by Amy Star
This time, Eli laughed. “McBride hasn’t lifted a finger to make a dime for himself. He inherited money from his father and bought a business. He staffed his offices with low wage workers, and when his father died, he absorbed his father’s real estate and mortgage company and destroyed countless lives just to save a dollar.”
Mia’s nails dug into Ava’s arm, but Ava was listening to Eli, wondering where he was going with all this. A quick glance at Matt told her that she wasn’t the only one intrigued but the events unfolding.
“Did you know that McBride owns a mortgage company? Well, at least on paper. It hasn’t done business in about a decade, which is right about the time your family was kicked out of the farm after missing only one payment. One late payment, and even when your father showed up at the office to pay McBride in cash, it still couldn’t save the farm.”
Ava could feel Mia shaking now, her grip tightening with every truth Eli dropped on her.
“Lies,” she insisted.
“Your mother and father divorced after that, right? Your mother was mad that he didn’t pay, and they lost everything. Your father swore he paid, but your mother knew that he couldn’t have paid, because they lost the farm.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But I do. I only found this place because we found everything there was on Mia Lamont. Remember her? The innocent teen who loved horses and living on the farm? We found out a lot about that Mia, including the fact that your father wasn’t the only one claiming that he’d paid McBride directly during the ten-day grace period and still lost the farm he’d financed with Texas Farm and Trust. The farm that had been in your mother’s family for generations. They mortgaged the property to fund your father’s dream of turning the hay farm into a working dude ranch. Your mom believed in your father’s dream so much, she agreed to mortgage land she owned to pay for it. When they lost the land, your mother left your father.”
“Stop talking!” Mia said. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Your mother took you with her, and before you saw your father again, he was gone, killed by his own hand.”
Mia’s shriek of rage split the air. She pushed Ava to the ground and lunged at Eli, knife above her head. Eli held his hands out, but she was so quick she slashed his arm, leaping into the air as she did. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs, both fighting for the knife in Mia’s hand.
Gideon was still holding Matt at gunpoint, unable to help Eli without putting Ava in danger. Terrified that the crazed woman was going to stab Eli, Ava searched the area around her, but there was nothing to fight her off with, and she had Eli pinned to the ground, the knife against his throat.
“One move and you’re dead,” Mia said, her voice eerily calm.
“McBride ruined your life, and when you showed up online, looking for work after being discharged from the military, he used you. He’s been using you ever since.”
“He bought my farm back for you.”
“He’s the one that took it from you in the first place. He foreclosed on dozens of families without remorse. He’s no savior. You’ve been fooled.”
“Shut up!”
“Don’t you see it? Look at you. You’re doing his bidding, and for what?”
“He loves me.”
“He loves money. He loves controlling people, and he gets off on destroying lives while he makes millions every day. How much of that have you seen? Do you really think that he cuts you in on all that? You’re selling your soul for a pittance.”
“I have no soul,” Mia said, laughing.
She pressed down on the knife, a single drop of blood appearing, turning Ava’s stomach. She was going to kill Eli, even if it meant her own demise. She was crazy. It was almost like she wanted to die.
Ava rushed forward, no plan in mind except to save the father of her child from certain death. She screamed at Mia. The woman turned, and that was all Eli needed to throw her off of him and onto the ground. Mia looked at them both, sizing them up and running at Ava again.
Ava ran, then she heard a snarl behind her and turned to look over her shoulder. Eli was running after Mia, but it wasn’t Eli. His face was different. Longer and broader, and his skin looked darker. It was a beat before Ava realized that it was hair, covering every inch of bare skin on his body. Ava gasped, and the look on her face was enough to give Mia pause. Turning mid-stride, Mia stumbled when she saw what was coming after her. She stopped, Ava forgotten, as she faced down the man racing toward her.
When Ava looked at Eli again, there was almost nothing recognizable about him. What was left of his tattered clothes clung to his body for a few strides, then fell to the ground. She looked at Matt and Gideon. Matt was dumbstruck and looked like he was on the verge of passing out, but Gideon was unbothered by the sight of Eli turning into a bear right before their eyes, and suddenly, she knew.
The bear in the mountains hadn’t been a threat because the bear was Eli. It was why he was naked when she found him, and why he didn’t seem at all worried about a bear harming his livestock. The bear was Eli, which meant that the child she carried was half werebear.
She stood rooted to the ground, watching Mia decide that she had nothing to lose, then rushing toward the animal with her knife at the ready. Mia leapt into the air, but Eli swiped at her with one massive paw, knocking her to the side like a ragdoll. Mia bounced and skidded across the sandy ground. She stood, struggling to draw each breath, running at Eli again.
“Stop!” Ava yelled, but Mia wouldn’t listen. She was bent on killing Eli. She wasn’t going to give him the option of walking away, and as Ava watched in abject horror, Mia signed her death warrant with a skillful throw of the hunting knife.
Eli roared in pain as the knife sunk deep into his shoulder, rendering one arm completely useless. Thinking that she had the upper hand, Mia attacked, producing a switchblade from her pocket and smiling.
She jumped forward, jabbing at Eli then bouncing out of his reach. She got a few good stabs in, but that wasn’t enough for her. “I’ll mount your head above my fireplace,” she sneered.
Ava looked at Gideon, but he was holding Matt at bay, unable to help his friend without putting Ava’s life at risk. Gideon saw that she was considering jumping in, and he shook his head in a warning. It wasn’t a good idea, no matter what her intention are. She knew he was right. She had their baby to protect.
When Mia screamed, this time in fear, Ava knew that Eli had gotten ahold of her. Ava turned away, covering her ears and squeezing her eyes shut.
She stood like that for a while before she felt a large hand on her shoulder. She turned, face to face with Eli in human form, hair damp, his face sad.
Ava moved to look over his shoulder, but he stopped her. “Don’t look. You don’t want to see that.”
She nodded, looking over where Gideon stood. Matt was crumpled in a heap at Gideon’s feet, arms wrapped around himself, rocking side to side. His eyes were closed, his mouth moving as he muttered to himself. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked when Eli put his arms around her.
“Would you be?”
“No,” she whispered. “No, I don’t think I would. I’m not even sure I’m going to be alright as it is.”
“I’m sorry, Ava. I should’ve told you. I didn’t think anything like this would happen.”
“I don’t want to talk about it now,” she said, pulling away and trying not to look at the gash on his arm and all the other injuries from his battle with Mia. “I just want to go home.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Zoey pulled up in front of Ava’s house and stopped, looking at Ava. “Are you sure you’re going to be alright?”
“No,” Ava said. “But I’ll get there. I can’t stay at your house forever.”
“It’s only been a month.”
“Has it? I feel like it’s an eternity and a day all at once. It’s a weird feeling.”
“That’s the trauma talking. You’re num
b. It will pass, and you’ll realize that you ran away from a good thing and a good man.”
“Whose secrets almost got me killed.”
“He had no way of knowing what that psycho Mia was going to do. She was willing to shoot her own husband because he crossed her. That’s not normal. You can’t blame him because he didn’t know she was capable of that.”
“I don’t. I just wish that he’d been honest with me.”
“You would’ve still been kidnapped.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t have been so scared, knowing that he had the skills and the resources to save me.”
“You’ve never been a damsel in distress.”
“I’m not. But we all need someone we can depend on. I feel like not telling me made this whole ordeal worse than it had to be.”
Zoey looked like she was going to argue, but Ava gave her a look that said she just needed her best friend to back her up, so she did. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out,” Zoey said.
“So am I. And thank you.”
Ava sighed, grabbing her laptop and her rolling suitcase stuffed with everything she’d brought home from Texas.
Zoey followed her into the house, taking her bags from her and smiling gently when Ava stood in her now unfamiliar home and fought back tears. She sat down on the sofa, pulling a soft afghan around herself and dabbing at her eyes with tissues. “I can’t believe how this all turned out. It’s so crazy.”
Zoey sat on the edge of the coffee table across from her. She took both Ava’s hands in hers and smiled at her friend. “Crazy? What’s crazy about finding out the shy nerd next door is a secret agent working for the government? Oh, and he’s a werebear, too.”
Ava laughed. “Nothing,” she said sarcastically. “Nothing at all.”
“What about the rest of the people on the mountain?”
Ava shook her head. “Everyone that lives there year-round is one of them. I knew I wasn’t wrong when I looked up the region and found no bears native to the area. I wish he would’ve just told me instead of keeping it a secret.”
“Would you have believed him?”
“Probably not, but he could have shown me.”
“He did. You saw him, and if you would’ve been thinking clearly, you would’ve put two and two together when the bear was gone, and Eli was outside, naked.”
“Don’t tell me you would have figured that out.”
“No, of course not. But don’t act like he was hiding everything from you. He took you with him to Dallas when he went for a job. Don’t you think he was just working up the courage to tell you?”
“Courage? What could he be afraid of?”
“Losing you.”
The words stunned her. “He’s filthy rich and gorgeous. He can have anyone he wants.”
“Guess not, because he wants you, and you’re here instead of with him. And what are you going to do about the baby?”
“I’m trying not to think about it.”
“That’s going to accomplish a whole lot of nothing. He deserves to see his child, even if you guys can’t get it together and work your shit out.”
“You always put things so eloquently,” Ava laughed.
“I try.”
Ava sighed. “I don’t know, Zoey. I just need time to figure this all out.”
“Well, I wouldn’t wait too long. You’re going to have that baby before you know it, then you’ll have someone else to worry about. You won’t have any time left to think about yourself and what you want.”
“I’m not due for five months.”
“Well it’s going to be a long five months if you keep growing at this rate.”
Ava sighed. “I just wish I knew what the right thing to do was.”
“You know what I think you should do,” Zoey said with a shrug. “It’s been a month. Don’t you think you’ve had enough space?”
Ava looked around her home, taking in every detail and trying to envision herself there with their child, living her life just like she had before she’d met Eli. She couldn’t, because she’d changed. Eli had opened her eyes to another world and it was going to be some time before she was able to look at her place and not wish she was at Hudson Ranch again.
She shook her head. “I just don’t think I can trust him anymore,” Ava said.
“Well,” Zoey said. “Then I guess you find a way to live your life on your own terms.”
“You say that as if it will be easy,” Ava muttered. Then she turned on the tv and snuggled down into her familiar sofa so she could shut out the world. It was easier than admitting that her heart was broken, and she was the only one to blame.
Bonnie slid a plate of food across the table, startling Eli out of his reverie and back to the moment. “You can’t pine over the woman forever,” she said, her voice gentle. “What’s that you have there?”
“Papers she asked me to sign when she came here.”
Bonnie took them when he offered them, arching one eyebrow as she read the first page. “This is dated over two months ago. Do you think it’s possible that she’s changed her mind since then?”
“I don’t know, Bonnie.” He sighed. “I really thought that she would’ve forgiven me by now, but it’s not looking good.”
Bonnie harrumphed and sat down beside Martin and across from Eli. The little boy looked up now and then, but he was focused on the cinnamon rolls his mother had made in an attempt to coax Eli out of his foul mood. It wasn’t working. “What were supposed to do, tell her everything the day she stepped onto the ranch?”
“She expected to know all my secrets.”
“But they aren’t all your secrets to tell. What about the rest of us? What if we don’t want an outsider to know until we’re sure that she’s trustworthy? You would think that would come up.”
“She wouldn’t tell anyone about this place,” he insisted, sure that he was right.
“Maybe she wouldn’t, but she was here for a few days before you went off to Texas. It wasn’t the right time.”
“It became the right time when who I am nearly cost her everything.” He looked across the table at Martin, who looked like he was concentrating on his meal, but he was pushing the same piece of bread around in the icing, pretending not to listen. “I don’t really want to talk about this. She’s made her choice, now I have to figure out where I’m going to go from here.”
“Please don’t sign those papers.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Then don’t. No matter what happens, she’s not equipped to raise one of us. You have to know that. What is she going to do when the baby starts learning how to shift but can’t control the process?”
“I’ll help her with that.”
“How are you going to do that if you sign those papers and walk away?”
Eli slammed his hand on the table, remembering that Martin was there and opening his fist a split second before he connected with the table. The slap on the polished wood stung, but it was nothing compared to the pain that was ripping his heart in two. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I have to do something. I messed up, and I just want her to be happy. Is that so horrible?”
“No,” Bonnie said. “But running away instead of having a tough conversation is.” She stood up and cleared her plate and Martin’s, leaving Eli with his shattered heart. The sad look in her eyes deflated his anger until there was nothing but the empty space Ava had left behind. Bonnie was right, and he knew it.
He sucked in a deep breath, trying to find himself again, but he couldn’t. Life just wasn’t the same without Ava. He needed her.
He stood up quickly, pacing around the kitchen as he grappled with his thoughts. Then he grabbed his cell phone and dialed Gideon’s number. Gideon answered on the first ring. “Yeah?”
“When are you coming back?”
“Mission’s done, and I’ve already landed, why?”
“I need my plane.”
“Alright, is something wrong?”
“No,
” he said, then he cursed under his breath. “Yes. I have to go get her, Gideon. I almost lost her once, I can’t lose her again. Not like this.”
Gideon paused for a moment, and Eli was surprised when his friend didn’t immediately agree with him. “The crew just got back from a long flight. Maybe you should sleep on it and decide in the morning.”
“I can’t wait,” Eli insisted. “I’ll hire another crew.”
“On five minute’s notice?” Gideon asked.
“You know what I mean. I just-” he trailed off, trying to swallow the lump in his throat and failing. “I need to see her. Tonight. Maybe I can get a flight out.”
“It’s almost sundown. Listen, Eli, I was going to surprise you, because you’ve been sounding a little down lately, but I’m on my way up to the ranch. I thought we could shoot the breeze and hang out.”
“I have to see her.”
“I understand. Can you wait until the morning? I’ll drive you myself if you want me to.”
Eli felt deflated, but he knew Gideon was right. The crew couldn’t turn around and leave again, plus they were probably already halfway home. He would have to wait until the morning, and he would be better off letting Gideon drive him. He was too on edge, and the roads were more dangerous during the cold, rainy season than they were during the summer. He couldn’t risk the winding roads if he wasn’t thinking straight. “How far away are you?”
“I’m about to turn into your driveway,” Gideon said.
To Eli’s surprise, he looked up and saw Gideon doing just that, turning off the highway and onto the long gravel road that led to Eli’s house. “Alright, I’ll wait for you,” he said. “But I’m not waiting longer than a day.”
“I promise you won’t have to,” Gideon said, then he hung up the phone and Eli walked outside to meet him.
When he pulled up, Gideon opened the door and stepped out, smile wide. “I hope you have extra room for me.”