Free Bearing Up In Wolf Rock (A BBW Bear Shifter Romance) (Wolf Rock Shifters) by Carina Wilder Page B

lip was drawn back in a snarl, baring impossibly long, sharp canines.
    “Well,” continued Maddox. “I’m not going to kiss you like that. I’d get a lip piercing I hadn’t asked for.”
    “Fair enough. Kyla, maybe you should think about shifting now. I promise that th e bear and I will look away while you hide your shame.”
    She wanted nothing more than to slap Maddox across the face, dimples and all, but she backed off finally, allowing him to stand. He turned away, his muscular butt pissing the she-wolf off.
    “Jesus, why does he have to be so gorgeous?” she thought as she altered into human form and pulled on a t-shirt and jeans.
    “Fine, I’m ready to talk,” she said when she was dressed. She tossed a jacket to Maddox. “Put this around your waist. I don’t want to talk to you naked.”
    He slowly wrapped the garment around himself and tied it in the front, so that it barely concealed his generous cock. Kyla glared at him, resentful of his beauty.
    “Seriously though, Kyla. I’m sorry about how I left this morning.”
    “Why did you do it? I trusted you. In more ways than one.”
    “Because I told you, I have to find someone. It’s crucial. If I’d gone with you it would have thrown my whole plan off.”
    “So you slept with me, literally, to get me to think you liked me and then took off like…like some kind of asshole.”
    “I slept with you because…” Maddox looked at Jay, suddenly self-conscious. “Because I do like you. A lot. I trusted you too, you know. Enough to do that with you…to you.”
    “Well, I wish you’d told me what was going on.”
    “I didn’t want to put you in a bad position. I knew that if you let me go your pack might get pissed at you. If I escaped, well, it wouldn’t really have been your fault, would it?”
    “As it was, you hurt me, Maddox. I’d rather have an angry pack than a broken ego.”
    “Sorry.” He stepped towards her and she thought he intended to hug her, but he seemed to change his mind.
    “Now that you two have sort of made up after your love-fest, Maddox, who is it you’re looking for?”
    “I can’t tell you.”
    “Can’t or won’t?”
    “Does it make a difference?”
    “I think it does, yeah.”
    “I’m looking for the person—the shifter—who’s been attacking people. Hunters, specifically.”
    “So you know him?”
    “Yeah, I do.”
    Kyla saw a look on Maddox’s face that she now felt familiar with: sadness.
    “Who is he?” she asked, wondering if she wanted to know the answer.
    Maddox let out a sigh and sat down on the ground, covering himself with the jacket. The other two followed suit, taking up residence next to him.
    “He’s my brother.”

Eight
     
     
    His brother. This complicated matters.
    “That’s who you’re looking for?” asked Kyla, realizing as she said it that he’d already provided the answer.
    “It is.”
    “Maddox, why is he doing this? What’s going on?”
    “It’s a bit of a long tale, I’m afraid. I told you , Kyla, that I had a sister who died when we were kids. That she was, essentially, murdered. What I didn’t tell you is why.”
    “I didn’t know this,” said Jay. “I’m sorry, Maddox. But what do you mean, why? Who would kill a child?”
    “ As I told Kyla, we learned of our powers, my siblings and I, when we were very young. My sister was the youngest of us three, alongside my brother Corgan and me. Her name was Chloe and she was a sweet little girl.
    “We lived on a large ranch and so it was easy for us to shift and run around, we three kids. But one day we came too close to the neighbouring property. The man who ran that ranch saw us and went nuts. He insisted that he be allowed onto our land to hunt the bears that he said were killing his livestock. We knew it was coyotes, but he was bent on ridding the place of the horrible young bears he’d seen romping around.”
    “Jesus,” said Jay.
    “He came by one day. My parents were in town buying supplies and we