Lure of the Bear (Aloha Shifters: Jewels of the Heart Book 3)

by Anna Lowe

  Please, please let me out. Please. I promise I’ll be good.

  The suffering went on for years until a kind old owl shifter named Georgia Mae came along and brought him to her foster home on Maui. There, he’d met Kai and Ella, an orphaned fox shifter, and his life changed. Georgia Mae allowed him to shift forms. In fact, she encouraged it, taking her three charges to remote stretches of state park land. Georgia Mae would soar overhead with Kai, keeping Hunter and Ella in sight while they explored in their shifter forms.

  Hunter would never forget the feeling of shackles falling from his feet in those early days.

  I’m freeee! his bear had hollered, prancing around, trying to sniff everything at once. I’m free.

  It had taken years, but he’d slowly started internalizing Georgia Mae’s words. You are who you are. And you’re wonderful.

  But it had all come crashing down three weeks ago when he’d shifted into bear form to save Dawn. Her look of horror had haunted him ever since and put the shackles back on his soul.

  Come on, Cruz rumbled in his mind. Let’s get the hell out of here. I need to shift and claw a few trees after dealing with these people.

  Hunter pursed his lips. He could claw all the trees in West Maui, but that wouldn’t help him win his mate. Maybe work would get his mind off the vagaries of fate.

  As if working for that little brat will help. Cruz waved a disgusted hand in the direction of Regina Vanderpelt.

  Veronica, the personal assistant, hung back for half a second while a ruddy man hurried up to her.

  “About the change she wanted to the wedding cake,” he asked. “The latest change, I mean.”

  “Yes?” Veronica sighed.

  “Is that the final change?” he asked, pleading with his eyes.

  Veronica’s lips pinched ever so slightly. “Let’s call it final — for now.”

  “Veronica!” Regina hollered, shoving a man out of her way. He was a big, solid kanaka — a native Hawaiian — yet he went sprawling, and it was all he could do to keep the trolley he had been pushing from toppling over.

  “Whoa. The little bitch has some serious power, doesn’t she?” Cruz murmured.

  Veronica closed her eyes briefly then hurried off after her boss.

  Hunter turned inland and sniffed. There it was again. That scent that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up the way lurking danger always did. Still far away, but closing in, or so his imagination wanted to believe. He hugged the kitten closer.

  Lorraine from resort security spoke again. “Mr. Bjornvald, Mr. Khala, I’d like you to meet our liaison with the Maui police.”

  The moment Hunter looked up and spotted the new arrival, his joints locked up. Walking toward him was the most beautiful woman in the world. Dawn’s black hair, in its usual braid, shone in the sun, and her dark eyes were as full of mystery as always. Was it really her, or were his dreams growing more vivid every day?

  Dawn stopped dead in her tracks, staring at him.

  “Hunter,” she whispered.

  “Dawn,” he murmured, enjoying the simple act of saying her name.

  Lorraine looked from one to the other. “You know each other? Great. Let me show you where we’ve based security operations for this event.” She set off, but neither Hunter nor Dawn budged.

  Cruz cleared his throat. “This is where we make our exit, bro.”

  Hunter didn’t move, but his mind spun. He wanted nothing to do with this extravagant wedding, not even as a hired hand. But if Dawn was here…

  We can stay and be close to our mate, his inner bear whispered.

  He shook his head. Being around Dawn would kill him with reminders of the happy ending he’d never get.

  This job will be hell, Cruz grumbled.

  The breeze teased Hunter’s nostrils with one more hint of trouble brewing somewhere over the horizon.

  We have to stay to protect our mate, his bear said.

  How real was that danger, though? Especially when staying meant torturing himself all over again — and torturing Dawn, too.

  “Are you coming?” Lorraine asked, turning back to them.

  Cruz appeared ready to run for the hills. Dawn looked as happy about her assignment as Hunter was, but she held her shoulders straight and stepped forward.

  “Coming.”

  “What about you?” Lorraine asked, gesturing impatiently at Hunter.

  Come on, man. Don’t do this to yourself, Cruz murmured. Don’t do this to me, either.

  Hunter closed his eyes. Why was life a series of tough choices? His friend versus the woman he couldn’t have. His heart versus his mind. Duty versus destiny.

  He considered for exactly one second longer before handing the kitten to Cruz. “Take care of the little one for me,” he whispered before raising his voice and following Dawn. “Coming.”

  Chapter Five

  By the time Dawn got home that evening, she was exhausted — from the sun, from hours of going over security plans and endless calls, and most of all, from the strain of having to work beside Hunter all day.

  His dark, sorrowful eyes made her heart weep. His gravelly voice reached into the depths of her soul and stirred embers she’d thought long extinct. The few times they’d brushed up against each other, a thousand sensual sparks flared through her nerves. But each time, they had skittered apart, and the brief exchanges they’d had were strictly business. If he called her Officer Meli one more time, she’d scream.

  Of course, she had only herself to blame, because Hunter had been the reserved gentleman he always was, while she had forced herself to don her toughest mental armor and give him the cold shoulder all day. She had to if she was going to resist the pull that kept drawing her in. Whatever form of black magic gave Hunter the ability to change into a bear must have affected her, too, and she had to resist before it pulled her over to the dark side.

  “Long day?” Lily Takeo, her landlord, called from the porch of her tidy cottage set high in the hills.

  Dawn nodded. A long day of heat pooling deep in her body and a primal hunger in her bones. Just being around Hunter made her feel like a cat in heat.

  The irony made her want to tear her hair out. The only man her body yearned for was a well-concealed beast.

  “Long day,” she echoed, stepping slowly toward the tiny guest house around the back. Her home. Her escape pod. Her illusionary corner of the universe where she could feel totally in control.

  Which was probably part of her problem with Hunter — around him, she always wanted to throw caution to the wind. To feel wild and free.

  She frowned. The one time she’d tried wild and free… Suffice it to say, it hadn’t ended well.

  “Any word from that beau of yours?” Lily asked.

  Dawn bit her lip. Up until she’d discovered the truth about Hunter, she’d been slowly trying to work up her nerve to ask him out. She hadn’t told Lily about Hunter being a bear because she’d promised not to divulge his secret. And even if she hadn’t promised, how would she explain something as impossible as that?

  I can’t ask out the man I’ve been crushing on for the past fifteen years. What if he changes into a grizzly again?

  Knowing Lily — sweet, kindhearted Lily, who must have been a heck of a flirt in her day — she would completely dismiss that minor detail with a wave of her hands. Such a nice young man. Dawn could picture Lily leaning in with a naughty smile. And such big hands. You know what they say about big hands, right?

  Dawn snorted at her own train of thought. What would Lily say about bear paws?

  “I told you, Lily. I decided I’m not ready.” There. Cheap excuse. That ought to work.

  But not with Lily. “Sweetheart, it’s time you put the past behind you. Not all men are animals.”

  Dawn barely held back her reply. This one is. Literally.

  “A beautiful woman like you…” Lily started.

  Dawn crinkled her nose. That was the problem. She attracted men for all the wrong reasons. No one saw h
er for who she really was.

  Except Hunter, said the little voice in the back of her mind.

  She picked up her pace, ready to hide away in her own four walls when Lily changed the subject. “I bet you don’t feel like cooking tonight.”

  Dawn let her shoulders slump. No, she didn’t.

  “Well, you’re in luck. You know that cooking class I’m taking?”

  No, but it figured. Lily was the busiest widow in the state of Hawaii, it seemed. The woman signed up for every course and every volunteer job on West Maui. Mornings at the animal shelter, weekends at the horticultural society, evenings in the library. Lily was always on the go, always spreading her own brand of Hawaiian sunshine and good cheer.

  “I’ve met the loveliest woman at my cooking class, and she’s invited me to dinner — me and a friend. And you’re the friend.” Lily winked. “She’s writing a cookbook and needs us to try out her recipes.”

  “If she’s writing a cookbook, why is she taking a class?”

  Lily waved her favorite fan — the one with a Chinese dragon facing off with a tiger. “It’s a traditional Hawaiian cooking class, and she’s from the mainland. From Nevada, I think. Or was it Arizona?” Lily shrugged. “Some such place where nothing grows. No wonder she moved to Maui. Anyway, she’s the best cook in the class. Whatever she makes, it’s bound to be delicious.”

  Dinner did sound tempting, and not just for the meal. Dawn had to get her mind off Hunter and the constant back-and-forth in her mind. Could she trust him? Couldn’t she?

  “I’ll drive,” Lily added. “All you have to do is kick back and relax. Now get out of that frumpy uniform and put on something nice.”

  Dawn stuck her hands on her hips. “Frumpy?” It was her police uniform, and she was proud of it.

  “Frumpy.” Lily gave a firm nod. “Now, shoo. We leave in fifteen minutes.”

  It took Dawn more like twenty to shower and change into a strappy pink sundress plus a shrug the color of her eyes and her favorite pair of dressy sandals. The perfect way to turn off her inner cop and just be her — or to try, anyway.

  It was dark by the time she stepped into Lily’s aging Toyota, and the stars were bright overhead. She leaned back in the passenger seat, angling her head to watch the scenery slip by, breathing in the crisp night air. God, she loved Maui.

  Lily chatted away about this and that, driving at a ponderous twenty-five miles per hour. Twenty minutes later, she negotiated another curve of the Honoapi’ilani Highway and put the left blinker on to pull onto a dim private road. “Nearly there.”

  Dawn blinked herself back into focus and slowly sat upright. Wait. What were they doing out here?

  Lily hummed as she came to a halt before an imposing gate with a swirling pattern worked into the ironwood.

  Dawn’s eyes went wide. “Whoa. What are we doing at Koa Point?”

  “Going to dinner, sweetheart,” Lily purred, reaching out the window to jab at random buttons on the intercom. “Hello?” she bellowed. “Hello?”

  Sweat broke out on Dawn’s forehead. “Lily—”

  “Shush, sweetie. I have to listen to this contraption. Hello? Anyone there? It’s me.”

  Good old Lily, booming like she owned the place while Dawn clutched her seatbelt.

  “This can’t be right. This is a mistake.”

  Hunter lived at Koa Point Estate. She couldn’t be going to dinner there.

  Lily patted her hand. “I’m sure it’s the right place.”

  “Hello, Lily.” A woman’s voice came over the intercom. “Come on in. We’ll meet you at the garage.”

  We? Dawn wanted to scream. How many shifters lay in wait on the other side of that fence?

  The gate slid sideways, and Lily drove in. Dawn looked back and gulped as the gate slid shut behind them. “Lily—” This place is full of shifters, she wanted to say. Men who can change into animals at the drop of a dime and rip each other’s throats out.

  “Oh, hush, sweetheart. This is going to be great.”

  Dawn wanted to melt into her seat. Better yet, to slip on the boxing gloves she kept at the gym. But Lily just murmured happily as she looked around.

  “My, isn’t this nice?”

  Well, of course the seaside estate was nice. Dawn had visited the property once, two years earlier, before it changed hands in a multimillion-dollar deal that had most of Maui gossiping for weeks. She knew exactly how nice the place was. But the fact that Hunter lived there…

  An owl hooted from the trees. Usually, the sound put her at ease. Tonight, however…

  “Lovely,” Lily exclaimed at the curving hedges dotted with hibiscus and heliconia.

  A willowy figure with red hair pulled into a bun waved to Lily and hugged her the moment she stepped out of the car. “I’m so glad you could make it.”

  “Dawn,” Lily called, looking around. Her voice dropped the second time she called Dawn’s name — not quite an order, but close. “Come along, Dawn, and meet my friend Tessa.”

  Dawn dragged herself out of the car and pasted on a smile. Her eyes darted left and right, the officer in her on high alert.

  “So nice to meet you,” Tessa said, shaking her hand.

  Dawn had seen the woman in passing but had never been introduced. She studied Tessa closely but couldn’t find any sign of fur or fangs. But then again, she never would have guessed Hunter was a bear. Was this woman a bear, too? Or maybe a wolf, like Boone?

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  Tessa led them down a path lit with tiki torches that made shadows flicker and dance. Crickets chirped, and palm fronds swished overhead. All in all, a beautiful, peaceful scene. But Dawn’s hand twitched at her hip, and she wished she still had a weapon strapped at her side. Of course, a gun wouldn’t help, she remembered a moment later. The attacking wolf Hunter had saved her from hadn’t flinched from a bullet at close range. She shivered despite the warm air and held her breath, ready for trouble from any direction.

  Hunter saved you. Operative word: saved, the little voice in her mind cried.

  Still, she walked along, expecting an ambush at any turn. Night had a way of turning every shadow and sound into danger, and her nerves stretched thin.

  Lily, on the other hand, danced along at her usual flowing gait. Her flower-patterned muumuu swung around her body, and she gestured this way and that. “Such lovely bougainvillea. And look at that hibiscus.” She broke off a flower and tucked it behind her ear, the picture of island gaiety.

  Dawn followed with hunched shoulders and stiff hands, ready to defend herself and Lily. But trouble never came, not even several twists of the path later when Tessa waved toward a beautiful open-sided hale, thatched in traditional Hawaiian meeting house style. A line of torches lit the last steps to the open-sided building, and a tall man stepped from the shadows.

  Dawn hesitated, but it wasn’t Hunter. This man was taller but nowhere near as broad.

  “This is Kai,” Tessa said. Her whole face lit up as she pressed into his side and patted his chest.

  “Hi,” he said, reaching out with a friendly handshake. No flash of teeth or clack of hungry fangs. No hungry looks, no red glow to his eyes. Still, Dawn remained on guard.

  “Aloha,” Lily purred and patted his arm. Then she winked at Tessa as if to say, I know he’s yours, but just let me dream a while, all right?

  Tessa laughed out loud, giving Lily the green light to flirt to her heart’s content.

  Kai hid a grin and nodded at Dawn. “We know each other from school. Seems like light-years away, huh?”

  “Sure does,” she murmured. Hunter had grown up not too far from her on the Hana side of Maui — Hunter and a couple of other kids in a foster home run by an eccentric old woman named Georgia Mae. Kai was a year or two older, and a shy girl named Ella had lived there, too. Like Hunter, Kai had certainly filled out since his high school days. Their once-thin chests and arms were now thick with muscle, their torsos extending in a perfect V from the hips. She’d seen Kai
around more recently, though she’d never suspected he was a shifter. What kind was he?

  “This is Boone,” Tessa continued as yet another big, muscled man stepped into the light.

  Dawn took a deep breath. Boone had been there the day it happened — the day of the fight that had revealed to her what these men really were. Boone had confessed to being a wolf. Cruz, he’d explained, was a tiger. Dawn looked around, thankful Cruz wasn’t around.

  Lily unfolded her fan with a sassy snap and fluttered her eyelashes. “Why, hello, Boone,” she breathed, stretching out the vowels.

  “Hi.” He grinned.

  Lily fanned herself faster.

  “I’m Nina.” A pretty brunette shook hands with Lily, wearing a smile as genuine and friendly as Dawn had ever seen. Nina had been the one to beg Dawn to give Hunter and the others a chance to explain themselves.

  I don’t understand it all either, Nina had said that day they’d stood among the carnage of a shifter fight. But one thing is clear to me, and I know it has to be clear to you. These aren’t the bad guys, Officer. Please, let’s hear them out.

  Dawn had hesitated, but yes. She had heard them out. But she was still reeling from what they had said.

  “We’re just waiting for one more person,” Tessa said, looking around. “Oh, there you are, Hunter,” she said casually as Kai half dragged him out of the shadows with a firm grip.

  Dawn’s heart thumped. Her knees wobbled. Her fingers flexed. Then she pulled herself to her full five-foot-seven height and forced herself to reply. Damn it, she was Officer Dawn Meli of the Maui police. She was not going to be a victim of her own fears.

  “Hello, Hunter,” she murmured.

  “Oh, you know each other?” Lily exclaimed, looking pleased as punch.

  Dawn shot the older woman a suspicious look.

  Hunter appeared as shell-shocked as Dawn felt. When he took her hand, his lips shaped her name, but no sound came out. He cleared his throat loudly then turned to Lily with a quiet, “Pleased to meet you.”

  Dawn pursed her lips. For all that Hunter had grown into a big, tough hulk of a man, he still had moments when the shy, gangly kid of the past came through.