Unbearable Cage (The Grizzly Next Door 3) Read online

  Unbearable Cage: The Grizzly Next Door

  Copyright: 2016 Aya Morningstar

  ***

  You’re about to read...

  Ren has no future…

  Curvy Ren Vogelsang is best friends with ex-MMA fighter Cage Castor’s sister. She hates her job, and she hates Cage for running away, but when he rescues Ren from a mugger, she starts to wonder if the sexy shifter isn't all bad.

  Cage is on the run from his past…

  Cage Castor’s sister is in a wheelchair--all because he refused to throw a fight. But now his archrival Malachai Metzer is back, and so is Cage. He doesn't know if he can resist getting close to Ren, but her curves are calling out to him, and his inner bear is hungry for a mate.

  They’ll have to fight to be together…

  Malachai Metzer is out for blood, and he pulls Cage back into the ring. To keep his loved ones safe, Cage must claw his way through his opponents. Can Cage defeat his archrival while earning Ren’s forgiveness?

  A sizzling paranormal romance packed with action, humor, a HEA, and no cliffhanger!

  CHAPTER 1

  CAGE

  Zane, Cage’s new boss, eyed him up and down. “Usually the first thing I ask a new bouncer is whether they think they can handle a guy who’s bigger than they are.”

  Zane was no small man, but Cage towered over him, and his shoulders were at least twice as wide.

  Zane pressed a finger into Cage’s abs. “Damn, all muscle too. I think what I’ve gotta ask you is whether you ain’t gonna tear apart a guy who’s smaller than you—which is pretty much everyone.”

  “Don’t worry,” Cage said, “I don’t like fighting. Last resort for me.”

  Zane grunted, as if he doubted the truth of that. “Well, just follow the rules and you’ll do fine here. No drinking on the job, and try not to look at the girls too much. Part of your job is to limit the number of guys we let in—we don’t want it turning into a sausage fest. It’s all for nothing if the customers feel they’re competing with the bouncer.”

  Cage nodded. He wouldn’t be interested in the women that came here. Rail-thin girls plastered in makeup and propped up on three-inch heels. He wanted a girl with more meat on her bones. He’d even had one in mind, long ago, but after everything that had happened, he no longer deserved her.

  ***

  Cage stood in front of the door. The music boomed behind him even through the thick door, and at least thirty people were lined up outside. Despite the cold, the women were wrapped in tight and tiny dresses that left nothing to the imagination. Luckily for them, Cage could let almost all of them in with little to no wait. The men, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky.

  One of the men closest to the door had on a white coat with a faux-fur collar, and it was two sizes too big for him. It looked like it was swallowing him.

  Fake fur? Cage’s inner bear said. Does he wish he could shift? Or do human women just love fur? We’ll show them real fur!

  The man sauntered up to the door, not even making eye contact with Cage. He adjusted his flat-billed hat so that it was properly crooked and then looked up—way up—at Cage. “Hey? Gonna let me and my boys in?”

  His boys were like a flock of peacocks, all in too-large coats with hats tilted at slightly different angles.

  “No,” Cage said.

  “Fine,” the man said. “I’ll let myself in.” He grabbed hold of the door handle, but Cage took one step in front.

  “Back up,” Cage said.

  The group of men all flashed each other doubtful looks. One said, “Jessie, let’s bounce. This place is shit anyway.”

  “No,” Jessie said. “You seen all the hot bitches going in there? Dumbfuck here’s just cockblocking us.”

  Who is dumbfuck? Cage’s bear asked. Not us, right?

  Jessie could call him whatever he wanted. Cage wasn’t going to move. One nice thing about being so big was that you rarely needed to do anything but stand there and look menacing.

  Jessie took a step closer to Cage, which only made it more obvious to everyone how much bigger Cage was.

  “Yo, man, we’ve been waiting for like an hour. What the hell? You’re new, right? Our boy, Jay, he always lets us in.”

  “Jay got fired,” Cage said, “for not keeping guys like you out. Now I work here. Step back.”

  Jessie stuck out his bottom lip—was that supposed to look tough?—and looked up at Cage.

  Jessie made a move as if he were going to punch, but Cage knew it was a feint. Eight years as an MMA fighter made it easy to know a real punch from a fake. Cage didn’t even blink, and Jessie cocked his head and mumbled something as his fist dropped.

  “Yo, Jessie,” one of his buddies said, “let’s just wait. Maybe we can get in later.”

  “Nah,” Jessie said. “This place is shit, you’re right. Let’s roll.”

  The other men muttered their agreement, adjusted their coats, and walked down the street behind Jessie.

  “This is why we came home?” his bear asked.

  Cage shook his head. This was just to pay the bills. He was home for one reason, and he’d have to get it over with sooner rather than later.

  CHAPTER 2

  REN

  Andrea appeared at the entrance to Ren’s cubicle. Andrea was rail thin and jittery, reminding Ren of a nervous bird. Her bracelets—weighed down with dozens of charms—clinked and clattered as she walked.

  “Ren,” Andrea said, “I was looking at your hours and sales from last week and noticed an itsy-bitsy problem. It looks like you only had twelve sales on Friday, but you entered twenty-eight.”

  “Yeah,” Ren said, “because I made sixteen sales on Saturday when I covered for you.”

  Andrea pursed her lips and fidgeted. “Ah, well, thank you for covering for me...but you know you can’t take credit for those sales. I can’t enter that I worked on Saturday but didn’t make any sales, now can I?”

  You didn’t make any sales, Ren thought. I covered your skinny ass for the time, but they are my sales.

  “What do you want me to do then?” Ren asked. “Just give you my sales?”

  Andrea cocked her head and said, “You wouldn’t just give them to me,” Andrea said. “See, when I cover for you, I’d give you any sales I make. That way it’s fair, yeah?”

  “So,” Ren said, “can you cover for me next weekend then? I’m scheduled for Saturday.”

  Andrea frowned. “Come now, Ren, you know I’m busy with my family. I have two kids. Do you really think it’s fair to ask me to work on the weekend? You’re single, so that’s why I scheduled you to work on Saturday.”

  Ren felt anger burning hot in her chest, but she was afraid to say anything. Andrea was her boss, and she was petty. If Ren just worked this Saturday, she could at least take commission for the sales she made. And maybe—just maybe—Andrea wouldn’t ask her to cover for her again, for a while at least. Ren forced her anger down and nodded.

  “You know, Ren,” Andrea said, “I can probably get you a discount at my gym, or I can send you some articles you may be interested in.”

  “What articles?” Ren asked, anger leaking into her voice.

  “Ah,” she said, “just some, erm, recipes.”

  “No, thank you, Andrea,” Ren said.

  “It’s just that,” Andrea started, “I don’t want you to be single...and if you take care of yourself better you can—”

  “Thank you, Andrea! I’ll fix my sales numbers.”

  Andrea licked and bit at her lips and seemed about to scold Ren further about her weight, but she finally shut her mouth and pressed her thin lips together. She nodded and walked out.

  Ren
could hear her jangling away through the cubicle wall.

  “One day,” Ren said in a low whisper, “I’m going to stop taking her shit.”

  CHAPTER 3

  CAGE

  Cage stood at the door with the copy of the will clasped in his hands. He wanted to get this over with, but still, in the back of his mind, he hoped his sister wouldn’t be home.

  He knocked.

  He listened for footsteps and then realized—guilt surging through him—that he wouldn’t hear any.

  The knob turned and the door opened up. Lisa was home. Dammit.

  She smiled up at him from her wheelchair. “Cage!”

  She reached out to hug him, and he was forced to bend down and hug her. Her body felt so frail in his hands, and as good as it felt to hug his sister, he cut it short. He didn’t deserve it.

  “I didn’t think you’d come,” she said. “I’m making tea though. Come in! I’ll get you a cup.”

  She wheeled herself down the narrow hallway toward the kitchen. It was too small. Everything was too small. The wheels of her chair were nearly touching the walls, and the kitchen was so small she could barely rotate. The tea kettle steamed and whistled, and Lisa reached up to grab it.

  Cage took hold of it and shut off the stove. Nothing in this place was designed to accommodate her. He had to get her out of here, and he would. He pulled out the will.

  “Ah,” Lisa said, “I figured that was it. You want green tea or Earl Grey?”

  “I’m not here for tea,” Cage said, slapping the will down on the table.

  “Right,” Lisa said. “Straight to business.”

  “This place is shit, Lisa. You can’t even reach the stove.”

  “I make do,” she said, pouring him a cup of tea.

  She slid him the cup, and he rolled his eyes but fiddled with the bag as it steeped just to give him something to do with his hands.

  “So how long have you been back in town?” Lisa asked.

  “Three weeks.”

  Lisa scoffed. “This isn’t what Dead meant, you realize?”

  “The will says we get the house if I move back into town. It doesn’t say I have to live in the house. I checked with a lawyer and everything. I live in town now, so we get the house.”

  Cage pulled out another paper and put it down next to the will. “And my lawyer has drafted this up. Just sign where it’s highlighted and the house is all yours.”

  “How long do you have to stay in town?” Lisa asked.

  “Sixty days after closing,” he said.

  She took a sip of her tea and then said, “Of course you figured that out. And if I sign this, I’m sure you’ll be gone again on day sixty-one. So I won’t sign. If I have to choose between you and the house, I choose you.”

  Cage gritted his teeth.

  See, his bear said, she still loves you! Everything is okay!

  Fucking bear. If only life were that simple.

  “I’m not even your real brother,” Cage said. “Don’t be an idiot. Take the house.”

  “You are my real brother,” she said. “You may be a blond-haired bear, and I may be a brunette human, but we are siblings all the same. Blood doesn’t matter.”

  If only she had been a shifter. She could have healed after the crash.

  “Stop feeling sorry for me, Cage,” she said. “I’m a court recorder, not an Olympic hurdle jumper. It sucks that I’ll never walk again, but I have a good life. I’m lucky to be alive.”

  “I don’t feel sorry for you—”

  “You blame yourself for what happened,” Lisa said, “and if you didn’t feel sorry for me, then you wouldn’t let this eat you up so much. I’d say I forgive you, but I don’t blame you, so there’s nothing to forgive.”

  Cage stood up, stabbed a finger onto the paper, and said, “Lisa, just sign the fucking paper.”

  He started toward the door, and Lisa called to him from the table. “You better tell Ren you’re in town. I haven’t said anything...because I didn’t know if you were going to stick around.”

  Ren. God dammit.

  Six Years Earlier

  Cage was close. Real close. Just one opponent—some lion shifter—stood between him and Malachai Metzer. Cage would beat the lion bloody until it purred like a house cat, and then he’d rip Malachai apart.

  Malachai—or Mal, as he usually went by—was the only other grizzly bear in competition this season, and everyone was whispering about the fight between Mal and Cage, even though Mal himself was still two opponents away from the championship. The way the two of them were fighting, these opponents in the way were nothing more than speed bumps. Mal and Cage would clash. It was like gravity.

  “What’s this guy’s name again?” Cage asked Jack, his coach. He was a wolf with thick streaks of gray in his shaggy hair and, when he shifted, in his fur.

  He answered Cage in a husky rasp. “Dammit, Caster! You haven’t learned shit.”

  Cage grinned and cracked his neck. “What’s it matter what his name is? He’ll be on the ground—”

  “Fucking cocky son of a bitch. Your mom should have—”

  “Hold on, Jack,” Cage said, laughing, “I don’t know his name, but I know his style is Muay Thai. I know he favors his left leg, and that he likes to keep larger opponents, like me, out with his long-ass legs. I should try to go in from the right and watch for his elbows and knees, which he’s honed to go for lighting fast hits to the head. Sudden TKO.”

  Jack squinted, and he pulled his lips into a thin line. “And what do you gotta watch for if you get him on the ground?”

  “Knee to the balls,” Cage said, “just like Mal will go for.”

  Jack grunted. “Keep your mind on Tobias.”

  “Tobias?”

  “The fucking lion!” Jack threw up his hands.

  “You see though,” Cage said, “I have learned. I studied my opponent, made a plan, just like you taught me. I don’t need to know the guy’s name to beat him.”

  The crowd was getting louder. He could hear it even through the doors. The fight would start soon.

  Jack looked seriously at Cage. “Look, boy, you know Mal’s name. You want to tear him to shreds, and that fire in your belly might just be enough fuel to do it. But if you don’t beat Tobias, you won’t even get a shot at Mal. Know each opponent’s name, and focus on beating each, one at a time. Full focus! Got it?”

  “Got it,” Cage said.

  This wolf is so wisdom, Cage’s bear whispered in awe.

  “Wise!” Cage said. “It’s wise. Wisdom is a noun! He has wisdom!”

  Jack grinned. “You talking about me? Yeah, I’ve got a lot of wisdom, so do what I tell you. Now go get ready to fight!”

  Jack’s grin disappeared, and he spun Cage around and pushed him toward the swinging double doors that led to the bear cage.

  Cage pressed his hands together and flexed to get his blood pumping. Then he clenched his fists and punched the air like he wanted to kill it.

  “What’s your opponent’s name?” Jack rasped.

  “Lionel!” Cage shouted.

  “You fucking—”

  “Tobias!” Cage said, grinning. “Just fucking with you.”

  “God dammit.”

  Cage threw off his robe and shifted. Instead of pressing the doors open, he tore at each hinge with his giant claws. He ripped each door from its hinge and threw it into the staging area. The crowd roared as the heavy doors slid and clattered across the ground. Cage stood up on his hind legs and strutted into the crowd’s adoring eyes.

  They exploded when they saw him walking in at his full and towering height.

  Tobias was entering from the other side of the ring. He had fiery red hair tied up into a top knot and wrapped in a white headband. Cage could tell just by looking at him that he was a lion, though he hadn’t shifted. His upper body was shaped like a triangle: wide shoulders and big chest. But he was tall, and though his upper body was big, his legs were like stilts, yet lean and sinewy. He really wo
uld need to work his way in past those kicks.

  Cage slammed his claws together in a rhythmic pulse, and soon the crowd started stomping in tune with him.

  Finally he lost his balance and fell to all fours.

  This is so awesome! his bear said. For once, Cage didn’t disagree with him. How awesome would it be when it was against Malachai Metzer?

  Cage noticed Tobias’ coach shouting at him, and Tobias crossed his arms. The applause died down as Tobias stepped up to the ring, and Tobias’ coach shoved him, eyes widening.