Bruins Peak Bears Box Set (Volume III)

by Sarah J. Stone

  She stood rooted to the ground. She couldn’t take her eyes off him, even now. He crouched on the ground below. An iron chain manacled his ankle to a wooden post. He bowed his head against his knees. His bare brown shoulders heaved in the daylight streaming through the high window overhead. He wore no clothes. He was bare naked.

  Blood and bruises darkened his chocolate skin, and a wicked gash slashed into his hair. His fingers tightened against his arms every now and then to turn his knuckles white. Onyx’s heart hammered against her rib cage. She couldn’t be looking down on him like this. She couldn’t think of him in the ring. That cowering thing down there couldn’t be the same magnetic man she first saw out in the street.

  The door in the wooden wall across the ring creaked open. Hunter and Cole entered and closed the door behind them. Cole set a burlap sack on the floor at his feet. Hunter walked up to Abel and kicked him in the leg. “Wake up, bear.”

  Abel jerked, but he didn’t lift his head. His shoulders rose and fell faster, but he didn’t move. Hunter hauled back his foot and kicked him harder, in the ribs this time. Abel yelped, but still he didn’t look up. He contracted tighter into a ball.

  Hunter seized a handful of Abel’s hair. He yanked Abel’s head back to expose his face. “I’m talking to you, NightShade. You’ll answer when spoken to.”

  Abel showed the whites of his eyes staring up at Hunter. His lips curled back, and his breath grated through his teeth. Onyx hugged her arms across her chest. Her guts twisted in knots, but she couldn’t tear herself away. If she belonged anywhere in this crazy world, she belonged here.

  Hunter tossed Abel’s head down. Abel pitched forward on the ground and came up spitting out a mouthful of dust. He coiled himself into his protective crouch again. Hunter threw up both hands and stormed away cursing.

  “I told you so,” Cole said. “I’ve been trying all night. He won’t respond to anything. He just sits there, half-dead.”

  Hunter snatched up the sack. “I’ll make him respond. Stand back and watch this.”

  He stuck his hand into the sack and brought out a lead pipe. He hefted it in his hand and shot Cole a toothy grin.

  Onyx bit back a cry. Her soul ached, and her teeth chattered. She wadded up handfuls of her shirt against her stomach, but she couldn’t stop the racking tension killing her.

  Hunter stormed up to Abel. Without stopping, he swung the pipe back over his shoulder. He seized it in both hands like a baseball player swinging a bat. He planted his legs wide, and the pipe whistled through air.

  Onyx didn’t stick around to see any more. She raced up the stairs and burst into the fresh air. She never stopped running. She plunged into the woods. In half a second, she shifted and flew through the trees all the way back to Midnight Moraine.

  She didn’t stop running even when she shifted back in the street outside her home compound. She dashed between the houses and exploded into Jordan and Ebony’s house. Ebony’s head shot up from the book she was reading at the kitchen table. “What the….? Onyx, what are you doing here? What’s the matter?”

  Onyx marched across the room. She kicked open Ebony’s bedroom door. She flung open every door in the place and even poked her head out the back. “Where’s Jordan?”

  “I don’t know where Jordan is. Why? What do you want to see him for?”

  “I don’t want to see him. I want to talk to you, but I can’t do that if I don’t know for certain he’s not around here somewhere. Where is he? Is he coming back anytime soon?”

  Ebony closed her book and set it aside. “He won’t be back for a while. He went out with his uncle Caleb somewhere. I don’t expect him back until this afternoon. There. Does that satisfy you? Now what’s this all about?”

  Onyx crossed the room, came back, and walked away again. She couldn’t settle down. She shook her head and waved her arms in silent conversation with herself. “I’ve got to talk to you, Ebony.”

  “Yeah, you said that already. What do you want to talk to me about?”

  “I’m going crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing. I think I might have to mate for life.”

  Ebony’s startled face cracked open in a wide grin. “That’s great, Onyx. I’m happy for you.”

  Onyx shook her head and walked away. “You don’t understand. It’s Hunter.”

  Ebony laughed. “I thought you would say that.”

  Onyx slammed her fists down on the table. “Don’t you get it? He and Cole caught a NightShade last night. Don’t ask me how they did it. They’ve got him chained up in the ring right now, doing God knows what to him. It’s Abel Black, Ebony. They caught Abel Black.”

  Ebony blinked. “Abel Black?”

  Onyx nodded. “I was standing right there. They beat him up. I ran away, but I’m sure they’re down there right now. I have to help him, Ebony. I might be out of my mind. I’ve been all wound up about him since Jordan brought him down here the other day. I can’t think straight, and I can’t go with Hunter anymore. I tried. I really tried, but touching Hunter makes me sick now. I keep thinking about Abel, and now he’s down there in town right now. They’ll call a new ring, and they’ll kill him, Ebony. I don’t care what you say. I don’t care what anybody says. I have to help him somehow. I have to get him out of there. I have to stop them from killing him. I don’t care if Cole is my brother. I don’t care about Hunter, either, not after what he just did to Abel. You should see him, Ebony. He’s all shut down. He won’t even respond when they beat him up. He’ll die in that ring. I know it.”

  Ebony stared at her. All of a sudden, she waved both hands in front of her. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, little girl. Just hold it right there. You’re talking too fast. Are you telling me you hooked up with Abel Black—Abel Black the NightShade Jordan brought down here the other day? Is that what you’re telling me?”

  “I didn’t hook up with him. I didn’t even talk to him, and he wouldn’t even look at me after he first saw me standing with Cole and Hunter. I saw him once. That’s it. I swear to you, Ebony. We never did anything. I never touched him.”

  “Then why are you talking about mating for life in the same sentence with him?”

  “How should I know?” Onyx shrieked. “How should I know what’s happening to me? I looked at him once. How can this be happening after that?”

  Ebony sank into her chair. She stared straight in front of her. “Holy God!”

  Onyx fell on her knees in front of her sister. “You have to help me, Ebony. You have to make this not true. I can’t have anything to do with him. Every time I see him, I feel like I’m about to die.”

  “You can’t have anything to do with him,” Ebony replied. “You can’t mate with a NightShade. That would be the end of the world.”

  “I have no intention of mating with him,” Onyx told her. “Mating with him would be my worst nightmare. I just want to help him. I have to get him out of that ring.”

  Ebony shuddered. “If what you say is true and they’ve got Abel chained up in the ring, we have to tell Jordan.”

  Onyx shot forward to seize Ebony’s hand. “No! You can’t tell him.”

  Ebony struggled to her feet and dragged Onyx with her. “I have to. He’s my husband, and another NightShade in the ring would destroy all his efforts to bring peace to these mountains. We have to tell him, no matter what.”

  “Please, Ebony,” Onyx begged. “Please don’t tell him. I couldn’t stand that.”

  Ebony threw back her head. “Do you want to help Abel or not? Jordan can call up twenty strong men right now to get Abel out of that ring. We have to tell him. We can’t let Hunter and Cole kill Abel.”

  Onyx did her best to block her sister from getting to the door. “Don’t you see what this means? I’ll never be able to live this down. If you tell Jordan, Hunter and Cole will find out that I ratted them out. They’ll never forgive me.”

  Ebony elbowed past her. “I’m going anyway. I have to find Jordan and tell him. I don’t care what you do, and I don’t care about the cons
equences. I have to go.”

  Onyx let out a pathetic whimper, but Ebony paid no attention. She shoved Onyx out of the way and walked out the door.

  26. Chapter 6

  Abel kept his eyes closed against the light. He didn’t see the sunbeams tilt sideways and fade with the onset of evening. He smelled nothing but the sweat and blood sticking to his skin.

  He curled into a tighter ball, but he already ached all over from tensing his muscles so long. He had to get out of here somehow. He had to fight down the panic and the pain. He had to think. He focused his mind on one inner point of light. He trained his mind on that to the exclusion of all else.

  He blocked out the pain and formulated a plan. These fools would keep him chained up in here until they got their ring together. They would fill the place to the rafters with people, and they would bait him until they killed him.

  He cast his mind back to every detail Hazel ever told about her encounter with Azer Mackenzie. Hazel said Azer defeated the Midnight by surprising them in the ring. He jumped into the middle of them and fought his way out. Abel made up his mind to take a page out of Azer’s play book.

  He heard his captors talking to each other, and he remembered Hunter Faulkner and Cole Archer from the peace march. They could beat him all they liked, but they couldn’t do too much damage. They had to keep him strong and fit so he could fight in the ring when the time came.

  They wouldn’t beat him up any worse than they already had. With any luck, they would leave him alone until the grand event. He couldn’t be sure they didn’t have this place under guard, though. He had to use the element of surprise.

  No NightShade ever fought back before. Most of them died in terror. He would exploit that. He would be the first to fight back, but he would fight back when they least expected it. He would play possum and make them think he gave up, just like all the NightShade who ever died in this place before him.

  He already made a good start. He lay still and let them beat him black and blue. He didn’t answer their jibes. He made no move to respond at all. He would keep that up and break out at the last minute. Yes, that was a good plan. That was the way he would do it. He would kill as many Midnight as he could on his way out, or he would die fighting.

  Once he got his plan worked out, but he snapped alert when he caught himself starting to relax. He couldn’t let his guard down for a minute. Even now, he heard footsteps coming closer. So they were coming back after all. He might have known.

  The door creaked on its hinges. He didn’t look up, but his instincts told him the day faded into dusk outside. The world started settling down to sleep. How long would they keep him awake before they left him alone? Did they plan to deprive him of sleep so he couldn’t defend himself in the ring?

  To his surprise, a soft female voice spoke to him. “Abel.”

  He didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t have to look to know who it was. No one would speak to him like that and say his name like that except one person. His whole being quivered in agony, but he refused to move.

  She tried again. “Abel, look at me.”

  He bent his forehead against his knees. That voice stabbed into his guts from somewhere far beyond the reaches of time. He couldn’t ignore that voice. If she asked again, he would have to uncurl from his ball and face her. He didn’t want to do that. He wanted nothing to do with her. He summoned all his strength to make his throat work. “Go away.”

  She took a step toward him. “I’m trying to get you free, Abel. Jordan is trying to get you out of here. We’ll stop this ring before it starts. You won’t have to face those men. Can’t you at least look at me? I’m trying to help you.”

  In spite of himself, his eyes opened. He raised his head a fraction of an inch, but he managed to stop himself from looking at her. If he looked at her, he was lost. “You want to help me? Get out of here and leave me alone.”

  She let out a soft gasp. “Why do you want me to leave? I just said I’m going to help you.”

  “You’re bad news. Do you hear me? You’re death to me. Get out of here and don’t come back. That’s the best thing you can do for me.”

  “I can cut that chain. I can set you free right now. You’ll be back on Renegade Ridge in a matter of hours.”

  “They would hear you. Are you trying to get me into more trouble? Forget it, I said.”

  “I won’t get you into trouble. I promise. Sit up and look at me, just once.”

  He clamped his eyes shut. Those words spoke to his heart in the devilish voice of temptation. He couldn’t fall for it. “Stop trying to help me. I can take care of myself.”

  “How are you going to do that? Those men will kill you. You understand that, don’t you?”

  “They won’t kill me. I can get out of here on my own. I’ll leave a trail of bodies behind me with no help from you.”

  She froze in place. “You would kill them?”

  “Of course I would. Why shouldn’t I, after what they’ve done to me? Don’t start telling me you want to get me out of here so you can save their stinkin’ lives. I should have known after I saw you standing with them at the peace march. You’re one of them, aren’t you? You’re here to protect them, not me.”

  “Cole Archer, is my brother,” she told him. “You can’t blame me for trying to save him.”

  Abel lay still and didn’t move. Her brother? Aw, nuts! He forgot about that. Why did this thing have to turn into a big complicated mess? Just when he had it all worked out, she had to come along and throw a wrench in his plans.

  “I want to help you get out of here, Abel. I won’t lie to you and say I don’t want to save my brother’s life, too, but I don’t really see how you can threaten him or Hunter now. They’ll pack this place with people, most of them Midnight. You’ll never get out.”

  “Then I’ll die fighting. I’ll die with their blood on my tongue.”

  She came one more step near him. She bent down and rested her hand on his shoulder. His body spasmed at her touch.

  “Don’t you feel anything for me at all? Am I in this alone? Is this all just my imagination, making me think about you day and night? What am I supposed to do—leave you here to die?”

  He turned his head away. He kept his eyes shut and his head turned. He couldn’t talk to her. He couldn’t show her anything, especially not how he felt. Wasn’t it enough, him lying here with sawdust caked into his wounds and blood crusted on his ears and nose? What did she want from him?

  If he did feel anything for her—which he didn’t—he would never show it. Never! He would let her brother kill him before he showed any Midnight the slightest mercy or affection. She was a baited hook waiting to rip his guts out. She was a bottle of poison labeled ‘drink me.’

  He wouldn’t look at her. He wouldn’t talk to her. He would pretend she didn’t exist. If he pretended long enough, maybe it would turn out to be true.

  Her voice choked. “Please look at me, Abel. Talk to me. I can’t stand this. I can’t be anywhere but here with you. There’s no life anywhere for me except here. I didn’t want this to happen. I don’t want to be here. I would leave you alone if I could.”

  How long would she go on before she just left? He couldn’t listen to this, but his heart and soul forced him to. His brain screamed for some relief from this torture. How could he listen to her wheedling and begging like this?

  Didn’t she know how much her words hurt? Didn’t she know how much harder she made it for him when she talked like that? How could he make her understand without talking to her? If he talked to her, if he slackened his vigilance one scrap, she would weasel into his soul and devastate him worse than anything else.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when her hand lifted off his shoulder. At least he didn’t have that torment to deal with. She sniffed, and her voice broke in the wrong places when she spoke. “Okay, Abel. I’ll go away and leave you alone. Just remember I’m trying to get you out of here. Okay?”

  He still didn’t reply. He lay inert. He
withdrew as much of his senses from the outside world as he could. As soon as she left, he could disappear the rest of the way into oblivion. He never had to think about her or her idiot people again.

  A shattered sob came from across the ring. “Bye, Abel.”

  The next minute, footsteps ran up the stairs and vanished into the dark. He waited until he knew for certain she wouldn’t come back. His stomach jerked, and his already tense body contracted across the middle. Racking spasms tore him apart. He compressed his lips to stop them trembling, but he wouldn’t let the sobs out. He swallowed them down into nothing.

  27. Chapter 7

  Hundreds of people mobbed the house in Burkes Road for the first bear-baiting ring in months. The news flew along the by-lanes and back streets. People came out of the woodwork, even when Cole and Hunter put out word they were charging three times what Riley and Raven charged.

  Long before ten o’clock, long lines of people waited with their money in their hands to get into the basement. They handed their cash over to Hunter and filed down the stairs. Once inside, all bets were off. People jeered and shouted and talked back and forth. Everyone had something to say about the rugged black man crouched in front of his post down in the ring.

  Onyx went early with Cole so she didn’t have to pay. One more person wouldn’t make that much difference. She found herself a seat near the parapet. Men crowded around her, but no one gave her a sideways glance. No one in the place had eyes for anything but Abel.

  Onyx sat in her chair and stared down at him. Hunter and Cole dressed him up in a ragged pair of jeans torn off just below the knee. His bare back spread up in a perfect triangle of muscle and sinew.

  Not all Jordan’s machinations could stop this ring. He and Ebony and their supporters hung out at Riley’s house in protest, but no one cared. They wanted Onyx to come with them, but she couldn’t. She belonged here. Whatever happened today, she had to see it. She had to be a part of it. If she couldn’t help Abel, at least she could be near him.