A barrage of bullets hit the area around Tag. He inched back and remained still. The renegade moved, Tag scented his position and fired again. This time, the only sound heard was a grunt and fall to the ground.
Tag filtered all the scents in the area, discarding small animals, death and everything other than Justin. He pinpointed Justin high in a tree northeast of his position. The scent of Justin’s recently fired high-powered rifle and handgun made a mockery of Justin’s last remark. Obviously Justin had no intention of taking on Grizzle and used all these men as a distraction. The window shattered in the kitchen. Smoke quickly filled the interior. Another shot fired into that same window, more smoke.
The smoke seeped through the window and interfered with his scenting ability. Inching forward, he moved away from the stream of smoke leaving the window. A bullet hit the spot he’d just vacated.
Tag inched backward then moved into a crouching position. If Justin expected Camilla to run out the house because of the smoke he’d underestimated Tag - again. But Tag needed to eliminate Justin before he realized he’d miscalculated.
Moving around the side of the house, Tag inhaled the crisp mountain air to clean his nostrils from the remnants of the smoke. Next, he scented the air and located Justin. Good. Tag intended to teach the bear a lesson he’d never forget.
Justin left the tree which surprised Tag. With a burst of speed, he ran toward Justin and knocked him to the ground before he could train his weapon on Tag. Justin hit the tree trunk with a loud “oomph” then shook his head with his hands up.
“Whoa, you don’t want to do that,” Justin said pointing at Baby. “Aren’t you tired of rescuing women who don’t want to be rescued? You made that mistake with Amber, she tricked you, made a fool of you. That’s happening again with this one.”
Tag grabbed the smaller man by his shirt, lifted him from the ground and shook him like a leaf in a wind storm. While Justin was disoriented, Tag disarmed him. A pile of pistols, blades and explosives lay around on the ground next to them.
Squeezing Justin’s neck while lifting him, Tag pulled his cell out and punched the keypad. “Call Jackson.”
“Calling Jackson,” the voice in his phone said.
Jackson answered.
“If you’re not here in 15 minutes, they’ll probably die.” He stuffed the phone back in his pocket and punched Justin in the face. Justin’s head snapped to the side then he threw a punch, clipping Tag on the jaw.
This was more like it. Guns had a place in combat but Grizzle needed to tear into flesh every now then. Pushing Baby behind him, Tag swung.
Justin deflected the blow and connected with another punch to Tag’s mid-section.
Tag grasped Justin’s fist and bent it backward. Justin leapt and wrapped his other arm around Tag’s neck causing him to stumble and release Justin’s hand. Spinning, Tag took Justin’s hand and pried it from his neck, dislodging his enemy.
Justin backed away, looking behind and around as Tag stalked him. Justin charged.
Tag sidestepped and plowed his fist into Justin’s chin lifting the smaller man and sending him flying backward. On the ground, Justin shook his head and scooted backward as Tag approached.
“This about Amber? That bitch had it coming. She lied to me, to everyone.” Justin grabbed a branch from the ground and waved it at Tag. “All of this? For what? Her honor? She don’t have none.”
Tag stopped. “Why are you here?”
Justin’s eyes widened then narrowed. “Don’t be a bigger asshole. You sent that note threatening my boss and demanded to meet me.”
Tag smelled no deceit and that bothered him. “Why’d you trash that condo in town?”
“Small job.”
Tag ran into Justin and knocked him on his ass. Before he could move, Tag placed his knee on Justin’s chest. “Answer me, why did you trash that condo?”
“Told you,” he gritted. “Small job to trash the place. Human females, no one was to be there when I did it. That’s all.”
Tag inhaled, stood and pulled Justin from the ground. “If you want to see sunrise, come with me.” He pushed Justin toward the pool house, punched in the security code and they stepped inside.
Justin looked around then faced Tag.
“Who do you work for?”
Justin opened his mouth then shook his head.
“So you’re ready to meet death then?” Tag asked as he placed Baby’s muzzle on Justin’s forehead.
“No. But I can’t tell you his name. Hell for all I know, it could be a woman. They’re tricky as hell and the root of all evil if you ask me.”
“Who gave you instructions to come here then and told you I threatened your boss?” Tag asked wondering if this was about Camilla or something else.
“Messenger. My instructions are either sent by text or a delivered message. No way would I ever involve humans on a job like this, that wasn’t my doing.” He glared at Tag. “My brothers are lying on the ground bleeding behind this bullshit.” Jaw clenched, he shook his head. “This shit’s not right. None of this should’ve gone down like this.”
Tag planned to kill Justin before Jackson arrived but alarm bells rang in the back of his head. This whole situation stank of manipulation. He tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together and kept returning to one point.
“Why did your brothers jump me that day at your place all those years ago?” Tag emphasized brothers to remind Justin those men weren’t innocent.
Justin ran his hand through his hair and looked at Tag. “Amber said you were jealous she chose me and you were coming to take her away from me. She begged me to protect her from you, she cried and acted all scared.” Justin snorted and rolled his eyes. “That bitch belongs in the movies. She played me a hundred ways and when I questioned her on the inconsistencies, she jumps me and runs off. Like I said, if this is about that bitch, she’s not worth all that blood on the ground.”
“It’s not about her, at least not on my part. I got a tip you were coming here gunning for me and mine,” Tag said watching Justin closely.
“Why? After all this time avoiding you whenever possible, would I be stupid enough to come on your property? That shit makes no sense,” Justin said shaking his head.
Tag smelled confusion, not deceit. “Yet you are here,” Tag said.
“Only after you took out everyone else,” Justin snapped then closed his eyes. “Look, I know you plan to kill me for everything that’s happened in the past. If I could give Amber back to you I would but she left me and I’m damn happy to be rid of her crazy. But this, tonight, I’m here because I had no choice. Either you’d kill me or the guy who hired me said he would have me killed for disobeying orders.” He lifted his hands and dropped them to his side.
Although Justin wasn’t lying, Tag didn’t trust him. Maybe the distrust stemmed from all those years hating the man, he didn’t know. “Who’s the guy you brought to fight me?”
Justin grinned. “You didn’t recognize him?”
Tag stared at him without speaking.
“Okay, don’t get… all you. Remember Rudy Rivera?” Justin asked with a sly grin.
“Yeah.”
“Well, he didn’t die like everyone thought. He was shot in the head, point blank but his people got him out of there before the fire finished the job.” He waited for Tag’s reaction.
Tag remembered placing the barrel of Rudy’s own weapon against that cockroach’s head and pulling the trigger. He assumed the fire took care of anyone clinging to life, especially since the front door had been locked.
“That’s Rivera out there?” Tag asked to be sure. The scent smelled familiar but he never attributed it to Rivera.
Justin nodded. “He’s not in his right mind most of the time and is a thorn in BMP’s side. They need to keep him on a tighter leash but if you catch him at the right time, buy him a couple of bottles he’ll do whatever you want.”
Did BMP know about Rivera? “Who needs to keep him on a tighter leash?”
/>
Justin shrugged. “Whoever takes care of him I guess. That’s one thing; he never talks about no matter how much he drinks.”
“So you just happened to see him tonight, of all nights, bought him some drinks and dragged him along? Is that what you expect me to believe?” Tag growled even though he didn’t smell deceit.
“He’s kinda like a zombie these days if you know what I mean. Thinks he can fight and win against everyone. For the most part he’s won all his fights but he’s never fought a Grizzle. I wasn’t lying when I said he came to fight you. For him that was enough of a prize and an added layer for me. He’s that good.”
Tag glanced at his watch. BMP would be here any second and he had questions. Plus if he didn’t contact his mate soon, she would probably leave the bomb shelter to find him. He whipped out his tranq gun and fired. Wide-eyed, Justin dropped to the ground. Tag shot him again for good measure in case the conversation with Jackson took longer than he thought.
He called Camilla. She picked up on the first ring.
“How much longer?” She asked.
Exhaling, he thought of the amount of cleaning up he needed to do then the conversation with Jackson before he handed over Justin. “At least another hour, I’ll try to make it faster.”
“Did you get hurt?”
“No, why?”
“I felt something but wasn’t sure what it was. Be careful, okay?”
“Will do.” He clicked off wondering if her intuition was the by-product of their mating, it was too early to know for certain. Tag went in search of Rivera. The bear wasn’t in the same spot.
“Plata o plomo?”
Tag turned slowly to face the voice from his past. Rivera’s misshaped head and feral yellow eyes bore little resemblance to the man Tag thought he’d killed. With slow movements, Tag released Baby and lay her on the ground.
Grizzle roared for release.
“Patience,” Tag said to his beast fully prepared to unleash Grizzle on this fool.
“I remember you.” Rivera frowned then bared his pointy teeth. “There was another, he smelled like you. I take the human, make him mine.”
Tag smelled the sickness wafting off Rivera, the man was dying and it had nothing to do with the bullets from Tag’s gun. Maybe it was whatever they used to revive the bear or to keep him alive. Tag didn’t know but this time he’d be sure Rivera breathed his last.
Rivera exploded into his bear and ran at Tag. It was larger than most of the black bears Tag had seen but much smaller than his Grizzle. Grizzle picked up Tag’s thought and took over. Towering over Rivera, Grizzle roared and stood on two feet. Rivera tried to swipe him but his arms didn’t make contact. With an outraged growl, Grizzle swatted Rivera with the flat of his paw.
Rolling a few times, Rivera stopped and jumped up clapping like a maniacal clown. He ran toward Grizzle, leapt and kicked.
Anticipating the kick, Grizzle dodged the blow and watched Rivera hit the ground with a bounce. Grizzle grabbed the bear with his claws and shook him a few times before slicing his neck with one sharp claw.
Rivera twitched for a few seconds then reverted to human.
Grizzle dropped Rivera, bent forward sniffing and pushed him, rolling the inert man to his side. When Rivera didn’t respond, Grizzle stood on two legs, roaring, grunting and waving his arms in victory.
A few seconds later, Tag flowed into his human form and stooped to check Rivera. The man didn’t move and had no heartbeat. Tag waited to hear if his heart restarted and after five minutes, he accepted Rivera’s death.
Chapter 26
Tag waited until Jackson left to release his mate from the underground bunker. Jackson’s persistent questions regarding Camilla’s whereabouts pissed him off to the point he yelled at the man to mind his own business. That short emotional discharge made accepting BMP’s assistance of cleaning his yard harder to swallow. Jackson’s team made short work of removing the human bodies, taking the wounded bears to the infirmary and fixing the broken window.
Jackson took special interest in Rivera’s corpse. First, he removed tissue samples then after bagging the body, had it placed separately from the others. When Tag asked why, Jackson didn’t answer which made Tag wonder if Jackson had known about Rivera all along.
For the most part, Jackson confirmed most of Justin’s story, including Amber being the one who told Jackson that Justin would attack Tag. He admitted she hadn’t been truthful about a few things and he released a bulletin to have her apprehended if spotted.
Amber had disappeared again.
At Jackson’s request, Tag contacted Lorenzo to ask if he knew his sister’s location. He sounded shocked and tried to defend his sister until he realized how silly his lame excuses sounded. “I have no idea where she is, last time we talked, she was with BMP for safety reasons.”
Tag and a now-awake Justin both laughed, which pissed Lorenzo off. Amber knew how to take care of herself and needed no help from anyone. If anything, the black bear population needed protection from her. Tag didn’t bother stating the obvious.
Justin left with Jackson for further debriefing.
Tag entered the security code and stepped inside the concrete room. Camilla and Tyra lay asleep on the bed. Smiling, he watched Camilla breathe, still unable to reconcile the fact he was mated to the most incredible woman in the world. After relocking the door, he showered, dressed in clean clothes then woke them. Tyra had a flight to catch and they needed to get moving.
“Tag?” Camilla said looking up at him.
“Yeah baby. We need to –”
“Oh thank you, God, thank you!” She leapt up and wrapped her arms around his neck while taking deep breaths. “I didn’t want to admit it before but I was sooo scared. Scared we’d die. But we didn’t and that’s great.” She placed kisses all over his neck and across his face. Showering had been a good idea since he’d washed off the blood splatter from his arms, face and his clothes.
Grizzle grunted his pleasure and remained quiet.
“Hey Tag, glad you made it back,” Tyra said rolling out of bed and heading toward the bathroom. “She had me watching Shooter, Transporter and all the Bond movies, glad that’s over. And Camilla, you couldn’t have died, you were in here far from the real fight. Can we say drama-queen?” She closed the door behind her.
Camilla met Tag’s gaze and tears filled her eyes. Her fingertips trailed across his face. “I was scared I’d lose you.”
His heart skipped at the sincerity of her words. Humbled, he brushed his lips against hers. “Trust me, I’m here with you and never letting you go.”
Her arms tightened around him as she hid her face in the crook of his neck. Tag placed his arms beneath her hips and lifted. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he walked to the bed and sat with her on his lap.
“I love you,” she whispered then looked at him. “When you were gone, every time I thought you might not come back, my heart almost burst. I love you and you should know… you mated your stalker.” She bit her lip and glanced away.
He frowned. “What?”
She swallowed and looked over her shoulder toward the bathroom door. In a few sentences. She confessed to him about how she kept tabs on him the past few years and her obsession. When she finished, the color in her cheeks was heightened and she looked everywhere but at him.
Tag placed his fingers on her chin and turned her to face him. Smiling, with heart near bursting, he kissed her hard and deep. Plundering her mouth, he let her feel his pride that she wanted him, searched and cared about him long before he returned for her. When they broke apart, she smiled softly at him.
“You don’t mind?”
“Mind? I’m honored you waited for me.” He kissed her again, ignoring the bathroom door opening.
“If we can get my other bag, I’m ready to head to the airport,” Tyra said from behind them.
Camilla leaned against him, holding him tight. “Okay Tyra. And thanks for putting up with me last night. I took you throu
gh a lot of changes because I was scared, you were great.”
Tag looked over his shoulder and nodded his thanks.
“Hey, we caught up on our movies and you’re my girl, plus there was no way he wouldn’t come back for his BAE. His nose is wide open.” Tyra walked around them to the door, tried to open then looked at Tag. “Are we ready?”
Tag nodded and looked at Camilla. “BAE? Nose wide open?”
Camilla released him and slid off his lap. “Before Anyone Else. It’s slang meaning I’m first for you. Nose wide open, similar meaning.”
“She’s right,” he whispered. Standing he took her hand, unlocked the door and they left the bunker through the long underground tunnel heading to the house.
“Heard from Ryan?” Tyra asked as they walked up the stairs leading into one of the closets.
“Not yet. But I turned my phone off after I talked to Camilla.” He didn’t need to ask if she’d heard from his friend; Jackson told him Ryan had been in testing since he arrived yesterday.
“Oh, okay.”
He hated seeing her shoulders slump and the smile leave her face. The turning process could be brutal if you were unmated. Ryan had a long road ahead of him and Tag had no idea when Ryan would be able to contact anyone from his past life. He reasoned it best to remain quiet rather than feed her false hope.
“How long before we leave?” Tyra asked as they entered the living room.
“I’ll make my shower quick and get dressed,” Camilla said looking at Tag with a devilish glint.
“Good, thanks I thought you’d want to take him to bed first like yesterday then I’d miss my flight and have to spend another night,” Tyra teased.
Camilla stopped, turned and glared at her.
“What?” Tyra asked Camilla.
“You know what and that was all kinds of wrong. But I heard you,” Camilla said shaking her head. “Glad you’re my girl, otherwise…” Camilla walked out the room.
Tyra laughed and shook her head.
Tag looked at her feeling lost. Something just happened and he didn’t know what to make of any of it.
Bear with Me (Bear Mountain Patrol Series Book 1) Page 17
