they might have darkened just a hair.
    She
decided it couldn’t hurt to answer in a roundabout way. “Georgia.”
    “Near Marietta?”
    She
shot him a look. No way was she confirming that he was right. Besides, she’d
probably given it away when she mentioned her uncle worked for his father.
    Bunny
sighed. “Is there any way for you to join a local Pack?”
    “The
closest sanctioned Pack is in the Poconos, about two hours away.”
    Bunny
smiled sweetly as the waiter set the deserts on the table and left. “Ah. So,
whereabouts in Marietta is your Pack, anyway?”
    Tabby
decided to try a little soothing of her own. She reached up and patted Bunny’s
cheek. “Down, Baloo.” Bunny looked startled. “For a Bear, you’re awfully
growly.” Tabby shook her head before taking a bite of her pie. Mmm,
chocolate. Screw that whole “chocolate isn’t good for canines” shit. After
what she’d just gone through, she needed her fix.
    “What’s
that supposed to mean?”
    “Nothing.
I know a Bear or two, and I thought most of you were pretty laid back.”
    Bunny
scowled. “And you think I’m not laid back?”
    Tabby
tried to hide her growing grin behind her coffee mug, but knew she’d failed
when Bunny just shook his head.
     
    They
left the restaurant in total accord. Bunny helped Tabby onto the bike and
climbed on after her, careful not to jar her. “Want to head to my place?” He
had every intention of claiming her tonight, but had no desire to do so in her
tiny apartment with her roommates down the hall. He took a deep breath. He
longed for the scent of his mate to fill all the empty places inside him.
    Instead,
he caught the scent of something else, something terrible. “Chloe?” And blood.
Lots of blood.
    “Chloe?
What about Chloe?”
    “Tabby?”
The scent was stronger now, the breeze bringing him his cousin’s pain. He
handed Tabby a helmet, the need to move, to protect his little cousin gripping
him with steel hands.
    “What?”
She shoved the helmet on and wrapped her hands around his waist.
    “I
need you to hold on.” He started the bike, roaring out of Noah’s parking lot.
He ignored Tabby’s squawk of surprise, concentrating only on getting to Chloe.
    He
turned the corner and found an ambulance, lights flashing in the darkness. They
illuminated the body of his little cousin sprawled on the street, her red hair
mingling with the blood under her, around her. The paramedics bent over her
body worked frantically to save her.
    “Sir!”
    He was
off the bike and charging for the scene before anyone could stop him. Chloe was
hurt. Chloe needed him. Ryan was going to freak if anything happened to his
baby sister. He needed to call Ryan…
    Oh
fuck. She
looked dead. There was a stranger bent over her, obviously not a paramedic. The
man had long, dark hair bound in a braid, but that was all Bunny allowed
himself to see. “Chloe?” If he could just touch her, he might be able to help
heal her.
    One of
the paramedics stared at him with sympathy in his eyes and shook his head ever
so slightly.
    Someone
was tugging on the stranger’s arm. “Sir, you need to step back and allow us to
do our job.”
    “I’m a
nurse,” the man growled, deep, bass, primal. It went straight for Bunny’s