by Kim Fox
Contents
Copyright
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue
SMOKEJUMPERS
Werebear
Part 3
Finch and Jessica
By KIM FOX
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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Contains explicit love scenes and adult language.
18+
Copyright © 2015 by Kim Fox
one
Jessica marked a black line on her bedroom wall for every day she had been locked in her room as a prisoner. That morning she had marked her sixth line.
“Can I get some water?” she yelled through her bedroom door.
“You just had lunch,” the muffled voice called back.
“I want to speak to my brother,” she said.
There was a brief pause. “Fine I’ll get you water.”
Jessica listened to Clay’s footsteps receding down the stairs and tried the door handle. It was locked from the outside. No chance there. She ran to the window and shook the newly installed bars. She was a bear shifter and had incredible strength but if she ripped the bars out of the walls half the house would hear and her brother Kai would lock her in the damp basement instead.
How many more days until she was so fed up of being a prisoner that she would be desperate to try anything? Was Kai seriously going to keep her locked up forever?
Jessica grabbed a fashion magazine off of her dresser and sat down on her bed to read it for the twentieth time. She flipped through the pages and sighed. Every male model had the same face. Sparkling, bright blue eyes that absorbed you in like the water of the most alluring, exotic beaches that Jessica had never visited. The face was long and narrow with a warm, comforting smile with the most kissable lips. Light wisps of gray, feathered his hair, and Jessica leaned back on her pillow and closed her eyes, imaging what it would feel like to run her hands through it.
Her inner bear grumbled and she closed the magazine. Fantasizing like this was hard on her bear. Her bear didn’t understand why she couldn’t just go be with her mate. And that’s what he was. She had no doubt.
Their bears had bonded that afternoon in the parking lot. Nothing else could have explained such an intense reaction. She was in love with a man whom she never met. This feeling of love was the most amazing thing she had ever experienced in her young life but also the hardest.
She snapped her eyes open as the door unlocked. She dashed across her room as the bedroom door opened and Clay threw a water bottle onto the floor.
Jessica snatched the door and tried to wrench it open. “I want to talk to my brother,” she said.
Clay tried to pull the handle closed but Jessica had an iron grip on it. She was a big girl and was strong too, but not as strong as Clay, and certainly not as strong as her brother Kai.
“He’s busy.”
“This is illegal,” Jessica said, wedging her foot in the door and yanking it back.
“Come on Jess, you know I have to follow orders,” he said, shifting his body weight and pulling the door handle back with both hands. The thick oak door was creaking.
“I’m not letting go until I speak to Kai.”
The door groaned and squealed. They both yanked on it and it exploded in their hands with a crack, shattering to pieces. Jessica fell to the floor with a big chunk of wood in her hands.
“What the hell was that?” a booming voice roared. Kai appeared in her doorway, red faced with his nostrils flaring. His ugly, long brown beard hung down from his chin like it was trying to get away from his nasty face. His piercing green eyes stared at her accusingly as his massive body heaved with anger.
Jessica shuffled back on her hands and feet trying to put some distance between herself and her brother.
“Put her in the basement Clay,” Kai said, his voice cold as a corpse.
Jessica stared at the teddy bear on her bed. One of the original black eyes was replaced with a pink button. She couldn’t look in Kai’s direction; any previous confidence had vanished in her brother’s presence. Kai was terrifying, violent and unpredictable. There was no telling what he would do if she voiced an objection. She had been slapped, kicked and starved before but she had never been locked up for so long. He seemed to have lost his mind when he saw her bond with that mysterious man who she felt like she knew intimately.
Whatever his name was.
“I can get a new door and keep her in here,” Clay said, as Kai turned away.
Kai’s hand shot out and clutched Clay’s neck. Clay’s eyes went wide on his blue face as he gasped for air that wasn’t getting passed Kai’s powerful grip.
“The basement,” Kai hissed at him, his teeth extending into fangs. “I won’t have my little sister escaping to mate with the Hudson Crew. Basement. Now.”
Kai dropped Clay and disappeared from the doorway. The color came back on Clay’s face as he looked at Jessica.
Jessica’s head slumped down as she remembered what she wanted to ask Kai in the first place.
I just wanted to know his name.
Finch grabbed a thick rope hanging in loops on the wall of the airplane hangar and reached for the scissors.
“What’s that for?” Amanda asked with wide eyes.
“The back fin-flap is loose,” Finch said. “I’m going to tie it in place.”
“It’s called the elevator,” she replied, taking the rope from his hands. “And it’s supposed to be loose.”
Finch shook his head slowly. He had been a mess the past week. He couldn’t sleep or eat. He couldn’t even fix the most basic parts of an airplane. And that was just him. His bear was a complete wreck, always agitated and furious that he was being kept from his mate.
Jessica.
That name had shattered his life. It had left him a broken mess and he had no idea how to pick up the pieces.
“Sorry. I haven’t been on my game lately,” Finch said.
“Is it the girl again?” Alexi asked. She was sitting on the floor with a cup of tea watching Amanda and him tune up the airplane.
Finch sighed. “Why would the universe present me with such a gift to only rip her away seconds later?” He picked up a screwdriver from the large, open toolbox and walked towards the wing.
Amanda rushed over and rubbed his shoulders. “Why don’t you sit down with Alexi?” she asked, taking the tool from his hand. “You’re obviously upset.”
Alexi smiled at Amanda as he sat down on the floor next to her. “It feels like a piece of my soul is missing,” he said.
“You should go get her,” Amanda said, leaning on the plane and tapping the screwdriver into her open palm. “Sneak into the mill and rescue her from those savages.” She looked up at the ceiling and smiled. “It would be so romantic.”
Alexi shifted on the ground. “I don’t think that’s a great idea,” she said. “You should ask B
eckett to help or maybe just try to forget her and move on.”
“How can I move on?” Finch asked in a panic. “I was put on this earth to love her. You have a bear inside you. Imagine what it would be like to be away from Ellis?”
“Torturous,” Alexi whispered.
“Is it that hard?” Amanda asked. She was the only one in camp who was not a bear shifter.
Alexi nodded. “Did you ever ask Beckett to put a bear in you?”
“No. These are all designer clothes,” Amanda said, holding out her shirt. “I don’t want them ripped. And the transformation process just looks too painful. I can hear your bones popping when you turn.” She made a grossed out face. “It’s disgusting.”
Sander called out for lunch. Finch sighed. Another meal that would sit in front of him untouched. His stomach was in knots.
Alexi gathered her empty mug and stood up. “Ask Beckett,” she said. “He’s our alpha. He’ll know what to do.”
Amanda leaned towards his ear and whispered. “Rescue her. It will be like a fairy tale coming true.” She wrapped her arm around his and pulled him out of the hangar.
The truth is that Finch had tried. He had been back to the mill every night while his crew was sleeping, studying the building, watching the Flint Crew enter and exit, trying to get a glimpse of Jessica. In six nights he hadn’t seen her once.
He wouldn’t stop trying though.
Finch plopped down in the picnic table and glanced down at the elk brochettes in front of him. He picked up his fork and swirled a cherry tomato around his plate while the rest of the crew swarmed down around him.
“Dibs on Finch’s leftovers,” Keene said, staring across the table at his plate. The crew was used to his not eating much anymore and Keene was always willing to help out.
“Still upset Finch?” Ellis asked, sitting down beside Alexi.
“I don’t know what to do,” Finch replied.
“Well the bright side is, old man, that you’ll have Alzheimer’s soon and forget about her,” Quint joked.
Beckett flashed Quint a look and he lowered his head in submission.
Finch forced out a fake chuckle. He hated how he was bringing down the morale at camp but he just couldn’t help it. How cruel was fate that he bonded to the sister of his worst enemy? How could they possibly ever be together?
Amanda took a sip of water and put her hand on the arm of her boyfriend, and the alpha of the crew, Beckett. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you guys could go with Finch and rescue Jessica from the Flint Crew?”
Beckett snapped his arm back leaving Amanda’s hand in midair. “The Flint Crew that now outnumbers us nine to six? That Flint Crew?” Beckett said with a raised voice. “And Jessica, the younger sister of the alpha Kai? The maniac who turns into a vicious Kodiak bear? Is that the Jessica who you’re referring too?”
Amanda nodded and looked at her plate. “Yeah, I believe that’s the ones I’m referring too.”
“And let’s not forget that Matteo is now the second of the crew,” Beckett said, gesturing to the empty spot at his side. “So now Kai knows all of our strengths and weaknesses.”
It crushed Finch to see his crew fighting. Amanda and Beckett both had his best interests at heart and now they were arguing because of him.
“Guys please,” Finch said, standing up and pulling his long leg out of the picnic table. “This is my burden to bare. I just have to learn how to live with it.”
Keene snatched a brochette off his plate as Finch walked away.
His bear ached inside him as he walked to the dirt runway. He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the gray clouds in the sky covering the bright sun with their ugliness.
He pulled his shirt off over his head and slid off his boots. It was too hard being in his human form all of the time. His thoughts centered on her and just made him depressed. He turned away from the picnic table and slid down his pants and underwear.
Somebody whistled.
“Take it all off!” Keene yelled.
Finch ignored him and drew his bear to the surface. He closed his eyes and released the black bear within. His human thoughts were quieted and calmer when he was in his bear form and he needed a break from his depressed mind.
His torso curled in on itself as his muscles stretched and his bones snapped. Finch was used to the pain by now and recently, even enjoyed it. This physical pain gave a quick break from the emotional pain of being separated from his mate. Even though it was excruciating; it was worth it.
His body fell forward and he landed on fully formed bear paws. Finch was a black bear. Hardly the biggest and strongest (that was Keene), hardly the fiercest (that was Beckett), but he was loyal to the core and could hold his own in a bear fight.
He lifted his head and sniffed the air. The smell of cooked elk filled his nose from the picnic table and kitchen in camp. He ran into the forest and turned his head into the wind. There was a herd of deer in the distance. A good chase would clear his bear’s head. He ran forward.
Finch stumbled back into camp in his bear form and headed for his clothes on the runway. Sander was in the kitchen cooking dinner, leaning over a large, steaming pot. Keene was stoking the fire and Quint was crushing grapes for his new batch of wine.
Finch stood on his two hind legs and curled in on himself, his large, black paws shrinking down into pink fingers. Long black hairs receded into his skin as he transformed back into a tall, lanky human.
Beckett walked out of his cabin and made his way over as Finch got dressed.
“I’m worried about you Finch,” he said when he arrived.
“I’m sorry boss,” Finch replied. “I just can’t stop thinking about her.”
Beckett nodded slowly as if he knew the agonizing feeling. “I can’t have you sneaking out at night anymore.”
Finch jerked his head back.
“I can’t have you breaking into their camp,” Beckett continued. “It’s too dangerous. We’re outnumbered nine to six. We can’t start a fight.”
Finch knew Beckett was right. It was wrong to put his brothers at risk. Even if he got caught by himself the rest of his crew would come save him and then someone could get hurt. Or worse.
Finch held his hand up to the pain in his chest. “It feels like my heart was broken and I’ve never even met her.”
Beckett put his arm around his shoulders and walked him back to the camp. “It’s not easy to hear but you have to learn to live with the pain. You have to let the idea of you and her together go.”
“But how?” Finch asked. “How would you let Amanda go?”
Beckett shook his head. “It’s hard being the alpha when you don’t have any answers.”
two
Jessica sat on the stained cot in the basement and stared at the slow drip of water sliding down the cold cement wall onto the ground. She could hear footsteps over her head and muffled, angry voices.
“That’s enough!” Kai screamed, followed by a crash.
Jessica stared up the staircase at the thin light under the door. Please don’t come down.
She sighed in relief when the footsteps stormed away in the opposite direction. Life wasn’t always this hard. I wonder what my life would be like if Mom was still alive.
Jessica’s mother had died nine years ago when she was sixteen; killed by a drunk driver behind the wheel of a Mack truck. Even her shifter healing abilities wasn’t enough to save her from her injuries.
Her Dad pulled a Houdini act shortly after she was born and he hadn’t returned since, so Jessica, being a minor at the time, fell under the care of her horrible brother Kai.
The elders had called him ‘promising’ and ‘a future star’ as he ran his crew of hooligan thugs. He put on a good show for the adults but Jessica had seen the true nature of her brother ever since she was a child. Her pet rabbit, Sniffles, went missing one afternoon when she was eight. She was devastated, looking for him everywhere. She finally found him in Kai’s tree house. He was nailed
to the wall, dead.
That was the first time that she realized the true horrific nature of her brother but it wasn’t the last.
Jessica had her first huge crush when she was thirteen years old, a boy from her class named Lucas. He was a sweet, shy boy with round eyes and dimples. Jessica thought that she was going to marry him.
She remembered one afternoon when his mother chased Lucas from her garden swinging a broom over her head. Lucas darted away clutching a handful of colorful flowers to his chest while Jessica watched from behind the tree across the street. His mother couldn’t seem to catch up with him even though he ran with a limp from a leg injury that he sustained when he fell from a tree as a young kid. He limped across the street, grabbed Jessica by the hand and they ran down the street to safety while his mom watched with a smile on her face from her front lawn. They slowed to a walk and ended up under the stone bridge in town, sitting by the water. He gave her the flowers with a blushing face and asked if she would be his girlfriend.
Jessica smelled the flowers, hiding her own blushing face and wide smile with the big, yellow petals. She was about to respond when Kai and his henchmen Jack, both nineteen at the time, appeared across the river.
“Run,” Jessica told Lucas. She knew what her brother was capable of.
But it was too late. Kai and Jack had spotted them and made their way across the bridge.
“Don’t hurt him,” Jessica pleaded as her brother jumped down the slope. Kai ripped the flowers out of her hands and turned towards Lucas, like a lion turning on his prey.
“Did you give these to my sister?” he asked, stepping towards him.
Lucas just stood there before the large, imposing figure and stared with a white, ashen face. Kai tossed the flowers into the river. The slow current of the river took them downstream. Jessica’s stomach dropped as she watched them leave to a safer place.
“Are you trying to fuck my sister?” Kai asked, grabbing Lucas’ shirt and slamming him into a tree.