Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,32

he rolled out of bed after nuzzling the pillow that Alanna had slept on for a while and wishing he didn’t have to wash her scent from his body. He only had one instinct now: protect Alanna. And with it was the ever-pulsing thought that he’d realized when they’d made love: She’s your mate.

Nathan texted all his brothers and for once, even though it was a workday and everyone was always busy and difficult to corral, he insisted they all meet after breakfast.

It was time to plot a rescue.

Like usual, he could only get his brothers to gather in the kitchen over a late breakfast and that was fine. It still took them all longer than he would have liked to get there and he was on edge, pacing and getting in the way of cooks and sauciers and Cody himself who didn’t look annoyed so much as concerned. Nathan was never so keyed up.

“Alright,” Connor said. He sat on a stool with a coffee and nodded at Nathan. “I’m guessing I know what this is about. Something else happen?”

Eric shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against one of the giant steel refrigerators. Nathan nodded at him. “You didn’t tell them?”

Eric shrugged. “Wasn’t my place.”

“Yeah, I probably would have been pissed if you had.” Nathan took a deep breath and paced again. It was a bit of a bear habit intruding on his human self. Bears loved to pace. “It’s Rawley,” he finally said, looking straight at Connor. “That’s who the guy who’s with Alanna is waiting for. I don’t know exactly how he’s involved but I’m positive he’s involved. Eric found him online. The guy works for him.”

“Rawley,” Connor repeated. Nathan watched him absorb that. It wasn’t as if any of his brothers had met Rawley. But Nathan had told them why he’d left and would never return. The world of bear shifters wasn’t very big, but he’d hoped they would never have to cross paths again. “Alright, little brother. How are you playing this?”

Nathan found himself slightly taken aback. Connor had never been shy about throwing his weight around even if Nathan knew his brother trusted him.

“Ideally,” Nathan said, “I’ll be able to get Alanna alone again and she’ll tell me how she’s mixed up with Rawley. But I’m not sure I’ll get the chance. I mean… I could just ask him. The heavy, I mean. The guy she’s with. If I told him I knew Rawley, that I have that connection, without giving anything away, maybe he’d talk. I might be able to bullshit him.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “All I really want to do is get Alanna away from him, if I can. If she’ll let me. Whatever trouble she’s into, she doesn’t seem like someone who’s safe in the least.”

“Okay,” Connor said slowly. He pointed to Nathan and Eric. “Assuming he’s in his room, you two go up and try to talk to him. Avoid confrontation if you can. We’ll see what happens after that.”

“What if Rawley shows up,” Nathan said softly. “What if it comes to a fight?”

“Then we fight,” Connor said.

Nathan stood in the elevator with Eric and cracked his knuckles, growling under his breath.

More than anything, he wanted to take down Rawley. But who knew if Rawley was even going to show up?

“You look like you want to fight,” Eric said, casting him a sidelong glance. “We’re not going in there to fight. Connor literally just said—”

“I know that,” Nathan said, blood simmering with impatience as they stepped out of the elevator and onto Alanna’s floor. He rubbed the back of his neck. Everything felt too tight. The elevator seemed stuffy. “Not going up there to fight. But I want to be ready if he makes a move.”

“Don’t goad him,” Eric said darkly, and Nathan shot him a glance. “I mean, I know that would be ideal. You can’t start the fight so you just goad the guy into one, but let’s try to find out what’s happening first.”

“I know,” Nathan snapped. “I’m not Cody.”

Eric snorted at that and they exchanged a knowing smirk. Of the four Strauss brothers, Cody had by far the hottest head. Connor could get very angry when he had a good reason and you never wanted to be on his bad side. But it was Cody who got pissed off and started a fight over the slightest thing and it was sometimes difficult not to laugh at him when he was in one of