He needed to find the people responsible for that image and make sure they couldn’t hurt Regan or anyone he cared for again.
And most importantly, at this moment, he had to save his brother.
And if Regan hated him after this moment, then he’d just have to win her all over again.
He didn’t say anything to the other staff as he rushed out the front office. Just gave them a wave as if to say he’d tell them later.
There was no time to lose.
His brain moved into action mode as he ran down the stairs to avoid the elevator and get to his car as soon as possible. He was halfway to his Charger, keys in hand, when he heard someone step out behind him.
He turned slowly just as he heard the whoosh of something being fired, and something sharp hit him right in the neck. He slapped his hand up to find something hard sticking out.
They’d tranqued him. He growled in anger as the world began to swim around him. He made his way toward the dark figure in front of him, ready to do battle, but felt two more sharp pricks in his leg and chest.
He reached up, pulling out the darts, but the world was spinning too quickly.
He fell to his knees just as the figures around him closed in.
“Shit, that guy took as much as a rhino to take down,” someone said.
“Yeah, he’s really something,” another voice said. This one was feminine, tinged with an edge that made him shiver as he felt nails graze the bottom of his chin.
He knew that voice from his worst nightmares.
It was the last thing he heard as it all went dark.
Chapter 14
Regan was still shaking as she sat in the office alone, the image of Bronson in another woman’s embrace still burning in her brain.
Could it really be him? Who else would have his face? That beautiful, handsome, movie star face? It was as striking as it was damning in a situation like this.
Her heart throbbed, pounding harder than she’d ever felt as betrayal coursed through her. Bronson couldn’t do that to her. He’d looked hurt by even the thought of her suggesting it. Yet the proof had been right there in front of her. And he hadn’t even stayed to explain.
What could be so important to take him away?
She stumbled to his desk and rested her hands on it, keeping herself standing on trembling legs. What a day. First held at knifepoint, then finally agreeing to commit, then forced to see her new partner was a cheater.
Was it even cheating since they’d only made it official today?
Still, she felt stabbed in the heart just thinking about it. She wanted to pick up something and break it.
She took deep breaths and tried to think clearly. He’d run out on her. His eyes as he’d been desperate to go burned into her. What the hell would make him take off like that?
Even if he were a dirty cheater, she had to know what was bothering him. What had put that haunted look in his eyes? Was he going after the woman who exposed him? Was he…?
She thought back to what she’d said to him a moment earlier.
The only thing that could explain it is if you had a twin…
She blinked. No, it wasn’t possible. He’d said he had a younger brother.
Younger.
But a twin could be younger, right?
Ugh. She slapped her forehead as she took off running out of the office and through the front doors.
Cage, Carrie, and the others stared at her in shock as she ran to the elevator and slammed her hands down on the buttons.
“Shit. Shit. Open!” she said, banging her hands down. Gasping, she saw the stairwell and ran for it, pushing open the door and nearly falling down the stairs in her haste.
Please, please, be on time, she thought, bursting through the doors at the end of the stairway.
She saw nothing, just a van screeching out the exit, taking a turn way too hard and fast to be normal.
She ran out into the parking lot, looking for Bronson, but saw nothing. As she got closer to where he parked his Charger, something flashing on the ground caught her eye.
She grabbed it and saw a missed call. Where the hell was Bronson?
Behind the missed call, the image of what looked like him kissing another, older woman was still there, breaking her heart to even look at it. But as she looked closer, something was definitely off. Yes, the face was Bronson’s. But the expression, the clothing?
She slammed her palm over her forehead. No one could blame her for jumping to conclusions. How could she have known Bronson’s estranged brother was a twin? That must have been even more painful—to be separated as kids.
She sank to the cement with the phone in her hand just as a new message from Limes beeped on the screen.
She opened it to find an address and Limes saying it was the one Bronson had asked for. Above the message, she could see old messages and clicked the one that had come with the picture to see what it said.
When she read it, her blood went prickly.
I’m getting what I paid for.
Now she knew why Bronson had run. He hadn’t had time to explain what was going on because someone had his brother.
She saw Bronson’s keys a few feet away and lunged at them, swiping them up in her hand as she ran to his car and unlocked the door. She set a map to the address on Bronson’s phone and screeched out of the parking spot as she dialed Limes’s number.
“Hello?” he said as she squealed out of the parking lot and bottomed out Bronson’s car as she made the same hard turn the van had taken, hoping to catch them.
“It’s Regan. Limes, they’ve taken him.”
“What the—”
“I’ve got his keys and phone,” she said. “And the address you sent.”
“But—”
“Don’t but me. That’s my mate they’ve got,” she snapped.
“‘Bout time you realized it,” Limes said. “But where are you going?”
“I’m going after him, obviously. You have a tracker on his phone, right?”
“Yeah,” Limes said.
“I’m headed in the direction of the address you sent. Grab the other guys and follow.”
“You should wait for us. Bronson wouldn’t want you to—”
“What Bronson wants doesn’t matter right now,” she said. “My body’s moving on its own, and I’m going to keep him safe.”
“Be careful,” Limes said sharply, as if he suddenly understood he couldn’t stop her. “Bronson will kill us if anything happens to you.”
“If Bronson is well enough to be killing anyone, that’s all that matters to me.”
Limes laughed darkly. “All right. Well, I’ve already texted word to Hercules and Cage. We’re on the way.”
“Got it. Bye.” She swallowed as she took another hard turn, speeding to the extent she was sure she could be pulled over any minute if a cop spotted her.
Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any around.
She took deep, steadying breaths as she fought to catch up to the van she’d seen, but she didn’t see any glimpse of it as she drove farther into the country. It was in the opposite direction of where she lived, and the roads were long and winding.
She felt her whole world bottoming out as she thought about something happening to the man who meant everything to her. If only she’d trusted him, maybe they could have talked about this together. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone running down there alone.
But then they would both have been captured. No, she was better off separate, where she had a chance to sneak up on them and save him.
No evil woman was setting even a finger on her mate.
She took turn after turn, speeding as quick as the road would let her, until she finally came to a road that led up to a solitary mansion a hundred yards away. She slammed on the brakes and swerved off into the trees, out of sight so no one would see her.
There was a van in the driveway, with men around it, and as she looked closer from behind a tree, she could see they were unloading some
thing big.
Bronson.
He was totally unconscious, his beautiful body manhandled by the shifters as they attempted to haul him inside. And just ahead of them, an elegantly dressed woman in a red sweater beckoned them forward. She hated everything about the woman, from her perfectly coiffed blond hair to her slender figure but mostly just the way she looked at Bronson like she owned him.
Maybe she thought she did.
Only one woman had any rights to Bronson, and that was Regan.
She waited until everyone was inside and the door boomed shut behind them, and then she snuck up the path to the house, zipping from tree to tree, though she had the feeling no one was watching her. No one was expected to notice Bronson was gone that quickly.
The bitch was probably planning to move fast.
Usually, Regan could be a reasonable person. But right now, some bitch had her mate, and she was just an angry she-bear waiting to sink her claws into some bitch flesh.
She scampered over to the side of the house, looking for a side entrance. She had no idea where they’d taken Bronson once they’d gotten inside.
She stood next to a window, hiding herself, and then snuck a quick peek at what was happening inside. She saw the men moving up the main stairs in the middle of the mansion.
She ducked back behind the window.
She eyed the road. When would the guys from Bear Claw get there? There were way too many for her to take on, but she couldn’t afford to wait and let something happen to Bronson.
She looked at her watch and took a deep breath. She didn’t have many options.
She crept along the side of the house until she saw the side door she was looking for. When she pulled on it, it didn’t move. Damn. It must have an old-fashioned deadbolt, because she didn’t see any security system. If there were one, she could have hacked it.
She sank against the door, ready to cry in frustration.
Then she heard a window open on the floor above her. She heard voices inside and knew the woman was in there. And Bronson had to be as well.
Of course. If the woman was trying to get ‘what she’d paid for,’ then she’d need time alone with Bronson. Especially since he was out and probably being tied up at this point, if they were smart. If Bronson woke up untied, he could probably take all of them with one hand.
She crept over to the wall beneath the window and looked up. She looked down at her tennis shoes and then up at the ten or so feet of brick she had to scale to get to him.
She focused and extended her claws from her fingers. Just a very small shift was all she needed. She dug her claws between the first set of bricks she needed and braced her foot on the brick in front of her.
Slowly, she climbed, trying to be quiet, despite the rising anger in her as she heard the woman above her telling the men to leave now that they’d tied Bronson.
She clutched the wall, adrenaline pounding through her as she kept her spot, waiting for the right moment.
Then she heard the door to the room shut and lock. The woman was alone with Bronson now. This was Regan’s best shot.
She heard cars pulling up to the mansion, but she looked back to see they were still several roads away. They wouldn’t here soon enough.
She heard an angry but groggy male voice speak up. Bronson was awake.
And he was pissed at something that was happening. She swung her foot up onto the windowsill and dragged herself in, just in time to see the woman leaning forward over Bronson where he was tied to a bed by his wrists and ankles.
She didn’t even feel the shift happening. She just knew the next moment, she was flying into the room, a blur of fur and claws, and the blond woman over her mate was the only thing in her field of vision.
She tackled the woman to the floor just as the bitch changed, and they rolled across the stone floor in a growling, flailing mass and then came to a halt as the woman pushed off of Regan and stood, licking a wound on her paw.
Got you, bitch.
Regan grinned and then lunged again. She was so focused on swiping the rapist lady bear across the face over and over that she didn’t notice the door open at the other end of the room until it was too late.
“Regan,” Bronson yelled. “Look out!”
Chapter 15
She’d come for him. Somehow, Regan had forgiven him and come for him. He was touched and a little embarrassed at the same time. But he didn’t have time to analyze the emotion as he watched in terror as his little black bear mate tackled a much bigger lady bear to the ground.
He grinned as he saw Regan deliver the first blow, then another, as the other woman staggered and then tried to escape.
That was his woman.
He tugged at the cuffs on him but couldn’t pull them loose. They’d already lost him when he was younger, and they didn’t look like they were going to take any chances this time.
He groaned at being the damsel in distress, but he had to admit he couldn’t have a hotter rescuer.
His head still pounded from whatever they’d hit him with. But he’d understood fully what the evil bitch who kidnapped him had been saying.
They had his brother and were holding him as bait. Apparently, they’d been watching him for some time, but Michelle had been willing to wait, as long as it didn’t look like he was showing interest in a mate. When she’d been informed he was watching one of his employees, a female bear, too closely, she’d started attacking them. Hoping to scare away Regan.
Well, that had backfired.
He stared wide-eyed at the fight in front of him, praying his friends knew to show up before the guards downstairs heard what was happening.
Regan was holding her own against a she-bear, but what could she do against armed guards who knew how to take down shifters?
He pulled at his bonds again, just as the door burst open.
“Regan, look out!” he shouted, trying to get her attention so she could run. “Get out! Just leave!”
She sent him an angry bear glare that told him exactly what she thought of that idea, but then a man burst through the door, gun aimed directly at her as she held the lady bear by the neck, growling and refusing to let go.
His heart ached as he watched the other man point the weapon. He was dead if he hurt Regan.
But just as the man stepped forward, ready to pull the trigger, a whooshing noise and then a thud sounded, and the man staggered forward, looking at his chest where a bolt protruded.
The man looked shocked as he was downed, and he sent Bronson a look of rage as he fell forward onto the ground.
Then all hell broke loose just outside the door, and Bronson looked desperately over at Regan to make sure she was okay. That was all that mattered.
He shouldn’t have run off on her. He’d panicked about his family, but he should have taken time to explain.
He still didn’t know why she’d even followed him. But he knew if she hadn’t, if she’d stayed in the office, pouting and mad, she might have been too late. And Michelle might have claimed him.
The thought was chilling.
“Regan, it’s okay. She’s done,” he said as he watched Michelle’s bear hanging limply by the scruff. The woman wasn’t dead, but she was definitely done fighting, letting out little whines of protest and surrender.
Regan glared at Bronson, ready to go in for the kill.
Bronson sighed. “I know. But she needs to get caught and exposed. We can’t do that if she’s dead, right?”
Regan slowly released her hold on the other bear, and it slumped to the ground, paws over her head pitifully.
Regan let out a snort and trotted over to Bronson just as the door opened wide and Limes strode in, carrying one of Hercules’s crossbows on his shoulder.
“Forgot how fun these were,” he said, glancing around the room. When his eyes landed on Bronson, he raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Am I interrupting something?”
Bronson groaned. “Shut up and untie me.”
“I don’t know,” Limes
said. “I feel like anyone who comes near you is going to get it from that lady bear.” He looked at Regan, who still seemed half feral.
Another man came through the door; this one was like looking into a mirror.
Mark, his brother.
Bronson gaped at him, and Mark gaped back. Bronson forced himself to calm down, despite the situation. “Long time no see.”
Mark just stared at him. “We have a lot to talk about.” He wore a tailored suit like their dad often did and was the spitting image of him in demeanor. But there was also a softness to him their dad never had.
Bronson had missed him.
“Sorry to break up this reunion,” Hercules said, pushing his way in as he also slung a crossbow over his shoulder and walked toward Bronson. “But we gotta get out of here before help arrives for the other side.”
“Take her,” Mark said, pointing at Michelle’s prone bear form. “And wrap her up. She’s about to shift, and no one wants to see that naked.”
“Nope,” Bronson agreed, locking eyes with his brother. “She didn’t do anything, did she?”
“Hell no,” Mark said, rolling his eyes. “Give me some credit. I’ve been running Dad’s company for the past ten years. I think I can handle a rogue she-bear. I was about to escape before your guys showed up.”
Regan crept over to Bronson and rested her head on his arm. “Mark, meet Regan. Regan, meet—”
Hercules let out a groan. “Didn’t I just say we needed to go?” He finished breaking the links on Bronson’s chains with some pliers he’d pulled from his pocket and then reached out a hand to pull the other man up.
Bronson put an arm around Hercules as they walked out of the room and down the steps into the main hall. Regan followed behind, staying in bear form and on guard.
Did this mean he could hope she had accepted him? She wouldn’t do this for just anyone, right? And she wouldn’t do it for a man she was mad at?
She’d decimated that she-bear with all the rage of an offended mate.
He could hope, anyway. It was what he’d been doing since he’d met Regan, and he didn’t mean to stop now.
Bear to the Rescue (Bear Claw Security Book 3) Page 12
