Bear Attraction

by Jennifer Ashley

  There would never be another Walker Danielson. When he was gone, it would be forever.

  Rebecca kept digging, oblivious to everything but finding Walker. She could barely breathe from all the dust, and her lungs begged for air. Something was wrong with one of her legs—it kept bending when she didn’t tell it to, and it hurt like hell.

  She’d deal with all that later. For now, she needed to save her mate.

  The rubble came away, but more fell from the ceiling at the same time. The compound was in chaos. Rebecca heard screaming, cursing, running, fighting. Broderick’s voice booming. Nancy wailing from down the hall. Had Aleck been hurt? Killed? What about the young kid, Tevis?

  That was all in the background, beyond Rebecca’s immediate focus. Her entire attention at the moment was on saving Walker.

  She threw aside another chunk of concrete and nearly wept when she saw a black T-shirt and dusty jeans among the gray rocks. Rebecca lifted away a piece of ceiling that had tented around him, saving him from being crushed, but Walker didn’t move. He lay facedown and silent, his body covered in contusions and filth, his hair coated with blood.

  Bears could be incredibly gentle when they had to be. Rebecca hooked claws into the fabric of Walker’s shirt without touching his skin, and turned him over.

  His face was gray, his shirt covered with blood. Rebecca bent down to him, terrified he was dead, and then she saw his chest rise with a ragged breath.

  Relief staggered her, but he wasn’t safe yet. Footsteps pounded behind her, and Rebecca roared, stepping protectively over Walker.

  The Shifters were all running away though. The compound was compromised, and they knew it.

  Their fleeing wasn’t as chaotic as she’d first thought. The Shifters were getting the hell out of there, but in an orderly fashion, as though following a plan. Even Kendrick blowing up this part of the compound had likely been part of an escape scenario.

  Walker opened his eyes. Not all the way—Rebecca saw the gleam of blue between his lids. He groaned.

  Rebecca shook him. She didn’t have time to shift back to human to make him understand; she’d only get him out safely as her bear.

  She planted her massive paw on his chest and moved him back and forth until Walker took a deeper breath, and said, “What?”

  Rebecca crouched down, lower, lower. Pain spiked through her leg, but she forced herself to ignore it. Walker stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment, then he hauled himself up, bracing himself on Rebecca’s shoulder as he forced himself to his feet.

  He half climbed, half fell onto her back, locked his fingers into her fur, and said in a dust-clogged voice, “Okay, I’m good.”

  Rebecca rose and ran. Straight down the corridor, she barreled through, never minding what she ran over or shoved out of her way.

  Broderick was ahead of her, carrying a screaming Nancy over his shoulder. Rebecca worried for Aleck and Tevis, but Broderick was right to take Nancy out. This place wouldn’t last much longer. Kendrick had triggered some massive destruction.

  Up the stairs and through the broken front door, the stench of the smoke bombs lingering. On past the gate that still lay on the ground, out through the opening and into the night. Joanne waited outside the gates, huddled into Broderick’s hoodie, and started crying when she saw Nancy.

  Joanne started forward to gather in her sister, but the moment Nancy’s feet touched the ground, she tried to run back inside. Rebecca blocked Nancy’s way, and Broderick seized her again.

  “We’ll get him out,” Broderick shouted at Nancy. “We have help. He’ll be safe.”

  Rebecca ran on again into the cold darkness, putting as much distance between herself and the compound as she could. By the time Walker said, “We’re clear,” Rebecca had already slowed. She took a few more stumbling steps before she fell, first to her front legs, and then flat on her belly.

  Walker rolled off her. “Becks.” He put his hands on her head, turning her bear face up to him. “Becks—sweetheart—you all right?”

  Rebecca wanted to lie there forever, half insensible in the dust, with Walker stroking her head and calling her sweetheart in a broken voice. It was so comfortable on the ground, the dirt soft. Her mate was with her, alive, and she totally needed a nap . . .

  She felt herself passing out. The pain from fighting and her Collar going off was catching up to her, as well as whatever she’d done to her right leg. Her body was trying to plunge her into unconsciousness to keep her from the agony.

  Before darkness could take over, she shifted back to human. It hurt—oh, crap, it hurt—but she ended up in her naked human form, her head cradled on Walker’s lap.

  “Becks.” Walker bent over her, his lips touching her face, her mouth. He ran his hands down her body—checking for injury, she knew, as he was trained to do.

  His touches were caressing, soothing, lending her strength. The touch of a mate. He was healing her. Rebecca let her hands rest on his thighs, turned her head to press a kiss to his rock-hard stomach. She was his mate. They’d heal each other.

  A lot of Shifters seemed to be running around. Rebecca didn’t have to lift her head to catch the scents, the sounds of familiar voices.

  They’d all come—the Morrissey men, and the trackers, including Spike, Ellison with his deep Texas drawl, the comforting bass rumble of Ronan.

  One of the Shifters came to tower over her and Walker. Rebecca looked up to see Tiger gazing a long way down at them from his tawny eyes, the orange stripes in his black hair highlighted by moonlight.

  Tiger took in Walker and Rebecca in silence for a moment, then gave one firm nod. “Good,” he said, and walked away.

  Ronan was there, going down on one knee beside Rebecca. He touched Rebecca’s hair and sighed in relief. “Scared us when we saw the explosion. I always knew you were tough, Becks, but shit.”

  Rebecca snuggled against Walker. Ronan laid a jacket over her—Walker’s leather one again, which someone must have picked up on the way out of the compound. The jacket held Walker’s scent, and Rebecca closed her eyes to enjoy it.

  “About time you got here,” she murmured to Ronan.

  “Huh,” Ronan grunted, but he sounded amused. “Thank this guy for calling the cavalry.”

  Ronan walked away, his voice blending in with the other Shifters’.

  “Thank you,” Rebecca whispered to Walker. There was more she wanted to say—so much more—but nothing would come out.

  “Shh,” Walker said, stroking her hair. “You rest now, and I’ll make you better.”

  Sounded good to her. To the touch of her mate’s hand, Rebecca let the sounds of the night slide together, pain floating away on the happiness of the moment.

  ***

  Kendrick followed his escape plan to the letter. Knock out the wall between the enemy and the cubs, flee with them down the tunnel that opened from a hidden door in the safe room.

  He ran down the dark passage, the silence within telling him he wasn’t being followed. The two smallest cubs, still in tiger form, clung to his shoulders, while Robbie ran along beside him on human feet. He was too old to be carried, Robbie would declare. It was true that the cub—not Kendrick’s; he was a Lupine—was already a good little runner.

  The tunnel went for three miles, emerging into an empty field under the night sky. Kendrick unlocked the gate at its end and pushed the Harley that waited there out into quiet darkness.

  The cubs all went into specially modified saddle bags, helmets on their heads. Kendrick straddled the bike, the Sword of the Guardian in its sheath on his back, and started up.

  The Shifters from the compound would regroup at the rendezvous point and begin again. Kendrick’s trackers would take care of the sick and injured, and bring any who didn’t make it to Kendrick to be sent to dust.

  Kendrick’s job was to get the three cubs—the only wee ones they had—to safety. The two youngest were his; Robbie had been rescued when his wolf Shifter parents had been killed.

 
Kendrick’s Shifters had started over twice now—perhaps the Goddess would smile upon them the third time.

  The cubs were silent, scared, and Kendrick didn’t blame them. They’d been tiny when they’d moved here, and the compound in Texas dry lands was the only home they knew. The compound had been an abandoned and forgotten military bunker from World War II, dug out and fortified by the Shifters a few years ago. All their hard work was now dust.

  Kendrick had thought this area remote enough to be safe, but apparently, he’d been wrong. After the San Antonio leader had been ousted and killed a couple years ago, there had been no activity out here, and he’d assumed they’d be left in peace. He knew all about Dylan Morrissey but had, until now, successfully eluded that Shifter’s detection.

  Dylan and his sons were good at rounding up un-Collared Shifters and bringing them in, under their control. Kendrick didn’t want that for his cubs—for any of his Shifters. He wanted them to be free, forever.

  Alaska would be their next destination. In the vast wilderness near the Pacific, in the fjords and mountains, they’d make another home.

  Kendrick rode for miles, on through Texas darkness, down a highway that few traveled, especially this late at night. They flowed past old farmland, through dry washes, and around oil fields with their clanking pumps moving up and down like bizarre grazing beasts.

  He rode until the motorcycle needed fuel. The boys would need to eat, as well, and use the bathroom. Boys ate a lot, nonstop if they could, his mate had said the last time he’d seen her.

  Kendrick pushed the deep pain of losing her aside as he sought a gas station. He’d rolled into the outskirts of Laredo, a town large enough to have places open this late, small enough that people here had probably never seen a Shifter and wouldn’t recognize one if they did.

  He pulled into a gas station and climbed stiffly from the bike. The fight with the bear had been tough. She’d been protecting her mate, and her ferocity had been intense. It would be a while before Kendrick threw off the soreness from that battle.

  He’d have to leave the sword with the bike if he wanted to take the little ones into the gas station’s convenience store. The clerk would only call the police if he saw a tall man stride inside with a giant sword strapped to his back.

  Kendrick wrapped the sword in a thin tarp and stowed it on the rack on the bike he’d made for just this purpose, then filled the tank.

  No way would he leave anything as precious as the cubs out here though. The wee ones had already shifted and dressed, and Robbie was bouncing on his toes, growing excited by this new adventure.

  The clerk, instead of diving for the alarm button when Kendrick entered, smiled widely at the cubs and pointed out the way to the bathrooms. He was helpful to the kids when they were trying to decide what junk food they wanted to eat, and didn’t charge them for the extra soda when Robbie spilled his.

  The clerk rang up the purchases, took Kendrick’s cash, said a cheerful good night to the cubs, and that was it.

  The way it should be, Kendrick thought as he helped the cubs carry the food back to the motorcycle. No Collars to signal we’re different. No restrictions, no fear. The guy didn’t even know we weren’t the same as him.

  Kendrick got the cubs settled in again, the bags of food tucked around them. They’d drive on and find somewhere in the wild to camp and eat.

  He straightened up, preparing to walk the bike to a darker patch where he could strap on the sword again. Then he froze, hackles rising.

  A man, a Shifter, stood right in front of him. He wore a leather coat against the growing cold, had dark hair peppered with gray at his temples, and blue eyes that went fathoms down. The neckline of his shirt just hid the gleam of a silver Collar.

  “Kendrick Shaughnessy,” Dylan Morrissey said. “We need to talk.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rebecca woke in her own bed at home. She stared, puzzled, at sunlight playing on the ceiling, familiar shadows from the trees outside dancing to greet her.

  She moved, thinking she needed to get up and start breakfast, but a stab of pain sent her right back down. She groaned, gritting her teeth as waves of agony rolled over her.

  The door opened, and the worried faces of Cherie and Olaf peeked around it. Rebecca regarded them without reaction for a moment, then she relaxed, her body knowing it was home, and gestured for them to come in.

  “What happened to me?” she asked in a weak voice. “I must have drunk a hell of a lot to have this hangover.”

  Even as she spoke, the events of the night soared back at her—everything from leaving here with Walker, his face painted in groupie makeup, to dragging him out from under the rubble and collapsing with him in the dirt outside the compound.

  “Is Walker all right?” she asked in alarm. “Where is he?”

  “He went home,” Olaf said, regarding her with his still, dark eyes. “He said we had to take care of you.”

  “Oh.” Well, what had she expected? That she’d wake up with him next to her, holding her hand? Walker had his own world, his own life. The mission was over.

  “You were hurt worse than he was,” Cherie said, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. “He said he was going to get patched up. You had a broken leg, but Andrea healed you.”

  Rebecca tentatively moved her right leg. It ached like crazy, but the pain she’d felt at the compound had gone.

  Andrea, a half Fae, half Shifter, had the gift of healing magic. Rebecca was grateful to her but just as happy to have been passed out for the treatment. Her bones melding back together couldn’t have felt good.

  She struggled to sit up, finding that someone had put her into the long T-shirt she liked to sleep in. Cherie laid a concerned hand on her unhurt leg.

  “Andrea says you should stay in bed a while longer. Elizabeth and Ronan said so too.”

  “No, no. I need to get up. Things to do.” Rebecca sucked in a sharp breath and ended up slumped against the bed’s headboard. “Then again, maybe later.”

  Scott chose that moment to walk in, a steaming cup in his hand. “I thought you might like some coffee.”

  Rebecca inhaled the fragrant aroma and held out both hands. “Gimme. Thank you.”

  Scott set the mug between her reaching fingers. Rebecca noticed as she took a pull of the wonderful brew that he was quieter, less restless this morning—even polite and thoughtful. For the first time in a long time, he looked comfortable in his own skin. Maybe his Transition was truly over.

  Rebecca swallowed the coffee, already feeling better. “So is anyone going to fill me in on what happened after I passed out?”

  Scott and Cherie started talking at once, until Scott let Cherie glare him to silence.

  “Ronan says that Dylan got the alert from Walker,” Cherie said. “I guess Dylan was waiting for it, because he rounded up everyone and led them out. They found an underground compound down south of San Antonio and some Shifters with no Collars. A lot of the Shifters got away, but a few were rounded up.”

  “What about Nancy? Joanne’s sister?”

  “She’s with Joanne at Broderick’s,” Cherie went on. “So is Aleck, the Shifter Nancy was with. I guess Broderick’s family is going to look after both of them. Nancy agreed to report herself not missing so the police will stop looking for her, but Aleck isn’t going to be turned in. Nancy’s carrying his cub.” Cherie made the last announcement with a look of triumph. She loved being the first to spread such news.

  “Wow.” Rebecca took another sip of coffee. She loved the stuff so much. “No wonder they didn’t want to let each other go. Not what I was expecting.”

  Cherie nodded. “That’s what Ronan said.”

  “What about Kendrick? The Guardian? Did they find him?” Rebecca frowned thoughtfully, cradling the mug. “And what the heck is a Guardian doing leading Shifters? That’s not what they do.”

  Scott answered this time. “Ronan didn’t say much about him. Neither did Broderick, except things like fucked up, crazy-ass
Guardian Shifter with delusions of grandeur—Goddess save me from another effing tiger. Dylan’s still out, but he sent word he wants to keep it quiet that there’s Collarless Shifters running around. Walker, before he left, said he wouldn’t tell.”

  “Walker’s Shifter Bureau,” Rebecca said. “It’s his job to tell.”

  “Nah,” Scott said with confidence. “Walker’s cool.”

  “Walker would never tell,” Olaf said. “He promised me.”

  And that was good enough for Olaf. As he hoisted himself up onto the bed beside Rebecca, she noted that his thin legs were a bit longer than they used to be. The little cub was growing up. Rebecca put her arm around Olaf and snuggled him close.

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Rebecca said, pressing a kiss to Olaf’s white hair. “When he comes back.”

  Except that Walker didn’t come back.

  ***

  Rebecca’s leg finished healing over the next couple days, as did the rest of her fighting wounds. Her strong Shifter metabolism quickly bounced her back into good health.

  As she grew stronger, her restlessness returned, more intense than usual. No word came from Walker, which made her crankier by the day. She tried to settle in and enjoy looking after the cubs, cooking meals with Elizabeth, going with Ronan to Liam’s bar, hanging out with friends, but she ended up growly and unhappy.

  Rebecca wasn’t a woman to wait by the phone for a man to call her. She carried her phone around with her instead, pretending not to glance at it twenty times a day to make sure she hadn’t missed Walker’s call.

  She needed to go out and run, but Rebecca remembered what had happened the last time she’d done that. She was tired of getting knocked out and waking up in cells. She didn’t even know whether she was still restricted by her house arrest. Walker could have at least told her that, or told Ronan, if he didn’t want to talk to her. She’d glare at the phone and will it to ring.

  Meanwhile, Nancy and Aleck settled into Broderick’s big house. There was talk of putting a Collar on Aleck to see if that would help keep him from going feral, but so far, no one wanted to attempt it. Taking a Collar was a painful experience, and no one wanted to subject the poor guy—and by extension, Nancy—to that.