He tumbled down a small rise, fell with a thud, and kept moving. He managed to find his feet again, and then suddenly everything stopped. The ground had evened out and his momentum was finally broken. And Jenna was close, he could feel her.
Two wolves ran at him, the bigger one trying to stop when it saw him and it tripped and fell. It was Stephen and he skidded a small distance in the dust. Rosa came to a stop behind him, her eyes glowing and completely animalistic. As Bruce thought it, she pulled her lips up and growled at him. So much for hanging onto her humanity. She was completely buried under the animal.
He growled back and she backed off because he was bigger and stronger.
Lori arrived next with Tara right behind her. Tara sniffed the wind but it was blowing in the right direction. Bruce couldn’t smell Jenna either and that made him feel a little calmer. At least she was safe. For now.
Tara’s power was terrifying. It pushed against Bruce like a giant hand and he gasped for breath. Her anger made it that much worse, and for a moment he wondered what she’d needed him for if she was capable of this. But then, she wasn’t always this enraged. Wild emotions tended to give shifters wild abilities.
Bruce reached deep down to find Jenna, and she was close by. He could feel her. Not close enough for the others to know, but too close for comfort. Bruce didn’t want to look around and give it away, but he was aching for her, screaming on the inside, terrified she wasn’t alright.
The pack were facing off. The air suddenly shifted and Bruce knew this was going to be a fight. There was no way that this kind of atmosphere, this kind of power, was going to die down again without something happening.
Just as Bruce thought it, Lori bared her teeth and launched at Bruce. It was unexpected, he’d been keeping his eye on Tara, and she knocked him from the side. He didn’t take long to recover. He turned around and managed to wrestle her down, clawing her in the face and then shoving her against a tree. He heard the breath leave her body with an audible huff.
“That’s enough!” a female voice cut through the tension and everyone stopped. Goose bumps traveled up Bruce’s arms and when he slowly let go of Lori and turned, Tara stood there in human form. She looked terrible. Her hair was tangled and she had a thin line of blood trickling from her forehead. Her eyes were haunted. Everything stopped when she shouted. Lori and Bruce stood unmoving. Stephen was licking his paw like something was wrong with it and Rosa cowered like she was scared of Tara. Which wasn’t that far off – they were all scared of Tara on one level or another.
Dwayne came through the trees just as Tara opened her mouth to speak again. She glared at him but he looked right back, staring her down coolly. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling, but besides that you wouldn’t think he’d just come into company where everyone wanted to rip each other’s throats out. Or at least, where everyone seemed to want to rip Bruce’s throat out.
Dwayne glanced at Bruce as Tara started talking and his eyes held knowledge that Bruce didn’t have access to.
“This has gone on long enough,” Tara said. “I’m not going to let the Family run around the woods like lunatics.”
Bruce held his breath and wondered if everyone thought the same thing he did – that of all the shifters, the only lunatic was Tara. Maybe they didn’t feel that way about it.
“The human must go,” Tara said and she pinned Bruce with a hard stare. He tried to calm himself, tried to let go of the tension. It was like strands, blowing in the wind, but still stuck to him and he couldn’t seem to shake it off. Still, if he wanted to talk to Tara he had to shift now.
Somehow he managed. A lot of it was forced, but a few moments later his body started shrinking again. And it was agonizing. The reopened wounds had just started knitting closed again and they burned. Bruce felt lightheaded and the world started to spin. He should have waited until the animal was calmer. But this was important.
When he was a human he leaned against a tree, trying to keep his balance. He was aware of blood on his face and trickling down his hands. He swallowed hard and tasted it in his mouth, too, metallic on the back of his tongue.
“No,” he finally said and his voice was hoarse. But it was loud enough so that everyone heard what he’d said. Because when Tara said ‘the human has to go’ she’d meant death. She wouldn’t let Jenna even leave.
“I’m getting really sick of you and your idea that this is some sort of democracy,” she said and her voice was low and dangerous. “When I say the human goes, she goes.”
“It’s my fault,” Bruce said and Tara snapped her mouth shut. There was a collective intake of breath from the others. Tara narrowed her eyes at Bruce.
“What do you mean it’s your fault? I know you didn’t tell her.”
The way Tara said that she knew he didn’t tell was in a way that people said ‘you better hope it wasn’t you, or else’. Bruce took a deep breath, gasping for air. It felt like there was an anvil on his chest and he was running out of energy. He hadn’t hunted yet and judging by the position of the moon the night was drawing closer and closer to dawn.
“She found me in the woods. I was careless.”
It was close enough to the truth. He wasn’t going to mention about the bond that drew her, and the fact that he didn’t know. The others would know about it and he felt like an idiot.
“So, you don’t want to punish a poor innocent human for you mistakes, is that it?” Tara asked. Bruce nodded even though he knew that most of that sentence was sarcastic.
“I don’t think that’s fair,” Lori spoke up. The pack was usually quiet when they had their disputes. Bruce was the only one that stood up to Tara or challenged what she said. Everyone looked at Lori. She’d also changed back to human form and she looked the best of all of them. She hadn’t been tumbling through trees, Bruce thought. She looked like she’d hunted, in fact. He wondered if he counted as prey.
“Why should we let our rules slide so some human Bruce is in love with can survive and place us all in danger?”
Dwayne cleared his throat and everyone looked at him.
“In all honesty, as long as she stays away from the others with this news I don’t see anything going wrong.”
When Dwayne said he ‘saw’ something going wrong, he really meant he saw it. It wasn’t a figure of speech, he saw visions the same way people saw other people.
“Full moon,” Tara sneered at Bruce. “That’s how long you get to work this out. And I’m not doing it because I like you. I do it because I like him.” She nodded toward Dwayne. He was by far Tara’s biggest asset, and if he said she was safe then she believed it. Lori grunted and walked into the trees. The two wolves followed her like lapdogs, Stephen limping a little. Tara stayed behind, glaring after them before turning her murderous eyes on Bruce.
“This is not how I play this game. One thing goes wrong and she’s not the only one that’s going to end up dead.” Her voice was full of threat and Bruce didn’t miss the implication.
She turned and disappeared into the trees as well. Bruce and Dwayne were left alone between the trees.
“Thank you,” Bruce said after a moment of silence.
“Don’t thank me yet. Things are going to get worse before they get better.”
“I’m surprised they’re not worse already. Mercy isn’t in Tara’s nature. I’m lucky either of us are alive.”
“I don’t know what’s going on, but I know there are ripples. Something right now is working out differently, but it’s going to come back at you a hundred times.”
Bruce looked at Dwayne for a second. “That’s a bad thing,” he said after a moment. Dwayne nodded.
“It’s not good, no.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
Dwayne sighed. “If I were you, I’d cut my losses and run.”
Bruce looked around him, up at the trees, the dim light of morning that started bleeding into the night sky at the edge of the mountains. He couldn’t leave this place. He couldn’t le
ave Jenna.
Especially not now.
“One thing at a time,” he said. Dwayne nodded but they both knew that life never worked out that way, and if Bruce wasn’t careful, life wasn’t going to work out at all.
He left Dwayne in the trees and started walking back down to the village. He had to go see Jenna. The bond told him that she was back in the cabin. He had time to think now that the panic was over and he was calm enough to feel something again. His fighting instinct wasn’t threatening to take over.
And anger set in, replacing his natural urges to protect. He was furious at Jenna for what she’d done. He hadn’t wanted her to meet the pack. He’d told her so. Bruce took a deep breath and climbed up the steps to the front door. When he pushed it open he heard the click of a rifle. The door swung open, revealing Jenna with the gun rested on the back of a turned armchair, pointing it at Bruce.
“Easy, Jen. It’s just me,” he said, holding his hands up. It was like it took a moment for Jenna to register before a shudder rippled through her body and she lowered the gun enough not to be a threat. Jenna would have been able to take care of herself in most circumstance, her hold on the gun was firm even though the grip on herself wasn’t. But shifters didn’t just die from bullets.
“What were you thinking?” Bruce asked and he was aware of how loud his voice was. He was trying to deal with his anger but it felt like it was just channeling in one big rush toward her. “You could have died tonight. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through just to stop them from going at you?”
She swallowed and nodded. “I can see,” she said and Bruce realized he probably didn’t look very good. He knew he was injured and he had dried blood on his face and his hands.
“Dammit, Jenna. I told you this wasn’t a good idea. I told you I wanted you to stay away from them. Why didn’t you listen?”
She was angry now too.
“How was I supposed to know what was going to happen? You’re so tight lipped about everything in your life it’s not like I knew what to expect. I was just going to look. I wasn’t going to walk in there and introduce myself. I didn’t know they were going to find me.”
Bruce stomped around the house trying to get rid of pent up tension and anger.
“Do you have any idea what would happen if they got their hands on you?” he asked. Jenna slowly lowered the gun until the muzzle hit the floor. The moment it did she started crying.
“Oh, god. Jenna,” Bruce said and walked over to her, sitting next to her and folding her against him.
“I’m sorry,” she said through her tears. “I didn’t know.
“I should have said more,” Bruce said. He was so used to hiding his life from her he’d thought that carrying on with it would still keep her safe. But that wasn’t going to happen. Now that she knew she had to know everything.
“What’s going to happen now?” Jenna asked. Bruce thought about what Dwayne had said about leaving. How easy would it have been for them to just pack up their stuff and leave to another city? Start new?
But he knew that Jenna wouldn’t leave. What was more, he understood it. He’d only lived in Williamsburg for five years and he loved it there. How much more would Jenna hold onto it, since she’d grown up there?
“The pack aren’t out to get you,” Bruce said. Jenna shuddered against his chest.
“I won’t be safe again will I?” Jenna asked. She’d made a lot of mistakes but she wasn’t stupid.
“I can’t protect you from them all the way. They have to challenge me before they get to you but they did, and I was losing. Tara is stronger than me and she’s pack alpha.”
Jenna sniveled against my shirt. “I should have known something was up with her when I found out about you.”
“You couldn’t have known. She can look as human as I do, she just doesn’t want to.” I took a deep breath and prepared myself to say what I had to say next.
“You need to stay away from Williamsburg for a while.”
She lifted her head and looked at Bruce. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her nose was red.
“What?”
“You don’t have to leave, but you need to stay away from people for a bit. I’ll take you up to a place in the mountain.”
“I can’t do that!” she cried out.
“Honey, if you want to stay alive, you’re going to have to.”
Chapter 2
The idea of being in isolation, away from all the people she knew and loved, was terrifying. Jenna understood what Bruce was saying – she didn’t doubt that Tara, the wereleopard, had wanted to kill her. The woman had tried to kill her before, as it turned out.
It was hard for Jenna to believe that the leopard that had been at her throat a while ago was the woman that Bruce had been trying to date before they’d gotten together. And at the same time, it wasn’t that difficult to believe at all. In some crazy way that seemed to fit in with everything that was happening now. It made sense.
Jenna shuddered when she thought about Tara, about the attacks, about everything. Bruce was at work, and she was at home on her day off, trying to figure out how she was going to leave her life behind for a short while without getting homesick, without feeling like everything was a big mistake, without anyone in the town coming to look for her and making things worse.
That was the bit that bothered her the most – that the others might be endangered because she was being watched.
Tara had looked so normal when Jenna had first met her. Despite her hostile reaction to Jenna she had just seemed like a girlfriend. It had been easy to believe that she was a Manager at some company In Rhodestown. Seeing her as a leopard, as a shapeshifter, had been weird. She’d looked like an animal wearing Tara’s skin. The person Jenna had met, however brief, just didn’t fit in with the control freak of a leopard.
From what Jenna understood she had to leave Williamsburg for a while so that the others wouldn’t catch on. She didn’t know who she was going to tell. She didn’t know who was going to believe her. But when it came down to her life, the fact that she would die if she mingled with the town’s folk, it wasn’t a very big questions. It was where she was going to stay that bothered her more.
She wasn’t allowed to stay with people at all. Any people. Which meant that even if she went to Rhodestown, or anywhere else for that matter, she was going to die. It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. It was like Jenna had stepped over the line where reality became a dream world.
She went down to the salon and put in leave. Bruce had negotiated for one day for her to tie up loose ends so that no one would come looking for her. That was more dangerous, for more people. Carla didn’t want to let it go.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “You never go away. I don’t think you’ve ever left this town.”
“Oh, we’re just going to run away for a short little honeymoon,” Jenna said. That was easiest, they’d decided. Bruce was going to disappear too, for a while. Stick with Jenna so that she was safe. And the fact that they’d just gotten married made everything easier for them to explain.
“No one in Williamsburg goes away on honeymoon,” Carla argued.
“Well, the rest of the world does, and I’d like to get away with him, just be alone for a change, you know?”
Carla nodded but she obviously didn’t know. And Jenna understood that. No one around Williamsburg ever wanted to leave. That wasn’t how things were done.
Next was the general store where she spoke to Murray. Her father’s friend was the closest to family now. After she explained, he narrowed his eyes.
“That’s very unlike you,” he said after a moment.
Jenna shrugged and tried to pretend like it wasn’t a big deal. “It’s just something different. Bruce and I both want to have a bit of a break.”
“From what?”
“I don’t know, life. Work. All of that. We just want to get away for a bit. Everyone does it, just not here.”
Murray nodded but he still
looked suspicious.
“He’s not hurting you, is he?” he asked.
Jenna shook her head. “Bruce will never hurt me. If anything he will die protecting me.”
Murray was quiet for long enough that Jenna wanted to finish the conversation and leave, but just as she opened her mouth, Murray said, “You take care of yourself. And if anything comes to bother you, you come tell me. No matter what it is.”
He looked at her and his eyes were intense. She felt a shiver down her spine, and she felt that somehow he wasn’t talking just about the small things. Anything, he’d said. Not anyone. She nodded and forced a smile.
“It won’t be long.”
She was relieved when she finally managed to escape from the shop. When Murray had told her a while ago that she wasn’t crazy for feeling things she’d felt better. Now it was just another reason for him to be in danger. If he was closer to all this, the way she was, he was in more danger. But she couldn’t say anything about it, so she walked down the road with that smile plastered onto her face pretending like absolutely everything was fine.
She saw Williamsburg like she was never coming back to it. The old buildings, the dusty road, the shops that looked like they dated back to the nineteen hundreds with the exception of cars and electricity.
“Are you ready?” Bruce asked when she finally wound up at the lumberyard. He’d managed to get half the day off. She nodded but she wasn’t ready at all. She didn’t want to leave.
“Come on. Let’s go get our bags and then we’ll head into the mountains.”
They’d both packed enough clothes for two weeks. That was how long Bruce had said Tara had given him to sort something out. That was how long no one would touch Jenna no matter how much they wanted to kill her.
“Should we go there in broad daylight?” she asked.
Bruce nodded. “We can’t wait any longer. Tara gave us a day but she’s impatient and flighty.”
“I don’t understand how she’s in charge,” Jenna said. “The more I see of her, the more I hear about her, the more it seems like she’s the worst possible leader.”
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 90