Excerpt:
Liv huddled next to the campfire, a flimsy Mylar sleeping bag wrapped around her shoulders. Soaking wet, her cheeks flushed scarlet from the frigid air, the human was in trouble. The sun had dipped below the horizon and the temperature was plummeting.
I glanced at my shivering captive. “Gimme your coat, dress, and boots.”
“What?” she sputtered. “Dude, I’m not stripping in front of you.”
My lip quirked. Nobody but this feisty, gotta-be-freezing-her-ass-off woman would dare call me dude. Most pack mates cringed in my presence, and referred to me as Mr. Creed, or sir.
Not Liv.“You’ll never warm up if you spend the night in wet clothes.” I pointed at the sticks wedged into the ground next to the campfire. “I’ll put your things close to the flames to dry out.”
“Forget it.” She yanked the emergency sleeping bag up to her ears.
I bit the inside of my cheek. I never got a good look at her body underneath the sodden down parka, but her legs were shapely and I bet her figure matched.
What the hell am I doing?
Was there any thing more pointless, more self-destructive than being attracted to the woman I’m turning over to my heartless alpha?
Time to shut this shit down.
I stepped toward her and deliberately shaped my features into an intimidating scowl.
“You telling me you’d rather freeze to death than take off your wet clothes?”
She didn’t answer, probably realizing how foolish she’d sound if she said yes.
“My orders are to bring you safe and sound to Medved. I can’t let you get hypothermia.”
“And a flunky like you doesn’t dare disappoint his alpha, right?” Scorn dripped from her voice.
“That’s right.” No point in taking offense when she spoke the truth. I lowered my chin and put command into my voice. “So either you strip or I’ll do it for you.”
Color returned to her cheeks in an angry flush. “Try it, buddy, and you’ll lose a hand.”
I could easily overpower the mouthy woman and peel her clothes off. Grizzly shifter versus human? Hell, no contest. Liv wasn’t stupid. She had to realize how powerless and vulnerable she was. Still, she jutted out her chin, and her pretty brown eyes shot sparks.Rubbing the back of my neck, I debated how to handle the insolent human. I’d ripped her away from everybody and everything she knew. Her next few days were bound to be rough, especially if she shot off her mouth in front of Medved. Why not cut her some slack? If she saw me as a reasonable man, she might be more willing to listen when I warned her to mind her manners in front of my alpha.
“How about I turn around and look the other way while you undress?” I proposed.
The fingers clutching the top of the sleeping bag had turned bone white, and she trembled from the cold. “Fine,” she said reluctantly. “Do it.”
I put my back to her. “Just don’t get any crazy ideas about picking up a branch and clobbering me.”
She snorted. “We’re in the middle of godforsaken nowhere.” I heard rustling as she dropped the sleeping bag and shed her wet clothes. My imagination filled in the details as I imagined her naked behind me. “Even if I managed to knock you out, where would I go?”
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