by Cecilia Lane
“She’s there? She went to you?” His bear rumbled in his chest. Something was wrong. She wouldn’t abandon them. Nothing made sense.
“She begged me to get her away from you animals. Leave her alone and don’t call us again.”
The line went dead and a bit of Gray died with it.
He reached for the nearest piece of wood and chucked it hard at a wall. His skin felt on fire, like razors sliced him open and ants were dumped into the wounds.
She’d left him.
The growing pit in his stomach ate into his chest. The emptiness inside threatened to consume him entirely.
She lied and she walked out on him the same way she walked out on her previous man.
No.
Something was wrong. He was sure of it. He could feel it in his very middle. She hadn’t used her fake voice or given him a lie. She meant to come home to him and something stopped her.
He was on his feet and tugging on an intact pair of jeans in seconds. Gray barreled out of his door without bothering with a shirt. There was one man that might be able to help him track down his missing mate.
Gray pounded on Cole’s door, each hammering blow landing louder than last. He didn’t care who he woke up or how long he had to keep knocking. He’d break down the damn door if necessary.
After an eternity, Cole cracked open the door. Gray shoved a hand hard against the wood and pushed inside even before the man could object. “I need to see the wolf.”
“What the fuck, Gray,” Cole growled and followed him further into the home. “Rylee is trying to sleep. You can’t come storming in here like this.”
Gray ignored him. “Jacob. Where is he?”
Another door yanked open and a pissed off man stared back at him with glowing eyes and a snarl on his face. “Do you know what time it is, bear?”
“I don’t fucking care. You need to find her. I need Meghan back.”
Cole raised hands and the snarl on Jacob’s face immediately vanished. “Slow down. What happened?”
Gray fisted his hands in his hair and tugged. He paced a step away. His bear wanted out. The beast wanted to rip and rage and fight. Blood was needed to lessen their pain. “She was supposed to be home by now,” he gritted through his teeth. “She won’t answer her phone. I don’t know where she is. Her mother says she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
He whirled to face Jacob. “You found Becca and Nolan when they were taken. I need you to find Meghan.”
Cole and Jacob exchanged a glance. At a nod, the pet wolf spoke and ruined Gray’s life. “I had a starting point. They didn’t vanish into thin air.”
“And it seems like you know where she is. Or at least her mother does,” Cole said gently.
“No. No. She wouldn’t leave like this. Not without a word.” Gray’s chest tightened and the room swam. She at least left Bentley a goodbye letter. “Something happened to keep her from coming back to me.”
Someone snarled. The rough, sawing noise grated on his nerves. His bear shoved his snout forward. If they weren’t going to help him, he’d do it himself. He’d fight, bleed, and kill anyone who stood between him and his mate.
Cole raised his hands again. “Easy, buddy. You need to stay with us. Meghan wouldn’t want you going off half-cocked and tangling with the SEA again, would she?”
No. He had to think it through before he started murdering. The snarl ceased and his vision cleared a tad. Gray raised his hand to his throat. Fuck, he was losing it. He’d been ready to mow through Cole and Jacob. Without her, he would dive off the deep end without a chance of resurfacing.
“Trust me. She wouldn’t do this.” His voice sounded ragged in his ears.
Cole nodded. “I believe you. We’ll find her.”
Chapter 25
Meghan hurt everywhere. She thought she could feel each individual hair on her head, and each strand screamed with pain. It was hard to think through the agony that filled her mouth with saliva and twisted her stomach into knots.
Bentley. He’d done this to her. Just not with his own fists. Or claws.
He was a shifter.
The thought rattled around in her brain and spread through her with another wave of nausea. Everything he’d done, all the hatred he spread, it was all committed while he had a bear inside him. He made others miserable and complicated their lives while he was just the same. His latest monstrous act was his deadliest.
She cracked open her eyes and immediately slammed them shut again. The space danced around her and turned her stomach even more. She wanted to bring her hand to her head, but that motion seemed impossible. She contented herself with wiggling her toes in her shoes. Her muscles protested and a sharp pain shot up her side, but she didn’t think anything was broken. Her fingers were next. Each one moved even if it felt like the most difficult task in the world. At least she hadn’t paralyzed herself in her fall.
Feet scuffed next to her and she cringed. She knew who it was even without opening her eyes. Bentley’s cologne filled her nose. No wonder he bathed himself in it. He was hiding his scent. Bile rose on her tongue and she wasn’t sure if it was from him or hitting her head so hard.
“Open your eyes,” he ordered. When she didn’t move, he grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her head back painfully. “I know you’re not passed out. Open your damn eyes.”
Fighting against feeling like she’d be sick, Meghan glared at Bentley. His eyes were normally a light hazel, but they were a bright, unnatural green at that moment. He hadn’t donned his silver after capturing her.
He forced her head to turn from side to side. Meghan did her best to ignore the wavering lines in her vision. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her weaker than she already felt.
At least she got a better idea of where he’d taken her. She could see the mouth of a cave from where she was propped against a cold, stone wall. It wasn’t much of a cave, though. More like a deep indentation in the mountainside. There wasn’t room to escape further into the depths or use natural formations to avoid a raging bear.
Which meant he didn’t plan to stay there long. The edges of the territory were patrolled regularly. The scent of blood would draw someone close. She could only hope it would happen sooner than later. She didn’t want him acting on the press of time.
“Good,” Bentley said finally. “There shouldn’t be any lasting damage. I’d hate for a disfigurement to keep you hidden away. We have an image to maintain.”
Her blood ran cold. She didn’t want to go anywhere with him, especially knowing the sort of monster he had under his skin. She just wanted to get back to Gray.
Bentley snapped his fingers in front of her face and scowled. “Though, I don’t think I’d mind if that bump knocked out a little of your willfulness.”
“Why are you doing this?” She frowned. Her tongue felt thick in her mouth and the words didn’t sound right. She didn’t know how long she’d been out. Long enough for the sun to die and darkness to take over. She probably had a concussion. The tumble down the slope hadn’t been an easy one. She doubted Bentley’s brand of care was what she needed.
Bentley’s eyes flashed with a hint of danger. She’d questioned him, she realized. Too bad for him. Desperation and fear dumped a healthy dose of adrenaline into her system and there was no thinking straight with the bump on her head. Measured words weren’t in her repertoire after his brutalization.
“You left me. That cannot be allowed.”
“I’m not your property,” she sneered.
He pressed a hand to her cheek. His words were soft, but the threat was clear. “If I can’t have you, no one will. I will not be the man my associates discuss in whispers because you left me at the altar. I won’t have your disgrace following me around wherever I go. You were supposed to be mine, and so you will.”
“So what are you going to do? Force me to stay at your side?” She recoiled from him and tried to scoot away. Her uncoordinated wiggle didn’t get her far. “I’ll l
eave you again. I’ll make sure you never come near me. I want nothing to do with you. Just leave me alone.”
“Is that the sort of tone you want to take with me when I have your boyfriend’s life in my hands?”
Meghan froze. She pressed her hands to her belly to hold back the nausea and pain that clenched her insides. Gray had been through enough. She couldn’t let Bentley destroy his life.
“I’ll claim you and mate you, just as any of these animals would do. None will dare touch you after. You will belong to me in the eyes of their laws.” He leaned close and she thought for a moment he meant to kiss her, but he only pressed his lips to her ear. “Think of how Graham Jennings will look when pictures of you battered and bloodied with bite marks all over your skin are sent to every news outlet in the world. How long do you think it’ll be before the SEA busts down his door and takes him into custody?”
“I’ll tell them it was you,” she swore. “I helped clear his name once already. I’ll do it again.”
Bentley pulled back with a smirk on his face. “You don’t know anything about these animals, do you? I’ll be your alpha, Meghan. You’ll be under my control. When I say jump, you’ll keep going until I allow you to stop.” He pushed to his feet. “And after I find your broken body hidden away in this filthy cave he stashed you in, I suspect you’ll be too traumatized to talk to anyone.”
Meghan started to shake her head, then stopped when pain jolted down her spine. “You can’t do this. You won’t get away with it.”
Bentley rolled his shoulders. A bone cracked, then another. His eyes brightened. “I already have.”
She winced as, for the second time, she witnessed Bentley’s painful transition from man to bear. It was just another example of how he rejected his other nature. Both sides fought against one another. His human shape wanted to remain and the beast within wanted to push forward and destroy everything in its path.
His muscles tore audibly. Bones snapped. Even his skin ripped and pieced back together before tearing open again. Fur pushed through in patches. One by one, claws shoved out of his fingers and clacked against the stone underfoot.
And all the while, a snarl bubbled out of his throat. The noise of it, either through sheer terror or an inhuman power, kept her locked in place and watching in horror.
Then it was over and whatever spell kept Meghan in his grip released her.
She let go of a shuddering breath and slapped her hands over her mouth. The noise of it was too loud in the cave.
The bear lifted his head and focused glowing green eyes on her. There was nothing human in the gaze. He opened his mouth and roared.
Meghan scrambled to her feet. Her vision swayed more than it should and her body screamed for her to stop. She knew death likely waited for her outside in the dark. She could trip and tumble all over again. A snake could hiss under her feet and she’d die from poison injected into her bloodstream. She might impale herself a sharp branch she never saw. All those risks were better than staying in the cave with Bentley’s mad bear.
She made it three steps into the darkness when the bear swung a huge paw and knocked her legs out from under her. Meghan pushed over to her back and tried to kick at the bear’s face. It only seemed to enrage the beast more. He rose up on hind legs then crashed down over top of her. His snout nearly pressed to her nose and he opened his jaws and roared again.
Meghan threw an arm over her face and screamed. The bear’s mouth closed around her forearm and fangs cut sharply into her skin. He shook her from side to side like she weighed nothing. She was nothing compared to the heavy muscles and sharp weapons in the form of claws and fangs.
And then it was over. The bear released her.
Meghan curled into a ball and clutched her arm to her chest. Blood wet the dirt under her. There was so much of it. Too much, she thought. Tears streamed down her face and her entire body shook with her sobs. She could barely think through the pain.
She didn’t want to be Bentley’s mate. The thought repeated over and over until it was the only thing she could focus on. The cool night faded away. There were no trees, no rocks, no bugs. No bear. She was all alone in a black nothingness.
Maybe she was dying.
She didn’t want to be Bentley’s mate.
She wanted Gray. She’d gotten so close to home and she felt further away than ever.
“Gray,” she whispered into the night. It was her goodbye.
Chapter 26
Meghan lost sense of time as she floated in the darkness. Minutes could have been hours. A day might have passed in a second. There was nothing. She was nothing. There was only pain. She felt it resonating in her heart and all the way down her arm. Each pump of blood jolted hurt through veins that then echoed in her chest.
She never meant for her story to end at the hands, or claws, of a spurned lover. Her aimless weeks finally had purpose and it wasn’t fair for Bentley to take that from her. He took too much and demanded even more than she wanted to give. If he thought she’d play some quiet role as his unwilling partner, he had another thing coming. She would devote her days to making sure he was as miserable as her.
If she survived.
Funny. Her arm didn’t seem to pour out as much blood as before.
Slowly, the pain receded. The blackness around her resolved into hard ground under her side. She could see twigs and leaves at the end of her nose and followed those further into the distance to giant tree trunks. It hurt to focus and black spots danced across her vision, but even that faded. A wave of nausea still rolled through her, growing stronger whenever her thoughts swirled back over Bentley.
She lifted her head and tried to find the bear who ruined her life.
The beast shuffled slowly away from her. He paused now and again to stick his snout close to the earth or to bat at something. He wandered out of sight.
He didn’t seem as cognizant as the other shifters she’d been around. There wasn’t an intelligence to his eyes like Gray possessed. He acted on pure, animal instinct. She thought she could use that to her advantage.
There was a crash of leaves and then a pained scream. Meghan pressed her hands to her ears and winced. The noise was too loud, almost like it happened inside her head. She could hear the struggle of the animal trying to get away. Leaves and dirt were kicked into the air, only to crash back into the ground like mini meteors.
Then it was over and the last puff of air exited lungs.
The bear’s jaws crunched around bones and tore into flesh. Meghan hoped it stayed loud. The sounds of him feasting would cover any noise she made in her escape.
She pushed to her feet and glanced around. She didn’t know which direction to go. The night was dark, and though she could see stars through the leaves above her, she didn’t know how to navigate using them. Her pampered, privileged life didn’t prepare her for an attack in the woods.
Regardless, she put one foot in front of the other. Her path carried her in a line away from the bear. The further she made it from him, the better. She put all her faith in finding a road at some point.
She had one shot. She had to make it count. She doubted the bear would let her go a second time and she didn’t want to end up as another meal.
There wasn’t anything to it, she told herself. She just needed to keep taking steps. One foot, then the other. Pause to lean against a tree trunk to catch her breath. She cradled her arm and focused on the sting of pain when her vision turned spotty.
Fuck Bentley. She didn’t normally curse but there was no other word to properly describe what she felt for him at that moment. His messed up beliefs put him at odds with the people and ideas she held dear. He had no compassion for others. He wanted to draw the entire world into his hatred. Fuck him and fuck whatever he planned. The threats before his attack came into full focus. He’d put her blood on Gray’s hands and use it to incite more violence against the supernaturals. Meghan wouldn’t be used as a pawn to further Bentley’s cause.
She let that an
ger sustain her and keep her feet moving. She needed to make it to at least one witness. She couldn’t let Bentley put the blame on anyone else. He was the monster, not them.
One step, then another.
Were those plodding footsteps behind her? She couldn’t see anything but trees when she glanced over her shoulder.
Bentley had a terrible childhood? Well, boo-freaking-hoo. His father sounded like a real piece of work, but her mother never let her have any dreams or friends off a stage, dismissed her actual achievements, and stole all her money to boot. She wasn’t going around plotting a damn genocide. She had principles, dang it.
Meghan laughed, then bit her lip with a groan. The noise rang inside her head. The concussion was really messing with her senses and the blood loss was making her loopy.
One step. Pause. The ground looked so inviting.
No. Another. Another. Another.
Her eyelids snapped open when her shoe scuffed against pavement.
She made it through the first leg of her journey. She shifted her eyes from left to right and tried to get her bearings. If she knew what road she’d stumbled on, it would be an easier choice to make. But she didn’t know how far from the Bearden territory she’d wandered. One way could easily be closer to a rescue than another, and from the way her head still swam and her senses grew and dimmed, she didn’t think she had long.
Meghan shuffled to the middle the road and turned towards her left. The word had four letters, the same as Gray. It seemed as good a reason as any to pick the direction.
She used the dotted markers in the middle of the road as goals. When one ended, it was just another step to the next.
She imagined she heard the rumble of an engine. She didn’t dare raise her head or take her eyes off the dotted lines. It wasn’t until she felt the vibration under her feet and the stink of gasoline entered the air that she looked up.
Meghan thought she imagined it at first. Twin lights rushed right for her. Friend or foe, she didn’t know.