CHAPTER SIX : Hazel Ellis

I didn’t get any sleep that night. Liv had to stop for a little shut-eye an hour from Shifter City, so I was on my own. The grizzly squashed up against my door was surprisingly silent. The only reason I even knew he was there was because his smell didn’t grow fainter, and I could see part of his huge body if I peeked out the window.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I spent a few hours running through exercises and drills I didn’t need equipment for. It wasn’t my favorite way to work out, but it distracted me and that was the point.

The noise from Liv’s yellow Ducati, lovingly named Banana, had me striding toward the door.

I stepped over the bear. It was more of a lunge, because he was huge, but I flew down the stairs afterward and met my best friend at the bottom.

She threw her arms around me, hugging tight, and I squeezed back even harder. Her dark, collarbone-length curls were wild around her head.

Liv’s eyes must’ve caught on the bear watching us from the top of the stairs. “What the hell is that?”

“I found some other rubies.” I released her from the hug so she could gawk better.

“Is that a bear?”

“Yep. Grizzly.” I nodded. “Somehow, I managed to stumble upon a city of shifters. I guess werewolves aren’t the only supernatural creatures after all.”

Liv was still staring at the grizzly. “He looks like he could eat you.” The grizzly snorted, and I knew exactly where his mind had gone.

“He looks tougher than he is.” I shot him a dirty look, grabbing my friend by the arm and towing her toward the motel. “Come on, I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

Merrick didn’t move out of the way as we stepped over him again. He leaned as I took a step, and my leg brushed his side. His scent intensified, and I felt a pull toward him just as I shut the door a little harder than I needed to.

“So is he guarding you, or making sure you don’t escape?” Liv checked, collapsing on the mattress I had yet to sleep on.

“A little of both, probably.” I leaned up against the wobbly desk a few feet from the bed.

I filled her in on everything that had happened. When we heard a car and some talking outside, we both threw on the changes of clothes she’d brought us—jean shorts and tanks—and headed out to see what the grizzly was up to.

We found him in the parking lot, back in human form and dressed in just a pair of low-slung jeans that had me staring at his ass before dragging my eyes up the tats on his back.

Unlike my own colorful tattoos, his were all done in black ink. They curled up his arms and chest, and a little on his neck. I couldn’t help but wonder if they went lower, or if his legs and ass were ink-free.

My own tattoos covered both of my arms but didn’t cross my shoulders other than one little word on my collarbone. They crawled up parts of my legs, too, but stopped a few inches before my ass. I looked at my body as a canvas, and had yet to decide whether I wanted my tats to keep growing or not.

“Hot damn,” Liv muttered, staring at the grizzly. A growl escaped me, surprising us both, and she lifted an eyebrow toward me. “That True Mate shit is real, huh?”

I opened my mouth to protest, but Liv’s eyes caught on her Ducati. There was another chick, a pink-ruby-haired one, stroking the seat. Liv didn’t hesitate—she ran. “Get your hands off my Banana!” She yelled as she sprinted.

I snorted, a grin stretching my lips as the girl jumped away. Merrick didn’t look at Liv, though—he looked straight at me.

And for some insane reason, I looked back.

“Hazel.” He nodded toward me, his voice low and gravelly. His nose was bruised and discolored, but the blood was cleaned up. I wondered why he hadn’t had the other girl heal him, but didn’t want to ask since he deserved that injury for his behavior the night before. Shifter saliva had healing properties, so all it would take was a few licks from one of us to get rid of the bruises and pain.

“Grizzly.” I folded my arms, stopping a healthy three feet away from him.

“This is my sister, Chandler.” He introduced the girl who was sheepishly apologizing for touching Liv’s Banana. She was tall and willowy and looked nothing like Merrick.

“I didn’t think ruby shifters could have more than one kid,” I said, giving Chandler a quick smile. My parents had never said much about it, but I knew they’d wanted to have more children but hadn’t been able to.

“They can’t.” Chandler agreed. “Blake’s parents adopted me after mine died.”

Ah.

Blake? I’d been calling him Merrick, but realized I may not have ever said it out loud. Merrick seemed to fit him better than Blake, anyway.

“Ready?” I asked Liv.

“Always.” She grinned, sliding onto Banana and turning the bike on. It revved to life, and Merrick grabbed my arm.

I spun and tugged, moving to roll him over my shoulder to knock him on his ass again. Instead, he caught me by the waist and spun me against him, trapping me.

His scent went wild, and I shuddered as I tore his arm away from me, ducking under and planting a foot on his back. He didn’t budge, spinning around and catching me by the ankle.

The night before, I’d knocked him over so easily I’d assumed he couldn’t fight. Apparently, I was wrong.

“Let go,” I warned him.

His hand stroked my ankle. My body warmed in response, and his chest made its weird idling sound.

“What the hell is that noise?” Liv asked as I jerked my foot away, stepping back and ending the fight.

“He’s rumbling. It’s a bear’s version of a cat’s purr,” Chandler explained.

Rumbling? Wolves rumbled. That bear was idling like a damn motorcycle.

“Aww, Haze, your True Mate likes your ankles.” Liv said, her voice sugar-sweet with sarcasm.

“They’re nice ankles,” I remarked, striding to the Banana and sliding on behind Olivia.

“Where are you going?” Merrick’s voice was low, almost a growl, as he headed toward us.

“I have seven days left to pick a mate.” I flashed him a smile. “So it’s time to meet the candidates.”

Liv started Banana and peeled away before the heavenly-smelling grizzly could do something drastic, like rip me off the back of the bike and seduce me into mating with him in the damn parking lot.

“We’re picking up Cherry, right?” Liv yelled over the sound of the engine as she flew down the old, faded asphalt.

“Yeah,” I yelled back, my arm around her waist. The ride was short, less than two minutes. When we pulled into Tommy’s bar’s parking lot, I slid off the back of the bike and eyed my Ducati.

Draped across my bike was a gorgeous specimen of a man. Deep brown skin met a tight black t-shirt straining over large muscles, and the hot pink hair on his head was shaved almost completely off. My eyes trailed down his body, and damn, he was hot.

“I want a ruby shifter,” Liv muttered, her voice a bit strangled. “Love matters more than muscles,” I muttered back.

“Maybe to you it does.”

I strode over to the man, leaving my friend to her lusty daydreaming. “Get your ass off my bike.”

“Hello to you too.” He grinned lazily, not moving. “I’ve got to admit, this baby is pretty comfortable.”

“What’s your name?” I countered, realizing force wasn’t the best way to go with him. He was technically still a possible mate, so maybe him finding me wasn’t the worst thing.

“Darius Timms. And you are?”

“Hazel Ellis.” I covered the distance between us, leaning toward him so our bodies nearly touched. His eyes shifted as he didn’t back down from the challenge. “What are you, Darius?”

“Griffin.” His grin grew.

A griffin, like a mystical creature? Lion body, eagle head… something like that?

“Can you fly?” I checked, my inner daredevil surfacing. There was a reason I rode a motorcycle, and it wasn’t for the safety.

“I can.” His voice was a rumble.

“Take me on a ride,” I said, a request that was phrased like a command.

Bossy assholes loved that shit.

He chuckled, climbing off the bike and peeling his shirt over his head. Leaning in close, he murmured, “After this ride, I can take you on an even better one.”

What a terrible pickup line.

I leaned in even closer than he had, stopping when my lips were only a breath from his, and breathed, “Nope.”

Stepping back, I turned away so I didn’t get an eyeful of his junk while he shifted.

Liv was grinning from where she still sat on Banana, watching us like we were the entertainment. I heard tires on the asphalt and a moment later my eyes collided with those of the grizzly, driving a big old beater truck the color of rust.

I turned back to Darius, but didn’t have time to gawk at the bird-lion thing he had going on. “Better get out of here fast,” I called out. “I’ve got a grizzly on my ass.”

Darius squawked, and I threw a leg over his back, digging my fingers into his fur/feathers a moment before we shot up unto the air. Adrenaline rushed through me, and a grin broke out on my face.

Not because of the flight; though that was fun.

I grinned, because I was excited to see the grizzly’s reaction to my sudden escape.