Bear's Heart: BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (Bear Heat Book 5)

by Natalie Kristen

  “These are the names of the people who were killed in the bombing.”

  She clicked the remote and a shorter list appeared. “And these are the names of the survivors.”

  Dylan saw Jade's name on that list and his entire body tensed. She had nearly died. She could have been on the other list. His bear was getting worked up and a very low, dangerous growl rumbled at the back of his throat. He forced his beast back and focused on what Lindy was telling them.

  Lindy was speaking steadily, clearly, as she ran through the profile of the suspect. “Appearance wise, this man is unremarkable, forgettable. He won't leave much of an impression, and it is easy to dismiss him as harmless. He won't be noticed much. He doesn't receive much attention, from the opposite sex, from his superiors at work, or even at home from his parents. He likely came from a middle-income home, but his parents, most probably his mother, wanted him to achieve more. She saw her son as mediocre, and she was disappointed in him.”

  Lindy paused as some officers scribbled notes. “He lacks ambition but harbors delusions of grandeur. He resents that others are more successful, more capable, more powerful than him. He wants what they have. He wants wealth and position, but he lacks the capacity and capability to achieve what he wants on his own. So he uses others. Manipulates, cheats and preys on others to get what he wants.”

  “What a loser,” Luke scoffed. Some of the uniforms heard him and nodded their agreement.

  Lindy noted their reaction and said, “Yes. He knows that people think he is a loser. And he hates that. He has a warped and inflated sense of entitlement. He thinks he is entitled to riches and respect, and doesn't do anything to earn them.”

  She flashed an artist sketch of a bearded man on the screen. “This is a sketch of the suspected bomber. He is suspected to be one Rickson Moore.”

  Lindy clicked the control again and flashed a sketch of a clean-shaven, light-haired man. “And this is how Rickson used to look.”

  There were murmurs and questions erupted.

  “Are you saying Rickson Moore disguised himself with a beard, and made himself look...well, completely different?”

  “Those two sketches don't look like they're pictures of the same person.”

  “There are no similarities at all!”

  “Are you sure...?”

  Lindy put up her hand for silence. “Rickson is a master of disguise. His real appearance is plain with no distinctive traits. The scar that you see here on this first sketch is fake. He can dye his hair and eyebrows all sorts of different colors. His eye color can be changed with colored contact lenses. A prosthetic nose, fake beard, fake scar, fake tan. He can make himself into a whole different person. That light-haired, clean shaven look? That is likely a disguise too.”

  Lindy paused and went on, “And Rickson Moore used to be called Jason Morell. He changed his name too.”

  “He's a loser and a phony,” Luke spat.

  “And he's a murderer,” Lindy said without missing a beat. “He planted a bomb at Jade Keller's place of work. He injured and killed so many innocent people. He's after Jade, because he thinks she's the one who destroyed his carefully-laid plan. He wants to destroy her future, the same way she destroyed his.”

  Lindy tilted up her chin. “Jade survived. He'll be very angry and bitter and he may become even more violent now.”

  One of the detectives spoke up, “We have already posted a few officers around Dylan Hart's apartment. That's where Jade is currently staying. You think Rickson Moore is going to try to sneak into the building when there are so many officers around?”

  Lindy shook her head. “No. But he's sure to try to get to her, one way or another. And he doesn't care who he has to hurt, and how many he has to kill, to destroy her. He thinks she destroyed his plan, his future. For that, he will destroy her future and her life.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Once the briefing ended, Dylan called home immediately. But no one answered the phone. He got his answering machine.

  Instead of his usual pre-recorded message, he heard Baxter's voice. Baxter was evidently trying to mimic a mechanical voice as he drawled in a robotic monotone: “Hello, we are not here right now. We are somewhere else. Ha. Ha. Beep. Leave your stupid message now. Beep.”

  “What the fuck...” Dylan stared at his mobile phone in utter disbelief. “What the hell is he up to?”

  Gritting his teeth, he punched Baxter's mobile number.

  “Hello darling,” Baxter crooned into his ear. “How's the briefing?”

  “Where the hell are you?” Dylan barked.

  “Oh, it's you. I thought it was Lindy,” Baxter answered lazily.

  “Where's Jade?”

  “Jade? Why, she's right here with me of course.”

  “And where the fuck are you?” Dylan shouted.

  “Ow, my poor delicate eardrums!” Baxter whined. “Okay, okay, don't get your panties in a twist. Geez!”

  “Where...” Dylan began, feeling his left eye begin to throb.

  “We're at Luke's.”

  Dylan frowned. “Luke's?” His eyes bugged. “Luke's apartment?”

  “Where else? Did you think it was Luke's Cafe, or Luke's Pizza Place?” Dylan could just see Bax rolling his eyes.

  “Why are you in Luke's apartment?” Dylan said in a deceptively calm and reasonable voice.

  “For fun and variety, of course. Jade has been cooped up in your bear cave for so long. I thought she should go visit her brother and stay for a bit.”

  “She shouldn't move around so much,” Dylan protested hotly. “She's...”

  “She's well enough. You've been treating her like she's a small fragile thing, Dylan.”

  Dylan opened his mouth, then shut it. Baxter was right this time. That was exactly how he was treating Jade. Like a small, fragile, infinitely precious thing.

  “We've got to mix it up a bit, throw things off kilter, you know,” Baxter went on in that same flippant tone.

  Dylan released a long breath. What Baxter said made a lot of sense, security wise. Moving Jade around might throw Rickson off her scent and throw him off balance. Rickson would make a mistake sooner or later, and they would catch him.

  Dylan scrubbed a hand down his face. He should have thought of that sooner. It seemed his mind really wasn't as clear as it should be. He had to think clearly, with his human mind and not his horny bear brain. Fighting his overwhelming desire and hunger for Jade had been more difficult and draining than he realized. He was trying to keep her safe yet he had to force himself to keep his distance from her. That just wasn't possible. Perhaps he should put in the official request that another Black Bear be assigned to guard her. He didn't want to, but he should do what was best for Jade.

  “Thanks, Bax,” he muttered.

  “Apology accepted,” Baxter said cheerfully. “Pizza's on you. Ask Luke to grab three giant pizzas on his way home. Oh, hang on a minute.”

  Dylan heard Jade's voice in the background. Baxter came back on and said, “Jade says she wants hers with extra cheese. Got the order? Good. Now go give Lindy a big, fat kiss for me.”

  At Dylan's incoherent response, Baxter guffawed and said, “I'm joking! I know you wouldn't kiss Lindy! I will absolutely kill you, and then kill you again, if you did. Just thought I should make that clear. Toodle-loo! Don't forget the pizzas.” Baxter made a kissy sound and hung up.

  Dylan stared at his phone for a moment. He huffed out a short laugh. Baxter was a total smart-ass, but he was doing everything he could to protect Jade. And he was doing everything right.

  When Bax pranked him with that message on the answering machine, Bax had simply said that they weren't there but had cleverly left out any information regarding their actual whereabouts. If Rickson did somehow find out where Jade was and tried his home number, that message would have thrown him for a loop. It would frustrate and confuse him and trip him up.

  He did owe the guy a pizza and a beer..
.perhaps for the rest of his life.

  Dylan looked up to see Luke trying to hide a smile behind his fist.

  “You gave Bax your house keys,” Dylan said.

  “No. Why should I give Bax my keys? I gave them to Jade,” Luke said indignantly.

  Dylan clapped his hands together. “Okay, you heard Bax. Let's go give Lindy that big, wet kiss before we leave.”

  “What!” Luke squawked. “Are you out of your mind? You have a death wish? Bax will...”

  “Gotcha!”

  Dylan smirked and resisted whipping out his phone to capture the expression on Luke's face.

  Without missing a beat, Dylan said over his shoulder as he walked off. “What are you still standing there for? Let's go get those pizzas.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Jade finished washing the cups and cutlery in the sink and wiped her hands. “Does that brat ever do housework?” she grumbled. “His laundry basket is overflowing. And his dirty socks are all over the floor!”

  As she began to put her brother's laundry into the washing machine, Baxter called from the living room, “You shouldn't mother him, Jade. Let him do his own chores! Don't spoil the boy.”

  “But this place is a mess,” she answered as she poured in the laundry detergent and switched on the washing machine.

  “Let him live in his own mess!”

  Jade came out to the living room to see Baxter sitting on the sofa with his feet on the coffee table. He was watching a rerun of a daytime soap opera and seemed very interested in knowing who the tycoon's wife was having an affair with. “Do you think it's the poolboy or the nextdoor neighbor?” Baxter asked, his eyes riveted to the screen.

  “I think it's the butler,” she said.

  “They don't have a butler,” Baxter answered automatically before his lips quirked in a crooked smile. He cocked his head at her and smiled. “You're a lot like Dylan. You have the same kind of wry humor.”

  Jade laughed and turned away to hide her blush.

  She left Baxter to his daytime soap and went to look out the window. Luke's apartment was on the tenth floor and she could see the street quite clearly.

  She caught sight of Dylan's car turning into the street. The car stopped a short distance away and Luke bounded out of the car bearing three pizza boxes.

  Dylan's car moved off in the direction of the car park and Luke jogged merrily towards the building. She watched her brother, noting how broad and muscular he had grown. Luke had always been fit and athletic, but now his build was solid and powerful.

  Her baby brother had really grown up. He had grown into such a handsome, honorable, brave man. She felt so proud of him.

  As she gazed at her brother, she caught a movement at the corner of her eye.

  She saw a white-haired man in a cap shuffling along with a rolled-up newspaper under his arm. He was hunched and looked elderly and frail. But inexplicably she felt goose pimples erupt all over her skin. She felt so cold, and she felt the tightening in her chest, as though a fist was squeezing her heart viciously.

  “It's him,” she wheezed. “Rickson...”

  He had bleached his hair white, and he had gotten rid of the beard and the scar. But it was him. She remembered his frame and his height. And the determined way he hurried forward.

  He had a mission. He had murder on his mind.

  Rickson held the newspaper up and pointed it at Luke, who was still walking towards the building. Luke looked like he was whistling as he spun one of the pizza boxes on his finger. He was always doing that to his textbooks as a teenager, spinning them expertly on the tip of his finger, throwing them in the air and catching them neatly on his finger again.

  Jade's scream was lodged in her throat as Rickson took aim with the newspaper. She knew there was a gun hidden under that rolled-up newspaper.

  While everyone was protecting her, thinking that Rickson was coming for her, he had been training his murderous sights on another target.

  In his mind, she had caused him to lose something that should have been his.

  He wanted her to feel the same devastating loss. And he wanted her to suffer for a long time.

  Killing her wouldn't prolong her pain.

  But killing her brother would.

  They had protected her, guarded her round the clocking, thinking she was the target.

  But the real target was Luke.

  “No!” she screamed as the gun went off.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Dylan was out of his car and running hard for Luke. When he dropped Luke off, he had seen the man with the newspaper. The man's face was hidden under his cap so only the tips of his wispy white hair could be seen. His shoulders were hunched but the way he moved told Dylan that the man wasn't old.

  Instead of driving off to the car park, Dylan pulled his car to a stop just behind a tree. Just when he opened his car door silently, he saw the man raise his newspaper at Luke. In a heartbeat, Dylan was off like an arrow, flying straight for the shooter.

  He leaped on the man just as he fired. The shot went wild, and Luke spun round, miraculously still keeping all the pizza boxes balanced.

  Dylan rolled on the ground and pinned the man down. The man tried to turn the gun on Dylan but Dylan knocked the gun out of his hand and smashed his fist into the man's jaw.

  The man's head lolled and he went limp. Luke ran up and yanked the man's cap away.

  “He doesn't look anything like Rickson Moore,” Luke said, staring at the man in disbelief. “He looked like a harmless old man. I didn't pay any attention to him. Shit!”

  “I made the same mistake when I was a rookie,” Dylan answered, still holding the man down. “Appearances are deceptive, and I was deceived good and proper.” Dylan glared at the man's wrinkled face and muttered, “He really is a master of disguise. Almost fooled me.”

  The man seemed to have lost consciousness, and Dylan loosened his grip for a second to tap at his watch.

  A second was all it took.

  Rickson's eyes flew open and there was a flash of silver.

  Dylan roared with pain and staggered back. There was a deep wound in his abdomen.

  Rickson had scrambled up, and he was holding a dripping dagger in his hand.

  Dylan pressed his hand to his wound but the wound wasn't healing. He had been stabbed with a pure silver blade, and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.

  Rickson crouched and smiled as he stared at Dylan's bubbling, pouring wound. There was a vicious, demented glint of triumph in his eyes as he lunged towards Dylan, his dagger raised high.

  Luke rushed forward, his claws out, but Dylan pushed him away. Dylan raised his arm to block the blow, but the searing pain threw him off balance. He couldn't see quite so clearly and his reflexes were slower than usual.

  The blade sliced across his forearm and face, and Dylan fell back. Rickson kept charging and attacking like a deranged animal, that sinister smile frozen on his face.

  When Dylan stumbled, Rickson bared his teeth in a victorious smile and plunged his dagger down. Luke barreled forward to protect Dylan.

  The silver blade was arcing towards Luke's chest, towards his heart.

  Dylan gave a warning cry, but even as his blood pumped out of him, he knew that Luke wouldn't be able to heed his warning in time. He knew how Luke fought, and Luke hadn't learned to fight dirty. Not yet.

  Dylan used all his strength to throw himself forward. His blood was gushing out of his abdomen and he could feel the wound widening and tearing. But he could still move quickly. He had to. If it was the last thing he did, he would save Luke's life.

  Dylan felt the silver burn his skin, his flesh, his muscles as it plunged straight into his chest.

  He almost passed out from the agony, but he forced himself to finish the fight. Lashing out, his hand caught Rickson's wrist, and he roared to Luke, “Now!”

  His strength was rapidly fading but Dylan refused to let go. He held Rickson firmly
so Luke could make the kill.

  Luke had been Rickson's target. Luke's death would torment and break Jade. The bastard had wanted to destroy Luke and Jade Keller, the two people who had Dylan's heart.

  He loved them. He realized it now.

  He loved Jade as his mate. And he loved Luke as a brother.

  Dylan heard a terrible roar and opened his eyes to see Luke tear out Rickson's throat with his claws

  Dylan's hand dropped to his chest and his fingers closed around the hilt of the dagger.

  Gritting his teeth, he wrenched the silver blade out of his body and let the bloody dagger clatter to the ground.

  Dylan closed his eyes and listened to the muffled, gurgling sounds around him. It was no use trying to talk. He couldn't even let out a feeble groan.

  He heard what sounded like the screech of tires and pounding footsteps. There were voices, an endless torrent of garbled, meaningless words. He thought he recognized some of the voices but he couldn't be sure. Caleb? Thor? Bax? Luke? They were beginning to sound alike.

  Then he heard someone crying. And he heard her call his name.

  He knew that voice. He would know her voice anywhere.

  With his failing strength, Dylan tried to reach for her.

  Jade...my brave, beautiful Jade.

  Please don't cry.

  He wanted to touch her face and dry her tears.

  But he couldn't feel his hand, his arm, any part of himself. He was fading away.

  Don't cry, Jade. Don't cry.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Jade shook her head and refused to let go of Dylan's hand. “No, I'm not hungry. I'm not leaving him!” she said angrily.

  Aubrey sighed and stepped back. She wrung her hands before smoothing them over her nurse's uniform and looked worriedly over her shoulder at Cora, Prisha and Lindy.

  Cora stepped forward and repeated gently, “Jade, you have to eat. And you have to rest. You've been at his bedside for days...”