So far so good. Eli parked his truck next to another pick-up. He got out, not caring he was getting drenched. Eli looked around the empty parking space.
Only three trucks there, four including his. Huh. Strange. Eli expected more. Eli shrugged and pulled out his luggage from the trunk. He walked right into the lodge and blinked.
The outside looked charming enough but he could tell from a single glance that everything inside the lodge looked worn-down by time.
The place could sure use a fresh coat of paint and some new new furniture. Eli remembered the old human woman’s warning earlier.
He shivered. Eli felt like a drenched dog. The cold had seeped past his skin and went right into his bones. A fire roared in the fireplace. Eli was tempted to move closer to the fire, sink into one of those comfy chairs and maybe dry himself off for a couple of minutes.
Eli squinted at the sofas, then the walls. Were those claw marks?
Unease wormed its way inside Eli. He clutched the handle of his luggage tightly. Eli couldn’t go back now that he’d gone this far.
“Calm down,” he told himself.
There was no one behind the reception desk. Eli rang the bell. Still nothing. He fixed his attention on the yellowing calendar on the wall.
September. Ten years ago.
The desk looked like it could use a good dusting. There were cobwebs everywhere. Goosebumps appeared across the length of Eli’s arms. He suddenly felt like a character in a horror novel.
Maybe the place was haunted. Vampires, witches, and shifters existed. Why couldn’t ghosts? Maybe some tragic murder occurred here and evil spirits were still running amok.
Eli took deep breaths. What was he doing, trying to scare himself silly?
He tried the bell again, only to hear a snarl from somewhere upstairs. Eli jumped as the sound echoed throughout the lodge. Ghosts couldn’t make a noise like that, could they?
Eli looked behind him. He’d left wet footprints on the wooden floor. It wasn’t too late to run back to his car, to flee from this strange place.
“I’m coming.” Those words were uttered along with a growl.
The sound raised all the hairs on his back.Growls and snarls. Eli calmed down. A shifter probably ran this place. That made better sense than ghosts.
Eli swallowed as the largest man he’d ever seen came down the stairs. Eli didn’t even hear his footsteps. Not a man then. A shifter. A very dominant Alpha.
Aggressive energy poured off him in waves. Eli let out a breath and took a hesitant step backward. This behemoth must be six-foot-six and all of him was made of hard and sinewy muscle.
Unfriendly green eyes flashed beneath a mop of dark brown hair. It didn’t help that the massive shifter was holding a hammer in one hand.
Eli met no one like this stranger before. He was used to meeting insufferable and arrogant shifters, friends of his parents who were clad in thousand-dollar designer clothes. Those shifters only cared about how they presented themselves to society.
This, he decided was what a proper Alpha should look like. Wild and savage. A little scarred.
Underneath that beard and hair, the werebear was handsome. The shifter set the hammer down on a nearby table. Eli felt a little better.
He refused to be daunted and besides, he did need a place to stay the night. Several nights. Eli had no other booking and he couldn’t imagine driving through that awful rain again.
“Um, hi? I have a booking. It’s under Ben Brooks.”
Eli wasn’t an idiot. He didn’t use his real name. That would make it easier to track him. The dark-haired werebear said nothing but kept staring at him. Eli shivered.
Lightning flashed outside the wide windows. The boom of thunder made him jump. Eli really didn’t want to go back to the rain. The werebear’s green eyes held streaks of gold in them. A shifter only changed eye color when intense emotions rode them.
Eli had grown up being looked at like potential merchandise by his parents’ family friends. He didn’t like being treated like a commodity but for some reason, Eli didn’t mind this werebear’s appraising stare.
He felt cold initially, but Eli’s skin suddenly felt warm. Did the temperature change? His pants felt unbelievably tight. His cock woke—a genuine shocker.
After being forced to mate Steve, Eli didn’t think he’d ever feel desire for another man again. The Alpha werebear neared him. Eli didn’t budge.
Any Omega or submissive shifter with some sense would exit this strange and creepy lodge right away but for some reason, he stood his ground. Eli met the Alpha’s stare even when they were only a foot apart.
The werebear finally spoke. “That’s not your real name.”
Eli’s heart thudded.
How could this sexy stranger know that?
3
Liam
Liam Griffin knew it was rude to stare but he couldn’t take his gaze off the flustered Omega. Ben Brooks, if that was even his real name, reminded him of a tiny drowned rat.
Liam didn’t need to be a mind reader to know this Omega was lying to him. All the signs were there. Elevated heartbeat. Harsh breaths. The Omega kept touching his stomach.
He narrowed his eyes. It was faint, but Liam could hear it. A second heartbeat. He didn’t miss the claiming mark or the black eye the Omega sported either.
For some reason, that pissed him off. What kind of scum used their fists on a pregnant Omega? Liam pushed past his anger. He needed to be logical about this situation. This Omega was bad news. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this stray was running from something or someone. Someone bad.
Liam hadn’t been around plenty of Omegas. He was sure they were common in bigger cities but around these parts they were rarities. Treasures. They emitted special pheromones that made them easily identifiable to other Alphas. Fuck, but this Omega’s scent wrapped around him like prickly thorns. Vanilla and some kind of
