For a minute, he watched quietly, trying to figure out was going on and doing his very best to not jump from his place on the couch and pounce the curvy little woman that was teasing him to his limits with her sexiness. But then he heard April make a little ahem sound, and he looked over to see she was watching him, not the TV.

  He raised an eyebrow at her, and whatever she’d been about to say, she almost didn’t.

  “Speak up,” he said, wanting to know what was on her mind.

  After all, he wasn’t a dragon. He didn’t read thoughts.

  But he read body language. He read people.

  “I… You can come a little closer if you want. You don’t have to be a stranger around me, you know.” She patted the spot on the couch next to her, and Gunnar tried to hide his extreme interest.

  He moved over only a few inches, and her face went from cautious curiosity to annoyed amusement. “That’s barely any closer at all,” she pouted.

  He grinned back at her and moved a little closer. When he did, she smiled too, though she had the doe-eyed look of prey staring up at a predator.

  “Closer?” he asked. There was only a foot between them now.

  She bit her lip and nodded.

  Shit, was there anything in the world he wouldn’t do for this woman if she asked it of him?

  He shuffled farther until there was only an inch between his leg and hers, and he looked down at the space, then over at the TV. He could feel her body tensing with excitement, or anticipation, and Gunnar thought it was safe to say it wasn’t the conversation being had over tea on the TV that was making her feel this way.

  If she wanted to be up close and personal with the basilisk, though, he’d make her come at least part of the way.

  Just a little.

  To his utter shock, she did, scooting just enough so her curvy thigh made contact with his leg, and he felt himself go instantly hard at even the slightest contact between them.

  He let out a harsh breath as the basilisk in him roared to pleasure her senseless.

  “Everything okay?” she asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  Slowly, like butter melting on a warm afternoon, she relaxed against him. First, she leaned slightly onto him, her shoulder brushing his side. Then her hand came up to grasp his arm during a moment where the duke was attacked by mysterious intruders who appeared from the shadows.

  She was the bravest, stupidest human to ever walk the face of the earth, doing what she was doing right now.

  And it wasn’t his fault at all when he reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to lean against his chest, holding her tightly but gently.

  It was just his basilisk getting protective. That was all.

  “I like being close to you… like this,” she said, watching the TV even as he could feel her heartbeat racing wherever her skin made contact with his.

  She wanted him.

  And the raging erection that he tried to keep hidden in his jeans was all the evidence needed to know he wanted her right back.

  But this was dangerous. He was a monster, not a human who watched TV and cuddled (even though he was increasingly more sold on the whole idea the longer they were entangled like this on the couch).

  He looked down and used his finger to tilt her chin slightly to look up at him. “Don’t get too close.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because you’re the only person alive that could be this close to a basilisk and not run away screaming.” Which, in his mind, either made her foolish, stubborn, or both.

  Her lips quirked slightly in a mischievous look. “I’m not scared of you.”

  Gunnar leaned in slightly, and he could feel his body heat as his basilisk surged within him.

  “You should be,” he growled.

  She gulped, and Gunnar nearly broke right there and kissed her. It would be so easy. So worth it.

  And so stupid.

  After a moment, she lay back down against his chest, and they resumed watching as Gunnar reveled in the soft feel of her against him as the night wore on and they enjoyed each other’s company.

  She made the beast in him feel at peace, a strange emotion he’d never experienced in his whole life.

  But it was for the best if she kept very, very far away from him, even as everything in him demanded to hold April so close, so tight that he’d never want to let go.

  And that was the most dangerous possibility of all.

  10

  As they returned home from work the next day, April still couldn’t wrap her head around everything going on in Clawson’s Creek.

  The town had been in a hubbub, as news of the fire department’s report had spread among human and shifter circles.

  The torching of Willie’s Corner had been deemed arson, though no culprit had been determined yet. Unfortunately, anyone that might have seen who had done it had been inside the bar at the time of the occurrence.

  Which just meant both the Clawsons and O’Dells had taken up their accusations of the other side with renewed vigor.

  Oddly enough, the cafe had been quite busy today as well, and more than half the customers she’d served had been out-of-towners or visitors to Clawson’s Creek, which was unusual this late in the summer.

  Of course, Gunnar had been more watchful during her shift than a giant guard dog, glaring at anyone and everyone that so much as raised their voice a little too high or didn’t say thank you earnestly enough when their order came out.

  She didn’t see how her life could be normal with him around.

  She didn’t think she wanted it to go back to the way things were before either.

  To make things worse, last night had been as fun as it had been frustrating. On more than one occasion, she had felt Gunnar move as if coming in to kiss her. Or put his hand on her in places that made her go instantly wet with anticipation, even though his touch had been light and comforting.

  Needless to say, she hadn’t slept very well last night. Not when thoughts of his lips on hers (and on other places) had tortured her mind and worked her into a tizzy.

  And those intense, watchful eyes of his.

  Gunnar really was something else.

  They’d eaten out for dinner tonight, and April was full and happy and already planning on binge-watching the rest of the series with Gunnar in the hopes that maybe—just maybe—the interest she so deeply felt for him was mutual.

  By the time they were walking back up to her house, it was almost nighttime, and the long shadows cast by the aged trees near her home gave her a creepy feeling that wouldn’t go away.

  She was just glad Gunnar was there with her.

  To add to her trepidation, there were several vehicles parked on the street in front of her house as they came up.

  Gunnar tensed by her side, and if she wasn’t mistaken, she could hear him scent the air as they reached the concrete walkway leading to her house.

  “Stay close,” he said, and immediately, his big arm wrapped around her, nestling her into his side and making her feel tiny.

  And safe.

  For the moment.

  They hadn’t taken more than three steps when, suddenly, blinding lights shone on them like floodlamps from two directions. She raised her hand to shield her eyes from the glare and saw a truck with floodlamps parked up her driveway, another one on the street behind them, surrounding them in a bright spotlight-like glow.

  Gunnar growled, and she could feel his hackles rise as he quickly appraised the situation.

  What was going on?

  From the shadows around her house, which were nearly impossible to make out with such bright lights on them, tall figures emerged as though they’d been lying in wait to ambush her when she got home.

  And though it was hard to make out their faces, she recognized Derrick, the Clawson patriarch’s son, standing in the middle as eight figures surrounded them from every angle.

  Having been around bears and wolves her whole life, she knew these men were all bears by their stocky, thick builds and their love of beards and flannel.

  And why in the heck were they all here at her house of all places?

  Derrick came forward, enough so the light poured over his built frame. And though she’d never had any personal issues with him or his family, April couldn’t shake a horrible feeling inside as his gaze moved from Gunnar to her.

  “We’re here for the girl. She’s coming with us,” Derrick said, his dark-brown eyes almost black in the stark contrast of the light, his short chestnut hair mussed.

  Gunnar stepped forward and snarled, folding his arms and looking unintimidated by the sudden appearance of eight burly bear shifters. “No.”

  Derrick frowned. “We need to take her in for questioning. Someone threatened our alpha, and we’re going to get to the bottom of who did it. She was there when it happened.” He pointed a finger at April, and she felt a cold chill make her toes and fingers go numb. “So she’s our prime suspect.”

  April gulped.

  It wasn’t that Gunnar wasn’t extremely scary. But the Clawsons had a reputation for being some of the biggest, strongest bears in the whole state of Texas.

  And though the bears in town were fewer than the wolves by a large margin, they were more prone to violence or destructive acts when things got dicey.

  Gunnar stared straight at Derrick, his brows furrowed. “I don’t follow anyone’s orders but mine.”

  She found herself standing behind him, clutching the back of his shirt, and he remained steady like a wall of iron between her and the suddenly horrible situation she found herself in.

  Derrick looked frustrated, as if he’d expected this to go easier. “Just because you’ve scared a few wolves doesn’t mean we won’t hurt you, basilisk. Fuck, we’ll just enjoy it more if you fight.” His eyes glinted meanly.

  “Come for what’s mine, and I’ll end you,” Gunnar said calmly, as if he were commenting on the weather, not promising violence and destruction.

  “Have it your way,” Derrick said, cracking his knuckles as he and the others beside him took a step froward.

  April felt the blood drain out of her face.

  This was bad.

  She felt something moving behind her, and she looked over her shoulder just as a big hand appeared from the shadows, reaching for her. She didn’t even have time to cry out in shock before Gunnar was in front of her in a blur of motion, catching the man’s arm by the wrist as it came within inches of her shoulder, his other fist rocketing into the guy’s face with a thunderous CRACK that sent him flying back into the shadows where he’d come from.

  There were growls around her that made her nerves go haywire, and Gunnar turned just as two men approaching from the left lunged as if trying to carry her off before Gunnar could even stop them.

  She felt like a minnow surrounded by sharks.

  But Gunnar was there in an instant again, putting himself between them and her. One man threw a wild punch that Gunnar dodged more quickly than she could see right before his fist flew upward in an uppercut so fierce she heard something shatter, though she wasn’t sure what.

  The other man growled and charged Gunnar as if trying to catch him in a bear hug, but Gunnar just sidestepped and kicked his knee upward and into the guy’s gut, knocking the wind out of him and sending him crashing backward into the overgrown bushes off to the side.

  “Give up, dammit. You can’t win against all of us,” Derrick said, moving closer as the others around him started to join in the fray simultaneously.

  “Yes, I can.” Gunnar moved left to stop one as he charged toward her. But even though the bear shifter moved fast, with malicious intensity, Gunnar’s booted foot slammed into the man’s chest before he could come within five feet of April, knocking him to the ground where he groaned in pain. “And I will.”

  The ring of lights cast around her became a frenzy of motion as the bears, seeing their numbers dwindle, charged in unison, perhaps hoping to overwhelm Gunnar.

  But Gunnar wasn’t having it.

  He raised a fist to block one punch, then immediately reached behind him to grab a different man’s arm as it reached for April. Then with utter ease, like plucking a new weed from the ground, he wrenched the arm he had trapped and flung the screaming bear shifter into his friend, toppling them into each other.

  More fists flew, and Gunnar blocked and shrugged off the powerful blows like nothing as he whirled around to beat off everything and everyone that came for her.

  April would have felt flattered if she wasn’t so utterly frightened.

  But even as Gunnar continued to knock them out one after the other, catching one by the neck and head-butting him so hard she saw liquid fly from his nose and splatter onto the grass off to the side, she knew she was safe with him.

  All she could do was stare in awe as both his eyes started to glow a deep red. Like some sort of beast was trying to break out of him so it could rip the bears to shreds rather than just knock them out cold.

  In moments, only Derrick was left standing, the others totally unconscious or barely moving as they groaned around her.

  Derrick had a deeply blackened eye, having been on the receiving end of one of Gunnar’s blows already.

  “What the fuck are you?” he said, eyes wide with fear. April wondered if anything had ever challenged the big man enough to make him make that face.

  Gunnar snarled, and it looked like his teeth were longer. Sharper. “I’m a monster.” Then he stepped toward Derrick, and the bear shifter cowered back an inch. “I’m her monster.”

  She just gaped, adrenaline making her heart race even as her mind was comforted by Gunnar’s absurdly protective words.

  What kind of person talked like that?

  Then again, it was painfully obvious—to her and to everyone she’d seen him beat down—that he wasn’t an ordinary person. Not by a long shot.

  Derrick yelled and charged at Gunnar desperately, and Gunnar’s arms rose as their hands locked together. Derrick pushed forward, trying to move Gunnar, but Gunnar didn’t budge a centimeter, standing solid like a rock made of pure lead.

  And when Gunnar’s hands clenched down hard on Derrick’s, she heard pops and snaps as Derrick yelped.

  But it wasn’t the sounds that bothered her. No, it was the way she could see Gunnar’s tattoos as they began to glow like his eyes, swirling with red and orange as she could feel unfettered fury come off Gunnar in what felt like waves of energy.

  Gunnar’s grip tightened farther, and Derrick fell to his knees, eyes bulging with horror.

  Then with a single punch from Gunnar that was faster than lightning, Derrick’s face flew to the side, and he collapsed back onto the ground.

  Holy freakin’ shiitake mushrooms.

  Gunnar let out a low growl and turned around in a circle to appraise the bodies surrounding them. As he did, the unnatural glow that seemed to light his tattoos from the inside out dissipated.

  He strode over to the most conscious-looking bear, who was slowly dragging himself away on his elbows, grabbed him by the nape of his neck, and spoke low and angrily into his ear, something about, “You have five minutes to clear this shit out of here, or I’m going to bury it where no one will find it.”

  Was he talking about their trucks or the people?

  She felt her mouth go dry. Probably both.

  Maybe her ears were playing games with her, though.

  Then he slapped the man in the back of the head and strode toward April, his teeth still clenched, his body vibrating with heat and ferocious intensity.

  She opened her mouth to say something but was whisked off the ground in an instant as he took her toward the front door, opened it with her keys, then slammed it behind them and did the lock.

  Leaving her alone in her house with the person that had just made eight bear shifters seem like easy prey.

  He set April on her feet, then looked her over as if checking to make sure she was unharmed before pacing around her in a circle and checking the front window occasionally to make sure the bears were leaving.

  The sight of such a big man looking so angry and agitated would have been cute if she hadn’t seen what she’d just seen.

  She just stood there, unable to avoid listening as the sounds of engines starting then driving away punctuated the silence of her living room, until only the thump, thump, thump of Gunnar’s pacing was left.

  All the while, he continued to grumble. Words that sounded like “mate,” “mine,” and “protect.”

  “Hey, big guy, you doing okay?” she finally asked, and she had the inclination to reach forward and grab his hand lightly.

  He stopped pacing immediately, his eyes settling on hers, and every cell in her body wanted to jump backward, make for the front door, and run away.

  But he wouldn’t hurt her. She knew it in her heart. He’d shown her again and again.

  And by the way his tense hand slowly relaxed in hers, there was something about their connection that seemed to be wrapped up in all of this.

  In an instant, he came forward and wrapped his arms around April, enveloping her in his warm strength. He smelled of granite and male musk, and just his steady, comforting embrace calmed her nerves enough that she didn’t feel scared senseless for the first time since arriving home.

  Leaving her hot and bothered for an altogether different reason.

  She tried to wrap her arms around his midsection, but he was too broad for April to even reach all the way. Even still, the silence of her home became comforting as she just let the man she was quickly falling for shut out the world and all its troubles with just his sheer protective, possessive presence.

  When they pulled away from each other a little, she felt weak in the knees and desperate for even more of him.

  And as their gazes met, his handsome, rugged features were too much for her to hold back anymore, even as he looked torn between warring emotions she couldn’t decipher.

  She wanted him so badly.

  And was that such a bad thing after he’d shown her so much of who he really was?

  She leaned up, going all the way on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek, almost having to hop off the ground to reach him.