by E A Price
His bear snarled and backhanded the jackal, and he fell to the floor whimpering.
“Hmmm temper, temper,” came a silky voice behind him.
Cain whirled to see Jules sliding into the booth, the rhino welcomed her with open arms, and they kissed. She cooed and called him baby. The bear almost rolled his eyes. Jeez Louise!
Bailey pulled himself up, grumbling and spitting blood.
Cain clenched and unclenched his fists. “You expect me to believe you weren’t the one who told her where to find me?” Cain nodded at Jules.
Jules huffed. “He wasn’t. It was Ethan; the bear told me you were dying to see me. So I hauled ass to that dump town only to find you’d double booked me with some wolf. We’re over, by the way. I’ve found someone else.” She stroked the rhino’s bicep affectionately.
“Ethan?” Cain gave them puzzled looks. Why the hell would Ethan do that? “How did Ethan know where I was?”
The jackal shrugged, pinching his nose. “He asked me why you weren’t training, so I told him the truth.”
His bear prowled warily. He knew Ethan was a big fan, but would he really be so vindictive just because Cain was retiring? He needed to talk to Ethan, right away.
*
“Ethan!” Cain banged on his door impatiently. His bear was becoming antsy with every passing second. He had a very bad feeling about this.
Ethan lived in a tiny studio apartment close to where Cain had been living. He only knew because on numerous occasions when Ethan had given him a ride, Ethan had driven by and encouraged Cain to drop by whenever he wanted. Cain had said yeah, definitely, but he never had.
On a whim, he tried the door. It was unlocked and flew open. Cain blundered in without a second thought. He froze in his tracks at what he saw.
The walls of the tiny apartment were covered with fight posters and photos of Cain. It was a little creepy, okay very creepy. He walked round, looking at the walls. They dated back to when Cain first started fighting, including the time when he sported an ill-conceived beard. Alright, maybe he had underestimated Ethan’s interest in him.
Cain slumped into a kitchen stool. He would wait and have a talk with Ethan. He would just have to tell Ethan that it was tough, Cain was quitting, and he would just have to find a new idol. No more trying to sabotage his relationship with Carly. And he expected the young bear to pay for the damages done to her shop.
Cain started fingering some of the more recent pictures on the kitchen counter. With a start, he realized they had been taken within the last week. In Rose. Numerous photos had Carly in them. In fact, quite a few of them were just of Carly; he wasn’t in them at all. There were photos of her when she went shopping with the she-bear. His bear bellowed in fury. Why the fuck was Ethan following his mate?
He felt a sharp stab of fear, mixed with pain. Carly!
*
Carly dragged a bag of trash into the alley, grunting at the effort. She slung it into the dumpster and wiped her brow. She really needed to get more exercise; recently the only work-out she had got was the horizontal kind with her mate. Enjoyable as that was it wasn’t exactly keeping her fit.
She shivered as her wolf whined. Carly spun round to find a large, young bear shifter hovering in the alleyway. “Can I help you?”
“Yes, you can,” he said coldly.
Carly paled as the malignant feelings she had been suffering for the past few days, swept through her. She squealed and tried to shift, but wasn’t quick enough. The large bear sucker-punched her, and everything went black.
Chapter Seventeen
Carly groaned. God she’d never felt so much pain. Could she actually be dying? Her head throbbed; gingerly she poked her tongue around her mouth, tasting the coppery blood. She whimpered as she came across a painful cut.
“Good, you’re awake.”
Ignoring the searing ache, she snapped her eyes open to find a young bear, stood about ten feet away from her, and seemingly smiling benignly.
Carly yelped and scuttled away from him as far as possible; her wolf snarled as ferociously as she could, which wasn’t very. She oofed as she hit the headboard. She found herself at the end of a large, comfortable bed. What the hell?
“Hungry?” asked the bear.
He waited a few moments before shrugging and walking over to the stove; he started stirring a large pot.
She studied his back for a few seconds. He couldn’t be more than 22 or 23; he looked so sweet and wholesome when he smiled. But Carly already knew he wasn’t. He was tall and broad, probably about six foot nine. Not a patch on her huge, powerful mate, but more than big enough to crush her.
They appeared to be in a one-room cabin. At any other time, she might have found it warm and homey and even the ideal setting for a romantic honeymoon. At that moment, it just elicited memories of the movie Misery. Why did she watch it? She was more of a Sandra Bullock, rom-com girl, she couldn’t handle Stephen King!
Carly tried to control the thunderous beating of her heart. Okay, she’d been attacked and abducted, but she had to stop herself from panicking. She needed to stay calm and figure out how to get out of this mess. That’s where she drew a blank. How was she supposed to protect herself? She wasn’t exactly a gung-ho, ‘I eat danger for breakfast,' kind of girl. She was more of a ‘scream and come save me’ type. What she wouldn’t give to have her mate come barreling through the door, fists swinging and bear pushing forward. He would save her.
She felt a twinge. She might never see him again. Her perfect, funny, enormous, loving mate. She might never kiss him, or hold him, or see his crooked smile again. She couldn’t help herself; she let out a sob.
Her blood turned icy cold as the bear turned to look at her. Much to her horror, he started walking toward her. She tried to make herself as small as possible.
Carefully he sat on the edge of the bed, ignoring the petrified heaving of Carly’s chest. “I don’t want to hurt you…”
“Then don’t!” she cried impulsively.
The bear sucked in a breath. “I just need to keep you here for a little while, just until I can make Cain see sense.”
Her wolf snapped its jaws. “What do you mean?” She prickled at the mention of her mate; was he going to harm Cain?
The bear smiled at her indulgently, like she was a dim little girl. “About fighting. He wants to quit fighting because of you, but he can’t. He has to keep fighting; it’s who he is. I mean, you probably don’t understand that yet, because you don’t know him the way I do. But when you do, you’ll realize how wrong and selfish you were to try to keep him from fighting.”
“Oh.” It was all she could say. The smile had less of a kind vibe and more of an ‘I’m coming to kill Batman’ vibe about it now.
Carly tried to reach out and touch his emotions, but it was like licking an electric socket. His feelings were unfocused, and whirling round his mind at an alarming rate. She doubted he could even understand them.
He chuckled. “It’s hard to believe, but when I found out that you were trying to take him away from me, my first thought was I needed to get rid of you.”
Carly cringed as her beast howled furiously to get away from the bear. “You tried to run me down, and that was you at the mall.”
The bear sobered and nodded. “I tried to get rid of you, and yet no matter what, you stuck with Cain. That’s what made me change my mind. You proved how worthy you were; you showed that you deserved him. I’m glad he chose you as a mate.”
“You are?” Carly bit her lip, maybe the situation wasn’t as bad as she thought. It didn’t sound like he wanted to hurt her, although he had already tried, not to mention that punch in the mouth...
“Of course!” His expression turned chilly; she shuddered. “But he’s trying to quit fighting because of you. Did you tell him he had to stop?”
Carly shook her head emphatically, not trusting herself to speak.
“Good. But until he changes his mind, you need to stay here. He won’t be thinking
straight with you around, when he changes his mind, then you can go home. For now, you just need to stay here. Don’t worry I have enough food and firewood to last six months.”
Carly sucked in a breath. Six months?!
The bear inched closer to her, and instinctively she tensed. “Don’t worry; I’m sure it won’t take that long. It’s not like you asked him to stop fighting, is it?” The bear’s eyes flashed.
Carly hugged her arms round her. “No, no I didn’t. That was Cain’s decision.”
He leaned back satisfied. “One that I’m sure he will soon change.”
“But, what if he doesn’t?”
“For your sake, he will.”
*
Cain picked up a desk and hurled it across the room. The people around him huffed but weren’t surprised.
On finding the photos of Carly at Ethan’s apartment, Cain called her, repeatedly. She didn’t pick up. Panicking, he called the Sheriff’s station. The Sheriff went over to the shop to find Carly gone, the back door wide open and small spots of her blood in the alley.
Cain, to say the least, was a little angry, as was the Alpha, the Beta, Hans and Don.
They were at the Sheriff’s station, trying to calculate their next move. Her scent was lost after she was taken away in a car. Mrs Martin recalled seeing a red saloon speeding away from Carly’s shop, but couldn’t recall the license plate. Carly didn’t have her cell phone on her; that was left behind. They had no idea where she could be.
Cain tried to explain about Ethan.
Hans shook his head. “If he was your fan, why would he take Carly?”
Cain’s face was grim. “I don’t know. Maybe because I’ve decided to quit fighting…”
Adam scowled. “How could you let this happen? How could you not have known what he was doing? How did you not know what kind of man he was?”
The Alpha decided to blame Cain for the situation, and wasn’t afraid to let him know. If Alec’s expression was anything to go by, he agreed with the Alpha. His bear was with them on that; he’d failed to protect his mate.
Cain raked his hands over his head. “I’m sorry okay! I’m fucking sorry! But I don’t give a shit what you think of me, I only want to find Carly. Please, help me find her. Then you can beat me fucking black and blue for all I care. Just help me find her!”
The room went quiet, the wolves looking to their Alpha for his reaction to Cain’s outburst.
Adam nodded. “Where would he take her?”
Cain slumped into a chair. “I don’t know…”
“Think!” roared Adam.
Cain racked his brain, trying to remember the things Ethan had told him. Hell, why hadn’t he paid more attention to the young bear? Why had he acted like a dismissive ass?
“I don’t know… he talked about growing up with an older brother, I think he was in the army and he died a few years back. Umm, he said they grew up in a cabin somewhere near here, a couple of hours drive.”
“There’re no buildings in his name,” piped Mac, tapping away at a computer keyboard. “A-ha! I have a house here in the name of Ellis Morrow, looks like that was Ethan’s brother, and yeah he died just over four years ago in a bar brawl.”
Mac jotted down the details and passed them to Adam. “It’ll take a couple of hours to get there, but she might be here.”
“What if she isn’t? What if we waste time and she isn’t even there?” Cain’s bear was whining; he could feel Carly’s weak feelings of fear and worry. They were driving him wild.
Adam fixed him with a cold stare. “Do you have a better suggestion?”
Cain let out a throaty growl, unflinching under the Alpha’s accusing glare.
“Then let’s go.”
*
At that moment, Carly was suffering through a very surreal dinner. The bear, who told her his name was Ethan, had cooked a surprisingly delicious stew. At least the few bites her nerves allowed her to eat were delicious.
Ethan didn’t seem to notice her discomfort, he gladly chattered non-stop about his favorite subject, Cain. Excited to find someone as interested in Cain as he was, he described every one of Cain’s fights, interspersed with bits of Cain’s advice. Such as, which were the best all-you-can-eat buffets in Darlington, and which bars let you run a tab.
Carly tried to smile, nod and let out an ‘ooh’ or an ‘aah’ at suitable intervals, all whilst trying to think of a way to make Ethan let her go. She tried to probe his emotions again, but they were still too confused to get a lock.
At least he wasn’t hurting her. Not yet, but she was smarting from that sucker-punch. He was still keeping her prisoner; she needed to get out of there. Her wolf was hounding her to get away.
Carly laughed half-heartedly; Ethan finished telling her an anecdote about Cain getting drunk and streaking during a Darlington police softball league match.
She licked her lips and began speaking in a soft, soothing voice. “Maybe, if I spoke to Cain in person, I could make him see that…”
“No!” Ethan banged his fist down on the table; he scowled. “Cain has to make this decision; you can’t force him to do something he doesn’t want.”
Carly clasped her hands together, to stop them from shaking. “Yes, of course, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
Ethan watched her, warily. “Okay then. Aren’t you going to finish your food? Don’t you like it?”
“It’s really nice; I’m just not very hungry. I had a big breakfast.”
He nodded absently. “Well, if you get hungry later help yourself, there’s plenty of food in the kitchen.”
“Thank you,” she said, unenthusiastically.
God she wanted to cry, and scream, both at the same time. She desperately needed to get away from him. “May I use the bathroom?”
Ethan gathered up their plates and gave her a stern glare. “Of course, you don’t have to ask.”
“Thank you.”
Carly slowly got to her feet and walked to the bathroom, forcing herself not to run, or stumble. She was convinced he was tracking her every move, because he knew what she was trying to do.
With trembling hands, Carly locked the door. Turning the water on, she pushed the tiny window open. She had to hurry; she didn’t have long before he realized what she was doing. She doubted he’d be pleased.
She angled herself against the bath and pushed herself through the open window. Damn it was tight, if only she were a couple of inches thinner, if only she’d managed to stick to a diet! Her skin scraped against the window frame. Half way through she was starting to feel like Winnie the Pooh. Damnit, if she’d known she was going to be doing this, she would have had freaking liposuction!
Impulsively, she kicked off her pumps. There was one way she could fit through. She bit her lip, to hold back the soft moans as she shimmered through her shift.
The she-wolf shook her head and wagged her tail. Her paws scrabbled as she struggled through the window, the shouts of the bear on the other side of the door inciting her to move more quickly. She whimpered as she scrambled through, and inelegantly fell to the hard, cold ground.
She quickly pelted away from the cabin, running for all she was worth. The wolf dodged trees and leapt over broken branches, not even thinking about where she was going. Dimly she was aware of a bear’s roar behind her, but she barely registered it, focusing only on getting one paw in front of the other.
The wolf knew she wouldn’t outrun the bear; she just hoped she would come across someone who could help before he caught up with her. She felt a dull ache as the scenery flew past her. What if she didn’t? What if he caught her and he… and he…
She whined; an image of her mate flashed through her mind, the thought of never being held in his comforting embrace was distressing. Carly sharply told the wolf to pull herself together, they were going to make it back to their mate, they were going to see him again, and she was going to get her happily ever after damnit!
The booming noises of the large bear tearing aft
er her increased, he was catching up to her.
But just in case, Carly sent a barrage of love to Cain through their bond. She didn’t know if he would receive it, but if it was the last thing she did, she wanted her mate to know how she felt, how she loved him more than anything else in the world.
The wolf yelped as she caught her paw on a fallen tree branch. She hurtled to the ground, her paw twisting painfully, the sound of the angry bear getting closer and closer.
Chapter Eighteen
Cain’s bear growled as a rush of Carly’s emotions swept through him. They were stronger than before, they must be getting close. He whimpered at feeling her love for him, but snarled for the shred of fear.
A small cabin came in sight; without waiting for the truck to stop, Cain leapt out and ran to the open door, the Alpha and Don hot on his heels. He moved round the cabin, drinking in Carly’s delicious scent, along with the scent of the male who took her.
“Fuck!” He roared; she wasn’t there.
His heart hurt from the torrent of emotions she was sending him. It gave him hope; she was alive and waiting for him to rescue her. He had to find her, he just had to. Living without her… no, that didn’t bear thinking about.
They ran outside; Don started shedding his clothes. “Her scent and the bear’s are still strong; I can follow them.”
The other males tore their clothes off as Don shifted and sniffed the ground. Don barked and sprinted away, following her trail, with the other males shifting and following.
*
The she-wolf whimpered and slunk along the ground, trying to hide from the irate brown bear. He was stomping around, pounding his paws against trees and roaring angrily.
She was minutes, or possibly only seconds, away from being discovered, and she was clinging to those last few moments for all she was worth. Her paw hurt like hell; running wasn’t an option. Inwardly she sighed and shifted back to her human form. The only option left was to try reasoning with him.