by Cecilia Lane
Leah strangled her yell and stumbled back several steps. Was she supposed to play dead with bears and keep utterly still? Could she outrun the beast and make it to town before it clawed her to death?
The bear stopped growling and chuffed at her. She darted a look around the clearing, then back at the creature. It chuffed again and took one step closer.
Okay, okay. Her thoughts formed out of the cloud of panic. She hadn’t been drugged up or concussed when she saw something similar the day before. Callum—Callum!—could turn into a bear. He was the bear.
“What are you?” she asked softly and stuffed the last bit of fear into a dark corner of her mind. The bear’s golden eyes tracked her movement. She expected to feel terror again, but fascination overruled common sense. She stepped closer and reached a cautious hand forward.
His fur was coarser than she imagined it’d be. The beast huffed and leaned into her touch. That tiny motion, and she was forced back a step. He was powerful. Deadly, too. Huge claws tipped each of his paws. She’d never been so close to a bear before, but he had to be bigger than most. Her head came to his shoulders and she could easily ride him like a horse if he allowed.
Leah choked on a laugh. If he allowed. She doubted Callum would allow any such nonsense.
Fine hairs on her body rose with an invisible breath of air. She took a step back when the first pop reached her ears.
That time, she turned and left Callum to his nakedness. The rustle of clothing let her know he was a man once again.
His steps were utterly silent, but she felt the warmth of him before he spoke right behind her. “What you saw, that’s why you can’t leave.”
“I can keep a secret,” she insisted and tried to ignore the goose flesh he raised all over her body.
His fingertips trailed up her arm, and she shivered. “You weren’t raised in this. You don’t know the threats to our kind. We left a world behind and came here to a place where we’re hunted because we’re different.”
“This is all just...” She trailed off and pressed her palms to her cheeks. There were so many questions to ask.
She needed to sit. Her shoes crunching twigs was her only warning that she’d moved. Callum had been thoughtful to bring her to a place where she could collapse with some dignity.
Leah stared at the water and then into the forest beyond. How many others in the town were like him? Were they out there now, watching the poor human’s mind explode? “You still go out in the real world, don’t you? Everything I’ve seen is no different from where I grew up.”
“Texas, right?”
She startled and slid her eyes to him. Had Jamin played his tricks already and sent Callum information on her? She was too shocked to deny it. “How did you know?”
He touched his ear. “I have an ear for it.”
“Impossible. I worked hard to leave the accent behind.” It was one of the first things she worked to shed. Leah Alderson died back in Texas with the last bit of her innocence.
She started to think she’d need to be careful with Callum, then felt a minute pang of regret that she was determined to never see him again.
“Not hard enough. There’s still a bit of a twang.” He spared her a smile, then took a seat next to her. As far from her as he could manage, she didn’t fail to note. “Few of us leave town. We’ve worked hard to make our enclaves sustainable to limit our exposure. And those that do, they know the threats. They know it’s about survival.”
“I wouldn’t tell. Maybe humans aren’t as bad as you think. You’re hidden here, aren’t you?”
“Not as well as you’d think.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “Shifters, like me, we can make more. Babies, turning someone with a bite from out animal. Vampires can do the whole blood share to make more. Fae, they can’t just breed their way back. They suffered heavily from witch hunts. Blending in and diluting their blood, that didn’t help. They went from pure-blooded fae to one in twenty who can use magic. We need to reduce the risk of exposure.”
“Vampires exist?” Her eyes went wide, and she stared at him.
The ghost of a smile landed on his face. “Woman, you just saw me turn into a damn bear, have insisted all morning that you need to leave, and that’s your question?”
“Jeez, sorry. They’re just... more popular. I’ve never even seen The Wolf Man. Is it only bears, or do you have werewolves, too? Do you have a video rental here? Internet? Cell service works.” She clamped her mouth shut and took a deep breath. “Sorry. I’m trying to wrap my head around all of this.”
“And that’s why I can’t let you leave. You don’t know anything about our world. You don’t know the threats we’ve faced. Those markers on your map? I don’t even know half of them. I don’t know if they’ve been hunted to extinction or have just locked themselves away from their own kind.”
“Okay, you’ve made your case. I get it. I have shit in my past I don’t want anyone finding. That’s exactly why I’m the perfect person to keep your secret.” The morning of revelation had turned to negotiating her freedom. She didn’t know what the punishment would be for failure.
“Hm. And I’m supposed to believe that whoever drove you over the ledge will just stop coming for you?”
She stilled. “How do you know that?”
“I’m not an idiot,” he said quietly. “I can read the tire tracks on the road. We can help each other. You help keep my secrets and I help you stay away from whoever wanted to hurt you.”
“How?” she asked, dreading the answer.
“You can’t speak a word of our location, and it’s easier to hold you to that by keeping you here. Our people have bred with humans since the veil tore and we slipped through to this side. By mixing our blood with humans, our magic spread into humanity. How many out there have a drop of our blood from some great-grandfather a handful of generations ago? Or more? They could see through our barriers and lead others into our enclaves. It’s too big a risk.”
“That sounds awfully close to being held captive.” She struggled to keep her voice even. “What am I supposed to do? Just forget about my life outside of this place? Never take a call or answer a text or return to work?”
Callum stared out over the water and cast down her sentence. “You’ll stay. You’ll be provided for.”
Leah’s hackles rose. “Provided for?” she spat. “You listen to me, I haven’t been provided for since I was in middle school. I’ve been the adult in my life since I could hold down a job and drive. I won’t be provided for, fuck you very much.”
She wasn’t someone to take charity, especially the kind that came with strings attached inside a cage. She worked hard when she could, scrounged and stole when she couldn’t, and made many mistakes along the way. But they were her mistakes, not because someone else told her what to do. She wasn’t her mother. She wouldn’t sip gin from sunup to sundown and complain about her unfulfilling life because she let someone else provide her a cage.
“Fine. Make your own way, but it will be inside Bearden,” Callum snapped. “Muriel is paid through the week. Keep your phone, but know we patrol the borders coming in and out and we have cops on our payroll in the next towns over. You’ll be found before you’re a mile outside the enclave.”
She could feel the cage closing around her. It felt as sharp as a steel trap crushing her limbs. No. She couldn’t be stuck in Bearden. She couldn’t be held captive by the things she had nightmares about after watching scary movies as a child.
“You can’t just keep me here!”
He growled at her. “Believe me, I want you gone and I’m trying to find a way to make that happen. But you saw Bruce, and you just saw me. You know too much and you can’t be trusted yet. Welcome to your new home.” He shrugged and stomped halfway out of the clearing before throwing her a scowl over his shoulder. “Could be worse. We used to kill trespassers. Don’t make us start again.”
Leah shivered. The man pulled her in with his confessions and pushed her away with his thre
ats. No doubt he did have a murder shack with her name on it if she failed to obey.
Fucking Jamin was right, and he might just be her only hope of leaving Bearden.
Chapter 6
Leah was unsure how long she sat in the clearing. The shock of the town’s inhabitants sunk deep in her brain, but Callum’s words kept her from getting up and starting her day. She needed a plan, but making a plan would only make her situation real.
She’d experienced the same strange phenomena when she left her childhood home. Eventually, with screams and whimpers in her ears, she made her choice.
It wasn’t the same. Not really. There was no drunk father clobbering her mother and threatening to give her the same. But she felt as cornered as she did way back then.
She wanted to atone for all the shitty mistakes in her past, but she somehow kept winding up trapped in the same cages. Nothing she did would ever turn out right. Even trying to escape and start over only shoved her back under Jamin’s thumb.
She needed a plan. Jamin offered her freedom in exchange for providing him information. Her skin crawled even thinking about cooperating with the slimy little worm, but she didn’t see many other options. He was her last resort.
Until then, she needed to get her bearings. Leah pushed to her feet and trod back through the trail. It was easy enough to spot the inn once she reached the street. The town hall loomed over her, much like Callum and his threats, so she turned her back on the building and wandered toward the other end of the square.
She’d noticed the architecture when Callum drove her to Muriel’s. The little buildings looked even more charming in the morning light. Above the roofs rose mountains that she was sure would hold miles of trails.
The place was far from the ghost town she expected. How many lived there, she couldn’t guess. Enough to boast multiple clothing boutiques, an antique shop, and a firehouse along with the restaurants Callum pointed her toward the night before.
She noted the location and popularity of each place she passed and tried not to believe it would be anything she passed Jamin. No matter how she insisted she was learning for her own uses, the guilt ate at her.
She was certainly an outsider. People openly stared as she walked down the street. They all knew she didn’t belong.
She replayed Callum’s threat in her mind. They used to kill trespassers like herself. How many of those staring faces still wanted to do so? While no one made a move to cross the street and avoid her, she could feel their eyes watching well after she passed.
The first step to integrating with the town was finding a job. She didn’t want to live on Callum’s charity and give him anything to hang over her head. She meant it when she told him she wouldn’t be provided for. So she stuck a quarter in the newspaper stand, pulled out the daily edition of the Bear’s Den Gazette, and hoped they had a classified section with job listings.
Paper in hand, she eyeballed the two eateries across from one another. Best food or best coffee, based on Callum the Jerk’s recommendations.
Mug Shot seemed a fitting name for her. She’d avoided ever having one taken, but she’d done enough to warrant several. Plus, it had outside seating to enjoy the crisp morning and she wasn’t prepared for a full meal at the diner.
She’d made herself comfortable and flicked open the paper to start her job search when a couple walking down the street caught her eye. They were wrapped around one another as much as they possibly could be and still remain decent in public. The way they looked at each other, like they were the entire world, made her heart ache. It was something she’d never found, despite years of looking and years of rejection.
The couple kissed on the sidewalk and then parted slowly, dragging hands down arms and touching until their fingertips could no longer reach. Even then, they shot glances over their shoulders until the man reached the diner.
“Disgusting, aren’t they?”
Leah jumped at the voice and found a woman standing at her side. She wore an apron with the Mug Shot logo embroidered over the heart and mischief on her face.
She cupped her hands and yelled at the couple, “Hey! Keep it in your pants! My eyes can’t take another bleach rinse!”
The woman stalked across the street with a glare. “Becca, am I paying you to work or sit out here all day heckling the passersby?”
“I’m just giving the newbie here some tips on how not to behave in public.” She deftly dodged the other woman’s smack on her arm. “And absolutely taking her order.”
“Morning,” the woman said and ducked her head. “Careful with this one. She’ll talk your ear off if you let her.”
“So you’re the new girl, huh?” Becca stuck out her hand as soon as the other woman slipped into the cafe. “I’m Becca, obviously. And that was my sister, Faith. She technically owns this place, but we both know she couldn’t survive without me.”
Leah felt a genuine smile growing. “Leah. And yeah, I’m the new girl. I take it you don’t get many visitors around here?”
“Oh, loads. Just from other enclaves. That’s why this drag looks like a tourist trap. We just don’t get outsiders.”
Leah stored that bit of information away. It raised more questions than answered, but she was soaking up all knowledge she could about her new, temporary home. She needed to be armed with the full picture before she made any escape attempts.
“Can I ask you a question?” Becca dragged out a chair and took a seat next to her. She leaned over and scanned the paper. Nosy, then. Another tidbit learned.
“Ask away. I am an open book.”
With the town gossip apparently ready to divulge anything, Leah floundered and out popped a question she hadn’t meant to ask. “What are you?”
“Rude,” Becca teased. “You can’t just come out and ask what sort of animal someone is. They might not be a shifter, though, in Bearden, you can place a safe bet on them being a bear. There are no fae here, and the vampires don’t come out until night. I’m a fox, by the way.”
“Yeah, you are,” Leah waggled her eyebrows with a laugh.
Becca kicked her feet up on the table and rubbed her nails against her chest. “Flattered, but I’m off the market and playing the field. Boys only in this league, and I’m not talking pee-wee sports. Professionals only. Which seem to be in short supply these days.”
Leah snorted. “It’s not that much better on the other side, believe me. At least here, everyone is so... in shape.”
And that was the truth. The supernatural genetics worked in everyone’s favor. The men were all big and stacked with muscle and the women were all beauties in their own right. Even if some weren’t conventionally attractive, there was a grace in their steps that exuded confidence. It made her feel plain by comparison.
Becca chuckled. “Just you wait, new friend. Just you wait. Shifters are big all over and you’re fresh meat. They’ll be howling at your heels.”
Callum stepped out of Tommy’s Diner across the street and zeroed in on her immediately. Butterflies took flight in her stomach before dropping like lead weights. Her rescuer and her captor, the man was trouble in a perfect package.
Another man followed after him, then halted and stared as well. Leah thought it was for her, until she heard Becca suck in a breath. Realization dawned on her and she could almost feel the electricity arcing between Becca and the man. With an audible growl, he tore his eyes away and stomped into the firehouse while Callum hopped into his truck and made a swift turn around a corner.
“What was that about there being no one of interest in Bearden?” Leah tried to tease lightly when she found her voice again.
Becca’s eyes went huge and she shoved to her feet. “You’ve been here all of a day and have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“It was almost as ooey gooey as the looks between your sister and her honey.”
“Yeah? You could tell all that over the loaded looks you and Callum were shooting each other?” Becca smoothed a hand down her apron and tried to
put on a chilly face. “Now, what can I get you, human?”
“Something hot with lots of caramel and espresso, please.” Leah fluttered her lashes innocently. Becca had charmed her with just a few wicked comments and a huge personality. She predicted she’d be spending a lot of time sitting in the coffee shop until she managed to leave.
That niggling fear returned when Becca disappeared inside the coffee shop and shriveled up her brief feeling of acceptance. Utterly deflated, Leah let herself wallow. She ruined everything. She made the same mistakes and trusted the wrong people. Those tendencies would get innocent people hurt, like Becca and her sister.
Wanting to escape Bearden by putting her trust in Jamin was just one more mistake.
There would be no easy leaving on her own. Too many eyes watched her. She had no doubt Callum was right about the territory being patrolled. She couldn’t make any moves until the town settled around her presence and she couldn’t be sure just how much Jamin would force her into action.
Rock meet hard place. Leah frowned and tried to pretend it was at the words in the paper.
“It’s on the house,” Becca said as she pushed back outside and unloaded her tray. Besides the coffee, she’d placed a giant cinnamon roll on a plate. The thing was coated in syrupy goodness and topped with walnuts.
Leah eyed the treat. She wanted to eat every last crumb of it, but she needed to watch her money. There was no telling if she’d be able to access her accounts with Jamin breathing down her neck. And she didn’t want to accept Callum’s offer to provide for her. “On Callum, you mean.”
Becca wrinkled her nose. “He said you might have a problem with it. So it’s on the house.”
Leah ground her teeth together and focused all her fear and cagey irritation at the man who ignored her wishes. “That man is infuriating. I told him I didn’t want to take his money. I can make my own way. It’s kind of my thing.”
“Good luck with that. Once our men get it in their heads that you need protecting, you’ll have to knock them out and lock them away to keep them from interfering.”