by Vivian Wood
Then her mouth softened under his, her arms coming up to his shoulders. Her lips parted on a sigh, and her tongue sought his. In seconds the kiss was deep and feral, leaving them both panting. Aubrey moaned against his lips, and it was everything Luke could do not to strip her down and take her right there on the sidewalk. His bear finally relaxed a bit, letting Luke breathe easily for the first time in days.
Though he wanted nothing less than to release Aubrey from his arms, Luke slowed the kiss and then pulled back, looking down into her desire-darkened eyes.
“Get in the car, Aubrey,” he said softly. “We’re going on a trip.”
“I can’t,” she breathed. “I have work, and I don’t have anything packed.”
“That’s where I come in,” Val interrupted, waving a hand to remind Aubrey that she was still present. “I went to your house at lunch and packed you a bag. And I’ve got your work covered for a few days, however long you need.”
Aubrey stepped back, looking up at Luke with an expression that was mixed with fear and longing.
“What is this about?” she asked again.
“I guess you’ll just have to get in the car to find out,” he shrugged, playing it cool.
After an agonizing minute, Aubrey sighed and accepted the duffel bag that Valerie held out to her. Luke grinned as he tucked her in the passenger seat, stowing her bag in the back. His heart felt light, though he knew that this was only the first step. The hardest part was yet to come.
26
Seventeen
Aubrey was quiet for most of the hour-long trip up the coast. Luke drummed his fingertips on the steering wheel and changed the station half a dozen times, feeling fidgety. The city was wearing on him, making him jumpy despite Aubrey’s calming presence. His time in Portland hadn’t treated him too well; he’d regressed and nearly had a full-blown panic attack at the airport.
Aubrey just smiled at him every time he attempted small talk, so he shut up. She unbraided her long hair and combed it out with her fingers, filling the car with her warm scent. Luke shifted in his seat every few minutes, embarrassed that her scent was making him hard as a rock.
When Luke pulled off the highway and turned into a lightly-forested private drive, she watched out the window but didn’t say anything. He stopped the car at the end of the road, a quiet spot where the tree line broke a few hundred yards from the ocean.
“This is us,” Luke told her, hopping out of the car. He opened the trunk and pulled out a tent, two coolers, and a duffel bag to match Aubrey’s. He was bouncing on his feet, the tension inside him expanding, building up restless energy until he thought he might explode.
“Is that a tent?” she asked, eyeing him with suspicion.
“Sure is. Not to worry,” he told her, producing a thick foam pad from the trunk. “It’s going to be plenty comfortable.”
“I don’t really camp out,” Aubrey said, looking down at her heels in dismay.
“Ah, yeah. Valerie packed you some shoes,” Luke said, handing over her bag. Aubrey opened it, pulling out a pair of pink flip flops. She frowned and plucked at a piece of red satin inside the bag. Her eyes lit with recognition after a second, but she just blushed and muttered something nasty about her friend as she zipped the bag closed. She left her heels in the car, slipping into the sandals.
Once she was ready, Luke led her over to their destination. Their home for the night was a broad wooden platform with four tall corner posts. It sat just under the first line of trees, overlooking the white sand beach.
“Okay. There are drinks in the blue cooler, there,” Luke gestured. “Just sit back and watch me work.”
Aubrey obeyed for once, and in minutes Luke had a thick tarp strung up from the posts. He assembled the tent just as quickly, putting the foam pad down inside. He went back to the car for an armful of soft pillows, which he tucked inside the tent.
“What do you think?” he asked, waving to the tent.
“Very nice,” Aubrey admitting, a smile playing on her lips.
“Not done yet!” Luke told her. He made short work of gathering a huge stack of firewood, setting everything up for the campfire he planned after dark. He settled all the bags and coolers in their places, refusing Aubrey’s offer of assistance. Once he was done, he frowned and rolled his neck, trying to release some of the tightness in his shoulders and back. He’d thought that getting out of the city would quiet his bear and ease his own nerves, but it hadn’t helped a bit.
“Hey,” Aubrey called, sitting on the platform next to the tent. “Come sit with me for a second.”
Luke glanced at her, admiring the way her long hair fluttered in the fresh salt air, the early evening sun making the strands gleam like silken fire. He trudged over and settled down next to her.
“What’s going on with you?” she asked, giving him a piercing look.
“Nothing,” he replied, his words the same automatic defense he used with everyone in his life.
“Bullshit,” she said, shaking her head. “You’re so… tense. You’ve been wound up since the second I laid eyes on you.”
Luke blew out a breath. He wasn’t ready to lay his baggage on Aubrey’s shoulders.
“It’s just been a long week, that’s all,” he said. It sounded lame, even to his own ears.
“You need to shift,” Aubrey told him.
“It’s… I can wait,” he edged.
Aubrey scooted off the platform, kicking her flip flops off into the sand. She turned and walked into the trees, glancing back at him plaintively. When her dress hit the ground a few feet away, Luke couldn’t help but follow her. He stripped and changed into his bear form, hearing the familiar creaks and snaps of bone as she shifted just out of sight.
Aubrey padded back to him in her bear form. He stilled as he saw her, spotting the tawny splash of fur at her chest that stood out from the rest of her thick, dark pelt. She was a sun bear, something he hadn’t expected. Aubrey was much smaller than his own Grizzly form; in this shape, she was probably only two-thirds of his size. His bear adored her immediately, recognizing her without a hitch.
Aubrey gave a soft snort, turning and heading off into the woods, leaving him to trail behind. Luke followed, realizing that both his human and bear sides were completely lost on Aubrey Umbridge.
27
Eighteen
Luke finished packing away the remains of their dinner, packing them away in the car. He returned to Aubrey, groaning as he sat down next to her on the tent platform. With a soft wool blanket spread out beneath them and the fire crackling just a few feet away, sitting and watching the last rays of sunlight fade was a comfortable exercise.
“Sore?” Aubrey asked, her voice teasing.
“Yeah. I haven’t really run in my bear form since I was at my parents’ house,” he admitted.
“It’s hard to get a good run when you live in the city,” Aubrey said, her voice wistful. “I have to go out to my clan’s land. It kind of sucks making time in my schedule.”
Luke nodded, though he didn’t have much of a schedule to worry about just yet. Once he took a job in the city and settled into a routine, things would get harder.
“The trip to Portland was pretty rough. I should have called James Erikson and asked permission to run on his land before I went. I just didn’t want to end up on a surprise date with his daughter,” Luke joked.
“It’s hard to say no to Therese,” Aubrey said, twisting her fingers together in his lap.
“Not for me, it isn’t. She’s very nice, but she’s not you.”
Aubrey looked up at him, her brow creasing, but she didn’t directly respond. Instead, she skirted the topic.
“You met plenty of women at my father’s party.”
“And what an event that was. When your father called me, I thought— Well, I’m not sure what I thought. I hoped he was trying to put us in a room together. It didn’t take long for me to see that I was totally wrong about that,” Luke said with a chuckle.
“I was wondering how you ended up there,” Aubrey said, pursing her lips.
“Yeah. Your father is pretty persuasive when he wants to be.”
“No kidding,” Aubrey said. “He’s the reason I went to that stupid social mixer in the first place. No offense to your family or anything, but that kind of forced interaction isn’t for me.”
Luke laughed. He took a deep breath, realizing how much better he felt after a run and some fire-grilled salmon and vegetables. Like any bear, his life grew exponentially harder whenever he was the least bit hungry.
“My mother does love to throw barn parties, but the speed dating aspect of it wasn’t her choice. My dad volunteered her services.”
“Hah! My mom would freak. My dad might be the Alpha, but the house is my mom’s domain. She runs the show there.”
“My mother never argues with my father in front of anyone, even me and my brothers, but she does run our lives. She’s the one who got me the interview in Portland, actually. The company is owned by a friend of the clan, someone who happens to work in the tech side of security.”
“That’s what you do?” Aubrey asked. Luke nodded.
“I do the hardware stuff, all the gadgets.”
“That’s what you did in the Army, then?”
“Yep. Ten whole years of my life,” Luke said.
“So… Portland, huh? When you take the job, you’ll be pretty far away from San Francisco.”
Luke chuckled.
“I like that you assume that I got the job.”
“Well you did, didn’t you?” Aubrey said. It was nice that she seemed so certain of him.
“I mean, maybe. If I did, it’s because of my family connections. I bombed the interview, hard.”
Aubrey looked up at him, wide-eyed.
“How?” she asked, as if such a thing was impossible.
“I had a panic attack about five minutes before I went in. It was so much pressure, and I was thinking about things with you, and I smelled smoke…” He sighed. “Turned out, someone just had a door propped open and there was a food truck parked outside. But I really lost it.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Aubrey said, reaching out to put her hand over his.
Luke gave her a half smile.
“You weren’t there. It wasn’t good.”
He hesitated, unsure whether he should share his coping technique.
“What?” Aubrey asked, watching him closely.
“It’s going to sound stupid, but I use our time in San Diego to kill my panic attacks,” he said.
“Really?” she asked, looking amused.
“Yeah. I think about lying in bed, eating room service steaks with you.”
“And you drank that sparkling apple juice instead of champagne,” Aubrey giggled, reminiscing.
“Yep. If anything, my whiskey experience at my mother’s barn party reinforced that I am a firm non-drinker,” he said.
Aubrey went silent at his mention of the mixer, a dozen negative emotions flitting over her face.
“Can I ask you something?” Luke said.
“Sure,” Aubrey shrugged, her light mood gone.
“After you left your parents’ house the other day, your dad cornered me and lectured me. He was belligerent. He wouldn’t be straight with me, exactly, but he did say something to me. He said, ‘because of Lawrence’, something about some guy named Lawrence.”
When Aubrey flinched, Luke instantly regretted his words. Surely she would withdraw now, refuse to talk any more. Instead she looked right up at him, eyes glimmering with the beginning of tears.
“I guess I do have some explaining to do,” she said, her voice breaking. When Luke opened his mouth to silence her, tell her she didn’t have to explain a thing to him, she shook her head.
Luke could do nothing but sit back and wait for her story to unfold.
28
Nineteen
Aubrey took a deep breath, dropping her gaze from Luke’s face. It was time for her to get the story out in the open, to let him make of it what he would.
“Lawrence is Lawrence Matheison,” she started, pausing.
“Like the Matheison clan in Chicago?” Luke asked. Aubrey blinked, giving a slow nod. Luke was far too clever.
“The same. He’s Anders Matheison’s only son, the heir to the Alpha title.”
Luke nodded but didn’t say anything else. He did reach out and take her hand, wrapping her fingers in the warm strength of his own. Aubrey rubbed her fingers against his, savoring the soft callouses. Luke was strong, and he worked with his hands when he could. He was salt of the earth, nothing at all like Lawrence.
“He’s really good looking,” Aubrey admitted, nearly smiling at the way Luke tensed and bristled at her words. “Settle down. I’m just saying that it’s part of his charm. He lets everyone know that he can get any girl in the world, and when he looked my way… I’m ashamed to admit, it swayed me. I was young and easily impressed.”
She took another breath before continuing.
“He kind of swept me off my feet. Flowers, candy, fancy dates. He took me out on his father’s yacht, all the time telling me how lucky I was, how I was a special girl. I wanted to hear that so badly. Growing up around all my gorgeous cousins, who you’ve met…” Aubrey flapped her hand.
Luke shrugged, noncommittal.
“Well, he bowled me over. It’s funny, because he didn’t actually give me any of the things I wanted in a relationship. He got down on one knee on the fifth date, promised me a huge ring, all that. But he wouldn’t live with me first. He wouldn’t attend any gatherings with my family, only his. He always talked about how he was going to move me to Chicago, and he wouldn’t hear of anything else.”
“And you let that happen?” Luke asked, looking amused. “I can’t imagine that.”
“I had reservations, but everyone else was so thrilled. My parents were over the moon, and the Matheisons were so nice to me. Lawrence brought me to Chicago for a week and dumped me on his mom half the time, pushing us to plan this huge wedding. It wasn’t what I wanted, but everyone kept telling me that the two clans being joined through marriage was this important social event. It made me feel important, and I got caught up in it.”
She stopped for a moment, remembering.
“In retrospect, Lawrence slipped a few times back then. He’d laugh at my suggestions, call them stupid. I brushed it off. He was a terrible flirt, always talking to other women, but when I got mad he’d just flatter me until I let it drop. The big red flag was that he barely ever touched me, no matter how romantic the dates were. He said he was waiting until marriage.”
Aubrey gave a disgusted snort.
“Such a lie, but I didn’t think anything of it. I actually think his mother tried to warn me away a few times. She kept asking me uncomfortable questions, but she was totally cowed by Lawrence and her mate. I actually saw Lawrence grab her and twist her arm once, but she acted like it was no big deal… that’s when I knew things weren’t working out.”
“So you broke it off,” Luke guessed.
“Well, I confronted him about his behavior, and he lost it. Totally dropped his sweet fiance act, called me nasty names. He told me that if I messed things up for him, he’d make me regret it. This was like… four days before the wedding.”
Luke’s jaw tensed, his hands clenching.
“He sounds like a piece of trash.”
“Yeah, well. He was all apologies the next day, but I knew I had to tell my parents what was going on. When they got to Chicago, I sat them both down and told them some of what I’d seen. My dad went ballistic, almost as bad as Lawrence, telling me to shut up and fly straight. My mom was sympathetic, but she assured me that I was just getting cold feet.”
“That’s… I don’t know what to say about that,” Luke said, his eyes flashing with his growing anger.
“They don’t either, now,” Aubrey assured him. “Honestly, the whole thing might have gone forward, regardless of my wishes. It
just snowballed until I couldn’t do anything to slow it down.”
“I hope you left that asshole at the altar,” Luke grumbled.
“We didn’t get quite that far. Lawrence disappeared from the rehearsal dinner, this fancy-schmancy affair. When I got up to go look for him, I found him In one of the back rooms of the banquet hall, balls-deep in one of the bridesmaids he’d picked out for me. A childhood friend, supposedly.”
“I’m guessing he was repentant?” Luke asked.
“Not in the least. Actually he flew off the handle. Called me fat and worthless, told me that I’d better get used to him doing as he pleased, because no mate of his could tie him down. He told me that I was nothing, that I was just a way for him to rule over two clans, some crazy bullshit like that. He grabbed me and started hurting me, just like he did with his mom. I tried to fight back, but I was just so stunned. I didn’t even think to shift,” Aubrey said, her embarrassment acute. “It’s the lowest I’ve ever felt in my life. My dad showed up a few seconds later, and he had to pull Lawrence off me.”
“And your father didn’t kill him on the spot?” Luke ground out.
Aubrey looked up at him. His eyes were blazing now, the yellow in his irises standing out starkly. His fury was so strong that Aubrey could actually scent it in the air, swirling around them, almost chokingly thick. She reached out and stroked her hand down his arm, relieved when her touch seemed to take the edge off his volatile mood.
“Honestly, I think we were both just so ashamed. My dad felt like shit for forcing the whole thing on me, and not listening when I told him what was going on. And me… I was just destroyed. It sounds stupid, but I felt like it was all my fault. Like if I’d been better, Lawrence would have wanted me for me.”