Wicked Bite (Realm Enforcers #5)(4)

He dropped his hand. What would a witch leader want from a shifter who lived across the ocean from her? "You wanna make a deal?"

She nodded, her shoulders going back. "Yes."

To live, he'd do almost anything. "What do you want?"

She met his gaze, her eyes deadly serious. "If I heal you, then we mate. For life."





Chapter 2

Nessa stared up at the tall male, her voice barely shaking as she made her demand.

He didn't move.

She blinked.

Then he threw back his head and laughed, long and hard. His entire body, his bare chest, even the sharp dragon talons on his arm danced. His laugh was deep and somehow sexy-yet oh so very insulting.

How dare he. She lifted her foot.

He stopped abruptly, and his chin lowered. "I don't give a warning twice."

Her mouth went dry. Even ill, Bear McDunphy was all predator. He looked like a bear, and she had to wonder how humans failed to notice that he wasn't one of them. Not even close. Shaggy brown hair fell to his shoulders with a defiant curl. He stood many inches over six feet tall, and his chest was wide. A promise of danger poured from him. For the briefest of moments, right after he'd laughed, his honey-warm chocolate eyes had softened. A little.

Now they'd returned to the solid hardness of flint.

She slowly lowered her foot back to the floor. "You're correct. Violence doesn't solve anything."

"I disagree." His voice was a low rumble that somehow wound all over her sensitive skin.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Violence can solve a whole lot of situations." He took a step back from her, staring down from his unfair height advantage.

"Figures," she returned, relaxing as he gave her space. "Shifters employ violence when thought and reason would do."

His eyes darkened, and he moved right back into her personal bubble. His knuckles brushed beneath her jaw and caressed down to tug her jacket away from her pounding jugular. "And you want to fuck one until his fangs connect in your flesh."

The image shot into her mind, and tension uncoiled in her abdomen. His touch was warm and oddly determined. Mating a bear shifter, a leader of his nation, would be animalistic. Probably outside the scope of her imagination, such as it was. She was way beyond her comfort zone, so she withdrew into etiquette. "There's no need for such language," she said, her voice going hoarse.

His upper lip quirked. "Baby, you definitely picked the wrong shifter."

No. He was the absolute right shifter-for more than one reason. At the reminder of his species, she relaxed. She could handle this. She smiled.

His eyes narrowed.

She smiled wider.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

More than he could ever know. "You need to be healed. I'd like to be mated. It's a simple transaction."

"Simple?" He snorted. "Right. Matings are never simple."



       
         
       
        

"This would be." She had it planned. Well, most of it. If she ended up having to kill him, that would be unfortunate. "I heal you, we mate, and then I go on my way." Maybe. Probably not. Evidence showed that Bear was probably a bad guy doing bad things, and she'd have to stop him. After they mated.

He rubbed the scruff already appearing on his jaw. "Most witches believe shifters to be a lower class of immortal."

Aye, they did. Shifters were animals, for goodness' sake. "That's not true."

He tugged on a tendril of her hair-none too gently. "One rule. No lying. Got it?"

Her mouth opened and then closed. "Of course." It wasn't a lie to completely leave out most of the truth, was it? Maybe. But she had a job to do. Several, really.

"Why, Nessa?"

The way he said her name, in a way that drew out every sound. Like he was rolling all the letters around and settling on the soft ending. "I'm a century old, and I'm tired of following all the rules-being on the Council and creating laws," she whispered.

His eyebrows rose. "So mating a shifter is your rebellious stage?"

She sighed. "Kind of. It gets me freedom."

He studied her, the hard planes of his face sharp in the dim light. "Bullshit."

She jerked back. Nobody spoke to her in such a manner. "Excuse me?"

"I'm calling bullshit." He crossed his arms. Even weakened by his illness, sinewed muscle flexed. "Let's see. You didn't choose any old shifter. You chose me."

"You require my assistance," she gritted out, her breath heating. Thunder rolled outside, and she jumped.

His eyes glittered in the small cabin. Even just standing and talking, he was all predator. "I'm a bear shifter who has turned into a dragon before." His voice grew thoughtful. "Dragons employ fire . . . like witches."