Savor Read online

  Copyright © 2015 Alyssa Rose Ivy

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written approval of the author.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover Design: Phatpuppy Art

  Cover Photography: MaeIDesign and Photography

  Interior designed and formatted by:

  www.emtippettsbookdesigns.com

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Books by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  About SAVOR

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Storm (The Empire Chronicles #5)

  Seduction’s Kiss

  The Crescent Chronicles

  Flight (The Crescent Chronicles #1)

  Focus (The Crescent Chronicles #2)

  Found (The Crescent Chronicles #3)

  First & Forever (The Crescent Chronicles #4)

  The Empire Chronicles

  Soar (The Empire Chronicles #1)

  Search (The Empire Chronicles #2)

  Stay (The Empire Chronicles #3)

  Savor (The Empire Chronicles #4)

  The Allure Chronicles

  Seduction’s Kiss (The Allure Chronicles #0.5)

  Lure (The Allure Chronicles #1)

  The Dire Wolves Chronicles

  Dire (The Dire Wolves Chronicles #1)

  Dusk (The Dire Wolves Chronicles #2)

  Hazards Series

  The Hazards of Skinny Dipping (Hazards)

  The Hazards of a One Night Stand (Hazards)

  The Hazards of Sex on the Beach (Hazards)

  The Hazards of Mistletoe (Hazards)

  The Hazards of Sleeping with a Friend (Hazards)

  Mixology

  Shaken Not Stirred (Mixology)

  On The Rocks (Mixology)

  Clayton Falls

  Derailed (Clayton Falls)

  Veer (Clayton Falls)

  Wrecked (Clayton Falls)

  The Afterglow Trilogy

  Beckoning Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #1)

  Perilous Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #2)

  Enduring Light (The Afterglow Trilogy #3)

  website

  facebook

  twitter

  [email protected]

  newsletter sign-up

  Jared is Vera's perfect man—until he opens his mouth. An incredible body and set of wings can only go so far when everything he says seems designed to make her mad. Still, she can't deny her intense attraction or the fact that he is the closest thing she has to a friend.

  Jared doesn't go for bear shifters, especially ones that are related to his ex, but he can't resist Vera's charm or the way she understands him better than anyone else.

  As suspicions build and loyalties are tested, Vera and Jared realize that they may not be able to trust anyone but each other.

  I never asked to spend my life with someone by my side. I was fine with loneliness, and in my own way I welcomed isolation. It was easier that way. You never had to worry about letting someone down if there was no one there. But we don’t always get to choose the path we walk, or the people we walk it with.

  I was a bear. I knew it in every grain of my being, but another part of me was human, and it was the human side, the human vulnerability, that simultaneously saved me and destroyed me. And it was him. Jared. He opened me up to feelings and experiences I never wanted but now needed. If I’d known in the beginning what he was going to do to me, I probably would have run the other way, but I didn’t. I didn’t see it coming.

  “You awake?” Jared didn’t bother to keep his voice down, which meant he already knew the answer to his question. We’d stopped in a random hunting cabin in the middle of nowhere and Jared was crazy if he thought I was going to sleep comfortably. I was far too paranoid to close my eyes for long. Instead I lay on one side of a rickety old bed, on top of the covers.

  “Remind me why we stopped here again?” My voice came out as loud as his.

  “You agreed we didn’t want to arrive at the island in the middle of the night. I knew this place would be empty.” He leaned up on his elbows, giving me a front row view of his bare chest. I shouldn’t have found his muscular chest so inviting, but I did. Everything about Jared’s physical appearance lured me in. Too bad his mouth generally cancelled out the attractive body.

  “Because I didn’t want them killing you. Casey did say they were constantly on high alert.” I’d grilled Casey the best I could about the island our family lived on. For the first time, it was my little sister who explored something before me. She seemed insistent that my mom wanted to see me, and my birth father wanted to meet me. I wasn’t sure if I believed her on either account, but something in me needed to find out for myself.

  “I’m glad you don’t want me dead.” He smirked. Even his smirk was sexy.

  “I’d be on my own if you were.” I put my hands behind my head.

  “And you don’t like being alone?” He studied me in the darkness. Sometimes I wished neither of us had night vision. It left you so naked, never having an opportunity to hide.

  “I do most of the time.”

  “But not always?” His eyes raked over my body. The fact that he could make such a platonic conversation feel sexual gave me even more reason to resist him.

  “Why does it matter?” Often the best way to avoid a question is to ask your own.

  “It matters because I asked it.” And there went his mouth again.

  My annoyance gave me back my will power. “Put a shirt on.”

  “Why?” He grinned. “Am I distracting you?”

  “No, but we should go. The sun will be up soon enough.”

  “Maybe I shouldn’t go with you.” He sat up, swinging his legs off the side of the bed.

  “No way.” I moved to standing. “You’re not backing out.”

  “Why do you care?” He stood with his back to me. “You can do this alone.”

  “Of course I can.”

  He turned to me. “Then why does it matter if I go my own way?” He pulled on his t-shirt, and a little part of me missed the view.

  “Because we agreed to help each other out. I stick to my promises.” That was one of my good traits. The not so good traits weren’t worth reflecting on.

  “Maybe I don’t.”

  “You do.” I put a hand on my hip. I didn’t have time for Jared’s games.

  “How do you know?”

  “I just do.”

  “You’re infuriating.”

  I groaned. “And what are you?”

  “Charming.”

  If I’d had liquid in my mouth I would have spit it out. “Not exactly the word I’d use to describe you.”

  “Says the girl begging me to stay with her.”

  “I never begged.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Would you beg?” His grin was his undoing.

  “Is that how you like it, Jared? With your w
omen begging?”

  “I wasn’t talking about how I like my women.”

  “Are you sure about that?” I grabbed my backpack and headed into the cabin’s small bathroom.

  “Where are you going?”

  I paused with my hand on the door. “To shower.”

  “Is that your M.O.? You try to mess with guys by talking like that, and then shower to let them know you’re naked and wet yet unavailable to them? This is the second time you’ve pulled it, and I’ve only known you a few weeks.”

  “I figure I should be clean the first time I meet my father.” My dad would always be the man who raised me, but technically Gareth was responsible for half my genes.

  “And then you mention your father. Great, thanks for the splash of cold water.” He winked. “I’ll be around.”

  “You should probably shower when I’m done.”

  “I’m not worried about making a good impression on your old man.”

  “Yeah, but you need to shower.” I pulled off my tank top and headed into the bathroom. I didn’t need to turn around to know he was staring at my back.

  “You better be careful, Vera. There’s only so much teasing a man can take.” There was nothing teasing about his tone.

  “You’ve got good self-control.” I closed the door and smiled. Jared was so much fun to mess with.

  The hot water felt amazing, and I stayed under the stream long after I’d finished washing my hair and body.

  “Quit using up all the hot water.” Jared’s voice came from inside the bathroom.

  “I thought you weren’t showering.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  I peered through the opaque curtain. Jared was standing between me and my towel. “Could you hand me my towel?” I shut off the water.

  “I don’t know. Can I?”

  “Whatever.” I pushed open the curtain. He’d seen me naked before anyway—albeit it, I hadn’t been wet, and it had been when I was shifting.

  “You’re hot for a bear.” He held out my towel.

  “For a bear?” I toweled off.

  “Yes.” He watched my every move.

  “I’m not sure whether you’re hot for a Pteron.”

  “You’re not?” He pulled off the shirt he’d just put on and tossed it on the counter.

  “Not entirely.”

  He undid his shorts and stepped out of them. Followed by his boxers. “Are you sure?”

  “You’re good looking.” And huge. I kept that part to myself, but I’m sure my expression gave me away.

  “But you hold Pterons to a higher standard?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “Forget it. You won.” I pulled on a fresh pair of underwear and a cami.

  “Wait. You’re admitting I bested you? I’m not sure if I like that or not.”

  “Why not?” I stepped into my shorts.

  “Because I like you feisty.”

  “I don’t really care how you like me.”

  “Yes you do.” He stepped into the shower.

  I turned, not wanting to think about him wet. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

  “You do that.”

  I asked myself, not for the first time, why I was voluntarily spending time with him. He was the most infuriating man on the planet, yet somehow he drew me in. I wasn’t sure what it was about him, but it was more than his looks. If it was that, I’d have slept with him and moved on already.

  I paced back and forth outside. I wanted to shift, but I also didn’t want to waste any time. Now that I was bound and determined to meet my birth father and face my mother, I didn’t want anything slowing me down. I glanced back at the cabin. Currently it was Jared slowing me down, but I figured the guy deserved a few minutes to attend to his personal hygiene.

  The thick trees surrounding me put me at ease. I loved the forest. The deeper and darker the better. It’s where I felt safest and most like myself. The thought of moving back to suburbia, or worse a city, made me tense. I was positive Jared felt the opposite way. Like most Pterons he’d turned off his animal side and embraced city life. He probably felt more at home in expensive suits than in his natural naked form.

  “Miss me already?”

  I didn’t turn around. “Not at all.”

  “Sure you did. I bet you were thinking about me too.”

  I reluctantly turned around. “Don’t be so high on yourself.”

  “Here’s your bag.” He tossed my backpack to me.

  “Thanks.” I put it on my shoulders one strap at a time. “Are we flying the rest of the way there?”

  He glanced up at the dark sky. “Sure, if you think you can handle it.”

  “Of course I can handle it.” I removed the backpack I’d just put on.

  He laughed. “What can’t you handle?”

  “You.” I waited as he snaked his arms around my waist. I tried to ignore the warmth and jolt of excitement I felt as he pulled me back against his hard body.

  “I bet you could handle me, bear.” He took off, his long black wings sending us high into the sky. The night was pitch black, but it made the experience better, more intense. I alternated between opening and closing my eyes, not sure which made things better. I lived for excitement. It’s what kept me moving forward and made me feel alive. Flying with Jared was still exciting. I hoped that excitement lasted at least a little while longer.

  “You okay?” he called over the wind.

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You’re quiet.”

  “I’m trying to enjoy myself.”

  “I’m enjoying myself.”

  “I can tell.” It wasn’t just his chest that was hard.

  “Would you believe me if I told you that flying doesn’t usually do that to me?”

  “Yes. I’m guessing having my ass pressed against you doesn’t help.” I couldn’t deny I liked knowing how I affected him. At least it wasn’t one sided.

  “It’s not a bad ass.”

  “I’m well aware.”

  He chuckled. “You have a lot of confidence.”

  “So do you.” I hoped we’d fall back into silence. I’d learned quickly that Jared ruined everything when he opened his mouth.

  Vera annoyed the hell out of me. I should have ditched her and continued on with my life, but her mother was the only clue I had to finding my mom, and chances were she’d be a lot more willing to help a Pteron if he showed up with her daughter. Besides, like it or not, there was something about Vera that made it impossible for me to turn away.

  I couldn’t get a read on Vera. Was she going to see her parents because she wanted to, or was there something else at play? She couldn’t have been doing it only to help me. That made no sense. Vera wasn’t that kind of person. Not that she was bad, but she was more like me. She was motivated by a sense of loyalty and devotion to those close to her and self-preservation. Helping an acquaintance with no ties didn’t fit into either category.

  I shouldn’t have liked the way her body felt pressed against mine, but I did. Like the kiss we’d shared on the plane, being close to her drove me to some place primal. It was both frightening and exciting, and I wasn’t sure whether to love it or hate it, which were pretty much what my feelings were for Vera—well, not love. More like lust and hate.

  I’d never been to Norco Island, but finding places wasn’t hard for me. I had a good sense of direction, and all it took was the coordinates to figure it out. I continued further north, hoping to get within walking distance while under the cover of night. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to facing Vera’s family, but at least it was a step in the right direction. A direction I needed to keep moving in now that I’d left New Orleans behind—potentially for good.

  As the sun started to show its first signs of rising, I landed in a dense forest. We’d have to walk the rest of the way to the lake that was home to the island.

  “Thanks for the lift.” Vera grinned while pulling her long brown hair back into a messy bun. The action made the bottom of her black
tank top ride up a little, giving me a glimpse of her tan stomach. Vera seemed to always wear the same thing. Tiny tops and short shorts. I wondered if she changed her wardrobe in the winter. Shifters always run warm, but that didn’t mean we didn’t try to fit in.

  “Anytime.”

  She glanced around her surroundings. I assumed like most bears she liked the woods. I didn’t mind them, but the only place I was truly comfortable was the sky. “We should be close.”

  “We’re ten miles away.”

  “How do you know that?” She eyed me skeptically.

  “I’m talented.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  “Hey, are you complaining? If I get us there I’ve upheld my side of the bargain.”

  “Yes, which means it’s time for me to figure out my side—how the hell we get on the island.”

  “Wait.” I stopped short. “You don’t know how we’re going to get on?”

  “Casey said you have to take a boat over. They’ll shoot you down otherwise.”

  “But you don’t know how we get a boat?”

  “I’ll call my mom if I don’t see a better option.” She didn’t seem nearly as concerned about the lack of a plan as I expected. We were different. I always had a plan. The only reason I didn’t have one this time was because I was relying on Vera. Maybe I’d misplaced my faith in her.

  I laughed anyway. I couldn’t help it. There was something funny about picturing Vera calling her mom for a ride. I’d never lived that kind of adolescence, but from what Casey had told me, both she and her sister had until Murphy entered their lives.

  “When you’re done laughing, we should keep moving.”

  “I’m done.” I tried to keep a straight face.

  “You sure? I mean we could waste all day.”

  “You’re annoying.”

  “So are you.” She put on her backpack. Thankfully, or unthankfully, that bag hadn’t been separating us on the flight.

  “You should also put a shirt on.”

  “You really can’t handle me.” I pulled out a white t-shirt.

  “I thought Pterons liked to blend in with humans.”