Tempting His Mate(2)

Swiveling in her chair, she turned and searched the mystery man out and met his stare dead on. When his eyes locked on hers, her entire body went taut in awareness, her nipples beading tightly against her bra-cups. It was almost painful.

She was wearing a simple black sweater, jeans and boots. Easy travel clothing and perfect for a country bar. But the way his gaze raked over her entire body in one lazy sweep, she might as well have been completely naked.

Oh yeah, she was going to walk right over there and introduce herself. As she started to slide off her barstool, a big meaty hand snagged around her waist and she found herself looking up-up-up at a giant of a shifter. Holy crap, the man was freaking huge. Bear shifter maybe. She couldn’t tell because she’d never met one, but he didn’t smell like a wolf or jaguar.

“Hey there, little darlin’ where you going?” He reeked of scotch and the overpowering scent made her want to puke.

“Get your hand off me, asshole.” She took a step back out of his reach but he advanced on her lightning fast and when his hand came in contact with her breast she lost it.

Normally she was in control of herself. More than most, in fact. Her pridemates liked to call her a control freak; cool, calm and collected. That was Ella Hayes.

But if this jackass thought he could paw all over her because she was small, he was about to get his ass kicked. Without thinking, she let the claws on both hands extend and she swiped at the forearm of his offending hand and clawed at his gut with the other. His shirt tore right before she made contact with his flesh.

He let out a roar of rage as he stumbled back and when he blindly swung at her, she ducked. At five feet flat, being small had its advantages. Adrenaline pumping, she was ready to slash out at his knees. She’d taken down shifters just as big as him before, but before she could jump back up, her hair whooshed back as a blur of black fur shot past with a low snarl and tackled the guy to the ground.

The man who’d groped her growled and shifted to a bear but by the time he’d made his transition, the big wolf had his teeth nestled securely around the bear’s throat.

Ella blinked, staring at the two of them. The entire bar had gone completely quiet. The music was shut off, no one was dancing; hell, no one was breathing, it seemed like.

Except for the wolf and bear. The big Kodiak on the ground was growling under his breath, making snarling sounds even if he wasn’t moving. He was trying to be defiant, to hold on to some of his pride. The wolf was growling so low Ella could barely hear him, but it was beyond deadly. Right now these two males were having a conversation. Until the bear submitted, anything could happen.

Thankfully the bear shifted back to his human form. Now the big man was mostly naked, with tatters of his clothing clinging to him in weird places. Part of his jeans were still trapped around one of his ankles but pretty much everything else was gone.

The wolf let out another of those low, deadly sounds that couldn’t really be called a growl. More like a ‘submit or die’ kind of warning.

“Lady, I’m sorry,” the man said, his head twisted at an uncomfortable angle as he tried to look at her without getting sliced up by the wolf’s teeth. “I shouldn’t have touched you and I shouldn’t have tried to hit you. Whatever you’ve ordered tonight is on me.”

The wolf growled again.

“And the next round for everyone is on me! Damn it, I said I was sorry,” the man muttered.

Cheers erupted at the announcement for free drinks and the wolf abruptly let the bear go. The big man scrambled away, picking up his fallen clothing, wallet and cell phone as he practically sprinted toward the other side of the bar. The music started up immediately and things started returning to normal.

When the wolf turned toward her, she blinked down into those clear green eyes. Automatically her head snapped in the direction of the pool tables. Mr. Sexy wasn’t there. As she turned back to the wolf, he was already shifting back to his human form. Yep, he’d been her rescuer. Not that she’d needed one, even if she did appreciate that impressive display of protective power.

Though she tried to stop herself, her gaze trailed down his beautifully sculpted body and landed on the impressive display between his legs. Holy mother of…

As he cleared his throat, she looked up and felt her face flame at his almost arrogant grin. “You all right?” he asked.

She nodded and tried not to melt into a puddle at the sound of his deep voice. She could totally get off to that voice alone. Clearing her throat, she said, “Yes. Thanks for what you did, but I had it under control.”

His dark eyebrows raised a fraction and his wicked grin grew even wider. “I’m sure you did, but no one treats a female like that in my presence and gets away with it. Ever.”