by Milly Taiden
He shoved at the brown, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground. The enemy huffed, kicked at Ky’s stomach and tried to get him off. Ky jabbed his claws into the bear’s arms and pushed him further on his back. He bit the side of the brown’s head, tearing at one of the bear’s ears.
The brown shook, trying to get out of his hold but only managed to get a massive gash on the side of his face. Loud roaring sounded from all over.
“We’ll go!” the brown finally whimpered.
“If you come back, I won’t let you walk out of here alive,” Ky promised, still holding the brown down. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” the other man mumbled between whimpers of pain.
Ky stood and roared loud. A warning to those standing there fighting his men. If they returned, there would be no getting out alive.
The group left. One limped away, the other helped carry the bear Ky had almost killed.
He, David and Liam stood there, watching the intruders go for a few minutes before finally shifting back into their human bodies. They had some gashes, and in Liam’s case, a pretty ugly wound on his side, but overall they were fine.
They dove into the chilly river water to bathe the blood off their bodies.
EIGHT
Back at Ky’s cabin, David asked the question Ky had been dreading. “So when is Nita coming back?”
Those words did what no amount of fighting had done. They opened up gashes in his heart. He couldn’t get in touch with Nita. He didn’t know what was wrong. All he knew was the she’d left and hadn’t even said goodbye.
They sat in his backyard, drinking beer from a cooler. Liam had the grill going and on any other day Ky would’ve thought it was one of the best ways to spend some time relaxing. Not so that day.
“She’s not,” he replied.
“What?” Liam asked, stopping the beer midway to his mouth. He closed the grill top and marched for the picnic table. “Why not?”
“She’s not answering my calls. I don’t know what the hell is wrong,” he growled.
Liam frowned, chugging down on his beer. “She didn’t seem upset at all when we left.”
“That’s what’s killing me,” Ky said, rubbing a hand over the back of his wet neck. “The worst part is I don’t have her address.” He raised a hand when David opened his mouth. “She’s unlisted, I checked everywhere. Why do you think it’s been hard to find her all these years? It’s not like I didn’t try.”
David slammed his bottle on the table. “I got it!” He smiled. “What? I do have a brain. I’m more than just good looks and charm, you know.”
Liam laughed and returned to the grill. “What is it you think you got?”
David smiled at Ky. “How did you find her again?”
“I didn’t. My sister called the Paranormal Dating Agency and somehow got her to come.”
David raised his bottle as if he’d just cured all the world’s problems. “I rest my case.”
“You still haven’t made any sense, cousin it.” Liam took burgers off the grill and brought them to the picnic table.
“The dating people. They have her address.”
The misery consuming Ky suddenly dissipated. “You’re right!” He stood and turned to his house.
“Where are you going?” Liam asked. “Did I just cook all this food for you to leave it?”
“You sound like a wife,” Ky joked, no longer so distressed. “David and his beard will help you get rid of it.”
“Ha ha, real funny,” David said, holding his beard out of the way to take a bite of his food.
“You’re right,” Liam agreed. “I’ll make sure he eats more than the beard.”
“Don’t you have a woman to go get,” David argued. “Quit it with my beard. The woman who falls for me will love it.”
“You and I have to talk,” Liam said, turning back to David. “That beard, bro. It’s gotta go.”
Ky headed for his cabin to dress and get in touch with the woman who ran the PDA. He knew that was the fastest way he could get Nita’s address. But he also knew he’d have to plead his case in person. He doubted anyone would just hand off client information because he was in love. He would lay on the charm when it came to the owner of the service. One thing was for sure: he wasn’t leaving her office without Nita’s address.
No way in hell.
* * *
Ky knocked on the door to Mrs. Wilder’s apartment and tried not to stress. Jess had told him Mrs. Wilder was sort of brusque, but very good at her job. She then proceeded to hug him and wish him luck. When he’d called Mrs. Wilder from the road, she’d refused to speak to him over the phone and said he needed to come to her house if he wanted anything discussed.
The scent of fresh baked honey buns filled his nose. His stomach growled. So did the bear inside him. Shit. He’d forgotten to eat.
Mrs. Wilder’s door swung open to a petite older woman with raised brows giving him the once over.
“My my my. You are every bit a bear, aren’t you?” She whistled. “Check out those big arms. Just enough hair to make a woman want to rake her nails over them.”
He wasn’t sure what to do.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t been hit on by older women before, but this was uncomfortable. And a little scary.
“Thank you,” he said, shifting from foot to foot like a schoolboy.
Mrs. Wilder continued eyeing his arms with renewed interest. “Well come inside. I don’t have all day.”
He snapped out of the weird younger man being eyed by a cougar moment and followed her inside the apartment.
“Go on and sit in the living room. I’ll bring you a snack,” she called out from the kitchen. “I know you big guys like to eat.”
Did he ever. He sat down on one of the large sofas, taking up every bit of space and feeling like a giant. She finally showed up with a tray piled with honey buns. The twiddling of his thumbs stopped.
“Go on and grab one. They’re not gonna bite you.” She smiled. “But I just might.”
He needed to get the information on Nita’s address fast. Mrs. Wilder had that predatory smile that he knew all too well. He took a honey bun, placed it on a small plate and took a bite without making a mess. At least he hoped he hadn’t made a mess of it all over his face.
“So, now that you’re sitting and that bear of yours stopped growling for food, what can I do for you?” She filled a cup with tea and honey and placed it next to his plate.
“Nita. I want her address.”
She didn’t stop pouring her own tea. Instead she nodded and added sugar in complete silence. “And why should I break my client’s trust and give you that information? If she wanted you to have it, she’d have given it to you herself.”
He picked up a napkin and wiped his fingers. “She could be in trouble. Something had to have happened. When she left she said she’d be back and she’s not answering her calls. She hasn’t returned.”
Mrs. Wilder frowned and picked up her cell phone. She pressed some buttons and then waited for a moment. It buzzed. She stared at the screen and put it down. “Nope. She’s fine.”
Fuck! That meant it was him. He’d had to have said or done something to upset her. Maybe she wanted him to outright tell her to stay versus sending her a text.
“Did you and Nita talk while she was there?” Mrs. Wilder asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Yes. Of course we talked. We did a lot of talking.”
She leaned on one of the arms of her seat. “Did you at any point tell her who you were?”
Oh. Shit.
“No. I thought about it at first, but I liked that she didn’t have the image of my scrawny insecure self from high school in mind.”
She snorted and picked up her cup. “You silly boy. If she cared about you at all back then, don’t you think she’d be happy to know you’re the person she’s been matched with?”
He didn’t think of that. All he thought of was her seeing him again as the b
oy who stuttered and couldn’t tell her how he felt.
“Has she changed from how she was back then?”
“Yes. She’s different. More self-assured. Sexy. Still just as beautiful,” he replied.
Mrs. Wilder pursed her lips. “And the time she spent with you, did you keep seeing her as the little girl you fell in love with or as the woman she is today?”
“No. She’s still just as sweet as she was back then, but all grown up. The time we spent together only showed me new facets to the girl I knew. It reinforced what I concluded when I was fourteen. That she’s the one for me.”
It hit him then. He’d fucked up. Big time. Instead of being honest with Nita from the beginning, telling her who he was and how he’d felt back in high school, he’d withheld the information and she’d found out about it.
Mrs. Wilder watched him like a hawk. “You know, I don’t follow society’s rules. I match people based on my gut and a little extra. I’ll tell you this. I know you two are a good pair.” She picked up a folded piece of paper from the coffee table. “Here. And for Christ’s sakes, tell the woman how you feel.”
He nodded and took the paper like she’d given him a sacred document. “I will.”
“Word of advice: cut it with the lies even by omission. Women hate that.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, staring at Nita’s address as if he would magically transport there.
Mrs. Wilder cleared her throat. “So what are you waiting for? Go get your girl!”
He jumped to his feet. Excitement bounced in his chest. “Thank you. Really.”
She smiled and waved at him dismissively. “You can pay me back by sending more clients my way.”
He laughed and marched for the door. “I will. I have two in mind that can use your help.”
“Wonderful,” she said as he ran down the hallway. “Good luck!”
Half an hour later he’d pounded on Nita’s door multiple times. No one answered. He wouldn’t leave until he spoke to her. His phone rang just as he vowed to sit by the door to Nita’s apartment to wait for her.
“Hello?”
“Change of plans bear.” It was Mrs. Wilder. “Your girl is headed to your house. I just heard Tally mention it to her mates. Get your ass in your car and catch up to her. She was very angry when she left,” Mrs. Wilder said. “Try not to make her wait. Might add to her already agitated state and get you into even more trouble.”
“I am on my way now.” He moved toward the building entrance with the phone by his ear. “Do you know why she decided to go to my house?”
“Apparently Tally convinced her to talk to you and hear your side of the story. This is the one for you, bear. We both know it. Fix things with her and you’ll be a happy man.”
“I plan to. I might break some speeding laws to get there but I’ll see her soon. ”
He ran out of the building and hopped in his jeep. He’d reach Nita and hopefully get her to listen to him.
* * *
Nita drove like a bat out of hell. She finally slowed down once the visibility turned low in front of her due to the large amounts of rain.
“Stupid big sexy bastard,” she growled. “Does he think he can just lie to me and get away with it?” She gripped the wheel. “Make me fall in love with him and not tell me who he was,” she mumbled, pushing back the urge to cry. “He is so dead.”
She’d finally given up waiting around trying to figure out what the hell possessed Ky to not tell her who he was. Instead, she was going to confront him head on. Only thing was the weather kept slowing her down. Stupid rain. Why did it have to come down in buckets now that she’d decided to go over there and see Ky face to face.
By the time she arrived, it was dark. She shoved the pepper spray in her pocket out of habit and searched for an umbrella. There was none. The lights in his cabin were on, but nobody came out. Growling internally at the lying bear, she hopped out of her car. Pellets of rain slid down her arms and head. She was soaked before she got a foot away from the car. The pretty dress she’d worn in order to tease the bear clung to her like a second skin. The thing had probably turned see-through. Hair plastered on her skull, she skidded through the mud and grass toward the cabin.
Knowing Ky was usually in the back, she ran for the kitchen entrance and found it locked. What the hell?
She knocked repeatedly. Went as far as yelling but nobody seemed to be around. Then she thought of the creek. It was possible he was there. In his bear body, he wouldn’t care about the rain like a woman with frizzy curly hair would. Her hair was like a separate entity with a mind of its own. She didn’t want to think about the hours it would take for her to dry it, then tame the ‘fro into submission. That was what she’d gotten from her ancestors: gorgeous brown skin and a brillo pad for hair that took herculean strength to keep under control.
Squinting against the harsh drops of cool water, she turned toward the creek and slammed into a body.
She glanced up to meet a very angry face. The apology died in her mouth. She took a step back, but the guy grabbed her by the arm.
“Hey!” She tugged but the guy squeezed harder.
“You’re his female. I scent him on you.” The guy’s voice sounded low and angry. “I’ll show him to fuck with me.”
She glanced down where he gripped her arm. His fingers were claws, digging painfully into her flesh. “What the hell are you doing? Let me go!”
“No. He shamed me in front of my guards. I won’t let it go. I’ll teach him a lesson with you and then kill him,” the man growled.
A car approached from the distance. She couldn’t see who it was, but either Ky was finally home, or someone was coming to visit.
She tugged on her arm again. “Let go you jerk. If he shamed you then you did something to deserve it you asshole!”
Instead the guy pulled her arm harder. She swore he’d torn it out of the socket for a second before he dragged her down the path by the baby cabin.
“You’re coming with me,” the guy yelled. “He beat me in front of my clansmen. I’ll kill you and him.”
What the hell? She glanced over her shoulder, watching another body appear in the distance. She slapped the brute but he didn’t stop.
“Ky!” she screamed his name at the top of her lungs, hoping that it was him who’d just arrived.
The man jerked her harder down the path, pulling her toward the river’s edge. She slipped on the mud, her feet covered in wet earth through her open sandals. Wearing the pretty shoes and dress had been the worse idea she’d had that day.
“Ky!” she hollered as loud as possible.
A massive roar sounded at her back. Then another. Closer. The guy hauling her stopped. He shoved her out of the way and she fell on the mud with a splat. Rain thundered and fell harder.
“I’ll kill you,” the guy yelled at Ky. “I’ll do what my men didn’t when they came to your cabin. I’ll destroy you. Your river will be mine,” he bellowed.
“I let you live last time. I won’t make the same mistake twice,” Ky said through the booming rain.
The moonlight allowed her to make out what was going on. A roar sounded from the stranger and he tore through his clothes with his shift into a big brown bear.
She crawled back and away from him. A glance to her left showed an even bigger black bear running toward them. Ky.
There was no hesitation. He growled and threw himself at the other bear. They tumbled midway down the hill and stood. She got up, rushed to them and watched from a safe distance.
Both men were covered in mud. She only knew Ky by size. He was bigger and louder with his roars. He slapped the other bear hard on the face. She winced at the sound of bone cracking.
The smaller bear bit Ky’s arm and shook his head as if trying to tear a piece of him off. Fear exploded in her chest. She wanted to help Ky. But how? She didn’t have a death wish. She was the human out of the three of them and would most likely die for getting in the way.
NINE
&n
bsp; Nita toed the sandals off her feet. Creeping closer to the fighting bears from the side, she pulled out the pepper spray from her dress pocket. She couldn’t stop staring at the fighting giants. The brown bear was in deep shit. His muzzle was in Ky’s mouth. And Ky was biting down. More sounds of crunching could be heard coming from the two. They clawed at each other’s arms. Huffing and growling, the two bears continued to battle.
The brown did something at that point. He raked a claw over Ky’s muzzle and got him to let go. Ky grunted and roared again. The brown charged. They fell to the ground in a heap of arms and kicking legs. The brown bit the same spot on Ky’s shoulder he’d done before.
Nita winced. She knew that had to hurt. The sounds of pain and anger from both worried her. She might be angry at Ky, but she didn’t want him dead. Oh no, she wanted him very alive to make him grovel and pay for lying to her. Plus she loved sex with him. Hell, who was she kidding? She loved him.
Standing there watching the crazy fight only sealed the deal in her mind. Now he just needed to hurry up and kick the other bear’s ass so she could give him a piece of her mind.
They were on their feet again. Shoving and tugging back and forth. With each movement, they got much closer. It wasn’t safe for her, but she’d decided she had to help somehow. The brown careened forward, pushing Ky straight into a massive tree a handful of feet away from her. Ky fell on his back. Before he had a chance to stand, the brown turned toward Nita. He didn’t charge, there was no need, it wasn’t like she was trying to run from him. He stood in front of her, roared and lowered his giant head level with her face. She didn’t think. His beady eyes stared angrily at her. She raised a hand and sprayed the pepper spray into his eyes. The bear reeled back and bellowed. He shook his head repeatedly, waving his paws around.
Ky tackled the bear from the side. He held him down on the muddy ground and bit down the brown’s neck. The attack didn’t stop. Even when the brown slowed down, his movements tired, Ky continued to bite and tear at the other bear’s neck. He didn’t stop until the other bear quit moving altogether. A cold chill ran down her spine along with a thread of fear. She watched Ky stand and turn to her. Still a bear and still looking mighty pissed.