Protected by the Claws: A Motorcycle Club Bear Shifter Romance

by Laura Wylde

  It wasn’t a long drive, and by the way the tires sounded on the road, it was a dirt road that we had been riding down for so long. I knew where we were going before we got there. Mike was trying to be poetic, but it was just old. Of all the places he could have picked, of course, he was going to pick the old abandoned house. It seemed the fitting place because of how it had all started. It should end where it all began.

  The men pulled me out of the trunk as soon as it was opened, and the change in light blinded me for a moment. I tried to slow them down so that I could see something, but I had no choice. My face was in the ground, before I was yanked up and half-dragged by two men into the house. I didn’t put up a fight. I knew that my life wasn’t in danger, and the idea of seeing Mike soon made me feel like I should let it go. I had to wait it out, not change until I knew Mike was here and not close enough to a vehicle to run away. This time I had to make sure that he couldn’t run away, and I wanted them all to think that they had me.

  When I got in the house, I almost changed my mind. They were prepared for me in a big way. It looked like Mike had been planning this for a while. I don’t know why, but all of a sudden, I was a little nervous, and I had to fight the urge to change. I could have done it and maybe I should have while I was staring at the huge cage in front of me. It wasn’t very hard to figure out that I was the one that was going to be put in it.

  I resisted a little bit because that’s what someone does when they are forced into a huge steel cage, and I knew what was going to come next. It wasn’t going to be hard to think of it. I knew that this was going to hurt, but I was still focused. I needed Mike, not his henchman. They were just following orders, though I had a feeling that I was going to have to kill every single one of them if it went down the way it looked like it was going to go.

  It didn’t take but a couple of minutes inside of the cage for Mike to show his face.

  “I see that my friends found you.”

  “Friends? They are paid help. Get it right.”

  Mike grinned, and I could see that he liked the argument.

  “True enough. Friends are overrated anyway. I’m looking for loyalty and when a man’s livelihood is in my hands, they seem to be pretty damn loyal.”

  I couldn’t agree with him. None of the goons flinched so it must have been something that they had heard before. I should have expected Mike to treat them like shit as well. He treated his own daughter that way, and she was flesh and blood.

  “So, I see that you got me all caged up before you came out.”

  “I know better now. Now that I know what you are, and everyone is going to know soon enough.”

  “I let you live last time, though I do hope you liked my souvenir. It was all I could think to give you. I am more than willing to get the other side of your face this time to make it look even at least. I would hate for you to be lopsided.”

  The grin was gone, and it made mine even bigger because I knew that I had gotten to him. Mike said something to one of the men, a large one with black eyes and the look of death on his face. The man left and came back a few minutes later.

  “I see you have your own scratches to worry about. How did you get those, Baron?”

  He couldn’t see them because I had a long sleeve shirt on, and it made me wonder how he knew that they were even there to begin with.

  “How do you know about that?”

  “Where do you think you got them?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t know, and I wanted to stall, as well as get information. This was going to be my last chance because Mike was going to be gone from this earth soon enough.

  “You were drugged and then brought home. The scratches were done to help Kayla to see the truth. It won’t be long until she is here and then she is going to see what it is that you are. You came back for me. I owed you and I needed to get rid of a couple of people. This way, it all works out.”

  “I came back because my aunt died and left me her property.”

  “Yeah, she didn’t fight too much. I think she was just ready to go. You know how those people get when they’re that old.”

  “You killed her?”

  “I was practically doing her a favor, Baron. You should know that she didn’t suffer. Not like you’re going to.”

  I growled at him, and he told someone to set up the camera. “I don’t think this is going to take long.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about and I started to get nervous. What was the camera for?

  One of the men left the room and came back with a video camera set on a tripod. Whatever they were going to do, Mike was going to videotape it, and it didn’t seem like it was going to be good. How could it be?

  “Why don’t you just let me go, Mike? You took out my aunt. Isn’t that enough?”

  “That was just to get you here. I need you to perform like you did before. Turn into the beast, and I’m going to put it all on camera. My daughter will be here in a little while, and she will get to see you in all of your glory.”

  “I’m not going to change, Mike. You can’t make me, and if I do, that beast is going to kill you.”

  “You always did think way too highly of yourself, Baron. You always thought that you were unstoppable. I ran you off before, Baron, but this time, there is nowhere to go. Whatever you are needs to be put down like a rabid dog. After the town knows what you did to those poor people, they are going to agree that you had to die. I will be the hero for saving them all from the likes of you.”

  I didn’t like how sure he was of that.

  “Uh, Sheriff?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you want this recorded?”

  He waved the man off and told him that they could edit it later. “I don’t want that turned off. Just keep it rolling. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we won’t have time to turn it back on later. Our attention needs to be on the cage.”

  Mike turned back to me, and I saw a cattle prod in his hand. It was long, and I knew before we even started where this was going. I also knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the way of it. I just had to keep my head somehow and wait for my moment.

  Chapter 17

  Kayla

  “What is going on, Freddy? We’re supposed to be going back to the station. I need to learn what I can about the witness. There is something going on, and I have to crack this case.”

  “You have cracked it, Kayla, and your father has finished it off. We found the guy, and we’re going to see him right now.”

  I looked over at Freddy, and he wasn’t looking at me. His knuckles were turning white from squeezing the wheel so hard, and I wasn’t sure what to think. We were talking about going to the station to get a few things and go back out. Then Freddy got a call on his phone and after listening for a minute, he did a U-turn and started to head out to the edge of town. His explanation didn’t make me feel any better.

  “So, who is it?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Said he didn’t want to say it over the phone.”

  “Who?”

  “Your dad, of course. Him and a few guys are out there right now. I’m supposed to bring you and go to the scene.”

  I don’t know why, but I had a sinking feeling in my chest that was quickly becoming a chasm that made it hard to breathe. Why was I reacting in such a way? I had already figured out that Dad was trying to blame Baron for the murders, but I just didn’t know how. Could I really watch him arrest Baron?

  The drive was taking longer than I thought, and the dread kept getting worse as I realized exactly where we were going. I had been here so many times before, and it hadn’t been a good visit here in over ten years. That record wasn’t going to change. I knew that for sure. I knew that there was going to be a reason that we were going out to the abandoned house, and I knew that I wasn’t going to like it.

  “We’re going to the second murder site?”

  Freddy still hadn’t looked at me the whole time I’d been asking questions, not once since h
e had gotten that call. Whatever was going on he was either not privy too or he felt guilty. Either way, he wasn’t going to be any help to me, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to watch my back or not.

  “Yeah, that’s the place they told me to go. That’s where our guy is.”

  I knew it was Baron, but I couldn’t manage to ask. Freddy knew who it was. Was he just being nice to me to let me get my guard down? Now I was hurtling towards a fate that I didn’t want to meet. I just knew that this was going to be far worse than I could have imagined. What was I going to do now? I had no time. I didn’t have the proof I needed, and Baron wasn’t going to make it in jail. He would rage out quickly and then everyone would know what he was. I didn’t think that the general public was going to be as understanding as I was about it. He scared the hell out of me in the beginning, and I’ve loved him for years. I was under no false assumptions of what would happen if his secret got out. We’d never be able to have a normal life together.

  When we got to the location, there was a couple of squad cars, my dad’s truck and an SUV. There were more people here than I would have thought, and for some reason, I couldn’t see that being a good thing. I couldn’t see any of this being a good thing at all. I didn’t want to go into the house suddenly, afraid of what I was going to find. What if they said that Baron resisted arrest, and he was already dead?

  “Are you okay, Kayla? You’ve been staring off for several minutes. We got to go inside and take a look. This is the guy we’ve been looking for. Don’t you want to know who it is?”

  “I already know.”

  I got out of the car slowly and took a couple of deep breaths as we walked to the door. The memories flooded back again, just like every time I came here, but the good memories were quickly getting overrun with the bad ones. I was still lost in thought when I heard the sound of electricity popping and then a sound that was obviously distress and pain. It didn’t take much to realize who it was. I was right all along. They had Baron and Dad was back to his sadistic ways.

  I started to rush towards it, but Freddy held me back.

  “Wait, let me check this out first.”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know what’s going on, Freddy. You know who they have in there.”

  He’d pulled his gun and by the expression on his face, he really didn’t know what was going on in there. I don’t know why, but that made me feel a second of relief before the circumstances started to escalate.

  Another popping sound and then another scream, though this time, it was short and then followed by a growl. Then there was chaos in the house. Several shots went off and there was a slew of screams, but I was happy to say that none of them sounded like Baron.

  In the commotion, Freddy let go of me, and I moved forward with my gun in hand while Freddy tried to get himself together. I wasn’t worried about him anymore, just making sure that none of those shots had made it into Baron. I really hoped that he had changed, and he was going to take them all out, including my father.

  Freddy was coming up behind me, but I was stunned in the doorway. I don’t know what I expected that I was going to see, but not this. I don’t think I was ever prepared to see something like this. It was like a scene from a horror show and in person it was far more to digest.

  “Stay back, Freddy.”

  There were several more shots, and he took my advice and got down. I was glad for that because I wasn’t sure if he was in on it and I didn’t want him to get caught in Baron’s rage if he didn’t have to. Baron was half in and half out of a huge cage. This was a set-up, but by the body count on the floor, they hadn’t known what to do with him.

  None of the bodies on the floor were of my dad and that made me nervous. That meant that he was still somewhere around me. I heard someone yell to watch out, but by the time it registered, it was too late. Baron had sent that into my head, and for some reason, I was unable to stop what happened next.

  The gun in my hand was knocked out, and someone grabbed me from behind, choking me. I started to cough and gag, my hands instantly going to my neck to stop it.

  “Stop, Baron, now or I will kill her. Let’s see how much you actually love Kayla.”

  I couldn’t believe that it was my dad behind me, though I did know. I knew that he was capable of this. He’d killed his own grandchild. How hard would it be to kill me? He let go enough that I could breathe, but I was unable to get away, my feet off the ground.

  “Dad, what is going on here? What is this?”

  I tried to act like I didn’t know what was going on, but it was quickly clear that he didn’t believe me.

  “You know what this is.”

  I watched Baron calm down and turn back into the man. His body was dwarfed in the cage now, and it didn’t feel right. I wanted to tell him that it was going to be okay, but I couldn’t get it out. I wanted him to take Dad out, no matter if he had to shoot through me to make that happen. All that mattered now was that Dad never get to walk away from this and cause more terror in the town.

  “Come on, Kayla. Why aren’t you having any fun? Now you can see what your little boyfriend is. What he truly is.”

  “You’re about as corrupt as they get. Look what you’re doing right now. Look what you’ve done. All these people.”

  He smiled, and agreed, though I could tell he was off-put by my response. Obviously, he wanted me to be devastated.

  “I am. All of these people were killed by his hand, not mine.”

  “You made him do it. Look what you’ve done.”

  Baron started to advance and the tightening on my neck was back.

  “Don’t come any closer, Baron. I could easily break her neck before you got to me. I will take her out with me. If that is the way it has to be, you will not like the ending.”

  “What do you want, Mike?”

  “I want more, Baron and you’re going to get it for me. After all of my plans, I still don’t have what I want. It was time to get creative, so when I thought about what I could do to change that, you came to mind. I just had to get you here, and then I knew that exposing you for the monster that you are would give me all that I needed and more.”

  Baron stopped moving, and his eyes said it all. My father was moving back with me, and I could hear him loudly in my ear as he tried to convince me that he wasn’t evil. That was a tall feat for him.

  “Imagine how famous the sheriff that takes down a shifter is going to be? I will be able to retire, and never work again chasing sleaze. I might even write a book, who knows? It’s on my bucket list. I am getting the hell out of here, and I’m going to make my fortune before I go. I wish you would reconsider not agreeing. It is in your best interest. You know that, right? You’re hitching a ride on his wagon, and it’s going straight down. You’re picking the wrong side, Kayla.”

  “Your best interest or mine? I’m picking the side that is right. Isn’t that what you always said?”

  “This is different. This is in both our interests; that’s what is so good about this plan. You’ll get some of the proceeds, and I will finally know that you’re loyal. And the world will have one less monster in its midst.”

  “I’ve always been loyooal, Dad, even when I shouldn’t have been. But look at this? What is this?”

  Seasoned cop or not, I couldn’t get the gore out of my mind.

  “This is my way of getting at the thing that scarred me and making some money in the meantime.”

  I sighed to myself. What the hell? “Why would you do this? Why kill anyone? Couldn’t you have found another way to get your revenge?”

  “You always think about the small picture. This is bigger than revenge. This is enough money to set me for life. I won’t have to do this anymore. You need to make some decisions, little girl. This is not time for your emotions to come into play. I’ve worked hard on this plan.” He waved his hand around. “This is not going to ruin it. You are going to say that Baron was caught as the killer and that I had to kill him. It is a tragedy, real
ly it is, but it was the only way. Kyra will be happy to know that she was convincing.”

  This was happening and still I wanted to know why and how. The missing pieces in my head were driving me crazy, and I wanted to know how this came to be. Baron was telling me to move or duck. and I kept telling him no. Dad may shoot me, and I refused to let that happen before I knew the truth. It was gnawing at me, half of the reason I was a good cop.

  “Who is Kyra?”

  “Your witness. She did a lot for this plan and never knew why. She’s a gentle soul and about dumb as rocks. I had to remind her about the scratches.”

  “How do you know about them?”

  “Because I put them there. We drugged him and put them there. I wanted them to be seen, and the detectives on the case would figure it out. But you didn’t. Where is Freddy now?”

  I wasn’t worried about Freddy at the moment. He was still outside, and if I was him, I don’t know if I would have walked into the scene either. There was nothing that he could do, and I felt like if Baron and I were to kick the bucket, maybe Freddy would do something about it. Maybe he would go to the police and put my dad away for a very long time. I hated to think for a second that he was going to win.

  “He’s gone.”

  “Good, I don’t want to have to add another body to the floor. I think we got enough, don’t you?”

  “I couldn’t agree more. Leave him out of it. He knows nothing.”

  “Good, Kayla. It’s a good thing because I’m quickly running out of deputies again. Your boyfriend is hard on them.”

  “You’re hard on them.”

  “Well, I might have to bring in some of the detectives for a while. There won’t be many people thinking of crime once they see what this police force is capable of. It will be a grand show of resilience in the face of tragedy.”