“What if Rawley shows up,” Nathan said softly. “What if it comes to a fight?”
“Then we fight,” Connor said.
Nathan stood in the elevator with Eric and cracked his knuckles, growling under his breath.
More than anything, he wanted to take down Rawley. But who knew if Rawley was even going to show up?
“You look like you want to fight,” Eric said, casting him a sidelong glance. “We’re not going in there to fight. Connor literally just said—”
“I know that,” Nathan said, blood simmering with impatience as they stepped out of the elevator and onto Alanna’s floor. He rubbed the back of his neck. Everything felt too tight. The elevator seemed stuffy. “Not going up there to fight. But I want to be ready if he makes a move.”
“Don’t goad him,” Eric said darkly, and Nathan shot him a glance. “I mean, I know that would be ideal. You can’t start the fight so you just goad the guy into one, but let’s try to find out what’s happening first.”
“I know,” Nathan snapped. “I’m not Cody.”
Eric snorted at that and they exchanged a knowing smirk. Of the four Strauss brothers, Cody had by far the hottest head. Connor could get very angry when he had a good reason and you never wanted to be on his bad side. But it was Cody who got pissed off and started a fight over the slightest thing and it was sometimes difficult not to laugh at him when he was in one of his moods.
“I know you’re not Cody,” Eric said as they made their way down the hall. “But I know Rawley is a sensitive subject. And you obviously really like this girl.”
“Yeah.”
Eric looked at him and performed a slight double-take. “Oh shit. Did you sleep with her?”
He grimaced and rubbed his chin. That beard was growing into thick. He needed a shave. “Maybe.”
“Nathan.”
“What?” He shrugged and they found themselves arriving at room 27, standing there for a moment and rolling their shoulders, mentally preparing themselves for whatever might happen. “She came to my door. I didn’t pursue her. And before that, she kissed me. By the dressing room in Lynn’s? God…It was hot.”
“Careful.” Eric winked at him. “Could be your mate.”
Could be.
Nathan didn’t respond to that. He knocked on the door. There was no response and he tried it again. No answer and no sounds from inside the suite. He nodded at Eric who took out his universal room key. It was a risk. There could be somebody sleeping inside and then they would have to explain why two lodge employees barged into an occupied suite for no reason.
But the suite was empty.
“Goddammit.” Nathan kicked the coffee table and Eric squinted at it. “What?”
“There’s a vase missing.” They found the vase, shattered in a waste bin that hadn’t been emptied by the maid service yet. Nathan tamped down on his rage. A broken vase meant some kind of violence. It meant Alanna might be hurt.
“You’re growling,” Eric said, as they left the locked room again, intending to find Alanna and her “companion.”
“Shut up,” Nathan muttered.
Eric wanted to go straight back to Connor and report that the suite was empty, but Nathan was impatient and he had a hunch. He’d found Alanna in that dress shop, they’d kissed, and he was sure she’d left right after him without buying a dress.
Maybe she’d go back there?
It seemed worth a shot and he shouted down Eric who finally caved and said, “Alright, I’ll come with you then.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” Nathan said darkly. They were both fit. In fact, lately, Eric’s muscle looked even more defined than his own bulkier frame.
“No, but you need back-up,” Eric said. “Not up for discussion.”
Eric wanted to make a quick sweep of the dining hall and Nathan went along but there was no sign of Alanna or John, so they headed to the promenade.
“Maybe they left the lodge for a bit,” Eric said as they hurried by shop after shop on their way to Lynn’s Dresses.
“Maybe,” Nathan muttered. “Seemed like they were pretty solidly holed up here. Like they’re just waiting for something. I figured they’ve been waiting for Rawley to show up.”
Just try and hurt her, Nathan thought. Every moment that passed without the relief of a fight was just making him edgier. Come here. I dare you.
He kept thinking back to the soft look in Alanna’s eyes when she talked about Yogi Bear or finding her home in the Columbines that grew by rivers.
His heart was sick with wanting her.
Sure enough, Nathan spotted John at Lynn’s. He was berating Dorine who stood behind the register, eyes wide with panic as he screamed at her. It was bordering on a need to call security and Nathan, once again, growled under his breath. But he didn’t see Alanna anywhere, and when he sniffed the air he didn’t smell her. That scent had quickly become his favorite. It was sweet and just a little bit woodsy. Both feminine and rugged.
Nathan nodded at Eric and they hovered near the doorway at Lynn’s. “Text Connor,” Nathan said under his breath. “We might need him.”
Nathan was confident he could take down John himself. But if Connor showed, there was a better chance he wouldn’t need to. Eric nodded and whipped out his phone as Nathan crossed his arms, biding his time.
“I know you saw her!” John snarled, slamming his fist on Dorine’s counter as she yelped in surprise. “Tell me where she went! She was coming down to buy the dresses and she was supposed to be back two hours ago! I’ve searched this whole damn lodge! I know you know something, bitch.”
“Hey!” Nathan snapped and stepped forward. John whipped around.
Nathan started to open his mouth but he felt Eric rest a hand on his arm. He was too revved up. He’d go too hot too fast. He swallowed the urge to put John on the ground and let Eric feel things out first.
“Is there a problem over here?” Eric said to John. He was using his concierge’s voice. It was calm and solicitous. He sounded like someone who was only too happy to help you. There was not even a hint of a threat as he clasped his hands in front of him. “Sir? Perhaps I can be of assistance.”
Eric’s concierge act did seem to calm John down a little, though he kept looking at Nathan suspiciously. He took a deep breath and said, “I’m just trying to find my girlfriend, alright?”
Nathan shook his head with a snort of derision.
Girlfriend, my ass.
“Is she missing?” Eric said.
“She was coming down here to shop,” John said. “She was supposed to be back in the room by now. I dunno where she’s run off to but when I find her...”
“When you find her what?” Nathan said. He hadn’t intended to speak at all, but he was crawling out of his skin with the desire to fight.
“Oh,” John laughed and he bared his teeth, marching up to Nathan. “What is this? Why are you so interested in Alanna?”
“Nathan,” Eric said slowly. “Wait for Connor to get here.”
John scowled at him. “What the hell is going on here?”
“We ask the questions!” Nathan barked.
“Everybody shut the fuck up.” That was Connor, suddenly appearing in the store and still catching his breath. He must have run all the way to the promenade from his office. His glare was trained on John, still standing toe to toe with Nathan. “You’re going to want to step away from my brother,” Connor said in a low voice.
Nathan rolled his eyes. “I can take this asshole with my hands behind my back.”
“Oh,” John said, grinning at him. “You got a hard-on for Alanna. Sure, I get it. Now you’re gonna save her from the big bad man? And you brought your brothers along to help you? Jesus Christ, that girl is dead when I find her.”
There was no question of Nathan holding back now. He didn’t shift. Suddenly, his hands were on John and he was knocking a rack of delicate white dresses to the floor with a clatter as he shoved the man up against a full-length wall mirror.
John just laughed and Nathan punched him hard in the stomach. It was satisfying to see him gasp and hunch over. He’d knocked the wind right out of him. “He’ll kill you,” John said, wheezing. “You fuck with one of his mates and he’ll kill you.”
“She’s not one of his mates,” Nathan hissed. He wasn’t sure how he knew this exactly. Only that it seemed completely impossible. He knew otherwise.
Because his bear kept insisting that she was his mate and he wanted to believe it.
“Not yet,” John said, leering at him. He looked so giddy about the whole thing. “She will be. He usually gets what he wants. He saw her, he wanted her. Kept her locked up till she flew the coop. If she ran again? Well, Rawley’s got her brother. So much for him. He’s fuckin’ dead.”
Fuck.
“Nathan,” Connor said, in that alpha older brother tone of his. “Step back.”
Nathan growled at that and then realized he was shaking with anger. It was taking every little bit of self-control he possessed not to shift and tear the guy apart. But, narrowing his eyes and curling his lip in derision, he stepped back from John, who only snickered and straightened his collar.
“What are you gonna do, big guy?” John snapped, though his sneer collapsed a bit as Connor walked up to him. Connor had a good few inches on the guy. Nathan had to smile when John almost immediately demurred. He probably didn’t even realize he was doing it. He just ducked his head slightly. It was like unconsciously submitting to Connor who was backed up by two formidable bears on the off chance John really gave him a fight. “You’re comin’ with me, asshole.”
Connor took him by the arm. Nathan glanced over his shoulder and saw that they’d attracted just a little attention. Guests were clustering on the promenade and Eric was smoothing things over as always. “Nathan?” Connor nodded at him.
“I’m gonna go find her,” Nathan said. “Keep an eye out for Rawley. I’m guessing you’ll know him when you see him.”
Nathan didn’t wait to hear an answer. He was already taking off down the promenade, sniffing the air for Alanna’s distinct scent.
On instinct, he headed outside and ran in the direction of the woods.
I always go to the water, she’d told him. He hoped that’s where he would find her.
10
Alanna
Every forest, to Alanna’s mind, was pretty easy to navigate. Her habit of always heading to the water first had always been instinct, even when she was little. She’d always found the sight and sound of a trickling stream or a rushing river to be comforting.
So as Alanna headed swiftly upwards into the depths of the mountain behind Black Bear Lake Lodge, she kept her ears and eyes open for the sound of water. She found patches of moss and followed them into greener and more lush land and finally found a narrow stream that became a wider, deeper creek. She stayed beside it, following it up and up, as far from the lodge as she could get, resisting the urge to go anywhere near town where John was maybe more likely to look for her. It depended on how well he knew her. She certainly hadn’t told him anything about herself. But Rawley might have plied Alex for information, she knew. And Rawley might have told John.
She had to be careful.
Alanna kept to the water and drank when she was thirsty and nibbled some lush grass. There was a lot of snow and her fur had thickened for the winter. The chill felt good. She felt like she hadn’t run around in the snow in so long and it was pleasant and almost made her forget the awful danger she was in. She hadn’t had breakfast that morning and when her stomach started to rumble, she went fishing and feasted on some trout, grateful that nothing was frozen over even this high up in the snow. The familiarity of her claws tearing through scales and flesh somewhat muted the throbbing fear in her mind.
“Hey there!”
Alanna jerked from her spot in a clump of dead leaves by the rushing creek bed. She looked up and blinked. The voice did not sound threatening and the human figure who smiled back at her didn’t look threatening either.
It was an old lady speaking, a shifter by the scent of her. She was wearing jeans and a parka and she stood with her hands on her hips grinning down at Alanna and her trout.
“Nice catch!” the lady said. She sighed and sat down next to Alanna.
It felt very strange to be hanging around a stranger while she was in her bear form and the lady was still human. But she was no threat to Alanna. So she only cast the woman a nod and continued eating her fish. She’d take off again in a minute, she figured. She wanted to get over the mountain if she could, hopefully before the next morning. After that…she wasn’t sure what happened after that. She’d go to Crockett River, she supposed. That would take weeks without money and Rawley had taken all of hers.
“I love trout,” the woman mumbled. “I live in a cabin, you know? Bit east of here. Long hike but I can walk to that fancy lodge if I feel like it. Boy, I was so mad when they bought the lodge from the old owners. I knew that family who owned it for a long time. And here come these young men with all their money. I thought they would be big jerks, you know? But they ended up employing a lot of shifters around here and they’re actually very kind. Give back a lot to the community too. Those Strauss brothers really won me over. Mmhmm.”
Alanna’s ears perked up. She wanted to know more about that. She wondered if the woman knew Nathan personally. She might never see Nathan Strauss again. It would be nice to get one last piece of him before she had to walk out of his life forever.
The woman stopped talking and hugged her knees, smiling softly at the creek that rushed by, the wind blowing her silvery grey hair around.
It was stupid to shift. She wasn’t dressed warmly enough. Alanna liked her human body just fine. She’d assimilated into human life enough that she really appreciated things like soft human skin and lips and the way her petite body looked in a cute dress. She’d grown up a little wild with parents who generally preferred to live as bears a lot of the time even before she’d ended up drifting with Alex. But Alanna rather liked her human side too. Unfortunately, it was fragile as hell.
But Alanna’s desire to know about Nathan was strong and on impulse, she shifted.
“Oh, hello there!” the woman said. She laughed brightly and stuck out her hand for Alanna to shake. “I’m Daisy. Nice to meet you, honey.”
“Hi.” Alanna’s voice came out soft and timid and she cleared her throat and said more firmly, “I have to be getting on in a minute. I’m trying to make it over the mountain before dawn.” She straightened her sweater and shivered, though she wasn’t nearly as cold in her human skin as she thought she’d be. She folded up her legs and frowned down at the trout she’d torn apart.
“That will be quite a feat,” Daisy said knowingly. “But you look young and formidable. Especially your bear.”
“Before I go, I was wondering if you knew any more about the Strauss brothers. Do you know them well?”
“Oh yes.” She smiled fondly, the corner of her eye crinkling up. “They made a point of making sure that all the neighbors around here felt good about the new ownership. They’re very sweet boys. Not many businessmen like them would take the trouble. But I think they didn’t want to be thought of as interlopers. There are a few other resorts around this mountain and sometimes things can get testy with the townies who have been here a very long time. But the Strauss brothers are good men. Good bears. I’ve had them over to my cabin and they were very kind about it. My place is small, just a humble little spot for me to hole away. But they told me I’m always welcome to lunch at the lodge and the one who works as the handyman, Nathan, he comes by a few times every winter to make sure I’m getting on alright.”
&
nbsp; “That’s right,” Alanna said softly. “He told me about that.” Alanna’s voice shook and she felt tears on her icy cold cheeks. “He’s a good guy. The best kind of guy.” She began to cry and covered her face, embarrassed and angry at herself for getting so emotional in front of a stranger.
“Oh honey, oh dear…” Daisy went right into comfort mode and took Alanna in her arms and patted her back. It felt nice to be embraced by a sweet, motherly type. In fact, it was the first time someone had whispered “oh honey” and hugged her and cooed sweet words about how everything would be okay since her parents had died. Alex had always been a rock and she did feel close to her brother. But like so many other male shifters, he wasn’t always the most open with his feelings. She knew he loved her, but even if she had wanted comfort from him, she was the older sister. She had always been the one to look after him. “What’s the matter, dear?”
“Nothing I’d want you to worry about,” Alanna said. “You’re so kind. I wouldn’t want…” She sniffed and took a breath, watching it steam in the chill. “I just wanted to hear about Nathan. I got to know him a little bit, but I have to be moving on. It makes me sad. He seems…like such a good man.”
“He is,” Daisy said simply, patting her back. “The best kind. Not bad looking either!”
“No,” Alanna said, chuckling through her tears. “No, he’s not.”
“Oh, you poor thing,” Daisy murmured. “I don’t know your story, sweetheart. But I hope if you have to leave like this, you’ll be able to visit perhaps?”
She laughed at that, a humorless crack that made her stomach hurt. She would always be on the run. Rawley was everywhere. And if Alex never found her, she would always be alone.
“Maybe he’ll come find you.” Daisy didn’t break her gaze and Alanna felt as if she were seeing more than she let on. “If it’s meant to be, say if he’s your mate? He’ll come find you, honey. They always do. I had a mate myself. Lloyd. I met him when we were just cubs. We were together fifty years before he passed. But we always found each other. Maybe you two will.”
Billionaire Bear Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset Page 9
