The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance

by Milly Taiden

  He smiled. “The plan was for me to move to Finland, work at O Industries and put money aside for a small house on the mainland. Well, best laid plans of mice and men… No positions were available in any of the family companies.”

  Leah sucked in a sharp breath, and her eyes popped wide. “What did you do?”

  Winston smiled, appreciating her genuine emotions. “Our hearts were shattered to say the least. But Ms. Lyyli had a plan. At that time, Ivan was getting along in years. He needed a strong back to manage the upkeep of the house and assist him with personal necessities.”

  Leah looked at Winston. “Personal necessities?”

  “Ms. Lyyli explained that all the Otila men were of a special breed. They held much dignity and pride. Showing weakness or the need for help was out of the question. Many times, Otila men silently suffered, choosing not to expose their ‘soft side.’

  “But once inside an Otila man’s heart, his world revolved around the ones he loved. And sometimes, that love interfered with reality. Ivan had reached the stage where the once simple tasks like tying his shoes and getting dressed were no longer easy. You see, Ivan would not allow Ms. Lyyli to help him, because he never wanted her to look on his physical failings with heartache or despair.

  “Ms. Lyyli asked Suvi to write me to see if I would accept this responsibility. Ms. Lyyli then handed Suvi several small hand drawings and diagrams of house designs. She asked Suvi to include them in her letter so we could start making plans for our life after the wedding.

  “Suvi glanced through the stack then placed it on the table in front of her. The houses were beautiful, and she knew we would never be able to afford anything like them. Ms. Lyyli picked up the stack and handed it to her again. She told Suvi if she wasn’t going to accept her and Ivan’s wedding gift, then perhaps I would.”

  Leah’s eyes teared. Her mom would’ve been a lot like Lyyli, given the chance.

  Winston sighed. “That’s pretty much it. Shortly thereafter, Suvi’s family asked me to live with them until the wedding, while Suvi stayed here, at the island house. I began work immediately.

  “Ivan and the Missus were the two most generous, kindhearted, compassionate people I ever met. I knew I would never be able to repay them.” With a dramatic sigh and high sweeping arms, he whipped a white sheet off a settee and rolled it around his forearm. “But I will admit, taking care of their son these past many years has brought that bloody debt close to zero.”

  Leah laughed. “I can only imagine.”

  Winston turned to Leah. “I do not know about you, but I am exhausted and quite hungry. How about lunch?”

  In the kitchen, Leah scooted out a chair at the breakfast table and glided her hand over the top. “Is this the same table where Lyyli and Suvi sat when she offered Suvi your job?” A sense of living history, a link to generations of family love she never experienced, filled her with a strange warmth.

  Winston placed his sandwich plate and one for Leah on the table. “It is the very one. The Missus had too many happy memories around this table to discard it. It has been repaired and refinished many times.”

  Leah stretched her legs under the table. “Okay, I understand why you are still with Hannes -- gratitude to his parents.”

  Winston started to speak, but Leah kept talking. “That still wouldn’t be reason enough for me, but it’s you, thank the gods. Now, back to this morning. What’s up with the military telling everyone Hannes was dead when he wasn’t? And what do they say now that he’s obviously alive?”

  Winston took a bite of his sandwich before answering. “Well, for one thing, the Finnish military does not know he is alive.”

  “What?” Leah stared at him.

  Winston took another bite and chewed on his answer. “I do not know what happened to Hannes after going into the military. He has never opened up to anyone about that time in his life. I can only tell you how he was before going in.”

  Leah grunted. “Was he an evil child from the start?”

  Winston stopped chewing. “Of course not. Why do you say such a thing?”

  Her body tensed, and she looked at her plate. “I don’t mean to insult Suvi or anything. I’m sure she’s not to blame, but only innately bad people choose to continuously do what they know is wrong.”

  Winston’s hand shot out and squeezed her arm. “Look at me, child. Have you walked in his shoes for the past twenty years? Do you know anything about prison camps and human torture? Do not dare judge someone until you know exactly what they have lived through.”

  He was right. She was wrong to criticize. All her life, she tried to make things simple: good or bad, right or wrong, Heaven or Hell. She needed to uncover more of Hannes’ past.

  Winston released her arm and lifted her chin with a finger. “What is around your neck?”

  Leah’s hand automatically covered her throat. She leaned away from his touch. “What? There’s nothing on my neck.” A couple of days and many miles had passed since the run-in with Lt. K on the ship, but even a memory quickened her pulse.

  “Yes, there is.” He leaned toward her. She jerked away, almost falling from the chair. He sat back. “I noticed it while working in the living room.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re seeing. It’s probably because I haven’t taken a shower since I got here. Ever hear of ‘ring around the collar’?”

  Winston frowned.

  Leah stuffed the remainder of her sandwich in her mouth and carried her plate to the sink. She felt his eyes follow her.

  “Perhaps you should take a shower now that Hannes is not here.”

  Tears threatened as she slipped around the corner of the bar. “I’d like to sit with the dogs first. When do you expect Hannes back?”

  “Not until much later.” Winston rose from the table.

  Leah hurried toward the kitchen archway. “Good. I’ll do that.” When she reached the stairs, out of the kitchen’s sight line, she slumped against the railing. Her throat burned with an internal pyre.

  She sat on a step and let the incident roll from her mind. Burying the pain only hurt more in the end. Her head dropped into her hands. Yes, it happened. She survived, she’ll never see that bastard again. It’s okay to vent the hurt.

  She needed the security and unconditional love only a pet could give. She ran upstairs, pulled on her coat and boots, then headed out the front doors in search of comfort.

  Winston propped his elbows on the table and steepled his fingers. Her fear of his touch was unexpected. He observed bruises with a rash-like discoloration around her throat like a choker necklace worn too tightly. He had seen that exact marking before…on an asphyxiated body.

  He shoved away from table and launched to his feet. Hannes’ and his conversation about the girl would no longer wait. Winston stormed up the kitchen stairs into his quarters. He pulled his cell phone from his jacket pocket, pushed a button, and pressed it to his ear.

  “When are you returning…fine.” He flipped closed the top and tossed it onto the bed. He tromped down the stairs and up the hall to the living room. He did not understand any of this: why did he…and why didn’t she… His hands balled into fists. He should question Leah right now, before Hannes returned. But would she tell the truth or continue to protect Hannes?

  Winston stopped and took a deep breath. Anger was useless. Calm, cool, unflappable. He walked into the library and sat behind the cherry desk. A sigh escaped him. He picked up the serrated letter opener and a green and orange envelope from a stack of old mail. On the corner of the desk, Hannes’ laptop sat closed. He stared at it for a few seconds. Perhaps this was for the best.

  He laid the serrated letter opener on the colored envelope and pushed them to the front edge of the desk, out of the way. He slid the computer front and center. Lifting the top, he prayed the ideas floating in his head were false. The strange questions about the abducted girl Leah asked the other morning now made sense. He did not wish to kill Hannes, but he would, if left with no
option.

  THIRTY-NINE

  Back in her room, with tear-stained cheeks and smelling like wet dog, Leah dropped her clothes and donned a fluffy white robe and pink slippers. She wasn’t into pink, but she wasn’t complaining.

  She skittered down the stairs to the hallway opposite the dining room and kitchen. When she passed the closed library door, she remembered the soft, sad Hannes from the first night. She purposely repressed the feelings he evoked in her.

  The closer she came to the master suite entrance, the more nervous she grew. She placed her hand on the doorknob and her heart jumped into her throat. This was just a master suite. Hannes was not here. Go straight to the bathroom and get over this foolishness.

  She turned the knob, slowly opened the door, and peeked around to make sure the room was unoccupied. The closed heavy curtains kept the room dark. She felt along the wall for a light switch and flipped it. A palatial room lay before her.

  Victorian lamps with bead trimmings cast small circles of light throughout the room. The vaulted sleeping space extended into a cozy sitting area. A three-foot round table, encircled by plush reading chairs, faced a stone firebox.

  As she stepped farther into the room, her feet sank into the thick maroon carpet. Her hand slid down a sculpted wood post of the king-sized canopy bed. Shadowy streaks striated the dark footboard, creating a stream that flowed over the board’s sweeping curve to the floor. The headboard reached high on the back wall with mounds of golden material tucked behind it. Draped over the bed’s comforter, a white sheet lay wrinkled with a single pillow propped against the headboard. If Hannes slept here, it didn’t look like he slept much.

  Next to the pillow, a TV remote was partly hidden under the material. She turned to the wall opposite the headboard. Sheets covered all the chests, cabinets, and mirrors, leaving a twenty-inch tube television glaringly out of place.

  To the right, two closed doors lined the room’s inner wall. Excited to see what majestic scene awaited her, she skipped the first door, probably a closet, and opened the second. She stared into a bathroom straight from a designer showroom. Rich, lustrous woods and granite counters.

  Two doors stood closed along the far wall. One probably opened to a toilet. The second had a push-button pad with an LCD read-out mounted next to it. The numbers looked normal, but she couldn’t decipher the words. She hated not knowing their language.

  She opened the door and peeked inside. Two wood bench rows, one high and one low, attached to three of the walls. In the middle of the small room, several fist-sized rocks sat on top of an electric heating element. An old wooden bucket with a straw twine handle sat on the floor. This had to be the sauna Winston spoke of.

  Closing the door, she turned to the garden tub and shower directly opposite the sinks. Rolled towels and fragrant soaps filled the tub corners. Simply Heaven.

  Leah turned on the tub’s chrome faucet and picked up a small pink bottle sitting to the side. She couldn’t read the words, again, but when unscrewing the cap, the soapy scent of bubble bath seeped into the air. After gathering scrubbies, and a hair clip, she stepped into the tub for a long, hot, renewing cleanse.

  Winston heard the dogs bark, signaling Hannes was back. He remained in the library. If he were to meet Hannes at the door, he would punch the younger man in the face. He patiently waited.

  With the laptop open on the desk, Winston watched Hannes enter the room, grumpy as usual. Hannes tromped to a cabinet, pulled out a bottle of vodka and threw down a couple of shots. He ambled around to the front of the leather sofa, sat, and put his socked feet on the rawhide coffee table.

  Staring at Hannes, Winston remained silent. Hannes dropped his hands to his sides. “What?”

  He turned the laptop to face Hannes. When seeing the screen, Hannes slumped his head back against the cushion and rubbed his hands over his face. “Perkele. It’s not what it looks like, Win.”

  Winston pivoted the laptop around and reviewed the image. “Missing Woman Believed Drown in Lake. Quite a direct headline, plus a rather old photo of our lady guest, wouldn’t you agree?” His face burned hot with anger. “How can it not look like what it is? Since when has abduction become part of your modus operandi? I will not allow it!” His fist slammed on the desktop.

  Hannes dropped his hands from his face. “Really, Win. It’s not like that.”

  “No? Then what is it? An extended holiday with a stranger? Are you going to harm--” Winston glimpsed Leah ambling along the hall. She smiled and hummed to herself. Through the open library door, she saw him at the desk. Hannes sat up on the sofa. Her look lingered on him.

  “Hey, guys.” Positively glowing, she strolled into the library. A downy robe wrapped around her, and pink slippers flopped on her feet. Delicate scents followed her into the room.

  Winston casually closed the laptop when Leah walked around to the back of the desk. She leaned over and loudly kissed Winston’s bald top. “Thank you for finally telling me there’s a tub in the house.” She continued strolling and humming, coming up behind Hannes and the sofa.

  She leaned his head back on the cushion and gave him a smacking kiss on the forehead. “And thank you for being gone. You should do it more often.” She sauntered out of the room, quietly singing again.

  Both men stared as she left. Hannes breathed in her lingering fragrance. Winston closed the door. “How could you take such a kind young woman?”

  Hannes slipped his feet off the table. “I didn’t take her, exactly.”

  “So, I guess she jumped onto your boat because she had nothing better to do.” He tried to remain calm, but anger from injustice and selfishness filled him.

  Hannes returned to the cabinet and threw down another shot.

  Winston tapped his foot. “What are you going to do with her? If you hurt that child in any way…”

  Hannes slammed the shot glass on a dusty shelf. “Thirty-one, Win.”

  Winston lowered his brows. “What?”

  “She’s thirty-one years old, not a child.”

  Winston quietly ensconced himself in a chair. Turning away from the sitting area, Hannes ran his fingers through his hair.

  “Are you sure?” Winston stared out the window on the far side of the room.

  Hannes grunted. “Of course I’m sure.” Hannes sighed and slipped his hands into his pockets. “That’s what the kid told me.”

  Winston’s mind screamed. His eyes popped wide. “What kid?” His neck stretched forward. “There is another child? Where is she?”

  “It was a boy, Win.” Hannes came toward Winston. “We left him at the U.S. Embassy on the Azores Islands.”

  “You bloody what?!” Winston jumped to his feet.

  Hannes stepped around a low-backed chair and put his hands on Win’s shoulders. “Calm down. You’re going to have a coronary, old man. Everything is fine. No one knows we’re here. And I would never hurt Leah.”

  Winston took a deep breath and calmed his mind. “That, at least, is truthful.” He walked from Hannes and leaned against the desk.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Hannes crossed his arms.

  Winston raised his eyebrow. “I see how you light up whenever she walks into the room--even though you fight like children.”

  Hannes traipsed around Winston, purposely avoiding the mentor’s eyes. “I do not ‘light up.’ And she always starts it.” He plopped into the chair behind the desk and opened his laptop.

  “She’s right, you are an ass.” Winston slowly shook his head and sighed.

  “She called me an ass?” He chuckled.

  Winston twisted around to stare at the man sitting behind him. Hannes was enjoying this. “Yes, and I totally concur.” Winston stepped away from the desk. “Dinnertime will be soon. I suppose I shall start preparations.” He turned toward the door then looked back. “This is not finished. We will resume after she retires for the evening.”

  On his way to the kitchen, Winston unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeves. The girl was goin
g back to America or Hannes would have one cheesed-off Brit on his hands.

  FORTY

  Strolling into the kitchen, Leah felt like a teenager in burgundy corduroys and light purple turtleneck sweater. “Mmm, smells great, Winston. Do I want to know?” She leaned against the counter.

  He smiled. “Tonight is vegetables and pork. Probably different than you are accustomed, but it does originate from a pig…of sorts. By the way, how old are you?”

  Leah slid onto her stool, her mouth gaping. “You’re not supposed to ask a woman how old she is or how much she weighs. Besides, I could tell you anything and you wouldn’t have a clue if I was lying or not. Damn, that reminds me, I wonder who has my backpack. Hopefully an honest person turned it in. No way can they get past the laptop’s encryption, but if they did—shit, that would be so not good.”

  “If you are like this after every bath, I will not let you take another.” Winston shook his head.

  Like how?” Her hands hiked to her hips.

  “Yeah, like how?” Hannes walked into the room.

  Winston arched a brow. “Talking a mile a minute, and yet, I have no answer. That is how.”

  Hannes opened a cabinet, pulled out a box of crackers and sat at the bar, leaving an empty stool between him and Leah. “Sounds like the princess I know.”

  She thumbed her nose at him and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She swiped the cracker box and took out a handful.

  He scowled and grabbed it back. “What’s the question, anyway?”

  “Thirty-one, Winston,” she said. “That’s the answer.”

  “I already told you.” Hannes crunched his cracker.

  “How do you know?”

  Hannes imitated Leah’s looks of disgust--rolling eyes included. “Uh. The kid told me.”

  “I don’t do that.” She hit him in the arm.

  Hannes and Winston said, “Yes, you do.”

  “Fine.” Leah sat straight on her stool. “I’ll just keep to myself.” She put several crackers in her mouth and stared at the freezer across the kitchen.