Page 47 of Bear In A Boutique
“I never figured an alley rat like you would end up in a place like this.” He spread his arms wide, grinning like he’d won the lottery. “High-end shit everywhere. The jewelry in that case right there looks real. Imagine someone trustingyouwith diamonds and gold.”
Olive steeled herself and focused on her growing anger. She wasn’t going to let him affect her.
“Jewelry stores were our favorite places to smash and grab, remember? You’d slip inside and unlock the door, we rushed in, roughed shit up while we grabbed the good stuff, and got out of there. You were quite the little thief. Want to relive our glory days?”
He focused on the jewelry case.
Nausea burned her throat. “No.”
“I heard you traded a few gold necklaces for that piece of shit car you lived in.”
Bitter tears burned her eyes. She wasn’t going to waste her breath in responding. He would never admit that he coerced a literal child into committing retail theft in return for a couch to sleep on. He’d baited her with housing and food when she’d gone months with little of either.
“I’m here for a repeat, Olive, but I promise not to smash this place up if you just hand things over nicely. You got me kicked out of my own house, so I’m going to need some compensation.”
Lifting her chin, she looked down her nose at him. “That’s not happening.”
Kyle’s face reddened. “You got me kicked out. You owe me.”
Leaning on her fury, Olive gripped the metal clothing rack so hard, her fingers turned white. “It’s not my fault she kicked you out.”
“Megan thinks I was fooling around with you.”
“Oh, you didn’t tell her that you grabbed my ass without my consent?”
Kyle licked his lower lip and trailed his eyes over her body. “Want to try again?”
A primal roar burst from the back of the store. The floor shook, the vocal vibrations rippling in the air. Olive crouched behind a rack on instinct and peered around it just enough to see what was happening. Kyle spun, his face contorting in a mask of pure terror as Ryker lunged at him.
But it wasn’tallRyker.
Half man, half bear. Clothes ripped off his human body as limbs contorted and chest and ribs cracked. His skin changed from tanned flesh to thick, coppery brown fur. Hands, now massive paws, eight-inch claws arching from each toe. She blinked twice and his shift was complete. Man was now a beast and barreled at Kyle. The entire floor vibrated as the bearcharged, his huge body knocking into clothing racks and product displays. Gawking in disbelief, Olive couldn’t help but think that the most absurd thing was happening.
There was a bear in the boutique!
Ryker plowed into Kyle at the same time the front door burst open. Dax, Rowen, Desi, Jett, and Fox burst inside and encircled her with their bodies, shielding her. As if Kyle had a chance in hell of getting away from Ryker.
Her breath came so fast that she nearly hyperventilated. Peeking between Jett and Dax she watched in delight and disbelief as Ryker picked Kyle up from the floor by the front of his shirt and slammed him back down. Kyle’s limbs splayed as Ryker pressed a paw in the center of his chest, pinning him. Teeth bared and gnashing, he put his snout against Kyle’s nose, and that’s when Kyle finally had the wherewithal to scream.
Dax sighed. “I’d better break it up.”
He tried to step forward, but Jett held him back. “Not yet. Let him get it out of his system.”
“He’s going to rip that guy’s head off.”
“He probably deserves it.”
“Oh, he does,” Olive interjected.
They turned to look at her, grinning. But then Ryker grabbed Kyle’s shirt and ripped it straight off him, his front teeth carving lines across the man’s abdomen.
“Okay, go.” Jett pushed Dax forward.
Olive moved into Dax’s spot. This was really happening. Ryker had come, had shifted into his most vicious self, to protect her exactly when she’d needed him. How had he known?
“Alright, cuz, that’s good.” Dax patted Ryker on the shoulder.
Ryker growled and snapped at him like a pissed-off dog.
