by Jane Jamison
“Oh, we’re werebears all right.” Connor dared to take another step closer. “You’ll find out when we shift and tear your throats out.”
“Try it and I put a hole in Brynn.”
Lizzy’s mouth fell open. “Bobby, what are you saying? Why would you shoot my sister?” Panic enveloped her, making her body tremble. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”
“He’s taking Liam with him.”
“Liam? That’s Liam?”
“It is. And if we try to stop him, he’ll shoot me.” Anger fired inside her, driving away the tears. “That’s the kind of man he is. He’s hit on me every chance he got and now he’s trying to take away one of the men I love.”
“He hit on you?” Lizzy grabbed Bobby’s arm, but he shook her off. “Was she telling me the truth? Did you hit on my sister?”
“More than once, Lizzy.” Her sister had to believe her over him, especially now that he was showing her his true colors. “I turned him down flat every time. Hell, just the other night I tried again. That cramp he had? That cramp was because I kicked him in the balls. I tried to tell you, Lizzy, but you wouldn’t listen. I let you down by not trying harder, but I’m not going to let Liam down. Not ever.”
“Bobby, is this for real? Did you try to sleep with my sister?” He didn’t have to answer. The realization of what he was wiped finally sank in. “Fuck you, you bastard. How could you do that to me? How can you do this to us? To my sister?”
“Back off, bitch. I’m doing her a favor. She’s fucking these things and I’m ending it.” He shrugged. “As for us? We’re through. I never cared much for you in the first place. If you hadn’t paid most of the bills, I’d have left you before now. Go stand beside your bitch of a sister and shut the hell up.”
Lizzy’s mouth worked, but she didn’t say anything else. Instead, she hurried to Brynn, yet kept a small distance away from Liam. “I don’t understand. How could I be so stupid?”
Her sister was in turmoil, but she couldn’t make her a priority. Not when Liam was still in danger.
“Shift, Liam. Do it now. He can’t take you with him if you’re a man.” She hoped she was right, but she wouldn’t put it past Bobby to do it anyway. Then he’d force Liam to transform in front of an audience. Hadn’t she wanted to do the same thing? Hadn’t she captured one of them to prove he was a werebear? Shame and guilt flooded her. If she hadn’t come into their lives, they’d be safe.
She’d guessed right.
“Change. Go ahead. But you’re still going inside that cage.” Bobby jerked his gun toward the cage. “Everyone, grab hold and get it loaded on the truck.”
“Like hell we will.” Finn’s voice had gone even deeper, signaling his bear coming to the surface.
Bobby lifted the gun to his shoulder. “Then I guess Brynn gets the first bullet.”
They had no choice but to do what Bobby wanted. Both women and the men took hold of the heavy cage. They pushed it outside then slid it up the ramp and onto the truck.
“Good job, boys and girls.” Bobby laughed then motioned at Liam. “Get moving, shifter. And don’t think about running unless you want her to get hurt.”
“Fuck off, asshole. Our brother’s not going anywhere.”
But Connor’s threat didn’t work. “You’ve got one minute. After that, if you haven’t gotten inside that cage as a bear or a man, I shoot her.”
“You’re a grade-A asshole.” Tears streaked Lizzy’s face. “I should’ve seen it before now. They’re not the animals. You are.”
“Screw you, bitch.” Bobby smiled, his evil intent in the gesture. “I’m not going to say it again. Inside the cage.”
Ignoring the threat, Connor and Finn moved forward, putting themselves in front of her and her sister. But she couldn’t see either of her men or her sister hurt. She’d done enough damage to their lives.
“Liam, you have to do what he says.” She clutched his fur. “Please believe me. I’ll get you free. One way or another, I swear it.”
Liam’s golden-amber eyes lifted to hers. He understood, and more, she sensed that he forgave her. She prayed he’d trust her to keep her word.
Lowering his head, Liam lumbered up the ramp, then into the cage.
“No, Liam. Don’t.” Connor stalked toward the cage, but stopped as Bobby set his aim back on her. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
“I guess we’ll see who’s right about that. Doc, knock him out. Tranq him.”
“No. Damn it. He’s in the cage. Why drug him now?”
Finn’s face was a mask of pain and worry, reflecting the agony she felt. “Please, Bobby. You’ve got what you wanted. Finn’s right. There’s no need to sedate him.”
Bobby motioned for Doc to go ahead and shoot Liam. “I’d rather be safe than sorry. He’ll sleep like a baby until we reach Dallas.”
“You’re never going to make it to Dallas.” Connor fisted his hands. Whether out of anger or to keep from shifting, she wasn’t sure which.
Doc aimed his gun at Liam, paused, then pulled the trigger. The tranquilizer gun boomed inside the barn, sending the birds nesting above into flight. Brynn hugged Lizzy to her as she watched Liam growl then slowly sink to the floor of the cage.
“As for you two. Leave or I’ll figure out some way of taking you along.”
Connor held Finn back as he started toward Bobby. “We’ll get our brother back. You can count on it. Even if we have to bring the entire clan out to help.”
“The entire clan? So there are more of you? Perfect.”
She’d known Bobby was a louse and unworthy of her sister, but she’d never realized just how terrible he really was until then. He was willing to shoot her, dump Lizzy, and cage Liam.
“Finn? Connor? Please go.” She pleaded with them, putting all her emotion into her eyes, her face, and her body. “We’ll get him back. I promise you we will.”
“You heard her. Better get while the getting’s good.” Bobby laughed as Doc moved beside him.
Connor and Finn weren’t ready to leave her or Liam behind, but they’d do it for her. They moved in a semicircle around Bobby, ready to pounce if they got the chance.
Finn paused and looked at the unconscious Liam. “Don’t worry, bro. We’re not giving up. We’ll never give up.”
* * * *
“We can’t let them take Liam.”
Finn took the truck at breakneck speed toward the main road, away from the rental home. “We’re not going to. But we need to figure out how to get him back and fast. Once they’ve reached the highway, we’re fucked.”
“We could’ve taken him.”
“Yeah, we could’ve. But at least one of us would’ve gotten shot. Maybe even Brynn or Lizzy. We couldn’t risk one of them getting hurt.”
Connor twisted around to stare out the back windshield. “They’re getting ready to leave. Damn it, Finn, turn around.”
“Not a chance. We can’t come at them head-on. But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up. I’m not going far, either. In the meantime, call Earline and see who’s at her diner. Tell her to get some men together and meet us between here and the highway on-ramp. I’m hoping we won’t need them, but if we do, they can keep them from getting on the highway.”
“Done.” Connor pulled out his phone and punched in the number to Earline’s Eatery.
Finn’s mind raced. He barely registered his brother’s voice as he spoke with first Earline and then Jadon Barberson. If his plan worked, then they wouldn’t need anyone’s help. But it was good knowing he could count on the others to back them up.
“Now what?” asked Connor.
Finn jerked the truck off the road and onto a gravel side road. “We wait.”
“Wait? No, we have to do something.”
“Think about it.” He shifted toward Connor. “Do you remember when we were kids and I stole that bottle of sleeping pills from Dr. Wallis?”
Connor looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “What does that have to do with
anything? Keep focused on getting Liam back. Did Mom drop you on your head as a baby?”
He ignored the jab, knowing his brother’s insult came out of frustration and worry. “Do you remember what I did with those pills?”
Connor closed his eyes, his jaw working as he tried to keep his cool. “You put them in Liam’s hot chocolate.”
“And what happened after he drank it?”
Connor dragged a hand through his hair. About halfway through the motion, however, he stopped, finally getting the gist of Finn’s question. “He dozed off for a little while, then woke up. Then he stomped the shit out of you.”
Finn grinned. For the first time since Bobby’s arrival, he finally felt like they just might make it. “Yeah. But if a bottle full of very powerful sleeping pills couldn’t keep him out for long, then I’m willing to bet a tranquilizer meant for a regular grizzly won’t, either.”
“That’s a bet I hope you win, but what then? He wakes up and finds himself still locked in a cage.”
“He wakes up and he gets out.”
“Naw. We couldn’t get out, so why do you think he’s going to be able to?”
“Because, dear brother, when we got you out of the cage, we tossed the lock away. The door slammed shut, but it doesn’t have the padlock on it. Without that, Liam just might be able to force the door open. Especially since he’s going to wake up madder than a hornet up a dog’s butt.”
“You’d better be right about that because here they come.”
“Duck down.” Finn slumped low in the seat, staying just high enough to watch the truck bumping over the hard path from the house and onto the main road that would take them to the highway.
* * * *
Brynn held back the tears she so desperately wanted to turn loose, but that wouldn’t help Liam. Instead, after watching Bobby and Doc get into the truck, she darted into the house and snatched up her keys.
Lizzy was at the door, coming inside when she flew past her. Her sister’s tears hadn’t dried up yet, but Brynn figured she was probably still in shock. Not only had she found out that the man she was going to marry was a world-class bastard, but she’d learned that werebears really did exist.
She didn’t blame her sister for what Bobby had done. In fact, all the blame was hers.
She should’ve made Lizzy understand about Bobby a long time ago, never giving up until she did. She should’ve never wanted to catch a bear. She shouldn’t have rented a cage in the first place, and oh, how she wished she hadn’t gotten one that would roll up a ramp and onto the back of a truck.
If the men had told her what they were earlier, would all this have happened? Still, they’d asked her forgiveness for that and she’d given it. And who could blame them? They’d had no idea how she’d react once they told her. If their situations had been reversed, she doubted she’d have had the guts to tell them a secret like that for at least six months.
Again, she found blame in herself. She should’ve begged harder for the men to show her what they were. Hadn’t she had her suspicions? But after three months of her sister not believing her, she hadn’t had the nerve.
She’d made so many mistakes, but she wasn’t going to make the mistake of letting Bobby take away one of her mates.
No one’s going to take them away from me.
“Get in the car, Lizzy.”
Her sister paused as though to ask why, then ran after her and threw herself into the passenger seat. Just as Brynn had the key in the ignition, the noise of tires on gravel turned her head.
“They’re back.” Lizzy already had her door open.
Did they get Liam back? And yet, as she threw her body out of the car and rushed toward them, she could see that he wasn’t with them.
No. Please.
“Get in,” called Connor.
She doubted that they’d expected Lizzy to jump in, too, but they didn’t say anything against it. Instead, Connor pushed Lizzy into the back seat, then held out his hand to help her in.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, a surge of the connection flowing through her. “I’m fine. But why aren’t you going after Liam?”
“We had to make sure you were all right first.”
She squeezed over the console and into the seat beside Lizzy. “Did you see where they went?”
“Yeah. It’s the only road leading out of Shatland to the highway.” Finn threw the truck into reverse, then stomped on the gas pedal, casting dirt and gravel into the air. “If they make it that far before we catch them, we have a few friends waiting to head them off at the pass.”
They took the pickup at bone-jarring speed, hitting every pothole along the way.
Just as Brynn was about to give up on catching them, she sighted the truck ahead. “There it is.” She squinted at the figure in the back. “Look! It’s Liam. He’s back in human form.”
The tarp Bobby had thrown over the cage flapped in the wind. Liam reared back, then slammed his body against the door. The cage shook, then rocked upward as the truck hit a pothole. Liam landed on his ass, but got back onto his feet.
He’s okay.
Her breath rushed out of her. Until that moment, she hadn’t let herself think about what Bobby might’ve done. If he’d realized that Liam was back in his human body, that the tranquilizer had worn off, he would’ve stopped and shot Liam again.
“How’d he come to so fast? I’m sure the doc or vet or whatever the hell he is would’ve had a strong dose in that gun.”
“More than likely, he packed it with enough knockout juice for an ordinary grizzly.” Finn’s grin was back, filled with relief mixed with joy. “But we’re not ordinary grizzlies.”
“He’s right. I guess it’s our werebear metabolism, but it takes a lot more to put us out. At least for more than a few minutes.”
She reached over the back of the seat and stuck out her hand. Conner took hers, giving her the comfort she badly needed. “But what now? Can he jump off the truck without hurting himself? It’s going really fast.”
“Faster than it should go if he gave a shit about our brother’s safety.”
Connor squeezed her hand and the connection whipped through her, singing into her like a live wire.
“Don’t worry. Liam will change back before he jumps. It’ll be safer as a bear than as a man.”
“We’re lucky Bobby didn’t know the padlock was off the cage.” At least that much had gone right.
“So you noticed, huh?”
She laughed, even though anxiety still filled her. But at least there was hope now. “Of course. A lock’s missing and I notice. The men I love being bears? I wasn’t so fast on that one.”
“The men you love, huh?” asked Lizzy.
Hoping her news wouldn’t cause more pain for Lizzy, she nodded. She’d found three men while her sister had lost the man she was going to marry. “I do. I love them more than anything.”
“But so fast?” True to her nature, Lizzy rebounded, ignoring her own loss to celebrate Brynn’s. “But what does time mean anyway? I knew Bobby for a long time, and yet, now I realize that I didn’t really know him at all.”
“You’ll find the man”—she glanced at Finn and Conner—“or men who are meant for you. I just know it.” The sadness in Lizzy’s eyes cut her to the bone.
“I don’t know about that.” Lizzy turned away, trying to hide her face as another tear slid over her cheek.
“Look. He did it.”
Lizzy was forgotten at Connor’s declaration. The door swung open as Liam pushed it aside, then held onto the side of the truck. “Is he going to shift?”
“Give him time, baby. He’ll go as soon as he knows we’re ready to slam on the brakes.” Finn lifted a hand to Liam, telling him he was good to go. “I wouldn’t want to run him down.”
She met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Ha-ha. You’re so funny.” Yet, with relief pushing out the fear that had held her hostage, it was funny.
“Oh, my God. It’s real. He’s ch
anging.”
Brynn saw the same awe, the same fascination on her sister’s face that she’d felt earlier. “Yeah. I know. Even though you know it’s real, you have to see it to really believe it.”
Liam’s transformation went faster than the one she’d seen. In under a minute, he’d changed. His huge bear claws dug into the wooden floor of the truck as he lifted his head and roared.
Judging from the sudden swerve of the truck, Bobby had to have heard the growl. He knew Liam was awake and very angry.
He roared again, then jumped.
“Shit!” Finn pounded his foot against the brake. The pickup went into a skid, sliding to a stop a few feet away from the enormous bear.
Brynn piled out after Finn and Connor, then ran as fast as she could to Liam. His being in his bear form didn’t stop her. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her, even as angry as he was. She ran into him, careless of how fast she was going. Her arms wrapped around him and she buried her face in his thick fur.
“You’re safe. You’re safe.” The words became a mantra repeating in her mind.
His moan came from deep inside him, echoing against her face. If she didn’t have to, she’d never let him go.
Growls split the air, pulling her away from the sanctuary she’d found buried in Liam’s fur. She held on tighter, wishing all the trouble would stop, but it was no use to try.
“Hurry up, Doc. Get ready to shoot.”
Chapter Nine
A defiant Bobby stood, feet apart, his rifle aimed at the two bears that had been Finn and Connor. Lizzy’s back was against the pickup, her hands flat on the hood. Doc, looking like he was frightened enough to wet his pants, ran the distance from their truck to Bobby’s side, then tried to act as bold as Bobby. But the shaking of the tranquilizer gun gave him away.
“You’re forcing my hand.” Bobby lifted his rifle. “What’s it going to be?” He squinted at them. “Can they understand me while they’re like that?”
She straightened up, anger wafting its strength into her. Some way, somehow, it was going to end once and for all. “Yes. They can. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to tear you apart. Leave, Bobby, and take your so-called expert with you.”