Chapter Thirteen

Isaiah grinned. He looked like he was about to act on her mental suggestion when suddenly the front door busted open. Cold air rushed across the room, and Isaiah released her neck to spin around. The door swung inward awkwardly on its hinges.

Heather screamed, scrambling out of her kitchen chair and backing up against the far wall. What the hell? When would her life be back to some semblance of normal?

Isaiah jumped to his feet, putting himself between her and the door. “What the fuck?”

“We need to get her out of here, Isaiah. We’re out of time. We need to leave. Now.”

She recognized the voice as the one in her head from earlier. Lawrence. Fear crawled up her spine, gripping her around the chest.

“Like hell. We had an agreement. She’s not hurting a soul. You were supposed to let her acclimate. I’m not letting you take her.”

“There’s no time to argue about this anymore, Isaiah. The time for that is past. Dozens of our kind are on the way here. They’ll be here in minutes. They’ll surround the house, and they won’t be as patient and kind as we have been. Let her go with us. Now.”

Isaiah backed up, reaching behind with one open palm.

She grabbed it and flattened herself against his back. She saw nothing, hidden nearly entirely from view.

“She’s not prepared to shift on demand and run long distances, Lawrence. She’s only shifted once so far. She has no experience.”

“We’ll take the SUV.”

A heartbeat of silence. “I swear to God if you’re lying to me…”

“I have no reason to lie. Now, let her go. For both your sakes. I’ll have her get in touch with you when we’re at a safe distance.”

“Like hell you will. No fucking way am I letting you take her without me. Are you high?”

Thank God. Heather’s adrenaline was pumping hard. At least he didn’t intend to send her away alone. She could feel the presence of others in the house now, and she eased to one side to peer around Isaiah. Four men. All in their sixties. All standing with their feet planted hard. Hiking boots. Cold-weather jackets. Jeans.

“You need to stay here,” Lawrence said to Isaiah. “Make a statement. Make it believable. Keep those who would wish her harm from following us.”

Isaiah chuckled sardonically. “You have lost your fucking minds.”

Lawrence gritted his teeth. “Isaiah, I’m warning you. If you want her to stay alive, you need to let us take her. Catch up later. I don’t care what you do, but she’s dead if she stays here. And if you don’t remain behind to talk these people down, they’ll continue to hunt her until they catch up. We’re outnumbered.

“They must have gathered from several provinces and converged to get here all at once. I can’t get a handle on how many there might be in the mob. But they’re angry. Furious. And dangerous. The vibe I’m feeling is ominous, Isaiah.”

Isaiah gripped her hand tighter.

She couldn’t breathe. But she did believe this man. God help her if she was wrong. But she believed him. “I’ll go.” She rounded Isaiah’s body and stood at her full height. “I’ll go,” she repeated louder. She yanked on her hand, but Isaiah didn’t release her.

She set her free hand on his chest. It was pounding. “We don’t have a choice, hon. If they’re right, you’ll never forgive yourself. These are your leaders. You need to trust them.”

He lowered his gaze to hers. His face was hard. Severe. Anxious. And filled with a love she never expected to feel from a man in her life.

If there was enough time, she would force him to claim her as his, right that second. Bind them for eternity. But there wasn’t time. He’d have to catch up and do it later. For now, she needed to trust these men and go with them.

She watched a piece of his heart shatter in his eyes as he released her hand. He wrapped an arm around her body, hauled her to his chest, and kissed her soundly. “Be fucking careful, baby. Please. I’ll be there as soon as I can put these idiots off.”

She nodded, wiggled out of his embrace, and rushed toward the open door. Two of the men ran with her. One of them jerked open the back door of an SUV and lifted her into it without a word. He slammed the door and climbed into the front seat.

The SUV sped away before she could grab her seatbelt. She turned around to look out the back window. The two men who’d been in the house were no longer in sight. In their space stood two giant grizzly bears. They were staying behind with Isaiah. That was a good sign.

For several minutes, neither man in the front seat spoke. They ignored her entirely while Lawrence drove and the passenger next to him twisted around to watch out every window. He grunted several times, but rarely said a word.

It took Heather a minute to realize he was communicating with Lawrence telepathically. And blocking her.

She said nothing, holding on to the door with one hand and gripping the seat next to her with the other. The SUV was moving fast. Too fast for the windy mountain roads. She assumed that the approaching mob was in bear form, but realized no one had specifically said that.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, they emerged onto a highway and headed north. Lawrence slowed the SUV to a more reasonable pace, and his hands lost a little of their white-knuckled death grip on the steering wheel.

Heather exhaled slowly, closing her eyes and tipping her face toward her lap. She needed to focus and pay attention to her surroundings at all times. When she reached out with her mind, she couldn’t feel Isaiah, or anyone else for that matter, including the two men in the car with her.

The stranger in the passenger seat cleared his throat.

She lifted her face to find him twisted around to stare at her. “I’m Charles. We’ll have you someplace safer as fast as we can. Thank you for your trust.”

She nodded. No way was she going to fully let her guard down.

“I know you’re leery. Understandable. I can’t blame you. But I want you to know we mean you no harm. We’re just protecting our species. You understand.”

She nodded again.

“And I need to ask you a favor. It would help if you attempted to shut your mind down. Don’t reach out to anyone. Don’t try to make contact with a soul, including us.”

She lifted a brow, her fingers gripping the door tighter.

He shook his head. “Don’t misread me. I’m asking this of you for your protection. When you try to contact others, it leaves you open and vulnerable. We don’t want anyone to find us while we attempt to dispel the crowd and convince them their fears are unfounded.”

She pursed her lips, uncertain if she should trust this man. Or anyone, for that matter.

He sighed. “Again, I understand your mistrust. I would feel the same in your shoes, but here are the facts. You’re a lone bear with no pack. That means you can’t communicate with anyone at a distance, not even Isaiah. The only shifters you could reach out to would have to be in close vicinity, and willing.” He narrowed his gaze.

“And you’re blocking me,” she added.

“We’re with the Arcadian Council. We block everyone. We have the power to do so. No being is permitted to see inside our psyche without permission.”

It made sense. “I see.”

“So every time you make an attempt, anyone in the area can feel it. It makes you vulnerable.”

It also keeps me from being potentially kidnapped by two strangers.

He chuckled, having read her thoughts. “Fair point. You’ll have to take our word for it, or we’ll be at risk every step of the way.”

“I’ll concede that point, for now. But in return I would appreciate if you’d give me updates on what’s happening. I’m at a distinct disadvantage.”

“Agreed.”

»»•««

Isaiah had never been more nervous in his life. The mate he should have already bound himself to was not only gone, but without the binding, he couldn’t contact her.

On top of everything else he needed to deal with, he now had dozens of bear shifters headed his way with probable thoughts of murder on their minds.

He stood on the front porch in human form, arms crossed, feet spread in a wide stance. The two members of the Arcadian Council who had stayed behind were Henry and George. They stood on the ground at the foot of his porch steps, each with a stance that matched his own. After a few minutes of scenting the area in bear form, the two of them had shifted to human.

It had shocked him when they didn’t get into the SUV with Heather but soothed him at the same time. If two were willing to stay behind and face this tense situation at his side, there was hope he had not been played.

“Three minutes out,” Henry stated. His abilities were more developed than Isaiah’s would ever be.

Isaiah braced himself for the unknown. Word had apparently spread fast that a human had been transformed. What did this mob want? Isaiah needed to prepare for the worst. If they expected to eliminate his mate, they would never succeed. Not on his watch.

With every fiber of his being, he knew Heather was his. The fact that they hadn’t taken the final step to make that truth a reality was simply semantics in his eyes. He would never let anything happened to her, if he had to spend the rest of his life on the run.

In his peripheral vision he spotted several bears bounding into the clearing in front of his home. His hackles rose as several more appeared from the other side. And then he took a deep breath as relief washed through him. His own family. Among them were his mother, father, brother, and sister. But also present were at least a dozen cousins, aunts, and uncles.

He’d been distracted enough inside his head not to notice their approach. He needed to get his head out of his ass, stop feeling sorry for himself, and pay more attention to his surroundings.

As his family surrounded the front porch of his cabin, they turned to face the clearing, their postures rigid. That he hadn’t thought to expect their arrival in support of a key member of the pack was an obvious sign he wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Son.” His father spoke into his head as he glanced toward him.

Several of his closest cousins did the same, nodding in his direction, but remaining in bear form to face whatever was headed their way.

A thick tension filled the air. Not a single branch rustled in any direction. The stillness was daunting, nature’s way of announcing the arrival of an enemy.

When they came into view over the crest of the clearing, Isaiah permitted himself one moment of fear before he chased it away and honed in on every sense he had to feel out the emotional sentiments of the arriving crowd.

Henry and George calmly stepped between the enormous bears in Isaiah’s family to reach the other side of them and put themselves between the unknown and the Arthur pack.

In human form they both lifted a hand in the air to stop the approach of the leaders of the assembled grizzlies.

Henry spoke first in a booming voice that made the land around them vibrate with its force. He didn’t bother with telepathy. “Stop where you are and state your intentions.”

The front line of shifters came to a halt in the face of the two members of the Arcadian Council. Several men shifted and stood in human form to face their elders.

One of them stepped forward from the group and stopped three yards from Henry. “We heard there was a human conversion. We’ve come to ensure the council is taking appropriate measures to secure the safety of our species.”

Henry didn’t flinch. “You doubt the Arcadian Council?” he bellowed.

The front man flinched but held his ground. “We’re merely here to seek information, sir.” He glanced around, lifting his nose to the air. “I sense the woman is not here. You’ve moved her. Please, tell us your intentions.”

Henry nodded. “You yourselves have done more to put our species in danger than the one innocent woman who was transformed against her will. She was safe here, peacefully learning our ways under our supervision until you forced our hands with your irrational mobilization. Storming from miles away, uniting as you have, tells me you folks are led by an unfounded fear.

“That you would allow yourselves to be seen by countless humans by swarming across the land gives me cause to arrest all of you and have you sent to the Northwest Territory for questioning. How do you explain yourselves?”

A second man stepped forward. “Sir, we mean no disrespect.”

Henry took another step forward also, closing the gap between him and the newly appointed speaker. “You disrespect my authority and that of the entire Arcadian Council by your presence. You have shown me that you doubt the council’s ability to make decisions. You have made fools of yourselves. And I’ll report each and every one of you to the entire council upon my return.” He glanced around the group.

Isaiah shuddered to realize Henry was easily memorizing every single being who had come to the clearing, and there were at least three dozen. Most of them were men in their thirties. The Arthurs were severely outnumbered. If this mob wanted to take them down, they could easily do so.

But the Arcadian Council would have every one of their heads on a stake if they took action.

The council had not been questioned like this in over a century, perhaps longer. In Isaiah’s lifetime, he had not heard of a dispute that had escalated to this level.

The reality was that every man standing in defiance on Isaiah’s property had already been reported to the alpha leader of the council. Eleanor. Eleanor had been the alpha in charge for two decades. She had a firm stance on uprisings and was known to bring any member of the North American bear shifters to his or her knees at her feet to account for their actions.

She was fair in all things, but her actions were swift and final.

Isaiah forced his posture to relax. The presence of two members of the council here today would ensure no war was waged against the Arthurs. He could sense the tension ebbing with every passing moment.

Henry spoke again. “As you can see, you’ve made a grievous error coming here today.”

“We meant no disrespect, sir,” the second man to approach stated. “Please inform us of your intensions so that we may return to our land and lessen the fears of our pack members.”

Movement to the left of Henry caught Isaiah’s eye. He watched as George stepped forward to align himself with Henry. George was the alpha of the two. His intention to speak was telling. He didn’t mince words. He spoke louder than Henry, but in a calm voice that caused every member of the mob to take a step backward. “Your actions today reek of deep disrespect. Do not insult our intelligence.”

The man who’d spoken of the intentions of his mob gasped, taking another step back.

“It has been noted that each and every one of you acted in haste to seek your own vengeance for a perceived crime against our species. You knew not what you would be facing here today. But you have acted in error. Your hasty mistake won’t be forgotten by our council. This uprising will haunt you for the rest of your lives in everything you do.”

A collective gasp covered the clearing.

George continued. “I suggest you turn around now before the damage is more severe and return to your respective lands. A challenge to the Arcadian Council like this won’t be tolerated.”

“Sir, we had no knowledge of your presence here today. Had we known—”

George cut the man off. “Had you taken a moment to consider your hasty actions, you would have realized that any rumor that had reached your ears as far away as Québec had also come to the attention of the council and been handled.”

“Of course, sir.” The man’s voice waffled. “Our apologies.”

“Noted.” George did not back down.

Henry spoke again. “Our decisions regarding the transformation of a female human are none of your immediate concern. You won’t be returning to your lands armed with any more information than you had when you arrived.

“What you will return with is the understanding that, as has been the case for over two centuries, the Arcadian Council will handle this matter. Your input is not necessary or requested at this time. Should that position change, you’ll be notified, as has always been our practice.”

The two men standing near the front of the mob bowed their heads and turned to face the assemblage. They made several hand signals, indicating the members should retreat, and followed the bears out of the clearing.

For several minutes, Isaiah stood rigid on his porch, waiting for every one of the unwelcome visitors to get out of communication range. Until that moment, no one in his family, nor Henry or George, moved a muscle.

When the mob reached a verifiably safe distance, Henry was the first to turn around.

The Arthur pack members shifted into human form and gathered at the bottom of the steps to the porch.

Isaiah’s father, Bernard, extended a hand toward first George and then Henry, shaking each firmly. “We thank you for your presence here today.” He notably did not thank the council members for anything specifically regarding Heather, as that had not been determined. He simply thanked them for their support.

Henry spoke again. “We won’t tolerate an uprising of this sort for any reason. Violators will be handled swiftly.”

Isaiah shuddered inwardly, knowing those who stepped on his land today would be investigated and punished for their insubordination to the council. Their actions would not be tolerated.

“We must go now, Bernard,” Henry continued. “We have an arranged meeting point with Lawrence and Charles.”

Isaiah held his breath, willing himself not to lose his cool while he waited to be addressed more specifically. And his reward was worth it.

George lifted his gaze toward Isaiah. “You’ll be joining us I presume?”

Isaiah nodded, his insides flipping over. He stepped down from the porch, glanced toward his parents and siblings, and shifted into his more natural form less than a second behind the council members who would lead him to his mate.