Bear Attraction

by Jennifer Ashley

  Rebecca had taken three tracking devices from Walker’s bag. He’d told her that while he worked on being accepted inside and dug for information, she was to choose the best vehicles to track.

  She’d picked them out while she’d paced. The largest Harley in the lot, she’d decided, plus the sleek black pickup that looked innocuous but was solid and reinforced. The pickup was tricked out for off-roading—some of the unpaved roads out here were primitive.

  The last one was the cute red pickup whose license plate read “SFTR GAL.” Tracking a groupie might prove useful.

  Rebecca moved like smoke to plant the devices. Shifter Bureau could bug Shifters without warrants, which always pissed Rebecca off, but right now she was grateful to Walker for bringing the devices. They needed to find out what these un-Collared Shifters were up to.

  Rebecca had clipped the last tracker onto the wheel well of the black pickup when she saw the door to the roadhouse open. She crouched down, hiding herself, but rose again when Walker came out alone.

  He kept up his slouching walk until he was well into the shadows. Rebecca faded into deeper darkness to skirt the parking lot and join him and Broderick.

  Broderick started to shout. “Where the hell is Joanne?”

  “Keep it down,” Rebecca snapped. “But it’s a good question.”

  Walker, not intimidated, quickly outlined what had happened inside. Broderick stopped yelling, but he was furious. “God and Goddess, why the fuck did you leave her in there alone?”

  “I couldn’t extract her without endangering her,” Walker said in a hard voice. “I put a tracker on her. Now we wait.”

  “Wait?” Broderick asked savagely. “I don’t want to wait.”

  Rebecca put one hand on her hip and glared at Broderick. “Then what do you expect us to do? Charge in there, screaming? We can’t take them all on. Not a boatload of un-Collared Felines and Lupines who don’t think anything is wrong with breaking the leg of a Shifter barely past his Transition.”

  “We wait,” Walker repeated firmly. “Somewhere out of sight.”

  “I’m not going far,” Broderick said.

  “We won’t have to,” Walker said. “But we need to get away from this place. Sooner or later, the bar will close, and there’ll be a mass exodus. I doubt whatever humans own it will risk staying open after hours. If the police find out they’re hiding these Shifters, they’ll be in deep shit.”

  Rebecca said nothing, only followed Walker to her bike. Broderick rumbled something, but he stomped after them to his own motorcycle.

  Walker wouldn’t let them start up. They pushed the bikes about half a mile down the road from the bar before they mounted and rode another mile or so.

  They stopped in an open field, far enough from the road so that they wouldn’t be seen by passing traffic—what little there was of it—but close enough to be able to follow the trackers. Walker pulled more equipment from Rebecca’s saddlebag, including a tablet computer, and he set up to watch and listen.

  It grew colder. Rebecca shivered. She wished she could turn bear so the chill wouldn’t bother her, but she’d need to be human and nimble if they suddenly had to jump on bikes and go.

  Her entire body warmed when Walker slid his arms around her from behind. His leather jacket, which he’d resumed, returning the hoodie to Broderick, held his heat.

  Rebecca closed her eyes. Walker’s lips found her neck, above the band of her Collar.

  She envied those Shifters who’d evaded capture, living as they liked, even at the risk of going feral. She could get on her motorcycle with Walker, ride into the world, make love with him wherever they stopped, be with him forever. Cubs would come, and the cubs would learn to ride too.

  But life couldn’t be that simple. They had a missing woman to find, Joanne to rescue, Shifter Bureau to placate. Walker was trying to keep Rebecca out of jail for running off her restlessness in the wrong place, and Rebecca’s good behavior would make sure he didn’t get into trouble as well.

  Walker’s hands on her abdomen, his warm mouth behind her ear, was doing a pretty good job of making her forget her problems. She felt the nip of his teeth, the brush of his tongue.

  I want to make love to you.

  A bald statement from a man who knew how to be honest. She’d never have to guess with Walker.

  A soft beeping on the tablet jerked Rebecca from her place of warmth. Walker calmly released Rebecca to reach for the tablet, as though unworried that they wouldn’t pick up where they left off later.

  A dot on the screen faded then reappeared a little way away from where it had vanished. “That’s Joanne,” Walker said. “She’s leaving the bar.”

  Broderick shoved his face to the screen. “Where’s she going?”

  “Let’s find out,” Walker said.

  Rebecca couldn’t read what the machine was telling him—she didn’t speak computer. Walker studied the readout for a time, made some adjustments with his fingertips, then straightened up.

  “West and south. Toward Laredo.”

  “Then let’s go,” Broderick said.

  “I can’t monitor this while we ride. Let’s wait and see where she stops.”

  Broderick balled his fists. “She might be dead when she stops.”

  “Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen,” Walker said.

  “Yeah? How the hell are you going to stop it?” Broderick grabbed Walker by the lapels of his jacket and jerked him upward. “These are Shifters in the wild. If they find out Joanne’s spying, they’ll kill her.”

  Walker didn’t look one bit nervous that he hung in the grip of a powerful Shifter, but Rebecca’s rage shot high. They went on arguing, but her red anger erased the last of her control.

  “She decided to risk it to find out what happened to her sister,” Walker was saying. “Trust Joanne.”

  Broderick snorted and released him. “You wouldn’t have let Rebecca stay in there.”

  “Rebecca can take care of herself,” Walker said evenly, straightening his jacket.

  “Maybe, but Joanne can’t.”

  “Yes, she can,” Walker said. “If she’d been too vulnerable, I’d have gotten her out somehow. She can do this.”

  Broderick’s growls escalated. He dove at Walker again, grabbing him . . .

  . . . And found a giant bear paw coming at his head. Broderick tried to duck from Rebecca’s blow, but she caught him across the face. The force sent him spinning away, releasing Walker, who stumbled back a few steps before he righted himself.

  Broderick came up, his Collar sparking, furious. Rebecca roared, rising on her hind legs, the Kodiak towering over both men.

  How she’d become bear, Rebecca was only dimly aware. Broderick had gone for Walker, and the next thing she’d known, she was ripping off her clothes and shifting. Something ferocious had awakened in her, sending her after the threat to Walker.

  The instinct, the thought deep inside Rebecca’s mind whispered, to protect the mate.

  Broderick came back at her, his fury born of the same kind of instinct.

  Walker stepped between them. Crazy man—no one got between a Lupine and a bear when they were about to go at it, but he held up his Taser, letting it crackle.

  “I’ll knock you both out and go on my own if you don’t calm down.” His voice was stern, strong, Walker in no way terrified of two beings far bigger and stronger than he was. “The signal’s still moving. Give it time, and we’ll go after her and extract her.”

  Broderick snarled his rage and frustration, but he swung away and stalked off into the darkness. Walker stood his ground, still holding the Taser.

  “Becks?”

  Rebecca, her heart pounding, her blood hot, made herself shift into her human form. She folded her arms across her chest once she had finished, aware that every inch of her skin was exposed.

  Walker tucked away the Taser. “You all right?” he asked.

  No admonishment, no staring at her in lust. Just a concerned, You all right?
/>
  How did he know how to melt her heart?

  Rebecca shivered again. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “Um . . . help me find my clothes?”

  Walker laughed. She rarely heard him laugh, not really. The sound was rich, full, exuding his amazing self-reliance that wrapped her and bolstered her.

  He came to Rebecca, caught her around the waist, and kissed her mouth. His body was warm in the darkness, the strength in his arms keeping her upright.

  Walker eased away from the kiss and smoothed a lock of her hair. “You’re a wonderful woman, Becks.” He let his hand linger on her cheek, the callused touch of his palm soothing. “Now, let’s find your clothes.”

  ***

  The signal came to a stop about twenty miles west and south, where dried-up farms gave way to barren ground and oil fields. Not surprisingly, the Shifters had taken Joanne to a place far from any oil wells, where a maintenance crew might stumble across a hiding place.

  “You sure this is right?” Broderick asked as they turned off engines. He scanned the darkness. “There’s nothing out here.”

  “Yes, there is.” Walker took out the tablet, brought it to life, and showed him. “There’s the 35, that’s where we are—there’s the signal.”

  Rebecca’s warm breath filled his ear as she leaned to look. “Good choice,” she said. “You’d never know anything was here.”

  “Not unless you have a bag of tricks.” Walker rummaged in the duffel he’d pulled out of the saddlebag and removed a set of night-vision binoculars. He peered through them for a time, made a few adjustments, and handed them to Rebecca. “Look.”

  Rebecca lifted the binocs to her eyes and let out a breath of surprise. Walker knew what she was seeing—several heat signatures right on top of where the signal had stopped. As he’d scanned the area, he’d seen a couple of the glows grow shorter and shorter until they’d vanished. They’d gone underground.

  Rebecca lowered the binocs without a word and handed them to an impatient Broderick, who jammed them to his eyes.

  “Shit,” Broderick said after he’d looked for a time. “They’re living out here. I bet they catch rabbits and eat them raw. Ferals.” He made a noise of disgust and handed the binoculars back to Walker. “Okay, so, you’re right. The Shifters brought her here. Don’t think they’re not guarding their perimeter.”

  “They are.” Walker had seen two hot spots wandering around away from the cluster. “Two guards it looks like. I don’t think they’re worried about much. This is way off the road, and if they’ve dug out whatever compound is down there, or built up earth walls, they’ll be hard to spot from the air.”

  “They have to be crazy,” Broderick said. “I didn’t like being shoved into a Shiftertown, but this is crap. Starving in the wild was better than living in a hole.”

  “We don’t know what’s inside,” Rebecca said. “Maybe they’ve built a luxurious palace down there.”

  “You’re funny, Becks,” Broderick answered. “Be hard to sneak in. They might have only two guards, but they’ll scent us a long way off and have plenty of time to raise the alarm.”

  “We won’t sneak in,” Walker said.

  Rebecca stared at him. “What, we’re going to walk up and knock?”

  Walker loved how she said “we.” She was fully committed to the fight, not arguing about the necessity of both of them doing it. She’d only debate tactics.

  “More from my bag of tricks,” Walker said. “Shifters have superior senses of smell, sight, and hearing. I have things to baffle all three.”

  Broderick growled. “Not sure I wanted to know that.”

  “I stocked up for this mission,” Walker said. “Flash grenades, smoke bombs, ones that make a huge stink. They’ll know we’re here, but we’ll be in and out before they can grab us.”

  “Stink bombs will fuck with our senses of smell too,” Broderick pointed out.

  “Yes, but we’ll have sight and the tracker,” Walker said, holding up the tablet. “Plus, I don’t need to rely on my sense of smell like you do. Stick with me, and I’ll get you out again.”

  “He’s good at this,” Rebecca said to Broderick. “Trust me.”

  “Yeah, he’s snagged your ass.” Broderick looked them both over. “In more ways than one. When’s the mating ceremony? Or hasn’t he mate-claimed you yet?”

  Instead of shooting words at Broderick in return, Rebecca became very, very quiet. She was looking at Broderick, not Walker, her eyes unreadable.

  Broderick said, “Huh,” and turned away, as though Rebecca had answered him.

  Walker continued going through his pack, pulling out things and readying them, pretending he hadn’t noticed the banter.

  His skin was hot, though, his heart pumping. Mates were a serious deal with Shifters—they were joined in a mystical ceremony sacred to them, sealed by their Goddess and God. They didn’t take the subject lightly.

  It would be crazy to fall for Rebecca, Walker knew, but he also knew he’d moved beyond caution. He and Rebecca needed to finish this mission and then have a long, long talk.

  Right now, he needed to concentrate on the immediate problem. The next half hour would be critical, and Walker couldn’t jeopardize their safety and Joanne’s with too much thinking about his personal life. He needed to plan, instruct Broderick and Rebecca, execute said plan, and then get the hell out of there.

  He laid out all his equipment, then started telling Rebecca and Broderick what they needed to do. He spoke as though they were two soldiers under his command, not a blustering pain-in-the-ass Lupine and the Kodiak bear Shifter he was falling in love with.

  “Might work,” Broderick said grudgingly.

  “No might about it,” Walker said. “We make it work, because we have no choice. Right now, we retrieve Joanne. Whatever else we find out is extra.”

  Rebecca nodded. “You mean we focus.”

  “Exactly.” Walker looked her straight in the eye. “One thing at a time. That way, everything important gets done.”

  She met his gaze, understanding in her eyes. It didn’t matter that she was a Shifter, one of those beings he’d been trained to see as animals who happened to walk and talk. Rebecca was so much more, layers and layers of her that went deep down. She wasn’t one woman—she was many, and Walker wanted to learn about and touch every single one of them.

  Rebecca swallowed, her hair moving in the breeze that had sprung up. Clouds were forming in the sky, so much the better. A cloud passed over the moon, blotting out the light, and Rebecca nodded.

  “Let’s do this,” she said lightly. “So we can move on to the next thing.”

  She and Walker shared a long look.

  “Goddess,” Broderick grumbled. “Now they’re doing innuendo, right in front of me.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rebecca found it difficult to breathe as Walker led them at a crouch to where they’d launch their attack, let alone focus. What she’d seen in his blue eyes had spoken volumes, a man ready to stop playing and get down to business—and he hadn’t meant this crazy rescue.

  She came after him, she and Broderick barely making a rustling in the grass. Walker’s fine backside, molded by jeans, was visible to her Shifter sight, especially whenever the moon poked out from behind the clouds.

  Walker made no noise at all. Rebecca and Broderick were predators, born to stalk, but Walker was silence itself.

  He’d taught them his signals, and now made the one telling them to stop. “Any closer and they’ll scent us,” he whispered. “The wind is on our side, but who knows when it will shift?”

  “You mean you don’t know?” Broderick asked in the barest whisper. “I thought you knew everything.”

  Walker ignored him. “You’re clear on what to do?” He waited until both nodded, which he acknowledged. “On my signal.”

  Rebecca tensed, her muscles like too-wound springs. She sensed Broderick tensing as well. When Walker jerked his hand forward, it took everything in her not to yell as they l
eapt up and sprinted for the front of the compound.

  Rebecca’s heart pounded, her breath coming in gasps. All her life, she’d hunted and run, chasing prey or fleeing her own demons, but she’d never done anything like this. Not an all-out frontal attack. It hadn’t been necessary in her old life in the wild and was forbidden in her new.

  They’d almost reached the gate, which looked brand new, strong, and well oiled, when they heard a shout from the perimeter guards. Walker swung around and threw two of his scent bombs, while Rebecca yelled, “Down!” and launched a flash grenade over the gate.

  White light exploded into the darkness. Rebecca had already crouched down, shielding herself, and she hoped Walker and Broderick had managed to do the same. Walker shook her after a moment, and she opened her eyes to find the guards inside the gate snarling and cursing, blinded and scent-confused.

  Time for Rebecca’s part. Before they’d left the motorcycles, she’d stripped down and redressed in loose T-shirt and sweatpants Walker had brought, and now she easily shucked those clothes and was bear by the time she hit the gate.

  The gate was extremely strong, but no match for either a tank or a pissed off Kodiak bear. Rebecca felt the brunt of the impact, but she kept going—they needed to be inside before the Shifter guards could throw off their disorientation.

  The gate’s hinges screeched as they popped out of the stone wall, then the gate clanged to the ground. One of the Shifters yelped as it struck him. Rebecca leapt over the debris and kept going.

  The door to the compound wasn’t as solid—probably the Shifters thought the gate with guards would be enough. Rebecca got her giant paws around the door’s frame and ripped it away from the wall, then used the door as a shield as Shifters inside the compound charged out.

  Walker threw another flash grenade in front of the emerging Shifters, and Broderick tossed another one plus a smoke bomb inside the compound. Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut and ducked her head behind the door just in time.

  Shouting came from inside, as well as growling, and very human groaning. Poor Joanne would be caught in the blasts, but as long as the three rescuers kept their cool, they’d be able to grab her and get her out.