Tracking the Bear (Blue Ridge Bears Book 1)

by Jasmine B. Waters

  The goddess stumbled back. Lucy hit her again, catching a glancing blow on her side. Time after time, Lucy ducked and dodged the goddess’s blasts of retaliation. Lances of power that tore furrows in the surrounding earth either seemed to glance off of her or miss her entirely. Meanwhile, she lined up shot after shot, burning holes in the goddess.

  I thought I finally understood her goal. It wasn’t necessarily to kill Frigg. She’d made herself and her brother targets to draw Frigg’s fire. They were slowing her down. With every injury, she grew weaker. When she finally fell to the ground with a smoking hole in one calf, the siren call that had been her influence was faint enough I could shake it off easily.

  Lucy bounced the ball from one foot to the other, watching Frigg warily. The goddess sprawled on the ground, clutching her injured leg. Her face was twisted up in pain, and she looked small and vulnerable, hunched over her leg. She looked like the picture of a beaten woman. But Lucy seemed to know instinctively what it had taken me years and several hard lessons to learn. The prey is at its most dangerous when it is cornered and in pain.

  Frigg drew in her power, and it crackled like a golden halo around her head. A ball of golden light coalesced in her hands. Lucy’s eyes narrowed, and she aimed a kick at Frigg’s head.

  Calder, who seemed to have been struck dumb by the first blitz attack, threw himself in front of the attack, taking the blow for his mistress. The werewolf stared dully at the hole in his middle. Maybe he’d underestimated the power of Lucy’s weapon. Maybe he really was that willing to die for his mistress. No one would ever know. The ball bored straight through his thick hide, like a hot knife through butter.

  He mouthed wordlessly for a few seconds before he fell to the ground before the kneeling goddess.

  I struggled to my feet, trying to bully my brain into completing the shift back to human. Slowly, painfully, the fur began to recede. My bones ground as they reshaped each other. It wasn’t painful, though most physiologists said it should be. Not too long after that, I was slumping boneless to the ground at the relief. I still felt sick, and I was exhausted after the ordeal I’d been through, but I was at least human again. Most of the pain had gone with the retreat of my bear.

  Lucy stared at the corpse of the wolf, looking stricken. I didn’t see it as much of a loss. He’d bitten and threatened to rape her. But Lucy’s heart was tender. She felt deeply, and it was one of the many things that I loved about her. The fact that she’d hit anything but her intended target with a deadly weapon horrified her.

  “Lucy, watch out!” Luke cried.

  Lucy and I both turned in time to see Frigg seize the ball from the ground. Her hands burned even as she touched it, but she had a grin of triumph on her face as she raised it above her head. Her eyes burned with hate as they fell upon Luke, standing only a few feet away.

  “Die,” she snarled, and prepared the hurl the ball at his face.

  I lunged forward and, with all the strength left in my body, caught her in a flying tackle that sent us both flying over the edge of the cliff.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lucy

  “No!” The shout tore its way from my throat before I could think. I was on my feet again, running. My leg hurt from overuse and I didn’t care. Chance disappeared over the edge and as he did, I felt the power that had been inside the ball flicker out. It didn’t matter. I knew that my time had been limited. It was why I’d decided to blitz her, rather than wait for an opportune time to set up a headshot.

  It had taken longer than we’d hoped to navigate our way back. First, because Luke had no idea where his bear had dragged us, and secondly, because the wolves had been everywhere in the woods. Alerting even one of them would have brought an entire pack down on us.

  So we’d arrived at the clearing with only half an hour to spare. Luke had to physically restrain me, or I would have thrown caution to the wind and marched right up to the goddess and her lackey and botched the whole plan.

  I had seen my fair share of animals in pain over the years, given where I’d grown up. Pigs and cows not immediately killed by a bolt. Messy kills made on hunting trips with my extended family. The tortured sounds that Chance had made were worse. His pain, suffered on my behalf, cut me to the heart. I’d wanted to kill her, right then and there.

  But not this way. Chance disappeared over the edge of the cliff and my skin physically rippled as my bear responded to my distress. After all we’d suffered, it couldn’t end like this. He was our mate. No one was taking him away from us.

  “Let me go!” I protested, struggling against Luke’s grip. While he’d been no weakling before, his body had seemed to double in size since he’d acquired the spirit of the bear. So despite the strength that thrummed through my body, he managed to keep me still.

  “Promise me,” he snapped. “Promise me that no matter what you see, you’re not jumping after him.”

  That thought hadn’t even occurred to me. Once it had, it held an odd sort of appeal. I understood what he’d meant now, about not seeing other women. I thought that he’d exaggerated, trying to soothe my doubts. But it was true. I hadn’t really considered other men that way. Not since I’d seen him.

  What would it have been like for me, if he’d left Fairchild? I could picture all too clearly my sad little life in the backwater town. What if he’d died on the way, and I’d never gotten the chance to know him?

  The emptiness of that life stretched before me in horrifying clarity. I knew for certain that if Chance died, I would never find a love as vital or sharp as what I felt for that man, that bear.

  “I promise.”

  He let me go reluctantly and I ran forward. I fell to my knees at the cliff’s edge and peered over the side. I let out a half sob of relief when I saw his face, a few feet away from mine. He’d clung to a protruding rock shelf for dear life. His knuckles where white and his arms were shaking with the strain of holding his body weight. Frigg was nowhere to be seen.

  “You’re okay!”

  “If I can get back up, the worst thing damaged is my pride,” he panted. “A little help?”

  Together, Luke and I managed to haul him up to the cliff’s edge. He lay on the ground, limp and boneless for several long minutes.

  Luke peered over the side as well. “I can’t see her. It’s like she just disappeared.”

  “They tend to do that,” I muttered, thinking back to the sudden appearance and abrupt disappearance of Freyr’s messenger. I patted Chance down, looking for injuries. Aside from a few fading bite barks, he looked fine.

  “Thank God,” I breathed.

  “I wouldn’t thank anyone just yet.” Chance sat up, grimacing at the pair of us. “I’ve located the fugitive. So I’m supposed to call in, so the others can stop the search.”

  “But that’s not fair!” I protested. “He just saved your life. Don’t you owe him a debt or something?”

  “I do. That’s why I’m not attacking.”

  “That, and you’re too exhausted to fight me,” Luke muttered. Chance glowered up at him.

  “I can’t let him go, Lucy. He’s got two nights in the lunar cycle left. He’s dangerous if he’s left alone in that state. And more than that, if he’s caught out in the full moon, he will be killed, not merely held captive.”

  I bristled at that. Yes, Chance was the love of my life. I couldn’t imagine the future without him. But Luke was my brother. If this ended badly for him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to forgive Chance.

  Luke laid a gentle hand on my shoulder. “It’s alright, Luce. This is the way it’s got to be.”

  “Bullshit!” I cried. “There has to be another way.”

  Chance climbed to his feet, drawing himself up to his full and considerable height. He glanced up at the sky and grimaced. “We’ll only have a few hours to get things set up. The wolves ate most of our food, and absolutely trashed our tent. I might be able to salvage the poles, but it looks like you and I will be sleeping on the ground tonight.”

&
nbsp; He managed to find his phone amongst the wreckage and walked away from us, looking for a place with signal. Luke and I began to sort through what was left of the campsite.

  “So, that’s your guy?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

  “My man,” I corrected. He smiled faintly.

  “He’s a bit of an asshole, but I suppose you could do worse.”

  I began to sort through the tent poles, sorting the ones carved with runes from the rest of the pile. I knew them when I touched them now, because the latent power in them tingled against my palms.

  “At his point, I don’t see how I could have done any better.”

  ***

  I’m sure that in any other circumstance the night would have been miserable. The earth was hard packed and cold. I didn’t even have the long flannel shirts that Chance had allowed me to borrow. They weren’t more than scrap now. We’d been able to salvage most of the tent poles that had been charmed, and they’d done their job in keeping Luke caged.

  His snarls continued unabated, and I burrowed deeper into Chance’s fur. He curled his big body around mine. His fur helped to keep the night chill away. And now, with my bear spirit, I could hear and understand him better than I had before.

  “Will I be like that?” I asked, flinching away from another vicious roar of sound.

  “At first. I will teach you. And if he survives the trial tomorrow, I will teach him as well.”

  I stroked his soft fur to calm myself. I needed to sleep. I wasn’t going to miss the trail because I’d overslept. The bear spirit kept me alert enough, I didn’t need to add anxiety on top of that. “How likely is that?”

  He didn’t answer for a long time, and I was afraid he’d dozed off.

  “I’d give it even odds,” he decided. “It was manslaughter. But the death was very public, and has brought even greater scrutiny upon our communities. The judges of the Thing may be less sympathetic as a result.”

  I still didn’t get the Norse justice system. I hadn’t really been a straight A student in history or government, so I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but it seemed like the idea of a separate legal system that operated outside of the jurisdiction of the state wasn’t kosher. Especially since they had the power to dispense capital punishment without supervision.

  I gazed up at the moon. Next month, I was going to transform into a beast capable of enormous violence. How would this have played out, if I’d been the one to receive the botched medical procedure? Would the Thing be as eager to put me down, if I’d killed a bunch of small town yokels, instead of a high-profile college athlete? Somehow, I doubted it.

  Chance’s companions would arrive in the morning, and we’d have members of the Thing casting their vote and passing sentence via Skype. Damned information age. If they’d had to get off their lazy asses and travel to us, maybe we’d actually have time to think of a defense.

  “Sleep, Lucy,” Chance said softly. “I’ll brief you on procedure in the morning. We’ll think of something.”

  I let my eyes flutter closed, but an imprint of the moon continued to burn brightly on the inside of my eyelids. I was still limited, still human for now and as unable to affect the outcome of tomorrow’s trial.

  Freyr had said I could stop Chance from killing Luke. But that hadn’t been the way it had played out. In the end, I’d stopped Luke and Frigg. So what had that meant? Had Freyr been woefully wrong?

  Or was my fight still to come?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chance

  Darren was passing out doughnuts and coffee to the assembled lawmen. None of us looked good. After three weeks of travel and roughing in the mountains, we all looked worse for wear. I’d sustained the most scars, though not many of the other lawmen seemed to believe me when I’d told them that I’d been attacked by Ulfhednar.

  Of all the bears assembled, Luke Elmsong was definitely the worse for wear. He looked like he’d just gotten over a severe bout of flu. The circles underneath his eyes were huge, and he looked exhausted. Lucy, standing beside him, looked almost as pale and wan.

  She’d slept fitfully all night, waking often, my name always on her lips. That, at least, was comforting. She needed me as much as I needed her. And somehow, I didn’t think it was just the bear that had driven that home.

  Lucy slipped her coffee cup to him discreetly, while Darren was busy setting up the generator that would allow the computers to work at all. The signal would probably be awful, and the picture delayed, but it was the best we could do. The Thing had promised speedy justice to the public, and that’s what they were going to deliver.

  A half hour later, and all members of the Thing had been assembled. The lawmen stood by, mostly as a security precaution, in case Luke Elmsong attempted to run.

  “The Thing for the Tri-State area of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio is called to order.” Joseph, a portly were-bear in his late seventies, was presiding. Times had certainly changed. Originally seats on the Thing were reserved for the Alpha male, and those who delegated. But of course, this man looked a lot safer than someone like Darren or I, so he was the face we showed to the public.

  “We come here to decide the fate of one Luke Elmsong.” All eyes fell on Luke, who set the coffee cup on the ground. His face was unreadable. I wasn’t sure if he was too brave or too stupid to fear the outcome of the trail.

  “You stand accused of murder. How do you plead?”

  “Manslaughter,” Lucy protested. “Involuntary manslaughter at that. He had no idea what was happening. He’s not responsible-”

  “Silence!” Joseph thundered. The picture didn’t match his words, and it took a few seconds before he looked as properly outraged. “You are not the accused, Ms. Elmsong. You will refrain from comment until the verdict has been reached.”

  Lucy’s mouth snapped shut, and I could hear her teeth grinding from across the clearing where I stood with the other lawmen. She wasn’t doing him any favors by interrupting.

  “Mr. Elmsong, did you kill Keith Page, yes or no?”

  “Yes,” Luke said, swallowing thickly. “I killed him. I didn’t know what I was doing, but that’s no excuse. He’s still dead.”

  The members of the Thing muttered amongst themselves.

  After another long pause, Joseph addressed us again. “Are you dangerous, Mr. Elmsong?” Joseph asked a trifle too innocently. I resisted the urge to grind my own teeth. Joseph was a bureaucrat first, and a were-bear second. He was leading the trial with the assumption of guilt. He needed a justified killing to appease the press.

  “On the nights of the full moon, I suppose,” Luke said, glancing around. “But whatever Mr. Kassower set up last night kept me caged. I haven’t killed a human being since.”

  “We have been told you attacked your own sister,” Joseph continued as if Luke hadn’t spoken. “Your kin. Your fraternal twin, we’re told. Do you really believe you deserve to live? Be honest, Mr. Elmsong. Do you think someone who would have killed their own blood is safe, cage or no?”

  Luke’s shoulders slumped, and Lucy’s hand tightened around his shoulder until her knuckles turned white. She was biting her lip, presumably to keep herself from hurling insults at the screen. No matter how this turned out, Lucy was going to have a hate on for Joseph Fenn.

  “No,” he muttered.

  More murmurs from the assembled Thing. The lawmen around me shifted restlessly. Even Darren, who’d been willing to kill Luke the moment he’d arrived, looked disquieted. None of us wanted to believe our justice system had been corrupted by human politicking.

  Joseph clapped his hands together. It was a jarringly merry sound, given the circumstances. “Very well, then. I believe we have our answer, given from his own lips. Shall it be done with a blade, or a gun?”

  “Wait just a minute!” Lucy protested, striding forward. If Joseph Fenn had been physically present, I was sure she would have marched right up to him and jabbed a bony finger into his chest the way she’d done to me more than once on the journe
y. Her face was flushed with anger, and her blue eyes flashed dangerously. “What kind of sham trial is this, huh?”

  She put her face right up next to the screen and pointed the finger at it instead.

  “I was told a lawbreaker was entitled to a fair trial.”

  “He has been given one. By his own confession, he is guilty of taking human life.”

  “You aren’t taking the circumstances into account!” she cried. “It’s not like he meant to do it. It was an accident.”

  “Steel or gun, Mr. Oberlander?” Joseph asked coolly.

  “No,” Lucy said firmly, taking a step back from the screens. She put her hands on her hips and did her best to stare down each member of the Thing. “No, I’m not letting you do this. The law says he’s entitled to a fair trial. To that end, I challenge his accuser to a trial by combat.”

  Everyone in the clearing stared at her. I couldn’t blame her. She was easily dwarfed by all the men in attendance, including her brother. She was curvy and soft, not a hardened warrior like the rest of us. Even with her bear, how did she expect to win?

  “You can’t,” Joseph finally sputtered. “You’re not entitled to that right. You’re not one of us.”

  Lucy flashed him a fierce smile. “Oh yes, I am. Since you’ve decided not to be here in person, you can’t smell it, but I’m one hundred percent were-bear.”

  “Is it true?” he demanded of Darren, who was still shifting awkwardly at my side. Darren stood a little straighter and strode over to Lucy. I bristled as he bent close to her, skimming his nose across her throat. It was for show, and I knew that. I still didn’t like having him that close to my female.

  “She’s a bear,” he confirmed. “Though I have no idea where she came into contact with that breed.”

  I’d noticed that too, when she’d been nestled in my fur the night before. Added to her natural scent was a hint of brine and the cool crispness of the north wind. If I hadn’t seen it happen myself, I would have never have believed that she’d come into contact with a polar bear. There weren’t enough of them left.