by Josie Walker
Thoughts of fleeing had her looking down the long weed choked driveway, and to the dirt road. She knew that the road would lead to the highway and from there on out was the path to freedom. She was strongly considering starting skipping out right now if only to see how far she would get before someone tried to stop her. It would be a bummer to leave behind all of her nice new clothes, but she was certain she could make a good go of it somewhere else. All she needed was a new job and then everything else would fall into place, right?
“Need some help?” asked the last person on earth she’d willingly accept charity from.
“You’re ruining my life! Why can’t you just leave me the fuck alone?” she screamed at him.
“It’s language like that that earned you this restitution in the first place. You’d better keep your voice down or my mom will hear you,” Parker warned her as he squatted down, yanked out a few weeds, and added them to her bucket.
She couldn’t have explained what came over her, but in that moment she snapped as a wave of fury shot through her body. She howled in rage as she ran and tackled him to the ground. He wrapped his arms protectively around her as they went rolling down the side of the driveway and then went spilling out into the nearby woods. She pummeled the unrelenting and firm expanse of his muscled chest. She scratched shallow furrows down his arms with her sharp nails and she yelled at him, but he never once made any move to hurt her.
When it didn’t seem like she had any intention of ever stopping he rolled again so that she was trapped harmlessly beneath him. He straddled her with his powerful thighs and pinned her arms above her head. He pressed a hand over her mouth so that he could say his piece.
“I never meant to hurt you. I didn’t know you couldn’t swim. I was just trying to stop your phone call before it went through. If the dumb sheep hadn’t given you the phone in the first place I never would have had to intervene.”
“Sure, blame the sheep,” she hissed when he removed his hand briefly so that she could speak. He put his hand back over her mouth and continued.
“I’m sorry you saw those tigers and that it put you in an impossible situation of having to leave your life behind. No, that’s a lie. I’m not really sorry about that because if you hadn’t had to run from those tigers we’d never have met.”
Just when he thought he’d finally gotten through to her she bit his hand, hard. He sucked on his bleeding digit while she yelled at him. “Did it never even enter your mind to just take the phone?”
Parker shook his head ruefully no.
“And why were you even in the lake? Why do you keep ruining all my dates? Don’t you want me to be happy?”
“Those men could never have made you happy. None of them understand you. All I want to do is to take care of you. Is it so hard to believe that I want to dedicate the rest of my life to making you happy? Eugene and James are afraid of their own shadows. How much help do you think they’d be if the tigers found you?”
The man had a point there, but damned if she was going to tell him that. She could feel something hard and firm digging into her and it didn’t take her long to pinpoint exactly what it was. The man had a lot of nerve, or perhaps balls would have summed it up better. Here they were in the middle of an argument and he was aroused, so much so that his erection was digging into her. He must have taken her silence as a sign of like interest, because he dropped his head down as if her were preparing to kiss her.
That was when she kneed him hard in the crotch and crawled out from under him while he was cupping himself and growling in agony. She ran past the bucket of weeds without bothering to pick up her tools. If Mia complained about her unfinished driveway she could take the matter up with her oldest son, the one who didn’t know how to keep his hands to himself.
She slammed the door to her room shut and she briefly considered showering some of the sweat and dirt off. But she was just too upset to risk running into him in their shared bathroom so she just crawled into bed instead. She didn’t care if it was the middle of the day; sleep was the only place left where she could be alone with her thoughts. Now if only she could get her racing mind to shut off and power down. It took her a long time to conk out because her subconscious kept shouting at her to give the bear a chance already.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
She woke up to the feeling of a thousand fire ants biting her all at once. She threw off the comforter and lunged to her feet, itching madly over every part of her body that she could reach. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and screamed. She was covered in red spots and bleeding sores from where she’d scratched herself raw.
Ty and Mia came bursting in when they heard her screaming. The Itan’s hands had already morphed into a wicked set of claws, but when he saw that she was alone and unharmed the talons receded back into his nail beds. When he got a closer look at her he started laughing uproariously.
“You cut that out and get your brother to help the poor girl,” Mia ordered. “The doctor will be here soon, dear.”
“What’s wrong with me?” Michelle asked, still scratching at her arms.
“My best guess would be poison ivy. I guess you don’t run into that much in the city, huh?”
“Oh… argh… it burns,” Parker roared from the other room.
“Why don’t you head on out to the living room while I see what’s the matter with Parker,” Mia suggested.
Michelle did as she was told, itching every step of the way.
***
Isaac checked in on Parker first, because he was closest. It didn’t take him more than two seconds to realize that his nephew was faking it big time.
“Just slather some calamine lotion on me and make me look pitiful,” he begged shamelessly.
“But bears can’t get poison ivy,” Isaac argued.
“She doesn’t have to know that,” Parker pleaded. “This could be the perfect bonding opportunity for us,” he puckered out his bottom look and looked pathetic.
“The puppy dog look hasn’t worked since you were five,” his uncle snorted. But, in the end Isaac relented. He even added a layer of gauze over the lotion to help disguise the fact that he didn’t actually have a rash. In the end his nephew looked like a pink tinged mummy. “Don’t forget to scratch and complain every few minutes,” Isaac advised him as he left for the living room to tend his real patient.
When he had finished helping Michelle she looked just as ridiculous as Parker, although she made for a far cuter pink mummy. Isaac had given her strict orders to stay inside and watch TV all day. When Parker came lumbering into the room she couldn’t help but feel bad for him as he moaned and itched at his arms.
“Not you too!” she said, and Parker could have sworn the look she gave him was almost apologetic.
“I’m afraid so,” he sighed reluctantly. “It must have happened when you knocked me down in the woods. Do you mind if I watch TV with you? Uncle Isaac said I’m supposed to rest inside all day.”
“Sure, but I’m not sharing the remote, so stay at your own risk.”
“Now I’m frightened,” Parker joked.
Ty had requested everyone’s help repairing some old sections on the edge of the property line and no one had dared to refuse him. After all, he was the Itan. Ty wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity to put this many able bodied men to work. The way he saw it he deserved it because the shifters had been eating him out of house and home for over a week now.
The day passed pleasantly for Parker and Michelle and he couldn’t stop congratulating himself mentally on his brilliant plan. He probably would have pulled it off successfully if his grandparents hadn’t returned three days ahead of schedule with his brothers. When his twelve year old brother Zach burst into the room he tried to glare daggers at him, and then he tried to telepathically order him to leave. But, given the fact that Parker wasn’t a telepath and his brother wasn’t observant,
none of his messages got through.
“What’s wrong with you?” Zach asked as he plopped down on the couch next to him, digging into a big bag of chips. Parker wrenched the bag out of his grasp and tried to get his brother to look into his eyes.
“We have poison ivy,” Michelle answered for both of them before Parker could think of a good plan to get his brother to leave.
“No you don’t. Bears can’t get poison ivy,” Zach stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Michelle dropped the remote on the couch and strode over to Parker. She ripped the bag of chips out of his hands and exited the room without saying so much as a single word to him.
Her silence let Parker know he was in serious trouble. Usually she would have been screaming at him, swearing, and throwing things. Her eerie silence was way scarier.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The one good thing about her poison ivy was that it gave her a good excuse to hole up in her room for the next couple of days. It also gave her a reason to skip out on the big bonfire. Not even Sophia had it in her to force Michelle out of her room when she looked that pitiful. A few of the single shifters had tried to stop by and visit her but she’d sent them all packing.
She waited a good twenty minutes for everyone to clear out of the house and then she started cramming clothes into her backpack. She wasn’t taking everything, because there’s no way she could have fit it all. She wished she could find where Parker had hidden her phone, because she would have preferred not to have to buy a new one. As she loaded in her lovely new clothes she couldn’t help but feel a little guilty, like she was stealing from Mia, but they really had put her in an impossible situation.
The other day had been so relaxing and wonderful with Parker when they’d flipped channels in the living room… at least it had been right up until the point she’d discovered that he was a BIG FAT LIAR. Obviously her heart had blinders on when it came to that dumb bear. She did idiotic things when he was around.
He repeatedly caused her to let down her guard when he was near, and to dream about things she knew weren’t safe. As much as she’d like to imagine a romantic happily ever after she knew better than to trust in such flights of fancy. Which was why she’d decided that it was time to leave before he managed to hurt more than her pride. It was obvious that they were never going to let her get a job and rebuild her finances in an honorable way, so she was forced to take drastic measures.
She left her bag on the floor by the bed and stepped softly towards the bathroom. She reapplied a new layer of calamine lotion and was relieved to see that the rash was drying up nicely. She pressed her ear up against the door that connected her room to his, struggling to hear past the sound of her racing heart. When she was sure the room was empty she cautiously opened the door and snuck inside.
It was dark out, but she was afraid to turn on the light in case someone happened to look over at the house and notice it. She allowed herself a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the dark gloom, and then she made her way over to his bedside table where she’d spied his keys. Fortune was smiling on her and she saw that in addition to his keys he’d also left behind his wallet. Her conscience was plaguing her big time as she slipped his wallet and keys into her own pockets, but she’d have plenty of time to process through her guilt later when she was safely out of reach.
She propped up a note against his lamp and scurried back towards her own room. Looping the backpack over her arm she made her way cautiously outdoors, making sure to head in the opposite direction from the bonfire. Fortunately that also happened to be where Parker’s truck was parked.
She turned the key in the ignition and backed up carefully. She didn’t turn on the headlights until she was already on the highway and safely out of sight. She couldn’t stop the tears from sliding out of her eyes, and deep down she felt like she just might be making the biggest mistake of her life. But there was no going back now, not even if she’d been able to work past her own commitment issues.
Any minute now he’d discover her note. He’d know that she was missing, and that she’d stolen both his truck and his wallet. She stopped trying to hold it back and let loose the stream of tears, feeling broken even though she’d been the one to do the leaving this time. It didn’t matter that she’d left on her own terms, Parker had still managed to steal her heart. The thought of spending the rest of her life without his larger than life presence was like a blow to the stomach. She wondered if the pain would ever stop.
***
“Henry! What on earth are you doing here?” Parker exclaimed, wrapping his friend in a crushing bear hug. Henry was Parker’s second in command and he’d left him behind to make sure that his territory didn’t devolve into chaos while he dealt with the more important issue of trying to court his future mate. Henry had dark brown hair and like most shifters his body was so ripped that women couldn’t keep their hands off of him.
“Is something wrong back home?” Parker asked worriedly. His was a large territory, and there had been multiple threats over the past decade where people had tried to take his clan from him.
“Nope. Sounds like you’ve been having some serious problems here though. Your dad called me. He thought you might need some backup. Why don’t you tell me all about this woman of yours. If she’s as wonderful as you say maybe I’ll throw my name into the hat and make a run for her.” When Parker roared and started sprouting fur Henry held up his hands defensively. “I was just kidding. You know I’d never try to get between my Itan and his Itana!”
Parker shook his head to clear it and the fur began to recede back beneath his pores as he found his calm center. They both loaded up on Gigi’s incredible potato salad and ate far more burgers than should have been humanly possible. Parker was several beers past what even a shifter should have downed when he shouted drunkenly, “Why don’t I take you back to the den and you can meet her? She’s mad at me… but maybe she’ll forgive me if you’re there.”
Parker knocked tipsily on Michelle’s door, but she didn’t answer. The door was locked tight, so he went through his bedroom and tried the door from the shared bathroom instead. The knob turned easily in his hand, and he didn’t need his heightened shifter senses to tell him that the room was empty.
“Itan, I think you should take a look at this,” Henry called from his bedroom. Parker stumbled his way back through the adjoining room and tore open the letter his second in commanded handed him.
Parker,
I hope you can forgive me someday. Please believe me when I say how bad I feel about all of this, but you backed me into a corner when you took my stuff and you’ve left me no choice but to steal from you. I’ll mail you back your keys when I get to where I’m going, and I’ll try to pay you back as soon as I can. I just can’t do this anymore. I could never marry… mate you… whatever. It’s not you, let’s just say I have commitment issues… you’re actually kind of incredible which is why I have to leave now before it’s too late.
I know none of this probably makes any sense, but I just can’t bear to watch when you suddenly stop being wonderful. and betray me in some unthinkable way. I don’t know how long it would take, but I do know that eventually you would fail me, or perhaps I’d be the one to break your trust… I don’t know. As you well know I like to blame everything on the fact that I didn’t have parents. Call it a crutch if you want, it just makes things easier for me. Please tell your family not to look for me and that I’m sorry about letting everyone down. I promise I’ll take your shifter secret to my grave. And… Damn you for making me love you, Parker Holmes. You knew exactly what you were doing to me the whole time. Somehow I don’t believe I’ll ever really get over you.
Michelle
There were discolored spots on the paper from where she’d been crying as she penned her heartfelt goodbye. He could smell the salt of her tears on the letter and all of it fed his mounting agony as
he crumpled the page in his hands and dropped to his knees. His clothing ripped to shreds as his bear burst free and when he roared it sounded as though he were dying one torturous breath at a time.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
When Michelle felt like she’d driven far enough away that Parker wouldn’t be able to track her she pulled over into a cheap motel. She felt bad enough about using the shifter’s money, so she was determined to spend as little as possible as she went about creating a new life for herself. She would of course pay him back as soon as she was capable of doing so.
Fortunately the man at the front desk didn’t question her about the card or ask her to show a photo ID. She cringed when she stepped inside the old rundown motel room. This was not a classy establishment. The carpet was stained, the air conditioner sounded sickly, and the whole room reeked of stale cigarette smoke. When she flipped on the lights several insects slithered quickly out of sight. She doubted she’d be able to sleep as she imagined the creepy crawlers slither inside her mouth and nose while she was helpless and unconscious.
She dropped down on the bed and reached for the old fashioned phone sitting on top of the bedside table. She hurriedly dialed Grace’s number from memory, fearing the worst even while she prayed that her friend would pick up and that everything would be all right.
“Hello?” Grace asked in a drug laced haze.
“You’re alive!” Michelle shouted thankfully. “I’m so glad you’re ok. I’ve been so worried.”
“Where are you? I came home and you weren’t here. It’s been over a week,” Grace accused.
“I’m somewhere safe. Listen, you need to find somewhere to hide out for awhile. Don’t go back to the apartment. There are people after me, bad people, and they might hurt you to get to me.”