Bounty Hunter Bear: Crossroads 1 (Grizzly Cove Book 11)

by Bianca D’Arc

  Her experiences had changed her. She’d gained in strength and dominance. She was more Alpha than her folks now, and that had made things a little tricky at home as she’d grown healthier and more able to get around. She’d left as much for their good as her own. She loved them, and she’d never pull dominance on them on purpose, but her bear was learning its way and wasn’t quite sure of when to be fierce and when to back down. It didn’t make any sense to take the chance that she would hurt her parents’ feelings while experimenting with her new sense of self.

  She spent a bit more time on the call than she’d planned, but it felt really good to talk to her folks. They’d been so supportive of her recovery. She’d hated leaving them to go on this trip, but had known it was something she just had to do. Maybe there really was something to her mother’s belief in the hand of Fate.

  When she came out of her bedroom, Ezra was just ending his own call, and he was frowning. She didn’t want to pry, but she also wanted him to know she was there for him if he needed help.

  “Anything I can do?” she asked, heading for the kitchenette and the coffee he must’ve made while she’d been in her room.

  “I called Gabe and Margo,” Ezra told her. “They say hello, by the way, and they were glad to hear you’re doing so well.” That made Thea feel good, but the immediate problem here in town took precedence over her personal stuff. “They’re going to try to get here, but they may not be able to make it in time. Which means we’re probably on our own with the mage.”

  “It’s nice of them to try,” Thea said, hoping the other couple would arrive before she and the other bears had to confront the magic being used against the werewolves in this town.

  They talked about their plans for the evening, and Thea passed on greetings from her folks to Ezra, then she went back into her bedroom to get ready for the night ahead. She put on a different outfit and did her hair and makeup with care. Ezra was taking her out to dinner, then they would meet up with the bear brothers at the concert, which was being held on one of the streets in town that had been closed off to traffic especially for the rally.

  Dinner was hearty, in a crowded restaurant filled with bikers from all over. Things were really in full swing now, and the little town was chock full of people. They kept the conversation light, and Thea took note of the admiring glances Ezra drew from some of the bolder human women. It made her feel a little aggressive and a bit proud at the same time. He was with her. And any woman who made a play for him in any way was going to bleed. Grr.

  Not that Ezra gave them any encouragement. He barely seemed to notice the female attention sent his way. He didn’t acknowledge any of the sultry glances and gave everyone a bland smile, if anything, when socially necessary. He was polite but not encouraging, which made her inner bear settle.

  After dinner, they headed down the crowded street to the venue where a country rock band was already playing. It was the opening act, and they weren’t bad at all. In fact, Thea found herself nodding slightly to the beat. The band had a good groove and an excellent singer.

  Ezra spotted the brothers over by one of the many bar stalls that had been set up around the perimeter of the open-air venue. When they met up, Jack handed Thea a beer he’d bought for her, and King handed one to Ezra, receiving thanks in return, as well as an offer to get the next round.

  They watched the opening act for a little while, standing on the edge of the crowd, back by the refreshments. Thea enjoyed the music, but she got the feeling the men were watching the people around them a lot more than the people on stage. She took a quick glance around and realized there were a few familiar faces she had seen at the garage that afternoon.

  Many of the local werewolves had come to the concert. She sidled a little closer to Ezra and put her arm in his.

  “Is the other side here, too?” she asked in a low voice.

  “I think so,” he told her. “See that guy in the white Stetson hat?”

  He nodded toward a tall, rangy man ambling toward one of the bigger wolves they’d seen that morning at the shop. When they bumped into each other—clearly on purpose—she thought a fistfight was going to break out right then and there. Thankfully, saner heads prevailed as they both looked around at the gathering of humans, then settled on growling at each other as they walked away. She thought she saw the one facing her mouth the word tomorrow, but she couldn’t really be sure from her position, about twenty yards away, with people milling around in the middle.

  “Those are the two leaders,” Ace said quietly. He was standing next to her, with Ezra on her other side and Ace’s two brothers watching their backs. She knew Ezra could hear his words, but seeing as how they were in a noisy crowd with so many humans around, they were being circumspect in what they said. “The guy in the white hat is from White Oaks out of Iowa. The other is a local guy. They call their territory the Southern Buttes.”

  “Looks like they’re keeping it together until tomorrow,” Ezra observed.

  “Yeah, thankfully,” Ace replied, sighing with a hint of relief. “It would be a real problem if they started losing their shit in the middle of all this.”

  And by this, she knew he meant all the humans around. The vast majority of the planet didn’t know a thing about shifters, and they wanted it kept that way. It was just safer for all concerned. But she thought she knew why the two werewolf Alphas were waiting to start their fight.

  “It suits the bad guy’s purpose. To do it here would confuse the issue for him and muddy the waters. He wouldn’t get as clean a power boost,” she told them, speaking quietly. “He’ll want to do this in an isolated location where he can control things and reap the most reward out of the event.”

  She glanced at Ezra and Ace, on either side of her. Both had thoughtful expressions on their faces now.

  “That makes a lot of sense, disgusting as it is to think of someone able to pull their strings to such an extent,” Ace replied after a long moment of thought.

  “We just need to know where. And exactly when,” Ezra put in, a muscle in his jaw ticking with tension as he kept his eyes firmly on the crowd in front of them.

  “I can probably tell you when,” Thea put in. “Tomorrow night is a full moon. He’ll probably pull the trigger as the moon starts to rise. As it travels towards its zenith is the most powerful time. When it’s in decline back to the horizon, it’s weakening. As it rises, it’s strengthening.”

  Ezra looked at her, his brows drawn down in a frown. “How do you know?”

  “I listened,” she told him with a shrug that was much lighter than the memories that had just been dragged up. “Um… He would talk sometimes,” she said, hoping Ezra would know which he she meant without her having to say the bastard’s name out in the open where anyone might hear and recognize the name Bolivar. “I learned a bit about how and why he chose to do things at particular times.”

  Ace nodded. “Jack said something similar. He knows more about it than me and King.”

  “So, now, we just need to know where,” Ezra said again.

  “Someplace isolated where he can control access,” Thea said. “Probably away from all the hubbub in town.”

  “We’ll do some analysis of the terrain,” Ace said. “What are you guys doing after the concert?” At that point, Thea knew they were all going to be spending some time poring over maps after the show was over.

  “We’ve got a big table we can work on if you don’t have room,” Ezra told Ace. “And we can order in snacks.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Ace replied, and then, they settled in to watch the rest of the show.

  There were no more incidents involving the werewolves from the garage that Thea could see, but the men were watching the crowd for the rest of the performance, and maybe they saw some things she didn’t from their slightly higher vantage point. She’d always been tall for a woman, but her animal spirit was huge, and shifters were usually fit and healthy but a bit taller than their human counterparts. Still, standing next to the
se big men, Thea felt downright dainty.

  She felt so safe in Ezra’s presence. The other guys were great, too, and they added an extra layer of security, but it was Ezra that made her feel truly protected, in the very best possible way. She realized more and more that she hadn’t been dreaming when she’d been attracted to Ezra way back when they’d first met. Sure, he’d saved her life, but there was something more to the instinct that drew her to him than just gratitude for his brave actions.

  She was even more attracted to him now, if that was even possible. Now that her bear was back at full strength—and then some—and her spirit was recovering along with her body, she was even more drawn to the big man at her side. He was good-looking, sure, but that wasn’t all there was to him. He had depths she was only just starting to know, and she admired the man she was discovering beneath the handsome exterior.

  What’s more, she thought he just might be attracted to her, too. She had to stop and think about that for a moment, not really daring to hope that maybe, somehow, they could get together. Maybe for a fling. Or, maybe…for something a little more permanent.

  She knew for sure her mother would be bouncing with happiness if it turned out that Ezra was Thea’s mate. And there it was. The M word. Could he really be her mate?

  She’d always imagined that she’d know immediately if she ever met her perfect match, but the way she’d met Ezra had been…confusing, at best. So much had happened to her that she doubted very much that she would have even recognized herself, had she been able to look in a mirror, when they first met.

  She’d been a mess. Her animal spirit at its lowest ebb of energy before fading away entirely. Ezra had brought her bear back to life. He’d held on to the tiny spark that her bear had been reduced to, and had protected that spirit, encouraging it to take power from his immense heart and to live.

  Thea very much doubted her bear would have survived without him. And, without her bear…she wouldn’t have survived, either. He’d saved them both, giving her a chance to live on and thrive. She owed him a lot for his bravery and willingness to put himself on the line for others, but that wasn’t the only reason she was attracted to him. It was Ezra himself. His inner character and the quiet strength he exuded at every turn.

  He was solid. Intelligent. Steadfast. Like some kind of knight of old, he was a born protector, willing and able to fight for what was right, but level-headed about it. She admired him in so many ways.

  And he was totally hot, too, of course. He was tall and broad shouldered. Lean and intensely focused. She liked that about him. Actually…she liked everything about him. His new job sounded intriguing, and she liked the idea that he’d taken on the role of troubleshooter—or champion, in her eyes—for folks who were trying to clean up their little part of the world and rid it of crime and evil.

  It was a noble thing he was doing. Maybe a little dangerous at times, too, but he was an Alpha bear. He could handle himself. She had confidence in his abilities and his judgment, which made it a little less scary all around.

  At the end of the show, all five bear shifters headed back on foot to Ezra’s hotel suite, which was only a few blocks away. Ezra called in an order to a local restaurant that delivered several bags of hot food about forty minutes later. By that time, they’d taken over the table at one end of the main room and laid out some maps Ezra seemed to have sourced from somewhere.

  Thea had never really seen a topographical map in person before, but she thought that’s what they were. There were also road maps with the highways and lanes laid out neatly and color coded.

  Thea didn’t really want to intrude on what seemed like a high-tech strategy session. The guys were talking in grid coordinates like they were some kind of Spec Ops team… And, maybe…they were. She didn’t really know what any of them had done before she’d met them. She knew Ezra had been a bounty hunter and was now a corporate troubleshooter, but from the way he and the other guys were talking, she wouldn’t be surprised to learn they’d all spent time in the military.

  She tried to follow some of the jargon but got lost pretty fast. It didn’t matter, though. She was tired, and they were well occupied by their discussion of terrain, high ground, line of sight and other things she couldn’t really decipher. She decamped to her bedroom and got ready for bed, happy to leave the guys to their planning. She’d shared everything she could for one day. Now, it was their turn to do what they knew best.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Thea wasn’t sure what woke her a few hours later, but she got up somewhere around three a.m. and made a quick trip to the bathroom, then went out into the kitchen area to get some ice water. That always hit the spot when she woke up in the middle of the night. She’d had a lot of nightmares after her rescue and was familiar with the wee hours of the morning, sadly.

  What she wasn’t used to was Ezra coming out to see if she was okay. He opened his bedroom door, and she spun around to look at him in surprise. She gasped. His chest was bare, and he wore only loose pajama bottoms, his bare feet peeping out from the baggy pool of fabric as he walked toward her.

  “You okay?” he asked in a growly tone that made her insides quiver. “I heard you get up.”

  “Sorry I disturbed you. I’m fine. Just wanted some water.” She turned resolutely back to the sink to complete her task. She would not ogle his magnificent chest. She would not.

  “You seem tense,” he murmured, coming up behind her. He put his big hands on her shoulders and began rubbing in slow circles. She felt like melting into a little puddle on the floor. “Bad dream?” he asked in that same low, sexy voice.

  She shook her head, unable to come up with actual words. Not when he was touching her like that.

  The slow circles turned into a true massage as he worked the tension she didn’t know she had out of her shoulder muscles. She groaned as the stress released. She’d been in knots and hadn’t really realized it until they were gone.

  As the tension drained away, a new lethargy crept into her body, along with an awareness of how close he was standing, how good his hands felt on her, how delicious his scent was in her nose. Everything just felt…right.

  When he leaned fractionally closer and rubbed his nose along the back of her neck, she shivered with delight. Yes, that’s what she wanted. Him. Closer.

  When his lips trailed along the skin beneath her ear, she squirmed.

  “You smell delicious,” he told her as she tilted her head to give him greater access.

  “So do you,” she whispered, unable to say anything more creative. “You always have.”

  And he really had. He’d always scented of something right in her world. Something she could cling to and something that would give her strength as she gave in return.

  Dear sweet Mother of All. Was he her mate?

  The thought gave her pause. What if he was?

  Aside from her mother’s expected joy at the news, what would it mean to Thea personally? Ezra was all that was good and true in the world, and she respected him greatly, but did she love him? Did she love him the way she’d always dreamed she’d love her mate?

  Although the waters had been muddied by her capture and recovery, she realized suddenly that she probably did. She’d loved him for a long time, but with everything that had happened, she hadn’t really understood it until this moment.

  She sent a prayer of thanks skyward and turned in his arms, searching for his gaze in the darkened room. It didn’t matter. They were bear shifters. They could see well in the dark, even in human form.

  What she saw in his gaze gave her pause. He looked…worried?

  “I’m sorry, Thea. I got a little carried away.” He tried to move away, but she grabbed his forearms, stopping his motion.

  “Do you want me, Ezra?” she asked, feeling bold in the dark of the night.

  She saw the truth on his face before he spoke the word. “Yes.”

  “How long?” she pressed. “How long have you wanted me?”

  “A long ti
me,” he admitted. She read nothing but honesty in his gaze. “At first, I wanted to protect you and care for you. My bear wanted to drag you home to my den and keep you safe for always, but it was more than just the protective instinct. My bear recognized it well before my human half, though that wasn’t too far behind. You’re just…mine, Thea. You’re my mate.” He looked so serious as his words thrilled through her heart. “I knew it almost right away, but I also knew you’d been badly hurt and you needed time to heal. I was willing to give you time. As much time as you needed. But I would have found you at some point, and if you were able to return my feelings, I knew I would ask you to be my mate, for now and for always.”

  “And if I didn’t return those feelings?” she asked, needing to know how deeply he felt, though her heart thrilled each time he called her his mate.

  “Then, I would have let you go and lived out the rest of my days alone. You’re the only woman for me, Thea. I knew that from almost the first moment I scented you. Even as hurt as you were, I knew you were meant for me.”

  “What would you say if I told you that I felt the same?” Now that she had come to the critical moment, she felt a little giddy with hope for their future.

  His eyes lit up, the magic of his bear half shining through his chocolate brown eyes. “You do?”

  “I do,” she affirmed, nodding with no hesitation. “You’re my mate, too.”

  Ezra leaned close and kissed her, taking her lips with authority, and a gentleness that stole her breath. He was warm and hard in all the right places, his body muscular against her softness as he drew her closer.

  Her bear spirit rose up in triumph as she connected with her mate for the very first time in passion. It was about time. That was the overwhelming sense from her animal side. Her human side gasped as Ezra’s hands roamed over her body, touching her in all the right places and making her yearn for more. So much more…