Woodsman Werebear Read Free Page B

different angle. “Can you at least tell me where I’m taking you?”
    The zip of her duffle bag was loud in the quiet of the mid-afternoon woods. She pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Ten-twelve Fleece Creek Way. I’m supposed to meet a man named Damon Daye in a week. I’m a little early.”
    The oxygen huffed from Drew’s lungs as he froze. He must’ve heard her wrong. “Wait, what? You’re going to Damon Daye’s house?” Billionaire Lair was a better term for the mansion the old dragon had built into the side of a mountain. Whatever it was called, it was no place for a human. “What business do you have with him?”
    “Do you know Mr. Daye?”
    “Yeah.” And he ate people who fucked with shifters. Ate. Them. “He isn’t that friendly toward trespassers.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t be trespassing since he invited me.”
    Drew looked at the beautiful woman in a new light now. Maybe she was to be Damon’s claim. The ancient shifter had to be getting lonely for a mate. It had been a while since his last one had died. That was the trade-off for immortality. Everyone passed on while Damon stayed the same. Drew stood and clenched his fists at his side. If he thought a gorilla shifter was a good fight, well, battling a dragon for this little human would bring down entire forests. No. Drew closed his eyes and swallowed hard against the influx of bear’s murderous thoughts. He wasn’t fighting anyone for anyone. Damon was an ally. Hell, over the past year and a half, he’d been a friend to Drew and the rest of the Ashe Crew. If Damon wanted to court Riley, so be it. That wasn’t any skin off his neck.
    “Are you okay?” Riley asked from right in front of him. “You’re shaking.”
    Drew shook his head, feeling drunk and unbalanced with her so close. He took a step back out of self-preservation. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just had a shit day.”
    “I can tell. You have mud all over your face.” Riley was staring at him, head tilted and eyes troubled.
    Mud? He leaned down and looked at his face in the side view mirror. The swelling from the fight was all gone thanks to his shifter healing, but the dried blood remained. “That’s not mud,” he murmured as he wiped his hand over a thick stream that had dried and flaked. “It’s blood.”
    The acrid scent of fear was immediate, and he jerked his attention to the woods to look for the danger that had scared Riley. He’d kill anything that tried to hurt her. But it wasn’t the woods that had caused that bitter scent to waft from her skin. She was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes. “Why are you covered in blood?”
    “It’s mine.”
    “I don’t see any cuts.”
    Nor would she. All of his cuts had healed during the past hour and half it had taken him to get here. Riley backed up and clutched her duffle bag tighter in front of her.
    “Whoa,” Drew drawled, holding his hands out like she was a startled animal. “The cut is in my hairline. I fight for extra cash while I’m waiting on logging season to start. Season runs from October to June, and right now, money is tight for me, so I do some boxing on Saturday nights and earn enough for groceries. I just came from there.”
    “It looks like you got your ass kicked.” The nervousness that still lingered in her voice gutted him.
    “You should see the other guy,” he joked, trying to ease her tension.
    “I don’t think I would like that.”
    Drew dropped his hands to his sides and frowned. “You wouldn’t like what?”
    “I wouldn’t like watching you fight.”
    Worry pooled in her bright eyes, and he heaved a relieved sigh. At least she didn’t think he was a monster anymore. He was, no doubt, but at least she didn’t know it.
    “Here,” she said, pulling a bottled water from the side pocket of her luggage. “Oh, I have a washrag, too, I think.” She rummaged through her bag and came up with a dark gray cloth.
    Drew muttered his thanks and doused his face with the cool water,