Rancher Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Bear Haven Book 2) by Terry Bolryder Page B

chuckle.
    Bonnie snapped her gaze to him and folded her arms. “Don’t even think about it.”
    Seth slumped back in disappointment, and Jesse sat up a little taller at the thought that his little cat was possessive.
    Then he felt Seth’s hand wandering along the back of his neck, and his skin started to crawl. Not because Seth was a dude, but because pretty much anyone but Bonnie touching him that way made him profoundly uncomfortable.
    “Stop it,” he said.
    But Seth continued to touch and reached another hand around to feel his arm. A muscle ticked at the side of his eye. This was sort of a new situation. Bonnie was glaring at them with folded arms, but then she tsked and turned to the window.
    Jesse batted Seth’s wandering fingers off until they arrived at the ranch, and then he angrily got out of the driver’s seat and, ignoring Seth, walked over to open Bonnie’s door to let her out.
    But when he opened the passenger door, she wasn’t there.
    He did a double take and then looked in the backseat to see she’d crawled back there and had Seth by the collar, shaking him.
    “You don’t want him,” Seth said. “Just let me take him for a spin.”
    “Like hell I don’t want him!” she snapped, snarling as she opened the cab door and sent them both tumbling out onto the ground.
    Jesse’s mouth fell open as he lunged forward, trying to catch the back of her shirt. Instead, the two cats rolled onto the ground outside the truck, where they proceeded to kick up a huge cloud of dirt as they argued.
    Jesse put a hand to his head, knowing better than to get involved in a catfight. Of all the things he’d expected to happen while winning Bonnie, her getting in a fight with her ex-fiancé over him was the last.
    He moved forward to try and separate them, but the next moment, with a popping sound and a huge cloud of dust, she and Seth were gone.
    In their place were two smooth, large lynxes. Much bigger than regular lynxes because they were shifters. But otherwise, they looked the same. Spotted, strong, with graceful faces and long ears with black tufts at the ends that looked slightly comical.
    But there was nothing comical about the way they were circling each other. Like two cats in heat fighting over a male.
    It was a situation no bear ever expected to be in, and Jesse found himself scratching his head. But a voice inside him told him to just step back. To see what Bonnie could do. To stop being controlling for once and trust someone else to take care of things.
    Despite hating it, he sat on a nearby tree stump to watch the fight.
    But if the bastard dared hurt Bonnie, all bets were off.

----
    B onnie didn’t really know what had happened. One moment she’d been sulking, trying to figure out what to do with Jesse when they got home, and the next, someone had dared to touch her mate and the cat in her had screeched bloody murder.
    Then it had just been a matter of minutes until they got home and she could tear Seth’s throat out for touching what wasn’t his.
    Somehow, despite the years of repression and lying and control, nothing had made her hate him as much as putting his hands on Jesse.
    Definitely something to think about in the scheme of this whole mating thing.
    “Stay away from my mate,” she hissed as they circled carefully. She wasn’t afraid of Seth. Female cats were often just as strong or stronger than the males.
    Seth shook his head, smirking, as he licked his paw in cat form. “Cats don’t mate like bears do. We’re more evolved. That’s why we get matched up for good genetic breeding.”
    “Maybe cats don’t know how they’d prefer to mate because someone is always making decisions for them,” she retorted.
    “Maybe. But either way, this is different,” Seth said, eyeing Jesse, who looked profoundly uncomfortable. Seth sniffed the air. “Have you scented it already? It took me a minute, but it’s definitely there…”
    “What?” Bonnie asked, scenting the air as