by Alexis Davie
A cold, predatory smile crossed his lips when he came face to face with Lila.
“You caused so much fucking trouble for me,” he said in a low voice.
He had moved to block Lila’s path. She looked around, desperately wishing someone would walk past, but the street was deserted. Cars drove by, but no one would look at this scene and know Lila was in danger.
“But I want to give you a chance to make it up to me,” Brady added, smiling that cold smile again.
“Just move out of my way,” Lila said, hating that her voice shook as she said it.
“I should have known you’d choose the hard way,” Brady said, rolling his eyes.
He reached for Lila. She swung out, catching him in the temple with the milk carton. Brady’s head flew to the side, but he didn’t go down. He smacked her arm, knocking the milk from her hand. The carton hit the ground and burst open. Brady grabbed Lila’s wrist. She opened her mouth to scream, but he was too quick for her.
He pressed a rag against her open mouth and nose. Lila tried to push it away, but Brady was too strong for her. She smelled something sweet as she sucked in a breath through the rag. She felt her legs buckling, her body sagging against Brady’s. He caught her and held her up, moving her toward the van doors, more carrying her than pulling her now.
She was vaguely aware that she was in danger, that she had to fight him, but her body felt weak, and before she could do more than whimper, her eyes closed and everything went black.
13
Jasper looked at his watch for the third time in less than a minute. He tapped the face, sure the watch was broken. Time was moving too slowly. He had an hour to wait before it was time to meet Lila for lunch, but he felt like he had been waiting forever. He smiled and shook his head. She had only left his apartment a couple of hours ago after spending the night, and already he missed her more than he had ever imagined he could miss another person.
He couldn’t explain how it had all happened so quickly, but even after just the two weeks they had been seeing each other, he knew with certainty that he never wanted to go another day without her by his side. He felt the now familiar panic come over him at the thought of losing Lila. She seemed like she was as into the relationship as he was, but Jasper knew the idea of becoming a bear scared her, and that gave them a time limit.
Not the time limit Lila imagined. He would never leave her because she got old, and no matter what the future held, she would never be a burden to him. Being with her was a privilege and that wouldn’t change, but he knew that if she didn’t become a shifter, her death was inevitable. He tried to stop himself from thinking about that, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.
He knew he had to let go of his fears and trust that Lila would come around to the idea of being a bear, of being with him for all eternity. He thought she would come around, but he couldn’t let himself get his hopes up too high. It would make it too painful if she decided against it.
He looked at his watch again and saw another minute had passed. Only fifty-nine more minutes and he would be with Lila again.
The intercom buzzed and Jasper frowned. He wasn’t expecting anyone. His confusion melted away to joy and he grinned as he moved to the intercom and pressed the button to release the door. It had to be Lila. She had to have been feeling the same separation anxiety as he was, and she had come over earlier.
He waited by the door, his stomach swirling. The bell rang and he pulled the door open. The smile fell from his face when he saw Hayley, one of the personal trainers from his gym, standing on his doorstep.
“What can I do for you?” he asked.
“I have something important I need to talk to you about. Can I come in?” she said.
Jasper looked at Hayley. She was clearly agitated and he decided to hear her out. It would pass the time until Lila came over. He found it hard to care about anything except Lila these days, though, and if Hayley was bringing him a problem from the gym, he already knew how he would deal with it. He would redirect her to Karl.
“Sure,” he said, standing back.
Hayley came inside and he shut the door.
“Do you want a drink or anything?” Jasper asked her, wondering what this was about.
She shook her head and turned to face him.
“I know about shifters and I know you’re the alpha of a bear pack here,” Hayley said.
Great. She was agitated because she was here to blackmail him or something.
“If this is meant to be a joke, I don’t get it,” Jasper said carefully.
“We both know it’s no joke,” Hayley said.
Jasper opened his mouth to tell her she was crazy and demand she leave his apartment, but she got in first and her words made Jasper pause and take notice.
“We don’t have time to play the ‘are you crazy, shifters aren’t real’ game. I came to you because I trust you and because I think you like Lila. A lot,” she said. “She’s in danger, Jasper. I’m giving you a chance to fix this, but if you continue to pretend like I’m crazy, I’ll go to the cops and your secrets will come out.”
“You better sit down and tell me everything,” Jasper said.
Hayley was right. If Lila was in danger, there was no time for games. Hayley sat down, perching on the arm of his couch. He remained standing, aware this could be some sort of trick and not wanting to drop his guard too much.
“I was driving to the store when I saw a white van parked at the side of the road. I passed it and movement caught my eye in the rearview mirror. It was Brady. He was dragging Lila into the back of the van. She looked like she was unconscious or on the verge of it. I turned around to follow him, but it was too late, he was already gone. I think he was heading west.”
“Fuck,” Jasper growled. He turned and ran for his apartment door, grabbing his keys automatically from the small hook hanging beside his door. He turned back to Hayley. “Stay as long as you like. Close the door on your way out. And thank you.”
He ran without waiting for an answer. He took the stairs, knowing it would be faster than waiting for the elevator. He could see it in his mind. Lila unconscious, Brady doing unspeakable things to her. He felt sick just thinking about it.
He reached the door and burst into the street, running to his car. He had an idea where to find Brady. If Hayley was right and he had headed west, he had to be going to The Marlow Motel, a rather seedy little motel on the outskirts of town. It was the sort of place that took cash payments and asked no questions, and Jasper knew Brady often took his conquests there.
Jasper drove like a maniac until he reached The Marlow Motel. He had no money on him so he knew he couldn’t bribe the check-in guy to find out where Brady was and there was no sign of a white van. Praying he wasn’t wasting precious time in the wrong location, he tuned into his bear’s senses.
He ignored Brady, focusing instead on Lila. He sniffed the air and instantly, his bear sensed Lila’s presence. He knew instinctively which way to go. He turned and ran, following his nose. He knew he was going the right way when Lila’s scent got stronger.
His nose led him to a room. Room 17. He pressed his ear against the door. His blood ran cold when he heard Lila’s terrified voice crying “No!” He needed no more encouragement. He stood back and then threw himself against the door.
The door flew open, the lock and the security chain ripping away. Jasper burst into the room. Lila was lying on the bed, her hands and feet restrained by what looked like loosely knotted rope. Brady was kneeling on the bed between Lila’s legs.
Jasper could see that Brady’s jeans were open, but he was relieved to see that Lila’s clothes were still intact. He had reached them in time to stop Brady.
Brady turned in slow motion at the sound of the intrusion. Jasper glanced at Lila and for a moment, their eyes met, and then his focus turned back to Brady, who was already starting to shift.
Jasper knew he was risking making Lila see him as a monster, making her a
fraid of him. But he knew he had no choice but to turn. In human form, he knew he wouldn’t stand a chance against Brady’s bear and this was a fight he wasn’t prepared to lose.
14
Lila had drifted back to consciousness slowly with an awful taste in her mouth. As her memory came back to her, reminding her that Brady had taken her, the taste in her mouth had been replaced with a coppery taste as adrenaline had flooded her body. She had tried to sit up, but she had discovered that her wrists and ankles were bound tightly, leaving her spread-eagled on what she realized was a grubby bed.
There had been no sign of Brady and Lila had tried to get her wrists loose, but when the door opened and Brady walked in, all she had succeeded in doing was getting rope burns on her wrists.
“That’s the van taken care of,” Brady had said, like she cared. “Now no one will find you, even if anyone cared enough to come looking for you. We’re going to have a lot of fun together, you and I.”
Her insides had turned cold and she had fought to keep her gorge from rising, afraid if she threw up now, she would choke on it. Brady had opened his jeans and he came toward the bed, clambering onto it and kneeling between Lila’s legs. She had heard the terrified whimpers coming from her own throat as Brady leered down at her. She kept quietly sobbing “No”, knowing it wouldn’t make him stop. Nothing would make him stop now.
Just when she thought she was going to pass out from the fear and the dread that combined to make her head spin, she had heard a loud crashing sound that made her flinch but brought her back to her senses somewhat.
Brady had turned his attention away from her and she, too, had looked at the doorway. The door of the room was lying on the ground, and standing on top of it, angrier than she had ever seen him, was Jasper.
Jasper had met her eye for a second and then he had turned his attention straight back to Brady. Brady had started to turn into a bear and within half a second, Jasper had done the same.
Now, Lila watched as Jasper, in his bear form, leapt through the air and collided with Brady’s bear. They flew to the side, crash-landing on the ground in a ball of flying fur and attacking claws.
Lila realized something in that moment. She and Jasper had discussed her seeing him in his bear form, and she had resisted the idea, afraid that she would be scared of him or find him repulsive. But now, seeing him like this, she knew she didn’t feel that way at all. In fact, she kind of liked Jasper this way. She was starting to think maybe those romance books had it right after all. Jasper was her hero, her knight in shining armor, coming to recuse her just in the nick of time.
She watched as the bears fought, feeling a deep knot of fear in her stomach, worried that Jasper would get hurt. Even though she knew he would heal, the thought of him being hurt because of her made her heart hurt. And she didn’t even dare to imagine what Brady would do to her if he won the fight instead of Jasper.
The whole time she watched the bears fighting, she was working on the rope around her wrists and she felt a moment of triumph as one of her wrists came free. She used her free hand to untie her other wrist and she sat up, rubbing each wrist in turn, ignoring the pins and needles that flew up her arms as her circulation returned.
She turned her attention back to the bears in time to see Jasper pinning Brady to the ground. He snarled and snapped above Brady as Brady tried and failed to throw him off him. Jasper leaned down and gripped Brady’s throat in his jaws. He pulled back, ripping Brady’s throat open, and Lila had to look away for a moment as a geyser of blood flew through the air, the droplets spraying across the wall behind the two bears.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away for long. She had to know what was happening. Brady had stopped fighting, his body going limp. Jasper waited for a moment and then he turned toward Lila. She saw that he was starting to turn back into his human form.
“Wait,” she said. “Come over here. Like that.”
Jasper stayed in his bear form and came cautiously toward her. She reached out with both hands and ran her fingers through his fur. It was soft and warm and she didn’t feel anything negative. Instead, she felt a warmth inside of herself as she touched him. He looked up at her, and unlike Brady, his eyes weren’t soulless. They were bright and sparkling, intelligent and gentle, and Lila knew then that she could do this. Really do this.
She nodded her head and smiled down at Jasper, and for the first time, she started to think seriously about the possibility of becoming a bear herself. The thought still felt huge, overwhelming, and Lila let it go, but she felt better knowing that it was at least a possibility now. It meant there was a real future for her and Jasper, or at least the potential for one.
Jasper turned back to his human form. He stood up and wrapped a sheet around his waist. He slowly untied Lila’s ankles as they talked.
“Are you alright?” he asked. “What happened?”
“Yes, I’m alright now. Because of you,” she said. “Brady, he used chloroform on me. Brought me here. But he didn’t have time to… to hurt me. How did you know where to find me?”
She felt Jasper’s hands on her ankles as she talked and a shiver of desire went through her. She ignored it, needing to get out of here before anything like that could happen.
“Hayley came to me. She knows about bears somehow. She saw Brady dragging you into a van, but she was too late to follow him. I knew where to find him. He often used to bring girls out here. Dates, I mean, not girls he abducted.”
Lila nodded.
“I guess I owe Hayley a fucking huge free drink,” Lila said. “Hell, I owe her more than that.”
Jasper finished freeing her ankles and she bent forward to rub them. He stood beside the bed and nodded down at Brady, who had turned back to human form and had opened his eyes and was peering warily at Jasper and Lila.
“What do you want me to do with him?” Jasper asked. “It’s your call, Lila, and whatever you decide, I won’t judge you.”
“I should say something like cut his cock off,” Lila said, pleased to see the color drain from Brady’s face. “But I won’t. Because unlike him, I’m not a monster. Can you, like, banish him somewhere where he won’t come into contact with women?”
“Not exactly,” Jasper said. “But I can call a warlock I know who can enchant him so he can never turn into a bear again, and at least that way, he won’t be able to really hurt anyone. I’m sure he can make some sort of enchantment to stop him from getting aroused too. In the meantime, I’ll have the sheriff lock him up somewhere where he can’t hurt anyone.”
“Please, man, you don’t have to do this,” Brady said from the ground. “I swear I’ll leave. I won’t do anything like this again.”
Jasper picked up the rope that Brady had used to tie Lila up with. He crouched down beside Brady and began securing him. All of the fight had gone out of Brady now and he dutifully presented his wrists.
“You had the chance. I gave it to you and you defied me. That doesn’t get to happen twice,” Jasper said.
“Does the sheriff know about you, then?” Lila asked.
“He’s part of the pack,” Jasper said with a soft laugh. “So there’s no worries there. And the owner of this motel knows about us too. I’ll leave a check big enough to more than cover the damage done to the door, and he’ll keep quiet.”
Jasper finished securing Brady and he turned to Lila. He picked his car keys up from the shredded mess of his clothes on the ground and held them out to Lila.
“I have a spare set of clothes in the trunk. Would you mind grabbing them for me?”
Lila nodded and left the room. Her mind was spinning as she reached the car, but she had decided to just trust Jasper to deal with all of this. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a shirt and a pair of sneakers from the trunk and went back to the room. She saw that Brady’s nose was bloody and one of his eyes was blackening, and she knew Jasper had done it, but she didn’t care. Brady deserved everything he got.
Jasper took the clothes and thanked her. He dressed
and they left the room.
“Do you have your cell phone?” Jasper asked.
Lila nodded and handed it to him. She watched as Jasper typed in a number. He gave the person who answered the call a list of instructions to take care of Brady and to give the owner of the motel a big check, and then he hung up and handed Lila her cell phone back.
“Lila,” he said. She turned to look at him and she could see the pain on his face. “I’m sorry you had to see that. And I will understand if you want me to take you home and walk away.”
Lila shook her head quickly.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she said.
She saw Jasper’s face change, the pain replaced with a wide smile.
“You mean you still want us to be together after seeing me as a bear?” he asked.
Lila nodded.
“Yes,” she said. “When I saw you like that, it changed my perception of being a shifter. I could still sense it was you. When Brady was in his bear form, he was a total animal, but I see now that it’s because he’s like that as a man too. But you’re not, and so in your bear form, you’re not a wild animal. I’m so sorry I ever thought you were capable of being a monster.”
She paused, wondering if she should tell Jasper what she really wanted him to hear. She made her decision and she smiled shyly.
“Jasper, seeing you like that didn’t change how I feel about you. In fact, I think if it’s possible, it made me like you more. I know we’ve only been together a few weeks, but I really think I’m falling in love with you,” she said.
Jasper leaned closer to her and cupped her face in his hands. He brushed his lips gently over hers, sending a rush of desire through her and making her lips tingle. He pulled back slightly and looked deep into her eyes.
“Good,” he said. “Because I’m already there.”
Epilogue
One Month Later
Jasper looked up and smiled as Lila came into his apartment. He had given her a key to his place the day she had told him she was falling in love with him. He loved the fact that she had rarely left the apartment since that day. Having her come home from the bar to him was magical.