Heart: BWWM Secret Baby Romance
Page 23
She got to the empty table, wondering where the girls she went out with went, and feeling a little miffed that they left her things unattended on the table and didn’t even bother to call her about it or something. She got over it quickly though, as she felt the contents of her stomach slowly rising to her throat. She spotted a waitress carrying a tray of drinks and she snatched one glass of champagne before downing it in one gulp.
“Hey there, gorgeous. You alone?” a voice asked. Justine raised her head and squinted up at this guy who just approached her. He was scruffy and wasn’t very good-looking, and Justine quickly dismissed the thought of spending any more time with him. She ignored him and stood up from her chair abruptly, holding onto the edge of the table, as her vision spun from her sudden movement.
She was about to move out of the way when he blocked her exit, his eyes flashing in annoyance.
“Hey, I asked you a question. Don’t be such a bitch,” the guy said, grabbing her elbow, and Justine tried her hardest to glare at him despite her condition.
“I’m not interested,” Justine finally spoke, wrenching her arm away from his grasp, almost tripping over herself in the process.
The man was relentless; however, and Justine was shocked when a hand holding a white cloth covered her mouth while another hand held her by the waist, pulling her back against a bony chest. She tried to pull away, but the effects of the chloroform were almost instantaneous and she fell unconscious.
The man removed his hand from her mouth before hoisting her up in his arms. He nodded at two men just by the bar, and they made their way to the exit, trying to look as casual as possible, even with an unconscious girl in their arms. They walked over to a van, one of them sliding the door open, as the other two hauled Justine inside. They laid her haphazardly on the seat before going to the front of the van and driving off.
“Are you sure she’s worth a lot?” the driver asked.
“Positive. She was chugging down drinks one after another and treated everyone to two rounds of shots. Girl’s gotta be rich to pull that amount of dough off of her,” he replied.
“So, we’re just gonna hold her for ransom, right? Do you know who she is?”
“No, but she’ll tell us once we scare the crap out of her,” he chuckled darkly.
“You gotta admit though, she’s really hot,” the guy at the back said, his eyes roving Justine’s body hungrily. “We can mess with her a little, right? Because I won’t mind going to pound town on her fine ass, if you know what I’m saying.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be in the woods in a little while. We won’t be disturbed there,” he replied.
Chapter 3
Lucas adjusted his goggles, as he maneuvered down the streets in his Ducati. He found that he did all his best-thinking moments when he was riding his bike so fast just for the sake of it, without any destination in mind. Today; however, it didn’t seem to be working.
Lucas didn’t like the predicament he was in; how little options he had available. He was suddenly thrust into a position where he could no longer decide and act on something without having to think of the huge ramifications they could do to his clan, and he didn’t like not being in control of his own life.
He had asked the Elder if there was some way he could renounce his position, but the Elder said nothing, merely giving him such a murderous stare that made him roll his eyes and leave him in the shower rooms.
And now, here he was, still contemplating how to get out of his situation and, if he couldn’t, how he’s going to make his life a little bearable than what it seemed it would be.
He passed by a speeding black van and he scowled, as he swerved away from it, muttering about crazy drivers when his ears picked up the conversation in the van; something about a woman inside their van and planning to have some ‘fun’ with her in the woods.
Lucas’s hold on the handle bars clenched, as he stopped on the corner, watching the van turn smaller and smaller as it got farther away. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, thinking of whether or not he should follow that van. It’s not any of his business anyway.
Lucas groaned, already knowing his answer to his own question. He gassed up and turned his bike in pursuit of the van, keeping his speed a little lower, so the van wouldn’t notice he was following them. He was going to rescue the girl inside the van.
An hour later, Lucas was surprised at the location he followed the black van to; it was on the outskirts of town. They pulled her off of the van and laid her on the soft ground, and Lucas waited patiently for the girl to come to.
Lucas heard the sound of wolves howling in the distance and it made Lucas feel uneasy. They were too close, and they sounded hungry. Lucas realized that he’d have to take out all three of the guys, so he could rescue the hostage.
Deciding on a proper course of action, Lucas took his shirts and pants off, not wanting to wreck his clothes. He closed his eyes, crouched down by a huge boulder, and concentrated.
Lucas’s skin slowly transformed, his fur growing out of his arms and legs, and his face slowly widening and turning into that of a bear.
He clenched his teeth, as he heard the three men sniggering as they surrounded the woman, touching the hem of her skirt and slipping a finger or two underneath the start of her dress. Lucas saw the woman twitch and he watched, as she blinked a couple of times before her focus returned. She took one look at her surroundings and she gasped, bolting up into a sitting position, as she looked up at the three men who kidnapped her.
“Who are you and what do you want from me? Jamie asked, and the guy who she first talked to spoke first.
“We want money,” he said, and Jamie bit her lip, her eyes starting to tear up from the tears she was trying not to cry.
“And, you’re gonna give it to us.”
“Look, whatever you want, no matter how much, I’ll do it, okay? I’ll give you all my money, just please don’t hurt me! Let me go. Just please, let me go…,” Justine gasped, her whole body shaking with fear as the trio laughed.
“Oh, we know you’re going to give us the money. But, you were pretty rude to me back there at the club, you know,” he said, trailing off as he brushed his hand over her arm, making her flinch. “You hurt my feelings. Aren’t you going to apologize for doing that?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.
“I’m sorry,” Justine said automatically, eliciting another chuckle from the group and making Lucas bristle with rage as he continued to listen. “Please, I’m so sorry for what I did…,”
“Hmm, I don’t know, man. I think we should teach her a lesson or two about respect,” the other said, his mouth widening in a manic smile. “What do you think?”
They moved closer to Justine who huddled herself to a tree until she couldn’t move anymore. Her eyes widened as all of them reached out for her at once, and she covered her head with her hands, her eyes shut tight, as she waited for them to grab and attack her.
She suddenly heard a loud roar and she raised her head up just in time to see one of her kidnappers sailing through the air and hitting his back on a huge tree branch before falling to the ground, dead.
Justine turned her head and her eyes widened, as she saw a huge brown bear attacking one of the kidnappers as the other was on the ground, paralyzed with fear. The bear swiped his claws to the man, the latter narrowly missing a hit to the face when the bear grabbed him by his hips and swung him to the trunk of a tree.
The bear turned its gaze toward the last man who was shaking violently, as he raised a gun at the animal.
“S-stay back!” the man stuttered and cried, but the bear moved toward him slowly, as if sensing that the gun was a dangerous object. The bear took another step before he lunged toward the man who panicked and pulled the trigger.
“No!” Justine shouted, her hand covering her mouth as she saw the bullet enter the bear’s left shoulder and the blood that splattered from his back. Lucas hardly registered the pain and proceeded to rip apart the man’s chest, the latter scre
aming in agony, as Lucas continued to torture him to death.
There wasn’t much left of the man when Lucas was through with him, and Lucas turned his head to look at Justine, who was watching him with slight fear, curiosity, and dare she say it, gratitude. He opened his mouth to ask her if she was okay until he realized that he was still in bear form, so he turned away from her and ran off.
“Hey, wait!” Justine called out, but she only saw the bear pick something up from behind the boulder before disappearing through the trees. She placed her hand on her chest, feeling her heart pounding so fast and so loud over what happened. She didn’t have to check if her attackers were dead since there was hardly anything left of one of them, and the other one probably broke his spine from hitting the trees. She stood up from the ground, brushed the dirt off of her dress, and looked around.
She needed to get out of here, but she’d never been in the woods before, and she was unconscious when they brought her to this part of the woods.
“If only that bear could speak English,” Justine sighed helplessly.
Chapter 4
Lucas pulled his shirt over his head, fixing himself up before turning back. The girl was probably scared to death from what happened, and she didn’t look like she was the type who liked hiking in the woods, so he decided to go back in human form to help her get out of here.
He hoped she was stupid enough not to notice the wound on his shoulder or how extremely convenient it was for him to be there. He didn’t think there would be enough words in his vocabulary to explain that.
He went back to the scene where he killed the men who kidnapped her, but the girl was nowhere to be found. He looked around, frowning, as he saw that there were only two bodies on the ground instead of three.
Lucas cursed. That guy was probably still alive and looking for the girl as well. He needed to take him out fast, preferably before he finds her, but in his condition, he wouldn’t be able to transform. He wasn’t healing as fast as he usually did because he was still exhausted from the competition earlier, but he took a deep breath through clenched teeth and willed himself to bear with it. Exposing their secret was not an option.
The wolves howled once more and Lucas cursed, as he completely forgot about them during the scuffle. The wolves added another complication he’d rather not have when he wasn’t at his one hundred per cent best. Now, he really had to find her, soon.
Thankfully, she didn’t get too far, spotting her almost immediately as he turned right on a fork on the road. She was sitting on a fallen log and massaging her ankle.
‘She probably sprained it,’ Lucas thought, as he watched her. He grabbed a few branches and rustled the leaves off, making her look apprehensively in his general direction. He shook it some more, purposely making a lot of noise before slowly emerging from his spot, her eyes widening as she caught sight of him.
“Hey, what are you doing out here? Lucas asked, furrowing his brows, pretending to be slightly curious and annoyed at finding her here. She didn’t answer and continued to stare at him, so he popped one of his eyebrows next, and that snapped her out of her trance.
‘She’s quite the looker,’ Lucas mused, staring at her with veiled interest. He had been with a fair number of women before, all of whom were really beautiful, but this girl was on a whole other level.
She was stunning with her long black hair reaching past her waist and contrasting with her creamy white skin that looked supple and soft to touch. Her brown eyes looked so expressive and deep that he felt like he could drown just by looking into them.
She walked toward him and placed her hand on her arm, her eyes shining with fright.
“Oh please, help me! There were these men who took me here while I was asleep and they were about to rape me, but then there was this bear or something and,” Justine couldn’t continue narrating to this stranger the gruesome details of what happened, and she burst into tears, still holding onto him.
Lucas grimaced, but rubbed Justine’s back in an effort to comfort her. She settled down a bit after a few moments, and Lucas looked at her directly in the eye.
“It’s not safe here. I heard wolves coming closer and we have to get out of here, okay?” he said, and Justine nodded. He took her hand and pulled her up to her feet and over to the path out of there. Justine frowned as she remembered that Lucas never told her his name, how he got there, or anything.
She opened her mouth to ask when something grabbed her from behind, pulling her away from Lucas. She gasped and tried to get away, but the arm holding her to the guy’s chest was too strong and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the tip of the knife pointed right at her face.
Lucas glared at the man whom he hadn’t managed to kill earlier, as he mentally berated himself for losing his guard. The guy never should’ve been able to sneak up on him like that, and it was a very elementary mistake. The man’s eyes were crazed, as he tightened his grip around Justine, shuffling his feet as he looked at Lucas, and then to Justine and then everywhere else.
“You! Get me out of here or I’ll kill her! It doesn’t matter to me anymore, I just want to get out!” the man cried hysterically and Lucas raised his arm calmly, attempting to placate the individual.
“Calm down” Lucas said, but that made the man point the knife threateningly at him, his hands shaking violently.
“No! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill her if you don’t lead me out of this place!” he cried, walking backward and pulling Justine with her.
Lucas saw some rustling in the bushes and, by then, he knew it was too late. A grey wolf jumped out from the side, snapping at the guy’s arm and making him scream. He let go of Justine and tried swinging his arm to get the wolf off, but to no avail. He dropped the knife and Lucas immediately lunged for it before it hit the ground, then he spun around quickly, putting Justine behind his back as he adjusted his stance and readied himself for an attack.
“If I don’t look like I can handle this, do me a favor and run!” Lucas urged Justine, and she didn’t have time to reply when a wolf lunged up at Lucas. He managed to kick it in the face before turning to another wolf that jumped up to charge him. He caught it by its snout, crushing it closed with one hand, as he stabbed the knife to its jugular.
Justine had jumped away as soon as the second wolf had charged at Lucas, and she watched, horrified as three wolves attacked Lucas at once, one of them biting at his arm and not letting go, one on his leg, and the other on his shoulder making Lucas yelp. Lucas kicked the wolf on his leg off before grabbing the one on his back and throwing him to a tree. He grabbed the wolf’s stomach and wrenched him off, removing its hold on his arm before slamming it on the ground and stomping on its ribs, killing it.
More and more wolves emerged, most of them focusing on attacking Lucas, and Justine managed to find a long branch she used as a weapon to keep one or two wolves away. She swung the weapon haphazardly, so much so that she wasn’t hitting anything, and so one wolf managed to sink its teeth into the tip of the branch and yank it away from her, the action pulling her to the ground. Justine’s eyes widened as the wolves surrounded her, and her eyes darted around for anything to help her out.
She heard Lucas yell into the heavens and she turned her head, only to gasp at what she saw.
Lucas had his teeth bared as he raised his head up into the sky, his clothes ripped and cut off in some parts, revealing scratches and bite marks caked with blood. Slowly, the hair on his head grew in length, his skin growing hair at an accelerated rate, and he seemed to be growing bigger and taller. His ears moved to the top of his head as his mouth elongated into a short snout and his face became covered with hair.
Time seemed to have stopped for Justine at that moment, as she couldn’t believe her eyes.
She had just watched a man transform… into a bear.
Fully transformed, Lucas used his body to slam into the wolves and make quick work of their bodies by using his claws to slash at their stomachs, swiping at their heads whenever they jum
ped and got too close, sometimes catching the head and forcefully prying their mouths open and breaking their jaws.
He made quick work of them, his kills so brutal that some of the wolves ended up running away. There was nothing but blood and carnage all around by the time he dropped the last wolf into the ground. He turned his whole body toward Justine and she flinched, thinking he was going to kill her next.
“Hey,” a voice said, and Justine snapped her eyes open, looking straight into Lucas’ green-blue eyes before automatically going down to his naked, well-sculpted chest and everything beneath it.
She took a breath, then another, and then her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she fainted.
Chapter 5
Justine moaned before she opened her eyes, realizing that Lucas was carrying her bridal style. He peeked down at her before looking ahead again, and he adjusted his hold on her.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. You can put me down now,” Justine said, and Lucas shook his head, tightening his grip on her back.
“Unless you want to scream at my junk again, I’m not going let you down just yet,” he said, raising his eyebrow at her in amusement, and Justine blushed as she remembered what happened.
“Well, it’s not like I see something like that every day,” she muttered, making Lucas snort.
“As opposed to seeing me turn into a bear and rip everything into shreds?” he said casually, and Justine froze before raising her eyes to look at him. He shrugged, already knowing what she was thinking. “It’s not like we could pretend it didn’t happen. We both know why I had to. All I’m asking is you don’t say anything about it,” he said.
“You seem awfully level-headed about my knowing such a huge secret,” she observed.
“Like I said, there’s no point,” they had finally reached the exit of the forest and Lucas walked over to his bike, placing Justine down on the seat. She turned her head away quickly, as Lucas walked over to the compartment of his bike and took out a pair of jeans and a shirt and started to put them on.