Bearly Hanging On: Soulmate Shifters in Mystery, Alaska Book 3

by Krystal Shannan

  “You haven’t been in town long, have you? Where are you from?”

  Owen sighed. He disliked being rude to females, but couldn’t explain anything to this woman. And he wasn’t good at lying.

  “Do you want this truck fixed, ma’am?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need to work then,” he said, making sure his voice was harsh and louder than necessary.

  “Oh,” she said, her voice coming out like a whisper. The hurt was evident. And the heavy weight of her footfalls as she retreated back up the stairs into the office stabbed at his heart. He shouldn’t have been rude.

  “Dalmeck!” No, Dammit. Dammit or damn was the word Ava said was the equivalent. He needed to speak like those around him. He had to fit in. At least a little.

  His bear growled in his chest and Owen could feel anger rising within his body. He needed to get this truck finished. He needed to get back to Tara. He didn’t have time to worry about the curious-happy-go-lucky female EMT’s spirit he’d just crushed—whatever an EMT was.

  17

  “I forgot your father’s pills in the car. I’ll be right back.” Henrietta Jenkins wrung her hands and stared down at Tara’s father. They’d finally gotten him comfortable on the bed. He was breathing normally. His color was lacking. Tara wished there was more to be done, but there just wasn’t.

  “Mom, you stay. I’ll go get it.” Tara glanced back at her father’s pale face and swallowed hard. They didn’t have long with him. At least he would die at home and not in a cold hospital room surrounded by annoying noises and strangers poking and prodding him constantly.

  She leaned over her father and kissed his forehead.

  “Love you, sweet girl,” he whispered.

  “Love you too, Dad. I’ll be right back. We’ll get you fixed up with some rocking pain meds in a minute.”

  He gave her a halfway smile and nodded. “Be right back, mom.”

  Her mother nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. Tara closed the door to her parent’s bedroom and walked quickly through the house and out the front door. She took a deep breath of the crisp pine scented air. She loved spring. Except for the mosquitos. Those were a force to be reckoned with and they were coming out in droves now that most of the snow had melted. Though it was only May and Denali was known for dropping a lot more snow on into June some years. The currently live buzzing around her face mosquitos would probably meet an untimely death quite soon. She glanced up at the heavy silver-gray clouds. Even the wind smelled like snow.

  A storm was coming.

  Mostly, she just wished Owen was here. Wished he was standing right at the bottom of the steps waiting to hold her and tell her it would be okay. Even though she knew it wasn’t…not really. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.

  Tara plodded down the steps at the front of the house and went to the car. She opened the back-passenger door. Her dad’s pills were right there on the center of the back seat where they’d forgotten them. It’d been an ordeal just to get him into the house. He didn’t have much strength in his legs anymore and it’d taken everything she and her mother could muster up to get the six-foot-four-inch-not-so-small man all the way to the back room of the house and into bed.

  The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Someone was nearby. She backed out the car quickly and whirled to find herself face to face with Raish.

  Frack.

  Except it wasn’t just Raish with creepy gold eyes and a sinister smile. It was Raish flanked by five other guys—all equally as terrifying. She opened her mouth to scream, but there wasn’t time.

  A hand closed around her face, muffling her scream. Other hands clamped down on her arms. She bucked in their grasp, landing a good kick to one of their heads before two more guys grabbed her legs. Something leather was shoved into her mouth as a gag and another strip was tied around her head to keep it in place. It was so much she had to fight not to gag. She’d choke if she did and it took all her concentration to breathe in and out of her nose while these guys jostled her through the woods and away from her house.

  No crying.

  No sobbing.

  Breathe.

  That’s all she could do right now. Just breathe.

  In and out.

  The taste of the gag was filthy and gamey and she knew she didn’t want to know what it actually was. The forest was quickly unfamiliar as they traveled at an inhuman pace away from the house.

  Her joints hurt from being hauled along like a sack of potatoes. The men traded her back and forth, taking turns with who had her slung over their shoulder. Her ribs hurt. Her stomach hurt. But it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but getting that next breath of air into her burning lungs. It was so hard. And she kept getting the air knocked out of her the way these guys ran and jumped down the winding game trails.

  Her hair caught on the underbrush making her wince with each pull and yank. Eventually all the pain just melded together into one big unidentifiable throb.

  At least they hadn’t come into the house. They wouldn’t hurt her parents, but what would happen when her mom realized she’d be taken. What would she think? The car door was open. She’d dropped the medicine in the driveway. She hadn’t been able to scream. No one had seen them take her. No one would be able to track her through the forest. The sheriff in town was only elected because his daddy had a lot of money and influence with the nearby coal mine. And he didn’t stand a chance against—wolf men.

  Her head was woozy. Her vision was blurring. It was so hard to get enough air. She tried to make a little noise. Protest. Tell them she couldn’t breathe, but the man currently carrying her didn’t acknowledge her whimper. He just kept jogging. Sometime later he passed her off to another man, she couldn’t tell which.

  Her head was spinning. They’d gone at least a mile from her parents’ house by now. Dark spots crept into her vision, spinning and blinking until finally the blackness swallowed everything.

  Owen rolled his head and sniffed the wind. Something felt off. Wrong. But he couldn’t put his nose to it. His bear was anxious. Anxious in a way that it hadn’t been since before he’d marked Tara.

  Tara was safe.

  He’d followed them all the way to her parents’ house before checking in with Leif at the shop. She hadn’t called. They had a phone at the house. But, he couldn’t call her. She still didn’t have a cell and he didn’t know the number to the land line at her home.

  Still. Something was wrong. He could feel it in a way he couldn’t explain. It pulled at him.

  The office door behind Owen flew open with a bang, jolting him from his attention to the engine. The sheriff and his deputy, Owen couldn’t recall his name, came barreling out and jumped into the truck parked next to him. They didn’t look at him. Didn’t say a word. Just turned on the siren and lights and tore out of the parking lot like someone had lit a fire under their feet.

  His bear rumbled in his chest. He’d been away from Tara for too long. At the very least, she would be hungry and need to be hugged. She felt better when he touched her. He felt better too. Her presence was pure joy. Touching her, tasting her, was better than words could describe. He didn’t have long with her. Col would find out soon, if he hadn’t already and Owen still need to get the damn reptile to promise to look after Tara.

  He slammed down the hood on the EMT’s van. All the jolting around on and off road was rough on vehicles. The van hadn’t been maintained well. It needed a lot more than an oil leak fixed, but it would hold for now. He’d leave it up to Leif to check in and let the department know it needed a full tune up.

  Owen walked around to the driver’s side door, reached in, and turned the ignition again. The engine turned over without a hitch and the mechanic purred, well, maybe not purred, but it would get the little EMT female from point A to point B reliably for now—as long as it wasn’t ignored for too long.

  “Hey, sounds pretty good.”

  He looked up at the sound of the female’s voice. She was standing on th
e wooden landing in front of the office door.

  His pocket buzzed. He pulled out his cell phone. His sister’s face was blinking on the screen. “Sorry, my sister,” he said to the EMT and then held his phone to his ear. “Ava?”

  “I just got home from my shift. Wolves were at the house. I can smell them everywhere, Owen. They broke one of the windows and came inside. Are you with Tara?”

  “No. Did you call the Sheriff?” he asked, worry creeping up the back of his neck like frost on a window.

  “No. I’m just cleaning up the glass right now. Why?”

  “They just left here in a hur—” Pain coursed through chest like someone had reached in and ripped out his heart. “I have to get to Tara.”

  “Wait, where is she? Where are you?”

  “She’s at her parents. I’m at the sheriff’s fixing a damn van! I have to go!” He shouted at the phone, shoved it back into his pocket, then whirled to find himself toe to toe with the little female EMT.

  “Hey, man. What’s going on? Is someone hurt.”

  Owen couldn’t speak. Couldn’t process a verbal comment. All he saw was a barrier between himself and Tara. He opened his mouth and roared, letting his bear so close to the surface his hands began to change into claws.

  The concussive force knocked the woman to her ass on the gravel driveway.

  “What the crap was that?” she yelled. “Duuuuuuuude.”

  Owen didn’t pause for her. He walked around her, focusing on staying mostly in his human shape. Focusing on remaining as sane as possible until he knew Tara was safe. He climbed into his truck and took off so fast, gravel pinged the undercarriage like a spray of bullets.

  He made it to the Jenkins home in minutes, but his heart didn’t feel any better. The sheriff’s truck was parked in the driveway. The Jenkins car was next to it with one of the back doors hanging open. He leaped out and the scent of the wolf pack assailed his nostrils like someone had hit him with a tree trunk.

  He could track them. They wouldn’t get away with this. They couldn’t have his mate.

  Owen circled the truck cautiously, keeping an eye on the front window and door of the home. No one had come out. Maybe they hadn’t even noticed he was here.

  He searched the ground for tracks, circling to the opposite side of the Jenkins car. The wolves had come on foot. Their tracks were obvious and many. Six pairs of footprints. They’d come prepared to fight him. With six wolves they probably could’ve won and that knowledge only pissed off his bear more.

  “Owen!”

  He paused at the edge of the woods and looked back at the Jenkins’ house. Henrietta stood in the doorway. Her pink glasses were crooked. Her eyes were red and swollen. He could smell the salt of her tears from where he was standing.

  “I’m going to get her back,” he said, speaking loud enough for his voice to carry back to her.

  A large man in a beige uniform muscled his way rudely past Henrietta. “You’ll do no such thing. My force will be conducting the search. You’re contaminating a crime scene.”

  “Did you know six men took her?” Owen shouted back.

  The sheriff’s face went still.

  Henrietta’s went white.

  Owen instantly regretted saying that aloud. “I will get her back, Henrietta.” He turned away and stepped into the woods, following the animal trail the wolves had taken. Something cold landed on his eyelash. He wiped it away. It was the first of many snowflakes. Faster and faster as if the sky had just opened up and decided to dump buckets right on top of him.

  He ran, following the scent of the wolf tribe as quickly as he could. His animal could run faster, but he was more in control as a man. If he changed now, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from just charging forward in a blind rage.

  The snow was decreasing visibility by half now. The muddy brown trail was covered in a soft white blanket. The tracks were being filled. The air was being washed clean of scent.

  “No!” He ran faster, watching the ground. There were six men and they weren’t hiding their trail. It was his only saving grace at the moment. He could smell Tara. Smell her fear. Feel it palpably in his chest like it was his own.

  They had his mate. He’d left her. Lost her.

  He couldn’t lose her.

  He couldn’t. Not yet.

  He was the one supposed to die. Not her.

  He stopped and stared at the forking trail in front of him. Tracks went both ways. The group had split up. He breathed deeply, looking for any sign of Tara, but all he could smell was the damned snow and the sharp piney scented wind blowing down from the mountainside. There was nothing.

  Owen pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his sister. The line picked up before it even rang.

  “Owen. Where are you?”

  “In the woods a few miles from the Jenkins place. They took her Ava. Six wolves. The trail has split and the snow killed the scent. I can’t follow it by myself. I—” He hated asking for help. Hated putting his sister in harm’s way, but Ava was all he had. He needed help and her bear was nothing a wolf wanted to tussle with either.

  “Check the compass app I installed on your phone. Give me the coordinates.”

  Owen followed her directions and gave her the numbers she wanted, thankful he’d actually been listening the day she’d shown him that particular app.

  “Got it. We’ll be there shortly. Wait for us.”

  “I can’t wait. Ava. They have my mate.” Owen’s body trembled as his bear lost patience. He wasn’t going to be able to hold back the fury he or his bear was feeling much longer. The rage was rolling and boiling and set to explode at any moment. He would kill everything. Everyone that’d had a hand in hurting his mate. Scaring his mate. If they had so much as breathed on Tara, they would die. “Ava.” His voice dropped lower, more growly.

  “You listen to me, Owen. You wait for us to get there. Your bear can’t track like a dragon. This storm is covering the whole valley. We’re not going to find her without help.”

  Owen snarled at the phone. Dragon. Did his sister want him to die right there in front of her? A sliver of fear crawled up his spine and settled in to stay there like rust on a pipe. He didn’t want to die. Didn’t want to give up his mate.

  His sister had betrayed him.

  His own sister.

  “Owen. Listen to m—”

  He pressed the side button on the device and hung up. It wasn’t much, but it brought Owen out of his rage for a split second. He shoved the phone back into his pocket. Then looked back at the two trails.

  He’d deal with his sister’s betrayal later. Right now Tara needed him.

  She was out there. Waiting for him. Needing him. Terrified. But he couldn’t pinpoint her, he couldn’t see anything through the swirling snow now. The tracks were buried. The scent was gone.

  He’d failed.

  Again.

  He deserved the mark on his neck. The one that said he was an outcast—aonkan. Worthless. He deserved nothing. He’d lost his tribe. Now he’d lost his mate. This was Fate’s cruel trick. To show him what it could’ve been like and then to steal it away from him.

  He roared and sank to his knees in the snow. His bear pushed forward and he shifted, letting the bear win. Letting the bear do what it wanted. He—Owen—couldn’t help Tara. And if he was going to die today at the hand of that damned dragon, it might as well be at the fangs of a pack of wolves instead. At least with them, he had a fighting chance.

  18

  The storm was getting worse. A wall of white blocked everyone’s vision. They all trooped along behind him, trusting that his heat vision and exceptional sense of smell would get them to their destination.

  Col had been more than displeased at leaving Naomi and Penny alone at the cabin, but as his mate had assured him over and over—she was capable of shifting into a dragon and Penny was a weapons expert and usually more armed than a special forces Marine—whatever that was.

  Kann had tried in vain too. In the en
d, both pregnant females had sent them all out to save Tara. Col had promised the female bear he wouldn’t execute her brother until the female called Tara was safe.

  His mate had argued too. Argued that Owen should at the very least be allowed to say goodbye to Tara. That they should all be allowed to come back to the cabin one last time. Col hadn’t liked it, but he hadn’t like seeing Naomi so upset either. Still, even her tears could not change the law. And the law should stand. They’d lost everything, leaving Reylea. Families. Friends. Cities. Nothing existed except what they held in their hearts and minds. He wouldn’t be the one to let more of it go. Perhaps Owen did deserve another chance, but if he let one aonkan break the rules it set precedent for further discretions.

  A scent flitted on the wind in front of him. He stretched his head further, searching for it again. Bear. And not the one walking behind him. This bear was Owen. They were close. He focused his vision, peering through the swirling whiteness.

  The spring warmth had faded suddenly today with the arrival of the storm. Snow once again blanketed the countryside, hiding the muddy ground and melting streams. The pines and firs looked like a winter wonderland. For anyone else, the snow would’ve made hunting impossible, but for Col it only made it easier to pick out the specks of heat in the great expanse of blue stretched out before him. Using his heat vision, he saw blue where the land was cold. Blue in the sky. And a nice bright orange ahead of him about the size of a Reylean bear. Didn’t surprise him that Owen had shifted. It would be nearly intolerable for a human form to stay out in this mess for very long, even with proper gear. The temperature had dropped drastically from what it was earlier in the day. With night coming quickly, it would only get worse. If Tara was out in this…they needed to move very quickly.

  He opened his mouth to trumpet a call, but thought better of it. The wolves weren’t that far up the mountain. He’d caught their scent already. Caught the human woman’s too. He plunged ahead through the forest, breaking through to the small clearing where Owen’s bear was pacing back and forth.