Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,8

“I can’t…this can’t happen—”

“Stop it,” Alanna said quickly. “Stop talking. This isn’t your problem and I don’t want you to worry about it.”

“What do you mean this isn’t my problem, sis!”

“I just want you to be safe.” She shut her eyes as she stood there in the flawlessly decorated living room, her bare toes sinking into its lush carpeting. “I just want you to be safe and okay, Alex. That’s all that matters to me, okay? Nothing else.”

“This is bullshit!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Alanna said quietly. “Okay… I’ll be alright.”

She hadn’t allowed herself to think about the reality of things before. Now, as she tried to convince Alex that she was ready to trade her freedom for his, it hit home. This was really happening. She would marry Rawley, becoming one of multiple bear wives, just one of a harem that Rawley had built for himself. She would have to do whatever he asked and have his children, simply because he was a big powerful bear and she had no recourse. She had no sleuth to protect her and shifters never went to human authorities no matter what. She was trapped.

She felt as if the walls were closing in on her.

“Do you remember when we used to fish at Crockett River?” Alex said softly.

Alanna frowned at that. It didn’t seem like the time to bring up random old memories. “Yeah, of course…”

“You said… I just remember that time you got caught in the rapids,” Alex said. “I think about that sometimes. I’ve never forgotten it.”

Alanna felt a chill run down her spine. Alex was trying to tell her something without being obvious. But she couldn’t immediately think what it was. The memory seemed arbitrary. The river had been wide and stormy, in the middle of a mountain pass in Montana. They’d spent a lot of time in Montana until hunting season had kicked in and it had become too dangerous. They were always sensitive to the danger of hunters, considering their parents had been killed that way. The rapids had been vicious one warm day as they had tried to fish and the two of them had nearly been swept away until they’d managed to fight it and climb up some rocks.

She couldn’t imagine what any of that had to do with Rawley though. It made her a little annoyed and impatient. This was no time for games.

“I have to go,” Alex finally said, sounding slightly panicked. “Try to stay safe, sis.”

“Wait!” But it was too late. Alex’s voice cut off and the call ended. Alanna took a deep breath and returned the phone to John, who smirked as if pleased by her distress.

Alanna went to the window just to get some distance between her and John. She couldn’t think what Alex had been trying to tell her and it was going to bother her now.

“I had your clothes sent to the laundry,” John said, staring down at his phone. “But Rawley texted. He said—”

He was cut off by a knock at the door and he grinned at her. “Speak of the devil.”

For one terrifying moment, Alanna thought it was Rawley at the door and that she had been cheated out of her few days of respite before he would come to collect her. When John answered the door and it was just one of the lodge’s porters standing there with several shopping bags, Alanna breathed a sigh of relief.

“Rawley had some clothes and sundries sent for you,” John explained, not acknowledging the porter as he took the bags. He didn’t bother to tip and finally, the porter ducked his head and left, disappointed. “I don’t know why you’re being such a whiny bitch about marrying the guy. He sure takes care of his ladies.”

Alanna snorted at that, but she managed to do it quietly and without attracting John’s wrath. She bit her tongue, keeping her rage locked inside. She had only let it out once, while she was still locked in the trunk, her hands bound behind her back, and feeling like an animal. Things had already seemed as bad as they could be. So she’d screamed and kicked and squirmed until she’d tired herself out and fallen asleep.

John dropped the bags in front of her and looked at her expectantly. “So get dressed.”

There were two bedrooms in their suite. John was apparently on orders to both keep Alanna in line and also to spoil her. That sounded like Rawley alright. It was more of that carrot and stick switcheroo