Free Mating Heat by Jenika Snow Page B

as well, the connection shifters had with the ones they desired the most. My need for the two bear shifters went bone deep, but I knew I wasn’t their mate. If I was they would have claimed me by now.
    Right?
    And as I watched them walking by my cabin, the community we lived in tight-knit, enclosed in the protection of the woods, I noticed when they scented me.
    When they scented my heat.
    The shadows couldn’t hide me from them, least of all any male within smelling distance. My pheromones were too strong, too intense.
    Another wave of heat hit me, and I placed my palms behind me, flat on the cool wood. I started to sweat, started to feel that pulse settle in my pussy, as if the same thing knew there were two virile males just feet from me.
    And when they stopped I knew they could smell me. I knew that the mediocre darkness that shielded me was a poor escape from their highly trained and acute senses. The two men that I desperately wanted—even more now that my arousal was uncontrollable—tilted their heads back and inhaled deeply. I held my breath, not sure what to say or do.
    Their rank in our community was high, their stations that of security as they protected us from the outside world, the ones that would hurt us if they could.
    And then I saw their heads turning in my direction. My emotions and fear of what I wanted—them—had me acting like a scared wolf with her tail between her legs.
    I breathed out once more. I needed to show a semblance of control, a small modicum of strength. I didn’t want to be one of those females that couldn’t even keep her shit together.
    If they want me, let them have me.
    I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my back fully pressed to the front door. Maybe they would want me, unable to resist me in my heat, but the thing was I wanted them to want me for me , not because I was letting off some intense pheromones they may not be able to resist.
    A gust of wind blew from the north, causing the branches to sway and creak overhead. I pushed the hair from my eyes and watched as Chase and Xavier focused their intense gazes right on me. And then they inhaled again, and I heard the low sound of their bears coming forth.
    My mouth went dry at the same time a few other males nearby stopped what they were doing and looked over at me. They, too, scented the air. It seemed like I had the attention of four unmated and clearly interested males. They had their focus trained right on me.
    But Chase and Xavier want you because of your heat. It’s not the same.
    No, it wasn’t.
    For a moment I couldn’t do anything but stare at them, and then, as if my body knew what was before it, what could ease it, a huge wave of heat and need slammed through me. If it was a physical entity I knew I would have seen the rush escape me and slam into the males just feet from me.
    They growled, walked a step closer, and I could see their erections straining against their pants.
    Run, because it’s clear this could end very badly.
    Yeah, like the males fighting over each other for the desire to be with me.
     I swallowed and quickly went back into my cabin. I shut the door and pressed my back to it, breathing out heavily and wondering what in the hell I was going to do.
    I was stubborn, true, but was I really prepared to let myself fully go? Was I ready to let all of my inhibitions leave me and succumb to the pleasure only a male shifter could give me? It frightened me, to be honest, and although I wanted to be strong and retain a semblance of control over this need inside of me, I didn’t know if I was that strong.
    Why did nature have to rule over us? Why did I have to go along with this just because it was the way of things?

Chapter Two
     
    I stayed in my house for as long as I could, trying to figure out what I was going to do. I paced restlessly in my living room, knowing that just beyond the wood that sheltered me, there were males that could ease my pain.
    I’m being stubborn.
    No. I’m frightened of