Jules swallowed. “I’m here now,” she forced out the words. “I can be yours again.”
“Oh God, Jules, I want it,” he cried, his voice rough with need. “I want it so bad. I want you. We could’ve been amazing, you and I. We could’ve been a power couple. Could’ve taken over this whole fuckin’ country.”
“We can still be that.”
Nick’s face hardened. “No, you see, Jules. You’re too late. You screwed it all up.”
He stepped back and Jules welcomed the separation. She sucked in a breath as he pierced her with his black hole eyes. “I was pissed about what you did. Running from the cops like that. I can’t think of anything more stupid in my entire fucking life.”
He tossed his hand in the air. “But I forgave you. I was willing to put it all behind us. Business is business, but love is sacred. I phoned up my good friend Ansell to find you and offer you protection. I couldn’t wait to have you in my arms again. But then Ansell revealed something to me... he said you’d shacked up with two bears. Two. Like a little slut, you fucked two strangers the first night you met them. What a dirty little whore.”
His mouth tightened into a thin line. “And that is something I can’t forgive, sweet Jules. I have no interest in risking my life, my business, my entire livelihood all over a lying, cheating whore.”
Nick’s words pierced her with his bitterness. She gritted her teeth. “It was a mistake, Nick. Tell me what to do to make it right again.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” Nick stated coldly. “Remember what I told you a couple years back? No one fucks with me and lives to tell about it.”
A frigid shiver ran down her spine, but she steadied herself with resolve. “You mean when you killed Jake?”
Nick smirked. “I had to do it. Not because I couldn’t forgive Jake for his mistake. I could’ve. But because I wanted you to see it. I wanted to show you what I was capable of. To hopefully discourage you from ever betraying me. But apparently, it didn’t work.”
Jules suppressed a smile.
Nick shrugged. “It’s too bad. Jake was a good guy. I miss having him around. He died for nothing because of you.”
Jules lowered her eyes, feigning guilt and anguish.
“And now everything comes full circle,” he smiled wickedly. He glanced at Tony and nodded. “Give us some privacy, Tony. I want to enjoy one last fuck with my little doll before I take her out back and put a bullet in her head.”
37
The rental car’s tires screeched against the pavement as Carter jerked around a corner. A large warehouse came into view and his intuition prickled. This was the place. They had stopped at several bars, questioning dozens of seedy looking men about Nick Ellis until one wasted biker blurted out the location of Nick’s central office.
They raced down the street, but as they approached, something caught Carter’s attention. He pressed the brakes, eyes fixed on the scene.
A group of men emerged from a side alley. It was a swat team carrying machine guns. They stealthily swarmed around the entrance, taking positions. One man gestured silently, then another kicked in the door, and they stormed inside one by one.
“Carter— what is this?!” Max asked.
From the intersecting street, four police cars veered into view, slamming on their brakes right in front of the warehouse. Sirens whined as cops rushed out of the vehicles with their weapons drawn.
“Fuck, they’re making the arrest!” Carter cried. His heart seized in his chest. If Jules was in there, she would certainly be hand-cuffed and arrested along with the rest of them.
Max roared, barreling his fist forward and punching the rear-view mirror, sending it tumbling down until it was hanging from a single wire.
“Fuck, Carter!” he hollered. “We lost her!”
Carter’s chest hollowed into an empty pit of despair. He sunk down, grasping the steering wheel and pressing his forehead against it, fighting the nausea brewing inside him.
This was it. They’d lost their chance to be with their mate. Assuming she wasn’t already dead, she’d be taken from them and shipped off to some grimy prison to be locked up for God knows how long.
The bear inside him cried out helplessly.
Jules’s stomach clenched as Tony stepped out of the room. Nick approached like a viper about to strike, his eyes narrowed to slits and his lips curled into an evil sneer.
Jules’s heart hammered in her chest as he raked his eyes down her body. She felt exposed and violated standing there with her blouse splayed open and jeans bunched above her knees.
He took a step forward, reaching his hands out to fondle her breasts, when a loud crash and a commotion of voices and yells echoed throughout the warehouse.
He whipped his head towards the source of the noise. “What the fuck is that?!” he cursed, pushing open the door with his shoulder.
Immediately a man’s voice barked: “Hands up! On the ground, now!”
Jules pulled her jeans up and crossed her blouse over her chest, clasping her arms around her. She stepped out behind Nick and put her palm up when the guns turned towards her. The men in black swat uniforms dismissed her casually and went to work handcuffing the criminals on the floor.
Nick was on his belly, hands clasped behind his head, with a machine gun pressed into his shoulder blade.
Jules knelt in front of his face and smirked.
He craned his head up, his eyes burning with impotent rage. “You little bitch!”
Jules laughed, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. “Oh, Nick. No one fucks with you and lives to tell about it, huh? Well, that may have been true for a while. But you can’t keep hurting people, Nick. You’re not untouchable. Fuck with enough people, and eventually you’ll push them past the breaking point.”
“What the fuck you talking about?”
“You were right. I got tired of running, Nick. Not from the law. I got tired of running from you. I got tired of living in constant fear. Waking up every day filled with dread. But you can’t hurt me anymore, Nick. You have no control over me anymore. You have no control over anybody.”
Nick tried to spit in her face, but his saliva just dribbled out of his mouth and down his chin.
Jules recoiled, disgusted. She stood and maneuvered her way through the bodies until she reached the front door. She stepped outside, her face meeting a gust of fresh warm air, a welcome change from the gritty, oppressive stench of cigarette smoke and fear that lingered inside. Her blood vibrated in her veins and her head spun from adrenaline.
Detective Carlton stepped forward, hands propped on his hips, nodding with satisfaction. “You did it, Jules. Good for you. The sound came in clear as day.”
She smiled with pride as she fished out a tiny black wireless sound recorder that was taped to the inside of her bra. She plopped it into the detective’s open palm. “Took you long enough! If you guys waited another ten seconds, I would’ve been in trouble.”
“Nah, we know what we’re doing,” he said, flashing her a cheeky grin.
He slapped her back and she smiled, opening her mouth to reply when something in her peripheral vision caught her eye. Parked up the street was a little green Hyundai, two bulky men inside, talking. One of the men glanced at her, and she could see the deep sky blue of his eyes all the way from where she stood. The other man turned, casting charcoal gray eyes in her direction. Her core erupted with giddy excitement. The men bolted, tearing out of the car like bats out of hell, and ran towards her like their lives depended on it.
Carter practically mowed her over. He slapped his arms around her, squeezing her tight. Max followed, wrapping himself around both of them. Jules felt like her heart would burst with happiness and relief as the three bodies intertwined in a desperate embrace.
“Jules! You’re okay!” Carter cried.
“Why aren’t you arrested?” Max questioned, taking her head in his hands, his glossy slate eyes conveying relief and confusion and anguish all at once.
“I’m so sorry!” she cried, bottom lip trembling. “I had to do it! I couldn’t live with the guilt. I had caused so much trouble for everyone and this was the only way I could think to put an end to it.”
She turned to Carlton with a grateful, quivering smile. “They agreed to let me walk if I helped them in their case against Nick.”
Carter and Max’s jaws dropped in unison. They exchanged a look of bewilderment.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Max asked, the betrayal still lingering.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t let me go. But I had to go, Max. I had to do it for us. There was no other way.”
She searched his eyes, hoping for a glimmer of understanding. He blinked and shook his head, still in shock, as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a tight hug.
He released and glanced down at her opened blouse with concern. “W-what happened?”
Carter stepped forward and gripped her arm, forehead furrowed with deep lines. “Who did this to you?!”
Jules shook her head. “It’s okay! Nothing happened. I’m okay, I promise.”
Carter and Max exchanged a wary glance.
At that moment, a cop dragged a hand-cuffed Nick out of the warehouse. All eyes landed on him. Carter growled fiercely and Max expelled a hot plume of air, tightening his grip possessively around Jules. Nick shot daggers of pure hatred towards all three. As the cop dragged him by, Nick hissed at her, “Fuck you, backstabbing whore!”
Carter reacted in a flash, roaring with fury as he smashed Nick’s face in with a hard fist. Nick’s head flung back, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Blood spilled out of his nose.
“Hey, hey!” the cop reprimanded. Max gripped Carter’s arm and Jules placed a soft palm on his chest, calming him. The other cops looked at the scene and snickered.
“Bastard deserves it,” Carlton chuckled.
Nick stumbled, dizzy from the punch, as the cop dragged him and threw him in the backseat of a cruiser, slamming the door behind him. Nick’s bloodshot eyes bulged as he glared through the backseat window. Jules gave him a mocking wink as deep satisfaction pooled in her belly.
“So that’s it, then?” Max asked. “You’re free?”
“She’s all yours,” Carlton answered him proudly. “We’ll need her back in a few months to testify in court, but other than that, she’s a free woman.”
Carlton grinned as he stepped towards them. “Jules told me all about you two. I’d like to thank you for keeping her safe, and for taking out those men back in West Yellowstone.”
Carter and Max exchanged a nervous glance. “Uh, sir—” Carter stammered.
Carlton held up his palm. “No need to explain. I don’t hold nothing against you. I was a good friend of your uncle’s. I know you two are good men. Good cops. Strong bears. You found your fated mate— I get it. I even put in a good word for you. Had a long talk with your Burke. Your jobs are waiting for you back in Yellowstone, if you want them back.”
Jules thought she’d explode with happiness as she watched their faces light up.
“Oh, god, thank you so much!” Carter exclaimed.
“Don’t thank me,” Carlton said. “Thank this little lady of yours. Thanks to her courage, this story gets to have a happy ending.”
Carter grabbed her cheeks and planted a hard, passionate kiss on her lips. Electricity coursed through her veins as she sank into him. He pulled back, his eyes showering her with unbridled love and affection. Strong fingers laced in between hers from behind. She was tugged away from Carter’s embrace and pulled against Max’s hard body.
He gazed down at her in disbelief. His face softened, creases in his face disappearing. It looked like the weight of the world had just been lifted from his shoulders. As she gazed into his eyes, she thought she could see his color lightening, as if the storm clouds that brewed in his mind were finally lifting and parting, A sliver of yellow sparkled through the slate, like the long lost sun peeking out after days of endless rain.
He leaned down and kissed her, setting her soul on fire. A moment later, Carter tugged on her arm, trying to pull her away. Max grunted and the two bears bickered over her, both of them so eager to show her their love, and neither wanting to let her go for even a second. She giggled and gestured towards the parked Hyundai. She took a hand from each in her own, and the three strolled casually and happily away from the chaos of the sting arrest.
Jules never thought in a million years she’d finally find true happiness among the whirring of sirens and the clinking of handcuffs.
Epilogue
One Year Later…
Jules stretched her arms behind her head as she sprawled on soft cool blades of grass, the afternoon sunshine beaming down and heating her skin. Wispy white clouds drifted lazily across the azure Yellowstone sky. Birds chirped and water babbled over rocks in the nearby brook. All was calm and peaceful, until bickering voices interrupted her reverie.
“That’s not how you do it!”
“Shut up, Max, I have my own special technique!”
A sigh. “There’s a reason why it’s done the other way, Carter. Here, let me show you—”
A baby’s cry pierced Jules’s ears, and her breasts swelled in response.
A woman chuckled. “You boys are hopeless.”
“Shut up, Z, and mind your own god damned business!”
“Hush! Language, Carter!”
Jules sighed, propping herself up on her elbows. “Am I gonna have to come over there?”
She looked over at the three shifters reclining on the picnic blanket a few feet away.
“No, Jules, we got this,” Max assured her. “You rest.”
Jules pushed herself up and strolled over, taking a seat next to Carter. She tucked her legs beneath herself and leaned in close. Half covered by messy golden curls, his glowing blue eyes met hers as he grinned proudly. She glanced down at the bundle of cloth in his arms. The baby suckled hungrily, grunting and whimpering, as Carter clumsily held a bottle to his mouth.
“I think Little James prefers boobs to bottles,” Carter chuckled.
“He must take after his daddies,” Jules joked. She nuzzled her head against Carter’s broad shoulders and gazed at her son. James squealed in protest and pushed the nipple out of his mouth with his tongue. He started to cry, but when he saw Jules he smiled and cooed, the sides of his blue eyes creasing. James had olive skin and jet back hair, with eyes bigger and bluer than seemed possible. At only three months old, he was the splitting image of his two bear daddies. He possessed Carter’s wide-eyed curiosity and silly sense of humor, combined with Max’s brooding, thoughtful disposition. He was big and heavy, destined to become a formidable beast.
Max scooted next to Jules and wrapped a strong arm around her lower back. She turned to him and melted in his sultry charcoal eyes. They were clear and sharp, broadcasting his full trust and devotion with no sign of storm clouds creeping in on their reverie. Jules was proud of him. He’d learned to let go of his deepest fears. He’d emerged from the dark corners of his mind and now walked boldly in the sunshine. He embraced the present and now looked forward, full of zest and confidence, to a hopeful future. Jules was thrilled to be the person to finally put his fears and doubts to rest for good, and to prove to him that true love really does exist after all.
Max threaded his fingers through hers and she shuddered with excitement, blanketed in the loving cocoon of warmth and happiness, between her two shifters... now, three.
“Aww, what a happy little family,” Zariah cooed. “I need to find my mate and make some bear cubs, stat!”
Carter laughed. “You’ll get there, don’t worry, Z.”
“Until then, I’ll just have to live vicariously through you guys,” she said, pulling out her phone and snapping a photo.
Jules blushed, hoping she looked decent. She hadn’t slept much since the baby was born, and usually opted to go withou
t makeup, but her shifters still made her feel beautiful. The pregnancy had increased her voluptuousness even more, but her bears seemed to love the extra weight. The way they kissed her, touched her body, squeezed and kneaded the flesh on her curves. The way they murmured sweet nothings in her ear, and gave her massages and hot baths every night, made her feel like she was the sexiest woman alive.
Zariah winked as she put the phone down. Jules was so grateful to have her around. When they’d finally met, the two formed an instant connection. Carter and Max were still upset with Zariah, but Jules did her best to mend the fences to bring the family together. Zariah gave her medical care throughout her pregnancy, and even delivered the baby. Now she stopped by as often as she could to help out with James and give Jules a break.
Baby James growled, his voice pitiful and high-pitched, and all four of them laughed at the little bear cub who was already showing off his fierce, rambunctious spirit.
Jules’s heart warmed. She and her shifters hadn’t met under the best circumstances, but now she was grateful that it happened the way it did. She realized that it had to happen that way, or it wouldn’t have happened at all. Destiny didn’t bring her mates to her on a silver platter. All three had to fight, tooth and nail, to overcome their obstacles and make a future together, the right way. The struggle they went through only strengthened them and made their bond impenetrable. Just as fate had intended.
Every now and then, Nick would creep into her dreams at night, slithering like a snake, and remind her of dark days past. But he was gone, sentenced to life in prison without parole. Then his entire crew had been systematically tracked down and thrown in the slammer on charges of drug manufacturing, trafficking, and murder. Within weeks, Nick’s entire organization had crumbled to dust.
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