Her heart pounded in her rib cage. She struggled, but he overpowered her by main strength. She fought down panic. She couldn't let herself fly out of control over this. He would finish kissing her and then he would let her go. What could he really do to her, after all?
She couldn’t just lie here and let him kiss her, though, not after that kiss she shared with Jude. Did this cretin think he could steal something that precious from her? Her natural spirit flared, and her rage exploded out of her arms. She shoved him back with all her might. “You pig! Get off me! You might be the law around this town, but you’re no law to me. Get out of my way. Don’t ever touch me like that again.”
He waited until she strode past him. She almost made it back to that comforting glow of light in the street. In a flash, he lunged and caught her by the hair. He yanked her back so hard her feet flew out from under her. She would have landed flat on her back, but his fist in her hair held her up.
She screamed, but he already hauled her back into the darkness. His other hand clamped over her face to block out the sound. He dragged her kicking and fighting between the saloon and the hotel where no one could see them.
He swung his arm around and hurled her into the alley. His fingers unlaced from her hair, and she spun free. She gathered a lungful of air to scream for help when her back struck something solid. It gave under the pressure of her weight. That was no wooden wall behind her. She didn’t have to turn around. A man’s menacing chuckle rumbled in her ear.
She looked back over her shoulder, and a man’s crooked grin gleamed in the dark. She started to turn around to face him, but he grabbed her arms and wrenched her around the other way to face Luther advancing down the alley. She gasped in horror when three more men emerged from the shadows.
She burst into maniacal fits of struggling, but they caught her by the arms and legs and wrestled her off the ground. They started to carry her farther down the alley. A door opened in the wall. Just enough light came through it to see it coming closer. They hauled her toward that opening where a flight of stairs sank under the ground.
What waited for her down those stairs? She couldn’t find out. Once that door closed on her, she would never get away. They could do what they wanted with her. Panic took over. She couldn’t fight all these men at once. Another hand stopped her screams before anyone could hear them.
In a last desperate bid for freedom, she bared her teeth and bit down hard on the hand covering her mouth. The man jerked it away with a muttered curse, and a fist slammed into her face. Stars blinked before her eyes. Just for a second, she hung limp in their arms. She couldn’t’ fight anymore.
Then, out of the vacuum of space, the iron tang of blood touched her tongue. It called up memories from the primordial past. She understood that taste. That taste meant prey. It meant death. It meant war.
What happened next occurred so far away Lily couldn’t even really remember it. Her mind shimmered and disappeared. Nothing remained but blood and rage. Something monstrous exploded out of her deepest being. Her skin suddenly stretched too tight over her bones.
Her blind eyes cleared, and she could see in the dark once again. The buzz in her ears died away. She could hear everything in and beyond the alley. She heard the men breathing against her. She heard a horse stamp behind a house across town. She heard Luther’s steps striding down the alley toward her.
Her whole body seethed in murderous fury. Her skin split apart, and the monster in her soul lunged through the rip. The men tumbled aside in all directions, and Luther started back in surprise. Lily twisted in mid-air, but she didn’t fall to the ground. She jumped free, and four furry feet hit the ground. Her claws scratched the dirt underfoot. She opened her jaws and let out a thunderous bellow. Lily Cunningham ceased to exist, and the raging she-bear launched herself straight at Luther.
She would have ripped his throat out then and there if the man closest the street hadn’t happened to rise on his hands and knees at that moment. She hit him broadside in the chest. She slashed his neck open with one swipe of her fangs, and he tumbled out of the way.
That moment of reprieve gave Luther the chance he needed to scuttle out of the way. He skirted his fallen comrades and ducked through the door. Lily wheeled to give chase, but the other three attackers already started getting up to run for their lives.
Chapter 5
Lily rushed upstairs and burst into her hotel room. She snatched her dresses off the chair and crammed them into her case. She tossed in hats and stockings without folding them. She shoved everything inside and slammed the lid. She grabbed her hat and cloak and handbag and raced out the door again.
She kept her steps as quiet as she could running back downstairs. She had to get out of here fast, but she could never let the whole town know what she was doing. She knocked on the manager’s door without pounding it with her fists.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes. “What’s this all about?”
She breathed low under her breath. “I’m sorry to wake you at this time of night. Could you please have your boy bring my case downstairs?”
He blinked the dust out of his eyes. “What do you want to bring it downstairs for?”
Lily humphed. “I’m sure that’s my business and none of yours. Here. Here’s a dollar. Have him bring it down right away, and I’ll be back in two shakes to pick it up.”
She walked away without looking back. She pinned on her hat while she strode across the street. She didn’t see or hear anybody, but that would change just as soon as Luther told somebody what happened. Then they would come after her. She had to disappear before that happened.
Once she got across the street, she bolted toward the livery stable. Her heart skipped a beat. She should have left this rotten town behind a long time ago. She zipped around the corner, but her heart sank when she saw the forge boarded up and locked for the night.
No one answered her knock. She could pound until she woke the whole street. Ferguson the blacksmith probably lived miles away in a house of his own. She turned around, but nothing but black dark surrounded her on all sides. Her breath caught in her throat. Now what could she do?
Without some kind of vehicle to carry it, she would have to leave her case behind. She needed one thing out of it. That case contained a folio of documents giving her power of attorney to purchase land with her father’s money. She could walk away from everything but that.
She headed back toward the hotel to get it when shouting voices echoed through the streets. Shadowy figures flooded into view. Lily plastered her back against the livery stable and hid in the shadows. Luther marched down the middle of the street with a rifle slung over one arm. He pointed toward the saloon. “Check the alley. I don’t suppose she’s still there, but it won’t hurt to look.”
Lily swallowed down a sob. She couldn’t get back to the hotel with those men in the way. She would have to run for it. She would have to leave her papers behind and hope for the best.
She backed around the corner. The dark would cover her tracks. The men would never find her to make a circus act out of her. She cocked her ears to listen where the men were moving around town. She started to relax, but she snapped alert when she bumped into something in the dark. It wasn’t solid like a wall, but giving and warm. She whirled around and came face to face with Jude Farrell.
Lily’s hand flew to her heart. “Jude! You gave me a turn. What are you doing in town at this time of night?”
The glimmer of light from a nearby window caught his gleaming eyes. “I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing sneaking around in the dark?”
“I came to ask Ferguson…I mean… Oh, bother. I might as well tell you the truth. I came to borrow that trap again. I need to pick up my case from the hotel.”
He arched one eyebrow. “Are you going somewhere, Lily? Don’t forget you planned to come up and visit my Homestead tomorrow. What happened to that?”
Lily passed her hand over her eyes. “I’m sorry, Jude. I won’t be able to make it t
omorrow. I have to leave town right away. It’s an emergency.”
His face hardened. “I thought we had an understanding, Lily. What’s the big emergency, that you would run away like this?”
Lily wrung her hands. She did her best to keep her voice from wheedling too much. “I’m so sorry, Jude. I really wanted to visit your place. I would do anything not to run away from you. I really would. It’s just that…something happened, something unforeseen. I’m in danger here. I have to get away.”
His shoulders swelled out, and his hands balled into fists. “If you’re in danger, let me help you. Whatever’s threatening you, I can protect you from it.”
She took a step closer. The words rushed out of her so fast she couldn’t stop them. “No one can protect me. I have to get away before…”
Just then, another storm of voices shattered the stillness. Jude guided Lily close to the wall where the shadows hid them. He peered into the street to watch. A few men hurried back and forth. Two of them stopped in front of Luther. “She’s not there, but we found her tracks leading back to the hotel.”
“Her case is all packed by the door,” the other added.
“She’s trying to get away,” Luther declared. “We have to find her and bring her in.”
“What’s she done?” somebody asked.
“She turned into a bear right in front of us,” the first man replied. “We tried to wrangle her into the scullery, and the next minute this huge bear lunged into our faces. Hoyle’s mangled corpse is still bleeding in the alley over there.”
“That’s impossible!” the second man exclaimed. “How could a woman turn into a bear?”
“We all saw the same thing,” Luther chimed in. “Whatever she is, she’s no woman. She’s a menace. She’s a sorceress and a devil. We have to find her and string her up before morning. That’s the only way to deal with something like her.”
Lily collapsed against the wall. Her heart thudded in her chest so she could barely breath. Jude went very still and quiet during this speech. He waited until Luther and his men dispersed on their quest. Now he knew the truth. He wouldn’t try to stop her leaving. He would get as far away from her as possible, and she would leave this town just as alone as she entered it.
Jude turned around and faced Lily with a very different expression on his face.
Lily couldn’t look him in the eye. “Good-bye, Mr. Farrell.”
She started to turn away when Jude caught her hand. “Come on. You’re coming with me.”
“Where are we going?”
He stole one more peek around the corner, just to make sure the coast was clear. “We’re going up to Bruins’ Peak. You’ll be safe there.”
Her head shot up. A mixture of curiosity and knowing haunted his face. His eyes searched her soul, but no words would explain the mysteries written there. He took her hand, and without a word, he steered her into the dark behind the livery stable. Lily bumped into his wagon in the dark.
Jude groped along the sideboard to the feed box on the tailgate. He fished a key out of his pocket and unlocked the box. He eased back the lid and heaved out a full 100-pound sack of grain. He balanced the sack on the wheel rim. “Get in. You can hide in here while I drive you out of town.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Hide…in there?”
He measured the box with his eyes. “It’s big enough if you curl up small. I’ll lock you in, and if anybody stops me—which they won’t—they’ll never think to look in there.” He chuckled under his breath, but that chuckle gave Lily no comfort. It made her blood run cold. “No one in this town will bother me.”
She stared into the dark feed box. Hide in there? A single gunshot sounding in the distance made up her mind. Whatever else she did, she had to get out of this town alive. Nothing else mattered. “What will you do with the grain?”
He nodded towards a shed standing against the stable. “Ferguson stacks his feed sacks in there. I’ll put it with the others. No one will know the difference, not even Ferguson.”
“You’ll be out of a sack of feed,” Lily pointed out.
“I’ll come back for it when no one is looking. This is more important than a sack of feed, anyways.”
She let out a shaky breath. “All right. Thank you.”
She climbed in. The box was larger than she expected, and she had no trouble curling into a ball. Jude took the sack away, and when he came back, he took hold of the lid. “Ready?”
She nodded, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer. Her throat ached, and her head spun with the blood pounding through it. She prayed to God this worked, or they would both be dead.
For one brief instant, she stared up at his head outlined against the stars. He stared down at her, coiled helpless and terrified in the dark. She couldn’t see his eyes. What was he thinking right now?
His breath hissed through his teeth, and he whispered, “All right. Here we go.”
He lowered the lid and blotted out the world. Lily’s awareness shrank to a tiny square of blackness. The key snapped in the lock. A moment later, the harness jangled and the horse clumped out into the street. Voices bubbled in all directions, but Lily couldn’t make them out. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead on her knees. She had to trust her life to this strange man.
He knew the truth about her, and he still wanted to help her. With his standing in this town, he took as much risk as she did if he got caught helping her. What sort of a man did that? He couldn’t still be interested in her after what he heard.
She couldn’t think about that. She had to stay alive. The wagon bumped and pitched. The voices died, and nothing remained but the constant rattle and thump of the wheels on rough ground. The night rolled away, and Lily lost all awareness.
Chapter 6
A week later, Lily came to the door of Jude’s big log cabin at the Homestead on Bruins’ Peak. She shaded her eyes against the setting sun. She smiled when Jude’s wagon trundled up the road to stop in front of the stable.
Lily ran out to meet him. She wore a gingham work dress and a calico apron, and she wore her long golden hair tied up in a knot behind her head. She dried her hands on her apron as she ran. “There you are. You’ve been gone long enough.”
Jude smiled down at her from the wagon seat. “I had to take my time, but it was worth it in the end. Look what I brought you.”
Lily gasped when she looked over the side of the wagon box. Her case stood in the corner, exactly the way she left it at the hotel. She clasped her hands to her heart. “You shouldn’t have taken the risk.”
“There was no risk. Luther doesn’t know where you are, and they called off the search three days ago. You’re free and clear.” He hopped down to the ground. “Besides, you couldn’t leave those papers behind. It would take months of writing letters to get them replaced when I could just walk in there and get your case.”
“Did the hotel give you any trouble?”
“I just told ‘em I had word to put it on the stage and send it on to Burkes Road station. They didn’t ask any questions.”
Lily ran her finger over the case seams. “I never thought I’d get it back. Thank you.”
“Forget it. It was nothing. Now move out of the way so I can carry it inside.”
She beamed at him. “After that, get washed up. Supper’s on the table.”
“There’s one more thing I need to do before supper anyway.”
She glanced over. “What’s that?”
“This.” He scooped his arm around her waist and kissed her.
Lily jumped away with a laugh. “Naughty boy.”
His cheeks glowed, and he hoisted the case onto his shoulder. Lily hurried ahead to the cabin, and he set the case inside next to the bed.
Lily bustled about the cabin and set the big iron bake oven on the table. A cup of flowers stood in the windowsill, and the floor sparkled. Jude stretched his shoulders and looked around. “This place never looked so good. You’re hired.”
Lily laughed. “I gu
ess you didn’t have time to clean much when you lived here alone.”
Jude sat at the table set for two. “You’ve sure settled in nicely. You act like you belong here.”
Her eyes shone down at him. “I feel like I do belong here. I feel like this is the place I’ve been looking for.”
He slipped his arm around her waist. “Stay here, then.”
She rested her hands on his shoulders. “Stay here? Then you would have to keep sleeping in the barn. That wouldn’t be fair, after you did so much work to build this house. I already feel bad about sleeping in your bed while you rough it in the hay loft.”
He hugged her belly against his chest. “I mean it, Lily. Stay here with me. We can both be happy, and I won’t have to sleep in the loft anymore.”
She broke out of his embrace. “Stop talking and eat your supper before it gets cold.”
He let her go and turned to the bake oven. He ladled stew onto his plate and started eating while Lily got the cornbread from the fireplace.
She took longer than she should have so she could steal a glance at him from across the room. Stay here—with him? She thought about it dozens of times over the past week. She never met a man she’d rather stay with, but one question still plagued her mind.
Was he a Bruin like her? She still didn’t know for certain. He almost certainly knew about her after what he heard from Luther, but he never gave any clue. She could only guess.
One thing she knew. She was head over heels over him. His every glance gave her a twittery thrill in her guts. He kissed her and held her hand, but he always behaved like the perfect gentleman. She would never care for him and want him and dream about him this way if he wasn’t a Bruin like her.
She studied his profile in the firelight. The evening darkened outside the window. His brown hair flared around his ears and merged with the beard covering his face. His big burly hands moved over the table with practiced ease. What would he look like as a bear? What would he smell like? She walked through the woods with him. What would it be like to ramble over these mountains with him as a bear?
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