Billionaire Bear’s Human Mate by Alicia Banks
Chapter 12
Shane
He had to wonder what was wrong with him. Shane never felt something for anyone, let alone a human. If he didn’t have better control, he definitely would have kissed Vivica, and he was pretty damn sure that she would have kissed him back. There was something in her eyes, need, desire, innocence. He wanted to take all of those things from her. He wanted to ruin her for anyone else.
None of those things were going to make his current circumstances any better. He was so worried about not being affected by Vivica, that she still caught him off guard. He didn’t want her to. He was sure that there was something that he was drawn to. Shane still didn’t know what ‘it’ was, just that he was feeling more and more.
Finding her sleeping had been one of those moments of lust that he hadn’t seen coming. One minute he was doing fine, getting home from work and the next, he was staring at Vivica for ten minutes, not wanting to wake her up, but knowing that he had to. It was in their best interest.
That was how things were with her. Vivica was someone that came out of nowhere and she was having a direct impact on his life. Shane tried to pretend like none of it was happening, but he was learning quickly that he couldn’t pretend when it came to her, not when he was around her anyway. It was easier to not worry about her, if he didn’t have to see her. He had avoided her at work, but that didn’t help if he had to come home and see her passed out in his chair, leaving the smell of her perfume to linger, long after she left the room. Was that intentional? It almost felt that way to Shane, just because of the immediate reaction that it had on him.
Maria came in, asking if he wanted dinner, and he said that he would just take a sandwich in his study.
“I saw Vivica in here earlier. I hope you don’t mind. She just didn’t want to sit at the table by herself.”
Shane wasn’t sure why Maria was telling him that, except that maybe he wanted her to do something about it, but what? Shane had no idea. He just smiled at her and waited for his sandwich. Shane saw that Vivica had something different. He didn’t even think to come home and eat dinner with her. He didn’t think about that sort of thing, other people’s wants and needs. Instead, he was only worried about his own, but now he felt something akin to regret because he hadn’t. Was Vivica going to make him feel bad about everything, without having to say a word?
He finished his sandwich that had no taste and couldn’t concentrate on his work. Shane wasn’t going to be able to work until he settled his mind. He was about to get up and go for a run when Devin popped by. He texted before he knocked, and Shane was waiting for him.
“What are you doing here?”
Devin’s usually casual face was as white as a sheet, and something was obviously bothering him. Shane didn’t know what it was, but he knew that there was nothing else that he could do until his assistant got it out. For him to be as upset as he was, Shane had to imagine that it was something pretty big, but what though?
“I just got some news from your pack.”
Shane hadn’t heard those words in a while, and he was curious but didn’t know what to say.
“They haven’t been my pack in a very long time.”
“Maybe not, but your father, he has been attacked and he is with a healer, but they don’t know how he is or what’s happened to him. It looks like some kind of spell or something, no one knows. They are asking for you though.”
Shane scoffed. He was supposed to be the leader of the Montauk clan. It was his birthright, but his father had ruined that and gotten himself kicked out of the position. Then, they were cast-offs, all because his father didn’t want to do right with his life. It was his mother’s side that had the royal blood, but his father had been the Alpha for a short time. It was quickly realized that he couldn’t handle such a position. He was bested in a brief battle while he was drunk, and that was the end of Shane’s chance at running things. It didn’t matter that it was his mother’s blood that ran through him, making him the true heir. None of that had mattered when he and his father had been banished. They’d been on their own ever since, and Shane didn’t know why they wanted something from any of them now.
“What do they want? Do they want me to come collect my father?”
Shane tried to feel something more for his dad, but it was really hard. He’d spent all of the life that he remembered, poor, struggling, and Shane had blamed his dad for it for years. It hadn’t gotten better, until Shane had been able to start making his own money, however he had to do it. He was mainly legal nowadays, but that hadn’t always been the case. For a long time, Shane made money taking the risks that others didn’t want to.
“I don’t know exactly what they want. It was one of the elders that got in touch with me. It would seem that they think they need you.”
Shane always said that they would crawl to him for help one day, after they had betrayed their family and his mother’s bloodline. Shane didn’t want to think about it. He had gone through hell because of the Montauk’s decision to kick him and his father out. It was hard to run to their aid now, knowing what they had done in their time of need.
“What is my father even doing with them?”
Devin shrugged, not saying much. Shane was worried about his dad, but he’d grown up worried about him and what he was going to do next. He wasn’t prepared to leave, but he knew that he had to. He had a thriving business, many businesses that needed him at the helm. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just drop everything and leave, could he?
Shane thought about Vivica and knew that she was going to have to help out, as well as Devin. He didn’t like throwing the two of them together, but they did work well together and between the two of them, Vivica reading people and Devin’s knowledge of how Shane worked, was the only thing that he could do, with such short notice. Shane was about to say something when Devin told him the rest. One of his cousins was now leader and was looking forward to him coming around. He didn’t know what that meant, and Devin didn’t either.
“Am I there to help or fight?”
“Hell if I know. Do you want me to stay or go?”
Shane sighed and said that he needed him to stay and take care of things.
“Let Vivica help you.”
“The new hire?”
Shane agreed.
“The human?”
“Yeah, the human. She’s lived on the streets for years and has more intuition than most, even us. She made a call the other day that saved me time, let her do that for you. If you want to know which way someone is going in a deal or the temperature of the room, take a break and talk to her.”
Devin was surprised and Shane asked him what was wrong.
“Nothing, Shane. I’ve just never seen you trust someone else so quickly, definitely not a human. Is there something going on between you two that I should know about?”
Shane was quick to say that there wasn’t, but he also at the same time, wanted to know why he was asking all of those questions. It was easy to see that Devin liked Vivica. Shane didn’t want to leave them alone, but he had no choice. He certainly couldn’t take Vivica with him. He laughed inwardly at the idea of it. He liked to imagine the Montauk clan’s faces when he walked in with a human on his arm.
“Good, so that is settled. I have got you a flight, if you want to take the civilized way.”
“Screw the civilized way, I just want to get there and get this over with.”
“It would take all night. Your choice.”
“When is the flight?”
“In an hour.”
Shane sighed loudly. “Well, I guess I better go grab a few things then.”
“I’m going to leave. I will have Ernest take Vivica in the morning. You won’t have to worry about anything, Shane. I will keep your empire running while you are gone.”
Shane scoffed. “It’s more like a house of cards but treat it well.” Shane had to stop himself from telling Devin to treat Vivica well too. Maybe he didn’t want her to be treated that well. He didn’t like the camaraderie that the two of them shared and he knew that with his absence, that bond was only going to grow stronger.
Devin left and Shane went to go talk to Vivica. He didn’t want her to find out that he was gone in the morning from Devin. He wanted to personally tell her and before he could really think about it, he was pushing in Vivica’s door. He expected her to be up because he expected everyone to be up like him, but she was fast asleep, just as peaceful as she had been before.
This time though, things were different. Vivica wasn’t wearing her clothes, any clothes from what it looked like. His senses were in overdrive, and he could smell the warm body that was in the bed. She was fresh from a shower, and it looked like she had just collapsed into bed and covered up with the sheet. The rest of her was covered, but the thin sheet did nothing to hide the view of her body or the curves that her clothes tried hard to hide. There was no hiding them now and Shane was surprised that she wasn’t as wispy as he had imagined. She was curved, ripe for the taking, and he was next to her bed, closer than ever. He said her name to wake her up and stop his view. It wasn’t something that he wanted to do, but he had to pull himself together. Why did Shane have such a profound reaction to Vivica?
He said her name gently and watched her move. The sheet was pulled down lower and he started to see real cleavage. It wasn’t something that he hadn’t seen a million times before, but before, it wasn’t Vivica’s tit. Why that mattered, he had no idea. It was all Shane could do to stay tethered in the moment.
“Vivica, I need to talk to you for a minute.”
Vivica whimpered, a sound that brought all of his blood rushing forward, but he knew it was for nothing. She was half-asleep, stretching, damn she was showing off more of her perfect body, and he couldn’t keep his eyes away, no matter how badly he wanted to.
He sat down next to her on the bed and shook her gently. Vivica sat up and it was the first thing that he thought to do. Shane moved forward and his lips pressed down against hers. She moaned against him and pulled him down on top of her soft and yielding body.
Shane cursed, before he pressed his body into Vivica’s, pushing her into the mattress and feeling the heat gathered there. He lost himself for a moment, licking and tasting her lips, making her call out as he ground his need against her.
Shane couldn’t believe what he was doing, but he was quickly pulling himself up. He looked down at her sleeping body, wanting to violate her in all ways, but knowing that he couldn’t. The need was so strong that the conversation that they were meant to have was just going to have to wait and be done over the phone.
He left the room quickly, apologizing half-heartedly before he went. That wasn’t what he’d come for, but it was certainly what he wanted right then. Shane had to get out of there, before a part of him snapped and he was dragging Vivica to his bed, not caring if she wanted to be there or not.
