by Alexis Davie
Lila studied him for a moment.
“They’re dangerous, Jasper,” she said.
“Yeah, and so am I when someone threatens what’s mine,” Jasper said.
He hadn’t meant to say that and he waited for Lila to jump away from him, to give him a piece of her mind. Instead, she smiled again.
“I really should object to that comment,” she said quietly. “But as much as I hate to admit it, I kind of liked it.”
Jasper kissed the tip of her nose.
“Tell me who they are. I promise you they won’t bother you again,” he said.
She sighed loudly.
“Can’t we just forget this ever happened?” she asked. Her face flickered with fear and Jasper felt anger surge through him. He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep himself under control. Lila spoke again before he had a chance to try to persuade her to tell him who the men were. “I don’t suppose I can just forget, it can I? They know I know what they are now. They’re going to keep coming for me.”
“Not if you let me get to them first,” Jasper pointed out.
Lila went quiet for another moment. Jasper forced himself to remain silent, knowing she was debating whether or not to trust him. It seemed she decided she could trust him because she gave him the names.
“It was Brady and Clay. I don’t know their surnames. They were in the bar yesterday as I left and you were coming in,” she said finally.
Jasper felt the anger surge through him again. They were part of his pack. They wouldn’t be for much longer, he thought to himself.
“I know who they are,” he said finally.
“How do you know about this stuff?” Lila asked.
“You live in a place like this long enough, you pick stuff up,” Jasper said, not quite ready to tell Lila his secret just yet. He would know the right moment when it presented itself and this wasn’t it. He wanted to wait until she didn’t look so terrified, until she understood that not all bears were the same. “How do you know about them?”
“Umm, hello? Last night,” Lila said.
Jasper couldn’t help but laugh at her sarcastic tone.
“I meant before that. You accepted the truth of it so easily. And you already knew the word shifters,” he clarified.
Lila blushed slightly.
“When I was a teenager, I used to have a bit of a thing for trashy romance novels. You’d be surprised how many times shifters turned up in those stories. But they were always the dashing hero type, not the creepy ‘follow a girl to a parking lot and attack her’ type,” she said.
Jasper smiled again.
“I can’t imagine you reading those kinds of novels,” he said.
“Why? I think there a lot of fun,” she said.
“Obviously, those books are a bit farfetched and not all shifters are the action hero type, but not all shifters are like those two either. In fact, they’re the exceptions, Lila,” Jasper started.
He was going to say more, but Lila interrupted him.
“I find that hard to believe after last night. They’re monsters, Jasper,” she said, a shudder of revulsion going through her. “They’re animals, not men.”
Jasper felt as though she had reached into his chest and torn his heart out. He couldn’t tell her he was a shifter now. Not when he had seen the look of absolute hatred on her face, not when he had felt the shudder of revulsion go through her body. She would think he was like them, and no amount of words was going to change that.
“Are you okay?” Lila asked, frowning.
Jasper forced himself to smile.
“I’m fine,” he said. “I’ve just remembered I have a meeting early this morning.”
“Oh,” Lila said. Then longer. “Ohhh. You need me to leave, right?”
Jasper nodded, although it was actually the last thing he needed. What he needed was for Lila to see that not all shifters were monsters. That even though he had a bear in him, he was the same guy she had been with last night.
Lila leaned in and rubbed her lips lightly across his, setting his body alight and reminding him of what he would be missing out on. She got up out of the bed and began collecting her clothes. He watched her, lying back on the pillow and admiring the view. She caught him watching her and laughed, making no move to hide herself.
She left the room and Jasper closed his eyes, wishing this could be simpler. He heard Lila moving around in the living room and then he heard water running from the bathroom. He sighed loudly. God, he wanted her so badly.
After a few minutes, Lila came back into the bedroom. She had her clothes back on now and she had tamed down her hair a little.
“So, I guess I’ll see you later, then,” she said.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” Jasper said, the words out before he could stop himself.
Lila beamed with delight,
“I’d love to,” she said. She walked back over to the bed and kissed him again. “I’ll see myself out. You have a meeting to get ready for. Oh, and I might have put my number in your cell phone while I was in the living room.”
Jasper grabbed her as she moved away from the bed. He stood up and wrapped his arms around Lila, kissing her with passion. He pulled back after a moment, leaving her breathless.
“Just a little something to think about until tonight,” he grinned.
“It’ll certainly be a better thought than my stocktake,” Lila laughed. She turned and headed for the bedroom door. “Until tonight.”
She blew him a kiss and flitted away. Jasper missed her already. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to give her up. He hated that he was deceiving her, but he figured if she got to know him better, then when he did tell her, she would know by then that he wasn’t a monster.
He made his way through to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. He picked his cell phone up while the coffee brewed and called the restaurant to let them know he would be dining there that night. He texted Lila, telling her he would pick her up at 6:30. She texted back almost instantly, saying she was looking forward to it.
He went through to the bathroom and showered and got dressed and finally, his coffee was ready. He drank a cup, trying not to let himself imagine Lila’s reaction when she finally found out the truth about him.
He stood up abruptly. He couldn’t think about that now. Right now, he had something more important to think about. Sorting out Clay and Brady, and showing them what happens to members of his pack who behaved like animals.
8
Lila had done her stocktake and opened up the bar. She had been open for a few hours now, and she had been on tenterhooks the whole time, sure Clay or Brady, or worse, both of them together, would turn up at the bar. When they hadn’t, she had finally started to relax. She was starting to think Jasper had come through and made them leave her alone.
She smiled to herself when she thought of Jasper and her mind automatically went back to last night and that morning. She never would have imagined that the worst moment of her life had led her directly to the best moments. And she still couldn’t believe that a guy like Jasper not only found her attractive, but seemed to be as smitten with her as she was with him.
She debated texting him, but she didn’t want to seem like she was too eager. She knew they had a connection, but if she came on too strong, he might start to think she was too clingy to be in a real relationship with. A real relationship, she thought to herself. Wow. She felt butterflies in her tummy and she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.
A few of the regulars even commented on how happy she looked. She kept quiet about the reason, just agreeing that she did feel pretty damned good today. Even when Jasper texted her to say something had come up and he would be running a bit later than he’d hoped and asked to meet her at the restaurant rather than pick her up, it didn’t ruin her mood. She texted him back saying it wasn’t a problem, and it wasn’t. She was just glad to hear from him.
About an hour before her shift was due to end, the door to the bar opened and H
ayley walked in. Lila smiled at her, a little surprised to see her in the bar at this early hour.
“What can I get you?” she asked.
“Oh, just a diet Coke for me, please,” Hayley said, sitting on a bar stool.
Lila turned and grabbed a bottle from the fridge and opened it. She put it on the counter and gave Hayley a glass, waving away the offered bill.
“It’s on the house,” she said.
“Oh, thanks,” Hayley said. She poured the diet Coke from bottle into the glass and raised it. “Cheers.”
“So, what brings you here so early?” Lila asked. “I’d say rough day, but the soda suggests otherwise.”
“I just came to ask if anything weird happened when you left the gym last night,” Hayley said.
“Weird how?” Lila asked with a raised eyebrow.
Did Hayley know something?
“It’s probably nothing,” Hayley said. “But when I got home last night, the little one wasn’t sick. And the babysitter knew nothing about a phone call. I can’t decide if it was a wrong number and just a coincidence that the voice on the phone sounded like my babysitter and that they also managed to call someone in the same situation as me, or whether it was… this sounds crazy, but whether it was someone trying to get me out of the way so you were alone.”
Hayley looked down into her drink. Lila could feel the color draining from her face. It had to have been Brady or Clay who made that call.
“Your babysitter is a guy, right?” Lila said.
Hayley’s head shot up. Her eyes widened when she saw how pale Lila had gone.
“I’m not being crazy, am I? Something happened. And yes, my babysitter is a boy. Well, technically, a young man. Shit, Lila, what happened?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Lila said, shaking her head.
“Try me. I’ve seen some pretty crazy shit in this town,” Hayley said.
Lila decided to tell her about Brady and Clay, but not about what they became.
“I don’t know if you know Brady and Clay. They’re regulars here. They both took a bit of a shine to me and they were waiting in the parking lot of the gym for me when I came out. Things got a little ugly, but the gym owner showed up and scared them away,” Lila said.
“Ugh, I know them,” Hayley said, a look of disgust crossing her face. “You were lucky Jasper showed up when he did.”
Lila studied Hayley for a moment. The expression she wore when she heard who was involved was pretty much the same expression Lila wore when she thought of what they were. Suddenly, Lila knew Hayley knew. She decided to take a chance and tell her the rest of the story. If she was wrong, she could always backtrack and say she must have been wrong, that the bears must have appeared and scared the men away, just like Jasper had tried to tell her it had happened.
“Yeah, it was damned lucky,” Lila agreed. “Hayley, this is going to sound mental, but Clay and Brady. They’re not… normal men. They… they turned into bears.”
“I swear those two are out of control,” Hayley said, shaking her head.
Lila’s mouth dropped open at Hayley’s casual comment.
“What?” Hayley said.
“You mean you believe me? You know they’re bear shifters?”
“Well, sure,” Hayley said. “The whole group they hang around with are bear shifters. But the rest of them are so much better behaved. Those two are just assholes. That’s going too far even for them, though.”
“How do you know all of this stuff?” Lila asked. “Is it, like, common knowledge?”
It was starting to seem like she was the only one in the town who didn’t know about the bear shifters.
“No,” Hayley said. “One of my best friends is a bear shifter. He told me the truth about who he is. Of course, I’m sworn to secrecy, but obviously after what happened, you already knew about them. Please keep this to yourself, Lila. I mean, I don’t care what happens to Clay and Brady, and if you want to tell people what they did to you, then do it, but can you just keep the bear part quiet? The rest of the pack are different from them. Those two are just assholes. The others… well, they’re genuinely nice guys.”
Lila sighed and reluctantly nodded her head.
“It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway, is it? I only told you because I got the impression you knew,” she said. “I find it hard to believe that the others are different, though.”
“But they are,” Hayley insisted. “You know how some people are just assholes and hurt others? Well, shifters are no different. There are some assholes who use their bear sides to hurt others. But most of them live peacefully amongst humans and no one would ever know there was anything different about them.”
Lila wasn’t sure she believed that, but she had to admit that none of the other guys from Brady and Clay’s group had ever given her any trouble. And none of this was her problem. As long as Brady and Clay stayed the hell away from her, she just wanted to forget this whole thing had ever happened.
“I’m a little surprised it happened, though. Even for those two, that’s extreme. And Jasper usually has them under way better control than this,” Hayley said.
“Jasper?” Lila asked, frowning.
“Yeah, Jasper who owns the gym? He’s the pack alpha. That’s why you were lucky he turned up when he did. He’s pretty much the only person who could have stopped those guys,” Hayley said.
Lila nodded and gave Hayley a tight smile. Inside she was doing anything but smiling. Jasper, her knight in shining armor. He was no hero. He was the same as them—a monster. And he had taken her home, knowing exactly how she felt about the bears. He hadn’t made love to her, she’d been wrong about that. He had lied to her and used her. He had fucked her in more ways than one.
She felt sick thinking of it now. She wasn’t sure who she was angrier with: Jasper for doing that to her, or herself for being stupid enough to actually believe that he was different.
9
Jasper could feel anger bubbling up inside of himself as he paced the floor of his apartment, waiting for Brady and Clay to show up. He had sent text messages to both of them telling them to meet him here. Of course he was angry, furious in fact, about what they had done, but he was also angry because Clay had replied saying he couldn’t make it until late afternoon, meaning that Jasper had to text Lila to meet him at the restaurant rather than going to pick her up. She didn’t seem to mind, but he did. He wanted tonight to be special, a chance to show Lila that he knew how to treat a woman.
As Jasper thought of Lila, he felt himself getting angrier, and the angrier he got, the closer his bear came to the surface. He forced himself to calm down, to swallow down some of the anger. The last thing he needed was his bear coming out when Brady and Clay got here. He wanted to be rational and objective about this, not tear them to shreds in his bear form.
Clay and Brady had broken the rules, and one of them had almost gone way too far with Lila. He was almost sure it had been Brady, but he hadn’t gotten much of a look at them at the time and he knew he could be wrong about that. If he took out the fact that his bear had claimed Lila as his mate, he would be angry with Brady and Clay, and he would deal with them sufficiently, but he wouldn’t even be considering killing them. He knew that was an emotional response, and he couldn’t afford to let himself react on his emotions. That’s not what a good, responsible leader did.
Right on time, Jasper’s intercom buzzed. He didn’t bother to speak; he just opened the door. He waited and within a couple of minutes, a knock sounded on the door to his apartment. He opened it and saw Clay standing there.
“Come in,” he said solemnly. “We’re just waiting on Brady.”
“He’s right behind me,” Clay said. “I saw him parking his car as I rang your intercom.”
The second buzz of the intercom interrupted Clay. Jasper opened the door without speaking again.
“What’s this about, Jasper?” Clay asked.
“I think you know the answer to that, but
we’ll wait for Brady before we discuss it. I have no intentions of going over this twice,” Jasper said.
His bear was growling, threatening to burst forth, but Jasper had himself under control now. He knew he could keep it that way until this meeting was over and done with. Or at least he hoped he could.
He didn’t have to wait long before Brady appeared in the still-open doorway.
“Come in and close the door,” Jasper said.
Brady did as he was told. Jasper saw Brady and Clay exchange a look, and for the first time, he realized they hadn’t discussed this. Neither of them had known the other one would be here. They had really believed they’d gotten away with what they’d done.
“Sit down,” Jasper said.
It wasn’t an invite; it was an order. Clay and Brady both had the good sense to do as Jasper said. Jasper remained standing, looking down on the sheepish-looking pair.
“Don’t insult my intelligence by pretending you both don’t know why you’re here. Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?”
“We… I… I’m sorry,” Clay said. “Things just got a little out of hand last night.”
“That’s for damned sure. I have two rules. One—no fooling around with local girls, and two—no fighting amongst the pack. I think we all know the first rule is the most important, so let’s start with the second one. Would you care to explain why you two thought it was acceptable to not only fight in public, but to do it in your bear form so that anyone who saw you would know you were shifters?”
“It wasn’t planned,” Clay said. “Like I said, it got out of hand.”
“Right,” Jasper said. “You mentioned that. Brady? Would you care to speak?”
“I didn’t start the fight. I just ended it,” Brady said.
“Bullshit,” Clay said, glaring at Brady.
“Enough already!” Jasper shouted. “Do you two know how serious this is? Stop arguing between yourselves and worry about that, huh? Clay? Did you start the fight?”
“I… I mean, yeah, but I wasn’t the first one to turn into a bear. I threw a punch. I know that’s breaking the rules and I’m sorry, but a fist fight wouldn’t have given us away,” Clay managed to stutter out.