Bears in Blue Shifter Romance Box Set

by Mia Taylor

  Mal stepped down from the witness box and rushed over to Lowry.

  “What the hell is happening?” he demanded. “Why didn’t you put a stop to it?”

  “I have no idea what Yates is going on about, but whatever it is, he’s only stalling and turning this into a circus act. You have nothing to worry about.”

  Don’t I? He’s looking for evidence that Brynn has been found. He’s either going to make me out to be a liar under oath or make me produce evidence of Brynn. What the hell did I say that for?

  It was all too much and he didn’t know what to do.

  “I need to plead the fifth,” Mal told Lowry and the prosecution attorney blinked.

  “What?” he asked stiffly. “Oh God, what did you do, Mal?”

  Mal shook his head.

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  He didn’t know how to explain what had happened without creating more trouble with everyone involved.

  Holy hell. What a disaster. Why didn’t I just keep my mouth shut? What made me tell them about Brynn?

  In his pocket, his cell vibrated and he snatched it up, his mouth tightening.

  “Mal!” Lowry cried after him as he stalked from the courtroom, cell in hand. Mal ignored him and answered the call.

  “This is not a good time, Lena,” he growled. “I’m on the witness stand.”

  “She took off!” Lena breathed. “And I knew she was going to do it! I knew it! This is all my fault!”

  Mal felt a chill run through his body.

  “Please tell me you don’t mean Brynn,” he muttered into the phone, but of course she did. Who else would she be calling about?

  “I’m sorry, Mal! She did it in the middle of the night. I was too hard on her last night, I—”

  “You had one job!” Mal railed at her. “To keep her safe for a few days. Instead, you scared her off.”

  “I know,” Lena mumbled miserably. “I’m sorry.”

  He hung up, afraid he was going to say something he regretted.

  Standing outside the courtroom, his head spun. There was only one place Brynn could have gone and he grabbed his phone to call Stella.

  The woman answered on the first ring.

  “I knew you’d be calling,” she sighed. “Sorry, but what could I do?”

  Mal’s heart was pumping so furiously, he felt dizzy.

  “What did you do?” he choked. “Where is Brynn?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Oh… she’s not with you, then?”

  Mal was sure he was going to pass out.

  “No… is she with you?” he replied evenly and Stella sighed.

  “She showed up here an hour ago, bag in hand, asking to come back.”

  “AND?”

  “And we couldn’t let her come back, Mal. Who knows who she’s spoken to or who’s on her trail now? Before, we at least had some idea of how to contain her secret, but now...?”

  “You sent her away?” Disbelief twined with rage colored Mal’s line of sight but he didn’t know what to do.

  “Like I said, Mal, you shouldn’t have taken her in the first place. She was much safer here than—”

  He dropped the call, his hands shaking.

  Maybe she’ll go back to Lena’s. Or maybe she’ll come looking for me.

  “Detective Barnes.”

  He turned, his vision blurry as a pounding headache started at the base of his skull.

  His face turned into a sneer as he recognized the speaker and turned away to ignore him.

  “You don’t remember me, do you?” Christensen murmured. The hairs on Mal’s arms rose and he slowly pivoted back to stare at him.

  “Remember you?” he spat. “I’ve lived and breathed you every day for two years.”

  Christensen flashed a smile but for the first time, Mal noticed the sharp curve of his canines, dripping too low for normal human teeth.

  “You’ve been living and breathing me for longer than that, Detective. I’d say about five, give or take, since that fateful day in Belize.”

  Mal’s breath caught in his throat and he reeled back.

  “No!” he choked, waving his hands outward as if to ward off the man before him, but Christensen’s smile only widened.

  “I was wondering when you were going to clue in,” Christensen chuckled. “I guess you’re not as good a detective as you thought you were.”

  How could I not have seen this? I was sure they were etched into my mind, their faces, their expressions…

  But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that the perps had all blended together in his mind, blurring the illusion of the men who had taken Brynn.

  “So she’s alive, huh?” Christensen leered. “That’s wonderful news. Why don’t you tell me where to find her so I can save my pack the trouble of hunting her down?”

  Mal felt the itch of morphing starting in his face but Christensen raised a hand.

  “Ah, ah, ah, Detective. You wouldn’t want to blow your cover right here, would you?”

  “This is a bear town, you bastard. Even if I shifted right now, I’d be cleared by the time they pulled your bloodied corpse off the tile.”

  “Let’s agree to disagree on the matter, Mal.”

  “It’s time to get back in there,” Lowry growled into his ear. “You shouldn’t be talking to this lowlife without his lawyer present.”

  “Oh, we’re just catching up on old times, Mr. Lowry,” Christensen chirped. “Nothing that will interest the likes of Mr. Yates.”

  “Come on, Mal,” Lowry urged. “I want to talk to you before you get back on the stand.”

  But Mal was still holding the wolf’s gaze, his ears roaring with a rush of blood.

  And without another word, he flew from the courthouse, ignoring the cries of protest behind him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rejoining the Pack

  Tears of frustration poured down Brynn’s cheeks as she sat on the curb, outside the train station.

  It had never occurred to her that Stella would turn her away, not for a second.

  But of course she did. Why would she let me come back when she warned me about leaving in the first place?

  Now she had nowhere to go, no one to call. Lena certainly wouldn’t open her arms back to her when Brynn had all but spat on her kindness.

  She’s probably relieved I took off. I can’t just walk back there with my tail between my legs. I need to call Malcolm but he’s in court. Should I go to the courthouse?

  It was the only sane plan that she could muster, despite the danger of encountering bears everywhere.

  I’ll just keep my head down.

  Oh, how she hated that she was going against everything she had told herself, knowing that she was ruining Malcolm’s life by having him take her away, but what choice did she have now? It was this or…

  She paused, raising her head slightly.

  There was one other option, one which made her stomach flip nervously.

  There is somewhere I can go, somewhere that I’ll be welcome. I need to find my pack.

  The mere thought of it made her shudder. These were the same wolves who had kidnapped and turned her for gods only knew what purpose before leaving her on a beach to die.

  Finding them might mean death, too, but it was better than endangering everyone else around her.

  I’m like a stupid child who has no idea how the world works, she thought mournfully, ambling to her feet. Where would I even find my pack—or any pack? I can’t just walk around asking people if they’re Lycanthropes. I’ll be institutionalized before I can say “Lycanthrope”.

  Brynn mused over the option of being hospitalized. That might be a safe place for her.

  “Are you all right, honey?”

  An elderly woman peered down at her, a sympathetic look on her face, and Brynn bit on her lower lip.

  “I-I’m not sure,” she answered honestly.

  “Are you lost? Did someone hurt you?”

  I hurt m
yself. And I’ve been lost for years.

  To her own chagrin, Brynn burst into tears, gut-wrenching sobs wracking her body, but the old woman shocked her by sinking down and wrapping her arms around the younger woman’s shoulders.

  “It’s a man, isn’t it?” she cooed. “Only a man can do this to a strong, beautiful woman.”

  Brynn relished the warmth of the old woman’s embrace and shook her head.

  “No,” she moaned. “He’s the only good thing, but I can’t keep him.”

  “Why not? A pretty thing like you deserves a good man. Trust me, dearie, there ain’t many of them out there.”

  Miserably, Brynn dabbed at her eyes.

  “Because he would spend his whole life trying to protect me while leaving his life behind.”

  The woman cocked her head back and studied Brynn’s face carefully.

  “Is he an adult man?” she asked and Brynn nodded.

  “Yes… of course.”

  “Is he mentally sound?”

  “Yes…” She was starting to understand where she was going with the questions.

  “Then don’t you think he can make his own decisions?”

  “It’s not that simple, Ma’am.”

  “Anyone who cries on my shoulder can call me Emily,” the lady chuckled. “Who are you?”

  “Brynn,” she murmured. “Thank you, Emily.”

  The woman’s eyes widened with interest.

  “Brynn,” she said, nodding. “That is an interesting name. Like Brynn Alexander, that girl who went missing in Belize a few years back.”

  Brynn’s shoulders jerked back and she pulled out of the woman’s embrace. Gone was the grandmotherly smile as her wrinkled face turned to pure stone.

  “Do you have any idea how long we’ve been looking for you?” she hissed as Brynn tried to jump to her feet. “We had almost given up and written you off as dead.”

  “W-who are you?” she gasped and Emily smiled coldly.

  “Why, I’m grandma, my dear Red Riding Hood. Can’t you tell?”

  ~ ~ ~

  Emily’s fingers were like vice grips around Brynn’s upper arm.

  “Don’t make a scene or a fuss,” Emily warned. “This is bear territory and we’ll be ripped limb from limb.”

  “What if I don’t care?” Brynn demanded. She wasn’t being contrary—she meant it. There was no point in going on if she was only going to be reclaimed by the very men she had been hidden from for five years.

  How did they find me so quickly? Did they sense me?

  “Your lover sold you out,” Emily announced as they moved through the streets toward a waiting van. “He told the entire world about your existence.”

  “You’re lying!” Brynn snarled. “Mal loves me. He would never do that.”

  “He did—told our Alpha, directly to his face,” Emily continued and Brynn froze in her tracks.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” she spat. “He hates the wolves.”

  “Indeed,” Emily agreed, increasing pressure around her arm. “Why do you think he did it? He doesn’t want some wolf mate, Brynn. He wants a red-blooded bear. He doesn’t want to run around trying to protect you from his own kind. You’re holding him back so he did the only thing he could to let you down easily—he’s returning you to your pack where you belong.”

  Brynn wrenched her arm out of Emily’s grasp, but instead of running, she glared at the decrepit figure.

  “You had a chance to have me and you left me to die on a beach in Central America!” she snapped. “I don’t belong with you anymore than I do with Malcolm.”

  “That was an unfortunate oversight,” Emily sighed, reaching for her arm again, but Brynn danced out of the way.

  “An unfortunate oversight?”

  “What do you want me to say, Brynn? The boys thought you were dead, that you hadn’t survived the turn. You were dead weight. They couldn’t carry you, so they left you. I gave them a blast of shit for that, by the way, but when they went back for you, you were already gone.”

  Because Stella and Paul were keeping tabs on Malcolm. Would they have interceded if they had known what I was when they found me?

  “No,” Emily answered and Brynn realized she could read her thoughts. “No one would have touched you if they had known what you were. The bears have no use for you, Brynn. Stop fighting with me and come home. Where else are you going to go?”

  Brynn knew that Emily had a valid point, as much as it tormented her to hear.

  “I’m sorry to be so harsh with you, Brynn, but that’s the way it is. You’ve had the last five years of your life sugar-coated for you. It’s time you leave everyone behind and come with us.”

  Emily didn’t reach for her again but she nodded toward the van. The doors slid open and she was staring into three sets of hauntingly familiar eyes.

  And there she was, watching them attack her boyfriend as she choked on her terror.

  She could see the blood flying from Mal’s cuts as he did everything he could to fight them off and keep them down, smacking them into the sand.

  “RUN BRYNN!” he had screamed but she was frozen in place, unable to move.

  “Do you remember your pack, Brynn?” Emily asked, mistaking her silence for complacency.

  “How could I forget them?” she growled. “They are the ones who ruined my life.”

  “They can make your life better if you go with them,” Emily cajoled but there was a steel undertone to her voice which told Brynn that she wasn’t asking.

  “No!” she snarled, spinning to run, but before she could take one step, Emily seized a fistful of her honey-blonde hair and yanked her back.

  Brynn released a squeal which attracted the looks of passersby.

  “She’s off her meds,” Emily explained. “Nothing to see here.”

  To Brynn, she hissed, “Keep it up and there will be hell to pay.”

  “Unhand me or I’ll shift,” Brynn threatened. Emily slowed her gait but she didn’t release Brynn’s hair.

  “You wouldn’t…”

  “Why not? I have nothing left to lose.”

  Emily scoffed.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  She continued dragging Brynn toward the open van as Brynn screamed, forcing her body to morph, but before she could expose herself to the world, she was thrown into the van, and the doors closed.

  Suddenly, she was facing off against the three wolves who had once stolen her away from Malcolm.

  And it looked like they were going to do it again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Never Again

  It was the only place he could think of to find her—the train station. Like a moth to a flame, he drove from the courthouse on Van Buren to Union Station without heeding traffic signals.

  Several times, he almost crashed, but Mal barely noticed, leaping from the driver’s seat to bolt toward the entranceway. Several cops milled around, looking confused, and he stopped, knowing that their presence had something to do with Brynn.

  “What’s going on?” he barked at a uniformed officer he didn’t know.

  “Nothing to see here, buddy,” the officer started to say, but Mal flashed his badge and the uniform looked sheepish.

  “Sorry, Detective. Oh, hey, aren’t you—”

  “Never mind who I am. What the hell is happening out here?”

  “Possible kidnapping in progress. It’s a weird story—apparently an old lady took a young, blonde woman hostage and threw her into a van. I’d say that everyone is on acid but—”

  “Which way did the van go?” Mal demanded, his breaths jagged with fear.

  “North on Canal. We have units on it, Detective.”

  Not the kind of units you need, Mal thought grimly, rushing back to his car. He flipped on the police scanner and followed the noise as they tracked the van in question.

  “We’ve lost sight of them on West Madison,” someone called over the radio.

  West Madison it is.

  His phone
was ringing nonstop but Mal didn’t have the dexterity nor the desire to silence it. He knew it was Lowry wondering what the hell happened but he didn’t have time to explain it to him now.

  “Sighting of suspect’s van near the hospital,” a fuzzy voice piped through the radio. “All units be advised. There seems to be some commotion in the rear. Suspects may be armed. Proceed with caution.”

  Caution was the last thing on Mal’s mind as he headed off to intercept the van from the front.

  I swore she’d be safe and now she’s in trouble again. I don’t deserve her.

  He couldn’t afford the self-pity. He needed every ounce of focus he had to stop this kidnapping from happening.

  Christensen. He alerted them somehow, but how?

  With growing dread, Mal wondered if the wolves had somehow tapped his phone and figured out where Brynn would be in precisely the same manner as he had.

  “You’re not getting away this time,” he muttered, foot falling heavily onto the gas.

  The sharp tug of his incisors warned him that he was about to shift, but he steeled himself.

  Not yet. Not until you have every one of those bastards in your grasp. And this time, they’re not leaving alive.

  And then he saw it, the white cargo van, driving erratically and heading directly toward his Jeep.

  They were engaged in a game of chicken, one that Mal had no intention of losing. The driver, a wide-eyed boy, seemed to realize that he was going to have to swerve, but when he did, he crashed himself directly into a brick wall.

  The kid had no time to compose himself before he was sent flying from the driver’s seat to land in a nearby dumpster, but Mal didn’t bother to see what became of him.

  Whatever was happening in the back of the van sent him in a flurry of fur and paws to rip the sliding doors off its hinges and toss it away as easily as he had the kid before.

  Five wolves were engaged in a fight and it didn’t take Mal any time to figure out which one was his mate.

  She was pinned against the wall, a mass of snarls and whimpers as she tried to fend off her attackers.

  One by one, Mal swiped through the mob, his massive claws digging into their flesh to send them screaming in pain away from Brynn. His panting snout finally reached hers and she gaped at him in shock, her eyes glazed with pain and disbelief.