Under the Alpha's Protection (Steamy Werewolf Shifter Menage Romance) by Willow Wilde Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t take it anymore. I opened my mouth to call out to them…
     
    But something caught my foot. Before I could utter a syllable, something drifting snagged my foot and dragged me underwater. I struggled to grasp at it — something metal, by the feel of it, that just happened to clamp around it — but whatever it was, it was sinking, and I couldn’t even touch the top of the water now…
     
    I let out a panicked burst of air as I struggled to pull myself free. Whatever it was, it was going to spell my doom. They hadn’t seen me under the bridge, and I had no idea how close they were…
     
    I heard a tremendous splash nearby, and something new grabbed my arm. It was a hand, and in the dark, murky water I couldn’t make out who or what it was…but it was incredibly strong, and joined by the other. Another hand grabbed my leg, sliding down to feel the metallic trap around me, struggling to disentangle it.
     
    My lungs struggled for air, burning, and everything was growing even darker than before…
     
    *              *              *              *
     
    The next thing I remember, I sat up with a burst, gasping for air. The ranch hands were there, and I was clutching at them, begging, pleading…
     
    “It’s okay,” Brad told me assuringly. “Don’t worry. We got you. You’re alright now.”
     
    I struggled to regain my composure, staring up at them. I realized that I had been loosely redressed in my clothes. “How did you…why…did…?”
     
    “It’s stupid, probably, and maybe even life-threatening. But we didn’t want you waking up naked and wet, if you were comin’ back,” Brad looked sheepish. “We weren’t sure, actually…you were out of it a while, and none of us knew CPR. We didn’t want to bring you back to your uncle like we found you.”
     
    “That is the…stupidest thing I have ever…” I grumbled, glaring at all of them, “…but the sweetest. You are the oddest bunch of people I’ve ever met.”
     
    “Oh, you don’t know the half of it,” Caiden chuckled.
     
    All of a sudden, the whole “bear-dude transformation” thing came roaring back into my head, and my eyes bugged out as I drew back slowly.
     
    “Fuck, why did you have to remind her?” Pedro asked, slapping Caiden up the back of the head. “She could have just thought that was some kind of a dream.”
     
    It was Brad’s turn to punish him , grabbing him by the back of his hair. “And thanks to your stupid mouth , now she definitely knows it wasn’t.”
     
    “Sorry, boss!” Pedro mumbled, yelping as Brad’s grip grew tighter.
     
    “I won’t…I don’t understand…just…don’t hurt my uncle!” I blurted out. “I don’t care what you do to me, just don’t hurt him! He’s a good man!”
     
    Brad let go of Petro’s hair. “Wait, what? Why would we hurt him? He’s been nothing but kind to us! Even without knowing…no, we won’t lay a finger on him,” he reassured me. In the moonlight, his features took on a somewhat wicked tone, but they — and his voice — considerably softened when he realized what was happening.
     
    “No, no, you’ve got it all wrong,” he murmured gently. “We’re not going to hurt either you OR your uncle. You’re both safe. Although…now we don’t know what do do about you learning our secret…if you were just some stranger, we’d probably have to do something drastic, but you two? Never.”
     
    The confusion must have been apparent in my eyes.
     
    “Now, now, don’t you worry yourself at all,” Brad continued. “Besides, even if you weren’t Jack’s niece…you are the most wildly attractive woman we’ve ever seen in these parts.”
     
    Suspicions confirmed: awesome ranch dudes, bears or not, totally have the hots for me.
     
    “You’re…wow, I thought I had just been making that up,” I told him. “I’d seen you looking at me a little too much and thought, you know, I’m no one