Free Lair of the Alphas (Steamy Werebear Shifter BBW Menage Romance) by Willow Wilde

Lair of the Alphas
     
    W iping the tears from my face as I ran, I wondered how I could have been so stupid.
     
    Paul was my best friend, and I had known him for years. There were things about him that were cute — the way he would adjust his glasses slightly when he was feeling confident, how he’d push his hair behind his ears when he was concentrating, or how he pulled at his slight scruff of chin hair when he was lying. With a tall, slender build and a charming voice, Paul had always been there for me when I needed him. I found him clever, endearing and, above all, reliable.
     
    That’s why, when he mentioned wanting to go camping out here in the woods, I had been all for it. I knew how prepared he liked to be, and while I thought that roughing it wasn’t exactly his particular cup of tea, I couldn’t imagine a better partner for it. After all, he had been camping a few times in his youth, and his older brother loved to take his weekends to the forests, so I thought, you know, why not?
     
    Only…I hadn’t realized that he had intentions. It was so obvious now, looking back at how I’d catch him looking at me sometimes, or the fact that he hadn’t even tried to date for a few months. A friend of mine had expressed some interest in him, and needed a good lay, and I’d broached the subject to try to play a little hot ’n heavy matchmaker. Paul hadn’t jumped at the chance like I thought he might, and apparently the date was a bit of a disaster. They had sounded perfect together, and I was completely surprised with how she had described his almost complete lack of interest in the smallest things.
     
    It had occurred to me to bring that up while we were here, having established camp and already living off the land for a day. He had seemed kind of odd all of a sudden, but when he confessed his feelings for me, I was incredibly endeared. But Paul wasn’t my type. With my salacious curves and incredible confidence, I usually requested broader, thicker guys than him.
     
    Paul hadn’t taken my rejection well. In fact, he tried to rape me, and as we struggled on the floor of the forest I’d almost been unable to get him off of me. Surprisingly strong, he had me pinned and was clawing at my shorts when my hand fell upon a cast iron pan. Throwing everything I had into it, I slammed it across the side of my head and pulled myself free from him. Snatching up my phone, I’d drawn my shorts back up and darted into the trees as he clamored back up and started shouting my name.
     
    “Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” I quietly snarled at myself. Why did I let myself fall into that? How didn’t I see it coming? I’ve known him for so long…
     
    But at the same time, I was furious at him. I trusted him. How long he had wanted me, I didn’t know. Nor did I know how long he had been willing to take it from me if I wasn’t ready to open my legs to him.
     
    There was another wrinkle in my current crisis, as the fifth or sixth droplet hit my skin as I stumbled through the trees — just enough for it to not be a pattern anymore. I gazed up through the canopy and realized that the sky was darkening fast. Fuck, is it about to RAIN? That’s the LAST goddamn thing I need!
     
    I weighed my options — maybe he would have calmed down by now, and we could work something out at the camp. It was a less than appealing option, but when confronted with the droplets of water that were now starting to fall with some regularity, I wasn’t sure what else to do.
     
    Without much time to weight my options, I decided to figure things out on the way back.  Meanwhile, I whipped out my phone, just to see if I could connect to even the slightest sliver of reception. As if on cue, the single bar that I had immediately disappeared upon unlocking my phone. Typical.
     
    I continued back, but after about ten minutes of walking, a reality suddenly dawned on me: I have no idea where I am. It was bad enough to be lost in the woods. But I wasn’t