Protected by a Bear (Mate Me Book 2)

3

  Marcus watched Eloise walk toward the stairs, his eyes followed her hips. When their eyes had connected earlier, his bear sat up and purred. She had a caramel complexion, so much darker than his own, with jet black hair curled gently and smiling chocolate brown eyes. She wore a tight red knit sweater dress, with a low cut v neck showing off the swell of her breasts. She was short compared to him, but most people were and he wanted to protect her.

The instinct came as soon as Peter gave her a smile; he wanted to punch him in the face for even looking at his mate. After meeting her, he could see why many of the shifters flirted with her. Never had his bear taken an interest in any of the women Marcus took to his bed or dated. This time was different; he hadn't been asking her out or flirting with her. They were talking about the safety of the people at the club and his bear constantly kept purring she was their mate.

Mate! Take her! Mate!

That's not how human women work. He argued with his bear as she spoke to him. His bear grunted, unhappy with the ways of humans. His eyes never strayed from her hips as they walked up the stairs. He curled his hands into fists to make sure he kept himself in check. He didn't want to frighten her.

"Are the VIP rooms used a lot?" he asked. He wanted to hear her pleasant voice again. She looked over her shoulder, her curly black hair shifting and her brown eyes looking at him as she took in his question.

"Yes. We leave them open for those couples who want a quiet place to talk and get to know each other better. Josie is big on making sure no sex happens up here, only getting to know each other. She put that in place after the first Mate Me event." She smiled, and it lit up her face, Marcus was momentarily stunned and stared.

"Do the bouncers stand guard at the stairs to make sure nothing happens?" Marcus asked. He didn't like the idea of anything happening to anyone be it, man or woman.

"They are spread too thin protecting the front and the dance floor. Rhett has made Hank stay close to the bar after an incident happened two months ago." He saw her eyes cloud over and knew it had to do with her.

"What happened?" he asked, instantly wanting to find the man who stole the smile from her eyes and beat him senseless for doing anything to Eloise.

"Just a drunk shifter being stupid." She waved off his question and moved back down the stairs to show him the dimly lit bathrooms. He should ask Rhett what happened so it could prepare him to protect her at all costs. She was his mate and no one would harm her.

"Has he done anything since?" Marcus watched her and barely caught her flinch before she smiled and said,

"No nothing. So you can see the bathrooms are dark and it is hard to see people coming and going." She was lying; she changed the subject getting them back to work. He let her and decided to keep a close eye on her to see if she reacted to anyone coming into the club.

"How does it look?" Rhett came over and Eloise gave him a brief smile.

"I'll let you two talk I need to get back to work." Marcus watched her walk away his bear lamenting her departure. He desperately wanted to pull her to him and kiss her until her taste was imprinted on his brain. Rhett cleared his throat and Marcus turned back to face him.

"Just a word to the wise. She doesn't trust us."

"Why?"

"Two months ago, Jimmy Duggen came to an event. He snuck in some shifter moonshine and got hammered. He started to hit on Eloise and tried to drag her off during her break. Josie was coming back from the bathroom and saw it. She ran to get me and I got Jimmy to release her, but Ellie refused to come back to work for a month. This is the first Mate Me event she has agreed to come bartend for and I know it is because she needs the money," Rhett explained. He watched Eloise get settled behind the bar and pull out a stack of papers. He groaned,