“I remember,” she replied, voice cool. “And I know you.”
“Good,” he said. “Then there’s no need to introduce myself, although I’d like to proceed, anyway. I’m Nikolai Bastet, the town sheriff.”
“And I take it you know who I am.”
“Yes. You’re Irene Stanford, witch resident of Orville. You live on the outskirts of town but come in when you need to buy supplies, though you can live off your own sustenance. You don’t mingle, and people rarely come here for fear of your reputation as an aggressive attacker. You’ve killed two residents before, causing most of the community to shun you. You almost got me killed with one of your traps, and I must say I’m impressed by its accuracy, considering only highly sensitized creatures like me can see it coming.”
The words had been deliberate as he observed her face. There was minimal expression there, but he did see the flicker of surprise as she read the compliment and absorbed it.
Then her eyes narrowed, aquamarine turning dark. “If you know all that, then why did you come here?”
Reasonable question, really. Nikolai took a deep, inward breath.
Then he went for it.
“I’m here to offer you a proposition, one that could change your life.”
Chapter 2
The sheriff made it sound like his offer was everything he could ever hand her on a silver platter and more—and Irene Stanford was having none of it. It was perhaps the most egotistical thing she’d ever heard in her life, except she’d heard too many egotistical things already to be affected by it. Still, Irene steadied her aim on him, letting it linger for a few seconds before finally lowering the gun.
It wasn’t like she needed it.
There was not a single breath of relief from Nikolai as he watched the lowered gun, then went back to watching her. If anything, he was calmer than ever, a testament that he knew she wasn’t going to use it. That made her frown, but she swallowed the frown back as she finally spoke.
“Go on.”
He nodded. She watched the movement carefully, then watched him fully as he started speaking. He was a tall one, lean built with broad shoulders and hard muscles, the perfect body for a bear shifter and a police officer all at once. She supposed he was one of those fair ones, considering she hadn’t heard a peep of anything bad about the veteran cops in town, and a part of her wondered if Nikolai being the boss had anything to do with it.
He was quite the looker, too: dark hair that looked casual and soft, brown eyes that would probably remind any woman of chocolate. She saw experience in those eyes and knew he’d seen too much working in the force, but there was no hint of bitterness that she could detect. In fact, he looked like he actually meant what he was saying, and she absorbed the words quietly as her gaze caught his again.
A jolt slid inside her body at the passion she saw there, but she swallowed it in and kept still, the words finally making sense in her brain.
What he wanted, basically, was for her to join the other witches in stopping the darkness coming for this town—one that was apparently the last wave after three waves of those demons that had come for the town’s dragon shifter, whose blood was as precious as they came.
Oh, she knew all about that blood—had detected the dragon shifter’s presence the moment he came to town and brought his staggering energy with him. But like most things, Irene liked keeping to herself, minding her own business and forgetting all about the community that either ridiculed her or shunned her.
Until those demons trespassed into her home, pretty much destroyed her house and ate her chickens and eggs.
She’d been pissed off, hence she stomped over to vampire territory to end those little bastards with their sharp teeth and nasty attitude. No demons had come to town since then, and everyone went about their lives, including her.
And here was the sheriff telling her that it wasn’t over yet.
She actually never thought that her help would need to be a proposition, considering she’d have gladly blasted those demons to pieces if they ever came this way again. But she did have a reputation to uphold: that of the terror witch who never did anyone favors and bit before you could blink. Irene tilted her head, trying to think of her options.
“What’s in it for me?” she finally asked.
“A chance to be welcomed into the community again. No more shunning. No more shame.”
Her mouth almost dropped open, and her eyes widened. That was his proposition? It was so preposterous that she couldn’t stop the next reaction. Irene threw her head back in the air, laughing so hard until her stomach hurt. He looked at her as if she’d grown three heads, but she didn’t care. Irene stopped laughing almost immediately and gave him the frostiest look she could muster, instilling some magic into it for effect.
“Funny. I’ll see you around, Sheriff.”
Then she turned around and stepped back inside her house.
“Wait a minute—”
The words and the deep voice came startlingly close, indicating just how close he’d gotten in just a split of a second. That was all he got before he yelped, and she turned just in time to watch his body fly across from her door to the porch, where he crash-landed on his butt. She smirked. He frowned, obviously not expecting the door’s invisible energy shield—a force field that she created from her magic.
“Like I said, I’ll see you around, Sheriff.”
“I wasn’t done talking.”
She turned around again, having had enough of this conversation. Footsteps sounded, approaching closer, and the disbelief that he would try to get electrified once more just to get to her slid in and had her whirling to witness it. She expected his body to be thrown again, was already bracing herself to lift her chin and yell at him to just leave.
Instead, what she saw had her stilling completely.
Just before he reached the door’s force field, his body partly shifted: hands and feet turning into claws, body bulking up but not fully becoming the bear it was supposed to be. His chocolate eyes darkened, turning a bitter color, and he visibly gritted his teeth as he touched the field with his shoulder and…didn’t fly back.
Her mouth dropped open. She took a step forward, then froze when she saw that shoulder sliding in with brute force. Then his whole head was in, then his chest, then the rest of him, which was shaking at the effort it took. Her force field was no joke, able to repel most of the creatures that got past her basic traps, and only witches would be able to fully break it.
Nikolai used only his strength.
Belatedly, she realized that she could no longer feel the full force field there, but she could sense it vibrating in his body. Absorption of energy was normal, but not when it came to vampires and shifters, who’d probably be killed if they so much as tried it.
“What the hell are you?” she blurted out, unable to stop herself.
“A bear shifter.”
“Bullshit. A bear shifter wouldn’t have been able to penetrate that.”
“Well, I just did,” he said. “Consider it part of my set of skills as this town’s main chief of justice. And really, there’s no need for unnecessary drama just to get me to talk to you. Is that how you are with people? You have them jump through hoops just to be damn pleased with yourself?”
Her eyes narrowed as irritation slid in. “No. I have them jump through hoops so I don’t have to talk to them. I’m fine living with myself, and I don’t need your proposition. In fact, now that you’re here, I’d like to be upfront with you.”
“Upfront about what?”
His eyes started to wander around, probably to take the interior of her house in. But they snapped to her again at her next words.
“About the fact that I’ll kill you if you so much as take another step towards me.”
His gaze narrowed in return. They stared at each other, a tension building in the air. She supposed a knife could have cut through how thick it was, and she didn’t want to analyze what kind it was. Nikolai studied her, eyes
roaming, a clinical approach that made her realize he was trying to see if she was bluffing. She braced herself for an attack, indignant that he could so easily dismiss her power when everyone else cowered upon it.
He took a step back as abruptly as he came in.
“Fine. I won’t take much of your time, then. I’ll talk to you when you cool off.”
“I’m cooled off enough,” she shot back.
He nodded as if she hadn’t said anything, a polite smile on his face. It wasn’t the friendly kind, but it wasn’t the mean kind, either. It was a cop smile, one that promised everything and gave away nothing.
“Have a great day, Irene. Please think about my proposition.”
With those final words, he fully stepped out of the house, the ease of it making her blink. She felt the energy return to her force field just like that, and it had her gaping at his broad back as he casually walked out of her home.
The fiend.
The sheriff was trying to bide his time like some good little cop trying to wear down his opponent, and she almost fell for it. And he had the audacity to call her by her first name as if they were the best of friends.
The fiend.
Irene narrowed her eyes. If he thought he had her all figured out, then he had another thought coming.
And it wasn’t something he was going to like. Not one bit.
Chapter 3
She owned a candy house.
It was the type of candy house that was just as picturesque as the rest of her home, with candy at every possible corner there was: her coffee table, her kitchen counter, even the side table where her lamp was located. The place was chock-full of sweets, a straight-up temptation and a dream come true for any kid who walked in here.
That was, if the witch didn’t tie them up and roasted them to crispiness.
The image had him shaking his head. She couldn’t be that nasty. The fact that she’d been there to help eliminate the third wave of demons must mean something, and he was going to hang on to a thread of that tiny hope that she was going to help again.
But now wasn’t the time to enforce it, particularly when he could already feel the irritation vibrating from her the moment he entered her force field. It was a pretty strong force field, one that his body was still feeling the energy of now, making it ache. Oddly enough, it was a good kind of ache, and he supposed he had his father to thank for passing that weird quality on to him through birth. It wasn’t a particular brand of magic, but it was a trait, and it was one that was useful in plenty of scenarios.
Like the one today.
He let his mind wander, trying to determine when he could visit her again. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d be back when she cooled down, and that was only a matter of time. Nikolai would bide his time, as he’d done in so many things—and when there was no more time to bide, he’d strike and get what he wanted.
The forest was decidedly cooler now as if her magic had been interrupted and was trying to get back to its earlier warm state. He shuddered, an instinctual move as he shook off the chill and walked as fast as possible. There were animal sounds everywhere, squirrels and crickets that surrounded Orville forestry and served as food for shifters and vampires alike. They were always a comfort to listen to, even while Nikolai hadn’t had fresh raw meat in a while and if not fresh medium-rare.
Two seconds in, the noise all around him suddenly stopped, an abrupt stilling that caused him to pause in his footsteps. He cocked his ears, listening to the dead silence. The chill he’d been feeling earlier traveled up his spine, forming deeper in his skull until instinct was screaming at him to duck.
He shifted his hands and feet first. A growling sound filled the air, and he leapt out of the way to avoid the attack of a dark-colored creature that was heading straight for him with sharp nails.
Nikolai turned his head in the direction where the creature landed, getting enough time to assess what it was: something strange, definitely. It was fox in shape but bigger in size, covered in fur and nails on paws that were sharper than anything he’d ever seen. The eyes, instead of black, glowed red, a startling color that had him staring.
The creature bared its teeth, which were stained yellow. Then it started running for him again, just as Nikolai heard more growls at his back, indicating it wasn’t the only one.
Shit.
There was no time to make a run for it, which was why he decided to stand his ground and fight them here. Three came for him at once, running in a blur before stopping a meter away from him, the movement so in synch that it reminded him of vampires in motion. He didn’t move, didn’t so much as make a noise as he assessed the situation and tried to see if he could take down all three of them without shifting fully. He probably could, considering he was twice their size.
Then three more came in, and that chance was thrown out the window as Nikolai inwardly cursed.
He growled in warning, a silent threat for them to back off. They growled in return, glowing eyes narrowed as their shoulders tensed, an indication that they were going to move in a second or two.
His claws lengthened. His body surged forward—
A force hit him, one so abrupt that it had him staggering, then crashing to the ground until he was lying on his back. The force kept on, an energy that was blinding. He attempted to struggle but stopped immediately when he realized that accompanying the force was a familiar female voice.
And accompanying the voice was a body lying on top of him, warm and just a little bit panicked.
“Don’t hurt them,” Irene said—no, repeated, as that was what he heard the first time. He bared his teeth at her, intending to fight whatever the hell she was using on him, but she shook her head in warning, the move so tiny that he might have missed it if he wasn’t looking directly. “They won’t hurt you if you don’t threaten them.”
“But they just tried to attack me.”
“They tried to defend their territory, which you trespassed on. This isn’t a shortcut for most people, and these creatures have had enough of others trying to prey on them.”
Her words started making sense in his head, and his gaze clashed with hers. She shook her head again, pursing her lips together to indicate that it wasn’t the right time to speak. He wanted to contradict her badly, but instinct warned him that she was the only one standing between him and the creatures killing each other, and there was no use in being stubborn.
Her force field tightened around them as some of the creatures drew near, their noses getting on Nikolai’s ankles and Irene’s hips. They didn’t move, their bodies molded so close that he could feel every bit of her. Surprise filled him when he realized she wasn’t as slight as she first looked, that house dress hiding more flesh than he thought it would.
She was also warm, and that warmth was sinking into him as he unconsciously inhaled her scent and smelled…something fresh. Like a tall glass of water for a thirsty man.
His stomach jolted in response, but he banked down whatever other reaction he could have. Her cloud of white-blond hair surrounded them like a fog, and aquamarine eyes focused on him with an intensity that spoke of concentration.
And awareness.
The creatures retreated, but it wasn’t until the sounds of other animals were back that Nikolai felt the force field disappearing slowly. She gingerly stood up and he did the same, following as she quietly walked out of the forest. They ended up right in the same clearing where her house was located, where she finally whirled on him and folded her arms over her chest. Her look of disapproval spit fire.
“You really shouldn’t have come here,” she muttered. “You’re messing up the ecosystem.”
“What ecosystem?” he shot back. “The one you created? What the hell was that? Are you luring innocent animals now so that they can be turned into that?”
The fury flashed on her face as she stepped forward and pointed a forceful finger in his direction. “Those innocent animals were defenseless because you preyed on them every single day
! Or have you forgotten that? I’m only protecting them. And since they’re in my territory, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Nikolai stepped forward, too, leaving only inches of space between them. “Technically, you’re in Orville, where rules are made by the council, and the sheriff enforces them for everyone’s own good. So no, you’re not just in your territory, not when those creatures can roam wherever they want.”
The stricken expression that flashed next told him she hadn’t considered that, and triumph slid in that he finally got through that stubborn brain of hers. Sensing the chance now, he went for it, no hesitation in his voice as he continued speaking.
“So if you don’t want the council to know about this, Irene, and you want to keep using your magic here without interference from anyone, then you will consider taking my offer. And you will show me how you made those creatures and how we can properly ensure they don’t harm the innocent townspeople.”
Silence followed his declaration, and he watched her body shake as she tried to control whatever emotions were swirling inside her. He saw realization flicker, followed by reluctance, before she cleared it all. Irene took a deep breath.
Then she faced him squarely.
“Fine. Yes to both. You said consider, not say yes.”
“I know what I said.”
Her mouth firmed, but she nodded. “Right.”
He held out his hand. She looked at it as if it might be poison before finally extending hers to shake it. He felt her warmth again, then the jolt that told him there was magic involved in this little bargain.
“Come, follow me,” she muttered.
Then she was off to the forest again, and Nikolai had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 4
The way Nikolai eyed her made it seem like she was showing him the scene of the crime and how she as the killer murdered the victim, and that didn’t sit well with Irene at all. But that was probably just his cop face, and she found herself reluctantly pushing on until she got to another forest area where more animals that hadn’t been touched yet lurked.
Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance Page 23
