by Fay Walsh
Darren nodded. “You really do care about me, it seems,” he said.
“Of course I do. Truth is Darren… I missed you. I missed what we had,” she said to him.
“Well, I’m here now,” he told her.
She smiled, and Darren felt a strange warmth from her words. It was nice to be loved like this. He had never experienced romantic love before. Fighting for a person that he cared about filled Darren with dread, as he had failed to do so in the past.
“I’m worried that you’ll be too wrapped up in my bullshit than to help with this. I don’t want to risk you,” he said.
“No, I understand Darren. I full understand that my boss is up to something, whatever that might be, and I… I don’t want to see you go through this alone,” she cried out.
Darren nodded, pulling her into his arms. He held her there for some time, stroking her hair.
“You will not. You have me by your side now. I’ll make whatever it takes,” she repeated with a purr.
Lisa hugged him tightly and Darren felt his bear satisfied. He would love and support this woman with all of his might.
“I don’t want you to act yet. I want you to go in, pretending like you don’t remember what happened. There’s a high chance that he won’t even be there. I have a feeling that something happened with me stepping in, but we won’t know until we figure out what’s going on,” he explained.
Darren wanted to do a little bit more recon on this, and he wanted to make sure that he was getting the right person. Lisa looked at him, and he could tell from the look of slight worry on her face, that this was definitely not going to be easy for either of them.
“Darren, I have to ask, you don’t hate me, right?”
“Not at all. I’m just… not ready to say how I feel yet,” he said.
“Is it because of whatever is holding you back, right?” she inquired.
“You could say that, Lisa. But it’s going to be alright. We just need to see things through to the end,” he told her.
She blushed and suffenly Darren felt a sudden rip in his chest. He wanted to tell her the truth, about what happened all those years ago, about the truth behind his state as a shifter. He felt that, once things settled out and the dust wasn’t all in his face, he would feel better giving her his dark past.
“I’m sorry, Lisa. It’s just… hard, that’s all. Protecting others, keeping this cold demeanor, all of this is something that I wish I could be better with. I’ve been working on doing better. Especially since I met you,” he said.
“I know. I want to… I want to help you, if I can,” she told him.
Darren took a sip of his coffee. At that moment he felt like he could let everything aside, just be there with Lisa. He could now see that she was his mate.
“Thank you, Lisa. I appreciate everything that you’ve done for me. I know that you care. It’s really different for me. I’ve always kind of faced my battles alone. I know I’m cold, calculating, and rude, but I’m trying to get better. I really am Lisa. I want to… I want to be a better person towards you and the rest of the world,” he admitted.
Lisa smiled at him with blush. She tried to hide it by also taking a sip of her coffee. Her hair was a mess, but Darren felt that she was the most attractive woman in the world. His bear roared within him with desire, but he knew he had to wait a little longer.
“Thank you… I do love that you care as well,” she said.
“I know that it’s not easy for either of us, I’m afraid that you will run away, once you find who I am,” he admitted.
“I won’t,” she replied.
The two looked at one another, and for a moment, Darren thought about admitting the truth, that he was falling for her, that she was changing him for the better. But, he didn’t. He was scared to admit the truth. He had growing feelings for her and he wanted more than anything to say it. However, fear was holding him back.
“You’re important to me Lisa, and I know that… no matter what happens next, everything will be okay,” he said.
“I know. I do… I want that,” she told him.
They looked at one another, both of them blushing as Darren moved towards her and kissed her with growing passion. He knew for a fact that this was the beginning of it all, and the beginning of a brighter, happier life. But, would this last? Would Darren finally get to make things right with her?
Chapter 19
Lisa felt happy knowing that Darren was by her side. She knew that going in on Monday would prove to be a dangerous situation. She had a feeling Thomas would be back, but not right away.
When she walked into the office on Monday, she noticed that all of the lights were off. She turned them on, wondering if there was any sign of Thomas, but there was nothing. Absolutely no sign whatsoever. It was as if he and the rest of the emploees had disappeared and she was in this whole place alone.
It wasn’t like she didn’t have work either. She had a ton, and her job was to make sure that this place was still pumping out content. But the fact that Thomas wasn’t here to confront her once again was slightly relieving. He had almost killed her and with every passing minute she regretted her decision to come back here. Nothing was happening though. She owed it to Darren, to make things right between them. However, when she got to work, she felt something that kept nagging at her.
She remembered that she had felt the same thing when she was followed in the park. Someone was still watching her.
Lisa whipped around, trying to catch unprepared whoever it might be, by no-one was there. There was complete silence in the whole building. She was all alone which made her spooked.
“What is going on?” she wondered trying to brush off her worries.
However, this feeling that someone out here was clearly watching everything that she was doing insisted. She tried to turn around, to catch him off guard, but it always failed. She shook her head, hoping that it was maybe just her imagination and nothing more.
For the next week, it continued on like this. Lisa would come in all alone, handle work and company emails, write her pieces, and that would be it. There was nobody coming in and she actually was able to write the content that she wanted to write. She tried calling Thomas multiple times, but each time, it went straight to voicemail.
“What is going on?” she wondered.
After work that day, she called Darren and after a few moments he answered.
“Hey, babe. What’s up?”
“I’ve been here an entire week, and Thomas hasn’t shown up. In fact, nobody is showing up. Whenever I’m in my office I get this feeling like someone is watching me, but the building is empty. It’s just… it’s weird, you know?” she told him.
“I’ve been looking for information on Thomas but he hasn’t left any signs that he’s a shifter. He was good at hiding it. However, I may have a lead on the one, the one who hang around the building. Need to make sure though,” he told her.
She nodded. “That makes sense. I’ve been looking around the office for anything that Thomas might be hiding. I thought that he might have left some traces of what he’s up to, but there isn’t a damn thing. It’s weird, you know?” she told him.
Lisa didn’t get it. What was her boss trying to accomplish with this?
“Well, I may have a lead. I want you to be safe for now. When you leave, always lock up, and take a long way home,” he told her.
“I will, babe. It could be this other guy who is watching me. It’s weird,” she said.
“I see. Well, you should be careful, Lisa. Trust me, shifters are relentless. There are nice ones like myself and the guys, but unfortunately not everyone is that way,” he said.
“I know, Darren. Thanks,” she replied.
He hung up, and Lisa sighed. She still felt like there was someone there, watching over here. She picked up her stuff quickly and headed to her car. As she did, she thought that she was hearing things and she felt on edge. When she reached the car, she noticed that there was a note there. When she
opened it, she gasped.
Don’t think this is over, Lisa. It’s only the beginning.
Her fingers trembled as she read the piece. Thomas was here, or at least whom she thought was Thomas. She dialed Darren, and after a few moments, he responded.
“What’s up?”
“Darren, there is someone following me, and there is someone that-”
As she was about to respond, she felt a hand get pushed right over her lips, forcing her to cry out in sheer shock and struggle. The person whispered against her ear to have Darren listen to him.
“Don’t worry. If you want her back, Darren, come find me. It’s been a long time,” the voice said.
Lisa struggled to stay awake but it was no use. He had used something on her and she could feel all semblance of consciousness escape her body. Before she fell fully unconscious, she thought that she heard that person laugh.
Chapter 20
When Darren heard those words, his hackles were on end. He let out a small snarl of worry as he slammed the phone into his pocket.
“Shit!” he said.
“What’s the matter?” Billy asked.
“I need to talk to Travis. Do you know where he is?” Darren explained.
Billy nodded. “Let me find him, Beta,” he said with a sing-song voice. Moments like these, Darren wanted to punch him.
After a while, the Alpha appeared and Darren felt slightly reassured by his presence. But, he knew that he wouldn’t calm until he had beated this guy and got Lisa back.
“You look worried,” he said.
“I am, Travis. Lisa was taken. And I know who it is,” he stated.
“Who?”
“A person from my past. He practically took everything from me the last time,” Darren explained.
“I see. Will you be needing our help?” Travis asked.
“I don’t want to bother the Clan with this personal matter. But, if come out alive and I come back I want to explain everything. I owe it to you. Right now though, the first thing that I need to do, is to protect her,” Darren said.
“Go get your girl, Darren. Before leaving though, explain the situation to me” Travis said, looking concerned.
Darren nodded. “I knew that there was a shifter in this town. Her boss was one, but I also know that there was someone he was working for,” Darren said.
“Yeah. I’ve been sensing some new shifters in town as of late. At least, I’m glad that we have solid evidence about it,” Travis explained.
“We still have time to prevent them from whatever they are planning. I’m not going to put this Clan to danger,” he admitted.
Darren walked outside, shifting into bear ready for a fight. He knew for a fact that Lisa was going to be out cold for a while. They wouldn’t kill her, because Darren knew that this was a ploy to get him out.
He understood that. He knew that this was a whole scheme to get Darren to react, and it did work. Darren didn’t want to get his Clan involved. They needed to stay away of this danger. If there was anyone who needed to move away from this safe place they had built, that was him and him alone. Darren was determined to face his past and pay for the consequences.
He didn’t want to lose Lisa though. That was the reality of it. She had just given him a second chance and he didn’t want to risk losing her. He would do the right thing towards this woman.
Darren didn’t understand love, nor had he ever gone out of his way to learn about it. In fact, he wasn’t sure that he would ever fully understand the human part of love. The fact that he felt that he had found his mate, gave him a reason to move forward, to cut through everything just to get to her.
When he reached the office, he found Lisa’s car half open. As he approached on his four legs, he noticed that a bomb was placed on the back seat. Darren quickly jumped, having an unusual dexterity for a bear. He managed to get enough far, as the car burst into flames.
“Shit, so they’re setting traps,” he said.
Smoke was rising from the flaming car and made his vision blurry. However, he didn’t lose much time there. He rushed through the doorway to find Lisa.
He looked inside. The whole place was dark and eerie. Darren was on his haunches, looking intently for any sign of Lisa. He just needed to find her, no matter what. When he got to the waiting room, he noticed in the corner a shiny trinket. He picked it up clumsily with his claws and he immediately recognized it.
It was Lisa’s.
He let it back down and looked around. She should be kept around here. He could feel a presence, and for the first time, Darren wondered if he could use the seeing ability that Travis had used with Alana back when he needed to find her.
He picked up the jewelry again and closed his eyes. He pictured Lisa, her body, her beautiful smile, the radiant energy. His mind was filled by her warm presence.
“Please be alive and safe, Lisa. Please,” he pleaded.
Darren knew that Thomas was heartless and that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Lisa. He had almost done it the last time. However, this time they wanted him, so she should be safe, at least for the moment.
As he kept picturing Lisa, he noticed a radiating energy coming from the second floor. It had worked. The shifter’s ability to locate his mate. He raced upstairs, not caring that he was too big in his bear form for this stairs.
As he approached, he heard sounds of struggle.
Lisa was trying to move, followed by the sound of punches being thrown.
“Do you want to die? Then stay the fuck still,” the voice said.
“Go fuck yourself,” Lisa replied.
Darren laughed slightly, admiring the woman’s courage. She had already proven that she was strong, but this was a battle that she didn’t have a chance. He opened the door and saw Lisa underneath Thomas. He was once again in his lion form, his mane rumpled from their previous fight, and was about to kill her.
“Lisa!” he cried out.
“Hey there, Darren. Looks like you got his message, then. Perfect! We were planning to kill both you and the girl. Seems like history is repeating itself,” Thomas said.
“What do you-”
That moment, Darren heard a snickering behind him and he immediately whipped his body around. He saw a wolf. That same wolf that he remembered all those years ago. The one person that he wanted to kill more than anything else. That was the shifter that was responsible for killing Tina and for forcing him to turn into a bear.
“Jason...”
“Pleasure to see you, again. It has been a long time. But, I guess you are quite happy to see me. I’m very flattered,” he stated with a sneer.
“Go fuck yourself, Jason. Leave Lisa out of this,” Darren roared.
“Oh, you really think that’s going to work with me, don’t you Darren? That’s so cute. I mean, it’s not like you’re strong enough to kill me. You weren’t the last time,” Jason said, smiling that wolflike smile. Darren wanted to charge on him, but he knew that every motion put Lisa to danger.
“You forced them to bite me, to change me into a shifter, and you killed my sister before my very eyes...”
“Aww, getting all teared up already? And I haven’t even gotten around to killing you. Or maybe, maybe I should just kill your little mate first. It’ll be a repeat of history, right?” Jason said.
Darren’s eyes widened in horror as he saw Jason kick Lisa. Her small body was thrown against the wall and she was knocked out.
“Get away from her!” Darren cried out, his black fur standing on edge.
“Oh come on, Darren, you think I’m going to listen to you? I mean, you can’t even beat me. You’re so pathetic, just standing there. I can see why you like her though, she’s a very pretty girl, but she didn’t listen to Thomas. Thomas has been a great paw and a good part of this. He’s definitely a shifter I plan to keep around,” Jason said.
“But… why? How come you’re working with him, Thomas?” Darren said.
“Simple. I like money, and this guy has money. He told
me that part of the deal was to kill humans and other shifters. I agreed with what he offered,” Thomas said with a smile on his face.
Darren felt like he was going to retch. The fact that this man lied to Lisa, to pretend that she had a gig, just to kill her in the end, made him want to just completely destroy everything.
“So you lied about the job. The entire time,” Darren said.
“Well, not the entire time. She still had a job, but she wasn’t doing what we wanted, so we planned to dispose of her. She was supposed to write content about how much of a worthless guy you actually are, but she didn’t listen, and that’s her fate,” Thomas said, pointing to Lisa in the corner.