by Liv Brywood
When he reached it, the scent of another bear brought him to a sliding stop. He pushed his nose into the snow along the riverbank. He tracked the scent for over a mile before it veered up into dense foliage.
As he stalked the other bear, his hackles rose. The scent belonged to Bruno, the jerk who’d started the fight at Five Claw’s. He didn’t live close to Kade, so why was his scent anywhere near his property?
The trail led him deeper into the forest. Trees blocked the night sky, obscuring millions of stars, and plunging the landscape into absolute darkness. He relied on his superior sense of smell to follow Bruno’s tracks.
As he passed through a clearing, he spotted a light through the trees. He slowly placed one paw in front of the other as he stalked closer to the source. Light from an oil lantern illuminated an old hunting shack. It couldn’t have been larger than ten feet on each side. Newer wood planks covered older sections, as if someone had recently patched it up.
He padded around the edge of the woods, careful to stay inside the tree line. The property belonged to Gino, the guy who owned the diner. Did Gino know Bruno was shacked up here? Or was Bruno trespassing?
Either way, Kade shouldn’t be sticking his nose into Gino’s business. However, if Bruno was using this as a base camp so he could sneak onto Kade’s property, then he would make it his business.
As he turned to leave, Bruno’s scent filled the air. A bear burst out of the bushes ten feet away. Before Kade could process the attack, the other bear clawed Kade’s flank. Kade roared. He swiped a huge paw at Bruno to shove him off. Bruno rolled before slamming into a tree.
Kade reared up on his back paws and roared loud enough to shake snow from nearby branches. He bounded toward Bruno with his jaw open. The other bear rose up and swiped a paw at Kade. Bruno’s razor-sharp claws glinted in the moonlight. They missed Kade’s face by less than an inch.
On the offensive, Kade rushed Bruno, slamming him into the ground. A large icicle fell from a tree. It stabbed the earth next to Kade’s right shoulder. He rolled to the side. A second spear of ice hit the ground he’d just vacated.
Momentarily distracted, he missed Bruno’s charge. The bear flew off of his back paws. His claws sunk into Kade’s fur. As it punctured his skin, searing pain shot up his arm into his shoulder. Kade jerked back, but Bruno’s grip was too good. The other bear snapped at his face. Bruno’s breath stunk of rancid fish and skunk. Kade gagged as he shoved a paw against Bruno’s jaw.
Unable to break free, Kade swept a paw at Bruno’s front leg. It destabilized Bruno. As he lurched forward, Kade side-stepped him and jerked free. Bloodlust enraged his bear. Kade whipped around to sink his teeth into Bruno’s back leg. He jerked the bear onto his back. His claws flexed. He swung his paw toward Bruno’s belly.
Another bear pounced on Kade’s back. Stunned, Kade shimmied as hard as he could in an attempt to break free. The other bear’s grip tightened. Bruno scrambled to his paws and stalked toward Kade.
Two on one wasn’t fair, but he’d fought worse odds. Rage exploded from his soul. He wasn’t about to let these two pieces of crap kill him. Tucker and Emily expected him to be back soon. He had to get away.
A swift kick to the side threw the bear on his back off. He’d recognize the bear’s wet-dog scent anywhere. Carter, the jackass who’d picked a fight at his brother’s BBQ. Of course he was involved with Bruno somehow.
Both bears raced toward him. He punched Bruno in the snout, while kicking Carter in the belly. Both bears went down. As much as he wanted to stay and fight them, pain made his left arm useless. It dangled at his side. He could take them both if he had both arms, but with only one, he was in trouble.
He launched himself over a thorny bramble. The two bears tried to follow but got caught in the thicket. It gave him enough of a head start that he was able to outrun them. He dashed through the woods, ignoring the pain in his shoulder until he reached the river.
As he crossed the partially frozen water, his paw slipped onto a patch of thin ice. It cracked. He splashed into the river. Freezing water inundated his fur, doubling his weight almost instantly. He clawed at the icy bank as the current pushed him past his property. Blood flowed down his weakening arm. The longer he struggled against the water, the more the pain spread.
Desperate to escape, he ignored the rushing sound of the upcoming waterfall. He had to get out before it was too late. He’d never make the fall. Huge jagged rocks jutted up from the base of the falls. He’d die on impact.
The thought of losing his son and Emily gave him a rush of strength. He roared and sunk a claw into the river bank. He willed his bad arm to move. It refused.
With only one working front paw, he pulled his saturated body inch by inch onto the frozen shore. When his back paws finally found purchase, he limped on three paws toward the cabin.
His vision tunneled. Strength left his body. Without willing it, he shifted back to his human form and collapsed ten feet from his front porch. He tried calling out to Emily, but his yell came out a whisper. He crawled another foot before darkness dragged him under.
8
Emily cocked her head to one side and listened intently as the wind howled against the cabin. Kade had been gone for hours. She’d expected him to shift, run around for thirty minutes or so, then come back. She should have clarified the time frame before offering to take care of Tucker. Although she loved playing with the baby, she hadn’t intended to stay so late. Driving down the mountain after dark was an exercise in terror she’d been hoping to avoid.
After feeding the baby, she’d rocked him to sleep. A log cracked in the fireplace, spitting sparks against the fire screen. She jumped up and grabbed the poker. As she pushed the log back onto the pile, a scratching sound came from the front door.
She gripped the poker in her right hand. Kade wouldn’t scratch at the door. He’d knock. So if it wasn’t Kade, who was it?
She pushed back the curtain closest to the door. Yellow light illuminated the porch. A strange snow-covered lump lay on the stairs.
As she squinted, the lump moved. A blood-covered arm slid to one side. Clouds parted. Moonlight illuminated the scene to reveal a man’s face.
Kade!
She pulled open the door and ran to where he lay. After tossing the poker aside, she rolled him onto his back.
“Kade! Can you hear me?”
When he didn’t stir, she checked his pulse. It was weak and barely discernable. His icy skin seemed almost devoid of life. Terror gripped her heart. She followed the flow of blood up to find five puncture wounds. Claw marks raked his chest.
She rolled him onto his back and hooked her hands under his armpits. She tried pulling him into the house, but he was too heavy. Her bear paced frantically. When the beast offered to lend her its strength, she took the risk. If she shifted fully, she could end up hurting him worse, so she’d have to be careful.
The second she allowed the beginning of a shift, her bear fought to escape. She forced her bear to stay in while she pulled Kade into the house. She lay him in front of the fireplace.
After running back to close and lock the door, she ran into the bathroom. She yanked open the medicine cabinet and rifled through the contents.
“Where does he keep his first aid kit? Does he even have one?”
She pulled out the drawers under the sink.
“Bingo!”
A bright red first aid kit sat alone in the bottom drawer. She pulled it out and carried it back to Kade. She knelt beside him and unpacked the kit. After locating the disinfectant, she poured a healthy amount over a wash cloth. When she pressed the saturated cloth into the wound, he moaned and tried to swat her hand away. He was too weak to resist.
She slathered antibiotic ointment into the wounds before wrapping the area with gauze. She used medical tape to secure the bandage.
The scratches on his chest weren’t very deep, so she washed the area with warm, soapy water before applying a thin layer of antibiotic cream. She left the
area exposed.
Kade mumbled unintelligible words. She grabbed all of the blankets off the couch and used them to cover him. He shivered uncontrollably. Worried that hypothermia would claim his life, she quickly stripped and crawled under the blankets with him.
She gritted her teeth as his frozen skin made contact with hers. She wrapped an arm around him and snuggled as close as possible. As she rubbed his good arm and legs, worry gave way to anger. What had he gotten himself into this time? Had he headed down the mountain to go to Five Claws? Had he been involved in another brawl? Why couldn’t he stay out of trouble?
Questions plagued her well into the night. The longer he remained unconscious, the madder she got. Fear and worry kept her wide awake. She’d read his arrest record the day she’d been reassigned to the town. Mostly drunk and disorderly conduct, or fighting, he’d been in trouble non-stop for years. He was a mess. A law enforcement officer would never date a man like him. He was totally wrong for her, so why was she pressed up against his naked body?
“To save him,” she whispered.
But what was she trying to save him from? Himself? She couldn’t do that for him. He’d have to learn how to save himself. He needed to grow up and stop looking for trouble. If he kept getting into fights, was he actually a good father? How could she recommend full custody when he couldn’t even keep his fists clean for a couple of days?
She sighed and caressed his chest. Maybe she should have stayed all those years ago. Maybe forgiving him would have changed his life. It wasn’t her fault he’d turned into a walking disaster, but maybe she could have been around to be a better influence on him. Maybe having a cop as a friend would have changed him.
Could a person change?
She rolled onto her back and laced her fingers into his. Some bears were born bad. She’d seen more than her fair share of psychopathic bears, beasts who didn’t care about anything, or anyone. They fought. They lied. They stole. And worse. Much worse.
Was Kade just like them? Was their past relationship clouding her judgement? Judge Franklin was counting on her to give him an accurate report. After this stunt, what would she put in the report? Was she willing to lie for him? Was she willing to risk her career?
She ran her fingers across his skin. Warmth returned to everything but the tips of his fingers and toes. She rubbed his fingers between her palms until they were warm. After repeating the process with his toes, she slipped out from under the blankets. A shiver rippled through her body as she hurried to pull on her clothes. Even with the fire, the cabin was chilly.
Tucker slept soundly in the crib. She watched him sleep for several minutes before padding into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and found leftover chili. She dumped it into a pot. As she waited for it to heat up, she tried to think about anything but Kade.
He’d come crashing back into her life like an avalanche. She wasn’t thinking clearly, certainly not like an impartial law enforcement officer. Maybe she needed to explain their past relationship to the judge and recuse herself. But would that even work? In a way, she had relationships with most of the people in town. Not romantic relationships, but many friendships. If she used it as an excuse to get out of monitoring Kade, would the judge question her ability to do her job? Would he question her ability to be impartial in all of her cases?
She stabbed at the chili with a wooden spoon. Frustration turned her stomach. Not hungry anymore, she turned off the chili and covered it with a lid.
When she returned to the living room, Tucker was babbling unintelligibly. She scooped him out of the crib and cradled him in her arms.
“What are we going to do about your daddy?” she murmured.
Tucker squealed. He grinned so hard that drool dribbled out of his mouth. She couldn’t help but laugh. Tucker deserved good parents. If she did decide not to recommend full custody, he’d probably end up with his grandmother Olivia. Would she be willing to share custody with Kade? What if she refused to let Kade see his son? The judge could grant her full custody and block Kade from ever seeing his son again. Then Emily would be responsible for tearing Kade away from his son. Could she live with that?
The weight of responsibility pressed against her chest. Her bear grumbled and curled into a ball. Making a final decision wasn’t going to be easy. She needed more information about what had happened tonight, and she wasn’t going to get it until Kade woke up.
* * *
Kade moaned as pain dragged him out of a deep sleep. He cracked one eye open. A pile of pine logs glowed in the fireplace. Drawn toward the heat, he dragged himself across the floor with one arm. The blanket draped across him fell to reveal his nude body. Shocked, he quickly covered himself and looked around. Emily stood next to the couch with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Welcome back.”
“What happened?” He touched a tender spot on his arm and winced.
“Good question. You went out to shift and ended up passed out on the front porch. You’re lucky I heard you scratching at the door or you would have frozen to death.”
His memory was hazy. The more he tried to remember the previous night, the more his head pounded. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. Too weak to stand, he needed her help.
“Water,” he whispered.
“I’ll get a glass. Don’t move too much. I don’t think you broke any ribs, but you’re pretty beat up.”
The events of the previous night came back in fitful flashes. Another bear. Claws. Being ambushed.
He growled.
“What?” Emily handed him a glass of water.
“They jumped me.”
“Down at Five Claws?” She put her hands on her hips. A grimace twisted her mouth. “Judge Franklin forbade you from going there. I thought you knew better.”
“I wasn’t at the bar.”
“Then where were you?”
“I shifted and went to the river. I scented Bruno. Since he doesn’t live around here, I tracked his scent back to a shack on Gino’s property. Bruno jumped me. I could have taken him, but Carter was there too.”
“Carter Blackstone?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s a thug.”
“Tell me about it. My brother Peter had him over at a BBQ last year for old time’s sake. Carter picked a fight with me and now Peter won’t let me come over.”
“Maybe if you didn’t fight all the time, your brother wouldn’t push you away.”
“Why are you so pissed?”
“Because, you can’t seem to stay out of trouble for five minutes. I didn’t expect to be stuck here all night.”
“Hot date?”
“What? No.” She paced behind the couch, clearly flustered. “I have things that need to get done at home.”
“Like what?”
“None of your business. I’m only staying long enough to make sure you’re well enough to take care of Tucker.”
“You can’t tell the judge about this.” Kade struggled to get to his feet while holding the blanket around his waist. “He’ll never let me have custody.”
“Maybe that’s what’s best for Tucker.”
“No.” Blood whooshed into his ears. The staccato pulse dampened his hearing.
“Sit down before you fall down.”
He sat on the couch and twisted to face her. “It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know they were at the shack. I was planning on leaving when they attacked.”
“I’m having a hard time believing that you could get away from two shifters, especially in your condition.”
“Why would I lie?”
“Because you were drinking. Because you were at a bar violating the judge’s orders. You have a history of lying to law enforcement. Why would I think you’re telling the truth?”
Her venomous tone was like a punch to the gut. She didn’t trust him. She didn’t believe him, or even believe in him. He’d thought they were rekindling an old flame, but clearly she didn’t feel the same way.
“I’m not lying�
�� and I’m fine. You can leave now.”
“Fine.”
“Great.”
As she grabbed her purse, he regretted his outburst. He wasn’t steady on his feet, so he sat in the closest chair. Nausea and dizziness battled for control of his body. Neither one seemed capable of winning, but the war between them was enough to ruin any hope of functioning like a normal person. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to take care of Tucker. He couldn’t even take care of himself.
Emily left, slamming the door behind her. Tucker started to cry. The door swung back open and she stormed in.
“You know what? No! I’m not leaving Tucker with you. I’m taking him with me.”
“What?” He jumped up so quickly that his blanket fell to the floor. “You can’t take him.”
“Look at you, Kade. You’re black and blue with claw marks all over your body. Do you really think you’re fit to take care of him right now?”
“He’s my son.”
“And he’s my responsibility.”
“You’re not his mother.”
“No, I’m not. I don’t sleep with men in dark alleyways behind bars.” She jerked back as soon as she finished speaking. A look of pure horror crossed her face. “Kade, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“I know what you think of me,” he said, softly. “I know I haven’t given you any reason to trust me. And I get that this looks bad. But I swear to you, I didn’t go to the bar last night. I was jumped.”
They stood glaring at each other for several seconds before she scooped Tucker out of the crib. The baby wailed until she gently placed a pacifier in his mouth. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks. Kade’s bear snarled at Kade, as if to scold him for scaring the baby.
“All I wanted to do was shift and let my bear run free for a few minutes,” he said.
“Put some clothes on.” Her gaze landed on his cock before she turned away. “I’ll make a bottle.”
