Free Between a Wolf and a Hard Place: BBW Shifter Menage by Annalise Nixon

Chapter 1
    “ P ossession is nine-tenths of the law.” Evan Hearne gazed at the woman with the dangerous curves lying in the bed and back up at his friend. “We should keep her.”
    Barron Davies looked at the wolf that’d been his friend since they were rambunctious five-year olds. “She isn’t an abandoned bicycle. You can’t just keep her.”
    “Maybe not, but I sure as hell wouldn’t mind taking her for a ride.”
    “Not going to happen.” The grin on Evan’s face meant trouble would follow, and the last thing they needed was a war with another pack or pride over a female.
    “Why not?” Evan prowled to the wall of windows overlooking the thick redwoods in the California valley and shoved his hands in the pockets of his loose fitting jeans. “She needs our protection even if it’s from herself.” He waved his had in her direction. “What woman takes a stroll through the freaking woods?”
    Barron looked at his friend and shook his head. Evan might be hot tempered; a wee bit selfish and a whole lot of smart-ass, but one thing he’d never do is harm a woman.
    Break her heart?
    Absolutely. And Barron knew better than most since they came to him to find out what went wrong. “Let’s find out what the hell is going on before you pick out matching dog collars.”
    Evan returned to the bed, and their patient. “Come on, you can’t tell me that hasn’t crossed your mind?”
    “Dog collars? Nope, can’t say I have.”
    “Liar.”
    “I can say with all honesty I have not imagined her walking around in a dog collar.” Barron closed his eyes and inhaled the spicy feminine scent that lured him to her in the woods. No collars for him, but covering her in a vat of honey and licking it off?
    Hell yeah. Evan’s low growl interrupted Barron’s honey filled fantasy, and his eyes snapped open. “What?”
    “You’re as turned on as I am.” Evan gave Barron a grin that the bear would love to introduce to his fist.
    He sure as hell couldn’t deny that fact, but she didn’t belong to them – yet.
    “I won’t like it, but if she’s running to someone, we’ll help her get there.” All traces of humor left Evan’s voice. “And if we find the assholes that hurt her?”
    “They’re dead.” Barron made a promise to himself when they found her battered body he vowed to get revenge on her behalf.
    How long would she remain unconscious? They found her last night on their run, and who knows how long she’d been there. “Did you try your cell again?”

    E van pulled his phone out of his back pocket and frowned at the screen. “No signal. Man you really need to leave these hills so you can communicate with the outside world.”
    “Why?” This is one the few times Barron mourned the loss of dependable technology. In his opinion, society improved once they were all unchained from digital tethers.
    “You should drive down the hill and bring the doc back."
    "You'd love that wouldn't you? If you think I will leave you here with the future mother of my pups, you've lost you hairy bear mind."
    “Pups? Since when have you contemplated starting a family?"
    Evan's gaze darted to the woman. "It's a recent development.”
    "When the last woman we shared asked about mating, you said the last thing on your mind was shackling yourself to a human." Barron loped to the other side of the pine four-poster bed and sat in the oversized armchair. "But it’s what I've always wanted even if she turned out to be human."
    "Screw that. You want to drag the poor woman out here by her hair like a caveman and force her to have honey loving bear cubs."
    “Yeah?" Barron scratched his three-day-old beard and frowned. "So what's the problem?"
    "You’re kidding. Trust me. She wouldn’t walk the Appalachian Trail."
    If Barron could stop looking at her, maybe he could think straight. She was perfect, and her scent alone chipped at the shell of his hard earned self-control. Everything about her pushed his buttons. From the matching cute