Chapter 4: Xavier

She stared back at him coolly, eyes assessing, and despite her cold welcome, he couldn’t help but
stare. Her dark hair hung over her forehead in a casual flip, framing blue eyes that pinned him where
he stood. Her full mouth was pressed together in a tight line, but even that didn’t stop him from
continuing his perusal of the rest of her. Cleavage strained sexily against the single button of her jacket
and curves practically screamed sex appeal.

Her stare might have been cold, but everything else about her was scorching hot. Xavier’s dick
hardened at the thought of all that heat pressed up against him.

He shook his head to clear it. Where the hell had that come from? He hadn’t reacted to a woman like
this since… well, he wasn’t going there. No matter how unexpected or strong an attraction he had,
Xavier Wilde didn’t date. Or mate.

He cleared his throat, ready to stop whatever was happening before it could go any further. “Laurel, I’m
Xavier Wilde, head of Blue Bear Search and Rescue.”

He extended his hand and was surprised to find her grip just as firm as his. Their palms connected and
a rush of energy shot through Xavier, up his arm and into the rest of his body. He heard Laurel’s gasp
and met her eyes just as she yanked away.

That was interesting. And not what he wanted here. Deep inside, his bear rumbled at the dismissal, but
he ignored it. He’d never felt anything quite like that. Attraction but… more. And he didn’t trust himself
with any of it.

Besides, Laurel was frowning and smoothing her skirt, scanning her precious clipboard as if it had
never happened. Back to business.

“Where’s Gerald?” he asked.



Laurel’s chest expanded with a deep breath. Xavier was hyper-aware of the way her cleavage rose,
shoving toward him, before falling away again. “He’s on vacation. Few days in Tahiti. I’ll be filling in until
he gets back.”

Xavier barely registered the explanation.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

He forced himself to focus. “No, we just have a system is all.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I’m just as capable as Gerald. I’ve been doing this job a long time, Mr. Wilde. I can
handle whatever system you need.”

Any other time, he would’ve appreciated the innuendo in her words, but something about her stance
and her authority here rubbed him wrong.

The alpha in him snarled. At the sound deep in his throat, Laurel’s eyes widened. He drew himself up
to his full height in a charge of alpha energy. “I’m going in,” he said sharply,

“Oh… Right. Okay.” Laurel bit her lip and fumbled with a clipboard she held in one hand. She stared
down at it and Xavier studied her, catching the way her cheeks flushed. She was disoriented. Well, that
made two of them.

Laurel’s eyes widened, and she simply nodded. He took that as permission enough to head out and
made his way up the trail without another word.

The scent of a human and then blood led him into the gorge. He found the biker easily enough, but
stalled when he caught sight of the awkward way the man’s ankle was twisted against the rocks
scattered around him. His sharp sight honed in on the imprint of a boulder and the disturbed dirt up
above the man’s head. Probably created a slide when he fell.



He climbed carefully down, calling his bear up just enough to help keep his footing, and then sent it
away again when he neared the bottom. Humans couldn’t smell the animal, but they could sense
something dangerous when he let his animal that close to the surface around them. He didn’t want to
spook his patient and cause further injury.

Rocks rolled under his feet, but Xavier managed to reach the man without much trouble. He was
relieved to find the man conscious.

“I’m Xavier, head of Blue Bear Search and Rescue,” he said. “Can you stand if I help you?”

The man nodded, his eyes already giving away his exhaustion. “I think so,” he said.

With Xavier’s help, the man stood, and almost immediately, his knee wobbled. Xavier caught him just
before he went down and hoisted him up and over his shoulder as easily as a sack of flour. “Just lock
your hands around my neck. Don’t let go,” Xavier told him. “I need to climb.”

The man grunted an agreement and Xavier began to make his way out of the gorge. It took three times
as long as the trek in; he stopped often to make sure the man was conscious.

When they finally made it out of the gorge, Xavier paused long enough to adjust the man on his back
and then began the trek back down. A crew with a stretcher met him halfway, but he waved them off.
The rocks still slipped underfoot, and he didn’t trust the squeaky-wheeled contraption not to dump the
guy. Besides, the weight was nothing for him. He’d carried three out last winter during a rock slide and
hadn’t broken a sweat. This was nothing.

“I’ve got him, just get the ambulance ready,” Xavier told the emergency workers.

They hurried ahead to do as he asked.



A minute later, he rounded the bend and caught sight of the small crowd that had developed along the
roadside. Two news vans were being redirected to park further down, and several bystanders were
pressing close but being roped off by uniformed officers.

One of them, a woman he’d seen in Mack’s often, smiled at him invitingly, but he pretended she was
too far away to notice. Not happening, lady.


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