Two Bears are Better Than One (Alpha Werebear Romance) (Broken Pine Bears Book 1) by Lynn Red Page A

“More important than time is water,” he said, uncorking an ancient looking canteen, the sort she’d only seen on Band of Brothers , and handed it over.
    Jill tried to close her hand around the cool metal container, but just the act of closing a fist sent a shock of pain through her that radiated from her shoulder to her knees. Rogue nodded, like it’d been a test. “You’re hurt worse than I thought,” he said, confirming her suspicions. “When the lupines slammed into you, the smaller one broke some of your ribs. Not too badly, or you’d cough blood. But all things considered, you’re shaping up fine.”
    “I’m... what?” Jill said, laughing softly, which caused too much pain to continue. “I’ve been out a week? And broken ribs? You said that pretty matter of factly.”
    Rogue shrugged. “How else should I say it? I could try it in a different tone of voice if that will make it more comforting? You’d be coughing blood,” he said, lilting his voice high and kind of warbling at the end of the sentence.
    The beginning of a laugh came out of Jill, but instantly a wave of pain struck. She wavered, dangerously close to falling, but Rogue caught her with an arm looped deftly around her waist. His hair fell in a wavy, brown cascade, brushing against Jill’s semi-bare chest, and where it touched, goosebumps rose. And then something else, far more private, prickled to life. He either didn’t notice, or more likely, was just too polite to say anything.
    As soon as she was reclined back onto the bed, Jill pulled her covers up, over her embarrassingly hard nipples, and Rogue drank her in.
    “Your scent intoxicates me,” he said. His voice was deep, and booming, but he spoke so softly that his speech reminded Jill of a fading roll of thunder when a storm was far in the distance. “I’ve been watching while you sleep, and I can’t keep my thoughts off you when I’m not here.”
    Jill’s stunned silence apparently spoke volumes, because he stared at her for a moment. “But,” he continued, “you said you don’t shift. So I don’t know how this is possible, but you have the mark.”
    About seven hundred million thoughts began swirling through Jill’s head. The mark, the fate, a mate? What is he talking about? What is happening?
    She grew dizzy, and as soon as she did, she tasted salt in the back of her throat. “Urk, bucket,” she croaked. “Quick!”
    Moving like quicksilver, Rogue grabbed something, and held back Jill’s hair. She spat for a moment, and then relaxed back to the bed, breathing heavily. “That,” she said softly, “hurt a lot more than it usually does.”
    A soft laugh escaped her lips, and she closed her eyes. A moment later, a warm, soft, wet cloth caressed her lips, and the sides of her face before going back underneath her head. Gently, Rogue massaged her neck and her shoulders with patient motions.
    “And on top of dashing good looks, a dimple in his cheek, and beautiful brown hair, this man who watches me sleep is a licensed massage therapist? What did I do to deserve this?”
    Jill’s thoughts about, well, about everything, seemed to vanish into one pinpoint of light. One beam of energy pierced her chest and went out the other side, relaxing her muscles as heat radiated from her core all the way to her fingertips. She closed her eyes, arching her neck slightly, and moaning as Rogue’s powerful hands took out the kink of sleeping for however long she’d been unconscious.
    “If only you could do those same things other places,” she whispered, feeling herself speak before she heard the words coming out of her mouth. She blushed furiously, but when she opened her eyes to correct herself, she noticed that Rogue wasn’t paying any attention.
    His eyes were fixated right where he massaged. It was the sort of focus she got when she was puzzling through some complex biological problem, staring at some unknown organism on a slide, or trying to identify some little-known