Chapter Fourteen
Andre stepped from the dark street into an even darker room. Loud, sensuous music poured into his ears from all sides, making his pulse throb with the beat of the drums. It was so loud he had a hard time thinking. Yes, this was exactly what he was looking for.
He found a booth tucked away in a corner and glanced around. Waitresses in high heels and short skirts moved from table to table, handing out various types of alcohol. A mix of perfumes scented the air, drowning out the leftover lavender and homemade bread scent of Mary. A stage was set up along one wall. While dim lights lit the seating area, the stage was lit up in bright reds and blues which caressed the glittering, gleaming bodies that undulated and wrapped themselves around poles.
The women dipped and twisted, breasts swaying and bobbing as hips gyrated to the music. Andre watched, detached. Though the dancers were undoubtedly sexy, they were not enticing. He ground his teeth together, concentrating on them, trying to remove Mary's beautiful body from his mind's eye. He had to erase the temptation to return to her!
He ordered a beer from a waitress. When she was bringing it to him, though, one of the dancers jumped from the stage and snatched it from her. The waitress looked startled, but the dancer grasped her arm and whispered in her ear. The waitress then shrugged and went to another table.
Andre frowned as the dancer approached him. She was different from the others. Bigger. No, that was the wrong term… bulkier. She stood as tall as he did, and her shoulders would be almost as wide. She was almost as beautiful as Mary, but this woman was hard, whereas Mary was soft, perfect for cuddling against his chest.
The dancer set the beer in front of him. She was wearing a tiny, bead-string skirt and nothing else but glitter, which was spread over her neck, naked breasts and down her thighs.
"I apologize for my lack of dress," the dancer said, settling down opposite him. "I wasn't expecting one tonight."
Andre cracked open the beer and raised a brow. "One what, exactly?"
A smile played over her lips. "Trying to be coy?"
"No. I have no idea what you are talking about." The beer was cold, almost freezing as it went down his throat, and he felt it puddle in his stomach, making him shiver. "Who are you exactly?"
"My name is Zoe. And you're saying that you weren't sent here?"
Andre shook his head, bewildered. "Sent by whom, exactly?"
Zoe's brow furrowed. She shrugged as she stood. "I suppose it doesn’t matter. If you weren't sent, you aren't in any trouble. I'll get back to the show now."
Andre watched her buttocks sway as she walked away. There was no denying that the sight was titillating, but rather than having the effect he wanted, a new surge of guilt washed over him. It wasn't bad enough that he had hurt Mary so much already, but now he was trying to forget her after just a day? She deserved more than that! In two gulps, he half-emptied his beer.
Still, he kept his eyes clasped on Zoe, trying to enjoy the way she moved her body. There was a tattoo on her shoulder, a large, red-brown mass. Andre peered closer. It was obscured slightly by glitter, but after staring at it for several minutes, he recognized it as a stylized bear paw.
Odd choice, he thought as he finished off his beer.
As the cold drink hit his stomach, memories flooded his mind. Isadore had the same tattoo on her shoulder. She'd gotten it when she was a young girl as a rite of passage when she embraced her Bear for the first time. It was a tradition among her mother's people, a symbol of her clan.
Andre's throat felt dry as he stared at the glitter-obscured tattoo. He had not met another Bear since his wife and daughter died. Isadore's mother had left long before he had met her; her father said she died, but Isadore suspected that she had just left. Bears were not like Wolves. They were not drawn to each other. If anything, they repelled one another, just as they avoided non-Shifter Bears that they might meet in the wilderness.
His heart pounded as he looked back at Zoe's face. She must have seen the dawning of his recognition, because she stopped dancing again, just standing on the stage and staring at him. She met his eyes and a soft smile spread over her face.
Andre's breath was shallow, and he could think of nothing else. She's a Bear. Like me.
***
The cellar door opened. Mary shielded her eyes from the sudden light. The hinges squealed as the door closed again, taking with it the light. A flashlight flicked on, illuminating the face of her visitor. It wasn't as harsh as the sunlight had been, but after complete darkness for who knew how long, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust before she could recognize her brother.
Peter sat down beside her. "I brought some bread."
Mary gratefully took the chunk of dry homemade bread and tore into it. Her jaws ached as her mouth watered. Her stomach growled loudly, but it quieted by the time she was finished. She leaned back against the concrete wall, the bread feeling heavy in her stomach.
She hadn't gotten any visitors since her father had put her in here, no food either, though she had found a canteen of water. What made it even worse was knowing she was probably going to be the one who had to clean up after her stay. A bucket hadn't even been provided for her toilet.
"Thank you."
Peter nodded briefly. "I didn't want you to be driven to eat raw potato and get sick."
Mary glanced around at the piles of potatoes. "They're all rotten. I'd rather go hungry. Does Father know you're here?"
"Yes. I told him that I'd be able to get you to tell me about the Bear."
She leaned her head against his shoulder. Out of all her siblings, Peter was the only one that felt like more of her brother than her child. Since he was only a year younger than her, she never had to take care of him. Even their next brother, Phillip, who was born when she was three, did not have the same close sibling relationship. While she didn't have the main burden of caring for him like she did with the younger ones, she still had been responsible for cleaning up after him as soon as he was old enough to crawl.
Mary's eyes felt heavy and scratchy. She had cried enough locked in this cellar by herself, but with Peter there, she finally felt like she could actually sleep. "You didn't tell him that you found me with Andre at his cabin. Why?"
Peter was silent for a moment. "Because if I did, he'd know that you were with him willingly and that you refused to come back. If Father found out about you and that Bear, there would be no forgiveness. But if you tell him right now, you can say you were a prisoner and that you had no chance to escape."
"That wouldn't explain why he left when I told him to go."
"I've already convinced Father that he left at that moment because he heard us coming. But he knows you're lying about not knowing the Bear." He paused. "Our grandparents were killed by Bears, Mary, I don't understand what you were doing with it."
"He is… was..." He was still her soulmate. She couldn't choose or change that.
Peter was silent a moment. "You have to tell Father something. Tell him that you were a prisoner. Then he'll let you out of here." He grasped her shoulders. "He doesn't want to keep you in here. He wants to let you out."
If he did, he'd have already let me out. Mary swallowed hard. "If I tell Father I was Andre's prisoner, he won't hunt him down? He won't…"
Peter ground his teeth. "Why do you care so much about a Bear?"
Mary closed her eyes. "You remember when Grandmother told us about how she met Grandfather? She told us that the first time they kissed, her blood sang and her soul joined itself to his, and she knew that they were soulmates. Wolves know when they find their soulmates, and they only have one soulmate in their life."
"Mary, you're talking crazy," Peter said, but his voice was raspy and afraid.
"My soul sings whenever I'm near him." She opened her eyes and stared at her brother resolutely. "And now that we're apart, I feel like a piece of me is missing."
Peter's breath was ragged. "He nearly killed Julia!"
"I know. And I don't know if I can ever forgive him for that. But he's my soulmate, Peter. And even if I can never forgive him, if I can never be with him again, he will remain my soulmate until the end of time. I love him." Her stomach clenched and her gaze dropped again. "Even if I'm not his soulmate, he's mine and I can never have another."
"A Wolf cannot fall in love with a Bear. We are enemies. He was only using you."
Mary shook her head. "Even if he was, it doesn't change anything. I didn't choose this, Peter. But that's why I can't tell Father what happened while I was at the cabin. He'd never understand."
Peter did not answer.
***
Andre sat in the same booth he had chosen the first time he met Zoe. That had been several days ago, and only now had he bolstered the courage to return. Every second away from Mary felt like he was lost in a huge labyrinth that was slowly filling with water. He couldn't escape it. And if he didn't get a lifeline now, he would drown in the loneliness.
Zoe only danced one number before she disappeared behind the curtain. Seconds later she reappeared, wearing plain everyday clothes. She had thrown on a baggy sweater and jeans. She looked so unglamorous that Andre didn't recognize her until she sat next to him. Her makeup was still firmly in place, though, with the glitter placed strategically on her face and neck.
"I'm taking the night off. I can see you want to talk."
Andre eased himself away slightly. "I wouldn't want you to get into trouble with your boss."
She laughed. "I own the place. It's a great cover to help Bears out of sticky situations."
"Oh."
"Let's go somewhere we can talk."
They both stood. Andre's heart thumped in an irregular pattern. What would Mary think of this? But he had no intention of anything besides talk. He had thought about more, but he didn't want sex. He just wanted to talk to another Bear. She would not mind that, would she? Not if she knew he just wanted more information about Bears like him.
"So." Zoe linked her arm around his. "Your place or mine?"
Andre was silent. He thought of Mary and of her horrified gaze as she shielded her sister from him. Despair crashed into him so hard that he stumbled over his own feet. Only Zoe's strong, warm body next to his kept him upright. He focused on her face, on the faint scent of Bear that lingered under the heavy perfume she wore. Nighttime was too bleak to navigate on his own.
All of what he had intended seemed like a paltry lie. Just talk? Maybe more than that. Forgive me, Mary.
"Mine."