RANCHER BEAR’S BABY(52)

It was final, though. My boss wouldn’t budge. No work until I received clearance. I made an appointment immediately and went back to my apartment to drown in the emotional mess that was now my life.





CHAPTER 12: Sammie




My phone rang in the middle of the night and I sat straight up in bed, fearing the worst. The phone never rang in the middle of the night unless someone was dead or dying. I tripped over the blankets in my haste to get up and ended up slamming to the ground. My head ricocheted off the hard wood floor. Instant head pain.

I raced to the phone. “Hello? Hello?”

Lucas’s voice filled my ear and I collapsed into one of my kitchen chairs. “Sammie? Are you okay?”

“Yes, of course. What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

He let out a big sigh of relief and swore under his breath. “The house was just attacked. I can’t say too much, but I think you should come.”

I was already grabbing my keys and running out of the door. “Is everyone okay?”

“We’re okay. Be careful.”

I wanted to beg him to stay on the phone with me. Just a couple of days away from them had me longing to hear more of his voice. “I’ll be there soon.”

I hung up and sped towards the ranch. I realized half way there that in my haste I’d forgotten to grab my purse. I didn’t have my purse, my gun, or my badge. I prayed that I didn’t get stopped doing twenty over the speed limit.



*****Lucas*****



I slammed my fist into a tree trunk and felt a sick satisfaction at the cracking I heard coming from the tree. I wanted to rip it from the ground, roots and all, and throw it across the ranch. My body was raging and my head was pounding from an adrenaline hangover. The bullet wound in my side was healing fast, but still stung like hell. The worst pain was the pain in my heart that hadn’t stopped aching for days.

Michael still growled from across the yard. He’d shifted and ripped the head off of a man named Wesley Butler. The man who’d dared to come onto our property and attack us while we slept. I knew that it was the same man who’d killed Mallory by the way Mason reacted to him. He’d instantly turned back into his cub and had hidden behind me shaking uncontrollably. He’d even wet himself in fear.

The man had shrieked like a little girl when he’d seen Mason shift. When he ran, I chased. I’d gotten several damning blows onto the man’s body before he remembered he had a gun and shot me. That was when Michael had come out of nowhere and ended him.

Michael was still in his bear form, growling viciously anytime anyone got near him. My worry for my brother was only overridden by my worry for my mate. She’d sounded so panicked when she’d answered the phone. I’d worried that the man had sent someone to attack her, as well.

My mom was inside with Mason and had sent my little sister Bailey to tell me that he’d calmed down and had asked for Sammie before falling asleep. He’d been asking for her since she left. Damn her. My blood started boiling again and I had to force my bear back down inside. He’d been raging since she left. I’d never heard from him so much. He was a quiet bear, only sounding out when absolutely necessary, usually. Sammie leaving us had him screaming in my head, clawing at my insides constantly.

It was another hour before Michael had calmed down enough to shift back. He still stood away from our brothers and kept his back to the man he’d killed.

“When did you call her?” Alex asked from beside me.

I glanced at the road and felt the air around us change. “She’s here.”

Soon after, we heard her car speeding towards the house. I shifted, unable to hold bear inside, and let out a big roar. My bear was happy. Our mate was home. I was still angry with her. I didn’t know which one of us was going to win this tug-of-war.

Matt waved Sammie over and she sprinted across the wide expanse of lawn in just a thin T-shirt and a pair of barely-there shorts. I forced myself to shift back and slapped Matt and Alex on the back of their heads.

“Don’t fucking look.”

Sammie closed the gap between us and threw her body at mine. I was already hard watching her run, but feeling her barely-covered, soft, curvy body up against mine did me in. I growled low in my throat and squeezed her into me, despite the pain.

She must’ve felt the dampness of my blood against her, though. She pulled back and looked down. Her face went pale and she let out a gasp. “Lucas! You’re hurt!”

I shook my head. “It’ll heal soon. I’m fine, Sam. The other guy isn’t, though.”

I had to get her attention off of me or I was going to fuck her up against a tree, right then and there. My bear was roaring so loudly in my head, demanding I mark her so she couldn’t leave us again, it was all I could do to keep my teeth to myself.