Billionaire Bear’s Human Mate by Alicia Banks

Chapter 2

Shane

Shane was minding his own business. He was getting back late from the meeting in the office and he decided to take a stroll passed Peters Street. His car was parked a few blocks away, and he didn't even bother to call his driver. Shane liked to drive, but Ernest did all of that for him. It seemed like the more money Shane made, the less he actually had to do for himself. He could pay somebody to dress him and shine his shoes if he wanted. He already had a personal assistant, drivers, gardeners, maids, there was somebody doing everything for Shane and at times, it became cumbersome. Sometimes he just wanted to leave a place and not be followed by a team of people. Nobody needed that many people to succeed.

He was thinking about the next day's meetings and what had to be done. Shane was always trying to think a few steps ahead and since he was one of only ten billionaires in the city, Shane had to stay on his toes. Someone was always there waiting in the wings to take what he had worked his ass off for. Shane used to have a different life. A life that was so simple and natural, that what he was now doing seemed off. He looked around at all the concrete and buildings and bricks and mortar, and he wished for dirt and grass underneath his feet, the sun shaded by tall trees instead of skyscrapers.

Shane chuckled to himself. He always got nostalgic when he took a short walk. It didn't take much, with the breeze and the smell that the air carried with it. It told a story and Shane’s nose couldn't help but read it. His senses came alive when he was outside, and it was probably why his ears perked up when he heard a girl screaming. This was the city; New Orleans was known for crime, and someone was always becoming a victim every few minutes or something like that. It wasn't the first time that he had heard a girl scream in the distance, but it was the first time that he wanted to go help them.

Part of him wanted to blow it off. It was only going to pull him into some drama that he didn't want to be a part of. Shane didn't need to get into drama, especially not human drama, where cops would come and ask all kinds of questions. Shane didn’t have time for any of that.

Still though, instead of walking the last couple hundred feet to his car, he turned toward the noise and started walking rapidly toward it. It wasn't like him to get involved. He usually didn’t, but today was different. It was a good thing too, because the woman was surrounded by four men, and it was pretty clear that she did not want to go with them.

“Why don't you just leave her alone?”

It was a simple question, and Shane said it in a very clear tone of voice, without any anger or arrogance or attitude. Shane knew that he could take out all the men. It would be done quickly and easily, without even breaking a sweat. That was the dark side of him. Shane liked to hold the aggressive side of him at bay, because sometimes it became more than he was able to handle. It felt like it was going to be one of those times.

“Why don’t you keep on walking, old man?”

“Old man? I am thirty. I just turned thirty by the way, so I wouldn't say that I'm old. Aging well I like to call it.”

Shane was still smiling; he was showing them that he was not troubled by the inflection of their words. All he wanted to do was get the woman out of their grips. He asked her if she was okay, and she explicitly said that she wasn't.

“I just want to leave, and they won't let me.”

Shane turned to the tall blond that seemed to be the boss of the others. He sized him up and though he was big, Shane knew that he could get bigger.

“Why don't you just let her go, and we can all be on our way? It doesn't have to be anything ugly.”

“Speak for yourself, old man. You are the one that is bringing this on yourself.”

Shane insisted that he wasn't trying to start trouble, but they didn't believe him. He hit one of the guys closest to him and saw him fall down. The other two moved back some.

That meant that only the blond man was holding the girl. She was a slight thing, had smudges on her face, probably from fighting with them, and it looked like she had been smacked at some point. She looked innocent and she was really young. Shane didn't know what to think of her, but he didn't really have time for much of an assessment, because the three men were coming toward him with intent. They weren’t going to take the hint apparently.

Shane sighed inwardly, though that small dark side of him rejoiced in the idea of getting his hands dirty. “No, seriously guys, you really shouldn't do this. Haven't you ever heard that it is rude to speak to others like that? I’m sure it is quite rude to threaten them as well.”

That got him a smile and a jeer from the blond one that he’d heard called Thom.

“Take him out. Then we’re going to take this little minx back to the clubhouse with us. I'm sure that we can find something to do with her to keep us entertained.”

Shane just clicked his tongue. Humans were so typical. There were billions of men and women on the planet and, of course, there were always those few who wanted one that they couldn’t have instead of picking one of the literally billions of other people. That seemed like insanity more than anything else, and he was probably going to enjoy the next few minutes more than he was supposed to. He reminded himself that he wasn’t supposed to like it. Even saying that though, he knew that he would.

Shane waited for the first one to jump, but another man jumped in with him, hitting him from both sides. Shane let their fists make contact, just so that they would be closer to him. Then, he would be able to pull them close and make them pay. It wasn’t like he could feel the blows anyway. They didn’t even faze him, and Shane was almost disappointed by the fight that the first three gave him, which wasn’t much at all. All he could do was hope that the big blond man did a better job of it.

He turned toward Thom, who was watching him carefully.

“Why would you do all of this for a woman that you don’t know?”

Shane didn’t have an answer and he was no longer giving warnings. He wasn’t interested in them; he was interested in something else. He wanted to hurt the guy, just because he did. He hadn’t had a bad day, but any time that he could harm someone that was a bad person to the core, Shane was more than happy to do so. He took pleasure in it, and he could feel his lips curving up into a smile. This was exactly what he wanted and needed.

The girl wasn’t even on his mind, though when the last standing man threw her to the ground, his teeth clenched together, and he knew that he was going to make it worse for him. Shane couldn’t stand the way that some men treated women. They deserved what they got, just like this guy was going to deserve it too. It made dishing it out that much sweeter.