Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1) by Jasmine B. Waters (1)

Series: Blue Ridge Bears

Book Title: Tracking the Bear

 

 

Chapter One

Lucy

Sammy Pullman was on his sixth beer of the night. After four years working at Pete’s Bar and Grill, I knew what that meant. The new girl, Brandy, should have cut him off at beer number four, as I or any of the other waitresses, would have done. I understood though, she was terrified of losing her tip. God knew that we all needed the money.

Pullman was an ex-cop with a nasty temper and an even nastier right hook. He hadn’t broken anyone’s bones in the bar fights he frequently instigated, which was the only reason Randy, the boss’s son and our current manager, hadn’t tossed him out of the bar permanently. We needed the business, especially because with the post office closing, Fairchild didn’t appear on maps any longer.

Randy had imposed a strict four beer limit on Sammy, as Brandy would have known if she hadn’t been busy flirting with the cook during orientation.

“I should take over her table,” I muttered, setting the empty plates in the plastic tub I carried. I set it aside once I’d cleared away the dishes and trash and leaned over the table to wipe it clean.

“Don’t,” Mildred advised from the next table over.

Mildred Allbarn actually looked good in the flannel button down and black jeans combo that was the uniform of the bar. Millie was small and birdlike, with unruly red hair and a smattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose. I, on the other hand, didn’t look nearly as good in the outfit. The buttons consistently gapped at my cleavage, and I’d taken to wearing a tank top underneath instead of trying to struggle with them. My jeans were secondhand and frayed at the bottom.

“Randy will fire her if she lets him have another,” I pointed out. “She knows where I live.”

“Fairchild is a town of three hundred people, Lucy. Well, three hundred and fifty, if you include the dogs. Everyone knows where you live.”

I knew that. It was part of what I hated about living in a dinky backwater town in Tennessee. Everyone knew everyone. How refreshing it would be, to live somewhere where I was just a face in the crowd, another body crossing the street. Instead I was trapped in this tiny nowhere town, and working a part-time shift as a waitress in a struggling bar, listening to old women lecture me about how much more I could have become.

I ignored Millie and limped over to the table, pulling Brandy aside when I reached her. The kitchen was sweltering, despite the fairly mild weather outdoors. The air conditioner must have finally wheezed its last.

“You have to cut him off,” I said, letting go of her arms.

She rolled her eyes and pulled out a compact, applying a fresh coat of bubblegum pink lipstick. “Oh come on Lucy, it’s just a few beers. Sam’s having a rough time right now. I already took his keys, so he won’t be driving.”

“He’s three sheets to the wind already, and you know how he gets when he’s blackout drunk. Cut him off, or you can explain the property damage to Randy. I bet it comes out of your paycheck, not mine.”

She fixed me with a fierce glare. “Don’t think you can order me around, Elmsong.”

“I’ve been here the longest after Randy, so yeah, I am your boss while Randy’s out for the afternoon. Cut him off, or I’m telling Randy.”

Brandy stalked off, taking care to tread on my right foot as she went. Maybe I should have taken Millie’s advice. I didn’t really owe Brandy anything but a swift kick in the pants after what she and my twin brother, Luke, had done in high school.

The bell above the door tinkled merrily and I sighed, limping back out to the lobby. My leg was recovering, slowly but surely. The doctor thought I could expect a 90 percent recovery rate after six years. He’d been right. After years of physical therapy, I could finally walk unaided.

The man who walked through the door was simply massive. I’d never seen a man who was taller or broader, and I’d dated the offensive lineman in high school. His bulk was readily apparent beneath the dark t-shirt he wore, and at nearly seven feet tall, I wondered how difficult it must be to find and keep a good pair of jeans.

He glanced around the diner. Pete’s Bar and Grill was a small rustic hole in the wall that made most of its money off hunters, a few dedicated locals, and tourists coming up from the towns south of us. The tables were made of unfinished wood, with a layer of laminate over the top, since they were a bitch to clean otherwise. The bar was built to look like an old-timey fireplace, with brick making up most of the front of it. The chairs had been handmade by a local artist. It was easily the best part of the bar.

The animal heads that lined the walls had been shot by Randy or his father. I pitied the poor things, being decked out in different holiday hats all year round. It wasn’t a dignified way to use the corpse. The new guy seemed to agree with me, because he scowled up at the head of the black bear that Pete had named Cindy.

I approached him while he stared at it, his full mouth turned down in disapproval. Good golly, life really wasn’t fair. He had a cupid’s bow for cryin’ out loud! Was it truly necessary for him to be good looking? I couldn’t have bought the sort of jacket he wore with two of my paychecks combined.

He turned the full force of his eyes on me, and I froze. They were a captivating hazel, flecked with gold. Peace, a sensation I’d been without for so long it was nearly foreign to me, washed through my body. I could let go. I wasn’t alone anymore.

You’re not alone now, stupid. I chided myself. I had my Aunt Carol and Uncle Mack. I had Millie. Hell, on summer break and holidays, I had my brother Luke. I wasn’t alone.

And where the hell did my subconscious get off trying to stake a claim on this guy? He’d just walked in the door about three seconds before.

The smaller part of my brain that wasn’t busy gawking noted that he had a pronounced five o’clock shadow, and looked like he’d missed a few nights of sleep. I focused on that, trying to orient myself, hoping my jaw wasn’t flapping in the wind. He was hot, sure, but he looked like he’d been put through the mill in the last couple of days. The least I could do was be professional.

I cleared my throat. “Would you like a table or a booth?”

His eyes finally seemed to release me, and he looked the rest of my body over, lingering overlong on my cleavage. I resisted the urge to adjust the tank top. Damn thing had a tendency to ride low, especially if I’d bent over a lot, as I did when bussing tables. His lips quirked upwards a little in the barest hint of a smile and then he finally looked away from me.

“A booth, please.”

My legs quivered a little. Did everything about him have to be perfect? Hair, body, eyes, and his sonorous voice. I grabbed two menus from the tray by the door and turned on my heel, trusting he’d follow. I’d get Millie to wait his table. It was clear that my professional work ethic had gone camping somewhere with my sanity, and I wasn’t going to interact with this man until it returned home.

He sat down, taking up most of one booth all by himself. I set his menu down on the table in front of him, and then placed the other in the seat directly across from where he sat. He frowned at it.

“What’s that for?” he asked.

“I figured someone as handsome as you had a date. Aren’t you meeting someone?”

He shook his head once, rubbing sheepishly at the strong line of his jaw. Stubble rasped against his palm, and I shivered. I wanted to know what his stubble would feel like brushing my skin. I needed to get Millie out of the back as soon as possible to deal with this guy. I couldn’t do this to myself. I wouldn’t.

“No date.” He said. “But if you like, you can join me on your break. I’m not in any hurry to leave Fairchild.”

That made one of us. I was getting out of this hellhole as soon as I could. That enabled me to plaster on a false smile and make my retreat.

“I might have to take a rain check on that Mister…?”

“Kassower,” he finished. “Chance Kassower.”

“Kassower.” I rolled his name around my mouth, tasting the contours of it. It was a nice, rugged name for an outdoorsy kind of guy. “Right. Well, Mr. Kassower, your server, Millie, will be right out to get your order.”

I limped back across the room, fighting the urge to look back and see if he was still staring at me.

“Big guy at table four is waiting on you,” I muttered to her as I passed. Millie gave me an odd look.

“Why didn’t you take him?” she whispered back. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but eye candy like that doesn’t usually walk into places like this.”

How did I explain to her that it was part of the problem? I couldn’t lay down any more roots here. Handsome he might have been, but I knew a country boy when I saw one. He was practically radiating good-ol’-boy charm. I knew his type. I couldn’t get involved with his type. He may not have been from Fairchild, but he was from somewhere just as small, just as remote, and far away from the sort of life I wanted to live.

“Can you just take it, please? I’ll owe you.”

“Twenty bucks?”

“Sure,” I sighed. “I’ll donate twenty bucks to the buy-a-wrench foundation.”

“I’m buying myself a ratchet extender, I’ll have you know. They are different.”

“I don’t speak mechanic Millie, you’ll have to forgive the ignorance.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Oh come on, your brother worked for my dad for a few years. You at least know what a ratchet is.”

I did, actually, but riling Millie with inaccurate automotive terminology was one of the simple joys in my life.

“Guy on table four. Go,” I said, and gave her a light shove out of the kitchen. She sauntered over to the table, and I felt an odd ripple of jealousy. So what if Millie thought that Chance guy was hot? It was no skin off my nose.

I pestered Brandy twice more about cutting Sammy off, and when I was ignored yet again, I called Randy and left a message. I hated to be a downer on his day off, but someone had to keep Brandy in line. She clearly wasn’t going to listen to me.

I ran into Millie on her way back to the kitchen. She was positively buzzing with excitement, and I was sure that Mr. Good-ol’-boy had extended his supper invitation to another waitress. Jerk.

“He’s got a Firebird, Lucy.” She gushed, grabbing ahold of my shirt front. She hauled me down so I was eye-level. “A 1969 Firebird Convertible! You’re nuts for turning down a date with that guy!”

“What? How did you know he asked me out?”

Millie shrugged. “He told me. Come on Lucy, take your break and talk to the guy.”

“No.” The word came out sharper than I intended, and I saw Mr. Lonesome himself perk up out in the restaurant proper, listening in.

“Oh, come on, Lucy. Give me this vicarious thrill, won’t you? I want to have babies with that car! You could tell me what the back of it’s like!”

I scowled down at her, and carefully removed her hands from the front of my shirt. “I’m not climbing into bed with a stranger so you can imagine yourself in the back of his car. If you really want to get up-close and personal with the Firebird, go slash its tires.”

She looked affronted by the very idea. “I couldn’t hurt the poor thing like that Lucy. And speaking of cars that need a thorough inspection, when was the last time you took your car to the garage?”

“Two years ago, maybe? I don’t have to get it inspected again until the tags expire.”

She huffed. “Bring it by my place tomorrow. I’ll take a look at it.”

“I was really hoping to start work on college applications,” I hedged. If Millie or her father found something seriously wrong with my car it could set my college plans off by another year. I couldn’t stay in Fairchild for another year. I’d get suckered into staying by Mr. Lonesome in the front, or someone like him.

“You can fill them out in the waiting room at the garage,” She said, crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest. “That piece of shit is on its last leg, and if you let it go for too long, it won’t even be worth much as scrap. Let me take a look. I promise we’ll come to some sort of agreement if we find something.”

“Fine,” I grumbled.

“Order up!” The cook called, sliding a dinner plate laden with a medium-well steak and a loaded baked potato onto the ledge. Millie turned away, grabbing the plate. I didn’t watch her sashay over to Mr. Lonesome’s table.

Maybe Millie had been right. I should take my break. I’d been on my feet, constantly moving for four hours. My bad leg was sending spikes of agony up and into my back. I needed to sit. I grabbed my phone from the plastic tub beside the manager’s door and dragged myself over to the fridge. The brown bag lunch Aunt Carol had packed for me was hidden behind Brandy’s takeout. I relocated the Styrofoam container and grabbed my meal.

I bit my tongue to keep a whimper from escaping as I limped out to the restaurant proper. I wasn’t getting off early. I wasn’t going to let the stupid leg win. I’d sit down with the guy for a few minutes, just for an excuse to rest. I’d eat something, I’d take my pill and I’d tough it out until the end of my shift. I was a big girl. I could make it.

Chance looked surprised when I plopped down into the seat across from him. I pretended not to notice.

“So,” I began, pulling a chocolate pudding cup from the bag. “Millie would very much like to have a moment alone with your car.”

His sculpted mouth quirked into one of the most disarming smiles I’d ever seen. He looked like he should have modeled for GQ. What were this gorgeous man and his flashy car doing in Fairchild?

“It’s a hand-me-down from my dad. He bought it new.”

I realized belatedly that Aunt Carol hadn’t packed me a spoon. Chance handed me the one still tucked into the napkin. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks as I took it. “Erm, thanks.”

He was peeking into the brown paper bag. “An orange, a pudding cup and a chicken wing. That’s not a very substantial meal.”

And it’s none of your business, jerk. I pulled the sack away from him with a scowl. “It’s fine. Now, why did you tell Millie that I turned you down? I don’t think that’s anyone else’s business.”

“I wanted an excuse to talk to you again,” he said, reaching out to tuck a stand of hair behind my ear. The motion was too familiar, and I jerked away from him, more head flooding my cheeks. Where did this jerk get off thinking he could just touch me like that?

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Force of habit.”

“Touching without permission. That’s a bad habit to have.”

“It is,” he agreed. “Why don’t I make it up to you?”  He snatched by brown paper bag from my hands suddenly and hid it on his side of the booth. I gaped at him.

“Give that back!”

“No,” he said, eyes twinkling with mischief. He pushed his plate across the table at me. “I think I’d like to trade.”

I stared down at the barely touched steak and the baked potato. The smell of sour cream and chives was making my stomach twist itself into desperate knots. It smelled a whole hell of a lot better than my cold chicken wing.

“Eat,” he instructed, reaching inside my bag to grab the orange. He dug his long fingers into the peel and began tearing it away from the fruit quickly. I just stared.

“I can’t…this is your meal.”

“And since I’m paying for it, I think I can decide what I do with it,” he replied. “Eat. You look dead on your feet.”

I hesitated. This was rude. Aunt Carol would have a fit if she found out I’d gone along with it. But he looked so sincere, and again, I could feel the strange pull toward him, the feeling of home that I hadn’t had since I was twelve, and mom and dad had still been around.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and I picked up his abandoned fork.  He watched me eat, popping slices of my orange into his mouth with a smile. It was weird, that watching me eat his food was making Mr. Lonesome this happy. Maybe he had a fetish.

I ate about half of what was on the plate. I didn’t feel comfortable devouring a seven-ounce steak and an enormous baked potato in one sitting, especially when I hadn’t been the one to order it.

“Feel better?” he asked, still grinning at me.

“Some,” I admitted. The throbbing ache in my leg had died town to the occasional twinge, and I’d be able to ignore that once I took my pain pill. I fished it out of my purse and dry swallowed it.

“I’m happy to help, Miss Lucy,” he said. I resisted the urge to shiver. I could listen to that basso rumble for hours. I tore my gaze away from his and checked my phone. I’d missed two calls, and my break was almost over.

“Now that I’ve eaten your meal, I really do need to get back to work,” I said, flushing again. That had sounded wittier in my head.

He laughed at me and waved me on. “I’ll be seeing you around, Miss Lucy.”

I hope not. I thought silently. I feared it would only be a matter of time before I said yes to someone, and it was why I needed to get out of Fairchild as soon as possible. If Chance Kassower decided to stay, it would be all the more difficult to leave.

And I wasn’t staying in Fairchild. Not for a man. Not for anyone.

***

Of course, leaving that evening wasn’t as easy as I’d hoped. Millie was waiting to ambush me by my car.

“You’re bringing this in today, right?” she demanded.

“Yes,” I sighed, exasperation creeping into my tone. Mr. Lonesome had stared at me all night while I worked, and hadn’t left the bar until Kim, the bartender, threw him out at last call. I’d sent the rest of the girls home and spent a further thirty minutes cleaning up the place. So I stumbled out of Pete’s at three thirty in the morning feeling tired, sore, and more than a little irritated with my best friend.

“You’re leaking engine oil. If you try to drive this thing for very much longer, it will kill your engine.”

My eyes began to well with unwelcome tears. No. An engine repair was more than I could afford. I might as well buy a new car and wipe out my measly savings.

“Oh honey, don’t cry,” Millie exclaimed. She threw her skinny arms around my neck and pulled me into a hug. A sob escaped me. She patted my back gently, mumbling assurances.

“We can work something out, Luce. I can try to get you a good deal. You can borrow Nelly in the meantime.”

“I can’t do that,” I sniffled. “Nelly’s your baby.” She’d been working on restoring the 1954 Chevy Bel Air for years. She’d already taken a few days off to take it out for the test drive with her father.

She finally let me go, and her face was a mask of concern. “Lucy, you shouldn’t get bent out of shape like this. You’re going to make it, you know that right? I know you’re going to get that degree. What’s a few more years?”

A few more years would put me at twenty-six or twenty seven. That was edging too close to thirty for my comfort. I didn’t want to attend college as a non-traditional student. How many more years would it take if I settled down, had a mortgage to pay, and a few kids to juggle? I needed out of this place in the worst way, if I was ever going to have a life.

“I need to get home. Can you give me a ride?” I asked, nodding to her motorcycle. She gave me a grin, and for the first time since my impromptu dinner, I felt my spirit lift. She pulled her coat on and handed me her extra helmet.

She mounted the bike with an assurance born of years of habit. I followed suit with much less grace, slipping the helmet on as she started the engine.

“Hold on tight.”

I wrapped both arms around her waist tightly as she gunned the engine, sending us flying halfway across the mostly empty lot. Gravel spat from beneath the tires as we sped down the long drive that led up to Pete’s. We went rocketing onto the asphalt and sped down the main road that led through town. The houses looked like dark smudges of charcoal as we passed in a roar of sound and speed.

The journey was too short. We reached Elm Street in no time at all, and then Millie was parking the bike behind Aunt Carol’s minivan. Millie and I walked to the door, and I was surprised to see the porch light still on. Aunt Carol must have been waiting up for me.

“Everything’s going to be okay,” Millie said confidently. “We’ll get your car fixed in no time, alright?”

I nodded once, my throat constricting again with unshed tears. No matter what she said, this wasn’t going to go well. She gave me another brief hug before walking back to her bike. I waved a halfhearted farewell.

I could hear voices inside. Was Uncle Mack up, too? What was going on? They were habitual early risers. They turned in at nine or ten most nights, and woke when the sun rose in the morning.

The scent of coffee and eggs hit me when I opened the door. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder.

“Lucy, is that you?” Aunt Carol’s gentle voice drifted from the kitchen.

“Yes, it’s me. What’s going on?” I said, putting the helmet Millie had loaned me on the table. Drat, I’d completely forgotten that I was still holding it. I’d have to return it to Millie when I saw her later today.

“Sit down.” Uncle Mack was pacing in front of the stove. His normally red face had taken on a tinge of purple. His beady brown eyes were narrowed. I could imagine an artery inside of him waiting to burst. He only got this way when there’d been a scandal in the church, one of our extended family members was coming to visit, or an election didn’t go the way he’d wanted. And since it wasn’t an election year, I assumed it had to be one of the former.

“What’s up, Uncle Mack?” I asked, keeping my tone polite. The last thing I wanted was to irritate him further by exercising my sarcasm muscle, or as he called it, “my damned sassy mouth.”

“Your brother.” He grunted. Aunt Carol slid a cup of coffee and a plate of eggs across the table to me. Aunt Carol’s solution to any problem was to cook until it went away, or to pray. Sometimes she did both at the same time. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t have much of an appetite, so I speared a bit of egg on my fork and dutifully swallowed.

“Is Luke okay?” I asked, suddenly worried. I’d ignored the two missed calls I’d seen on my phone. I knew I was one of his three emergency contacts. Had he been hurt?

“Your brother has dropped out of college. He left a message on the answering machine this afternoon, saying he was sorry for God knows what, and telling us he was never coming home.”

I stared at his wide, purplish face for a moment, not comprehending. No. That wasn’t right. Luke had loved college. He’d been irritatingly proud of the football scholarship that earned him a position at a top university while I’d still been in traction. He wouldn’t just quit.

“Why?” I asked, finally taking a seat next to Aunt Carol. She took my hand and squeezed it gently.

“He didn’t say.” Uncle Mack hadn’t sounded this irate in years. “But he’s dropping out. No consideration to how it looks. I thought I taught that boy manners. Thinks he can just walk out on his obligations? Well, when he comes crawling back he won’t be welcome here.”

“Uncle Mack,” I began slowly. “He’s not obligated to finish college. If he wants to drop out, he can.”

Though I’d go clear to Ohio to kick his ass if that was the case. He had to have a reason, even if Uncle Mack didn’t want to hear it. I wasn’t letting my baby brother ruin his life on a whim.

He jabbed a finger into my face. “See, that’s the attitude that got you stuck here, Lucy Elmsong. You’ve got a lot of quit in you. I never pegged Luke as someone to lay down and die like that.”

For a moment I thought about biting the finger nearly touching my nose. Is that what he thought I’d done? Lay down and die? Didn’t he see how hard I’d been fighting to be free of this town?

“I’m going to bed,” I said shortly, batting his hand away from my face.

“You need to eat your eggs first,” Aunt Carol protested. “Protein is good for you.”

“So is reading the Bible,” I snapped. “Why don’t you both do something useful and talk to Jesus? I think there’s something in there about not trying to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

I stalked out of the kitchen and into my bedroom. The small wood-paneled place had never looked less like home to me. I grabbed a suitcase from my closet and threw it onto the bed. I began rifling through my drawers, trying to hastily compile a mental list of what I’d need.

“You listen here young lady-” Uncle Mack thundered, stomping into the room after me.

“No!” I shouted back. “No. I’m not going to listen to you lecture me about what Luke and I should or should not be doing with our lives. I’m leaving in the morning, and if you know what’s good for you, you won’t get in my way.”

“Where are you going?” Aunt Carol fretted in the doorway.

“To Columbus. I’m going to talk some sense into Luke.”

“But that’s eight hours away!” She exclaimed.

“I’ll rent a motel room along the way,” I said, throwing a handful of socks and underwear into the suitcase.

“You can’t just leave,” Uncle Mack spluttered, some of his fury draining away.

“Watch me.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

Chance

Ursula’s right tit, why did I have to find my mate here? Why had it been this little town?

I’d known better than to follow her to her home, but that didn’t mean I hadn’t wanted to. I wanted to know more about the bright-eyed Lucy. I wanted to know the story behind her injured leg. I wanted to know who I needed to hunt next. My bear rumbled its agreement within me. Whoever had crippled our mate was going to pay dearly for it.

But thoughts of the hunt were finally what brought me out of the semi-murderous state I’d been in most of the night and allowed me to concentrate. I was already on a hunt and I could pursue Lucy at a later date. I rolled over, retrieving the manila folder from inside my duffel bag. I removed the rubber band that held the thing shut and let the photos spill onto the crisp white bedding.

The evidence arranged on the bedspread was the only thing that could draw him away from Lucy, with her enticing scent, her perfect curves, her- Damnit Chance, focus. I’d been on the road for nearly a week, cutting my vacation with family short to come deal with the renegade. Technically, the case wasn’t in our jurisdiction. Luke Elmsong hadn’t lived in the area for over four years. He hadn’t lived in any of the three states I patrolled as an enforcer, either. So technically, I hadn’t needed to leave my father’s cabin to track him down.

But I’d wanted to. Tracking was the only thing that soothed my bear and kept me from devolving into the same sort of psychotic monster I hunted. I walked the dagger’s edge of sanity if I tried to go for much longer than a few weeks without a mission.

And increasingly, I was the odd man out at home. Both my sisters had found their mates early on, one at university, and the other when she’d gone ice fishing in Minnesota. There was nothing that could drive a wedge between my parents.

The sun would be up in an hour, and it would be the third sleepless night in a row. My bear rumbled inside my chest, ignoring my body’s plea for sleep.

We can come back for her, I assured it. She hadn’t smelled like another male, and she’d worn no rings. She was single, fertile, and mine for the taking. I just had to track down Luke Elmsong, and drag him back for trial. Then I could pursue Lucy at my leisure.

There was nothing for it. I wasn’t going to get to sleep. I picked up one of the crime scene photos that had been slipped discreetly to my home office from the bedspread and examined it. As always, photos like these had an odd sort of dissonance. The blood and viscera were made somehow less gruesome when neatly delineated, sorted into piles and examined by a coroner.

I was almost certain it hadn’t been anything less than a nightmare for Keith Page.

“You poor dead bastard,” I muttered, flipping to the next in the pile. Keith’s ruined carcass looked only marginally less sickening in the autopsy photos.

The only mercy was that he hadn’t suffered long. Luke Elmsong had gone straight for his throat. After that, he’d probably lost consciousness after twenty seconds, and bled out in less than two minutes. Twenty seconds wasn’t a long time to ponder your imminent demise, but time was relative. I’m sure they’d seemed like an eternity to the dead boy.

I’d gone over the evidence on the way down, but I reviewed every item in the envelope again. This was what I was meant to be doing here. This was the reason I had to leave Fairchild, Tennessee behind and proceed further east. Luke Elmsong had become a monster, and for three nights a month he’d be an unstoppable killing machine. Every day I wasted here brought him closer to the full moon and another chance at slaughter.

I pulled on a pair of jeans and then sunk to the floor, arranging my limbs so I sat in lotus position. Ideally, I would have lit sandalwood incense, but I doubted the charming lady who ran the bed and breakfast I was staying at would appreciate it. Besides, the incense wasn’t really necessary. It was merely a force of habit, the same as the preparatory shower I’d taken. It made no tangible difference, it just helped me focus.

I steepled my fingers and closed my eyes, clearing my head of all thoughts of Lucy. Normally I’d have done meditative breathing, letting the smoke fill my senses and allow me to transcend. Instead, I focused on the low buzz of static filtering from the television set. I let the low electric hum fill my mind, and my body relaxed even further into the thick carpeting.

A few minutes later, I stepped out of my skin. Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration. My spirit left my body, and I didn’t look back to survey myself. I knew exactly how I’d look. I’d seen other lawmen leave their bodies to scope out an area before.

And I really couldn’t look back. Much like Orpheus, if I turned back it defeated the purpose of the whole exercise. I had only to glimpse the vessel that housed my soul, and I would be forced back into it, like a rubber band snapping back to its original shape. I would always have to return to my body until I died, or it did.

I strode forward, not pausing at door to my room. The door put up no resistance, and I phased through it. It was like stepping into a cloud of cool mist. Very little could hinder me in this state. Enchantments and places of faith could pose a problem for me, but Mr. and Mrs. Wells only seemed to worship at the altar of NASCAR and Bud Light.

I floated above the stairs carefully. Just because I could interact with the physical realm, didn’t mean I should. I didn’t want to start a rumor that the Wells Bed and Breakfast was haunted by an unruly spook. The front door rattled slightly, and the screen door shivered at my passing. All in all, it was one of my smoother exits.

I was less cautious on the porch. The cat perched in the rocking chair hissed as it sensed me. I flicked its ear on my way past and it bolted, hissing like mad.

In this insubstantial form, I could fly to my destination if I so chose. I chose to walk the streets of Fairchild instead. I wanted to see the town where my mate had been raised.

I still avoided the pools of lamplight cast on the pavement, though my spirit self couldn’t cast a shadow. It was an instinct I’d honed after many years of practice. I ticked down the addresses one by one, counting down to my destination. Luke’s maternal aunt Carol Boswell and her husband Mack lived at 519 N Elm Street. It had been hell on my GPS trying to figure out where to go.  For whatever reason, the small town didn’t show up on maps anymore.

The town boasted only one gas station, a bed and breakfast, a few shops, and one restaurant. There wasn’t a school building in sight, and I had to assume that she must have attended high school in the next town over.

The sun was beginning to peek over the horizon when I reached Elm Street. A cursory glance around the house confirmed what I’d already guessed. Luke Elmsong hadn’t been home for a long time. I retreated from the home, slightly put out. It might have made for a disappointing hunt, but I’d been hoping that he’d act with human instinct and seek out a familiar place. I wanted this hunt to be over as soon as possible so I could return to Lucy.

My initial hunch had been correct. Luke’s newfound bear would lead him in search of a thickly wooded area, someplace where it would have an advantage over the human police that had attempted to gun him down. That would drive him further east, toward the Appalachian mountain range.

I sighed and turned to fly back toward the bed and breakfast. I had a long day ahead, and at least another few days travel before I reached my next destination. There would be over two thousand miles to search, and only a few weeks in which to search it.

I reached my body as the sun rose. I opened my eyes and the weariness in my limbs nearly dragged me into unconsciousness. I groaned and levered myself into a sitting position. The eight hour drive didn’t seem as manageable from this side of the mortal plane.

“I need coffee,” I groaned, getting to my feet.

And Lucy. My bear chimed in unhelpfully. I scowled.

“Coffee first,” I muttered to it. “Lucy later.”

But even I didn’t agree with that set of priorities. I had to leave, though. I had to eliminate this threat. I had to make the world a safer place to live for my mate.

Lucy would wait.

 

Chapter Three

Lucy

I woke up with a crick in my neck and a renewed throbbing in my bad leg. I’d slept for about three hours in the back of my car, clutching the suitcase to my chest like a teddy bear in case someone tried to break in. I had no idea who would be desperate enough to steal the junk heap I called a car, but it was Fairchild.

I groaned and tried to roll over, nearly falling of the seat as I did. Three hours sleep was not enough, but my leg wasn’t going to take the cramped position for much longer. I opened the door to the backseat and crawled out onto the parking lot. Pete’s wasn’t going to open again until ten, and I’d need to be long gone by then if I wanted to make it to Columbus before dark.

I’d probably burned all bridges with Randy by calling him at four in the morning to quit my job at Pete’s Bar and Grill. It had seemed like the only reasonable thing to do at the time because the journey to and from Ohio would take a few days, not to mention the time spent trying to convince him to go back to school the following semester.

I didn’t know what could possibly motivate this sudden decision. Luke was only a semester away from graduation. He’d been so close to the end, why would he have just given up?

I stood and stretched, wincing a little as my back popped. I laid out my pans for the day. I needed to let my bank know I’d be out of state. The last thing I needed was to have them freeze my card when I stopped for gas.

I rummaged in the pockets of the jeans I’d worn the night before, drawing out my keys. I climbed into the front seat and leaned my head against the wheel. This trip was insane. If Luke refused I’d wasted days, and I’d lost any semblance of a life or home in Fairchild. As always though, I was stepping in to save my baby brother. If I had to be the grownup, so be it.

I started the car and backed out of the lot slowly. My car spluttered and wheezed but eventually I coaxed it up to highway speed on the road out of town. I spotted Mr. Lonesome’s bright red muscle car at the gas station on the way out of town and I realized with a pang that he was leaving. I’d likely never see him again. I had the fleeting urge to turn around. I could afford to get coffee and breakfast with him couldn’t I?

I shook my head. That was ridiculous. He was leaving. That was probably best. Now was not the time to go on a date. I had a brother to track down.

The morning was warm and humid, and I knew it would be an absolute misery to be in the car by noon. The windows, the ones that were intact, didn’t roll down. The air conditioning was a joke. Not even the radio worked. This trip was going to be a silent, sweaty affair. Damn Luke. What was he thinking?

The sun hung over the eastern horizon, bathing the cornfields on either side of the road in soft amber light. I managed to make it halfway to the interstate before my car started to make a truly horrendous noise. I couldn’t coax the car over fifty, and steam began to rise from beneath the hood.

“Shit!” I shouted, pounding the steering wheel. “Shit, shit, shit!”

I pulled off onto the narrow shoulder and put the car in park. I twisted the keys savagely out of the ignition and had to pound the driver’s side door to get it to open. The stupid thing stuck every other time I got in. I popped the hood and my heart sank when noxious smoke began to billow out from it.

I finally remembered my conversation with Millie in the parking lot right after closing. She’d said the engine could blow if I didn’t get it repaired. I screamed. There was no one around to hear me but the Johnson’s cows, and they weren’t paying me any mind. There was a lump of unshed tears in my throat, and it was suddenly hard to swallow.

Not only was I not going to Columbus, I was stranded, almost twenty miles from home. The tow truck would cost more than I wanted to pay, on top of the cost of a new car. I kicked the headlight with my good leg, only succeeding in sending a spike of agony through my foot.

“Damn it!” I shouted. I tilted my head back to the sky and screamed in frustration again. Why did this always happen? Why did I get more than my fair share when shit hit the fan?

I barely took note of the glint off a new car coming down the road. Maybe they’d stop to help but the only thing they could really do was call the tow truck or give me a ride back. I sunk to the ground next to the hood and pulled my knees up to my chest. Traitorous tears began to fall, and I buried my face in my hands, biting my lip to contain a sob. I needed to get a grip. I needed to call Millie and see if I could still salvage the situation somehow.

I could hear the car nearing and groaned aloud when it noticeably slowed. I didn’t need someone to witness my breakdown. I couldn’t summon the energy to push to my feet. I was so tired. I had barely slept, I was hungry, and my car was a smoking ruin. What was the point of getting up?

The car pulled in behind mine and the engine sounded like a purring cat before it cut off. I wiped furiously at my eyes, but the tears kept coming. The owner stepped out, and I caught a glimpse of one heavy work boot before he began walking around my car.

“Need a hand?” A familiar voice asked. I looked up sharply, aware the mascara leftover from my shift the day before was running. A handsome, chiseled face was peering down at me.

“Chance?” I asked. Was he really here, or was this a signal that my complete mental break was at hand? At least that would mean my brain was trying to be kind to me in the eleventh hour.

“Lucy,” he said, and a warm smile brightened his whole face. Why did he always seem so thrilled to see me?

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to stem the flow of tears. “I saw you at the station. I thought you were heading out of town.”

“I am,” he said, gesturing at the road. “But I thought I ought to give you a hand. Your car doesn’t look drivable.”

“It’s not.” My voice quavered a little, and I hated it. I was just sitting here crying like a little girl in front of the most handsome man to ever grace the town of Fairchild. He gave my car a quick once-over, wincing at the sight of my smoking engine.

“Where were you headed?” he asked finally. “I can drive you there and back if you like.”

“No, that’s okay,” I blurted, finally getting my knees under me. I stood, brushing the gravel off my backside as I did so. “I don’t want to be any trouble. I’ll call Millie.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” he replied smoothly, bracing one elbow on the driver’s side door. He was so huge I felt like I owned a clown car. “I’ve got a few weeks before I need to report back to work. A few days won’t hurt anything. Where are you headed?”

I stole a glance at his car. It was bright red, and its glossy paint job shone in the early morning sunlight. It looked very roadworthy. I shook my head, trying to collect my thoughts. I couldn’t believe I was actually considering it.

“Is that a no?” he asked, leaning a little closer to me.

“Give me a minute. I’m thinking,” I muttered.

If I went back to Fairchild, I’d have to kiss major ass to get my job back. It was a toss-up whether Uncle Mack would let me back into the house. I’d still have no car, and buying a new one would set me back several thousand dollars. Then again, if I went with Mr. Lonesome, I’d still be facing all that when I returned.

But you’d get a handsome traveling companion. My mind supplied. And air conditioning.

Well, the latter would certainly be helpful. I was already sweating beneath all the flannel, and I could tell by the humidity that there’d be storms in the next few days.

“Fine,” I said, running a hand through my mussed hair. Great, I had running mascara and bedhead. What a catch I must be. “But no funny stuff. If I get the axe-murderer vibe from you at any point in this journey, I reserve the right to cold-clock you.”

He grinned, flashing dazzlingly white teeth at me. “I’d expect nothing less. Where are you headed?”

I had to pull hard to get the door open again. When I finally managed it, I leaned over the front seat and snatched my suitcase from the back. It was brown leather and absolutely covered in travel stickers. It was the only one of mom’s bags that Aunt Carol had allowed me to keep. She’d said I could have the rest of mom’s stuff when I moved out, but I wasn’t quite sure I believed her.

“Columbia. My brother, Luke, attends college at Ohio State.”

I looked up in time to see a flicker of emotion cross his face. It was gone before I could put a name to it, but something was there. Suspicion crept unwanted into my thoughts. Did he know Luke? Did Chance somehow know what had prompted his sudden flight?

“Too far out of the way for you?” I asked lightly, trying to get a read on his expression. He finally managed another smile, though this one was a second too late a fraction too tight to be genuine.

“Not at all. Want a hand with your luggage?”

Normally I would have bristled and told him I was fully capable of holding my own luggage. But he was doing me a favor, and despite what he said, he was going out of his way to help me. So I gave him an insincere smile of my own.

“Sure.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Four

Chance

It had been a bad idea to pick her up for many reasons.

Her relationship to my quarry complicated things tremendously. I couldn’t imagine a woman as vivacious as Lucy standing by idly while I tracked her brother through the mountains with the intent to kill or capture. It was also unquestionably against regulations to bring an unarmed civilian into the line of fire, especially when said civilian had little to no knowledge about the situation.

Additionally, her scent was filling the car, and it was driving me mad. She smelled of petrichor, the rich smell of rain on dry earth. I scented ozone on her skin, and I could feel the answering current running between us, as if lightning might strike and send electricity singing through my veins. I wanted nothing more than to pull her across the space that separated us and into my lap.

But I was driving down the interstate at seventy-five miles an hour and she clearly didn’t trust me yet. She was leaning back in her seat, basking in the jets of cool air coming from the vents.

“Comfortable?” I asked, a hint of wry amusement in my tone.

“Very,” she said, giving me a quick smile. “Thank you so much for doing this. I can’t express how much I appreciate it.”

“I told you, it wasn’t any trouble.”

In fact, it did solve one problem. I was less likely to be distracted during the mission when I knew where she was and if she was safe. My bear had been displeased with even the notion of leaving her behind. Now he was more compliant than it had been in years, slumbering peacefully while we shot down the road toward Jackson.

Though we could have made the whole trip in one day, I was already tired and Lucy didn’t look much better. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t still beautiful, but the dark circles beneath her eyes worried me. It wouldn’t do us any good to keep going if we were too tired to pick up any relevant clues.

She stretched, and I couldn’t help but notice how tight the blue flannel shirt fit. She looked damned good, under the circumstances. She caught me looking and hastily buttoned the shirt up to her collar.

“So, where were you heading originally?” she asked.

I tried not to flinch away from the question. This whole situation really was a clusterfuck. What was I supposed to tell her? That my destination was the same as hers? That wouldn’t sound creepy as fuck, now would it? I didn’t want to lie to her though, so I told a partial truth.

“I was heading to Virginia. I’m going hiking in the Appalachian mountains.”

She turned to stare at me, blue eyes huge in her face. “The Appalachian mountain trail? The whole thing? That takes months!”

I laughed. “No, not the whole thing. Just the Blue Ridge Mountain Range. I’m supposed to meet a few friends and spend the next couple of weeks roughing it. I’ll just let them know I’ll be a few days late.”

I saw her bite her lip out of the corner of my eye. It was distracting as hell. I wanted to snag that full pouting lip between my teeth and bite it. There had to be bear in her family line somewhere, or I’d not have felt the pull.

A sickening thought crept into my mind, and it doused the fire kindling in my blood. Of course, there was bear in her lineage now. Her brother, her twin brother Luke, as she’d told me as I’d loaded her bags into the trunk, was a bear. An unnatural one, yes, but a bear nonetheless. They’d shared a womb, and some even speculated the souls were joined, even as early as birth.

No, Luke’s madness hadn’t been passed to his sister, or I’d be here investigating two massacres instead of one. Still, the thought unsettled me.

“Sorry for delaying your trip,” she said, clearing her throat to get my attention. I realized too late that I’d been glowering at the road ahead.

“I told you it’s fine. I don’t mind, really. I was actually looking for reasons to stay in Fairchild. I wanted to get to know you a little better, Lucy.”

“You don’t know me,” she muttered, looking out the window to avoid my gaze.

“No,” I admitted. “But I’d like the chance to get to know you. Where do you want to eat?”

“Anywhere is fine. I just need to take my pills soon.”

“Your leg,” I said, barely keeping the rage from my voice. “What happened to it?”

“None of your business!” She snapped, actually turning in her seat to slap my bicep. It didn’t hurt. She’d need a steel blade to make an impression on my skin, and even then, she’d have to strike harder than that. I rubbed at the spot though. It was the first time she’d willingly touched me, and I could feel the skin tingle where she’d made contact.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I was just trying to make conversation. Why are you chasing your brother down anyway?”

She expelled an angry huff of air and crossed her arms over her chest. “He called my Aunt and Uncle last night and told them he was dropping out of school. We don’t know why or what he’s up to. I plan to kick his ass and get him back in school.”

“He contacted you?”

“Yes. A lot of good it did me, but he tried to call. He said he was sorry for…something. I’m really confused. He was going to graduate soon. Why did he just run off like that?”

“I don’t know,” I lied, slowing as we approached the off ramp that would take us into Jackson. We’d been on the road for nearly three hours, and Lucy had napped in the passenger’s seat off and on the whole way.

She sighed. “Sorry for snapping at you. It’s just really starting to dawn on me what a mess my life is.”

“You could come with me to Virginia. Delay going back for a few more weeks.” The words were out, and there was no way I could take them back. They hung in the air between us, and I wanted to curse myself and the bear that lived inside me. I couldn’t take her to Virginia. She’d be in danger. If not from Luke, then from my fellow lawmen who might attempt to steal her from me.

“I didn’t pack any hiking gear,” she said slowly. I noted she hadn’t immediately said no.

“I’ve got enough for two.”

Actually, I had enough for one, but my gear was mostly for show in case I was pulled over by a human police officer. She appeared to consider it.

“How about this? I’ll consider going on a weekend with you after we find my brother and talk some sense into him.”

That was going to be more difficult than she could imagine, but I was never going to get a better deal than that so I latched onto it.

“It’s a date.”

***

Several hours and awkward conversation topics later we were approaching Elizabethtown, our last stop before Louisville, Kentucky where I had planned to turn in for the night. The cheery blue skies of the morning and late afternoon were turning grey as we headed further north toward Ohio. Heavy rain clouds pressed down over us. My bear shifted uneasily and I could feel its desire to seek shelter. A storm was rolling in.

“I thought you were a country boy!” She crowed when I finally admitted that I lived in Southaven, Mississippi.

“For the last ten years. But before that I lived in Alaska with my parents and two sisters. I’m not sure if I qualify.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Alaska? Really, what was that like?”

“Cold,” I said with a laugh. “But very beautiful. We lived miles from any major city, but we preferred it that way. It was harder for the zoophobics and the zoophiles to find us up there.”

Her head whipped up from the burger she’d been attempting to unwrap.

“Zoophiles? Those groupies attracted to shifters?”

“And their counterparts on the other side of the fence, the zoophobics, yeah.”

Her mouth was hanging slightly open in an unflattering expression of shock. “That means that you’re…”

“A shifter, yes,” I concluded, hoping she hadn’t noticed the edge of bitterness that had entered my voice. Of course, it couldn’t be simple. She’d been raised in the south, where the most violence toward shifters was perpetrated. It was part of why I’d taken the job. Of course my mate would hate shifters.

“Oh, don’t get your panties in a bunch,” she huffed, glimpsing the look on my face. “I just didn’t expect it at all. That’s something you should lead with, I think.”

“What did you want me to say? Hello, I’m Chance Kassower. I enjoy skiing, chess and turning into a bear when the fancy strikes me.”

She actually threw her head back and laughed. “Okay, when you put it like that way, it sounds a little ridiculous.”

“Exactly.” The tension in my body eased a little. “You really don’t hate me for being a shifter?”

“From what I understand, it isn’t something you can help, right? Any more than I could help being blonde, or brother can help being a douchebag. Sometimes we’re just born this way.”

I filed the douchebag comment away for later questioning. There was a story there, but now was not the time to press for it.

“You’re right. It’s not something I can help.”

She nodded wisely. “So, I don’t see the point in getting fussed about it. But if we’re going on a date later, you really should tell me the truth from now on.”

My stomach squirmed in discomfort and I turned the radio on before she could wring any promises from me. I wanted to be honest with her, but there were certain things I couldn’t share. Like the orders passed down regarding her brother.

I tried to focus on the bubblegum oldies channel I’d been listening to before I’d spotted her car on the side of the road. It wasn’t easy, though. Lucy sat in relative silence, taking bites of her burger as we continued on toward Louisville.

After an irritatingly long string of ads, the local commentator began to read the latest news announcements.

“New updates from the Columbus Police Department in regards to the violent murder that was perpetrated at the university on Wednesday…”

I nearly jammed the button down.  No, no, no this isn’t how she was supposed to find out. Lucy batted my hand away from the dial before I could reach it.

“I want to listen to something else,” I said tightly.

“Tough,” she shot back. “This might have something to do with Luke. I’m listening to the rest of it.”

It had everything to do with Luke Elmsong and that was the problem. I wondered how she hadn’t heard the story already, but considering the deplorable state her car had been in, it was entirely possible she hadn’t been able to listen to the media coverage of the event.

“Police have identified Luke Elmsong, the deceased’s former roommate, as a person of interest in this case. Local police are coordinating with members of the Thing in an attempt to bring him in for questioning.”

“The thing?” she echoed. “What’s that?” 

“It’s a Council of were-animals,” I said, finally. “It comes from old Norse tradition. They uphold the law and dispatch members of the community to mete it out.”

She turned ever so slowly to fix me with an accusatory stare. I had never seen such a remote expression on a human face before. I nearly flinched at the ice in her tone when she spoke.

“What do you know about this?” she demanded, jabbing a finger at the radio.

I didn’t answer, and the radio announcer continued, laying the damning truth out in wake of my silence.

Campus security identified Luke Elmsong fleeing the scene of the crime the morning after it occurred. Officials say they will be on the lookout for Elmsong, and will alert us if he is caught. On a related, but sadder note, the wake of Keith Page will be held on campus a week from Saturday…

“Chance Kassower, you answer me damn it!” She shouted. “What do you know about this?”

“Everything. I knew everything.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Her voice came out as a choked whisper, instead of the screech I’d been expecting. The betrayal in her tone made my stomach pitch. I had hurt her. I’d hurt my mate.

I reached out a hand, stroking her cheek once. She slapped it away hard.

“Don’t you dare,” she said, shaking her head slowly from side to side. “Don’t you dare treat me like I’m a stupid, fragile little girl. You tell me what’s going on or I’m jumping out of this car and taking my chances in the next town.”

“We’re going sixty-five miles an hour,” I protested.

“Tell me what you know,” she demanded again.

“Fine,” I growled. “From what I was able to gather, your brother underwent platelet rich plasma therapy. It’s a procedure where-”

“I know what the procedure is,” she interrupted me. “Blood is injected into an injured area to help speed recovery from an injury. My doctor suggested I try it.”

“Your brother’s doctor attempted to use shifter blood to speed the recovery even further.”

Lucy froze and her one handed grip on the door handle tightened until her knuckles began to turn white.

“What does that mean for Luke?”

“It means he’s turned into a monster. He’s not like me, Lucy. Made shifters go insane every full moon. He didn’t know what he was doing, but he killed another boy, Keith Page. He’s a murderer, Lucy.”

“No,” she whispered again, tears beginning to streak down her face.

I stewed in the silence as we entered Louisville and I searched for a hotel. If she hadn’t hated me before, she did now. Damn it. I shouldn’t have turned the radio on.

She stayed in the car when I pulled into a nice, upscale hotel. The receptionist at the front desk flirted shamelessly as she helped me select a room. She was a very attractive woman, tall and shapely, but I felt no pull to her. I hadn’t felt attraction to any woman since meeting with Lucy.

It had begun to drizzle when I emerged. I pulled her bag from the back and opened her door, offering her the second keycard I’d requested for her use. She glared at the small plastic card and didn’t reach to take it.

“Come on,” I said, hiking the bag further up on my shoulder. “It’s going to rain. You can’t stay out here.”

“I can, and I will,” she hissed. “I’m not sleeping in a hotel room with the man who lied to me.”

A growl rumbled in my chest as my bear came to the forefront. She was our mate. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

“I’m sleeping in 112.” I flicked the card into her lap and closed the door. She could join me inside if she wanted to. If she chose to stay in the cold, that was her choice. I wasn’t going to carry her off into the room like a barbarian.

I turned my back to her and began trudging toward my room. If a night alone with her thoughts is what she wanted, so be it.

 

 

 

Chapter Five

Lucy

I buried my head even further into the flannel shirt I’d balled up as a makeshift pillow. Chance had offered me an actual pillow from the trunk of the car. He’d come to check on me about an hour after going inside. I’d tried to give the room key back to him, but he’d insisted that I keep it, in case I changed my mind.

As soon as I’d been out of sight, I threw the pillow to the floorboard. I didn’t want anything of his. He’d lied to me. He hadn’t been doing any of this out of the goodness of his heart or actual interest in me. All this time, he’d been trying to get close to me. He’d probably been planning to use me as bait to lure my brother out of hiding. Bastard.

I rolled over, trying to ignore the loud thump of rain on the car’s roof. It was coming down in sheets, and every so often thunder would shake the ground. I tried to console myself that being in the car would be reasonably safe.

I huddled in on myself, trying to get warm. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees from where it had been in the morning, and in my thin white tank top the interior of the car was freezing. I gritted my teeth determinedly, trying to keep them from chattering. I was never going to get to sleep this way, no matter how tired I was. 

I rolled over and glared at the plastic keycard I’d placed on top of the pillow. He’d probably booked a room with only one bed so he could put his hands all over me. I wished that notion sounded less appealing to me than it did. He was involved in a manhunt for my brother, I was almost certain of that. I shouldn’t want to date the guy who was trying to bring him in.

Or maybe that was past history talking. I had enough bad blood with local cops that I distrusted most of them on principle. If I was being completely honest with myself, I knew that staying in the car had been a bit of an overreaction. He hadn’t outright lied to me. He’d misled me, sure, but he hadn’t exactly lied to me. And he hadn’t been obligated to help me out or take me along.

Maybe, just maybe, he was trying to help me in his own way. I chewed my bottom lip thoughtfully. Maybe the attraction wasn’t all in my head? He’d seemed to hang on every word I’d said all afternoon, seeming as interested in getting to know me as I had been to know him.

That’s over, I thought sarcastically. Even if he had hidden the truth in a misguided attempt to protect me, it was still wrong. Relationships, even the tentative friendship I thought we’d been trying to forge, were built on trust. How could I have anything with Chance if he lied to me?

So where did that leave me? We were hours away from home and I wasn’t about to turn around and give up. I’d have to put up with him for a few more days. I groaned into my makeshift pillow. If that was the case, I’d need to make nice and apologize.

I snatched up the key card from the pillow and the keys from the cup holder where he’d left them. I shoved both into my pockets and opened the door. I yelped when I stepped out of the car. The rain ran icy fingers down my body and almost immediately soaked through my jeans and flimsy white tank top. I pelted toward the front entrance, water sloshing into my shoes as I stepped into the giant puddle forming in the middle of the parking lot.

I slipped and fell to the ground, the card slipping from my grasp and landing a foot behind me. Hot stinging pain flared in the palms of my hands and one side of my face. I cursed, and tried to get my feet under me once more, but my bad leg seemed to have gone numb from cold. I pulled at it desperately. I was getting soaked, and even if I did crawl back to the car, I was going to catch something at this rate.

I crawled into a sitting position, determined to drag it along behind me if I had to. If I could at least get into the lobby, someone would help me to the room. It would be embarrassing, but at least I’d be warm. I looked back, trying to find the card, hoping it hadn’t been washed into the storm drain.

I froze, rooted to the spot when I finally located it. There were two hands sticking from the puddle. One of them grasped my leg in cold, rippling fingers. The other held the key card. As I watched a head emerged as well, and eyes the same color as the muddy water fixed on me.

“L-let me go,” I stammered.

“Do not be frightened,” the woman said. Her voice echoed weirdly, as if she were speaking from the bottom of a well. “I bring blessings from Freyr.”

“Thanks,” I said shakily. “But do you think Freyr could send his blessings in a slightly less creepy way?”

The shoulders and torso of the woman emerged from the puddle. I whipped my head around. Cars passed on the highway, and the lamplights were still shining, so why was I the only one who was seeing her?

“You must stop him,” she whispered, letting go of my leg. She leaned her insubstantial body over mine. My teeth chattered violently, and numbness was beginning to steal over the rest of my body.

“Stop who?” I muttered, trying to crawl out from beneath her. I didn’t care if I got the card back, I’d request a new one. Or I’d bang on the door until Chance let me in. I didn’t care at this point. I just wanted to be out of the cold, and more importantly, out of this weird water ghost’s grasp.

“Your mate,” she said, pushing her face close to mine. Water dripped from the tip of her nose and the locks of green hair that brushed my cheek.

“I don’t have a mate,” I said, confused. I hadn’t dated in years. I hadn’t seen the point after high school. The only person I’d recently considered was inside the hotel room, and he sure as hell wasn’t my anything now.

“You do,” she crooned, stroking an icy finger over my lips. “You must stop him, before it is too late. Your brother still has a part to play. He will stop a great evil. He cannot fulfill his destiny if he is dead. Save him, Lady Elmsong.”

“Fine, fine.” I nearly shouted over a clap of thunder. “I’ll do it, just get off of me before I freeze to death!”

“Your oath to Freyr is sworn,” she intoned, and as I stared as she sank back into the puddle, as if she’d never been there. The only evidence that she’d ever existed was the white key card that bobbed on the surface of the enormous puddle. I snatched it from the water before it could drift away.

I ran for the door, ignoring the pain that was seeping back into my bad leg. I needed to get inside before something else strange and impossible accosted me. It took me longer than it should have to realize that I was trying to push open a pull door. When I finally entered the lobby, the only person still there was a bored looking desk clerk. She glanced up from filing her nails and gave me a contemptuous glance.

I flushed and tried to walk past her with as much dignity as I could. Sure, I was covered in mud, my hair was limp and stringy, my shirt was see through and my nipples were putting on a show for whomever cared to look, but I was still a customer, damn it.

Room 112 was in the corridor to my right. I rubbed vigorously at my arms, trying to get rid of the goosebumps that had risen when I’d stepped into the even cooler hotel lobby. I needed a shower pronto. I had to try a few times to get the door open, because I kept pulling the card out too quickly in my haste.

I resisted the urge to flick the lights on. I didn’t want to wake Chance and get the smug ‘I told-you-so’ look. I was willing to bury the hatchet, as long as he didn’t brag. I dug my phone from my purse and used the light from the screen to make my way to the bathroom.

I opened the door and stepped inside, letting out a sigh of relief. It was warm. A moment later, I realized exactly why it was warm. Steam hung in the air, fogging the mirror. The lighting had been dimmed, but not turned down completely, so I could make out the lazy sprawl of limbs in the tub before he sat up.

“Lucy what are you-”

“Oh God. I’m so sorry. I…I’ll just go,” I muttered. The heat flooding my cheeks was enough to at least dispel the cold in my face.

“Stay.” It was more of a command than anything else, and I stopped, my body turned half toward the door.

“You’re naked,” I protested.

“And you’re freezing,” he countered.

“You don’t know that,” I muttered. His eyes flicked meaningfully down to my chest. I grabbed one of the mini soaps from the counter and threw it at him. It fell woefully short of hitting his broad chest, splashing into the water at groin level.

“Get in,” he said, and his voice was a low, persuasive purr. “There’s plenty of room. I promise I won’t do anything untoward.”

I bit my lip. The Jacuzzi was big and the jets would probably feel like heaven on my cold and battered body. But there was that little matter of having to strip. His eyes were already smoldering as he stared at me.

“Close your eyes,” I commanded. “And don’t open them again until I’m in the water.”

He closed his eyes obligingly and I waited a few minutes to see if he’d peek. He didn’t. Instead he relaxed further into the tub, until I finally summoned the courage to strip off my shirt. I decided to strip off the flimsy sports bra as well. It wasn’t really doing anything for me anyway. I decided to keep my underwear on, so I wouldn’t give into temptation and actually request something untoward from my extremely irritating travelling companion.

“Ooh,” I moaned as I slipped into the steaming bathwater. He smiled at the sound, but didn’t open his eyes to see if I was fully submerged or not. Well, that was…gentlemanly of him I supposed. I’d only said that he had to wait until I was in the water. He could have gotten an eyeful when I’d stepped inside.

“Can I open my eyes?”

“Yes,” I said, stretching out my bad leg. The warmth of the water was doing wonders in easing the ache. If I didn’t move it for the rest of the night, I could probably get away with skipping my pill. I rested my heel on one of his legs, situating myself opposite him.

He opened his eyes and they immediately sought out my face. I didn’t like the look in them. It wasn’t the sex-crazed, lusty sort of look I’d expected and feared. His face softened when he looked at me. It wasn’t the hardness of his cock, which brushed my foot gently in the ebb and flow of the water, that really scared me. It was the happiness, the love I could see in his eyes.

For Pete’s sake, we’d known each other all of two days. He couldn’t be in love with me!

“Who’s Freyr?” I blurted. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to talk about what had happened in the parking lot, but I wanted that look gone. I wasn’t going down that road. Not with him, not with anyone. Not until after I’d finished college.

His brow creased, and his mouth pulled down in a frown. “Why?”

“I read the name somewhere,” I lied. Great, now I couldn’t hold that against him anymore. I just had the feeling that this Freyr guy, whoever he was, didn’t want me to blab to Chance. I had to stop my mate—oh God, was that Chance? —from killing Luke.

“Freyr is one of the major gods in Norse mythology. He was the god of fertility, prosperity, and a good harvest. He had other powers too, but those were the main three. Most of his worship is done by the Were-Boars these days. He’s their patron.”

“Were-boars?” I asked, raising a brow at him. “Do bears have a patron, by any chance?”

He shook his head. “Not really. You’d think so, since we began with the Berserkers. But there’s surprisingly little about us in Norse Myth. I’m an atheist myself, but Mom and Dad worship Frigg, Odin’s wife.”

“Oh.”

So why was this Freyr guy trying to intercede on behalf of my brother? Chance had said that he’d become a bear, right?

“Any reason you’re suddenly so curious?” he asked, stroking fingers over the delicate bones of my ankle. That in itself was innocent enough, but the barest touch of his fingers on me had set my body aching. I wanted to close the distance between us. I wanted to lay a kiss on his soft mouth, feel his body against mine in the steamy bathwater, and let whatever happened happen.

Instead, I drew my foot carefully back to my side of the tub, dropping my gaze from his. That was insanity. I didn’t have any protection, and even if he had something in his bag for just such an occasion, I wasn’t going to jump into bed with a man I barely knew. Hell, this morning I hadn’t even known he could turn into a bear. There could be a lot more that he was hiding from me.

“No reason,” I said, carefully scrutinizing the bubbles instead of meeting his gaze.

The ripples that crossed the bath were the only warning that he’d leaned across. He cupped my chin in one hand, tilting my head up so I could see his face briefly, before his mouth descended on mine. I should have told him no, or reminded him of his promise. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He grasped my hips and lifted me bodily from my perch.

His tongue delved into my mouth, tasting me, savoring me and I tried to respond in kind. He arranged me carefully so most of my weight was not on the bad leg. One of his large hands came up to tangle in my hair, tugging very gently at the roots. My body bucked at the sensation and his erection nudged my sex. My legs quivered and something inside of me clenched. I wanted the thick, hard length of him inside of me.

He broke away before I could quite make up my mind.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was a deep husky purr and I might have decided to do it right there in the bathtub, if he hadn’t pushed me gently off his lap.

“Right,” I panted. “No funny stuff.”

“Did you want funny stuff?” he asked hopefully.

A small measure of sanity returned to me and I shook my head. “No.”

My body disagreed, though. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to sleep after what we’d just done.

“Right,” he echoed me. “Time for bed, I think.”

I nodded jerkily, trying not to let images of exactly what we could be doing in that bed flood my mind. He exited the bath first, and I had a difficult time not staring at his ass as he toweled off and dressed in a pair of boxers and plaid pajama pants.

“I’ll get you one of my shirts,” he said brusquely. I didn’t protest, though I had some pajamas of my own in the bag.

“And a pair of underwear,” I called after him. Lord knew it would be dangerous to be in that man’s bed without underclothes on.

He tossed said items into the bathroom a few minutes later, and I retrieved one of the fluffy, white hotel towels from the shelf overhead. My hair would be a rat’s nest if I slept on it wet, but I was too tired to bother blow-drying it. I wasn’t on call to impress anyone, and I had the feeling I could wear clown makeup and not put Chase off.

Once I was sufficiently dry, I put on the overly large T-shirt and the lacy black underwear he’d tossed in. Of course, he’d chosen the only sexy pair I’d packed.

Of course he’d gotten the room with a single bed. It was king sized though, which was something. I could sleep at the opposite end from him if I so chose and that Jacuzzi bath had been worth sacrificing the other bed. He was reclining on the bed when I emerged, and was looking everywhere but at me.

“I’m not offended, okay?” I sighed. “I came to apologize for earlier. It was an overreaction. Promise you’ll never keep anything really important from me again, and I promise not to stay mad.”

“I promise.” He met my eyes and I could see the earnestness in every line of his face. I crawled into bed beside him, burrowing beneath the downy bedspread.

He turned the bedside lamp off and leaned over to kiss my hair. It felt nice.

“Goodnight, Lucy,” he whispered.

“Goodnight, Chance.”

A weight of guilt pressed on my stomach and I felt a bit sick. He hadn’t even hesitated before giving me his word. He’d meant it, too. He wasn’t going to keep things from me from here on out.

So why was I keeping things from him?

 

 

Chapter Six

Chance

My alarm went off at seven in the morning, and I wanted to bash it against the wall. I’d finally gotten a solid night’s sleep and now I had to wake up at the ass crack of dawn to resume the chase that was going to put me on the outs with the only woman that could ever satisfy my bear. Peachy.

I changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a T-shirt before she even stirred. She was a heavy sleeper, it seemed. Or maybe, like me, she’d just been exhausted. I hated to wake her, but we couldn’t afford to waste another day. The trip to Columbus would probably yield poor results in the end, but I had to try. At the very least I had to make sure that Luke hadn’t passed his curse on to anyone else.

I shook her shoulder gently. She groaned and attempted to bat my hand away. “Five more minutes.”

I laughed softly beneath by breath. “Wake up. We need to get on the road. You can sleep more in the car.”

Somehow we managed to get everything packed, eat breakfast, and check out of the hotel in under a half hour. Lucy shuffled unenthusiastically to the car. Though we couldn’t really afford the delay, I stopped at the nearest gas station to buy her an additional cup of coffee.

“Thank you,” she muttered, sipping the steaming liquid carefully. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s another three hours to the university. I want you to be awake when we arrive.”

She sat up straighter in her seat, staring out at the highway and the passing road signs. I got the feeling she was deliberately not meeting my eyes.

“So if we don’t find him there, we’re headed to Virginia? Are we going to hike on the Appalachian Trail or are we off-roading?”

“I am going to hike the trail. You’re staying in a cabin until I get back.”

“No way!” she cried, slopping coffee down the front of her yellow tank top. She winced but didn’t tear her eyes away from me. “There’s no way I’m going to sit around like a lump and do nothing while you’re hunting my brother down!”

“And I am not dragging you into danger,” I growled. Just the thought of having her in the proximity of her brother anywhere close to the full moon sent a thrill of terror through me. She was too fragile. Her human skin didn’t mend like mine. Her bones were like sugar glass. Her injured leg was proof of that.

“More people are killed by more dogs in a given year than by bears!”

“Your brother isn’t a regular bear,” I argued. “He’s a were-bear.”

“So are you.”

“It’s not the same,” I said, gripping the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white and the leather creaked ominously.

“How is it different?” She’d lowered her voice, and the note of ire had gone out it.

“I was born this way, Lucy.” I probably should have explained it earlier, but she’d been angry. She wouldn’t listen to reason. I wasn’t sure she would now. “Your brother wasn’t.”

“What’s the difference? You’re both bears.”

I relaxed my grip on the steering wheel and let my foot ease off the gas. I’d been inching close to eighty-five and I didn’t want to be pulled over by a police officer.

“I told you we were descended from the berserkers, right? You know what they were?”

“Viking warriors, right? They worked themselves up into a fury until they went absolutely nuts on the battlefield.”

“Pretty much. The word comes from the Old Norse ber-serkr, or bear shirt. My ancestors believed the spirit of the bear rode them into battle.”

“And it did?” she guessed, taking another drink of her coffee as she listened.

“Yes, it did. It was the same for the wolves and the boars. Somewhere along the line, we simply became our animals. They’re a part of us now.”

“That doesn’t really explain how you’re different from my brother, though. He got a bear’s blood by accident, but if he can turn into a bear, doesn’t that make him just like you?”

“In most senses, yes,” I admitted. “I shift violently at the full moon as well, and with training he could learn to control himself. The main difference is that I was born with the knowledge that when I became physically mature enough, I would change. I was prepared for it. I still killed three moose. Do you know how difficult that is for an average bear?”

Her eyes were wide when I glanced over at her again. Her hand trembled slightly around the coffee cup.

“You’re really that powerful?”

“During the full moon. I’m in control of my beast because I can control the rage. He can’t.”

“Why?” she whispered.

“The closest human comparison is that he’s essentially hopped up on meth. He’s not in control of his actions, the bear spirit is.”

“And he killed someone,” she said.

“And he will kill again if we can’t catch him before the next full moon.”

“Fine,” she said after a long pause. “I’ll stay at the cabin. If you promise not to kill him.”

“I can’t guarantee anything,” I protested.

“Then I can’t guarantee I won’t wander into the woods after you,” she countered, setting the coffee back down. She crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’ll chain you to a bed if I have to,” I growled. “I won’t put you in danger like that.”

“Feel free to chain me down, if that’s your thing,” she said breezily.

“You’ll give a man ideas.”

“Like you don’t already have them,” she scoffed. “I know what I felt last night. You want me.”

“And do you want me?”

“That’s beside the point,” she muttered so quietly the human ear wouldn’t have detected it. My ears were better than average, and I worked hard to suppress a smile. I took the turn off as directed.

Two more hours until we reached Columbus, and then several more after that to get to a reasonable stopping point on our way to Virginia. One more night where she’d lay warm and inviting in my bed. One night to convince her that I was worth the risk.

I only knew one thing for sure. Luke would be the easiest Elmsong to snare.

***

The University was huge. I’d never pursued education, had never felt the need. Most of the friends I’d had that attended dropped out in short order and owed thousands as a result. There were cheaper places to get sloppy drunk and have casual sex.

But looking at the massive brick buildings all around us, I could understand Lucy’s desire to attend school. Students wandered to and fro, by themselves or in small groups, chatting animatedly about their classes. The human side of me understood. There was comfort in being a part of the whole. The cerebral attraction to an institution devoted to learning made sense. The smarter you were, the better you were able to survive. And Lucy clearly wanted to escape her home town and survive elsewhere.

The part of me that was a bear did not understand. Bears were normally solitary. Bears travelled alone or with young. One did not have to be smart to survive, though that was undoubtedly an advantage. One needed only to be strong. Bears didn’t band together in the way that wolves or even humans did. So as a result, were-bears were usually anti-social assholes. The lawmen were rare exceptions, men with tight control of a beast, who could pass for human if they needed to.

The dorms at the university resembled multi-story apartment buildings more than anything else. Built of the same red-brown stone as the rest of the campus buildings, they loomed over the lot where we’d been forced to park. I was fairly sure it was going to take us more than thirty minutes to sort out what had happened, but I was willing to take the risk. The worst university police would do is slap a ticket on my car.

A subdued buzz of conversation met my ears when we stepped inside. Students were clustered on couches, window sills, the floor, and they all had a similar look of fear on their faces. We’d come to the right place.

“What floor is he on?” I whispered to Lucy as we made our way to the elevators.

“The fourth,” she whispered back. The door dinged and a crowd of students flooded out of the doors, all scattering in different directions. Some joined their friends in the others, while others hiked backpacks further up on their shoulders and headed for the doors, clearly ready for class.

We were alone in the elevator. I noted that Lucy kept a foot or more of space between us where possible. She was still angry with me, despite what she’d said. Or perhaps I’d scared her with my grim speech in the car. I wanted to close the distance, take her hand in mine.

But that was probably for the best. It would be easier to leave her at the base of the mountains that way. The closer we got, the harder it would be to leave her behind.

When the doors finally dinged open on the fourth floor, we were almost immediately accosted by a junior officer. She was fresh, straight out of the academy. I’d have bet money on it. They’d put her in street clothes, probably to make it less alarming for the children who lived in the dorms. It also helped she was five foot nothing with a sweet face and cute pixie cut.

“What room are you in?” she asked, pulling out a pen and a piece of paper. She said it with such practiced ease that I knew she’d been working this shift off and on for days.

“I’m not a student.” I said, digging my badge from my back pocket. I raised it to the light so she could get a good look at it. “I’m Lawman Chance Kassower with the Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi Coalition. I was called in to help on this case.”

Her face drained of what little color it had, and the acrid scent of fear wafted from her skin. The new girl didn’t like were-animals, it seemed. I gave her a fierce grin, baring all my teeth in her direction. Fear could be an excellent motivator. It made even the bravest man sloppy and slow to react. I took a step in her direction and she stumbled back.

“I’d like to speak with the officer in charge,” I said, advancing in her wake.

“H-he’s gone to lunch,” she stammered. “I’m supposed to keep everyone away from the room.”

That was fine. I’d seen the wreckage for myself. My main concern was the containment of this disaster. If Luke had infected someone, they’d be a ticking time bomb. They needed to be quarantined until the next full moon.

“Fine. I need to speak to any witnesses of the attack. Neighbors had to have heard something.”

“I did.”

I was surprised that I hadn’t heard the new woman’s approach. I turned to look, and I found myself staring at a tall, slim young woman. She had a tangle of black hair that looked like it hadn’t been washed in a few days. She had dark circles underneath her eyes and a long gash down her forearm.

So I’d been right. There were more victims, just waiting to be found. With the ferocity of the first change it made sense for there to be more carnage, more destruction, than there had been.

“Who are you?” Lucy asked, piping up for the first time since we’d left the elevator.

“I’m Sylvia. Sylvia McCoy. I’m a student.”

“I’m Chance,” I said, extending a hand to her. She took it and shook my hand briefly. I gestured to my side. “This is my partner, Lucy. We’re investigating what happened here. Could you please tell us what you told the lovely police officers?”

“You don’t have to say anything, Ms. McCoy.” The police officer interjected. “You’re human. They have no legal power over you.”

“I know that,” she said, rubbing at the gash on her arm. I was willing to bet that it had been deeper than it appeared now. Her skin would mend at an accelerated rate with the change on the horizon. She knew as well as I that her days as a human were numbered.

“Would you mind telling us?” I said quietly. “We can help you, if you help us.”

Her dark eyes darted from the police officer, to Lucy, and then finally back to me. She nodded slowly. “I’ll tell you. And only you.”

Lucy and the police officer protested at the same time.

“You can’t simply-” The police officer began.

“You can’t just leave with her-” Lucy spluttered.

“I can,” I said, glaring at them both. “And I will. This is important. There are lives at stake.”

I took Sylvia gently by the elbow and led her further down the corridor. She didn’t protest, merely shuffled along behind me. She led me a few doors past the crime scene, which had been cordoned off with police tape. I glanced back in time to catch a fleeting glimpse of Lucy’s face, contorted with outrage as Sylvia pulled me into her room.

It was small, not much bigger than the hotel room that Lucy and I had stayed in the night before. Sylvia sat down on her bed and she kept stroking the gash on her arm. Her fingers were shaking.

“What happened, Sylvia?” I prompted gently.

“There were only a few of us on the floor when it happened,” she began. “Almost everyone was watching the game. We were playing against Michigan State, you know.”

I didn’t really. The sports I followed weren’t usually played by humans, but I nodded anyway as if it made perfect sense to me. “But you weren’t.”

“No. My boyfriend and I, we were….” She flushed pink, and bit her lip. I gave her the ghost of a smile.

“I think I can guess. What happened after that?”

“Well, we weren’t, you know…done…but I heard this noise. It sounded like a crash. I got up to go see what had happened, and he said he’d be waiting when I got back. I put on a pair of underwear and a robe, and I went to go check. I knocked, and I waited for Keith to come to the door. Luke was still supposed to be recovering from the procedure.”

“And what then?”

She flinched, as if the question had actually been a physical blow. “A bear broke down the door. It was big and it had shaggy black fur. I just remember it standing on its hind legs and roaring at me. I ran. I didn’t know what else to do.” She sniffled, and I reached over to her bedside table to retrieve a tissue for her. She took it with a nod of thanks and blew her nose.

“I was such a coward,” she muttered.

“No, you weren’t,” I said, taking her hand. I gave it a firm squeeze. “You did the only thing you could have done.”

“B-but aren’t you supposed to play dead during an attack?”

“That only works with real bears and even then, usually only if a female is defending her cubs. A predatory bear or were-bear is going to charge you regardless. You were right to run. What happened then?”

“It followed me into the lobby. Brian was out of the room by then and I told him to run, to get help. I think he went out the emergency exit, because the alarm started going off. The bear was roaring, and the siren was so loud. I sort of lost my head. I smashed open the glass on the case and pulled out a fire extinguisher. It was coming right at me, and I didn’t know what else to do. I sprayed it in the face. You would have thought it was buckshot, the way it reacted. He reacted, I guess…”

She trailed off, rubbing at the gash on her arm again. “He tried to swipe at me, and I hit him over the head with the fire extinguisher. I was screaming, he was screaming, the damned alarm kept going off. I don’t really know what happened then. I was too out of it. The window was shattered when I came to, so I guess he must have jumped or fell.”

“Have you gone to your local shelter?” I asked, gesturing to her arm. “They could provide you with recourses.”

“Please,” she scoffed. “I’ve done a report on those shelters. They’re constantly underfunded and understaffed.”

“What were you planning to do on the next full moon, then?” I asked, raising a skeptical brow at her. “Chain yourself to a tree?”

“Get the hell out of dodge,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ve told my professors. I’ve dropped out of college for now. I was supposed to turn in my room key today.”

I pulled my wallet from my pocket and removed one of the many cards I kept inside. I offered it to her.

“Call this number. I know some people who can help you.”

“I don’t want to be a monster,” she whispered, tears brimming over and running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Call the number,” I repeated quietly. “They’ll make sure you’re in a safe environment for your first change.”

She threw her arms around my neck and pulled me down so she could give my cheek a light peck. Her lipstick smeared all over my cheek, and I knew I’d have a red smudge, no matter how hard I rubbed at it.

“Thank you.”

“Erm, you’re welcome,” I muttered, patting her awkwardly on the back.

She drew away with a small, self-conscious smile and led me to her door. “I hope I helped.”

She led me to her door, and when I emerged, two angry women were waiting for me. The cop launched into a lecture about how insubordinate I was being, and how she was going to put in a call to my superiors.

Worse though was Lucy’s fury. As soon as she’d spotted the lip print on my cheek, her lips had drawn into a thin line and she’d fixed me with a glare so intense I could practically feel it boring a hole through my forehead.

“We’re leaving,” I told them both. The cop followed us all the way to the elevator, still muttering threats. When we got on the elevator, she punched the button down with unnecessary force. I took the corner opposite of her, belligerently not wiping the lip mark off my cheek. I hadn’t done anything, and she had to know that.

When we got back to the main floor, she stalked out ahead of me. I let her, knowing what it must cost her to walk so quickly on her bad leg. And because the view was actually pretty pleasant.

The drizzle started up again when we reached the car, and I really hoped I was wrong about my predictions for the night. Lord knew I didn’t want another standoff in the rain.

Unless it was followed by a steaming bath afterward, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Seven

Lucy

“How did you injure your leg?”

We’d been traveling east for most of the day. He’d been throwing out questions out periodically when he hadn’t turned on the radio to fill the silence. I hadn’t said a word in response the entire trek, and we were nearing our hotel for the evening. Another night of lying near him while my fingers itched to explore his broad chest.

It was childish of me and I knew it. I hadn’t actually employed the silent treatment for longer than an hour since fifth grade. When we’d left the university, I’d been so furious with him I hadn’t been able to form a coherent sentence. I’d continued to ignore him out of spite the entire trip down. We’d passed through two states, stopped for food and gas twice, and still, I’d said nothing.

“None of your beeswax,” I snapped.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw tension go out of his arms, which had been rigid all day as he clutched the steering wheel with even greater force. A pang shot through my chest as I realized, for the first time that day, how antagonistic and hurtful my silence must have been for him. I wasn’t exactly being Miss Congeniality, but I was at least talking, which was what he’d been trying to get at all day. I scowled. He could have just apologized.

“Please tell me?”

“Why do you want to know?” I grumbled. “It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“It has everything to do with me. I want to know everything about you, Lucy.”

Damn it, now I felt guilty. I wasn’t exactly sure what Chance was to me at this point, or why the hell I liked him so much, but he was being sincere. I supposed I could give him the abridged version of events.

“I got in a car crash,” I said.

“When?”

“In high school. My senior year.  We were on our way back from my…” I stumbled over the words soccer game. I shouldn’t have. It was a practiced lie, one I’d told over and over again until it had begun to feel like truth, even to me. “Party. I was drunk. I crashed the car.”

“Liar,” He said, scowling at me.

“I’m not lying.”

“You are. There’s a specific aural quality when humans lie. I can hear it. What really happened?”

“None of your beeswax,” I snapped again.

“Who was actually driving the car when you were injured?”

He took a sharp turn into the parking lot of a nearby hotel. He maneuvered into a spot near the door and put the car in park so quickly, my head actually snapped forward. He caught me before I could pitch forward and slam my head into the dashboard.

“Drop it, Chance.” I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car, slamming the door behind me. My bag was in the backseat and Chance beat me to it, snatching it up before I could even open the back-passenger’s door to reach inside. He rounded the car, glowering at me.

“Who was driving? Was it Luke?”

“No. Give me my bag.”

“Lying again,” he muttered. “So it was Luke.”

My vision flashed red for a moment and I hauled back without much thought and slapped him. I couldn’t reach his face very well, and ended up mostly slapping his jaw. I was pretty sure I hurt my hand more than his face.

“Don’t you dare breathe a word,” I hissed. “As far as everyone is concerned, I was driving that car. It’s going to stay that way.”

I snatched my bag from his fingers, which had gone limp from the shock of my slap. I tried to compose myself on the way to the door. I didn’t want us to look like that couple. The angry spitfire wife and the henpecked husband dutifully following her.

Chance looked unruffled when he entered the lobby behind me. He booked a room with the seemingly endless amount of cash he seemed to have on hand, and we took the elevator up to the sixth floor.

“How do you keep paying for all this?” I muttered. “I barely have enough in my bank account to cover a weekend at one of these places.”

“I have a dangerous job,” he said with a shrug. “I get paid well for it.”

The irrational anger drained away a few minutes later as we walked to the room, and I just felt weary, and more than a little guilty for what I’d done.

“I’m sorry I slapped you.”

“I understand. Mother bears react with hostility when you target a cub.”

“I’m not a mother. He isn’t my son. I’m only a few minutes older than he is.”

“But you protect him. Even from his own stupidity, it seems.” He slotted the key card into the reader and it flashed green and chirped once.

I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed by the presence of a second bed in the suite. I walked further inside, setting my bag down by the nightstand.

I sat down on the bed closest to the window. I sank a few inches into the mattress. “It was a stupid mistake,” I muttered. “I wasn’t going to let my baby brother lose his future because of one mistake.”

“So you decided to sacrifice yours instead. That hardly seems fair.”

 “You don’t know the story,” I argued. “It’s more complicated that you make it sound.”

“Fine then, tell me the story.” He sat across from me on the other bed. He’d removed his shirt, leaving his chest delightfully bare. It took me a minute to register he’d said something, because I was resisting the strong urge to throw myself into his arms. It had been a long, emotionally charged day and even though the antagonism was of my own making, I still wanted to be held for some inexplicable reason.

He was looking at me expectantly, waiting for my answer. An answer I was completely unwilling to give him. The story was personal, and I didn’t owe him my life’s story, no matter how nice he was being. So I ignored him, getting up to rifle through my bag. I found the tight black tank top and matching sleep shorts at the bottom of my bag, untouched as I’d slept in Chance’s overlarge T-shirt the night before.

“Are you going to answer?” he asked finally.

“No,” I said, and stripped off my shirt. It did succeed in finally pulling his eyes from my face. I flushed as he gave the black lace bra an appraising look. They matched the black panties he’d dug out of my bag after the impromptu bath we’d shared. Trying to be above it all, I stripped my jeans off as well and turned away.

“Are you trying to tease me?” he growled from behind me. I was suddenly aware of his proximity, the heat of him at my back. He didn’t grab my ass the way I’d expected, but he did seize my shoulders, spinning me around to face him.

He looked mad. Maybe I deserved that, after what I’d pulled in the car, but this wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. It made me tremble, just a little, to see his huge frame looming over me with actual anger blazing in his dark eyes.

“It’s hard enough to stay away from you without all of this.” He slid one finger into the waistband of my panties and snapped it gently. My body tightened, and sudden unbidden desire pooled inside of me. He kept one large hand on my hip, bracing the other against the wall at my back. He lowered his head, and for a moment I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, he brought his mouth to the shell of my ear. Stubble tickled my cheek as he spoke,

“I wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you. I knew you were the one then. My spirit half. My mate. You are all I can see. Don’t flaunt yourself intentionally in front of me if you don’t want me to take you, Lucy.”

My head snapped up defiantly and he pulled away, gazing back down at me, his eyes still smoldering with anger and arousal.

“Take me, then,” I snapped.

He let out a low growl and seized me by the waist, hoisting me off the ground. It felt like I was flying for a moment and then I was crashing to earth. We landed on the bed in a tangle of limbs.

His lips came down hard on mine. I wound my fingers into his hair and tugged hard, eliciting another growl from him. He reached between us and almost effortlessly tore the panties off of me. It was seriously hot, but a part of me was miffed.

“Those were expensive,” I muttered between kisses. He tugged my lower lip gently between his teeth and my breath caught. He broke away from our kiss a moment later, trailing nips and bites down my throat. I squirmed beneath him, but there was nowhere to go. I was caged in his long muscular arms.

“I’ll buy you a new pair,” he promised, and his voice had gotten impossibly deeper. I didn’t miss the husky note in his tone, either.

The hand he’d braced on my hip moved slowly upward, mapping my thigh. I shuddered and tried to squirm from his grasp. I didn’t like anyone touching my legs. They’d been strong and supple once upon a time, from a regular running regime and endless high school soccer games. I hadn’t played any sport since high school, nearly five years ago.

“Don’t,” I whispered.

He paused, fingers still tracing my inner thigh, but he complied. Efforts down below thwarted for the time being, he focused instead on removing my bra.

I’d had my fair share of fumbling awkward encounters in the back of cars and was prepared to help. To my surprise, he got the bra off after only two false starts. I had only a moment to watch it fly across the room and land on the television set before he was descending on my once more.

“Beautiful,” he muttered before carefully testing one nipple with his teeth. I actually whimpered as the action sent equal parts pain and pleasure singing through me. I released my grip on his hair, desperately scrabbling at his back. It was a good thing that I bit my nails, or I would probably have drawn blood.

He reached for my leg again, but this time he only hooked it around his waist, so he could wedge himself between my thighs.

I cried out as he began to rock himself slowly against me. It was almost too much. The pleasant assault on my breasts on the one hand, plucking, teasing, testing me, and the feel of him, thick, hard and ready pressing against my bare sex.

“C-Chance,” I panted. He raised his head to look at me, a wicked smile playing at the edges of his full, gorgeous mouth.

“Yes?”

“Please,” I begged. “Please. I need you inside of me.”

“Not yet,” he said. “I want to savor you.”

I let out another whimper as he kissed my stomach, dipping his tongue briefly into my navel. I squirmed restlessly, clutching at his back.

He pressed a tender kiss to my hipbone. I was staggered by the emotion on his face. This wasn’t casual for him, not an itch he needed to scratch. He loved me. How? Why?

I jumped as he skimmed his fingers very lightly over my clit. I let out a startled gasp, quickly followed by a moan. He rubbed slow, gentle circles in my heated flesh, watching the pleasure play across my face with a satisfied smile. Without looking away, he inserted first one finger and then another. He curled them, caressing that elusive spot inside of me that a string of high school boyfriends had never been able to find.

He pressed my hips gently back onto the bed as I arched upward toward him. He chuckled and his warm breath fanned across my skin.

He spread my legs further apart and pulled me closer to the edge of the bed, sliding to the floor to kneel between them. I let out an embarrassingly loud moan when he replaced his fingers with his tongue.

“Oh my God,” I choked.

“Call me Chance,” he said cheekily, parting my folds with one long stroke of his tongue. I clawed at his back again, letting out a soft mewling sound of pleasure. I was too breathless to give a snarky reply in return.

He pumped his fingers in and out of me and I cried out yet again under the relentless assault of his tongue. My legs trembled, and I came apart in his arms.

I was only just coming down from the first when a second, more intense orgasm washed over me. When he finally pushed away, I was boneless and tears ran down my face from the sheer intensity of it.

“Are you alright?” he asked, brushing my tears away gently. He looked genuinely concerned, and that triggered yet more tears.

“Lucy, are you okay?” he demanded, looking suddenly frightened. “Talk to me. Did I hurt you?”

“That was so-” I hiccupped and tried again. “So, so good…”

His face broke into a wide, joyful smile. “Good. That’s just the beginning.”

Oh, dear God. If that was foreplay, what would the actual act be like with him? Part of me was frightened to figure out, put the loudest voice in my head was screaming for me to figure out exactly how good sex with Chance would be.

He took a step back, idly unbuckling his belt. I couldn’t look away. His body was sheened lightly in sweat, and his muscled chest looked like it belonged to a bodybuilder. I was a little intimidated by the bulge that jutted from his boxers when he slid his jeans off and stepped out of them.

I swallowed the fear, though. I’d asked for this. I wanted this. My body was primed, ready to go and the relentless, steady ache in my core hadn’t ceased. I wanted him inside of me.

He stepped out of his boxers and I let out a half-strangled sound. Was everything about him perfect? The skin was slightly darker than the rest of him and now flushed with color. The skin was firm and looked so smooth, I had the insistent urge to touch it. I wanted to roll the head of him inside my mouth, taste the contours of it.

He climbed over me and I refocused on his face. I brought my hands up cup his face, marveling that this man, this gorgeous man, wanted me. According to what he’d said before, he was meant for me. How? Nothing had ever gone right in my life before, how had I been fortunate enough to have a man like Chance fall in love with me?

“Do you want this?” he whispered, turning to press a kiss to the palm of my right hand.

“Yes,” I breathed.

He positioned himself and pushed inside of me slowly. My back arched off the bed once more and I let out a shuddering cry. There was so much of him. He paused when he was fully inside of me, waiting for me to adjust. When I was sure I was ready, I have a little roll of my hips.

He groaned and began to move, slowly at first and then with increasing speed. My body, already sensitized by the two potent orgasms was quick to respond. I didn’t want or need the gentleness he was trying to give me.

“Harder,” I panted, moving one of his hands from my side down to clutch my hip. He moved the other as well, getting a firmer grip on me, his fingers digging into my flesh. The feel of his nails biting into my skin added a delicious layer to the pleasure that was coiling slowly in my belly.

He stretched my good leg over one of his shoulders and leaned further over me. The new angle was even better than the first and I spasmed, crying out in unbridled ecstasy as the head of his cock slammed against that spot inside of me again relentlessly, until he brought me once more to a sobbing orgasm.

“Oh God,” I managed. “Oh God. Chance, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

And I was surprised to find that it wasn’t lying. It wasn’t something I’d regret saying in the heat of the moment. I meant it. I loved Chance Kassower. How? We’d just met. And yet here in his arms, with him inside of me, I felt more at home than I had in the last four years with Aunt Carol and Uncle Mack. I felt more kinship with this man than I did with my own brother. Chance was mine and somehow, deep down, I had always known that.

“And I love you, Lucy Elmsong,” he growled, and plunged himself deep inside of me once more. His release sounded more like a roar than anything else, and I couldn’t find it inside myself to be frightened of him. He was a man, my man if I decided to claim him, and he was also a bear. I couldn’t love one and fear the other.

I followed soon after and trailed red lines down his arms with my nails, to match the red marks no doubt forming on his back.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, as blood actually began to seep from one of the deeper tracks on his bicep. “Didn’t mean to hurt you.”

He chuckled and let me sink down onto the mattress. The soft quilted bedspread felt like a cloud cushioning my body in the afterglow. He rolled off of me and to the side, so I could get a good look at his face. He didn’t look put out or offended.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s hard to break my skin, so I know I had to have done a good job for your stubby nails to have any impact.” He lifted my hand gently from the mattress and brought it to his lips, to soften the insult about my nails.

I smiled wearily at him and curled closer to him on the bed. Despite the bat shit insanity I’d stepped into by joining him on this journey, I didn’t regret taking his offer of a ride. Tomorrow around lunchtime, we’d arrive at our destination and he’d try to leave me at a cabin while he searched for my brother in the woods.

But I wasn’t going to let him get away that easily. He was mine and I wasn’t going to stay put and do nothing while he risked his life.

“I love you,” I said, and there was a note of challenge in my voice. He frowned, and pulled me into his bare chest, presumably trying to shelter me from whatever waited for us on the horizon.

I loved Chance Kassower, and I wasn’t letting him go without a fight. Even if I had to fight him to accomplish it.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eight

Chance

She loved me. Even if she hadn’t embraced the emotion fully, even if she was angry with me, there had been no lie in her tone.

But that thought had led me to others as she snored peacefully by my side, and it had struck me again while she showered in the morning. She hadn’t lied to me about the accident that had crippled her leg, either. In fact, the only time I’d ever sensed a lie in her voice was when we’d bathed together the night before. She’d asked about Freyr, and then lied when I’d asked why she needed to know about him.

It hadn’t really crossed my mind then, and with my mate so warm and distractingly naked nearby, I hadn’t given it much thought. Now though, I had to wonder what had been the catalyst for the question. Lucy seemed to have no idea who he was before I’d told her. It wasn’t altogether surprising, considering the size of the high school she’d probably attended. A lot of schools didn’t teach mythology and those that did usually only taught classical Greek. So where had she pulled the name Freyr from, if she’d had no exposure to myth? She certainly hadn’t heard it in a book. I’d heard that much in her lie.

We were well on our way to the Blue Ridge Mountain Range in Virginia where I was supposed to meet with four local bears to divvy up our respective search areas. It still left miles upon miles of thickly wooded terrain for us to search, but it was a less arduous task than if I were to undertake it alone.

Conversation seemed to come easily to us now, with most of the barriers cast aside after what we’d done the night before.

“Come on,” she coaxed, popping a fry into her mouth with a smile. “Spill it. Exactly how many women have you slept with?”

“I don’t really think it’s pertinent. You’re my mate. I won’t be sleeping with anyone else.”

“Then why sleep with anyone else at all?”

“Hormones. I assume that’s why you dated in high school, as well.”

“Fair point,” she conceded with a nod. “So, what does this mate thing entail? Do you have to um…bite me or something?”

“No.” It came out louder and more sharply than I’d intended. She flinched, recoiling from the sudden anger in my tone. “Sorry. I mean…no. I don’t have to bite you. And I wouldn’t expose you to my world like that. I won’t turn you into a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” she protested.

“That’s debatable,” I mused, turning the knob for the radio. An upbeat pop number came through the speakers. I was a bit disappointed. We’d been turning it on periodically, listening for updates on Luke Elmsong. I hoped someone would find and apprehend him, on the off chance I’d been wrong about his location.

“It’s not,” she argued. “You’re a good man. You’re trying to do what’s right, and from what you’ve told me about your life, you always have.”

That wasn’t exactly true, but it felt too good coming from her lips for me to argue the point.

“So, you’re really planning on dumping me in a cabin in the middle of the woods?” She slumped a little in her chair. “That’s not really fair.”

“I don’t know what else I can do,” I said. “I have to keep you-”

I cut off, as my airway constricted suddenly. I gripped the steering wheel too tightly and heard the wheel creak dangerously. I was going to rip it off if I wasn’t careful. I knew this feeling. I’d had it once before when I was fifteen. I jerked the wheel hard to the right, sending us careening off the road at highway speeds. I pushed desperately at the brake. I needed to slow the car down before we went rolling down the steep embankment on either side of the freeway.

“Chance!” Lucy shouted, a note of hysteria in her voice. She was clutching her armrest for dear life and her eyes were suddenly huge in her pale face.

I slammed my foot down on the brake and we screeched to a stop a few inches from the guardrail that marked the beginning of the off ramp. Several cars honked their horns as they passed us, and I saw a few one finger salutes. I didn’t pay attention to them. I couldn’t. I scrabbled for the door handle and stumbled from the car.

“Chance!” Lucy called after me, as I staggered toward the edge of the embankment. “Chance stop, you’ll fall!”

I couldn’t listen, though. I hadn’t had this happen since I was fifteen years old and I’d been stupid enough to disturb a Native American Burial ground when I’d visited Washington State to spend Thanksgiving with my cousins. I knew what it felt like to have a smack down match with a God. I didn’t know which one I’d pissed off enough to put my balls in a vice, but I knew that I was safest anywhere but on that highway.

“Chance!” I heard her car door slam as well and I knew she was following.

My spine slithered weirdly, swaying like a snake before a charmer. Apt, with someone forcing this unwanted change on me. My teeth no longer fit comfortably in my human mouth. I tried to speak, but the words came out guttural.

“Stay back,” I growled. I bit my tongue as I tried to articulate the words, and that was the last straw. As soon as the metallic tang of my own blood washed over my tongue in the tenuous half state I was suspended in, I lost the battle to maintain my shape.

My nails lengthened into claws. My bones cracked and reshaped themselves, and my mind shifted into the simpler thoughts and desires of my bear form. I only had seconds left of rational thinking, before the warrior spirit of my bear took over. It wouldn’t hurt Lucy. Even the Gods couldn’t force it to do something that against its nature, but any of the cars passing on the freeway would be fair game.

So I turned away, catching one glimpse of Lucy’s horrified expression as I went. I sprinted for the cliff’s edge, even as I shifted to all fours. I reached the edge and without hesitation threw myself over the side.

My bear was a big, stubborn brute with a more selfish disposition than mine. It let out a confused bellow and scrambled at the hill, managing to dig his claws into the hard packed earth that made up the side of the embankment. It hurt like hell as the dirt and debris tugged at my claws during the speedy descent, but the stubborn bastard that was my bear was making sure we’d survive to reach the bottom. I could hear Lucy screaming faintly above me.

We landed with a painful thud on the ground a minute later. When I glanced up, I realized exactly how lucky I’d been. If I’d thrown myself off a foot or two in either direction, I would have hit several evergreens on the way down. I didn’t think the impact would have killed me, but it would have hurt and possibly shattered my vertebrae, leaving me at the mercy of whatever douchebag divine being that was pulling my strings.

I rolled and got to my feet shakily, lumbering forward on all fours in the direction the pull was leading me. My course led further into a sloping valley, toward the base of the nearest mountain. If I’d been able to control my spirit, I’d have left my bear form behind and ranged outward, trying to warn any lawmen who might be in the area. But I was trapped in this form, dragged inexorably forward by a will that wasn’t my own.

There had been a trail here once, I could tell. It was nearly overgrown, but it was still there, and it was that twining trail that I followed into a clearing. Nestled in by the base of the mountain was what looked like a tiny, one room schoolhouse.

Pushing my bulk through the door frame was a struggle, and I hoped that when I left this place again, I’d be doing it on two legs instead of four. The room was tidy, despite the coating of dust that lay on top of nearly every surface. The exceptions were the blackboards, which were already so smudged with chalk that it was hard to tell, and the desk. The culprit sat atop it.

A Goddess, this time it appeared. Blue-Jay, the trickster God I’d disturbed in Washington, had been nothing like her. Though initially displeased with me, he’d made me the butt of a number of jokes, smacked me around a bit and had left. It had been scary, but survivable. I somehow doubted that this goddess would be so benevolent. I hadn’t disturbed a shrine built to her. I hadn’t passed into her domain. So forcing my change could only mean she meant me ill.

“How accommodating of you,” she purred, crossing one leg over the other. She rearranged the fabric of her sunshine yellow halter dress to lay better. I wasn’t sure what she was worried about. I certainly wasn’t looking up her skirt. Her holy underthings were the last thing I was thinking about. “I thought I’d have to crash the car to get your attention. I’ve been following you for the better part of the morning.”