Free Bearing It All (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance) by Lynn Red Page B

yellow moon, laid a path that seemed to run between me and Crag, but the second he killed the engine on his bike was the last time I bothered looking at anything else.
    His quiet intensity made my entire being quiver. “H... hey there,” I said. “Nice to see you.”
    Crag didn’t answer. Instead, he flashed half a grin that curled up at the corner of his mouth. “God, you’re gorgeous,” he said.
    To the point, I thought, giggling a little and blushing despite myself. I like to the point .
    “You too,” I said. “Er, I mean, not gorgeous, but...”
    In four huge steps, he closed the distance between us and swept me up in his massive arm. Crushed against his chest, I took a breath. His leathery, spicy scent filled my nose and a second later, the warmth of his mouth filled my soul.
    “Oh,” I gasped, when he pulled away. “Oh my goodness!”
    “I didn’t think about anything else all day,” Crag said. “I had two fights tonight. Couldn’t tell you who they were against.”
    “Isn’t,” I paused, giggling nervously and curling one of his shaggy locks around my finger. “Isn’t that dangerous? I mean, not knowing what’s going on and—”
    He grabbed the back of my head between both of his huge hands, and tilted my head upward. I drank him in – his dark brown eyes, the dark, rough stubble all over his cheeks and chin – and then let my gaze fall on his tattoos.
    “What are these?” I asked him, running my finger along the one on the left side of his face. Up close I could see that they were very, very intricate designs with all kinds of things drawn into them. “They’re a lot more delicate than I remember.”
    “They’re for my brother,” Crag said. “The one on the left has his name in it. And all the swirling things are designs he made. Things from my clan, or I guess, our clan, used to be. Kind of like the bear version of a coat of arms.”
    I had not expected things to get so serious so quickly.
    “Did something happen to him?” I asked.
    He grunted.
    “Oh,” I caught myself. “If it’s not something you want to talk about, that’s fine. I didn’t mean to get all personal. I always ask too many questions. But... this is going to sound really weird. You relax me. For some crazy reason, you make my nerves feel a little less frazzled. It makes me, uh, want to get to know you more than anyone I’ve ever met.”
    Crag shook his head. Almost immediately, I went from wishing I hadn’t asked to really glad I did. His intensity just burned straight through me. His skin was so hot, and the smoldering gaze on his face so penetrating, that I felt like we were being a lot more intimate than just standing in a parking lot and talking.
    “If I didn’t want to answer,” he said, his voice almost a growl, “I wouldn’t have answered. My brother, yeah, he’s dead. It’s been,” he trailed off, like he was trying to remember. “It’s been a while. I try not to think about it too much. I get strength from him when I need it, or from his memory.”
    “Like when you fight?” I asked.
    He shook his head again, never taking his eyes off me. “No,” he said. “I never need help with that. I only need help with things I can’t figure out.”
    “Like what?”
    “Things that I don’t understand on my own. Things I feel like I need help with, you know?” he ran his thumbs along the sides of my face. “Like you.”
    Oh my God did my knees just about turn into water. What on earth had I done to get this guy? If there was a diagram a million miles long, and on one side was Reid and on the other, this guy, two bears could not possibly be more different. Reid was loud and angry and proud with no reason to be. Crag was a thousand times more intense. It just pulsed off him in waves. But he wasn’t loud. He wasn’t bombastic and full of brags.
    Thinking about it, Crag wasn’t much like anyone I’d ever met.
    “How did I never know you? You grew up here, we left town around the same time.