Page 10 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

I sucked in a breath and screamed as loud and as long as I could before throwing my back onto the ground, staring up at the canopy of trees as the world around me lightened with the dawn of a new day.

4

KAI

“Screw her. Screw all of them,” I muttered to myself as I tried to catch some sleep. “Cassie. She ruined everything.”

I tossed around on my bed for several seconds, trying to find the right position. But regardless of what I did. I was uncomfortable, angry, and restless.

“She ruined me,” I said to myself.

My guts were twisted inside. She was beautiful, that much was plain to see. But she was dangerously beautiful, and my guard had been up since the moment I first laid eyes on her. My anger continued to bleed through my veins. How dare she show up and upend everything in my life. My heart hadn’t slowed down since I first set eyes on the girl sleeping in my bed. The bed I was currently trying to sleep on. The one now covered in her scent, and refused wouldn’t fade.

She was everywhere. Her scent permeated the air I breathed. No matter what I did, I couldn’t get away from her. Even in my own damn home. Never mind in my own bedroom. The one place no one trudged. My private sanctuary.

My head became light and dizzy. The sensation made me even more angry. And I couldn’t get comfortable to save my freaking soul, despite my effort otherwise.

“Damn her,” I grumbled. “Damn her to hell.”

I tried to figure out what it was about her that had me up in a frenzy like this. She was just a girl. Sure, she was gorgeous with a side of deadly. She was also a woman who had no common sense. Wasn’t it a general rule of thumb not to enter into a home that didn’t belong to you? Regardless if the door was locked or not. She truly had no idea whose house she had helped herself into, and though Jasper wanted me to believe she just stumbled in out of the blue, my gut told me something entirely different.

Her arrival was too coincidental for it not to be on purpose.

I exchanged sleep for figuring out the solution to this puzzle. As I searched for an answer, I soon came to realize there was only one reason which made the most sense. She had to be a witch, which also explained why Jasper jumped to her rescue in the way he did. Not because he so-called “knew” her. She needed to leave, for my sake and my brothers’. But she had Chase and Jasper under her enchantment, outvoting me at every turn. I had no choice in the matter. Not so long as she was around.

And thanks to her, I couldn’t sleep in my own bed because she tainted it. My only other option was to sleep in the woods. Though, I still had a small cave I lived in before Chase and Jasper entered my life and I found the cabin. I sometimes would go and hang out there for the day when my roommates got on my nerves. That seemed to have happened less and less over the years. Regardless, I could go there and sleep off the enticing scent of the woman and the aggravation that came with her. With luck, she would be gone by the time I got home, leaving me with nothing but a frustrating memory.

My animal stretched against my frame, itching for a stint out in nature. His actions further convinced me.

My bear and I needed a night out anyway.

For the first time since that woman’s aggravating presence took everything I held dear from me, I was excited. I jumped out of bed and ran out the door. The second I was no more than ten feet outside the door of the cabin, I shifted into my grizzly.

Finally tasting the delicious scent of freedom on my tongue, I let out a deep growl as I ran between the trees, pushing deeper into the forest. I weaved between the trees and hopped over the smaller boulders as I put as much distance between me and the cabin as I could as quickly as I was physically able.

As I ran, I recalled the increasing number of traps in the forest. Someone was hunting us. With the appearance of the woman and my suspicions of her being a witch, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were connected. Still, I forced myself to slow down. Though I would heal rather quickly from the pinch the trap would create, it would slow me down and force me to change my plans. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

Not tonight.

Regretfully, I shifted back into my human form, making my way along the uneven landscape with more careful attention paid to where I put my next step. The last thing I needed was for the witch or the hunters to win. Not that I would go down without a fight.

As I moved, at a much slower rate than I wanted, I started to notice the sky lightening with the first signs of a new day. I grunted. It would figure that I would lose an entire night’s worth of sleep thanks to the woman. At least the sunrise would make it easier to see the traps hidden beneath the underbrush covering the ground.

I was paying so much attention to where I was going and where I was stepping that I had forgotten to give some to my surroundings. My mind was also too preoccupied with Cassie and her hidden agenda.

“Can’t sleep either?” Jasper asked, startling me.

I snapped my attention to him, ready to fight. I hated being caught with my guard down. The fact that it was my roommate only made it minutely better. Still, I glared at him. He seemed unmoved by my expression. He simply sat on the rocky cliff face about twenty feet above me. He twirled something between his fingers as he barely gave me another glance.

“How’d you guess?” I asked, narrowing my eyes on him. He normally didn’t spend all night out in the woods. He was usually particular about his schedule. Though I knew him far better than I knew the sudden guest in our home, I was starting to become suspicious of him too. If my theory proves true, and he was under some sort of enchantment, I would have to be careful of turning my back to him.

Not only that but, I could think of very few times Jasper was able to get the jump on me. Even then, only once. Twice if you asked him but consider the source.

Jasper shrugged and looked out over the area around us. “Still in a mood, I see.”

“Looks too me like I’m not the only one,” I snapped.

He settled his attention on me, staring for several seconds, unmoving until he shook his head and looked out over the woods that had started to lighten more and mover over the course of the past several minutes.

---