Nathan (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 1) Read online

  NATHAN

  Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers of Colorado (Book 1)

  Brittany White

  © Copyright 2020 - All rights reserved.

  It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  1. Alanna

  2. Nathan

  3. Alanna

  4. Nathan

  5. Nathan

  6. Alanna

  7. Nathan

  8. Alanna

  9. Nathan

  10. Alanna

  11. Nathan

  12. Alanna

  Epilogue

  Obsessed with the Alpha Wolf (Excerpt)

  About the Author

  Blurb

  Billionaire bear shifter, Nathan, wants nothing more than to claim his stake on Alanna.

  * * *

  She’s a beautiful new guest at the Black Bear Lake Lodge. The woman who has forced Nathan to break the one rule he was asked to follow as a Strauss brother: Don’t get involved with the guests but Nathan doesn’t care. Not when Alanna is his mate. She’s all he thinks about, and she needs his help.

  * * *

  Alanna is in possession of another man. The brutal monster has forced her into joining his harem of wives. Alanna had no choice but to obey his orders. He’s holding her brother hostage and she can’t let him hurt her family.

  * * *

  Nathan is a ray of light for her. The man who’s so hot that she could melt into his arms. But love isn’t supposed to come easy for them. It’s never easy for the Strauss Bear Brothers of Colorado.

  * * *

  Can Nathan protect Alanna and free her from her captor?

  * * *

  ***

  1

  Alanna

  John’s grip on Alanna’s arm hurt but she only gritted her teeth as he shoved her into a booth. He wasn’t rough enough to attract attention and he didn’t speak because he didn’t have to. It was only his fingers digging into her arm that would later leave a bruise letting her know he had control of the situation and she better not try anything. The fingers spoke plenty.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” John grumbled as he sat down across from her.

  “I’m not looking at you,” she said, breathing through her nose in an attempt to remain calm. “I’m not doing anything.”

  “Just don’t talk back to me,” he admonished darkly.

  Her brows drew together and she narrowed her eyes at him, but at his look of warning, she sat back and relaxed her features. It was difficult not to glare at John whenever he spoke. She stared out the window, her hands limp in her lap.

  “I’m not doing anything,” she said again.

  She’d tried to be careful since John had told her about Alex.

  They’d stopped at a diner by the side of the road that led up to Black Bear Lake in the middle of the Colorado Rockies. Alanna stared out at the snowy mountains looking just a little peach-colored in the dusk light and sighed. She wanted to be out there, on her own and free.

  She’d been so close.

  Alanna twirled a lock of her waist-length tawny hair around her finger. It was greasy and limp. She hadn’t had a chance to shower or clean up much at all since John had found her. She was still wearing the same dirty clothes she’d worn then. Even for a bear shifter, she felt too disheveled and just a little gross.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” John muttered, perusing the diner’s menu. “Once we get to the lodge, we’ll get you all cleaned up. Get you nice and pretty.”

  That sounded even worse somehow. Alanna sat fuming about it until John tapped his big, stubby finger on the laminated menu that sat untouched on the table in front of her. “What are you? On a hunger strike? Pick food or I’ll pick for you. You’re eating.”

  Alanna begrudgingly picked up the menu and imagined shifting right there in the middle of the diner. She would tear John’s throat out with her claws, spraying blood everywhere. The humans would freak out whereas shifters would just roll their eyes. She could smell some shifters nearby, actually.

  But Alanna couldn’t kill John. She would have, maybe, but...Alex.

  She pursed her lips and sent her glare in the direction of the menu as if the corn beef hash and eggs had somehow wronged her. Finally, she slapped it back down on the table just as their waitress ambled over, notepad in hand.

  “What can I get for you folks?” She said, smiling brightly. Though Alanna noticed the waitress looked her up and down, her smile faltering. Alanna didn’t blame her. She clearly looked like shit.

  “Steak and eggs,” John said. “Well done. Over easy. White toast. Side of bacon. Coffee.”

  John was a few inches north of six feet and he was deceptively stocky, hiding a lot of muscle under his beer gut. He had a brick building of a head and a wide, unpleasant looking mouth that sat in a straight line as he looked up at the waitress.

  “Sure thing,” the waitress said, then nodded at Alanna. “And you, honey?”

  Alanna cleared her throat. She hadn’t spoken much lately. She had started out so mouthy. But there was a bruise forming along her jaw as a result of talking back.

  “Breakfast special, please,” Alanna said softly. “With sausage. Eggs scrambled, please. And coffee.”

  “Was that so hard?” John muttered under his breath. “Being respectful? That’s all you gotta do.”

  “Sure thing.” The waitress frowned at John and took down the order. She glanced at Alanna and this time her expression was clearly not because Alanna looked like she needed a hot shower and a fresh pair of jeans. “You alright, honey?” Her gaze flitted over to John and her meaning was clear.

  “Yes,” Alanna said reflexively.

  Alanna could sense John’s building anger, which would only make things worse. She twisted her hands in her lap and summoned a smile.

  “Oh yeah,” she said, forcing herself to laugh. “I’m just fine. We’ve been camping and I haven’t had a chance to clean up. That’s all.”

  Alanna felt a little proud of herself, even though the lie was obvious on its face. John wasn’t wearing a suit, but he was wearing a nice clean navy blue sweater and his hair was slicked back. He was wearing a silver watch and, if the waitress was observant, she would have seen that they had driven up in an Audi. Nothing about him said “camping” at all.

  John was going to be pissed if the waitress started asking questions.

  “I’m fine,” Alanna said again. She grinned, knowing the dimples in her cheek just might sell the act. She could charm when she felt like it. “Honestly! But thank you so much for your concern.”

  When the waitress finally walked away, John nodded as if in approval. “Good job.”

  She sighed in relief and immediately felt stupid for playing his manipulative little game. John was just a henchman, a well-paid fixer who hurt people for money...a lot of money. But he wasn’t stupid. He moved from threatening Alanna to seeming a little kinder as a means of wearing her down. It worked all too well and Alanna knew t
hat tactic. She’d come across men like that before.

  Alanna crossed her arms and waited for her food, trying not to think about what would come next, or at least what would come eventually.

  John was taking her to the Black Bear Lake Lodge. Alanna had heard of it even though she didn’t know Colorado too well. It was a luxurious type of place, somewhere rich folk, rich bear shifters, in particular, went to lap up all the fancy amenities and ski and go to the spa. They’d be staying there for a few days and then… Alanna didn’t want to think about what happened then. The future was a dark void. The best she could hope for was to go along until she could find the right moment to escape for good this time. But that all relied on Alex getting away first and it didn’t seem likely.

  The food came and Alanna’s mouth watered just as her stomach rumbled. The last thing she’d eaten had been some fish she’d caught out in the woods before John finally caught up with her. She cast the waitress a smile and dug into her food. She would have been embarrassed by how quickly she scarfed it all down if she’d ever cared about that sort of thing. She was still used to living as a bear and tearing into the flesh of a fresh kill.

  The food made her feel a little better. A deceptive kind of feeling, she thought. The future was still bleak as hell, Alex was still a prisoner, and...

  John’s phone ringing made Alanna tense up in her seat.

  So far, the only person that ever called John was Rawley, who checked in on things every couple of hours.

  Alanna swallowed her last bite of eggs and waited for the inevitable.

  John answered quickly. He was halfway through his steak and eggs. They would finish soon and get back on the road and then they’d reach the lodge and then in a few days…

  “Mr. Rawley,” John said. “Yeah, everything’s going swimmingly. We’re having some food… Of course, sir.” John handed the phone over to Alanna with an eyebrow raised.

  The first time John had tried to hand the phone over to Alanna with Rawley, she had not reacted well and he’d threatened to shift and show her why it was a bad idea. Now she took the phone, her head starting to pound even with food in her stomach.

  “Hello,” Alanna said flatly.

  Rawley growled on the other end and Alanna resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Rawley was always growling. To some degree, that was a reflex among male bear shifters. But it was the way he did it, making a point of it. He growled to make threats and also to try to sound sexy. It only made Alanna infuriated.

  “Hello, my blushing bride,” Rawley finally said. “John treating you like the princess you are?”

  The cognitive dissonance threatened to scramble Alanna’s brain, but that was all a part of this too. Rawley knew very well that John had smacked her around to keep her in line, had threatened her, and if nothing else, was holding her against her will. He was holding her brother Alex hostage on top of it, threatening his potential murder or torture constantly. But all of that still wasn’t enough.

  “Of course,” Alanna said dutifully. “Everything is just fine.”

  “You having breakfast?” Rawley said. “Don’t eat too much. I don’t like my girls too plump.”

  “Of course.”

  “You sound so nervous,” Rawley said, laughing in that deep bellowing way of his. “Don’t you worry, my love. You’ll get used to it. You’ll love the other girls. They’ll show you the ropes. And I want you to know, I won’t be too hard on you for taking off like you did. You’re a spitfire. That’s what I like about you. Moment I saw you, I wanted to take that fire. I wanted to take it for myself.”

  Put it out, you mean, Alanna thought.

  “You just sit tight,” Rawley went on. “Daddy’ll meet you two at the lodge. Just got some important business to take care of first and then you and I are getting hitched. God, you’re gonna be a gorgeous bride.”

  “And Alex?” Alanna said.

  “Yes, I’ll bring him. And once you and I are settled in with the other girls, he can go. I just want to make sure things are set in stone first. Need to get you used to things. Now gimme back to John, sweetheart.”

  “Please don’t hurt Alex,” Alanna pleaded.

  “I said give him the phone,” Rawley said and she didn’t miss the implicit threat.

  Alanna handed the phone back to John and sat back in her seat, her appetite lost.

  She folded her hands in her lap and stared down at the little remaining food on her plate. Every time she spoke to Rawley, she felt a little sick and everything seemed a little worse. The eggs on her plate seemed congealed now, the toast crusted with greasy butter. The pretty peach-colored clouds over the snowy mountains outside now looked like a hellscape. That was Rawley’s big power, she supposed. Making everything feel so much worse.

  The moment she had first met Rawley, she had thought to herself: this is bad. Even when he had been trying to charm her, she had never been fooled by him, either by his money or his strength or his affable charisma that could turn to violence in the blink of an eye.

  It had been a kind of party, sort of like a kegger that teenagers would go to. That’s what it felt like anyway. That’s what bear shifter parties always felt like. They were always big shindigs deep in the woods. This one had been in Park City, Utah. It was a huge event, a gathering of bear sleuths and lone bears too. The kind of party anyone would go to. It had taken up half a forest.

  Alanna had only been passing through town with her brother. Since their parents had been killed by hunters when they were just kids, they’d drifted around together. They’d had no sleuth to take care of them, but that was the way with bear shifters. Some ran in groups and some went at it alone. It was somewhat easier to go at it alone when you were fairly assimilated into the human world.

  So Alanna and Alex had soldiered on and made the best of it, traveling from town to town and state to state. It was lonely sometimes, but she loved her brother and she liked seeing so much of the country as they’d made their way around, settling for a bit here and there, working some, and exploring the woods as young bears on their own.

  She’d never been to Utah until that party in Park City. They’d just come to town. It had been a fun day too, fishing and running and sniffing around other friendly bears. They’d shifted into human form to hit a few bars and sneak into the fancy lodges around the resort town just to make fun of the rich humans and steal continental breakfasts and champagne.

  They’d been playing around in a creek not far from the ski slopes when they’d met another shifter who ended up following them back to town and buying them beer. It was that guy, Carl, who’d told them about the party. He’d also given them a warning that neither Alanna or Alex had heeded: watch out for Rawley.

  “He runs everything in Utah,” Carl said, as he sipped his IPA. “I mean all over the state. In the bear world anyway. It’s like a protection racket. He preys on bears who are out on their own, who don’t have sleuths. He pillages sleuths and bear communities then makes them pay up for protections for other shifters and if you don’t pay, you’ll be sorry. He’s brutal. But he throws a good party. You probably won’t even meet him, there’ll be so many bears there. I’m just telling you...be careful if you do run into him.”

  It had sounded like a joke to Alanna who was twenty-three and felt like she’d been around the block a lot more than most girls her age. A bear shifter mobster with his fingers in every pie? She hadn’t been worried.

  Now, she was bruised and she had been kidnapped. John had kept her tied up in the trunk for the first couple hours of their drive after he’d found her. He’d only untied her after she’d promised not to run away again, and when she’d mouthed off after that, she’d been rewarded with a smack.

  She shifted in the booth and stared out the window at the snowy mountains where other bears were running free, where she wanted to be running free too.

  But in her mind all she saw was Rawley. He was handsome, really. He was a lot older than her. She’d seen him first in his bear form, up on his
hindlegs roaring as the party-goers cheered.

  There had been a lot to cheer for. He was the biggest bear Alanna had ever seen.

  Later he’d shifted into human form and he’d spotted her laughing as she sat on a log next to her brother. He’d brought her a plastic cup of champagne. He was wearing a nice suit. He’d looked just like one of the humans who stayed in the fancy resorts all around Park City. He had brown eyes so light they glimmered and turned to gold.

  “Hey there, beautiful. You look like you need company.”

  Watch out for Rawley, Carl had said.

  It probably wouldn’t have made any difference if she had.

  Now she would never know, and now she had to marry him...or Alex would die.

  2

  Nathan

  “Goddamn,” Nathan said, sighing. His laptop was kaput. The battery was shot. He’d known that, but now it wasn’t even powering up. He sat back in his designer side chair at the small dining table next to a floor to ceiling window that looked out on the glorious Black Bear Lake mountains beyond. There was nothing in his email that couldn't wait. Maintenance work orders went right to an app on his phone. Still, he hated dealing with computer stuff.

  “Stupid goddamn…”

  Nathan rubbed his chin, the scruff growing in rough on the pads of his fingers. He’d been flirting with growing out a beard, but he hadn’t quite decided yet. The light scruff was a good look though. He always got more looks from women when he had some scruff on him. It went with the whole sexy handyman thing, he supposed.