“Tina?” A deep voice traveled down the hall to her.
“Tina?” She whispered the name as her eyebrow rose at her reflection. Ribbons of blood dried down her face from the large gash by her hairline, and a bruise was starting to form around her eye. She was a mess. Opening the door, she peeked out, checking to see if there was anyone else. She’d already dragged him into her mess; she couldn’t bring the neighbors into it too.
“There you are. Come sit by the fire and let me look at your arm.”
Unwilling to hide in the bathroom all night, and eager for the warmth of the fireplace to chase the chill from her body, she stepped out of the bathroom. The familiar smell of home greeted her. A mixture of her mother’s perfume and fresh baked cookies lingered in the air, wrapping around her like a blanket. Pictures of her childhood lined the hall, beginning with baby pictures and ending with her most recent two, graduating from college and accepting her position in Texas. All of it gave the illusion of a happy family. In reality, she’d never gotten along with her mother, hence the reason she’d taken the job in Texas leaving behind the wonders of Alaska. Despite the past, relief to be home filled her and for a brief moment replaced her fear.
“My name’s not Tina.” His jet-black hair and bright green eyes were the first thing she’d noticed when they were in the truck, but now she saw the deep contours of muscles under his shirt. The stubble teasing along the line of his jaw gave him a rough, manly look.
“I’ve gathered as much, but you haven’t told me who you are yet.” He went to the table where he’d tossed his bags earlier.
As she watched him, she caught a glimpse of a gun, the holster peeking out from beneath his shirt. Fear tore through her, forcing her backward. She stumbled as she tried to get away, then bumped into the wall causing a picture frame to crash the floor, sending broken glass across the rug.
“What the hell?” He spun toward her.
“You work for him…” She managed to get away from the wall, taking another step back only to have a large wedge of glass slice through her foot. Warm blood pooled in her sock and she gasped in pain.
“I work for no one. Now do you want to tell me what the hell is going on, or are you planning to stumble around in that glass until you’ve bled yourself dry?” He reached back and snatched the first aid kit from the bag. “My name is Thaddeus Brown, my friends call me Tad. Now come sit down and let me look at your injuries.”
Tad Brown…Brown, where have I heard that name?
She wracked her memory trying to come up with the answer. It wasn’t until the firelight reflected off the symbol on the first aid kit that she realized who he was. The outline of a bear head with a paw print circling it, the initials K.B. just below the bear’s head. She recalled the rumors of the Brown family, assassins who could shapeshift into bears. Had Jeffery hired him to kill her?
“You’re from the island…”
He nodded. “My family owns the island. Lisa told you about us?”
“No, but I know about your family. I’m Lisa’s daughter Courtney, and you have no right to be here. Leave, now.” She stiffened her back, trying to establish some control.
“I save you from the blizzard, and you’re going to throw me into it. Ironic. You don’t get your hospitality from your mother, that’s for sure.” He took a seat in front of the fire, the first aid kit in his lap.
“I know all about your family, and I want nothing to do with any of you.” Throwing him out in the blizzard wouldn’t kill him if what she’d heard was true.
“Ahhh, gossip at it’s best, I’m sure. Not everything you hear about my family is true. Ask me whatever you want and I’ll tell you what I can to put your mind at rest.” He patted the seat next to him. “Let me help you.”
“You’re assassins. I can’t trust you. Jeffery hired you to kill me, didn’t he?”
“Assassin. Where would you get that idea?” He laughed, shaking his head. “I don’t know anyone named Jeffery. Now sit.”
“I was a reporter with Nome Report before I moved to Texas. I heard about your family while I was there. You must have someone keeping your secrets because all the stories any of the journalists turned in were squashed before they could ever be printed.” She leaned against the wall, taking the weight off her injured foot.
“Can you keep a secret?” There was a spark of lightness in his eyes. “I am a bear shifter, that much is true. Yes, we have an insider at the Report to keep our secret from becoming public knowledge. But we are not assassins.”
There was a truth to his words that she could feel in her bones. If he wanted to kill her, he’d had plenty of chances.
“If you’re not assassins, why is it so important for you to keep your secret?”
“What do you think would happen if the public knew what my family is?” When she didn’t answer, he continued. “They’d hunt us down like deer. But instead of killing us, they would capture us, put us in cages, and study us. I won’t have my parents, siblings, or anyone else become lab rats. I will do what must be done to keep our secret.”
“Even murder.”
“I’ve never murdered an innocent. Nor have I been hired to murder anyone.” He opened the first aid kit and looked at her again. “You’re only doing more damage to yourself. Let me attend to your wounds.”
She widened her eyes with the realization he hadn’t said he’d never murdered anyone, only that he never murdered an innocent. What was this man hiding? She limped across the floor just as a growl shook the house.
“What was that?”
“Milo is announcing his arrival.” He sat the first aid kit aside and stood. “Sit down, I’ll attend to your wounds once I’ve let him in.”
“Who’s Milo?” she called after him.
“The friend I mentioned would meet me here.” He shot her a quick smile and opened the door, letting a seven-foot Bengal tiger stroll in. Snow fell from the fur as it made its grand entrance.
“You’ve got to be shitting me! This can’t be happening.” Her legs gave out, forcing her to the nearest armchair. She dragged her hand through her auburn hair, pulling it away from her face, never taking her gaze from the tiger. She should have been scared, but instead all she could do was sit there with her mouth hanging open in amazement.
“Go, I’ll grab your bag.” It was clear he wasn’t talking to her. He walked to the table, grabbing one of the bags before looking back at her. “I’ve got to take this to Milo so he can change. Just wait here for a moment. Then we can discuss what’s happening.” Tad and Milo disappeared down the hall leaving her alone.
Wow! She tugged off her sock, careful not to push the glass deeper into her foot. Digging through the first aid kit, she found the tweezers, and began to pull the shards out one by one. Every part of her hurt, her head being the worst. Damn the blizzard. She needed to get away before Jeffery found her. These people didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess, and neither did her mother. Where was she going to go? This was the last place she thought Jeffery would look for her.
Not to mention the fact she was stuck in a house with two shifters. People she never thought existed. Legends, rumors, books, and even movies all claimed they did, but she’d never bought into it. Now that she’d seen Milo in his tiger form, she couldn’t deny it any longer. The danger following her might be nothing compared to what followed them. As Tad told her, anyone who knew of his kind would want them for experiments.
“Your fear is pouring from you, making you forget your pain, but the blood loss will begin to take its toll.”
She looked to see Tad standing next to the chair. “It’s fine. I’ve got the glass out and the bleeding has stopped. I just need to bandage it.”
“Your head wound.” He tipped his head to her. “They bleed a lot Let me clean it and close it.”
Pain seared through her when she touched the spot. When she brought her hand away, her fingers were coated in blood. “Okay.” She nodded, giving him permission to come closer.
; He grabbed some gauze. “Hold this to your forehead.” She did as he asked and he readied the cleaning supplies. “Can you move your wrist?”
“It’s not broken, just badly sprained.” She met his gaze. “It’s not safe for me to be here, I need to go.”
“I’m pretty sure we already established that no one is going anywhere. The blizzard is going to last for the next few days. Planes are grounded, roads are closed, we are on our own here. Nome is cut off from the rest of the world until this passes.”
Another man walked into the room. “If you’re in trouble you’re going to have to trust us. I’m Milo. How about you tell me who you are.”
She looked up at him. Milo seemed intimidating at first, but the white dress shirt and jeans made him more approachable. His dark hair was nearly the same shade as Tad’s, but his eyes were different. Milo’s were a crystal blue, full of light, love, and warmth. It wasn’t until he stepped completely out of the shadows that she saw the shoulder holster and gun, pushing the fear back to the forefront of her mind again.
“I’m Courtney, Lisa’s daughter.” She cringed as Tad cleaned her wound, pain sending black spots through her vision. She tried to focus on Tad to force the spots away. “You told me you weren’t a murderer, so why do you both have guns?”
“Protection, nothing more. I told you what people would do to catch us. It’s a dangerous time for our kind right now.” He used a butterfly bandage to keep the wound together. “Courtney, you’re going to need to trust us.”
“We can feel your fear as if it was our own,” Milo explained as he came closer. “It teases along the air until it feels like it’ll choke me. What are you running from?”
“Something bad, real bad.” She shook her head and tried not to think about everything she’d lost so far. “Being around me is dangerous for you. If you live close or can go to your friend’s house, you should before they find me.”
Tad and Milo shared a look before shaking their heads. Tad laid his hand over hers. “Not happening. That’s no way to repay Lisa. Now they, as in this Jeffery you mentioned before and who else?”
“Jeffery Park, he’ll see me dead before I can testify against him.” Her body shook with memories of the night that got her into this situation. “He’s why I ran, why I came home. I didn’t want to put Mom in danger but I didn’t know where else to go. When they blew up my house, I hoped I would be pronounced dead and he wouldn’t keep hunting me.”
“Tell us why he’s after you.” Milo came and knelt next to her. “We can keep you safe, but we need to know what we’re up against.”
“No one can protect me. The U.S Marshal that was assigned to me was killed. I was waiting for the reassigned one, Quinn. He was on his way when…” She took a deep breath. “Jeffery is the U.S. contact for a drug smuggling operation. He accepts the deliveries and distributes them. I was covering the story about the increase in drugs on the streets, when I saw him murder two of the dealers for not making their minimal sells. I went to the police. I knew I would be in danger, but I thought they would keep me safe. Keep him locked up until the trial…but he’s out on bail. I can’t believe a man like that can be out, with all the evidence against him. What is our legal system coming to if he can kill two people and be out on bail? It’s not just my word, there’s DNA evidence.” She knew she was rambling, but it felt good to finally be able to tell someone.
“It’s okay, we’ll keep you safe.” Tad ran his fingers over her knuckles. “The system doesn’t always work like we want or need it to. If he has connections or enough money then bail can be given. It doesn’t matter, nothing is going to happen to you.”
“You can’t protect me against him. No one can. He’ll kill from a distance. By the time you know he’s there, it’ll be too late.”
Tad shook his head. “No, it won’t. We’ll be able to smell him before he gets near you. You just need to relax.”
“It wouldn’t be U.S. Marshal Quinn Evans, would it?” Milo inquired.
“Yes. Do you know him?”
Milo nodded. “I’ll contact him to let him know you’re safe and see where things stand.” He laid his hand on her leg and the connection flared to life.
A tingling warm sensation shot through her, opening her up completely to the both of them. It was like a current of electricity was moving through her, connecting the three of them together. She looked at them expecting them to be glowing from all the power that tingled through them.
“What’s happening?” she asked, her voice timid.
Chapter Three
Milo’s eyes widened with the knowledge of what was happening, and he glanced at Tad to confirm it. The emotions of Tad and Courtney flowed through him, making his stomach roil with the sudden rush, and the chocking terror Courtney was dealing with. Unable to pull his hand away, he sank to the floor trying to believe it.
Mates. A human and bear.
“Tad?”
Tad’s deep inhale cut through the air like a knife. “Do you believe in soul mates? Love at first sight?”
Her green eyes sparkled with unshed tears. “I guess. I’ve never really thought about it. My mom said when she met my father there was an instant connection. What does this have to do with anything? What just happened?”
Milo squeezed her thigh, bringing her attention back to him. “It’s hard to explain, Courtney, and it sounds unbelievable. Shifters have something like what humans consider soul mates. When we find ours, a connection is formed, linking us together. It’s what has happened here.”
“That’s insane.”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Insane as it must sound to you, it’s true. It’s our life.”
“You can feel our emotions as I felt your fear earlier.” Tad leaned forward, closer to her. “If you don’t believe what Milo says, believe what you feel. You feel drawn to us, do you not?”
She shook her head, bumping into Milo’s hand. “I felt the draw to you before, but that means nothing. I wanted comfort, someone to help me. There’s nothing supernatural about desire between two…well, three consenting adults.”
Tad and Milo exchanged another glance. “Desire, no…but the mating is,” Tad explained. “It’s also something you won’t be able to fight. The longer you go without the touch of your mates, the more painful it becomes. There are key differences in the human idea of love at first sight and shifters mating.”
She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you saying?”
“That you won’t be able to resist us.” Milo’s fingers teased along her jaw. “Every second that passes ties us closer together. Denying a mate’s touch is more than longing. It will send agony through your body until it breaks your mind.”
Easing out of their touch, she stood and strolled to the window, a slight limp from the cuts on her foot slowing her. “This isn’t happening, I’m running for my life and now two shifters show up and try to lay their claim to me.”
“I understand this is hard to believe, but the timing couldn’t be better.” When she spun around to glare at Milo, he explained. “Being mates we will always know if you’re in danger, wherever you are. We will protect you from Jeffery and anyone he hires. No harm will come to you as long as we’re here.”
“You can’t promise that. The U.S. Marshal was supposed to do that, instead he ended up dead. I don’t want to see others killed because of me.” Tears glistened in her eyes as she met Milo’s gaze.
He stood from where he knelt by the chair, careful to not scare her he closed the distance between them. “Nothing will happen to us. Shifters are harder to kill.” Tentatively, he touched her, drawing his finger down her arm.
“You don’t understand what kind of man Jeffery is. He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way. No one around me is safe. He blew up my house trying to stop me.”
Tad came to them, standing on her other side. He slid his arm around her waist, linking them together again through touch. “Trust me, we’ve gone up against
worse than him. If he blew up your house and killed the U.S. Marshal in charge of keeping you safe, how did you escape?”
“I was in the garage getting a jar of pasta sauce from the storage area…since the pantry is too small. So I made a secondary one just off the garage door.” She realized she was getting away from the point and shook her head. “The Marshal was in the kitchen on the phone, making arrangements for Quinn to take over so he could attend a court date when it happened. I was thrown across the room and landed next to the outside door. I ran outside with the hopes of saving him but the house was completely engulfed in flames. There was no way in. I did the only thing I could think of and ran.”
“Do you believe anyone saw you?” Tad asked.
“I don’t think so, but…I don’t know, I just ran. I didn’t know where else to go, so I headed for Mom’s. Tina is a friend of mine, that’s why I used her name. We could be twins, so she gave me her ID and passport so I could get here.”
Milo put his forefinger under her chin, gently gliding it up until she looked at him. “You did the right thing. Everything is going to be fine.” Unshed tears still glistened in her eyes. His words didn’t convince her, only time would. “I’ll call Quinn and let him know you’re safe. He won’t be able to get here until after the blizzard lets up, but unless Jeffery followed you when you left he won’t be here until then either. You’re safe for now.”
* * *
For now. Those two little words sent a cold chill through her. Tad stood by the window, his arm still around her waist, and she felt herself relax into him. It was insane, but his touch seemed to chase away some of her fears and provided the comfort she so desperately wanted.
Both of the men were intimidating, their large bulky frames full of toned muscles that scared her and provided comfort at the same time. Just looking at them should have sent her running in the opposite direction. Instead, each touch was soft and comforting, something she wouldn’t have expected.
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