13
Simone tried to stop her hands from trembling and to keep her breathing steady as Brad drove them along the forest track in the Jeep. He had wanted to come alone, but there was no way she was going to wait in the house while he was meeting Marcus. She’d go out of her mind with worry. Eventually, Brad had relented and told her she could come but only if she stayed in the Jeep.
She had agreed; there was nothing she could do to help Brad if Marcus attacked, but she still had to be there in case he needed her.
Brad hit the brakes and killed the engine. “This was always Marcus’s favorite spot. He won’t be too far from here.”
“What if you don’t find him?”
“I won’t need to go looking for him; he’ll smell me as soon as I set foot in there.”
She put her hand on his muscular arm. “Please try to talk with him, Brad. And come back to me as soon as you can.”
He nodded. “That’s the plan.” He kissed her and then opened his door and got out. “I’ll leave the keys in the ignition in case you…need them.”
She knew what he meant; if he didn’t return, she would have to drive the Jeep out of the woods. Simone was sure that if he didn’t come back, she would lose her mind and wouldn’t be able to drive anywhere. She would probably go in search of Marcus herself and end up dying in this forest.
A light rain began to drizzle from the slate-gray sky. It ran down the windshield and windows like blurry tears, obscuring Simone’s view of Brad as he stepped off the trail and into the trees.
Stay calm. If he gets into trouble, he can handle it.
She knew that was probably true. Brad was strong and tough. He had a lot of physical prowess. The thing that worried Simone most was that he had ignored his bear nature for so long. He might be at a disadvantage if he had to shift because he wasn’t used to being in bear form.
Sitting in the Jeep while Brad was in the forest looking for his enemy was an almost impossible task. Simone felt jittery from the amount of adrenaline coursing through her veins. She wanted to do something—anything—to help the man she loved.
She had spent too little time with Brad to lose him now. Surely the universe wouldn’t be so cruel as to snatch away the only man she had ever loved before she even got a chance to tell him that she loved him.
Through the rain-blurred windshield, she thought she saw something move in the trees ahead. Was it Brad? Had he come back already? Or maybe it was Marcus. A chill ran along her spine.
She leaned forward, staring intently at the place she had seen movement. There it was again, only this time she recognized the person skulking in the trees. Cora Dearmont.
Simone frowned. What was Cora doing here? The witch’s attention was drawn to something in the forest. She was staying low, trying to avoid being seen by someone. Then she crept forward into the forest, out of Simone’s line of sight.
She had to be watching Brad, but why? Hadn’t she warned him about meeting Marcus? After warning him, she surely couldn’t mean him any harm.
That was a chance that Simone was not willing to take.
She opened her door and got out into the rain. Her T-shirt and jeans were soaked by the insidious drizzle by the time she reached the trees where she had seen Cora.
The witch was deeper in the forest, peeking around the trunk of an elm tree at something or someone that Simone couldn’t see. Cora took a small pouch from somewhere within her black dress and removed from it a thin silver chain that she let dangle from her fingers. She waited, still watching the area ahead of her.
Simone crept closer, realizing that Cora was looking at a clearing in the trees. Two animals came crashing out of the trees into the clearing: a huge wolf and a grizzly bear.
Recognizing Brad, Simone wanted to shout his name, but she didn’t dare distract him from the battle he was fighting against Marcus.
The two met in a tangle of fur and claws, parting after a brief skirmish.
Brad stood facing the wolf, baring his teeth and growling.
Then Cora brought back her hand that held the silver chain and flicked it forward, as if she were whipping Brad with the tiny chain.
To Simone’s amazement, Brad reeled back, as if he had been hit by an actual metal chain. He looked around, confused. In that moment, Marcus leaped forward, mouth open, to sink his fangs into Brad.
Landing on Brad, he sank his teeth into the grizzly’s shoulder. Brad tried to fight back, but Cora made the whipping motion again with the little chain, making Brad stumble.
Simone felt her anger boil over. Cora had obviously decided that if she couldn’t have Brad, then nobody could. Helping Marcus with her witchcraft, she was trying to get Brad killed.
Striding forward, Simone lost all sense of danger to herself. She tapped Cora on the shoulder. “Hey, witch-bitch.”
Cora turned around, startled. Her concentration on whatever spell she was casting had made her oblivious to Simone’s approach. Her eyes went wide with shock.
Simone punched her. She had never struck anyone before with any kind of force exceeding a slap, but her anger lent her a wicked right hook that sent Cora reeling backward. She lay unmoving in the undergrowth, knocked out.
Without the witch’s interference, the tide of the battle in the clearing changed. Brad was much bigger and stronger than Marcus, and he used that advantage to shake the wolf from his back before going on the offensive by charging forward.
The wolf seemed to realize that he had lost his supernatural aid, and ran for the trees. Brad caught him with a swipe of one huge paw that sent Marcus tumbling back across the clearing, bleeding from a tear in his side.
Brad reared up onto his back legs and roared so loudly that the sound reverberated through the entire forest. He dropped back on all fours and lumbered toward the injured wolf.
Simone held her breath. The angry fire burning in the grizzly’s eyes said that he was ready to deliver the killing blow to the wolf.
“Brad, wait!” She ran forward into the clearing.
The grizzly turned his eyes to her and stopped in his tracks. The injured wolf lay panting at the edge of the clearing, unable to run.
“Don’t do this,” Simone pleaded, reaching out and touching the coarse fur of the bear. “It’s murder. There’s a person in there somewhere,” she said, gesturing to the wolf. “I don’t want to see you get arrested and go to jail. I don’t want to live without you. Please don’t do this.”
The bear’s eyes softened.
“You’ve done enough here,” Simone said. “You’ve shown him that you’re stronger, better than he is. Let’s go now. You don’t need to do anything more to prove yourself.”
He looked at Marcus, growled once threateningly, and then turned to leave the clearing. Simone walked beside him. As they passed the unconscious form of Cora Dearmont, Simone said to the bear, “You should have seen me take her out.”
The grizzly made a grunting sound that sounded like a laugh.
14
The next morning, Simone awoke to find Brad’s side of the bed empty. She checked the time on her phone, worried that she had overslept, but it was still early. She put on her robe and went downstairs to find Brad, dressed only in his shorts, sitting on back porch steps, gazing at the yard and the trees beyond.
“Hey,” she said, sitting next to him. The morning sun was already drying the grass after the previous day’s rain.
“Hey.” He put an arm around her and pulled her closer.
Resting her head on his powerful shoulder, she asked, “Are you okay? You looked deep in thought when I came out here.”
“Yeah, I’ve been thinking for a while. I’ve made a decision; I’m not going to enter the Hall of Fame Championships.”
“What? Why not?”
“It’s like you said, I was only trying to win to prove a point, that Marcus was wrong about me, and that I wasn’t a loser. Now, I don’t care about any of that. You were right when you said that facing him would change my outlook. It has. I
don’t need to play in the championships to prove anything.”
“No, you don’t,” she agreed. “But now you can play because you love to play, not because you have to win. You love tennis.”
“I love you,” he said.
“So let me be your reason to win.”
He sighed. “I guess that’s a good enough reason.”
“You guess?” She laughed and punched his shoulder lightly. “Don’t make me mad, honey. I took out a witch with this right hook, you know.”
“Okay,” he said, grinning. “I won’t make you mad. It’s still early. Maybe we can have some fun before we drive to Newport?”
“I once gave you a slap for suggesting we have fun. Are you so sure of yourself now that you don’t think I’ll slap you again?”
“Hmmm, I’ll risk it. So, you want to have some fun?”
She laughed. “I sure do.”
He chased her back into the house, trying to remove her robe before they even got inside.
* * *
Simone held her breath as Brad got ready to serve for the match in the final at Newport. His rise through the ranks had been fast and ferocious as he had beaten every opponent with his new style of play. Gone were the flamboyant moves, and in their place was an arsenal of point-winning shots that left Brad’s opponents wrong-footed or simply on the wrong side of the court as he won point after point with unerring accuracy.
And now, here he was about to serve for the match and the championship against Igor Dremel, the man who had beaten Brad at Wimbledon.
Sitting next to Victor and Tony among the spectators, Simone had relaxed and enjoyed the match on the open-air grass court. The sun was shining over Newport, and Brad was about to become a champion. She knew he would win from the moment he stepped out onto the court. No longer was he playing out of fear; now he was playing for love.
That, and his talent, had brought him to this point. Brad was about to cement his name into the history of the Newport Hall of Fame.
He tossed the ball up and arched his body backward before snapping forward, serving the ball over the net. Dremel had no chance. He swung for the ball but missed. Brad had served an ace to win the match.
He threw his racket in the air and dropped to his knees, his expression one of pure joy. His hard work had paid off. He had beaten his inner demons.
As the crowd cheered and clapped, Brad got to his feet before leaping over the barrier at the side of the court and coming toward Simone, arms wide.
She stood up and put her own arms out, hugging him when he reached her. “You did it,” she whispered. “Well done.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
While the match officials lined up on the court for the award ceremony, Simone said, “I think they want you to go down there and collect your award.”
“I’m staying here,” he said. “I’m right where I want to be.”
“But the TV cameras and photographers want to get a picture of you. You’re the winner.”
“Yes, I am,” he said, looking into her eyes. “But if they want to take my picture, then let them take a picture of this.” He kissed her passionately.
Simone saw all the cameras on the court swivel toward them before she closed her eyes and became lost in the kiss. The crowd cheered.
One of the TV commentators came up to them with his microphone. “Brad, that was a great victory over your old nemesis, Igor Dremel. Do you have anything you’d like to say to the good folk watching this on TV?”
“I just want to thank my team. My manager, Victor, and my coach, Tony. And most of all, this woman beside me. She’s helped me more than anyone.”
The commentator smiled and pushed his microphone toward Simone. “You two seem pretty close. Would it be fair to say that your encouragement has helped Brad get to where he is today?”
“Not only my encouragement,” Simone said, looking into the TV cameras, “but also my love. I love Brad, and I think that helped to keep him grounded while he trained for these championships.”
“Wait a minute,” Brad said, looking at her. “What did you say?”
She grinned. “I love you.”
The commentator looked at the camera. “You heard it here first, folks. International playboy Brad McClintock is in love. I think we can expect to see more great things from this new star in the future.”
Brad looked into Simone’s eyes. “What do you think? Are there more great things to come in the future?”
She nodded. “Definitely, honey.”
They kissed again.
<<<<>>>>
Bear With A Badge
1
Carter McClintock stepped out of the warm night air and into the air-conditioned coolness of Molly’s Diner at a little after ten. The smell of burgers and fried chicken hanging in the cool air made Carter’s mouth water. He walked past the handful of truckers sitting at the tables near the door and went to the corner booth he always chose, sinking onto the familiar cracked-vinyl covered bench and waving at Donna, the waitress, to get her attention.
Outside, a full moon shone down over the parking lot, bathing the trucks and Carter’s patrol car in silvery light. Carter hated full moons. Around here, they meant trouble. So did hot and humid summer nights. Put those things together and he knew the nightshift was going to be busy tonight.
“Hey, Chief,” Donna said with a smile when she reached his table. She was in her sixties, and had been a waitress here for as long as Carter had been in Belladonna Falls. “About to start your shift, huh?” she asked, holding her order pad and a pen in her hands, even though Carter ordered the same thing every time he was here.
He smiled back at her. “Yeah, at ten thirty, the same as every Friday, Donna. I need eggs and coffee to keep me going through the night.”
“The usual?” she asked, squirreling the order pad and pen into the pocket of her gingham apron. Her pale pink uniform bore the name Molly’s in red flowing script across the left breast pocket but Carter knew there was no Molly here. The diner was owned and run by Al, the man in the kitchen who was a genius with a hotplate. Maybe someday he should ask Al who Molly was, or if the name had just been made up for the diner.
He nodded. “Yeah, I’ll take the usual.” As she turned to take his order to Al, Carter said, “How are things tonight?”
Donna shrugged. “Like any Friday night, I guess.” Then understanding crossed her face and she said, “Oh, you mean because of the full moon? Don’t you worry, Chief, I’m sure all the wolves in town are wearing silver tonight.” She reached beneath the lapel of her uniform and pulled out a tiny silver disc on a dainty chain. It shone in the glow from the overhead lights. “See? I’m wearing my mother’s necklace. Same as I wear every full moon.”
Carter nodded. “That’s good.”
She went to the hatch to tell Al that Chief McClintock was here and wanted his usual scrambled eggs, toast, and honey.
Carter was glad that Donna was wearing silver, and he knew that most of the other wolves in town would be doing the same, but the full moon made him uneasy just the same. There had been too many incidents over the past few months of wolf shifters going crazy when the moon was full.
The so-called curse of the werewolf was well known in folklore but a little different in reality. In the old stories, werewolves only changed into wolf form during a full moon and went on a killing spree that they couldn’t control. In reality, wolf shifters could change whenever they wanted and were in full control, but on the night of the full moon the change would occur unwillingly. And there was a danger, on that night, of being affected by the phase of the moon and going feral.
Only wearing an item of silver close to the skin prevented the irresistible change. Most wolf shifters remembered to wear silver jewelry on the night of the full moon but some forgot or just didn’t bother. It had caused some problems in the past and Carter was sure it would cause more in the future.
One thing the folk tales did get right, though; silver bul
lets could kill a werewolf. The revolver that Carter wore at his hip, on his leather police belt, was always loaded with silver bullets. As police chief of Belladonna Falls, he had to be prepared for everything. The shifter population was higher here than anywhere else in the country, even Carter’s hometown of Paxton Falls.
Belladonna Falls, also called The Falls by its residents, was a small town but its population was mostly made up of bear shifters, wolf shifters, and witches. There were a few normal humans in town but they were outnumbered by
Donna returned with a steaming coffee pot and poured some for Carter. The coffee at Molly’s was always strong, just the way Carter liked it, especially before he started a long night shift.
“Everything else okay?” Donna asked when she was done pouring the dark, pungent liquid.
Carter nodded as he added cream and sugar to the cup. “Yeah, everything’s good. I got a message today from my brother Cole. He’s coming to visit in a couple of days.”
“Well that’s great. It’s a while since you’ve seen him isn’t it?”
“A couple of years at least.” He took a sip of the strong, sweet coffee.
“So what made them decide to come see you now?”
“He and his partner Dani are expecting a baby.” He took another swallow of coffee. “I’m going to be an uncle.”
“Uncle Carter,” Donna said with a grin. “How delightful. Wasn’t he single the last time you saw him?”
Carter nodded. “He found someone to love in the meantime.”
“I guess when you bears hear The Call, you have to respond,” she said. “Is it true that you might go rogue if you ignore it?”
“Yeah,” Carter said, finishing the coffee. “That’s true.”
A small bell rang from the hatch that connected the main diner the kitchen. “Sounds like your eggs are done,” Donna said, going over to collect the plate and bringing it back to the table. The generous pile of scrambled eggs sat next to three slices of toast and a little white ceramic pot of honey. Carter drizzled the honey over the eggs.
McClintock Bears Box Set Page 18
