Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,41

brother,” Alanna said, sitting up a little. She played with his fingers as if just to fidget with something and keep her hands busy. “Otherwise I would have run before. But he has my brother, Alex. I know they’ve already hurt him. I would never have run but Alex wanted me to.” She broke into tears again and Nathan sat up, wrapping his arms around her. “I didn’t want to. I would never have…but we promised each other. I always thought it would be me in danger, telling him to go on and save himself. I always did, I never…but we promised…he said remember Crockett River and that’s how I knew. He wanted me to save myself. But I didn’t want to!”

“It’s okay,” Nathan whispered. “It’s okay, love. We’re gonna save him. Somehow. I promise you.”

When she had calmed down, Alanna whispered in his ear, “You’re my mate, no matter what happens. And I’m glad.”

12

Alanna

“Tell me about when you were a boy,” Alanna said. It was morning as they hiked back down the mountain.

They had fallen asleep in the cabin after all, their problems seeming miles away from the little cabin. In the morning, they’d shifted and gone to hunt and eventually, Nathan had convinced Alanna that she should return to the lodge with him. It was a frightening thought, but when she looked into his eyes, all she saw was the kind of strength that would keep them both safe and save Alex too. More than that, her shoulder was still sore from where he’d marked her and every time she felt that little bit of pain, she found herself smiling.

“When I was a boy?” Nathan said, squinting at her. He’d taken her hand in his and given her his parka too, insisting that he wasn’t cold.

“I just want to know more about you,” she explained. “I want to know everything about you.”

“I was a happy kid,” he said, shrugging. “I mean, I always had my brothers. We weren’t super close to my parents but they were good people, good bears. They passed away some years ago. Left us their fortune. The family goes way back. Old bear aristocrats. But they were pretty assimilated. Towards the end, they really didn’t even shift much. I think that’s why my brothers and I weren’t very close to them. We were more bear and they were more human.”

“I think that’s bad for shifters,” Alanna said. “Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to live that way. Growing up, my brother and I lived as bears a lot of the time. You don’t need money…”

“Yeah,” Nathan said, nodding. “And you can live out in nature. It’s peaceful. I like my life running the lodge though. It’s kinda the best of both worlds. But then, we’re lucky. We always had money.”

“And we were dirt poor,” Alanna said. They were hiking down a steep hill and Nathan helped her climb down some rocks and led her through a shortcut in a crevice that saved them a couple of miles. When they’d climbed back up onto level land, Nathan took her hand again.

“It was still the same in a way,” Alanna went on. “My brother and I always had each other. We could always count on that.”

“Yeah,” Nathan said, nodding. “Like when I ran off when I was younger, I just left my brothers. But when I came back they just accepted me again. Especially Connor. That’s why I will always have his back no matter what. He’s always had mine.” He looked into Alanna’s eyes and said firmly, “And I will always have yours.”

“I know you’re a good man,” Alanna said, grimacing at the sight of the lodge at the bottom of their mountain, getting closer and closer. “And I believe you’re my mate because I can feel it. But…”

“But what?” Nathan whispered, letting go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist.

“You know how brutal he is.” Her heart was racing and it was uncomfortable in her chest. It thundered with the fear of whatever lay at the bottom of that mountain. “He fights dirty and he doesn’t care who he hurts. That’s why he always wins.”

She could remember Rawley’s face close to hers when he’d held her captive, the way he’d sneered at her, delighting in her discomfort.

“When he kept me under lock and key, he’d come down to visit me. It was weird…he never touched me. Not really. But he was so good at making me afraid of it that it was