Breakwater: Custer (BBW Bad Boy Space Bear Shifter Romance) by Becca Fanning

doesn't bother you?"

    Lorne shrugged.

    "I've been around normal guys my entire life, and I'm still very single. I figured-" She took a deep breath. "I figured it was probably about time I tried something new."

    "Huh," Sam nodded, and Lorne quickly leant her head against his shoulder. Right now, that was all she wanted him to know, they had the whole wedding weekend to figure things out. The music moved around them, and Lorne closed her eyes, this was the kind of romance she could plan in advance. For a moment, she forgot where she was, what was happening, all the admin she had to deal with tomorrow, she was here with Sam, and that was something. Even if she wasn't sure what yet.

    After the song was done, Lorne excused herself and made her way back up the stairs to her room. Sam had offered to accompany her, but she wasn't ready for that quite yet, and she had the feeling that even sharing a chaste kiss with him would lead to something more. Kicking off her shoes and carefully hanging up her dress, she slipped into bed, and stared out the window on to the angry sea until her eyes drifted shut.

    When Lorne woke up the next morning, at eight, like clockwork, jet lag or no jet lag, she knew something was amiss. Rain was whipping the window, and the wind was howling outside. Fuck. She grabbed   her jeans and a t-shirt and hurried down to Dina's room. She had barely lifted her hand to the door when it opened, and she found Tom staring at her, his eyes wide and frazzled.

    "Lorne?"

    "The weather, have you checked with the airstrip? Is everyone still alright to fly out tomorrow?" She asked urgently. They had checked and checked and checked with the weather, but you could never be sure with stuff like this, and it looked like the gods had decided to curse the wedding weekend.  

    "Dina's down doing it now, but it really doesn't look good," he warned, and Lorne squeezed her eyes shut. Fuck, how were they meant to deal with this?

    "I'll get everyone downstairs for breakfast in ten. We can work it out then. That work for you?" She demanded, already crunching numbers and making plans in her head.

    "Yeah, sure, I'll see you then," he nodded, and closed the door. Lorne quickly went around the other rooms, pulling out the whole wedding party, until she had everyone arranged in the dining room. She grabbed a coffee and a few slices of toast, she had a feeling she was going to need her strength for whatever the rest of this day had to bring.  

    Dina was one of the last to come into the room, and she looked as if she'd been hit by lightning, frazzled, shocked, and not sure what had just happened. She hurried over to Lorne and threw herself down next to her.

    "Looks like we're stuck. No-one's getting off the island for another couple of days, at least. Shit!"

    The whole table exploded into conversation, until, suddenly, Sam and the other groomsmen seemed to shuffle up in their seats. Lorne looked around, trying to gather some context, but before she had a chance to figure out what was going on, Dina's old college roommate, Maya, had grabbed her and taken her outside. Lorne hurried across to Sam, slipping next to him on the long bench that ran across the length of the table.

    "What's going on?"  

    "I don't know," he frowned, watching as the groomsmen grew restless. "I think it's, we think it's another shifter, on the island."

    "What?" Her eyebrows shot up under her bangs. "Are you sure you're not just…I don't know, getting your own scents confused?"

    "Yeah, pretty sure," he replied dryly, and she realized what a dumb question that probably was. "Whatever it is, it doesn't smell like one of us."

    "What do you mean?"

    "It smells like a shifter-wolf," he replied, turning to peer out of one of the windows behind him. The dark sky and heavy rain obscured almost everything, but Lorne swore for a second she could see a figure out there, moving in the dark. She shook her head and turned her attention back to him.

    "Wait, like