Chapter 16
ELAINE awoke from of an unsettled sleep and sat up. She heard voices.
Someone was in their suite.
She turned to wake Connor, but he wasn’t in bed. Her heart thumped, a rapid call to arms. Moving swiftly in the dark, she reached for her housecoat and threw it over her naked body, tying it at the waist. She crept toward her open bedroom door and slid into the hallway. Andy’s door remained closed, but Layla’s was open.
The voices continued to murmur. Upon moving closer, Elaine recognized Connor’s baritone and Layla’s high pitch.
Thank God. For a moment, her sleepy mind thought Royal Hill had found his way into her suite, but it was just her family.
Her family. She hadn’t even questioned Connor’s place there.
Her face heating, not wanting to disturb their conversation, she peeked around the corner into the living area.
Connor and Layla sat together on the couch. He’d thrown on some flannel PJ pants. She was snuggled up to him, wearing her favorite princess pajamas. Her cheeks were wet with tears. He held a glass of water to her mouth and helped her sip.
“There,” he said. “Better?”
Layla shook her head.
“It was just a nightmare. It’s all gone now.”
“I’m still scared.”
“Why are you scared, munchkin?”
“Because I heard two policemen talking today. They said a bad man wants to hurt Mommy.”
Elaine held her breath.
Connor sighed and put the glass of water on the side table. He pulled Layla onto his lap and held her against his chest. “Sweet pea, no one’s going to hurt your mom. I won’t let them.”
“Mommy said the bad men hurt Daddy, and he died.” She hiccupped, trying to catch a breath through her tears. “I don’t want Mommy to die.”
“Oh, Layla, honey.” He rocked her, stroking her hair. “Let me tell you something about your Mommy and me. We have a very special friendship. I care for her and you and Andy more than anything in the world, and I would do anything to keep you all safe.”
“Even fight the bad men?”
“I would fight a hundred bad men for you guys. A thousand. But you don’t need to worry about it, okay? Everything is going to be all right.”
Elaine bit her lip, moved and saddened to the core. She doubted the officers had meant for Layla to hear their conversation, but her daughter was clever. She picked up on things other kids her age didn’t, and because of her experiences with losing her dad, she worried more than most.
“And you know what?” Connor continued. “Your mom’s a strong lady, and when she doesn’t feel so tough, I’ll be tough for her.”
“Uncle Connor?”
“Yeah?”
“When Auntie Gioia married Uncle Soren, Gunnar got a new daddy. Could you marry my mom and be my new daddy?”
“Well, I’m honored you would ask me, but that decision is really up to your mom. She needs to be the one to decide when, and if, you and Andy get a new dad. It might take her a while because it’s a hard choice to make.” He offered her a gentle smile. “But can I tell you a secret?”
Layla nodded.
“Nothing would make me happier than to be part of your lives forever.”
Her emotions running amok, Elaine pressed her back against the wall. She concentrated on her breathing. In, out. In, out. It didn’t matter. She couldn’t steady her pounding heart. Damn, stupid heart. She’d never been so aware of its pace before. She just wanted to forget her heart and live a normal life again.
With Connor? Yes.
But married to him? It was too much to consider right now.
Mated? She wasn’t even sure it was possible. Could she ever have the same connection with Connor that she had with Lloyd?
It was probably bad that she’d allowed Connor to take such a place of importance in their lives so prematurely. The kids had to be confused.
She just couldn’t bear to let him go. Besides, circumstances had thrown them together.
Maybe, when this business with Hill was over, Elaine needed to talk to Connor and ask him to take a step back. He wouldn’t like it. Neither would she. Every day, their bond was strengthening. Every time they made love, her memories became less painful.
It didn’t mean she’d sorted through the mess in her head. Something told her that would take a while longer. Would he be willing to give her that time? She wasn’t even sure she had it in her heart to ask him.
“How about I tuck you back into bed?” said Connor.
“What if I have another bad dream?”
“Layla, let me tell you something. Did you know you’re a superhero?”
“Me?”
“Do you remember how you turned into a bear?”
“Yeah.”
“Not too many kids can do that. Only special ones, like you and your brother.”
“My bear talks to me sometimes.”
“Really? What does it say?”
“It says I shouldn’t be scared of it, that it’s my friend.”
“It’s right,” said Connor. “You have a very smart bear, and it’s going to be your best friend your whole life. Your bear will protect you. When you feel scared, just close your eyes and talk to it. Your bear will always tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, and it can save you from the nightmares.”
“But my bear is only little. It’s not big and scary like your mountain lion.”
“Big and scary?” He smiled. “Guess what? Around you, my mountain lion purrs like a kitten. It really loves you, kiddo, and so do I.”
“I love you, too, Uncle Connor. Can you give me a piggyback to my room?”
“Sure thing. Climb on.”
As Connor picked up Layla, Elaine crept back to her room, slipped out of her housecoat and into bed. The light went off down the hall and his footsteps sounded in the hall. Her door creaked open, and he entered the room. She heard the swish of fabric as he shucked his PJ pants, and then the bed dipped as he got in next to her.
Elaine lay still, not wanting him to know she’d overheard the conversation.
Connor’s arm curled around her waist. He brushed the hair away from her face and kissed her temple. After a couple of minutes, he asked, “Did I do okay?”
He knew she’d been in the hallway, listening to everything, even the part about wanting to be in their family for good. Of course, he did. She was fooling herself if she thought anything she did would escape Connor’s notice. They were already attuned to one another. The thought brought comfort as well as bewilderment.
She relaxed into his embrace. “You were amazing.”
“Thanks. I’m glad. I don’t want her to be scared.” He nuzzled her neck. “Did I ever tell you about my Aunt Lilian?”
“No.”
“She was my dad’s older sister, quite a bit older. Of course, being a shifter, she looked about twenty-five, but she always seemed mature to me. I used to go over to her house after school when I was fourteen, to help her out with odd jobs. The first time I shifted was at her place. I freaked out, but she calmed me down. She handed me some old clothes that belonged to my uncle and told me to meet her outside in her rose garden. When I got out there, she had the patio table set up with tea and cookies. We talked. I told her I felt like a monster. She told me I was a superhero. I’d never really looked at it that way before.”
“I think I would have liked your aunt.”
“You would have, and she would have liked you, too.” He curled his hand around her breast. “You smell like Lilian’s rose garden.”
She made a mental note never to change her perfume.
“When I’m with you, Elaine, I want to be your superhero.”
She didn’t know what to say. This was all becoming so much more intense than she ever expected. He needed assurance. He deserved assurance, and she wasn’t sure she could give it to him. Instead, she placed her hand on his.
“It’s late, lady. Now go back to sleep.”
Tortured by her guilt over two men, she lay awake the rest of the night.
* * * *
I’m a lunatic, a complete and utter lunatic.
Marcelle kept her thoughts to herself as the Greyhound bus pulled into the Lake Gemini station late at night. She was the only one getting off at this stop and couldn’t wait to be free of the stale air inside the vehicle. Moving in an unenthusiastic manner, the driver sighed and came down from his perch so he could open the luggage hold. Offering her no assistance, he checked his watch while Marcelle retrieved her suitcase. The case was barely out of the hold before he shut the door. He lit up a smoke, treating her to his cigarette fumes as well as the bus exhaust.
Welcome home.
There was only one person inside the station, the older human man who’d arranged the original ticket that would see her from Lake Gemini to the Toronto airport.
“Flying to Europe, eh?” he’d said a couple of weeks ago. “Once you get used to all that fancy French cooking, you’ll probably never want to come back.”
And yet here she was, standing on a platform in the dark, trying to make sense of her decision. She’d awoken in a panic the previous morning in Paris, her heart racing and her doe frantic.
Go home, it said. Just go home.
She’d thrown her clothes into her bag, hailed a cab for the airport, and had begged and pleaded with the ticket agent to find her the next available flight to Toronto. It didn’t matter that she had a ticket for the symphony and plans to take the Chunnel to London in a few days.
She just needed to go home.
Her flight had been interminable, stopping in two cities along the way, making her feel as if she’d walked God’s green earth. The bus ride had taken hours, and she’d spent much of it sitting next to an old lady named Tilda. She’d been sweet and had been eager to show Marcelle the new phone her grandkids got her. She’d just gotten used to taking pictures on the phone and wanted to show them off. Unfortunately, all two hundred or so were of her cat, Baxter. Baxter on the couch. Baxter wearing a variety of hats. Baxter licking his balls.
Marcelle was now fit to be tied, and all she really wanted was to see Josh.
She’d left Europe, forfeiting all her reservations, incurring what would no doubt be a shitload of extra charges, for Josh.
A man she barely knew.
“I am a lunatic.”
He would think she was a stalker. A maniac.
And now what? She had nowhere to go. She’d gotten rid of her apartment and hadn’t bothered to even book a motel for the night. She supposed she could show up at Josh’s clinic tomorrow morning when it opened and try to explain she hadn’t lost her mind. Of course, she had to get through the night first.
Perhaps she should just stay at the bus station.
A couple of men wandered in. They were slurring their words and arguing over who would get to the vending machine first. One of them made a crack about some woman’s “fine ass.”
Perhaps staying at the station wasn’t the best of ideas.
She really had no choice but to head to Gemini Island and ask Ryland if he could put her up for a day or two. He wouldn’t mind. She just hated making him go to any trouble.
“I’m surprised to see you, Marcelle,” Ryland would say. “What brings you back to town so soon?”
“Oh, you know,” she would reply. “I think Josh Douglas is my mate and now I just need to convince him of it.”
Lunatic. Lunatic. Lunatic.
Her head pounding, Marcelle picked up her luggage and walked out of the bus station. Because it was early in the morning, so early everyone with a brain was still asleep, Lake Gemini appeared deserted. The shops were all closed, and the windows were all dark. Even the bakery window was devoid of its usual treats because they’d been put away for the night. She touched the window as her belly complained. “I would kill for a butter tart right now.”
Marcelle’s doe got up on trembling legs, alerting her to potential danger. She looked down the main street. At the very end, a couple of big men loitered. She couldn’t make out their faces and doubted they saw her, but something told her to steer clear. Too tired to risk any sort of confrontation, Marcelle headed down one of the back streets. She knew a shortcut that would take her to the docks in no time.
Although Lex Dawson arranged most of the boat transportation between the mainland and Gemini Island, there were usually a couple of spare rowboats lying around near the dock. She would borrow one of those and return it to Lex at a more civilized hour.
Her route took her into the laneway that ran behind some of the stores. She walked past the optometrist, the drugstore, and the bakery. Upon passing the bakery again, her stomach growled even louder. She could almost taste their Italian loaf with its crunchy crust and soft interior. Pretty soon, the bakery employees would be arriving to put the first batches of bread into their ovens, and she was so hungry she had half a mind to wait right there.
The laneway was dark and still. Too dark. Too still.
Her doe moaned, racing back and forth. Although a delicate animal, not suited for fighting, her doe had keen senses. Its sense of hearing was better than that of many other animals, generally warning her of trouble nice and early.
It knew something was wrong way before she did.
Something cracked behind her, like a twig being crushed under a foot.
Marcelle spun around but saw nothing.
Okay, she reassured the doe. We’re almost at the dock. Nothing ever happens in this town. You’re just imagining things.
When two men appeared out of nowhere in front of her, she knew the doe had reason to be scared.
“Ah.” The smaller of the two men spoke, although he was by no means small. “Marcelle Burgess. I’m delighted to make your acquaintance.”
“Who the hell are you? How do you know my name?”
“I’ve done my homework.” He grinned. “Vadim, would you please show Ms. Burgess to the car?”
“With pleasure, Mr. Hill.” The larger of the two, Vadim, sounded like a Bond villain. “If you would be so good as to come with me, please.”
Marcelle dropped her luggage and sprinted in the opposite direction. Her doe took control of her body, bursting from her womanly frame. Her clothing shredded, falling to the ground, because of the frantic transformation. The animal’s long legs propelled her forward. She tried to call out but knew anyone who heard her would think it was only the cry of an injured wild deer.
Behind her, a bear snarled.
Shit! Bear shifters.
Her doe glanced backward. The bear, the biggest wall of lean muscle she’d ever seen, was gaining on her.
Terror-stricken, Marcelle’s heart called out where she could not. Josh!
* * * *
Josh’s bear wouldn’t let him sleep. The bear had been pacing inside him for hours, its nervous rumblings making Josh’s gut ache. By the time Josh finally closed his eyes, around three in the morning, the animal rounded on him. It scraped its claws on Josh’s flesh, making him feel as if he was on fire from head to toe.
He sat up in bed. What the hell?
“Marcelle.”
He could get no rest for thinking of her. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her, not since the moment she’d walked away.
She was his mate, provided his bear actually knew what it was growling about. Josh had tried to talk himself out of the idea at least a dozen times since Marcelle’s departure. It made no sense. There was practically no foundation on which to base this imaginary relationship, other than what he supposed was a mutual interest.
Okay, lust. He could call it lust. He’d felt it from the first moment. Josh had spent the nights since dreaming of what it would be like to brush his lips over her gorgeous skin. He’d fantasized about the shape of her legs and the way her waist flared into amazing, round hips. Her smile still teased. Her dark eyes flashed to black in his memory, dilating when she looked at him. Her fruity perfume made his mouth water. The scent had imprinted itself on him. He smelled it everywhere he went, even though she was far away.
His bear bumped its head against his ribs again and again.
The feelings were getting stronger. If this was his reaction in the first couple of weeks of her absence, what would he be like a month from now? Or two?
Josh hurled himself out of bed and stalked into the living room of his condo. He lived in a low-rise building but occupied the unit on the highest floor. As a result, he had a great view of the main street. Just beyond the tops of the trees, he could see Lake Gemini and Gemini Island.
This community was his home. He loved the people here and had been doing his best to serve them. It was a demanding life and schedule.
Would Marcelle even want to be part of his sort of life? He’d have to wait a year to find out. It might very well be the longest twelve months of his life.
Why hadn’t he said something the day she left?
“Because I would have looked like a crazed stalker, that’s why.”
His bear stood on its hind legs and roared. Our woman!
Josh doubled over, clutching his side, one hand on the floor-to-ceiling living room window. “Dammit!”
His instincts drew his gaze to the window. His body shaking, sweat on his brow, Josh scanned the view from one end of the darkened main street to another.
A terrified doe ran out of a laneway.
Something about that doe…
Seconds behind her, a bear appeared, chasing the doe down the street.
“Christ,” he said on a breath. “Marcelle?”
Although his logical brain told him Marcelle was in Europe, he threw on some clothes and raced out of the condo. Although his rational brain realized he was likely witnessing a wild doe with some bad luck, he ran out of his building into the night. Josh hurried toward the laneway. It wasn’t far from his clinic, and he knew which route was quickest.
At the crossing of two streets, Josh stopped and inhaled. As he did so, he quickly stripped out of his clothes.
A faded, peachy perfume reached his nostrils.
Marcelle.
Determining her direction, Josh surrendered to his spirit animal. He dropped to his knees as his grizzly bear manipulated his limbs and magnified his size. Governed by fury and fear, the creature tore down the empty street in the search of the bear that dared to threaten its mate.
Josh and his bear agreed on one thing in that moment. The other bear would pay with its life if Marcelle suffered even a scratch.
* * * *
The bear had her cornered at the end of a dead-end street.
Marcelle’s doe uttered low moans of fear, knowing it was no match for the ursine monster. Its hooves clicked on the pavement, but there was nowhere to run.
It was her own fault for leading the bear down the back roads. She should have stuck to the main road, shifted, and screamed her head off. Maybe she would have gotten someone’s attention. Of course, then she would have had to answer uncomfortable questions about why she was naked and being chased by a naked man who also happened to be a bear. She thought she could have outrun the monster. Her doe legs had never let her down before. It was one of the reasons she didn’t mind being a deer shifter when all her friends had fierce spirit animals. As a doe, she had a good instinct for trouble and was fleet of foot.
Just not tonight.
The bear growled, drool dipping from his massive jaws, as it slowly advanced.
Marcelle’s doe looked left and right. No escape. The alleyway was so tight there was no way she could get past the bear, even at her best sprint.
I never got to talk to Josh. Now he’ll never know I came back.
For some reason, that hurt more than the idea of dying in a stinky alleyway.
At the thought of Josh, her doe whimpered.
The bear stopped about twenty feet away from her. It huffed and charged.
Marcelle shifted into womanly form, hoping to spare her sweet doe from the sight of those jaws. She stood up straight and looked death in the face. She might die here, but the bear shifter would remember her human face. He would remember the life he’d taken.
And then she’d come back and haunt the fucking bastard.
Just as her legs were about to give out, a roar sounded behind the bear. Her attacker paused and turned around. There was no light in the alley, and the sun was still somewhere over Quebec, but Marcelle saw every detail as if on a slow-motion movie reel.
Another enormous brown bear, a grizzly, sprang out of the darkness, its teeth bared. The two creatures rose to their hind legs and clamped jaws on each other’s muzzles. Front paws clutching and scratching, they fought in the confined space, their great bodies pummeling the sides of the buildings.
At one point during the struggle, the newcomer had the first bear down on the ground, its claws near the other beast’s neck. The grizzly chanced a look at Marcelle.
There was something familiar in its wild, blue gaze.
“Josh?”
Impossible.
And yet her doe sprang back into action, thrilled at the knowledge its mate was apparently near. The doe took over Marcelle’s body and threw her to the ground, forcing her to shift. Eager to help in any way it could, her gentle spirit animal pranced forward and began clobbering the first bear’s head with its hooves.
For a split second, her grizzly’s gaze softened, but it quickly huffed at her in a clear warning to stay back. Worried she might be in her savior’s way, the doe retreated and allowed Marcelle to assume her human body again.
The bears continued to fight, each one assuming the dominant position here and there. The battle seemed to go on forever, but Marcelle knew it had been seconds since Josh’s bear arrived in the alley. They pulled apart, each one sucking in air, raking claws down each other’s fronts. The first bear growled and turned to Marcelle, its paw raised.
Josh’s bear roared and pounced. It tore into the other’s neck. The first bear’s eyes widened, and it slumped to the ground. Both Marcelle and her ursine guardian watched for a moment to make sure it didn’t move.
Josh shifted and turned to her.
“Oh God.” His beautiful face and chest. He was covered in gashes and blood, and she knew some of the blood was his own. He was hurt and all because of her. Tears filled her eyes.
“You’re not in Europe?”
“Nope.”
“But…why?”
She grinned through her tears. “Because I’d rather be in this alleyway with you.”
He closed the distance between them and pulled her into his embrace. His mouth smashed against hers. She tasted blood but didn’t care. Her mate, Josh, was kissing her, and she’d never been so happy.
A troubling piece of information brought her back to awareness. “Josh, we have to move. There was another man.”
Something whizzed through the air.
“What the fuck?” Josh winced and tried to reach behind his back. He angled it toward her.
A tranquilizer dart lodged in his shoulder.
Before Marcelle could pull it out for him, another dart shot through the darkness, landing in her hip. Josh’s face started to swim before her, and she fell to her knees.
A man walked toward them, holding a tranquilizer gun. As they wobbled in their places, the man shot Josh again and rolled the doctor to the alley floor. “Down you go, big fellow.”
As Marcelle collapsed next to Josh, trying to find his hand so she could clutch it, she heard the man say something about the dead shifter. Something about “his best man” and “what a waste.”
The last thing she heard before she blacked out was Josh whispering her name.