As I was struggling to get the lobby door open, cursing our super for not replacing the decade-old lock, I noticed a man standing at the far end of the street. My building wasn’t too near the main avenue, so it was rare for people to dawdle in this area. His presence made me slightly uneasy, and I glanced the length of the street to see if anyone else was around, but found it otherwise deserted.
Eventually the lock gave, and relieved, I stumbled inside. Another man, broad and muscular, dressed head-to-toe in black, was standing by the bank of mailboxes that ran alongside the right wall of the small lobby.
He turned and nodded in my direction with disinterest. I figured he was a new resident in the building, so I returned the nod and made my way toward the elevator.
I was starting to wish that I’d invited Nathan back for coffee. There was a perceptible tension that hung in the air. The loitering men had the hair on the back of my neck standing at attention. As a result, I became hyper-aware of the sounds around me – the creaks of the elevator as it shuddered and jolted its way down to meet me, the pipes that ran through the walls of the old building, groaning and moaning with age.
When the elevator doors opened, I stepped inside. The man in the lobby dashed inside with me, and I backed away into the corner of the compartment in surprise.
He didn’t say a word to me, and kept his eyes straight ahead. I pressed the fourth floor button, and the doors closed.
“Are you new here?” I asked, my voice small.
He didn’t turn around, and he didn’t reply. His silence terrified me. I rapidly took in his attire; black work boots, jeans and a long black-sleeved t-shirt.
You’re in danger. Get the fuck out.
As soon as the doors opened, I made a run for it. I dashed toward the emergency exit at the opposite end of the hallway. There was another man waiting outside my apartment.
I yanked the emergency door open and took the steps down, two at a time. My heart hammered wildly in my chest, and my throat ran dry. I heard them clattering down the steps behind me.
I can’t outrun them.
Starting to panic, I missed a few steps and skidded painfully on the sharp edges of the concrete. I righted myself quickly and kept going, racing down as fast as I could go. I guess I was less than a couple yards ahead of them the whole way. Had they been yelling or shouting at me it may have helped, but it was their silence, even as they ran, that made my blood run cold. Professionals.
The exit lay ahead of me, and I wanted to cry with relief as it came into sight. I at least had a chance.
Flying through it, I heard the door bash angrily against the brick wall. I leapt out from the top landing, and smashed into the body of a third man. As he caught me, his vice-like grip tightened around my neck. I struggled in his arms with what little energy I had left.
Something hard slammed into the back of my head. For a brief moment I felt like my brain exploded. Bright lights danced screaming in my line of vision.
And then nothing.
Chapter ten
Dinner last night had been amazing. Just being close to her, breathing in her scent, watching her sweet lips as they formed a smile. I hadn’t wanted it to end. When I’d held her in my arms, it took everything in me to slow down. I desperately wanted to make love to her, to bury myself in her warmth, to pleasure her until I could feel her explode in release.
I’d had to cool it though. She was human. Humans didn’t feel the same kind of intensity for their mates that shifters felt. I’d known the moment I touched her in the forest that she was mine.
It hadn’t been difficult setting events in motion so that I could see her again. It was simply a matter of getting my investigator to track her down using her friends license plate numbers, then hiring her PR firm.
Now, I’d have to prove my worthiness to her- and have patience. Allow her feelings to develop. And, at some point I needed to reveal my bear without her riling in disgust or running scared. Simple. Not so simple.
This morning I’d had to go for a ten mile run just to try and keep my bear sated and beneath my skin.
When I got back to the apartment to shower and change, my brother languishing on the sofa didn’t help my mood. I considered his presence to be an unnecessary pain in my ass. He had a home of his own to go to – albeit a crappy shitstain that stunk of take-out, but that was his problem, not mine.
Evidently my housekeeper, Lucinda, agreed. She kept muttering under her breath as she went from room to room trying to vacuum up the crumbs and collect the empty beer bottles he left in his wake.
“Byron, please tell me today is the day you’re getting the hell out of my home?”
I used the end of a pen to pick up a pair of boxer shorts that he’d left strewn over the coffee table. The kid was disgusting.
“I can’t go home. I’m telling you, the Bow Mar clan has it in for me. It’s not safe,” he groaned from under a blanket, “And, what time is it anyway?”
“Time you got out of bed,” I muttered, downing some black coffee before I had the urge to do more damage to his already broken arm.
“It’s not like you haven’t got the space. I swear Nathan, you’re one cold-hearted motherfucker.”
I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before. Byron had a convenient habit of forgetting those times I did things to help him, and holding onto the times when I’d decided enough was enough and pushed him to stand on his own two feet.
We came from a pure-bred bloodline of Colorado’s most powerful shifter clan, and had he in anyway been inclined to work for it, my brother could have had all the wealth and power that he wanted. Instead, he chose to get drunk. And high. And drunker.
“I’ve got to be in the office in five. You want me to take you anywhere?” I offered.
“No man, I’m telling you - they’re out to get me. I’ll be a dead man.”
“Byron, it’s your own goddamn fault. I swear, next time you get into a fight with a Bow Mar, I am not going to be around to help out.”
The Bow Mar clan were another of Colorado’s old shifting families. There had been years of antagonism between the two clans, that in the last decade I had been doing my best to smooth over.
They were a mean bunch, vicious, cruel, and entitled. They spent years terrorizing the Littleton district till we eventually came to a peaceful agreement, which cost me millions. To have my brother’s antics threaten to mess it up when we were experiencing our first few years of peace was infuriating.
“Whatever. They started it,” Byron retorted, “I just refused to back down. That jerk got what was coming -”
“What was coming? That jerk got away clean. You’re the one with the broken arm,” I laughed at him, “Anyway, I’m leaving and I’m calling Lucinda at lunch time. If you’re not out I’m coming home to drag your ass out.”
He mumbled an expletive under his breath which I ignored.
I drove to work, blasting an oldies station so loud that the body of my car shook. For some reason, it was the only way I could actually focus, by drowning out everything else.
The office was calling my cell, but I ignored it. Whatever it was, it could wait till I arrived.
Chloe. My bear wanted her so badly. I wanted her. The whole thing was unusual, a human and a shifter creating such a bond. I’d slept with countless human women before. None of them had called to my bear – none had produced the same effect on me that Chloe did just by smiling, just by walking across a gas station parking lot in short shorts.
Fuck.
I punched the steering wheel. I wasn’t a man who harbored an abundance of patience. When I wanted something, I got it.
I wanted Chloe.
Some asshole in a Hummer ripped past me, laying on his horn. I realized I’d been stopped at a green light. I really was losing my mind over her. I cut the music and drove the rest of the way to work in silence.
As I pulled into the underground garage, Elle came running toward me.
“Nathan, Nathan
– shit – something’s happened!”
Her face was ghostly pale, and she reeked of fear.
“Elle – calm down, what’s happened?”
“It’s the Bow Mar’s – they’ve got your date, Chloe,” she took a deep shuddering breath, “They said you need to come alone to meet them, or they’ll kill her. I’m so sorry!” She cried out in anguish.
“It’s okay, Elle.” I tried my best to comfort her. Inside, I’d turned to stone.
Fear ran through me, shutting down any emotion and letting an icy rage take over. I would arrive alone. But it wouldn’t stop me from ripping each and every one of those bastards to shreds. If they had so much as harmed a hair on her head, I would annihilate their entire clan.
“Where did they say to go?” I asked calmly.
Elle looked up at me, wide eyed in shock.
“There’s an old barn on South Summer road. They said you’d know it,” she whispered, drying her tears and trying to match my composure.
“I know it.”
I did. It had been the place where shifter feuds where once resolved through fights to the death. Well, if that’s what Bow Mar wanted, that’s what they would get.
Chapter eleven
I didn’t know how long I’d been out, or where I was, but a shooting pain throbbed in my temple. Looking around the room, I assumed I was in a basement of some kind, but it was too dark to be sure.
Above me, I heard footsteps, a low murmur of voices, and the occasional shout of laughter. I didn’t know, and couldn’t even begin to imagine, who these men were or what they wanted with me. The only thing I knew for sure was that I’d been specifically targeted. They had known where I lived, and had hunted me down with purpose. But, why?
The room was cold and dank, and I had no coat or sweater to keep me warm. I sat in the corner, too frightened to move around, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Just as I was beginning to make out the shapes of what I guessed to be farming equipment in the far corner, light flooded the room.
Two of the men who had attacked me walked in. They turned on the light, a dim, solitary bulb that hung naked in the middle of the room. Beneath it they set out chairs and an old wooden crate.
“Why am I here?” I asked eventually, watching them move about the room as if I didn’t exist.
They ignored my question. They ignored me. Not even once did they glance in my direction. One of the men took out a deck of cards whilst the other popped open a beer.
“Please – what’s going on, goddammit!”
The silence was starting to gnaw away at me, like I was losing my grip on reality. I didn’t understand how I’d been out on a date on a summer evening, dizzy with lust and longing, and had now been transported into a hell that made no rational sense.
“Lady, keep your mouth shut.”
One of the men turned around and snarled at me, his eyes flashing in the darkness. They were a different color, but they reminded me of Nathan’s eyes. They had the same electric sparks that marked both men as something other.
What the hell have I gotten myself wrapped up in?
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked, trying to stop my voice from quivering – I didn’t want to give these men the satisfaction.
“Nothing. We’re just waiting for your boyfriend to get here. You’re bait, baby.”
They laughed and returned their attention to the card game.
“If you’re talking about Nathan Varga, he’s not my boyfriend,” I cried back, “You’ve made a mistake. I went on one date with him!”
A date I was now regretting. I didn’t know what Nathan was mixed up in, but I didn’t want any part of this.
“Lady, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to rip your face off,” the second man growled.
“You need to listen to me. I don’t know if he will come for me. This is ridiculous…” I stopped mid-sentence as one of the men rose from his chair.
“What the hell did I tell you?”
He loomed over me, the light in his eyes practically glowing.
What were these men?
My jaw went slack. The man in front of me seemed to be vibrating with energy. I watched as his muscles bulged and his veins pulsated violently beneath his skin. I pushed my back against the wall, clutching my knees up to my chest in an effort to gain as much distance as I could.
He let out an inhuman growl, tearing the sound from his chest. Then I heard the sounds of ripping, as if his skin was being pulled apart to let something within him escape. The growl turned into a roar that shook the building.
I think I screamed.
Shutting my eyes against the vision of the monster before me, I could hear the sounds of muscle and organs being squished and ripped apart, the laughter of the other man in the background, deep and throaty.
Then silence.
I opened my eyes. I expected to see a dead man on the floor, a body turned inside out. What I actually saw sent my head spinning wildly.
A bear. A huge, black grizzly stood on its hind legs peering down at me. It roared again, louder than before. Instinctively I covered my ears, desperate to block out everything that appeared before me.
My heartrate kick-started and I gasped for air, not realizing that I’d stopped breathing. Adrenaline surged. I desperately wanted to fight for my life; I didn’t want to die here in a dank basement, alone and afraid, with men that could transform into animals.
I scurried to my feet and lurched to the side. The bear raised a paw, and with one swipe knocked me backward. My head slammed into the wall, and I cried out in pain. Not giving up, I tried to make a run for it, sidestepping his great hulk. I was pushed back again, this time, claws scraped across my chest. Blood dripped down my dress, and I felt light headed with terror.
“Give it up lady,” the other man called out, “You don’t want to make him mad – trust me.” He laughed, and casually took another sip of beer.
The bear just stood still, watching me. I leaned back into the wall, my legs no longer able to support my body. I sunk down onto my knees. I was defeated, and I saw the glow of triumph in the beast’s eyes.
Nathan, please help me.
He was the only hope I had.
Chapter twelve
They had heard my approach.
I got out of the car, as the lieutenant of the Bow Mar’s stepped into the front yard to meet me. I recognized him from the peace talks. He was the eldest son of the clan leader, and as despicable as his father.
“Where is she?” I asked, not bothering to slow down my pace toward the house.
“Fucking wait, Varga. I want to talk to you.”
He held out his arm across my chest, trying to halt me. I grabbed it and twisted it sharply behind his back, hearing the satisfying sound of a bone cracking. He yelped in pain.
“Your brother brought this about! He started shit with the clan. We’re just retaliating!”
I yanked his head toward mine.
“You don’t touch humans. You don’t touch MY woman. And you certainly don’t threaten me,” I hissed at him, “Was it the peace talks? Did you somehow get the idea that I was soft? Did you mistakenly believe that I would go easy on you?”
I tightened my grip on his arm, pushing it further up his back. He whimpered in pain.
“She’s downstairs. We didn’t touch her, I swear it.”
“We’ll see about that.”
I ushered him through the old barn house. I could smell Chloe from here; her scent that was like the sweet aroma of the mountains, and the acrid scent of her fear. It cut my soul. I had done this to her. This was my fault.
I followed her scent in the direction of the basement. We descended the steps, my grip tight on the shifter.
Chloe was in the far corner of the room, cowering behind a bear. I could now smell her blood, fresh and potent. My bear jolted inside me. It wanted out.
Both shifters spun around to face me. I knew who they were. I threw the lieutenant to t
he floor. Both these men were the pride of the Bow Mar pack. They were trained killers, both having served time for human crimes, and both reportedly unmatched in their strength and brutality.
I wanted to take Chloe in my arms. To just run from this place, make sure she was safe before I hunted each one of them down and repaid their torture in kind.
But I couldn’t.
If I went to her now, they would gain the upper hand. We would both be dead.
“Just remember your brother started this Varga,” the Lieutenant growled from the floor, “You both die for his mistakes today.”
The bear started to gain on me, and the other shifted to join him. I took one look at Chloe’s face, terrified and confused, and I knew what I was about to do would cause me to lose her forever.
The realization added to my fury. I had planned to break it to her gently, in the kindest way I could. Now she was getting a shifter 101 in the most brutal way imaginable.
I felt my bear tugging on me furiously. He wanted out. I didn’t have an alternative option.
I shifted. Chloe’s scream echoed across the room, and I cursed myself along with the rest of the vile creatures for causing her pain.
Roaring, I fell upon the first shifter. He tore at my back with his claws, but it was too late. With a hunger I hadn’t possessed since the times of peace started, my teeth tore into the flesh and fur at his neck. His blood seeped into my mouth, his body whipping and jolting as his life was cut short.
The other bear leapt onto my back. Digging in where I had already been sliced open, his claws raked at the raw flesh and I howled with pain.
“No!”
I heard Chloe’s cry, pleading, desperate. I wouldn’t leave her here to die. I spun around, clubbing the bear’s head backward. He pawed at me again, catching my snout. My own blood mingled with that of the dead bear.
He opened his jaws, ready to bite down and deliver his death blow.
I’m so sorry Chloe.
Bears of Burden: THORN Page 79