by T. S. Joyce
Touching him seemed like a bad idea, mainly because Nathan would bleed him. But Nathan wasn’t here, and it felt rude to ignore his kindness. She slipped her palm into the strong warmth of his, and he pulled her up surprisingly gently for such a big man.
“I thought you were Riker because you’re so huge.” As soon as the words left her lips, she wished she could suck them back down into her throat and swallow them.
A man near the fire whistled and the big man threw him a warning glance. “I’m Chase.”
“Anya?” one of the women at the fire asked.
As she stalked closer, Anya’s recognized her long dark hair and open green eyes, and she launched herself at Joanna. She hadn’t known she would feel so relieved to see her, but it felt damned good to know someone among all the strangers.
Joanna hugged her back, squeezing until her back cracked and she buried her face against her neck and wanted to cry. She didn’t even know why she was so emotional.
“What are you doing here?” Joanna breathed, easing back to arm’s length and studying her face in the flickering firelight.
“He threw me away,” she whispered in a broken voice. It was partly true. Mostly true. She wished she could tell her the real traitorous reason she was here, but Nathan would banish her or worse, smudge her right off her family tree if she messed this up.
“Oh, that asshole,” Joanna whispered.
The big man crossed his arms beside them and his face darkened. The openness was gone, and now it was replaced by suspicion that caused a tiny pain in her chest she was helpless to sort out.
“What’s going on?” a man with a bottled water in his hands asked as he strode toward them. This must be the alpha.
“Riker, this is Anya,” Joanna introduced her. “She was thrown out of the Long Claws and has come seeking sanctuary.”
“The Long Claws?” Chase asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Chase,” Riker warned. “Why were you thrown out?”
Everyone quieted, as if they were hanging onto her words and she stuttered. “I-I…”
“You-you what? Came here to spy, that’s what.” Chase’s voice sounded venomous and he took a step toward her.
“Stop it,” Joanna said, shoving him in the shoulder.
Anya’s eyes flew wide. “Joanna,” she admonished. The woman was going to get herself flogged.
Chase didn’t even growl at her and Anya couldn’t stop reeling. The rules she’d known didn’t apply here in this upside down place.
As close to honest as she could manage was best, so she lifted her chin and inhaled. “I haven’t given Nathan a cub, and he said he has no use for me anymore.” Shame flamed her cheeks at the truth of it and she added, “I haven’t had a heat in a year and a half. The alpha of the Long Claws can do better than a sterile mate.” Nathan had said this over and over as she’d pleaded with him yesterday, but his repeated words made her want to curl into a ball and cry. But instead, she held Chase’s gaze and his eyes seemed to soften. Not much, but enough that she saw it.
“You’re Nathan’s mate?” Chase asked.
Kind of? She was feeling confused on what she really was to him but she nodded. Nathan called her his mate, so it must have been so.
“Fan-fuckin-tastic. Get out. Go back to your mate and tell him you couldn’t dig up any dirt here.”
“He’ll kill me if I go back.” Her voice shook because the words sounded so right. Nathan really would kill her if she failed.
“Sounds like your problem,” Chase said. “Not ours.”
“Chase, that’s enough.” The clearing filled with the crackle of power so electric, the downy hairs on her arms rose. “Sit down.”
Chase turned his head but his eyes never left her. His arms flexed over his chest, puffing out the intimidating mass of muscle there.
“Now,” Riker said.
Gaze lingering on her, the giant man sat much more gracefully into the chair than she would’ve expected from the behemoth.
“Surely you know war with the Long Claws is imminent, and we just received a visit from your mate yesterday. We can’t be too careful who we allow near us right now or it could get our people killed. You are more dangerous than you know, even if your reason for being here is pure. Joanna left Nathan two months ago and he’s only become more desperate to make us pay. Now you’re here. Does he know you’ve come to Bear Valley?”
“Probably. He’s killed off most of the other clans who could offer me sanctuary.” The admission was genuine and made her heart pull away from Nathan a little more. Sometimes, he was a monster. What did it say about her that she’d ignored his cruelty all this time? What did it say about her that she was lying to these people he intended to destroy now? Nothing good.
“I’m sorry, Anya. You’ll have to find shelter elsewhere. I feel for your plight, but my people come first.”
A woman rushed from the fire and slid her arm around Anya’s shoulders. “Riker, you said the same thing about me when Jeremy brought me here. She’s in trouble. It’s written all over her face. Look how scared she is. Joanna, can you vouch for her?”
“She was nice to me when I was with the Long Claws,” Joanna said. “Nathan is awful and putting her in his path would be cruel. Every shifter is important, right? That’s what you say at the meetings, but you’re throwing one away by putting her on the street. I can watch her during the day. We can put her on probation until she proves she can be trusted. If she slips up at all, she’s gone.”
The woman beside her smelled human. “She can run cattle with me and Jenny when Joanna is in meetings too.” A human was trying to save her. Today was the strangest day she’d ever had.
“And what do we do with her at night?” Chase asked, bitterness heavy in his voice. “Just let her tramp around the clan collecting data to foist off onto her mate the first chance she gets? Hell no.”
Riker splayed his legs and crossed his arms, stared at her until she looked down at her feet. He seemed to be actually considering letting her stay. “You can watch her at nights,” he said so low she thought she’d misheard him.
“Who?” Chase asked.
“Everyone is newly mated here but you, Chase,” Riker said, twisting to look at the man.
Chase sat rigid in his chair and even in the dark, she imagined she could see red creeping into his cheeks. The smell of anger was thick and heavy on the breeze. “I don’t give a fuck if everyone is mated here but me. That is my choice, and I shouldn’t be punished for it.”
The word punished stung her feelings, but she couldn’t figure out why.
“Your place is big enough for a guest. Since you’re so concerned, and rightly so, you’ll be in charge of her from dinner until breakfast, until I deem she isn’t a threat to our way of life here. It’s not up for discussion.”
The woman next to her sighed a relieved sound and removed her hand from Anya’s shoulder. “Joanna has meetings with Brody tomorrow, right?”
Her friend nodded and shot her an apologetic look.
“So bring her to the cattle barn after breakfast and she can work with me,” the human offered. “Then I’ll escort her back when we’re finished.”
“So, I really don’t have a choice in this?” Chase asked. “I have to allow queen of the Long Claws into my house and babysit her?”
That sounded awful to Anya, too. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a burden.”
Riker didn’t say anything and Chase stood so fast, his chair collapsed behind him. With a feral snarl rumbling from his chest, he spun and strode for the trees.
“Doesn’t look like he’s going to slow down, so you might want to go after him,” Joanna advised. With a quick hug, she said, “I’m glad to see you again, Anya. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Overwhelmed, she said, “Okay,” before bowing respectfully to Riker and throwing a thankful wave to the human. She darted to the police cruiser and snagged her suitcase, then ran for the woods where Chase had disappeared, dra
gging her much abused luggage behind her.
By the time she reached the tree line, Chase was nowhere to be seen. She paused and listened, but failed to hear him crashing through the brush like a man his size should’ve been doing. Crap.
She looked from side to side, scanning limbs and grass for anything broken or disturbed to point her in the right direction, but she’d never been a great tracker unless she was in her bear form, and right now, her inner animal was curled in on herself trembling, just as she’d been doing most of her adult life. She wasn’t the bravest bear.
Aimlessly, she stalked forward, hoping he’d taken a straight path to some trail he knew of. Out of her element and afraid, the woods seemed to quiet as she traveled deeper into the wilderness. The noise of the fireside conversation behind her faded away, and the realization that she was completely alone set a tremble to her hands she was helpless stop. All it took was one bear to find her and she’d be post dinner desert. And speaking of dinner, she was still starving and was beginning to feel weak and clammy. Joanna and the human had smelled like s’mores. She hadn’t had one in years, and her stomach was desperate for anything to satisfy it.
And now she was traipsing through the woods at night in a strange land, with an even stranger clan, and her escort had left her. That oaf!
“Tantrums in grown men are very unsavory!” she yelled in frustration. The fine hairs on the back of her neck rose, and she withered under the haunted feeling of being watched. “Hello?” She stopped and clutched her suitcase handle tighter. “Chase?”
“Unsavory?” Chase whispered against her ear.
She screamed a terrified sound that echoed off the mountains. Defensive, she pushed him, and, awed by her boldness, pushed him again. He didn’t even flinch which pissed her off to no end, so she rattled a volley of flying fists against his hard, and irritatingly sexy chest. Nathan would’ve back-handed her by now but when Chase grabbed her wrists to stop her, the corner of his mouth was turned up like he was amused.
He yanked her closer. “Feisty little spy, aren’t you.”
Struggling out of his grip, she spat out, “I’m not a spy, and you left me alone in unfamiliar woods, you jerk.”
“Jerk?” His smirk deepened.
“Stop repeating everything I say.”
“Your punches are pathetic.” His voice had lost its teasing edge.
Opening her mouth with a ready retort, she stopped herself and frowned instead. “Agreed. I’m not trained to fight.”
“Now why the hell would Nathan send a helpless little thing like you into an enemy clan?” His hand snaked out so fast she gasped, and he gripped her upper arm, then let it go. “You have no muscle at all. Let me guess your bear.”
“Stop it.”
“No, I want to guess, and if I get it right, you tell me why you’re really here. Because, sugar, we both know it ain’t for sanctuary. You might have the others fooled, but not me.” He stalked her, backed her into a tree and put his oversized hand next to her face, trapping her in place. “And when I find out the real reason you’re here, you’re going to wish Riker threw you out of this place to begin with. Koala bear.”
Her inner bear awoke enough to snort in offense. “No, Sir, I’m not a koala bear. Are there even koala shifters in existence?”
“Probably.” His back was to the moon and his face was in shadow, but an eerie glow illuminated his face in a soft light. His eyes were striking when he was angry, but frankly, he was scaring the shit out of her. She pressed further back into the tree as her breath hitched in her throat.
“You aren’t a brown bear, that’s for damned sure, and as submissive as you are, I bet you aren’t even a black bear.” He canted his head and dragged his gaze down her body. “Panda bear.”
“You’re just trying to bait me, sir, and it won’t work.”
“Does your mate require you to call him sir?”
She pursed her lips and looked away. Her relationship with Nathan was none of his damned business. “I’m an Andean bear.”
Chase pulled away like the tree bark had burned his palm. His eyes filled with such anger before he spun around and stomped around a fallen, moss covered log. Her mouth fell open. What did she do? He was the one who wanted to know what kind of bear she was. Perhaps he was mad she’d ruined his game. He didn’t get to guess, so he wouldn’t win any information from her.
She gripped the handle of her luggage and struggled to keep up with him. When the path he blazed intersected with a worn trail, the going got easier but she really wasn’t feeling well now. “Wait up,” she panted. He was almost over a hill and she didn’t want him disappearing again.
He didn’t slow so she began to jog. The suitcase hit every pebble and dirt clod on the path and bounced back and forth, making it nearly impossible to control. No muscle. Well, she hadn’t exactly been required to do anything physical before now. She was mate to the alpha for crying out loud. And Nathan wasn’t known for putting his women through battle. That wasn’t her job. Her job was sex and baby making, and someday when she got pregnant, her job would be to raise his cubs. It was the duty of every bear shifter. It’s not like there were thousands of them left. They were a dying species, so no, her focus hadn’t been on hitting the gym. It had been on pleasing her alpha, as was required of any community courteous shifter. This big dumb imbecile could judge her puny arms all he wanted to, but he was wrong and his priorities were backward.
“Over here,” Chase called from the front porch of a small home off the beaten path.
The idiot had let her pass the house by a lot before he let her know she’d gone too far, so she gave a pathetic sounding growl and made a wide circle, dragging her suitcase through the dirt with as much dignity as she could muster. She was pretty sure both of the wheels were broken.
A far cry from the immaculate stone walkway to Nathan’s house, the path to Chase’s house was designed to break her ankles. She wanted to stomp up to his smug frame, all leaned up against the porch, watching her embarrass herself with his unreadable, disturbingly alluring expression, but she’d seriously injure herself if she tried.
By the time she reached him, she was worked up in a way she hadn’t been in years. Anger was the biggest emotion, followed by hurt, denial, sadness, and fear, all jumbled inside of her like some horrid witch’s brew. Her emotions were swinging far and wide in this new place. No, that wasn’t it. She was worked up because she wasn’t under the disapproving glare of Nathan. And this Chase character seemed to find amusement in her anger, not the urge to dominate her. The want to kick his smiling face shocked her. He could’ve at least offered to help carry the suitcase, and if that was too much, he could’ve walked at a slower pace.
“I’m hungry,” she declared.
“You’re also bossy and entitled. You should’ve eaten on your way in.”
This drew her up short. Usually she was very amenable, but this man was bringing out the worst in her. “I’m not usually so demanding. I’m sorry. You are being kind to offer me a place to stay—”
He snorted.
Clearing her throat, she continued. “I’ve had a long, and quite frankly frightening day, and I haven’t eaten in a while and I let my hunger speak. I shouldn’t have.”
She swayed as the house seemed to slant and Chase grabbed her elbow. “Dammit, lady, don’t you pass out on me.” He dragged her bodily through the front door and helped her to a wooden bench in the entryway.
“Give me a minute,” he muttered.
Clenching her fists against the shaking, she steadied her breathing. Cold sweat dotted her brow, and her skin felt clammy. The dizziness had passed, but in its place was an uncomfortable buzzing feeling. Her bear was fully awake now and in fight or flight mode after he’d grabbed her, and the sensation made her body feel detached and hard to control.
“Here,” Chase said, handing her a tin cup of what looked and smelled like beef stew.
“Thank you.”
His look darkened. “Riker would sp
lit me open if I let anything happen to you before he could figure you out.”
“Right. It isn’t for me. Got it.” She spooned the first bite into her maw and suppressed a groan. It was so good, she wanted to hug the heated mug to her chest. Within moments she had inhaled half of the meal.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked in a very grumpy tone.
“Last night.” No wait, she hadn’t been able to touch dinner because Nathan had just dropped the spy bomb on her. “No, sorry. It was lunch yesterday.”
“Stupid,” he muttered as he walked away.
Anger cracked against her like a resounding battle slap and she stood. “I’m not stupid. I’ve got myself in a stupid situation but everyone makes mistakes. That doesn’t mean I’m less intelligent though, Chase.” She flung his name like a curse.
He spun and glared at her lips with the most peculiar look on his face. “Not you, lady. Your mate is stupid. He’s put you up to whatever you’re doing here, at the risk of your own life, and he sent you to an enemy clan unprepared and hungry. Nathan is a jackass.”
She felt the need to defend her alpha. He had his faults, and he was a mega-prick for sending her here, but loyalty was deeply ingrained in her. And Nathan had made her happy once—for a day at least. She stood. “You don’t know him.”
“So, let me get this straight. You’ll defend a man who is making you risk your life right now? You’ll defend a man who didn’t care enough to feed you. And if, by some slim chance what you say is true, you’re defending a man who threw you away because you couldn’t have a child.”
“Wouldn’t you?” she yelled as tears burned her eyes. “Wouldn’t you throw me away too? He isn’t generally cruel to his mates, Chase, but if I can’t perform my one duty to him, of course he was going to toss me away eventually. Any alpha would do the same. Any man, would do the same.”
He looked disgusted and shook his head slowly. “Your one duty? You have a sad opinion of yourself, lady. No man would do this. Only a coward would. And your mate is the biggest coward I’ve ever seen.”