by Jade Alters
“Not much we can do to stop that.”
“I know. It’s part of the process. I’m just wondering what else he’s going to do before this is all over.”
I was wondering the same thing. Creatures like Bull often escalated their warnings, with carefully plotted messages designed to create paralyzing fear on the part of the victim.
After sharing her heat, my bear insisted on being within arm’s reach of Eve, and I wanted that too. But the need to get out and take action against Bull gnawed at me. My bear needed to let the world know Eve was mine, and I needed to make Bull pay for what he’d done to her.
Eve
Owen had not stopped pacing since he’d found out my house went up in flames. Initially, my mood had plummeted, and then my mind went blank. But as the shock faded, I was grateful that I was with Owen, instead of alone in Denver.
That was a new feeling, one I’d need to process soon enough.
“I’m going to check in with my team,” he announced. He disappeared for a moment and came back with a rifle and a gleaming hunting knife. “You remember how to use the rifle?”
“Yes.” To appease him, I took the ammunition from his hand and loaded the rifle, then unloaded it again to show him I knew what I was doing. I needed a shower, badly, but I figured I’d wait until I saw what he was up to.
“Good. I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.
I watched him step onto the porch as a human. He tugged his t-shirt off. Ah. He was going to shift. Before that happened, I took the time to appreciate the view.
Over the last two days, I’d had time to admire his well-carved abs, but I didn’t think I’d ever tire of looking. If Owen weren’t so agitated, I’d go out there and interrupt, just to run my hands over his sculpted shoulders and chest. He dropped his shorts next, revealing his rather large cock. To my surprise, my mouth watered. I had to stop myself from going out there and getting on my knees in front of him.
Do it. Let him know he’s yours.
I stumbled backward and rammed my hip into the countertop.
That was the first time I’d heard from my bear in years. The sentiment wasn’t spelled out in words, but the idea was clear.
I wasn’t quite ready for a declaration. Rubbing my hip, I took the knife and the rifle with me into the living area.
I loaded the rifle and laid it next to me on the coffee table. Owen didn’t want me logging into any of my accounts from his computer. He was afraid Bull’s men would be able to find my location if hackers had accessed my accounts. Unfortunately, I agreed with him, which meant I had very little to do, now that my heat was over and we weren’t actively running.
Normally I’d have relished a few days in a cabin in the mountains, with time to read and take baths, but under the circumstances, I was climbing the walls. During a few of my more lucid moments during my heat, I’d torn through the two novels he had that I hadn’t read.
I thought of my own stack of hardback novels by my bed. The copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes I’d bought in London. The first edition of Little Women. The cheap paperbacks I kept to read during those infrequent long baths.
All of them were gone. Turned to ash because of Bull.
Ugh. I was sick of my life being dominated by this mob boss. I dug through Owen’s living area cabinets under which I found a pack of cards. Maybe I’d suggest a game of strip poker once he got back. Surely it would lift my gray mood.
As I was shuffling the cards, Owen slammed into the cabin. I had the rifle in my hands before I realized it was him.
Owen was wild-eyed. His chest heaved with every breath. I lowered the gun. I unloaded it, making my movements slow and deliberate. I stood and made my way over to him. “Owen? What is it?” I asked.
Owen ran his hand through his hair until it stood straight up. “Bull escaped.”
“Escaped?” I should have considered that as a possibility. In all the scenarios I’d imagined, Bull would remain locked away in the county jail until his sentencing.
I stared straight ahead into the fireplace. We’d just wondered what Bull would do next, and that had been when we’d thought he’d be working from a jail cell. Now he was free. It was unlikely he’d head straight for us himself, but he wouldn’t leave us alone, especially not after we’d killed his three men. That was an insult to him, a humiliation.
Would Owen’s cabin be the next to go up in flames? With us inside?
Would Bull target our clan? I didn’t want to live by my family’s rules, but I sure didn’t want any of them harmed by Bull. “We need to warn your clan. They’re probably in danger.”
The sound of cracking wood brought me out of my daze. Owen stood by the splintered side table. It lay in pieces on the floor. He shook his hand out.
I took his hand in mine. The skin was red and scraped raw, but not bleeding. “Did you break anything?” I ran my other fingertip over the bones.
“No. It’s fine.” He pulled his hand away. “I’ve warned our family. My second in command there helped get everyone into a few houses that are well-guarded.”
“I should have known you’d have thought of that.”
He shrugged. “Part of the job.”
I knew he’d say that. “Your job as a soldier or your job as the clan’s Alpha?”
“Both.”
“Owen. I know you. I know you’re used to busting your ass for each and every case, and now this one is personal, a lot more personal than most.” I chewed on my lip. “Has the clan ever been in danger before?”
“Not since I’ve been the Alpha.”
The threat against me and the clan had to be making Owen crazy. He wouldn’t tolerate the lack of action for much longer, I could see that clearly.
“If you decide to do something, will you let me know?” In a way, it hardly seemed like a fair ask, considering our history. But I was going to ask it of him anyway.
“Do something like what?”
“If you decide to leave and go after Bull yourself.”
“I’m not leaving you unprotected,” he barked.
“Your team is here.”
“Not good enough.” He said each word slowly, over enunciating. I got the point.
Not good enough? Owen had told me he trusted his team like they were his brothers, but I recalled the lessons I learned as a young teen. A bear shifter Alpha was intensely possessive of his mate right after sharing a heat with her. Was he thinking of me as his mate, now that we’d shared a heat?
And if he was thinking of me as a mate, how did I feel about that?
Owen
An hour after we’d found out Bull had escaped from jail, I dropped an empty duffle bag on the table in front of Eve.
She stood at the kitchen counter, making lemon chicken, continuing her quest to eat all the meat I had in the cabin. I wasn’t sure how she was hungry. I had no appetite.
“I called Fort Carson Military Base,” I told her. “I updated them on our situation. We can stay there, and we’ll have some real backup. It’s three hours away by car.”
“Wait. Slow down.” She laid the spatula she was holding on the bar. “I thought your team was our back up.”
“They are. And they’re the best trained soldiers you’ll find. But there are six of them, and we’re in the mountains, without any heavy equipment.” I wasn’t going to keep sitting here in the middle of the mountains, doing nothing, leaving Eve as a target.
“Equipment?” She frowned at me. “Like a tank? A missle? What exactly do we need?”
“I don’t know. That’s the problem. Most criminals are somewhat predictable. In some ways, Bull has been. But the fact that no one knew he was a shifter worries me.” From my go bag, I pulled out a stack of cash and counted it. “I don’t want to be caught off guard again.”
She turned away from me to wash her hands at the sink. “You’re doing a great job,” she said.
I stared at her shapely backside as she stood at the sink. I was struck by the emotion that pooled in my st
omach. It sat heavy like a rock.
Not only was she was my mate, I was in love with her.
I could admit it now. It wasn’t the leftover feeling I’d had as a young man. It was a new love, based on the time we’d spent together. I loved her wit, her resilience, and her willingness to stand up to me and anyone else in the world.. I also was insanely attracted to her and never stopped wanting her with me, naked and willing.
But she didn’t feel the same way.
Convince her, my bear said. If only it were that simple.
“I’m not going to be lax about this. Not with your life.”
She dried her hands and put the chicken into a baking pan. “I know you won’t. And I appreciate that.” She put one hand on her hip as she studied me, a gesture I usually loved. I didn’t love it when we were discussing how much danger she was in.
“Now tell me what would happen if we went to Fort Carson?” she asked, going back to the food as she opened the oven and slid the pan inside.
“The pros are that I could work that, to an extent, doing paperwork or deskwork. No one’s going to let me take the lead investigating Bull now -- I’m too close to it. But I could do some research on other cases. If your boss approved, you could work from there as well. Even if Bull could trace us there, he can’t get inside the base.”
“Cons?” she asked.
I knew she’d approach this just like any other problem. She’d want facts, she’d want to analyze. Talking with Eve was a far cry from my usual interactions with non-military. Usually if I talked to a civilian, he or she just freaked out, ran around screeching, and didn’t think beyond his or her own panic. Not Eve. She kept a cool head at all times. “He could already have a man inside. A shifter. Someone loyal to him.”
She walked over to me and slid one arm around my waist. “How long would we stay?”
I needed her closer. I pulled her in, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Until Bull is recaptured.”
She didn’t push back, but sank into my embrace. “Well as we’ve seen, he won’t necessarily stay that way,” she said.
The fragrant smell of the chicken dish filled the kitchen. “We need to handle this the shifter way. He needs to be eliminated,” I said.
She nodded. “I agree,” she said against my chest.
“I’m surprised,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because usually government lawyers are not in favor of execution.”
She tipped her head back to meet my eyes. I was relieved to see her eyes were back to their usual bright gleam.
“I guess I’m more bear than I realized,” she said.
My bear glowed with contentment at her statement, not caring about the context. Was it a mistake for me to hope we could have a future together? “You’d have made a good soldier.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you realize that.” She pointed her finger at me and tapped me on the chest with it. “That’s another thing the clans don’t let omegas do.”
I felt unequipped to have this discussion while my mind was so preoccupied with her safety. She was right though. And I knew it. It was just taking me awhile to adjust my mindset. “They’d say it’s because omegas have heats.”
“That’s what leave is for, or suppressants.”
“That’s a good point.” I rested one of my hands on her lower back. Even when we weren’t in bed, I wanted my hands on her.
“I’m glad you see that.”
“Hey, I’m willing to listen.”
She leaned up and kissed me on the nose. “Speaking of execution, I killed that shifter without hesitating.”
What did she mean? That comment had come out of the blue. Was she upset about what happened?
“I remember,” I said. It had been unspeakably hot. Once I’d shifted back into human form, I couldn’t get the image of Eve ripping into Bull’s thug. She hadn’t hesitated. She’d acted, and got the job done. She really would have been a great soldier.
After the tranq had worn off and I’d been thinking clearly, I’d felt terrible that Eve had been forced to act in that way. I had avoided bringing it up because I didn’t want to make her relive something so brutal. “I’m sorry you had to do that. I wish I’d been able to handle it.”
She tapped my arm with her fist. “Don’t even say that. You might be the Alpha, but they shot you with a triple dose.”
A vice tightened around my chest. A couple days ago had been so close. Eve might be calm about it, but I wasn’t. “If I’d been more aware --”
“Stop. Sure. If you’d worn full body armor, maybe. But short of that, no one could have acted differently. You saved me by leaping up into the car. They’re after me, not you. You didn’t do this. They did.”
I nodded. Eve might be the only shifter in the world that could get me to stop arguing. The clan would say that meant she’s my mate, and the only one made for me. There was no magic involved, not spells or pre-ordained soul mates. Just the fact that most Alphas only found one mate, and that it was it. For life.
It was becoming clear to me that Eve was that mate for me. Now she was looking at me with her head cocked. “Are you okay?” she asked.
No way in hell was I going to let the word mate spill out of my mouth. “Yes. Keep going. I’m listening.”
“I’ve been in the legal system for a while now, and I’ve worked with law enforcement officers quite a bit. They always say it’s difficult to kill someone. And they really struggle with it. I know they do; I’ve sat with friends and listened to their stories. But I’m not upset.”
That was a relief. If she had been traumatized, we didn’t have a lot of options for dealing with it right now. “I’d say it’s the bear part of you. We operate more on instinct. Bull’s men were a threat to you, and you acted. Humans spend more time thinking and evaluating. We know that Bull poses a threat, and we want to end that threat.”
I wouldn’t let myself consider that she’d acted to protect me as well. She shouldn’t have had to, but she had. She was tapping back into her bear, which was a good thing, if you asked me. It meant she’d be safer, in every part of her life.
She let go of me and dropped onto one of the barstools. “I don’t want to go to the military base.”
I braced my hands on the back of the chair, my bear still pushing me to stay close to her. “Yeah? Why not?”
“It’s just going to delay whatever’s going to happen.”
As always, her insight was correct. “You’re right.”
Her forehead creased as she looked up at me. “They why did you suggest it?”
I ran my hand through her hair, letting the silky strands flow over my fingers. “Because it’s the safest option for you.”
“Yeah, that is not a consideration,” she said. “Remember, I left at eighteen. I went to college, law school and got a job, all on my own. I appreciate your protection, but I am not someone who needs decisions made for her.”
I get that. I really do. But I also can’t help it. I get that you aren’t my mate. But my mind still thinks of you that way, at the very least, because I am driven to protect you. I just managed to keep a lid on the flood of words that wanted to bust out of my mouth. Jeez. She didn’t need to hear my inner monologue.
She let me brood in silence for a bit.
“Let me think about our options for staying here,” I said. I wouldn’t make her any promises I couldn't keep. I also figured that if I left to go after Bull, she’d be right behind me. “I’ll let you know what I decide.”
She grabbed my hand. “Come on. That chicken has another twenty minutes to go. Let’s go shower.” She stripped her shirt off and let it fall to the floor. “Together.”
Finally feeling like smiling, I swept her up into my arms. “Now that is a good idea.”
Eve
After a morning spent contemplating my incinerated house, and the escaped prisoner that wanted us both dead, Owen and I spent a lovely afternoon first in the shower, and then in the bed.
It had beco
me clear to me that I was falling in love with him. Not the kind of love I’d had for him as a teen, where I loved him because of proximity and shared experiences. But a true, adult love, where I respected him.
What was I going to do about it?
I had no idea. It was going to have to be a problem for another day. Making any big declarations in the middle of a crisis was definitely a bad idea.
For now, we needed something to distract ourselves until we had a plan for dealing with Bull. “You have any wood?”
“Of course,” he said. “It’s on the back porch. Want a fire?”
“I’m craving some meat cooked on a real open flame, not a grill.”
On the back porch, Owen gathered an armful of wood and dumped it into what looked like a fire pit. “You’re really embracing this bear life,” he said.
That was the truth. But I also wanted a nice little distraction for the two of us. “Listen. Do you know how many hours I’ve sat in trendy Denver restaurants eating delicate little food that looks pretty but barely fills you up?”
He laughed. “I’m guessing a lot of hours?”
“More than you can count. My friend Melanie is a vegan. Most of our other friends are vegans. Every Friday night, we used to go the hot new restaurant, where they served the most spartan plate you can imagine with kale, chard and asparagus. Then my friends inspected every ingredient, which was usually only salt and pepper. Did you know there’s meat in certain candy? They won’t touch it.”
Owen rifled through an outdoor cabinet and found some matches. “How the hell did you stay quiet during all that?”
“I’d sip my margarita, or my wine, or my fancy microbrew beer.”
He threw some kindling on the pile of wood, and stuck the match. “Must have been a lot of margaritas.”
“Luckily we don’t get drunk easily.”
“Or maybe that made you unlucky.”
I laughed and tried to tackle him but he evaded me. He dodged me and made it back to the freezer. “Hunt for fresh meat or defrost frozen?”