Pamela sat up straight and gave him her full attention.
“It’s a funny thing,” he said. “My father and grandfather came here as original settlers and they used to tell me all kinds of tales. They say so much happened after the mine collapsed that this place changed beyond recognition… a lot for the better, but some… I don’t know…”
Pamela didn’t know why this old man was chatting with her, but it was clear that he was lonely and had taken a shine to her after she helped him with his clue. She didn’t speak, she just let him continue.
“Yes, apparently, before then, Bridge Hollow was a very different place,” he said. “And then, the accident happened, and a lot of people died. Some people left, and new families settled and formed a new world up here.”
“That’s tragic about the mine,” she said finally. “I didn’t know anything about it until today.”
“Well, it’s one of those things that gets kept quiet,” he nodded. “A tragic event, and one they all want to stay buried.”
She smiled and took another sip of her drink.
“Do you know anything else about it?” she asked, hopefully.
The old man shook his head.
“Not a thing,” he sighed. “Only that it shook things up here and a lot changed. But then, I guess it would, wouldn’t it?”
Pamela nodded. She took another sip of her drink and realized it was all gone. She leaned back into her chair and waited for him to say something more, but his eyes were now firmly fixed on the newspaper and he was clearly caught up in another set of clues.
She waited for ten minutes, maybe a little more, but by the time she had stared into space and twiddled her thumbs for that long, she knew there was no point in hanging around any longer. He was fully immersed in his crossword, and he clearly wasn’t going to be chatting again.
“Nice to meet you.” She smiled as she rose to her feet and waved. “Good luck with the clues.”
“Thank you, dear,” he smiled. “And good luck to you too.”
She didn’t know why but the words sent a shiver down her spine. The old man was kind and gentle and he didn’t have a whole lot to say, but he seemed to be wise and full of thought. She walked away and left the coffee house before she took the short walk back to The Hollow Hotel. She was tired, even though it wasn’t even 5pm, and she wanted to have a rest and unwind before it was time for her to try and find somewhere to have her evening meal.
As she walked back to the hotel doors, she wondered if Sean would finally be in there waiting, but she was going to have to wait until she got inside to see.
She tipped the bottle of bubble bath into the flow of water and watched as the suds bubbled up and the scent of strawberries and cream took over the entire bathroom.
She was aching, and her mind was still buzzing with thoughts, but since she had come back to her hotel room, she had made the conscious decision to try and relax. She was sick of feeling on edge, and she needed to implement some selfcare before she burned out.
She had checked her cellphone, emails and messages at the hotel to see if there had been any word from Sean, but he was still missing in action. She wondered if he had deliberately disappeared, or whether he had come to some terrible harm, but she knew she couldn’t keep turning it over in her mind. She had to stay positive and focus on herself. She had already discovered that she was no longer employed by the government, her job had practically dissolved overnight, and now she was going to have to re-evaluate who she was and what she wanted.
She didn’t want to go home and start again looking for work. She had spent so much time prepping and studying, it was as if she had wasted years for nothing. It was impossible to find the kind of jobs she was looking for, and when she had, it had all turned out to be fake.
The idea made her mad and she had to squash it.
She pushed it right down inside of her and turned back to the tub. The water had almost filled it to the brim, and she swilled it around with her hand, mixing in the hot and cold and letting the steam glide over her and make her skin dewy and warm.
She peeled off her clothes and threw her shorts and t-shirt down on the tiled floor, before she stepped out of her underwear and untied her hair so it fell down loosely against her shoulders. It was still light outside, but the sun was beginning to fade, and she left the lamps off in the bathroom so that it was dark and shadowy as she climbed into the water and let it flow all around her.
She rubbed her wet hands over her face and felt her whole body start to cleanse. It was an incredible feeling, after being so on-the-go and worn out, to have the soothing warmness all around her and bringing her back to life.
She lathered up her hair and sank down into the bubbles, letting it wash all over her and she ran her hands up and down her arms and legs. They were silky smooth and the oils in the bubble bath were making her skin feel even more divine with each passing second.
She sank down further into the water and let it cover her ears. All she could hear was the strange rush of water and air, as if she had held a shell up to her ear, and she closed her eyes and felt weightless.
When she sat upright, she looked at the clock on the bathroom wall and realized that she had been lying in there for around an hour, and her hands had turned crinkly. She laughed and pulled out the plug, squeezing the excess water from her long hair and wrapping it up in a smaller towel, before she stood up straight and wrapped herself in a big fluffy one. She dried herself off and moisturized her entire body, making herself feel as if she had been reborn.
The tension in her shoulders had now completely worked itself free, and she wandered back through to the bedroom and grabbed her short, silky, little robe from the closet before she dropped the towel and pulled it on over her naked body.
She turned back to the bed and smiled at how welcoming and inviting it looked, but it was still far too early to call it a night. Plus, she had the feeling that she would be wanting to head on out into town before long and see what the updates were.
She turned on the bedside lamps and drew the curtains over the French doors, before she turned on the TV to a low volume, and the day’s news began traveling across the screen in intermittent bursts.
When she sat back down on the edge of the bed, she was sure she heard something outside, but she didn’t know if it had been there or just the TV. When she looked at the screen it was scenes of war in Iraq, men crouched down behind sandbags as explosions went off in a sandy field in front of them, as they clutched their guns and took shots over the top every few minutes.
She shook her head and changed the channel. She couldn’t bear to watch it. But when she did and she still heard the sounds of crashing and smashing, she jumped to her feet and moved quickly to the balcony doors.
She opened them and stepped outside, looking up and down the back length of the hotel. Nothing looked unusual or out of place, but she could definitely hear the sound of a fight, and it was coming from Main Street.
Her heart began to pound, and she felt herself shiver.
She clutched her robe tightly at the neck and watched out over the balcony as the sound of men’s voices came closer and closer.
She was high up and out of the way, but she could tell the fight or argument was about to spill from Main Street into the back gardens of the hotel, and she watched with wide eyes and shock as the trees began to rustle and Dean and another man came tumbling through. She stepped backward and barely dared breathe. They must have been at least thirty feet below her, but she was still standing there feeling terrified of what was about to unfold.
The trees rustled again, and suddenly, Ryder burst through them, his eyes wild and gold. They instantly flickered up to Pamela and he caught her there, but he didn’t even look like him anymore. He looked like a man insane, as if he were about to completely lose control and turn into something dark and dangerous.
“You and your pack have to relent, Dash!” Ryder screamed as he began to circle the two men. Dean was standing with his
arms big and wide, hunched out in front of him as if he were ready to strike. He looked like a boxer stepping into the ring, but there was something animalistic about him too, and Pamela could only guess what…
“You bears have been nothing but trouble since this news has broken,” Dash shouted back. “And now, you expect us to relent? Why would we? We’re the ones who are clearly going to be handling all this shit when it finally starts to unravel.”
“We need to work together,” Dean said sternly. “If we don’t, we’re even more vulnerable.”
Dash laughed. “All I know is, I want justice for the fact you’ve been conspiring with an enemy.”
“They’re not enemies,” Ryder said. “The girl is going to help us.”
Pamela’s heart practically leapt out of her mouth and she pushed herself further back on the balcony and out of sight, but she still needed to see what was about to unfold. She crouched down behind the table and chairs and peered out around them to watch the three men below as they started to circle each other again.
Two on one.
Surely, this wasn’t going to be good for Dash… whoever he was.
Pamela practically held her breath.
The place on her chest began to throb and she could sense that Ryder was reaching out to her, he didn’t want her to be afraid. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm herself down, and then she opened them and moved out a little, nudging herself a little bit forward to try and see what was happening below.
The gardens of the hotel were enclosed by large fir trees. They were so lush and thick that it provided a complete enclosure, hidden from the rest of Main Street, but for anyone in the hotel looking out of their rooms, they too would surely be able to see everything that was about to happen.
“Back down,” Ryder said sternly.
Dash licked his teeth and grinned, and Pamela was sure she saw a flash of green work across his eyes.
She shuddered.
He had to be a wolf.
Dean cracked his knuckles and the three men kept circling each other. With each move, Pamela could sense they were beginning to change into their animal selves. She saw the change in Ryder almost immediately, the way he bared his teeth and held his hands. It was as if he wanted to claw out at Dash and maim him, and was having to use all his strength not to attack him right there and then.
“We don’t want this,” Dean said. “None of the bears do. And we don’t believe you do either.”
“It’s not a case of wanting it,” Dash snarled. “It’s a case of honor.”
“You have to admit, things have been strange around here,” Ryder growled. “Since the weather changed and the cold hit the mountain, all of us have been acting out of sorts. Everyone is more alert, and tensions have been rising. But we shouldn’t fight.”
“No?” Dash said cockily as he grinned. “I think you don’t want to fight because you’re all growing weak.”
His words were like venom, and Ryder recoiled before his back began to arch, and Pamela watched with a wide-open mouth as the man she was falling for turned in front of her very eyes. She watched as his growls became deeper and more guttural, as his skin ripped open and dark, black fur sprang up in its place. She saw his body crack and change, become bigger and hulking, a monster right there in front of her, but a monster she knew she would love, nonetheless.
She remembered the statue on Main Street, the violence that seemed to run through it, and she saw the same pain on Ryder’s face as the bear took him over. He had held on for so long, he had let Dash insult him and his pack, but now, he had snapped, and the beast within him had exploded in the most incredible way.
She could barely believe her eyes.
Ryder was now not a man at all, but a large, black, snarling, dangerous bear, rearing up on his back legs as Dean began to change beside him.
Dash stayed as a man for a second more, laughing and throwing back his head, before he too began to shudder, and his frame began to warp. She saw his nose elongate, his knuckles rip open and claws spring free in their place, his back lengthened, and his ears peaked in tips. In no time at all, he had changed into a gigantic wolf, and now, the two bears and the wolf were about to face off.
Pamela couldn’t watch. She buried her head in her hands as the place on her chest throbbed and tingled. She could feel Ryder and she was building up all her internal strength, hoping that he could take some from her and fight the good fight. She wasn’t ready to have him taken from her so soon. She was just getting to know him, falling faster each day, and he had claimed her…
She needed him, whether she wanted to admit it to herself or not. She may have been a strong and independent career girl, but since she had met Ryder, she had craved more.
She craved him and his touch.
And she was determined to have it.
The snarls and growls grew louder and the howling of wolves seemed to rumble throughout the valley. When she finally worked up the courage to peer over the balcony, she could see a swarm of huge animals all charging at each other in the gardens of the hotel, rolling into the shadows of the trees and tearing each other apart. More bears and wolves had joined, and now, the fight was equal, and Pamela covered her eyes again, unable to watch any more.
She prayed silently on the balcony, as she gripped the leg of the patio chair and wished for Ryder to be okay. Her heart beat harder and the knot of nerves in her stomach began to work its way up her throat. She had never suffered an anxiety attack before, but she felt dizzy and out of her body for a moment, as if she was about to pass out.
The noises kept getting louder and the growls and snarls and the snaps of jaws raged hell down below. Pamela peered one more time over the balcony and she could see one bear and one wolf left, squaring up to each other and preparing to charge.
The bear was brown, so she knew it wasn’t Ryder, but she placed her hand over her heart and hoped with all her might for this fight to end peacefully and for no blood to be shed.
She darted through the doors of the balcony and back into her hotel room, slamming them closed, locking them behind her. Her hands were shaking, and she could barely breathe, but she knew that she had just witnessed something that was about to change history.
If she ever had a doubt about the existence of magic in Bridge Hollow, then she had now been completely corrected. There were packs of bears and wolves, half men and half beasts… and she was eternally linked to one of them.
The place on her chest throbbed and she broke down and fell to her knees. As the tears sprang from her eyes, all she could do was sob and thank the Lord that he was all right.
She could still feel him within her… Ryder was safe.
12.
She wrung her hands together and paced up and down the bedroom floor, her feet practically making tracks in the carpet with each stomp as she went.
Her mind was racing, and so was her heart. She had never seen anything like it before and she had no clue how she was even going to begin processing it all.
She had seen Ryder turn into a bear. She had seen Dean turn into a bear. And she had seen a stranger, called Dash, turn into a wolf.
“This whole thing is fucking insane,” she whispered to herself as she paced over and over.
She felt tears rise up behind her eyes again, and she wanted to just bury her head under the pillow, but so much had happened, there was no way she was going to be able to rest until she knew what had happened to Ryder.
Her chest throbbed and she knew that he was still alive. She placed her hand over the point where he had imprinted on her and she felt the heat within it. She closed her eyes and focused. She wanted to draw him to her, to feel the invisible chord between them tightening as she summoned him closer and closer.
She jumped as she heard a noise somewhere down the hall of the hotel and she gasped as she felt her heart begin to pound. A feeling of terror began to creep up the back of her neck and she was frozen in place, not daring to move as she heard the heavy footste
ps come down the hallway, toward her room.
The place on her chest grew hotter with each step and her nerves quickly began to subside. A heavy knock rumbled through the door and she ran to it, placing her palms flat on the wood so she could feel the energy coming from the other side.
She peered through the peephole and she exhaled a rush of relief.
Ryder.
He was there.
She reached for the handle and opened the door as he rushed through it and swept her up into his arms.
“Are you okay?” he panted.
He had blood spilling from a cut on his forehead and his clothing was ripped and shredded. He had managed to put them back on somehow, but there was no way he would have been able to walk down Main Street. He must have grabbed the ripped up t-shirt and pants from the back of the hotel gardens and slipped them on as best he could as he came for her.
“Me? Of course, I’m okay… all I care about is you…”
She reached up and held onto his face with both hands as she studied him. Cuts and bruises were coming out deeper as the seconds passed by, and Pamela closed the door behind him and locked it with both the chain and deadlock.
“Are we safe here?” she asked as she moved toward the desk and grabbed a chair to push up against the doorknob.
“Yes,” he panted. “Don’t worry. No wolves will be coming here. This is bear territory, after what just happened, they wouldn’t dare.”
“Is Dean okay?” she asked.
Ryder nodded. “And Dash… everyone is fine.”
“But the fight?”
Ryder winced as he clutched his side and Pamela helped him over to the bed and made him lie down. She ran to the bathroom and ran the faucet to fill the sink with warm water, and then she sunk a towel in it before she squeezed out the excess and went back to him.
“The fight was inevitable,” he said lowly. “Tensions have been rising for weeks, if not months, and all of these strange phenomena are only making things worse. It was always going to go down that way.”
Forbidden Alpha Bear Page 9
