Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1)

by Jasmine B. Waters

  He turned the bedside lamp off and leaned over to kiss my hair. It felt nice.

  “Goodnight, Lucy,” he whispered.

  “Goodnight, Chance.”

  A weight of guilt pressed on my stomach and I felt a bit sick. He hadn’t even hesitated before giving me his word. He’d meant it, too. He wasn’t going to keep things from me from here on out.

  So why was I keeping things from him?

  Chapter Six

  Chance

  My alarm went off at seven in the morning, and I wanted to bash it against the wall. I’d finally gotten a solid night’s sleep and now I had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to resume the chase that was going to put me on the outs with the only woman that could ever satisfy my bear. Peachy.

  I changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt before she even stirred. She was a heavy sleeper, it seemed. Or maybe, like me, she’d just been exhausted. I hated to wake her, but we couldn’t afford to waste another day. The trip to Columbus would probably yield poor results in the end, but I had to try. At the very least I had to make sure that Luke hadn’t passed his curse on to anyone else.

  I shook her shoulder gently. She groaned and attempted to bat my hand away. “Five more minutes.”

  I laughed softly beneath by breath. “Wake up. We need to get on the road. You can sleep more in the car.”

  Somehow we managed to get everything packed, eat breakfast, and check out of the hotel in under a half hour. Lucy shuffled unenthusiastically to the car. Though we couldn’t really afford the delay, I stopped at the nearest gas station to buy her an additional cup of coffee.

  “Thank you,” she muttered, sipping the steaming liquid carefully. “You didn’t have to do that.”

  “It’s another three hours to the university. I want you to be awake when we arrive.”

  She sat up straighter in her seat, staring out at the highway and the passing road signs. I got the feeling she was deliberately not meeting my eyes.

  “So if we don’t find him there, we’re headed to Virginia? Are we going to hike on the Appalachian Trail or are we off-roading?”

  “I am going to hike the trail. You’re staying in a cabin until I get back.”

  “No way!” she cried, slopping coffee down the front of her yellow tank top. She winced but didn’t tear her eyes away from me. “There’s no way I’m going to sit around like a lump and do nothing while you’re hunting my brother down!”

  “And I am not dragging you into danger,” I growled. Just the thought of having her in the proximity of her brother anywhere close to the full moon sent a thrill of terror through me. She was too fragile. Her human skin didn’t mend like mine. Her bones were like sugar glass. Her injured leg was proof of that.

  “More people are killed by more dogs in a given year than by bears!”

  “Your brother isn’t a regular bear,” I argued. “He’s a were-bear.”

  “So are you.”

  “It’s not the same,” I said, gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white and the leather creaked ominously.

  “How is it different?” She’d lowered her voice, and the note of ire had gone out it.

  “I was born this way, Lucy.” I probably should have explained it earlier, but she’d been angry. She wouldn’t listen to reason. I wasn’t sure she would now. “Your brother wasn’t.”

  “What’s the difference? You’re both bears.”

  I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and let my foot ease off the gas. I’d been inching close to eighty-five and I didn’t want to be pulled over by a police officer.

  “I told you we were descended from the berserkers, right? You know what they were?”

  “Viking warriors, right? They worked themselves up into a fury until they went absolutely nuts on the battlefield.”

  “Pretty much. The word comes from the Old Norse ber-serkr, or bear shirt. My ancestors believed the spirit of the bear rode them into battle.”

  “And it did?” she guessed, taking another drink of her coffee as she listened.

  “Yes, it did. It was the same for the wolves and the boars. Somewhere along the line, we simply became our animals. They’re a part of us now.”

  “That doesn’t really explain how you’re different from my brother, though. He got a bear’s blood by accident, but if he can turn into a bear, doesn’t that make him just like you?”

  “In most senses, yes,” I admitted. “I shift violently at the full moon as well, and with training he could learn to control himself. The main difference is that I was born with the knowledge that when I became physically mature enough, I would change. I was prepared for it. I still killed three moose. Do you know how difficult that is for an average bear?”

  Her eyes were wide when I glanced over at her again. Her hand trembled slightly around the coffee cup.

  “You’re really that powerful?”

  “During the full moon. I’m in control of my beast because I can control the rage. He can’t.”

  “Why?” she whispered.

  “The closest human comparison is that he’s essentially hopped up on meth. He’s not in control of his actions, the bear spirit is.”

  “And he killed someone,” she said.

  “And he will kill again if we can’t catch him before the next full moon.”

  “Fine,” she said after a long pause. “I’ll stay at the cabin. If you promise not to kill him.”

  “I can’t guarantee anything,” I protested.

  “Then I can’t guarantee I won’t wander into the woods after you,” she countered, setting the coffee back down. She crossed her arms across her chest.

  “I’ll chain you to a bed if I have to,” I growled. “I won’t put you in danger like that.”

  “Feel free to chain me down, if that’s your thing,” she said breezily.

  “You’ll give a man ideas.”

  “Like you don’t already have them,” she scoffed. “I know what I felt last night. You want me.”

  “And do you want me?”

  “That’s beside the point,” she muttered so quietly the human ear wouldn’t have detected it. My ears were better than average, and I worked hard to suppress a smile. I took the turn off as directed.

  Two more hours until we reached Columbus, and then several more after that to get to a reasonable stopping point on our way to Virginia. One more night where she’d lay warm and inviting in my bed. One night to convince her that I was worth the risk.

  I only knew one thing for sure. Luke would be the easiest Elmsong to snare.

  ***

  The University was huge. I’d never pursued education, had never felt the need. Most of the friends I’d had that attended dropped out in short order and owed thousands as a result. There were cheaper places to get sloppy drunk and have casual sex.

  But looking at the massive brick buildings all around us, I could understand Lucy’s desire to attend school. Students wandered to and fro, by themselves or in small groups, chatting animatedly about their classes. The human side of me understood. There was comfort in being a part of the whole. The cerebral attraction to an institution devoted to learning made sense. The smarter you were, the better you were able to survive. And Lucy clearly wanted to escape her home town and survive elsewhere.

  The part of me that was a bear did not understand. Bears were normally solitary. Bears travelled alone or with young. One did not have to be smart to survive, though that was undoubtedly an advantage. One needed only to be strong. Bears didn’t band together in the way that wolves or even humans did. So as a result, were-bears were usually anti-social assholes. The lawmen were rare exceptions, men with tight control of a beast, who could pass for human if they needed to.

  The dorms at the university resembled multi-story apartment buildings more than anything else. Built of the same red-brown stone as the rest of the campus buildings, they loomed over the lot where we’d been forced to park. I was fairly sure it was going to take us more than thirty minutes t
o sort out what had happened, but I was willing to take the risk. The worst university police would do is slap a ticket on my car.

  A subdued buzz of conversation met my ears when we stepped inside. Students were clustered on couches, window sills, the floor, and they all had a similar look of fear on their faces. We’d come to the right place.

  “What floor is he on?” I whispered to Lucy as we made our way to the elevators.

  “The fourth,” she whispered back. The door dinged and a crowd of students flooded out of the doors, all scattering in different directions. Some joined their friends in the others, while others hiked backpacks further up on their shoulders and headed for the doors, clearly ready for class.

  We were alone in the elevator. I noted that Lucy kept a foot or more of space between us where possible. She was still angry with me, despite what she’d said. Or perhaps I’d scared her with my grim speech in the car. I wanted to close the distance, take her hand in mine.

  But that was probably for the best. It would be easier to leave her at the base of the mountains that way. The closer we got, the harder it would be to leave her behind.

  When the doors finally dinged open on the fourth floor, we were almost immediately accosted by a junior officer. She was fresh, straight out of the academy. I’d have bet money on it. They’d put her in street clothes, probably to make it less alarming for the children who lived in the dorms. It also helped she was five foot nothing with a sweet face and cute pixie cut.

  “What room are you in?” she asked, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. She said it with such practiced ease that I knew she’d been working this shift off and on for days.

  “I’m not a student.” I said, digging my badge from my back pocket. I raised it to the light so she could get a good look at it. “I’m Lawman Chance Kassower with the Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi Coalition. I was called in to help on this case.”

  Her face drained of what little color it had, and the acrid scent of fear wafted from her skin. The new girl didn’t like were-animals, it seemed. I gave her a fierce grin, baring all my teeth in her direction. Fear could be an excellent motivator. It made even the bravest man sloppy and slow to react. I took a step in her direction and she stumbled back.

  “I’d like to speak with the officer in charge,” I said, advancing in her wake.

  “H-he’s gone to lunch,” she stammered. “I’m supposed to keep everyone away from the room.”

  That was fine. I’d seen the wreckage for myself. My main concern was the containment of this disaster. If Luke had infected someone, they’d be a ticking time bomb. They needed to be quarantined until the next full moon.

  “Fine. I need to speak to any witnesses of the attack. Neighbors had to have heard something.”

  “I did.”

  I was surprised that I hadn’t heard the new woman’s approach. I turned to look, and I found myself staring at a tall, slim young woman. She had a tangle of black hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few days. She had dark circles underneath her eyes and a long gash down her forearm.

  So I’d been right. There were more victims, just waiting to be found. With the ferocity of the first change it made sense for there to be more carnage, more destruction, than there had been.

  “Who are you?” Lucy asked, piping up for the first time since we’d left the elevator.

  “I’m Sylvia. Sylvia McCoy. I’m a student.”

  “I’m Chance,” I said, extending a hand to her. She took it and shook my hand briefly. I gestured to my side. “This is my partner, Lucy. We’re investigating what happened here. Could you please tell us what you told the lovely police officers?”

  “You don’t have to say anything, Ms. McCoy.” The police officer interjected. “You’re human. They have no legal power over you.”

  “I know that,” she said, rubbing at the gash on her arm. I was willing to bet that it had been deeper than it appeared now. Her skin would mend at an accelerated rate with the change on the horizon. She knew as well as I that her days as a human were numbered.

  “Would you mind telling us?” I said quietly. “We can help you, if you help us.”

  Her dark eyes darted from the police officer, to Lucy, and then finally back to me. She nodded slowly. “I’ll tell you. And only you.”

  Lucy and the police officer protested at the same time.

  “You can’t simply-” The police officer began.

  “You can’t just leave with her-” Lucy spluttered.

  “I can,” I said, glaring at them both. “And I will. This is important. There are lives at stake.”

  I took Sylvia gently by the elbow and led her further down the corridor. She didn’t protest, merely shuffled along behind me. She led me a few doors past the crime scene, which had been cordoned off with police tape. I glanced back in time to catch a fleeting glimpse of Lucy’s face, contorted with outrage as Sylvia pulled me into her room.

  It was small, not much bigger than the hotel room that Lucy and I had stayed in the night before. Sylvia sat down on her bed and she kept stroking the gash on her arm. Her fingers were shaking.

  “What happened, Sylvia?” I prompted gently.

  “There were only a few of us on the floor when it happened,” she began. “Almost everyone was watching the game. We were playing against Michigan State, you know.”

  I didn’t really. The sports I followed weren’t usually played by humans, but I nodded anyway as if it made perfect sense to me. “But you weren’t.”

  “No. My boyfriend and I, we were….” She flushed pink, and bit her lip. I gave her the ghost of a smile.

  “I think I can guess. What happened after that?”

  “Well, we weren’t, you know…done…but I heard this noise. It sounded like a crash. I got up to go see what had happened, and he said he’d be waiting when I got back. I put on a pair of underwear and a robe, and I went to go check. I knocked, and I waited for Keith to come to the door. Luke was still supposed to be recovering from the procedure.”

  “And what then?”

  She flinched, as if the question had actually been a physical blow. “A bear broke down the door. It was big and it had shaggy black fur. I just remember it standing on its hind legs and roaring at me. I ran. I didn’t know what else to do.” She sniffled, and I reached over to her bedside table to retrieve a tissue for her. She took it with a nod of thanks and blew her nose.

  “I was such a coward,” she muttered.

  “No, you weren’t,” I said, taking her hand. I gave it a firm squeeze. “You did the only thing you could have done.”

  “B-but aren’t you supposed to play dead during an attack?”

  “That only works with real bears and even then, usually only if a female is defending her cubs. A predatory bear or were-bear is going to charge you regardless. You were right to run. What happened then?”

  “It followed me into the lobby. Brian was out of the room by then and I told him to run, to get help. I think he went out the emergency exit, because the alarm started going off. The bear was roaring, and the siren was so loud. I sort of lost my head. I smashed open the glass on the case and pulled out a fire extinguisher. It was coming right at me, and I didn’t know what else to do. I sprayed it in the face. You would have thought it was buckshot, the way it reacted. He reacted, I guess…”

  She trailed off, rubbing at the gash on her arm again. “He tried to swipe at me, and I hit him over the head with the fire extinguisher. I was screaming, he was screaming, the damned alarm kept going off. I don’t really know what happened then. I was too out of it. The window was shattered when I came to, so I guess he must have jumped or fell.”

  “Have you gone to your local shelter?” I asked, gesturing to her arm. “They could provide you with recourses.”

  “Please,” she scoffed. “I’ve done a report on those shelters. They’re constantly underfunded and understaffed.”

  “What were you planning to do on the next full moon, then?” I asked,
raising a skeptical brow at her. “Chain yourself to a tree?”

  “Get the hell out of dodge,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ve told my professors. I’ve dropped out of college for now. I was supposed to turn in my room key today.”

  I pulled my wallet from my pocket and removed one of the many cards I kept inside. I offered it to her.

  “Call this number. I know some people who can help you.”

  “I don’t want to be a monster,” she whispered, tears brimming over and running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

  “Call the number,” I repeated quietly. “They’ll make sure you’re in a safe environment for your first change.”

  She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me down so she could give my cheek a light peck. Her lipstick smeared all over my cheek, and I knew I’d have a red smudge, no matter how hard I rubbed at it.

  “Thank you.”

  “Erm, you’re welcome,” I muttered, patting her awkwardly on the back.

  She drew away with a small, self-conscious smile and led me to her door. “I hope I helped.”

  She led me to her door, and when I emerged, two angry women were waiting for me. The cop launched into a lecture about how insubordinate I was being, and how she was going to put in a call to my superiors.

  Worse though was Lucy’s fury. As soon as she’d spotted the lip print on my cheek, her lips had drawn into a thin line and she’d fixed me with a glare so intense I could practically feel it boring a hole through my forehead.

  “We’re leaving,” I told them both. The cop followed us all the way to the elevator, still muttering threats. When we got on the elevator, she punched the button down with unnecessary force. I took the corner opposite of her, belligerently not wiping the lip mark off my cheek. I hadn’t done anything, and she had to know that.

  When we got back to the main floor, she stalked out ahead of me. I let her, knowing what it must cost her to walk so quickly on her bad leg. And because the view was actually pretty pleasant.

  The drizzle started up again when we reached the car, and I really hoped I was wrong about my predictions for the night. Lord knew I didn’t want another standoff in the rain.