The wolf backed away toward the door it had come from. It had lowered its head and tail, body language that showed it was afraid of Carter.
But just as Carter was contemplating the best way to take down his opponent, a sound from behind him caught his attention. He turned his head slowly, still keeping an eye in the rogue wolf.
Two other wolves had entered the alley and were approaching Carter with teeth bared and malice in their yellow eyes. Their low growls filled the alley as they stalked toward Carter.
Carter recognized them as Eli Provost, an elder of the wolf clan of Belladonna Falls, and Frank Swain, Provost’s second-in-command.
What the hell were they doing? The wolf that had chased Mia was rogue, yet these two wanted to protect it?
Provost shifted into human form so that he could communicate with Carter. When in animal form, the wolves could communicate with each other, as could bears, but the two species couldn’t speak to each other except through body language.
Eli was in his late fifties, dark-haired and bearded. He had lived in the Falls all his life and had quickly risen through the pack hierarchy to become their leader. “Leave him along, Chief,” he said. “He’s one of ours.”
Carter growled and shook his big bear head.
“We’ll take care of him,” Eli said. “This is wolf business.”
Carter shifted to human form, but remained guarded. If he had to, he would return to bear form in an instant. He may be outnumbered three to one, but he would go down fighting. “This is town business, Eli. This wolf is rogue and he won’t stop killing. You know how it works.”
Eli nodded. “Yeah, I know how it works. I also know that the wolves in this town have been treated as second class citizens for a long time and we’re sick and tired of it.”
“That isn’t true,” Carter said. “There are rules for the wolf shifters to follow on the night of the full moon, but that’s because of the way your wolf curse works. The rules are there to protect the citizens of this town.” He looked over at Mia. She would be waking up soon and if this argument wasn’t over soon, she would wake up to see two naked men and two huge wolves in the alley. Carter wouldn’t be able to explain that away.
“The wolves are citizens of this town too,” Eli said. “And that feller there is coming with us.” He pointed to the rogue wolf. “You aren’t going to try and stop us are you, Chief?”
Carter shook his head. He had little choice with Mia in the alley. She could get hurt if this situation blew up into a major battle. At least he would know that the rogue wolf was with Eli. That should make him easy enough to find.
Eli shifted back into wolf form and looked at the rogue. Some unspoken communication passed between them and the rogue followed Eli and Frank out of the alley.
Carter checked Mia. She was still out but she wouldn’t be that way for long. He ran back to his Land Rover and put on the spare clothes from under the back seat. He also had a set of clothing under the passenger seat and one in the trunk. A shifter could never have enough spare clothing.
When he was dressed, he ran back to the alley where the waitress and cooks from Burger & Buns were standing together in a huddle and discussing what had just happened.
Carter knew they would probably stat spreading a story about how Eli Provost, leader of the wolves, had confronted the chief of police and won, but Carter didn’t have time for that now. Mia was his only concern.
He stood beside her as she regained consciousness.
6
Mia awoke and blinked her eyes. She was still in the alley but there was no sign of the bear or the wolf. The waitress and the cooks from Burger & Buns were standing together by the fire exit door, talking in low tones.
Carter McClintock was standing by her, looking down at her with a concerned look on his face. When he saw that she was awake, he said, “Are you okay?”
She nodded but she wasn’t sure that she was okay at all. Her mind was telling her that what she had seen was impossible. Even more impossible was the fact that she was still alive.
“What happened?” she asked. “Where are the wolf and the bear?”
Carter crouched down so he was on a level with her. “We need to talk about that,” he said, “but not right now. You’re in shock. You need to get warm and rest.”
Mia realized how cold she felt, despite the warmth of the day. “I do feel cold,” she said to Carter.
He helped her to her feet. “I’ll get you to your hotel.”
But she shook her head. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Okay.” He led her out of the alley to the street she had been trying to run toward when the grizzly had appeared. Mia noticed something strange on the ground; shredded pieces of black cloth and denim blowing in the slight breeze. There was also a torn pair of sneakers lying in the alley.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“It’s nothing,” he replied. “You need to stay calm right now, Mia, and not ask so many questions. Just let me take care of you.”
She nodded and let him lead her to a dark blue Land Rover. She climbed in and waited while he went around to the driver’s side of the vehicle. Even though she was mostly able to take care of herself, she felt safer when Carter was around. He had the aura of a protector, and she definitely felt protected when she was with him.
He got in and started the engine. “I’m going to take you to my place. You can get some rest there, and I’ll be with you.”
That made her feel warmer inside. She looked at his fitted black t-shirt and jeans. “So I take it you’re off duty today?”
He nodded as he pulled out into traffic and guided the Land Rover along Main Street. “I have a few days off work”
She grinned. “But you’re still rescuing damsels in distress in your spare time.”
He shrugged. “I was in the area.”
She peered out of the window at the alley. “I’m still not sure what happened back there.”
He reached across and put a hand on her thigh. “Don’t worry about that now.”
His touch was comforting and also sent a spark of sexual sensation through Mia’s body. She shivered with delicious pleasure.
She had no idea how she had fallen for Carter so quickly and completely but she didn’t question it. There was no point arguing with her own desires and emotions.
She had no idea where things were going to go with Carter but for now she was going to enjoy the ride.
She chuckled at that thought. “Enjoy the ride” indeed!
Carter looked over at her. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing,” she said, looking out of the window so he wouldn’t see her blush.
She shifted her position and her feet contacted something soft under her seat. Reaching down, she grabbed it and pulled it forward. It was a bundle of clothing consisting of a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, a pair of socks and a pair of sneakers.
“Do you always keep an entire set of clothing in your vehicle?” she asked Carter.
He looked at the clothing. “You never know when you might need more clothes,” he said lightly.
Mia frowned. She remembered Carter walking naked in the woods at night, and the torn clothing in the alley. The destroyed sneakers she had seen were the same type as the ones beneath her seat. She looked at Carter’s feet. He was wearing identical sneakers to the ones beneath the seat and the ones in the alley.
“For a guy who like to take his clothes off, you carry a lot of spares,” she said.
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
The drove out of town and Carter turned onto a dirt track that led through the woods.
“You live in the middle of nowhere?” Mia asked as the Land Rover began to bump over rocks and potholes in the road.
“I like the isolation,” he replied. “You don’t mind coming all the way out here, do you? If you’d rather go to the hotel…”
“No, it’s fine. I’d like to see where you live. I’m imagining a log cabin with no elect
ricity or running water.”
He laughed. “It’s not quite that basic.”
She grinned but the clothing thing still bothered her. Why would you carry spare clothing in your car? The only logical reason was that you might lose the clothes you were wearing. It was true that Carter had no clothes on in the woods but he had taken them off and hung them on a tree. He had no need for spares.
Her inquisitive mind played with the puzzle as they drove deeper into the woods.
She remembered the guy across the street from the burger restaurant and the way he turned into a wolf. He had been wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt and a pair of jeans but they had ripped into shreds when he’d transformed.
The shredded clothes she’d seen in the alley didn’t belong to the wolfman because he had changed in front of the burger place, not behind it in the alley.
Her mind worked along the line of logic. If the wolf had once been a man, then the huge grizzly bear had probably been a man too. He had transformed into a bear in the alley and fought the wolf.
At the time, Mia had thought that they two monsters had been fighting for the right to eat her.
But she had been unharmed.
What if the bear hadn’t been there to eat her but was in the alley to save her?
She remembered her words to Carter.
You’re still rescuing damsels in distress in your spare time.
Her heart leapt in her chest as her mind pieced together the facts.
The ripped clothes in the alley were the same as Carter’s.
Because they were Carter’s.
He was the bear.
“Oh my God,” she said, suddenly panicking. She was in a truck in the middle of nowhere with a monster.
“What is it?” Carter asked.
She shrank back against the door. “It was you.”
Confusion crossed his face. “What? What do you mean?”
“That bear. It was you.” She had to get out of here now. She pulled on the handle that opened the door and it flew open. She fumbled with her seatbelt. She felt trapped in the vehicle.
“Mia, wait!” Carter shouted.
She couldn’t stop the fear that flooded through her. She managed to unfasten the seatbelt and then she was falling out of the open doorway onto the hard road.
The wind was knocked out of her as she hit the ground but luckily the Land Rover hadn’t been moving fast because of the poor condition of the road.
Mia scrambled to her feet and ran back the way they had come as Carter stopped the vehicle and got out.
“Mia,” he shouted. “Come back.”
She didn’t slow down. She knew she couldn’t run all the way back to town but she didn’t want to be near Carter right now. As she ran, her mind raced. Were there others like Carter, and the wolfman that had attacked her?
There must be. When she had come around in the alley, the waitress and cooks had been there, acting as if nothing had happened.
Mia knew the secret of Belladonna Falls but wished she were somewhere else, anywhere else instead of here among the monsters.
“Mia!” Carter shouted again.
She stopped running, her heart hammering, her breath labored. “Leave me alone, Carter. You lied to me. You didn’t tell me you were a monster.” Hot tears stung her eyes and cascaded down her cheeks.
She wasn’t even sure why she was so upset. If she got out of this town alive, she had the story she’d always wanted. Monsters were real and they were in America. She would be sitting on Marilyn Hart’s sofa, telling her story to the nation.
So why did she feel as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest? Why was she devastated? She should be pleased; she had what she’d always wanted.
But when she looked at Carter standing next to the Land Rover, she knew why she felt so bad. Despite telling herself that she barely knew him, deep down she had strong feelings for Carter McClintock. Stronger feelings than she dared admit even to herself.
He stayed by the vehicle and didn’t advance. She had told him to leave her alone and he was respecting her wishes.
Mia wished he would come to her and explain why he had lied.
“I didn’t lie to you,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “I was going to tell you but I wanted it to be at the right time.”
“And when was that going to be?” she asked angrily. “After you’d fucked me a few more times?”
He came forward. “No, it isn’t like that.”
Mia didn’t back away. She didn’t have the willpower to fight anymore. It felt as if the world had tilted crazily and she was in danger of sliding into madness.
Then Carter’s strong arms were around her and she knew she was safe. She looked up into his eyes. “What are you?”
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go to the house and I’ll explain everything.”
7
When Mia saw Carter’s house, she had to admit that it was nothing like the log cabin she had imagined. The house was large and modern, with two floors and large windows looking out over the woods.
Carter parked outside and looked over at Mia. “You still want to come in?”
She nodded. They hadn’t spoken since she had got back into the Land Rover. Mia’s mind had been running over the possibilities of what Carter was going to say to her that could explain everything that had happened to her since arriving in Belladonna Falls.
She assumed he had been silent because he’d been working out the explanation in his mind.
He walked up the path to the front door and opened it, gesturing for Mia to go inside. She did so, and found herself in a hallway that was hung with photographs of landscapes.
“My brother Cole took the photos,” Carter said as he closed the front door. “He’s a wildlife photographer but he sometimes does landscapes too.”
“Very nice,” she said. Then she added, “Is he…like you?”
Carter nodded. “Come into the living room. I owe you an explanation. Would you like a drink?”
“Yes, please. Something strong.” She followed him into the living room. Natural light flooded in through the large windows, making the room seem warm and welcoming. The furnishings consisted of a plush sofa and easy chairs arranged around a large stone fireplace and a wooden coffee table.
Mia’s fear subsided a little. Carter’s house was normal, not a monster’s lair. In fact, the house gave off a comfortable, welcoming vibe.
She sat on the sofa while Carter fixed her a drink. He came back with a glass for her and one for himself. “Scotch,” he said. “You said you wanted something strong.”
“This will be fine, thanks,” she said, taking a sip of the amber liquid. It burned all the way down her throat but it felt good.
Carter sat next to her and took a sip of his own drink before setting it on the coffee table. “I’m not sure where to begin,” he said.
“You can start by telling me what you are,” Mia said.
“I’m a lycanthrope, a werebear, or a shifter, whichever you prefer. They all mean the same thing; I can shift into the form of a bear whenever I want. It’s a hereditary condition that’s passed down through family bloodlines. Both my brothers are shifters too.”
“And so is everyone in town,” Mia speculated. They had to be because it was the only way such a thing could remain secret. Everybody in town was in on it.
“Not everyone. Belladonna Falls is a haven for shifters, but some people here are human. They live alongside the shifter population and they guard the secret of the town just as strongly as they would if they were shifters themselves. They know that we aren’t monsters.”
Mia took another sip of the scotch. “The wolf that attacked me was a monster. It tried to kill Jake and me when we were in the van, and it tried to kill me in the burger restaurant.”
Carter frowned. “That was a rogue werewolf. If wolf shifters don’t wear silver next to their skin on the night of a full moon, they shift uncontrollably and experience a bloodlust that affects them every time
they shift after that.
“The creature that attacked you hadn’t been wearing silver when the moon was full for some reason. So he went rogue.”
“Who was he?” Mia asked. “What happened to him? Did you…kill him?”
Carter shook his head. “I don’t know who he was. I didn’t recognize him in wolf form. I might not even know him at all. And no, I didn’t kill him. I might have but two other wolves rescued him. One of them, Eli Provost, is the leader of the wolves in town.” He sighed. “It looks like he may be planning some sort of uprising. Wolves and bears have always lived peacefully here for years but Eli’s tone wasn’t one of peace.”
“Wow,” Mia said, feeling as if she was in a dream, “I can’t believe this is really happening. It’s like Twilight or something.”
Carter laughed. “There are no vampires here, only shifters.”
“But now you’re going to tell me that vampires are real, right?”
“I have no idea if vampires are real.”
“Ok,” she said, nodding. “Bears and wolves but not vampires. Got it. Are there any other animal shifters apart from bears and wolves?”
He nodded. “There are a few others that I know of. I’ve heard that there are stag shifters in the highlands of Scotland, and big cat shifters in Africa.”
It was a lot to take in all at once. Mia’s worldview had just been turned upside down and her mind was trying to make sense of the new perspective.
While part of her brain tried to process the information she had just learned, another part was figuring out the best way to tell this story to the world. She had stayed in town hoping to find something newsworthy and had stumbled on the biggest story of her life.
“Of course, I don’t have to tell you that this must remain a secret,” Carter said, as if reading her mind.
She nodded slowly but in her mind she was asking herself how she could possibly not tell anyone what she had discovered. “Why did you tell me all this?” she asked. “You know I’m a journalist. Stories like this only come once in a lifetime yet you trust me enough to keep quiet about it?”
McClintock Bears Box Set Page 23
