Page 6 of Goldie and Her Bears (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 3)

Jasper settled his gaze on him and nodded before meeting my gaze. He smiled softly. “I’ll be back.”

I nodded and continued to drink my hot chocolate as the men discussed my presence in their home not so quietly from the kitchen.

2

JASPER

Kai was on a rampage, and I wanted nothing to do with it. So, while Chase went ahead to get started on the rest of the night’s meal, I hung back and took my time walking the rest of the way. He was yelling loud enough for half the forest to hear when I approached the front door. Then I heard a woman’s voice and that prompted me to rush inside before Kai shredded whoever was at the mercy of his anger.

But I had a hard time believing my eyes when I stepped inside. Cassie, Allison’s sister, was not only in my home, but she was cowering at Kai’s feet. I had never been more thankful that I had interrupted when I did. A minute or two longer, and there would be a bloody mess to clean up in the living room.

One thing I hadn’t accounted for was the severe urge to protect her that washed over me. I couldn’t let Kai continue to intimidate Cassie. Or threaten her. Not to the one person I had never stopped thinking about since the moment I ran from her house, seconds from shifting.

I thought I would never see her again. But now that she’s in my sight, I had a hard time letting go of the fact that she is in a house with three shifters. I wanted to protect her. To keep her close and safe.

Kai was seconds from shifting and breaking his number one rule. No shifting in front of a human. After all the preaching he did to me about keeping my animal a secret until I trusted someone enough to show them and to be especially careful about who I expose myself to regardless of how much I trusted them. The audacity of this guy.

His fuse was always short, but what he was doing was ridiculous. To lose his control over the appearance of a harmless human in our home… he not only contradicted himself, but he was about to ruin everything all because he couldn’t keep his anger in check. Even for Kai’s standards, this was a new low for him.

More so from Kai than Chase, but even Chase has been known to lose control on seldom few occasions. In our lives, one is far too many, and that was a risk I couldn’t take. Which also meant I needed to keep my distance as well. I almost lost control once.

I damn sure couldn’t allow myself to get that close again.

There was no way I could live with myself if I had managed to save Cassie’s life only to jeopardize that rescue by throwing her in danger because I lost control.

After listening to Kai bicker about “the woman” while standing in the kitchen for our little pow-wow, I finally got fed up and corrected him.

“Her name is Cassie, moron,” I said, leaning against the doorway of the kitchen. I poked my head out to check on her. She was staring at the fire, expressionless. I turned back to find Kai glaring at me.

“Excuse you?” he asked. His question was more of a dare to repeat myself and see where my snark got me than an actual question.

“I said, ‘her name is Cassie,’” I repeated. “Your anger is making you go deaf.”

“This is all just one big joke to you, isn’t it?” he asked, shaking his head and then pinching the bridge of his nose.

Chase shook his head and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. He might have looked like a kid, but he was wise beyond his years. Patient to boot, too.

“No. But if you’re going to throw her to the wolves, literal or not, you should at least call her by name. She’s more than just her gender or species.”

“Of course,” Kai said. “She’s also a burglar and a trespasser.”

I rolled my eyes.

“She should stay,” Chase said. His hazel eyes flitted between the two of us. “At least for the night.”

“You’re taking his side?” Kai asked, shoving a thumb in my direction when he said, “his.”

“The only side I’m taking is the one of decency,” he said as he stirred the pot on the stove. “It’s wet, cold, and extremely dark out. Especially for a human girl. I would hate for her to be put out and get injured.”

“I don’t trust her,” Kai said. “She’s no better than a stray. Pretty soon, we’ll have legions of humans knocking down our door and taking over.”

I snorted. “That’s hardly a point to lead with. You don’t trust anyone.”

“I trusted you.” Kai snapped. “Look where that’s got me.”

I shrugged. “Your problem. Not mine.”

Kai growled.

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