Wild Fate: A Shifting Destinies Bear Shifter Romance (Black Claw Ranch Book 4)

by Cecilia Lane

  “He looks busy,” Liv said, jerking her chin toward the man behind the bar.

  “Gideon Bloodwing. He’s a dragon shifter,” Jenny whispered. “Fire, scales, wings, the whole shebang. And the owner of the bar.”

  “And Jenny’s next target,” Barry added.

  They found an open table. The guys let the girls claim the seats, but all leaned in close and continued to tease Jenny or point out someone else in the crowd. By the time their drinks arrived, Liv had a swirl of names and recommendations for how to spend her weekend. Hiking and nature walks were a big draw with the town seated in the mountains. The river held a host of possibilities, too. With the weather warming up, prime spots along the lake would go fast in the morning and stay filled long into the night.

  “One of the ranches offers trail rides, too,” Chuck mentioned. “I think they’re here tonight, actually.”

  Liv glanced up at that tidbit of information, then looked where he nodded. One man made his way toward an empty seat at the bar.

  Alex. And damn, if he didn’t look just as good with all his clothes on.

  Liv ran her fingers over her lips. Him living in Bearden wasn’t anything she expected. Even more surprising had been that kiss he laid on her before walking away.

  He jabbed an elbow into the side of one man and twisted away before he could take a punch in return. The group of five sat at the far end of the bar and split their attention between each other and the game playing on a television above the bar.

  Strange. Utterly and totally strange to see him after the years they’d shared together and the ones spent apart. Her heart warred with her head. Hurt and anger and curiosity sparked and mixed together. The hows and whys applied to every step that pulled them apart and put them back in each other’s orbit.

  If she were a believer, she’d say fate played a game with them.

  “Excuse me a moment,” Liv said to the group and dropped to the floor.

  She pushed up to the bar at the opposite end from Alex and his group and ordered three shots of tequila. While waiting, the hair on the back of her neck lifted. She didn’t need the quick glance to the side to know she’d been spotted.

  Well, so what? She had the beginnings of a plan. She could be the bigger person. She hadn’t meant to let him get her hot under the collar.

  Hell, the fire from that kiss still burned through her veins.

  As did the upset anger of him just walking away like he didn’t give a shit about what they’d just done.

  Still. She didn’t want to flame out a candidate during her first week on the job.

  Nor did she want to pretend she didn’t know the man.

  Liv swallowed one shot and slid the empty back across the bar. She needed liquid courage to combat the swirling mess Alex made of her head.

  She sidled up next to him and deposited the shot glasses on the bar. “Alex.”

  “Liv.” Bright green eyes dipped to the glass she nudged closer to him. “What’s that?”

  “A peace offering. We’ve found ourselves crossing paths once again. I wanted to apologize for what happened the other day. I hope we can still work together.”

  “Drink accepted. Apology noted. Scurry back to where you came from.” His eyes traveled from the glass and up her body, lingering ever so slightly on her chest before he switched his attention back to the game.

  “Not happening.” She blocked his hand reaching for the shot glass and slid it closer to hers. Immediately, narrowed eyes returned to her face. “I don’t want you quitting because of me. We don’t even need to see each other at the lab.”

  The blond man next to him leaned back. “What’s that about a lab?”

  Down the line, heads turned and attention swiveled to them. Fuck.

  “You’re working with them?” another asked.

  The one at the end of the row shifted his gaze from her to Alex. “You want to get rid of your bear?” he asked quietly. “That’s what they’re doing, ain’t it? Tansey got asked after she was changed.”

  Double fuck.

  Shifters. She’d been warned about their better senses. And like an idiot, she didn’t keep her voice quiet enough.

  Alex slammed both shots in quick succession and scowled at the others. “Don’t tell me you’ve never had trouble with your bears.”

  “Yeah, but it’s part of me,” the first one answered. “I wouldn’t cut off my arm because I broke a finger.”

  Alex growled, the sound like a pissed off animal warning away anyone who got too close. Liv jerked back, but none of the others reacted.

  He shoved to his feet, fixed her with a disgusted look, and made his way for the door. Everyone in his path hurried out of his way.

  Liv ignored the questions the others peppered her with and pushed after Alex. She’d really stuck her foot in it this time.

  She burst out of the bar door and glanced in every direction. There. He made his way toward a big black truck.

  “Alex, wait.”

  He glanced at her with another disgruntled look and picked up his pace.

  “Asshole,” she muttered. Louder, she called again, “Alex, stop. I’m sorry.”

  Alex spun around, glowing green eyes locking with hers. His features twisted up in a savage snarl as he marched in her direction. Liv’s heart pounded. He pulled to a stop scary close and poked her hard in the shoulder.

  “Fuck off, Liv,” he growled. “You think I wanted them to know any of that?”

  “I didn’t mean for them to overhear,” she defended.

  “You’ve ruined enough of my life. Leave me alone.”

  Liv planted her hands on her hips, all sincere apology forgotten in the remembered hurt that whipped through her. “I ruined your life? Oh, that’s rich.”

  Footsteps crossed the parking lot. “Alex, man, hold up. You don’t need to rush off.”

  He shot a withering look to the man behind him. “Don’t need to talk it over, Ethan. Just going to check on Daisy and call it a night.”

  “Daisy?” Liv asked.

  Girl’s name. Familiar girl’s name. One Ethan didn’t question.

  Liv took a step back and pressed her fingers to her lips. Lips Alex had kissed. “You have a girlfriend?”

  Ethan snorted. “He has a—”

  “Not your concern, Olivia,” Alex snapped over Ethan.

  “Wow, Alex.” Liv let out a harsh breath. Damn him and the hurt he could still drive into her. She wasn’t some naive teenager who thought they’d get married after a single kiss. But grown adults who could stand to be around one another for three seconds? Yeah, she’d hoped for that. Wrongly, it seemed. He’d kissed her with someone else in his life. “Fuck you. You really haven’t changed a damn bit. Go home to Daisy.”

  “Thanks for your permission,” he said, voice as full of sarcasm as the little bow and hand wave he gave before turning his back on her again.

  Asshole.

  Asshole who didn’t owe her anything, she reminded herself.

  Miserable man. Selfish. Idiot.

  Okay, the last was meant for them both. She’d been so stupid to chase after him and expect to get answers. He made it perfectly clear years ago he was happy to blow up their lives without an explanation. Despite her chosen profession, she had to accept that sometimes mysteries stayed unsolved.

  Liv turned back to the bar as a truck engine turned over.

  Chapter 6

  Alex pressed his forehead against the kitchen door. He stroked his fingers over the cold doorknob, but couldn’t force himself to turn the thing.

  Grating, cloying laughter reached his ears and made his bear snarl. Happiness existed on the other side of that door. Full lives. Ones that didn’t have everything good torn away and ripped apart.

  Damn Liv. Damn her for existing anywhere near him. For having a fantastic fucking life. She’d gone far in her career to snag a job at the research facility. And he was what, wasting away on a ranch and waiting for his alpha to put him down?

  His bear s
lashed at his insides and pressed hard against his control. The beast wanted out.

  Too damn bad. His muscles ached and his eyes burned from a lack of sleep. There’d been no bed or dreams when his bear forced a shift on him the moment he threw his truck into park.

  Another peal of laughter drove spikes through his eardrums. Not his life. Not his future. He had nothing but pain and madness.

  Alex ground his teeth together and bathed himself in irritation. Fuck their joy. This was his job, dammit. He wouldn’t let his inner beast push him aside or make him cower. Every inch of him hurt worse than the circumstances of his shifter nature. No sleep, shitty mood. He preferred crawling into a hole to facing his clan.

  He ripped open the door and stepped inside.

  His muscles protested the fury-driven determination.

  The noise—nails on a chalkboard—ceased entirely as soon as the door slammed shut behind him. One by one, faces looked up and stared at him. Joss froze with a spoon halfway to her mouth. Cereal slipped off the side and fell with a splash back into her bowl.

  Still eyeing him, Hunter grabbed Joss’s hand and licked away a drop of milk. Her giggle broke the stillness of the room.

  “What the hell happened last night?” Jesse demanded.

  “Ran out of there like your tampon string was on fire,” Hunter added.

  “Rude,” Joss admonished. She wiped her hand down Hunter’s arm.

  Alex ignored them all. He stomped his way to the coffee maker and poured himself a mug. One breath, then another, and he turned back to the table.

  Ethan and Tansey exchanged a look. Volumes were said in that quick gaze.

  The royal fucking family. With barely a flick of their eyes, the rest of them fell quiet again, and the inquisition began.

  “You’re working with the research facility?” Ethan asked.

  Tansey nodded, eyes serious for once. “They were interested in me because I was bitten, just like you.”

  A growl rumbled in Alex’s chest and he shook his head. “Not like me,” he said in a low voice. She could fuck right off with the comparisons. Tansey had a mate from the start. She had help. She knew what the fuck happened to her.

  “Enough that they wanted me to volunteer to give up that part of myself if their program worked.” Tansey didn’t shift her focus anywhere. Steady gaze, steady voice. A true match to the alpha at her side.

  Fuck, all of them were perfect reflections. Joss and Hunter were stupidly in love. Sloan and Lorne held each other together.

  He wouldn’t have that pairing. He’d burned that support to the ground.

  His bear dug claws into his brain and burned through his veins.

  “I gave you a space here,” Ethan said, soft words hiding the knife of disappointment underneath. “Somewhere safe to help—”

  “Yeah, well, didn’t help as much as any of us wanted,” Alex growled.

  “There’s no reason to rush into anything. I know this month is difficult—”

  “Difficult?” Alex laughed harshly. Silver sparked in Ethan’s eyes as a warning he promptly ignored. “Difficult is getting stuck in traffic. This is a reminder of how everything went wrong.”

  “Haven’t you been doing okay?” Sloan asked softly.

  “Asking so you know if you need to put in a kill order for me with your psycho cop friends?” If it wasn’t Ethan to put him down, it’d be the damn SEA with their place at the breakfast table courtesy of Lorne and his agent mate.

  “Ease up,” Lorne snapped. His fingers pressed into the table and his eyes blazed at the insult to his mate. “No one is reporting anyone. We’re just trying to get some answers.”

  “We doing things by committee now? Everyone taking a vote on me?” He pointed at Lorne. “You know what it’s like to feel death breathing down your neck.” To Hunter. “To feel utterly out of control.” Jesse and Ethan. “Knowing you can’t go back to the way things were. None of you have the slightest idea what I feel every time I wake up. That clawing, throbbing, insistent need to run and fight. I want to bleed every one of you every second of the day.”

  There. The words were out in the open.

  He wanted blood and fur. He wanted to fight. He’d been made in an act of murder and brawling was the only thing that soothed the beast under his skin.

  Ethan blinked slowly. Deliberately. Like he dealt with a fucking child’s tantrum and wouldn’t give in to the irritation that crawled up his neck.

  “And the woman? Who was she?” he asked.

  Alex’s ears rang and his spine cracked him ramrod straight.

  “You got all stiff when she approached. Stiff, not a stiffy.” Hunter didn’t even flinch when Joss drove an elbow into his side.

  “She works there. She’s not important,” Alex answered over the pounding in his head.

  The mates met each other’s looks like a perfect fucking triangle around the table. Alex could see the gears grinding away in their brains.

  Nope.

  “We’re done here,” he growled. He chugged his hot coffee, ignoring the burn, and threw the mug into the sink. He turned toward the door to hide his wince when the mug bounced and shattered.

  “Alex,” Tansey scolded.

  He raised a middle finger and kicked the door open. She could call him out on being an asshole. Better that than putting words to the air he didn’t want to consider.

  Mate.

  Fuck him. He’d seen it enough with the others and people in town. That dopey, doe-eyed look that left slobber on their chins from the slack-jawed awe they felt when their other half was found.

  The strong, strange pull he’d felt for Liv after being turned made sense when he knew what the hell a mate was to a shifter. How long had he spent huffing her clothes or sniffing at all her bottles in the shower? That unknown, wild thing eating away at his insides had grown obsessed.

  That frightened him more than anything. More than waking up after he should have died. More than walking out of the woods naked and half insane with more questions than answers.

  Liv’s scent and the longing he felt in his bones for her scared him shitless.

  Claws ripped through his heart. Fur pressed against his brain. Each step he took toward the barn was agony.

  Fuck the bear. He’d had one hell of a time tripping his own feet to keep from turning right toward Liv from the moment he knew she was in Bearden.

  Alex shook his head to clear her face from his mind. She’d let his secret out and now everyone was up in his business. He didn’t want to sit through another interrogation with all those worried eyes probing into him. And he sure as hell didn’t need Liv up in his shit.

  Except the look of hurt on her face ripped him apart all over again.

  He’d lashed out. He’d let her think awful things. Again. They’d been down that road before.

  Whatever. He would take on all her anger and hate if he kept her safe and away from him.

  Yeah, he was an asshole. He deserved whatever he got, not the love and devotion the rest of the clan flounced in. He’d spat in the face of his future.

  Because he was a monster.

  His bear rolled through him strong enough to force him to his knees.

  Too wild. Too angry. Out of control animal like him wouldn’t be changed or tempered or domesticated. He’d hurt anyone that got too close. Maybe not in the first hour, but days? Weeks? He was a ticking time bomb. There was no putting the pin back in him.

  Monsters did monstrous things. Even if he wanted her, even if he gave in to the danger he brought to her life, he’d done too much damage. He’d hurt her again and again.

  There was no salvaging the garbage fire of his life.

  Chapter 7

  “...and that’s how it happened. I didn’t mean to reveal any sensitive information.” She’d fucked up, in polite-speak. Royally. Epically. Whatever other words described her monumental mistake.

  Liv had requested the meeting as soon as she’d walked herself into her home, then spent the rest of
the night and weekend imagining all the various ways she’d get fired and the resulting fallout. Yelling and security called on her. Stern disapproval and marched out the doors. Picturing the smug look on her mother’s face when she was forced to return home, jobless, was the worst of them all.

  Rylee jotted something on her notepad. “And your connection to Mr. Carter—”

  “College boyfriend. We ended on bad terms, so it was a shock to see him in the program. I didn’t want there to be any unpleasantness between us.” Liv forced herself to keep her chin lifted and eyes looking straight ahead. She was responsible for her own mess. She’d accept whatever came from making it. “Instead, I caused unpleasantness and revealed his participation in the program.”

  She didn’t care if she had to beg. She wanted to keep her job. Selfish reasons aside, the research facility was a unique opportunity.

  Rylee frowned and shifted in her seat. “Well, technically you didn’t. If what you said are the words you used—”

  Liv blinked back against the thread of hope. “They are.”

  “Then it was the clan that put two and two together.” She snagged Liv’s eyes and held her in a steady, no-nonsense gaze of pure maternal disappointment. “Take this as a hard lesson, Liv. You’re in a different world now. Ears might be listening to your every word, no matter how quiet or roundabout you might say them. Not just locals, either.”

  The last was muttered and Liv raised an eyebrow. Rylee pressed her lips together, gave a small shake of her head, then took off her glasses and pressed her fingers to her eyes.

  “It’s not just your run-of-the-mill protestors out front. Our program is being spied upon.” She placed her glasses back on and tapped a stack of papers on her desk. “Our local Supernatural Enforcement Agency office heard chatter from some hunter cells about reversing the shifter ‘contagion’. They’ve asked me to verify the authenticity of seized documents.”

  Hunters. A chill ran down Liv’s spine. Even without growing up as a shifter, she recognized the danger. Hunters wanted to eradicate all supernatural life and were comfortable with everything between outright killing to adding in a whole lot of suffering beforehand.