“If y’all don’t give me a ride, I’ll report you to the police for being on the loose,” Braxton dead-panned, in his best redneck impression.
The clan was very quiet, Braxton noted as he walked down the central aisle of the bus. There was none of the excited chatter that usually followed a match. He found Rocco half way down, sitting alone and nursing a can of beer.
“How you doing, Roc?” he asked, taking the seat opposite.
“Not so good,” Rocco mumbled. When he met Braxton’s gaze, Braxton saw that one of his eyes was swollen shut, while the other was ringed in purple, the white stained red. Being a shifter, his physical injuries would heal fast, but he suspected that the knock to his confidence would take longer to heal.
“It was a bad atmosphere tonight,” Braxton commented. Rocco’s good eye flashed with anger and his jaw tightened.
“They were saying it was Maximus’ doing,” he spat.
“What? Who was?”
“The audience. They were singing some dumb song. “This is from Maximus. You kicked him out and now he’s your enemy!” or some stupid shit like that. It kept distracting me and I couldn’t concentrate. That’s how I ended up getting the crap kicked out of me.” Braxton stared at him, his blood running cold.
“Maximus?” he repeated. Rocco’s own older brother.
“Maximus wouldn’t do this!” Rocco said, and his bear let off a snarl.
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Braxton replied, but his mind was spinning. Would he? So far, he’d assumed that the Black Paws were the perpetrators, but they’d been arch enemies for a long time, and they’d never done anything so organized and vindictive before. And it was a weird coincidence that it was happening just months after Rocco’s older brother had fled the clan in disgrace.
“Braxton, you’re going to be Xander’s Second. Everyone knows that. You’ve got to help him figure out who’s doing this,” Rocco said, cutting into his thoughts. Despite his anger, Rocco suddenly looked like the teen he used to be until very recently. Braxton felt a tug of sympathy for him. He’d only recently lost his father. He shouldn’t have to deal with all of this as well.
“I’ll do my best,” he said, and he got up, sensing that Rocco wanted to be alone to lick his wounds.
“Braxton!” Xander called from the back of the bus, and Braxton went over to join him. His eyes were full of anger and concern. “That was the worst loss we’ve ever had,” he said. “There’s no way Rocco should’ve lost to a Brooks Bear.”
“No, he shouldn’t have. And he’s pretty cut up about it,” Braxton replied.
“I know he is. And I don’t blame him for what happened. Do you know what they’ve been saying?” Braxton nodded.
“It’s bullshit.”
“Of course it is.” Xander laid a massive paw on Braxton’s knee. “Let’s talk when we’re home. In the meantime, we’ve got to keep the clan motivated. Go speak to them, reassure them that this is a one-off situation.
“Sure,” Braxton said, glad to be undertaking his Alpha’s instructions.
Back at Broken Hill, Braxton and Xander walked over to Braxton’s large, rustic-style cabin together.
“Maximus wouldn’t do something like that,” Xander said, once they were safely indoors with no danger of being overheard by anyone. Braxton glanced at his Alpha. He didn’t see Maximus the same way that Xander did. He was aware that he had a vindictive side to him that could be directed at anyone, whereas Xander assumed that any hostility was just between the two brothers.
“He was pretty mad before he left,” Braxton said cautiously. Xander’s nostrils flared and his eyes lit with barely suppressed anger.
“He was mad at me!” he roared. “He’d never do anything to jeopardize the clan. Never!” The bones in his face broadened as his bear tried to force its way out. Braxton’s bear moved its weight around inside of him, preparing itself to come out too.
“I just wanted to verify all angles,” he said, concentrating on keeping it inside of him. Xander’s expression softened and he nodded.
“That’s fine. It’s the right thing to do. But don’t waste your time thinking that Maximus is behind this. I’ll bet my position as leader that he has nothing to do with it. My money is on our three ex-clanmates.”
“I agree,” Braxton said. “They hate our guts and they want revenge. They’ve sure got enough vindictiveness to dream up something like this.”
“Where did you go tonight anyway?”
“I went into the human enclosure – don’t worry, I was careful – observing the humans, gathering some information. Doing my best to figure out who’s been handing out the t-shirts.”
“What did you find out?” Braxton paused, uncertain whether to tell Xander about his methods.
“It looks like they might have been sent to local people from an anonymous source online. Seems like they were given a cash reward to wear them to the match.” Xander’s forehead furrowed in incomprehension.
“So the people wearing the t-shirts and chanting those dumb songs don’t hate the Broken Hill Bears?”
“Nope. Some of them had never even heard of us before they saw an online ad. They were just targeted because they were local people.”
“We have to find out who’s behind the ads. This is far more sophisticated than I thought. Who in the clan knows about the internet?”
“No-one,” Braxton said, having already had several hours to think about it. “Apart from ordering stuff online, we’ve never needed to know about its sophisticated capabilities.” Xander sighed and laced his hands behind his head.
“We need outside help. And I think this is going to be big.” He suddenly jolted forward with a characteristic burst of action, leaning his elbows on his knees, and he fixed Braxton with his unwavering stare.
“Braxton, you know what I said earlier. You have great leadership skills, and nobody in the clan is more capable than you. I don’t mind telling you that you’re my first choice as Second. I want you to be the one to end this issue for us. But refusing to work with humans means that you have a massive limitation. And to be someone that I can rely on, no matter what, I need to know that you’re willing to do what it takes to protect the clan, even if that means enlisting the help of the human world.”
At his words, a shard of ice pierced Braxton’s soul. No, was his instant reaction. He wasn’t equal to this. Asking the enemy for help would tear apart everything that he’d tried so hard to build up in himself. The thought of liaising with humans made him sick to his stomach. It was more than he could cope with. When he looked up, his Alpha was watching him intently with his intelligent, assessing eyes.
“Tell me tomorrow, Braxton. If this task is too much, I understand.” Braxton nodded.
“Sure thing, Xander,” he said, his even tone concealing the strain of his dilemma.
That night, Braxton slept maybe two hours, conflicting thoughts tumbling through his mind. Asking the enemy for help would tear apart everything that he’d tried so hard to build up in himself. And the human race as a whole was very much his enemy.
He grew up in a small community in the Ozarks – too small to be called a clan. It was just his family and some close relations. He’d had a happy childhood. The trauma had made him forget a lot of things, but he had snatches of memories – his father teaching him how to chop wood, his mom teaching him to read at their big kitchen table. His relations shifting and bringing back food they’d hunted, and his dad cooking it up on the barbecue.
And then there had been a bear attack in the area, and a human was left badly mauled. It had nothing to do with them, of course, but the humans who lived in the area, who’d previously left bear territory well alone, went on a rampage. Bounties were offered for killing bears, and their little Ozark territory was suddenly full of humans with guns. Braxton’s family stopped shifting and lived in their human form for months, while the woods snapped and cracked with the sound of rifles and all the bears around them were killed. And then the humans became
even more greedy. Killing bears one at a time wasn’t enough. One day, a whole throng of them arrived and set fire to the forest. Braxton’s family shifted into their bear form for speed, and ran for their lives. As they came down the mountain, the humans were waiting. They shot every last one of them. Except for Braxton. He was too young to shift, and his mother was carrying him on her back. Someone who was a very good shot killed her without harming him. He wasn’t completely unharmed though – he had burns on his back and on his right arm, and emotional wounds that he’d never forget. He tried to hide behind the body of his dead mother, but the hunters still found him. He clung on tight to her fur and fought as hard as he could, but a paramedic came along and sedated him, before hauling him off to the emergency room.
He was hailed as the ‘miracle boy’. No-one knew where he came from, and he refused to speak a word. After a TV campaign to find his parents failed, he was brought up in foster care. When he was still not speaking a year later, his foster parents’ curiosity and kindness ran out, and they left him to his own devices. They were never cruel, but he grew up lonely and isolated, a loner at school, and spent all of his time in his bedroom at home.
When he was 16, two things happened. The first was that he finally shifted for the first time. He now understood that the onset was probably delayed by the trauma and by living in a human world. But when it finally happened, it was what he’d been waiting for. The second was that the Broken Hill Bears came to town. He didn’t have money to buy a ticket and see them fight, but he hung around outside the stadium, inhaling a scent that he knew so well. After the match, he found that his sense of smell, though weak for a shifter, was strong enough to follow them out of the city limits. Once he’d bypassed the police cordon, he shifted and ran like hell behind them, until Xander, who was only 17 then, happened to look in the rearview mirror and saw him galloping along.
And the rest was history. Xander’s father welcomed him into the clan. First he learned to communicate as a bear, then, much later, he relearned how to speak as a man. So many years of being silent and concealing his emotions had given him an appearance of serenity which he’d never lost. But after all the pain and suffering that humans had caused him; after seeing his parents die in front of his eyes because of them, how could he ever get over his hatred enough to be able to liaise with them?
And then he thought about how far he’d come – from being a scared, orphaned cub, to a valued member of the best clan in the world. The way Xander looked at him – with respect and esteem – filled him with pride, made him understand that he was worthwhile. How could he turn down the possibility of becoming his Second? He couldn’t say no. The clan had to be freed from this threat to their livelihood. As he stood at the edge of the forest in his bear form, watching the sun rising from behind Broken Hill, gradually lighting a pale gray sky, he knew that he was going to be the one to do it. And as his powerful jaws closed around a rabbit’s throat, he knew what the first step of his task would be: as much as it would pain him to do it, he was going to track down that meddling human and accept her offer of help.
6
Neve awoke to a gray dawn filtering through the gap between her curtains. Something was different. What is it? she wondered sleepily. For once she didn’t feel like a dull atmosphere was pressing down on her, sucking the vitality out of her body. But why? She tried to think, but her mind was always groggy in the mornings, as if it took a while to register that she was awake. And then it hit her: she had a plan! She was going to pack her bags, leave Kevin and this boring small town with no jobs behind and move to Wisconsin! That’s it! Tingles of adrenaline ran through her body, and she couldn’t lie in bed for a second longer. She turned onto her back and looked to the side. Kevin was next to her, fast asleep, sucking his thumb and snuffling like a piglet. She slid out from beneath the comforter, not that he was likely to wake up unless a train came hurtling through the window. Slipping a robe on, she picked up her phone, snuck out of the room and closed the door softly behind her. Then she took a cup of coffee and sat on the steps of her trailer, gathering her thoughts. It was an effort to keep still. She felt like dancing or running laps around the trailer park. Last night, she wasn’t sure if her excitement for the idea would fade by morning, dismissed by her subconscious as a silly notion. But instead it had grown stronger, crystalizing into a perfect solution.
“I’m going to do this!” she said aloud. By now, the sun was up, and it seemed to be smiling on her, endorsing her plan. How long do I need to prepare myself? she wondered. She didn’t need to give notice at the diner, since she was only working casual shifts. Her rent for the trailer was paid for almost the entire month. There are actually no practicalities that I need to deal with, she realized with a small shock. On another day, it might have depressed her that her life was so empty of ties and responsibilities. But today she didn’t care. She was leaving everything behind and starting a new chapter in her life. Tomorrow? I’ll leave tomorrow? she thought, sparking with excitement. Then she thought about spending one more night with Kevin – his smell, his gross sleepy noises – and she couldn’t stand it. No. What the hell – I’ll leave today!
She chugged her coffee, jumped off the step and danced around in a circle, not caring who might see her. Then she took her phone out. Her map app indicated that it would take three days or so to drive up to Wisconsin, so if she left today, she could be there on Wednesday. She opened Facebook, and let out a laugh when she saw that Melanie had already messaged her at 6.23 that morning. “Are you coming?” she’d written.
“See you in three days!” Neve typed. “Uh, and please send me your address!”
She had breakfast, gathered up all the things that she wanted to take with her from the kitchen and living room, and waited for Kevin to wake up. There was something in her back pocket. She pulled it out. It was the ticket stub from the show last night. On it was printed a photo of Braxton and the other guys. His sparkling blue eyes seemed to be looking right at her, she thought, still unable to believe how badly he’d hurt her the night before. But it was already like a dream. She’d lost a hero, but ultimately, it was what had pushed her over the edge and forced her to make a very important decision. She would never be able to think of him with any warmth after all the things he’d said to her, but she’d always be grateful that they’d met. She tore the ticket stub in half, as he’d torn up her business card the day before, and threw it in the trash.
When Kevin was still asleep at 10am, she couldn’t wait any longer. Shaking him awake, she sat on the bed next to him.
“Kevin, I’m leaving you,” she said simply.
“Whuh?” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes.
“You treat me more like a hotel service than a girlfriend. You waste all the money I earn. I haven’t been happy for a long time. I’m moving out.” His face was a picture of childish incomprehension. Then he closed his eyes again.
By the time she’d filled every available space in the car with her clothes and other possessions, and was pulling away from the trailer for the last time, he was standing in the doorway, looking at her with total bemusement. Eleven years together, and all he had to say was “What about the trailer?”
“Never mind,” she muttered to herself.
She set the satnav and for the next hour she drove, not allowing herself to think about the life she’d left behind. Just focusing on the first step of her journey. But after a while the initial excitement eased off and the enormity of what she was doing washed over her, and it suddenly became hard to breathe. By the time she found a pullout to stop at, she was hyperventilating. It’s fine. It’s fine, she told herself, forcing herself to inhale slowly. If this doesn’t work out, I can move back to town. She closed her eyes for five minutes, and used her favorite positive reinforcement technique, trying to visualize a happy future for herself in Wisconsin. Within minutes she felt calm enough to drive again. But as she started up her engine, the ringing of her phone made her jump. It was an unfamiliar cell phone number.
“Can I speak to Neve Vincent, please?” a deep, rumbling, and slightly familiar voice said. Gooseflesh broke out over her arms. What? How?
“Who is this?” she said, even though she knew very well who it was. The timbre of that voice was unmistakable. Human men didn’t have voices like that.
“It’s Braxton, Neve, and I owe you an apology.” Her mouth fell open.
“You reckon?” she said into the phone, surprised at how confident she sounded, despite the fact that her body was responding in a very unexpected way. Her heart was fluttering and adrenaline was shooting through her veins. What’s wrong with me? He sighed.
“I shouldn’t have said those things I said yesterday. I was angry. I don’t like accepting help from humans. I feel like bears should be self-sufficient. But that’s no excuse. I’m very sorry, Neve. And I’m also sorry that the version of me that you saw yesterday was a disappointment from the bear you thought I was.” Wow. She was too shocked to say anything. He’s apologizing? He’s really apologizing? And, after dismissing me like a fly that landed on his shoulder, he’s managed to hunt me down, and call me up? None of it made any sense.
Silently, she replayed last night’s events. He tore up the business card that she offered him, and then he walked away from her. She stood and watched him go. And then she picked the card up, because she didn’t want to leave it lying around so anyone could find it.
“Neve? Are you still there?” There was a new uncertainty in his tone.
“How did you get my number?” she demanded. He gave a short laugh, as if that was the last question he’d expected.
“I saw your name on your business card –”
“In that fleeting second before you tore it to shreds?” she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
“Yes. I’m sorry for that too. It was very rude.”
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Ryzard) BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Hope Valley BBW Dating App Romance Book 9) Page 15