by Dianna Love
She made whimpering noises.
He lifted his hand to stroke the soft fur around her face. Herc still wanted out, but more to check on Mishka than to attack what was left of Cazador.
Justin had a sick moment of wondering if he could change at all.
Herc said, Me strong.
Yeah, you are, buddy, Justin answered silently instead of trying to force words through his screwed-up jaws. Let’s try to change all the way into our bear. We’ll just take our time.
Closing his eyes to focus all his energy internally, Justin called Herc all the way up.
His arms finished changing before his torso was halfway there. That wasn’t a good sign.
His torso should have shifted form faster.
As his legs fought to make the change, bone scraped against bone. Justin wanted to throw up, but any distraction that stopped the change right now might end it all.
Warm hands covered his chest and energy soaked into his body, flooding his organs and limbs. The change began to move faster and finally, he could feel Herc whole again.
His head felt light with relief, but it could be the titanium and blood loss.
Opening his bear eyes, Justin looked at the most beautiful blue gaze in this world. Naked and dirty, his Eli kneeled in front of him.
He gave her a big lick across her cheek.
She laughed, a sound so pure and honest he was sure some angel had gifted her with it. But her laugh ended in tears.
She hugged his neck and rambled watery words. “You jump. Could die. Never do. Ever.”
Justin told Herc to tell Mishka, We will always protect our mate.
He could tell when Mishka relayed that, because Eli’s arms hugged him harder. “Do not die. I could not breath.”
Those words circled around inside him and found a home in his heart.
They sat there, staring at each other, ignoring the wolf parts Mishka had tossed around. They had to get out of here before the smell went from fresh blood to spoiled meat.
Eli leaned in and kissed Herc, who literally sighed.
No one would ever be a bear tamer like Eli.
He asked Herc, Ready to shift back so I can get Eli out of here?
How?
Good question. Looking up, Justin considered their options. He asked Herc, How bad is the leg?
In reply, Herc moved the fractured leg and gave the equivalent of a bear wince. But the leg didn’t flop around, meaning it had started healing again.
Justin had a feeling Eli’s energy had something to do with that. More questions to get answered about his unusual mate.
Gazing up at the top of the hole, Justin suggested to Herc, What if we stand on the strong leg and use the bad one just for balance so it can keep healing?
I like.
Okay, then you need to tell Mishka that when you lean against the wall, we want Eli to climb up until she can stand on your front legs. Then we can push her to the top.
Yes.
Eli had been stroking Herc’s shoulder, which was above her head with them sitting down. Her hand stopped. She cocked her head and Justin figured she was listening to Mishka.
“We can do?” Eli asked.
Herc nodded.
Standing up, she said, “Do not hurt leg more.”
Herc swung his big head back and forth.
Justin talked Herc through standing. His leg burned like crazy, but Herc never slowed from getting set.
On all fours in front of the place Eli had climbed last time, Herc walked his front paws up the wall instead of standing up on his hind legs. That prevented putting too much weight on the fractured bone all at once.
When Herc was ready, Eli pulled on her ragged shirt, which did little to cover her. She slid between him and the wall.
Following her original path, she worked her way higher until she did a contortionist act to get herself above Herc’s forelegs, where she could put one foot on each thick leg.
She was still a foot short of the top edge.
Justin instructed Herc on what to tell Mishka so that Eli would put both feet on one leg.
Eli did as told.
Herc moved a paw away from the wall for her. When Eli stepped on the massive pad, he shoved her up in the air.
Justin hoped he hadn’t miscalculated.
Eli landed with her chest against the top edge and grunted. Then she clawed her way over and out.
Hallelujah. Now how could he escape this stinking pit of death?
Herc eased back down and sat with the bad rear leg sticking out.
Justin said, I’ll explain to Eli how to get in the truck and call for help.
More wolves?
I don’t know, Justin told him, not satisfied with that plan either.
Where had Eli gone? She hadn’t stuck her head over the side yet.
Herc growled loud to get her attention.
Still no Eli.
Light was fading. If the sun vanished before she got down the mountain, she might not find her way. She might fall and hurt herself. She might ...
Justin told Herc, We need to change back so I can talk to her.
Herc blew out a weary breath, but did his part to make the shift from animal to human take place. It was easier this time, which Justin took to mean they hadn’t damaged either of them permanently with the partial shift earlier.
Small blessings.
When he stood as a naked man again, Justin called out, “Eli?”
“Yes. Be quiet.”
“What?” Okay, that sounded angry, but he’d had better days.
Her head popped over the top. “Sorry. Busy. Stay back.” She went away again.
Grabbing his aching head, Justin counted to ten ... and then fifty. Now was not the time to get cranky.
A bear growled from above.
Herc had been resting, but hearing that brought him to attention. Mishka!
Why would Eli shift again?
Herc said, Move to wall!
That order had probably come from Mishka, so Justin put his back against the rock and dirt side.
A loud crack sounded and his heart fell.
Wait. That hadn’t been a gunshot.
The sound of branches slapping around heralded a tree crashing down. Grunting followed that, and the next thing he knew a broken tree trunk with roots sticking out came into view over the edge above him, then it angled down.
Sliding slowly, the tree finally came to rest on the bottom.
He stuck his head out from his position to look up.
Mishka stared down with a happy bear grin.
And someone thought Justin would give up that woman?
They were betting against the wrong bear shifter. He made a move to climb and stopped, thinking about his weapon that Cazador had and where Justin had seen it against the wall of the hole. He dug through branches, starting to think it would be an impossible search, but his fingers grazed an object they knew well. Fishing the gun out of that mess, he felt better knowing he had additional defense. He had more weapons in the truck and, per his usual practice with any rental, had hidden a spare key in the engine compartment. His heart thumped with renewed hope.
Climbing against rough branches and snapped-off, sharp limbs would be generally ill-advised when naked, but Justin made it to the top with all the important parts unscathed.
He stepped off the log as Eli buttoned the shirt that had belonged to Toro.
She tossed jeans at Justin. “You much bigger.”
“Glad you realize that,” he quipped.
“Men.” She shook her head but smiled. “Yes, much big, but same tall.”
Dropping the jeans, he stalked her, never slowing until he had her pulled to him and was kissing her sweet lips. He didn’t give a damn about how dirty they both were. After all they’d been through, he needed to feel her alive and safe in his arms.
She mumbled, “Missed kisses.”
Like he needed any encouragement to keep going?
Hell, he’d stay right her
e for days and still not get enough of her. But dark would come quickly on this side of the mountain and his woman needed a hot bath, clean clothes and food. He did, too. Plus, he still needed Rory to get the damn titanium out of his leg.
With some effort, he let her go and stuffed his lower body into jeans that stank of wolf scent.
He owed Monty an apology.
Then he began picking their way off the mountain, grateful as the light diminished to offer them cover to reach his truck.
Justin did a quick recon of the area around the trailhead, but saw no sign of life. Fingers crossed that there was no more magic involved that could cloak a wolf, they walked up to his rental. Eli eyed the transport parked alongside it with hate.
Justin slashed the tires to prevent it from going anywhere. He already knew who had rented it, and that shifter would not be back to claim it.
First he had to ditch his truck, which would be too easy to track now that he knew he’d been followed here.
Once he and Eli found a place to eat and get a good night’s sleep, he had to call the Guardian and fill him in. Justin hoped Eli would understand that they couldn’t continue on their own for another two days. He needed Rory to tend his leg and hoped tomorrow was soon enough.
Besides, he was itching to make her his mate, but he couldn’t do that until Nico’s release and transportation were guaranteed.
The only guarantee he would accept was the Guardian’s.
Justin knew how to keep a tail off of them, but he would stop only for the night.
He had to have her somewhere he knew he could protect her.
Without his mate, he had no life.
CHAPTER 34
Watching the dark highway in his rearview mirror for any suspicious change in headlights, Justin picked a straight stretch to go around another car. He put some distance between that car and his truck, then slowed to the speed limit now that he was ten miles down the road.
Watching for a tail should be easy. Monday night out in this part of the country should mean almost no traffic.
Eli had moved to the back seat where she could access her suitcase for clothes. The thunk of her hitting the ceiling was followed by what he’d come to recognize as cursing in Russian.
“You okay, Eli, babe?”
“Okay, yes.”
He’d given her three bottles of water, a rag and a towel. She didn’t want to put clean clothes over her dirty body.
Justin would clean up down the road. Eli had been in worse condition than he had after Mishka took vengeance on Cazador.
Eli kicked the back of his seat. She muttered, “Sorry. Arms and legs too long.”
“Never. Every bit of you is perfect.”
One of those spectacular legs, now covered in jeans, pushed between the seats and over the console, then the rest of her twisted into the passenger seat. She wore a dark knit pullover and old sneakers. Her new hiking boots had been destroyed on the mountain.
He’d get her all the boots she wanted.
She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes, which fell right back into place. Muttering, she grabbed her reddish-brown hair and twisted it into one of those knots only a woman could create.
When he glanced over, she eyed him with suspicion. “You have one opinion.”
“About what?”
She gave him a saucy look. “Leg is perfect.”
“Are you saying I’m not objective?”
“Yes, that.”
“Not when it comes to you, babe. I know perfection when I see it. You should never doubt me.”
“Crazy bear.” She shook her head.
“Hot bear.” He winked at her. “Remember, you like looking at my body and I like you looking at it.”
“So modest.” But she started laughing.
He’d gotten her mind off wolf shifters chasing her and Mishka’s bloodbath in that hole.
Mission accomplished.
She waved her hand toward the windshield. “Where to?”
“Missoula Airport about two hours south so I can rent another vehicle.”
Her smile fell. “Why?”
“Don’t worry. We got away without being seen. Cazador said he had a deadline tonight, so that means he probably intended to contact his people this evening, but that could be any time. We have a good head start. I just want to rent a vehicle from a different company to make it really hard to find us.”
“You pay cash?”
“No, they’ll want a credit card.”
“Credit card bad now.”
“Normally, yes, but I work for a special group so I have an additional set of cards and ID just for this type of situation.”
“Oh.”
“I’m starving. We’ll be in Kalispell pretty soon. I’ll grab us some chow to take with us, then we’ll eat a much nicer meal later on.”
She waved her hand in dismissal. “Not need nice. All food good.”
There was his down-to-earth princess.
He fell a little more in love with her every time she revealed a new piece of her personality. The way he figured it, he’d know all there was to know in a hundred or so years, but he would never tire of just being in the same space with her.
His mind chose that minute to remind him she’d refused to accept his bond, but she had a core of honor he couldn’t criticize.
Two days left before she had to show up at Clan Boudreaux. He’d figure it all out by then.
After zipping through a fast food place where they ordered enough for four humans, he got her talking about Nico. Her face lit up and love bled through her words.
“My Nico too skinny and sick when find. Broke foot. Much cold. Clan leave to die.”
“That’s brutal,” Justin said.
“True.” She shrugged. “Is same all animals.”
“Right, survival of the fittest, but natural animals abandon a weak or injured offspring because they have no way to save them. Shifters are part human, or are supposed to be. That’s ... unacceptable.”
She leaned over and kissed him.
“Not complaining, Eli, babe, but what’s that for?”
“Would not leave weak child.”
“Never. Tell me more about Nico.”
Sounding at ease, she leaned back and talked about how Nico had been getting stronger. That he was a very bright six-year-old and would make a great warrior one day.
Justin had never spent this kind of time with any woman.
Herc hadn’t been keen on bear shifters before meeting Eli, so Justin had kept his one-night stands to mature women who wanted the same. Human females mostly and they were all nice, but he could never be entirely himself around them.
His body felt at home with Eli.
And Mishka.
When Eli slowed down from talking about Nico, Justin brought up their bears. “Were you as surprised as I was to find out Herc talked to your bear?”
“Yes. Very odd. Never before.”
“You know I said you should name your bear, but evidently she named herself.” He looked over when Eli said nothing.
Her mouth was open. She closed it and asked, “What name?”
“She calls herself Mishka.”
Eli frowned. “Silly name.”
“Why?”
“Mishka mean bear. She hear others say bear in Russia.”
“Well, she liked it and Herc likes her.”
Turning toward him, Eli nibbled on her fingernail.
Justin didn’t want to upset her, but he’d like to see Eli and Mishka connect better. “Tell me more about when you first learned you had Mishka.”
Sounding as if her thoughts were far away, she said, “I thought bear fun as child. Then not fun. Coat wrong. Not polar bear. Clan mean to me and mother.”
“That was wrong of the bear shifters.”
She shifted her sad gaze to him. “Yes. They say I am bad mistake. Hate bear, hate me.”
His grip tightened on the wheel, but he forced his voice to remain calm. She was talking about
a painful subject. “You were never a mistake, babe. People who live in the remote area of Russia where you grew up just didn’t know.”
“What?”
“That ursid hybrids are a rare gift to our kind. Something to be appreciated and loved.”
“You say good all time. I want believe.”
Reaching over, he covered the hand she’d placed on the center console. “I’m telling you the truth. Those people weren’t bad, just uninformed. Most people fear anything that is different.”
Justin tried to sound positive, but he was disgusted over how many things Eli had been forced to survive. “Alexandre should have taken care of both of you.”
She sounded wistful when she said, “Yes. Hate him long time. When he kill wolves we meet. He say mother would not live in safe place he offer. She want only mate. He had mate. I lose hate for that now, but not for him keeping Nico.” She looked over to Justin. “Alexandre keep child as ... chess part.”
“Using him like a pawn?”
“Yes, that. Nico cry when I go. I want hurt Alexandre.”
He did, too. That might be the way the Romanov alpha operated, but he was putting Eli and Nico through hell.
Justin could not do the same to her. Lifting her fingers to his mouth to kiss them, he said, “I understand and I’m going to help you get Nico.”
She kissed him tenderly. “Thank you.” Then she sat upright and shook her head. “No.”
That confused him. “What do you mean no?”
“Clan Boudreaux lied. They send wolf shifters.”
He jerked around so hard the car weaved. He quickly regained control and said, “You think that clan paid them?”
“Yes.” She told him about Cazador calling her a liar about Justin being her mate and claiming the mate she was supposed to end up with was paying to get rid of her.
The steering wheel cracked under Justin’s grip.
Eli’s worried glance at the steering wheel forced him to not grind it to dust. He’d find out who the alpha had promised Eli to and that bear shifter would suffer under Herc’s claws.
Realizing she was still panicked about Clan Boudreaux, Justin said, “Don’t worry. You’re not going there without me so I can deal with the guilty party.”
“Want Nico safe.”
“You have my word he will be.”
That was enough to give her relief, but she spent the rest of the drive to the Missoula Airport in silence.
