Untamed Daddy (Mountain Men of Bear Valley Book 3) Read online

  “God,” he groans, his cock still thick and my pussy still wet for him.

  I push him down on the bed, straddling him the way I wanted the moment I entered his room. I lift my ass and sink down onto his cock, dropping my head back as I’m filled in a whole new way.

  “It feels so good,” I moan as Weston’s hands move to my hips. He rocks me, pulsing deeper into my pussy, and I press my hands to his chest, needing to hold on tight because this right here, is the ride of my life.

  I drip for him, my orgasms rushing over me so fast, so hard, that I collapse against him as he is still coming deep inside me. When I press my forehead to his, I realize we never used a condom.

  And for a crazy, insane moment I forget that I’m not on birth control. Instead, as I lie there in his arms catching my breath, I think, maybe I should have Weston Koleman’s baby.

  The thought is so ludicrous it pulls me out from the spell I’ve been under since the moment I walked into this house.

  Weston has a way with me that is so fierce and loyal it makes me think and do out-of-character things. Like make love three times in a row.

  “We should get cleaned up,” I say, moving from his hot and slick body, trying to gather my thoughts. “Finley and your mother will be here any second.”

  “Okay,” he says, sitting up and placing his feet on the floorboards. “But Kate?”

  “Yeah?” I ask, grabbing my bra and underwear and stepping toward the bathroom connected to his master bedroom.

  You’d look damn good carrying my baby.

  Chapter 11

  Weston

  It was wrong of me to have penetrated her thoughts like that, but I couldn’t help myself. Knowing she was imagining herself knocked up, a full round belly, carrying my child? Damn, it got me hard all over again.

  But my words scared her. With reason. She doesn’t understand why I can hear her thoughts - and it’s got to be terrifying.

  When she steps out of the bathroom, I want to explain, but by then we hear the crunch of tires rolling over the gravel driveway and Kate is flustered enough with the idea of being caught having sex with me.

  “Kate?” I say, taking her wrist in my hand before she can leave the room. “I can explain, later.”

  She shakes her head, confused. “I’m just going to pretend none of this happened.”

  “None of what? Any of it?”

  “Wes, Finley’s back. And this day is about her. Not whatever mind control game you’ve got going on with me okay?”

  She leaves me alone in the room and moments later I hear her greeting my mom and daughter, but I know there is a false joy in her voice. I know, because I know her.

  She is my mate.

  And I’ve scared the shit out of her.

  When my brothers hear, they’re gonna be pissed. This is the exact reason we have rules. Why we have a council. Why we don’t go rogue like the grizzlies, doing what we want, when we want.

  People get hurt when that happens.

  Like Heidi.

  I strayed from the bear law before, and that choice left two communities reeling, never recovering from that tragedy. I slept with another man’s mate, and now I’m stepping over protocol again because I want Kate more than I want to follow the rules.

  I know I need to cool it, or I’ll lose everything.

  When I manage to leave my bedroom, having screwed my head on straight as it’s gonna get, I find Finley and Kate already mixing the cake batter together. My mom is carrying in bouquets of balloons.

  “There are a few more bags in the trunk, Wes,” she says, cupping her hand to my cheek in greeting. “Do you mind grabbing them?”

  Outside I take a deep breath, allowing the wild mountain air to calm my nerves. I’m all shaken up. It wasn’t just the sex - the best goddamn sex of my life. And it’s more than Kate being my mate.

  I love her.

  And if I’m going by her words alone, she doesn’t love me back.

  I wish I could shift right now, let the bear inside me out to run free. Get some of this adrenaline out of my body before I explode.

  But I can’t do that now, not today. Instead, I reach in my mom’s trunk and grab bags of food for the party. Dropping the bags of food on the kitchen table, I begin unloading them, careful not to catch Kate’s eyes. I know if I do, I’ll need to drag my fingers through her hair and explain my life away.

  “Daddy, you okay?” Finley asks, breaking my trance.

  “Yeah, sweetie, I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine,” my mom says. “You look worked up.”

  “I’m fine, okay?” I say, my tone louder than I would have liked and I see the flicker of surprise in Kate’s eyes. If she’s scared of me talking in a louder than average voice, she’s really gonna be terrified when she learns just how loud I can growl.

  “Why don’t you get yourself a beer and go sit on the front porch?” Mom says in a tone that tells us this suggestion is not up for debate.

  “Is Daddy in time out?” Finley asks her grandma.

  “No, he’s just taking a break, Fin,” she tells her. “The ladies will stay in the kitchen and get the food ready.”

  “Yeah, Daddy, we got it,” Finley says, her voice determinedly grown-up.

  Kate chimes in. “It’s true. We got it from here Weston.”

  I look around the kitchen at my not-so-little girl, at my mother who knows how to deal with men better than any woman I’ve ever known - she has raised her four boys after all. And Kate. The woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.

  If there were ever a kitchen full of women to listen to - this is it. I grab a beer from the fridge and gruffly leave the house, feeling like the bear I am inside. Not the comforting, protective bear - but the one who needs to hibernate all winter.

  I’m three beers in when people start arriving for the party.

  My brother Gunnar and his wife Addie are the first to show up. Addie gives me one of her bright smiles as she walks up the porch steps, Gunnar keeping a protective arm around her waist that’s already round with their child.

  Jealousy stirs inside of me, making the bear even more restless.

  “Kate here?” Addie asks.

  “In the kitchen.” My voice is strained, and I see my brother raise a brow at me.

  Gunnar whispers something in his wife’s ear and she gives a small sigh before going into the house.

  He leans on the railing, arms crossed, waiting.

  “What?” I growl out.

  “You going to tell me what’s eating at you?”

  I take a deep swig of my beer then set the bottle beside me. “Just that I’m pretty sure I fucked everything up once again.”

  “Seems to be a Koleman tradition,” he says. “Thank God we have women who easily forgive.”

  I grunt. “It’s not just about forgiveness, it’s...Kate’s thinking about leaving.”

  “Leaving where?”

  “Bear Valley. Alaska.” I rub a palm over my beard and shake my head. “Me.”

  “Does she know she’s your mate?”

  “We haven’t had that talk yet.”

  “Might be a good idea. Better than her finding out other ways.” I see him wince and remember how freaked out Addie was when she first saw Gunnar shift.

  But is there ever an easy way to break it to someone that you’re a bear? Or that my soul is forever tethered to hers? That as far as she runs, I’ll always be able to push into her thoughts and hers into mine. That I’ll never be able to be with anyone else, because my bear won’t allow it.

  Not that I could imagine ever wanting anyone other than Kate. But if she leaves, if she finds another man to share her life with, there’s nothing I can do.

  Fucking pathetic.

  Blaine and Harley pull up, and before my other brother gets out of the truck, I see his worried expression when his gaze falls on me.

  Taking the large present from her mate, Harley says a quick hello before darting into the house. One thing about Bea
r Valley, everyone knows everyone else’s business.

  “Another mate crisis?” Blaine asks, knowingly.

  I huff out a breath as our youngest brother Bennett walks up the path a cocky ass grin tugging at his lips. “You three look morbid as hell. Who died?” He chuckles and adds, “Or should I ask, who got mated this time?”

  “Screw off, Bennett,” Gunnar says. “You’re just jealous.”

  “Trust me, bro. The last thing I want is to be tied down to some chick who can up and leave at any time.”

  His words twist my insides, confirming my fears.

  “It’s not like it’s a choice,” Blaine says. “One kiss and you’re—”

  “Which is why I don’t kiss.” He taps his temple, one brow raised like he’s got it all figured out.

  “What the hell do you mean, you don’t kiss?” Blaine asks.

  “No kissing, no mating. Simple math.”

  “All the women you’ve been with, you’re trying to tell us you’ve never kissed one of them?”

  “Nope.”

  “Bullshit,” Gunnar adds.

  “You don’t need to kiss, for a good fu—”

  “Hi guys,” Piper says from the sidewalk, struggling with an oversized package. “Can’t stay long, just wanted to drop this off for Finley.”

  Bennett hops off the step, taking it from her, giving her one of his smiles. “Hey gorgeous. Let me help you with that.”

  She rolls her eyes at him, but I see a hint of a blush rise up her neck and pinken her cheeks. Ignoring him, she turns to me, brows furrowed. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of Kate all morning, but she’s not answering her phone.”

  “Everything all right?” Warning bells blare in my ear.

  Piper, who never looks anything but poised, shifts uneasily. “Yeah. Just need to talk to her.”

  “All the women are in the kitchen,” Gunnar says.

  That seems to make her bristle. “And all the guys are out here, drinking beer. Figures.”

  Bennett chuckles. “Hey, Wes is the only one drinking. Which, by the way, seems pretty unfair.”

  Piper once again rolls her eyes at him, and when my brother follows her inside, I notice him whisper something else to her that has her scowling. The guy has always loved to push people’s buttons, and it’s clear he has a new toy. Unlucky for him, Piper doesn’t seem like the kind of woman who enjoys being played with.

  “Think I’m going to grab a beer too and check on Addie,” Gunnar says, following them in.

  When the door opens, I hear my mate’s laughter float through, the sound going straight to my balls, but also making my chest squeeze. I can feel her emotions like they’re beating on my own chest, but most of all I can feel her confusion, the unsettledness inside her that’s the driving force of her wanting to leave - to leave me.

  “Sure thing,” I tell him, hating the idea of Kate’s home being anywhere but here.

  Gunnar was right, I think it’s time I sat her down and explained everything. The worst thing she can do is leave, which is already something she’s thinking about doing.

  “We’ve got company,” Blaine says from his perch on the porch.

  I follow his gaze toward a black Wrangler that’s just pulled up to the curb, and the large, burly looking man who just got out.

  Rynne Grant. One of Heidi’s brothers. And a grizzly.

  Fuck.

  The man’s got a small, wrapped box under his arm, and his blue eyes hold mine as he approaches.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I growl out, standing, and wishing I hadn’t had those three earlier beers. “You’re breaking the agreement being here.”

  “Wanted to see my niece on her birthday. No harm in that.”

  Blaine is by my side. “There is when one of your men tried to kidnap her last—”

  “And whose fault is that?” Rynne says, not taking his eyes off me, his lips pulling back in a sneer.

  I know what he means. Why he blames me. I blame myself. The grizzly who killed one of Bear Valley’s citizens a few months ago, then tried to kidnap Finley, was Heidi’s mate.

  A sociopath and completely unhinged, he would have stopped at nothing to hurt my little girl if he hadn’t been stopped. Now the guy was six feet under, and the grizzlies had another reason to hate us.

  “You need to leave,” I say, feeling my bear stir. My emotions are already heightened, my bear pacing, not sure how much control I’ll have if the guy takes another step toward my property.

  “Not trying to make a scene, man.” Rynne sighs. “But that little girl is my family, too. Heidi would have wanted her to know us.”

  That voice in the back of my head, the rational one, tells me he’s right. But the Kodiaks and grizzlies have been at war for too long, and not just because of Heidi and me. This fight goes back millennia.

  “Get off my property,” I growl out, a sound that is more animal than human.

  I see Rynne’s own bear stir in his eyes.

  He wants a fight too. Like all his brothers, he blames me for Heidi’s death, and I know he’ll stop at nothing to take my little girl away from me.

  I take a step down toward him, and hear my brother’s warning, “Wes, remember where we are.”

  In the middle of town, not in the mountains where we can fight like real men - as bears.

  “You always were irrational,” Rynne growls back. “Not sure what my sister ever saw in you. Warned her there’d be consequences. But she didn’t listen. She’d roll over in her grave if she knew a damn Kodiak was raising her kid.”

  “This damn Kodiak is about to rip the larynx from your throat if you don’t get off my lawn.” Anger simmers hot inside me.

  “If I didn’t care about my niece, I’d lay you flat out right now, Koleman.”

  It’s a challenge, one that on any other day I’d have walked away from. But today my bear is in control, demanding I remove the threat from Kodiak land.

  I’m shifting before my brain catches up with my emotions. Clothes rip, nails turn to claws, muscles and tendons stretch and burn. Rynne shifts at the same time. And I hear my brothers curse behind me.

  “For fuck’s sake, Wes.”

  But the man is no longer in control, and teeth bared, I lunge for the grizzly. We roll, claws and teeth sinking into flesh, growls and snarls echoing in the air.

  Wild.

  Untamed.

  I fight with all the years of pent-up emotions and guilt.

  Until I hear the women’s shrieks, and my little girl’s cry.

  “Daddy.”

  “Get back in the house,” Blaine demands.

  Then a gunshot rings out, and both Rynne and I stop.

  Bennett stands a few feet away, rifle in hand, face stern. “Enough. The both of you are going to expose us all.” Even though it goes against bear law, he points the gun at Rynne, who is already shifting back. “You. Get the hell out of here now, or I’ll have the council breathing down your ass.”

  “Fucking Kodiaks,” Rynne mutters, gathering his ripped clothes, then walking stark naked back to his car.

  I still pace in bear form, unable to gain control over my animal.

  Gunnar comes out of the house carrying new clothes. Bennett is glaring at me, rifle still in hand, and Blaine looks like he’s going to be sick.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Bennett yells.

  I wasn’t, that was the problem.

  And as I shift back and look toward the house, I see a pair of wide blue eyes locked on me, hear the panicked cry in my head.

  Oh. My. God.

  Kate stands there, face pale, and I know I did more than just screw up. I may have just given her a final reason to leave.

  Chapter 12

  Kate

  Weston is standing before me, pulling on the shirt that’s been ripped to shreds. Because he tore it off. Like a wild animal.

  He is a wild animal.

  No.

  No.

  No. I don’t want to believe it. But
I’m forced to. He stalks toward me and I step back, away, scared.

  “You were the bear who came for Fin and me, in the woods, weren’t you?”

  He nods. “I can explain everything.” Gunnar tosses his brother a pair of jeans and I look away as he pulls them on. “I told you I wanted to talk, this is what that was about.”

  “I don’t want your explanations,” I tell him sharply. “Besides, you were going to explain the mind control situation, not the fact that you can shift into a bear.”

  Behind me, Addie speaks up. “Kate, it’s kinda the same thing. They go hand in hand.”

  I spin on my heels and hiss, “You knew about this? That Wes is ... is … a bear?”

  “The whole family is,” Harley says, walking out to the porch. “The men at least.”

  “Your husbands they can … they are…”

  “Shifters,” Addie says. “Kodiak bear shifters.”

  I feel dizzy, and before I faint flat on my back, my girlfriends guide me inside.

  “You need to lie down,” Harley says. “We can deal with that man of yours later.”

  I’m coherent enough to realize they are glaring at Wes over my shoulder and I’m trying to not scream over the fact two of my best friends have been in cahoots over this shifter situation.

  “What else have you been lying to me about?” I ask as they lead me down the hall, away from the party. They stop at Weston’s bedroom door, but I tell them to keep walking. I don’t want to lie down on his bed right now. Nor do I want my friends to catch on to the fact that Weston and I very recently had wild, out-of-control sex in this very room.

  They push open Finley’s bedroom and I dutifully lie down. Not because they told me too, but because my head really is spinning. I turn away from my friends, frustrated and angry and so, so confused. As my eyes focus, I notice that there are posters of bears tacked all over the room. It’s like a wildlife encyclopedia on large, furry beasts has thrown up in here. Oh god, Finley wasn’t making anything up. Her dad really is a bear.

  “Kate, don’t be mad,” Harley says sitting down on the bed.

  I close my eyes and roll over to face them. Mad doesn’t even cut the surface. But then hot tears fill my eyes, spilling down my cheeks, and it doesn’t matter how upset I am for what they did or did not say. More than anything else, I’m just confused.