Bearista

by Zoe Chant

  There was no choice but to gamble Gaby's life on it.

  Ghost snarled and his canines lengthened as he went for Derek's neck. Derek twisted to take the bite on his shoulder rather than the throat, turning his body to knee Ghost in the stomach. Ghost tried to twist away to go after Gaby, but Derek kicked his legs out from under him and the two of them went down to the floor in a tangle.

  They were too close together for Derek to try for his gun; he'd be just as likely to shoot himself. Ghost hadn't shifted completely, but his face lengthened into a muzzle as he snapped and bit at Derek, savaging his shoulder.

  Derek's bear was fighting to get out, too, roaring its fury inside him. He struggled to hold it back. If they both erupted in a full-fledged shift, the building residents would have to deal with two battling, giant bears rolling around in the hallway.

  Still, if Ghost shifted all the way, Derek wouldn't have a choice. He couldn't win in hand-to-claw combat against a polar bear.

  Got to keep him from shifting—but how?

  Talk to him.

  When the human side was fully engaged, it made it harder to shift.

  "What'd you do, set off a smoke bomb down here?"

  "Grease fire," Ghost said indistinctly through his fangs.

  "I'd admire your style if I didn't want to kill you for it. This is between you and me. Gaby has nothing to do with it." Too late he realized he'd used her nickname. He should have stuck to Ms. Diaz.

  "She's a witness," Ghost growled. "She's nothing, all right—nothing but a job."

  How dare he talk that way about our mate!

  Derek roared in Ghost's face. He could feel his fingers trying to lengthen into claws. The human part of him fought for control. I gotta get us out of here before he shifts or I do ...

  Ghost curled his lips back from his teeth in a snarl. His face was nearly all bear now. In the dim hallway, with the frightened building residents interested only in getting out, no one was paying much attention—but they'd notice in a hurry if a couple of bears started getting into a knock-down, drag-out fight.

  There's no room. If we fight here, we're going to kill someone.

  He couldn't drag Ghost out of the hallway, and if he let him up, Ghost would go after Gaby. The only thing he could think to do was to make Ghost so angry he'd forget all about Gaby.

  "So you'd rather go after a helpless human than fight me, huh? Did I really beat you that bad in Peru?"

  "You lost in Peru," Ghost growled.

  A quick flare of remembered pain in his scars reminded him how true that was. That fight had bloodied his claws too, though, and he snarled back, "Seems like I remember you got torn up pretty bad. Or is that why you've been avoiding me all over this city, because you're scared you'll 'win' again?"

  "I'll show you how fucking scared I am!"

  Ghost's body bucked, humping up with muscle and fur. His clothes tore off him as he shifted, and Derek was flung off. He caught himself and rolled, and came up drawing his gun, but he didn't dare fire. The hallway had mostly emptied out, but there were still a few stragglers. Too much chance he'd hit a civilian.

  His plan had worked, though, sort of. Ghost's attention was definitely off Gaby and onto Derek. Except now, he had a pissed-off polar bear after him.

  Yay?

  Rather than shift in the hallway, he turned and sprinted for the rear exit. He slammed through the exit door and stumbled into the alley behind the apartment building. He'd hoped it would be deserted, but instead there were scattered groups of apartment residents standing around, looking up at the building.

  "Get out of here!" Derek yelled at them, waving the gun. He didn't point it at anyone, but the combination of armed, angry, and disheveled worked like a magic charm to get them moving out of the danger zone toward the street.

  Just in time, too, as an enraged polar bear slammed into the exit door just as it swung shut.

  Derek leveled the gun at him. He still didn't dare shoot until the Ghost was in the alley, because a stray bullet could go straight down the hall and into some hapless grandma. Maybe even into Gaby. He'd rather die than be responsible for hurting her.

  For a moment he thought Ghost wasn't going to be able to get through the door without having to shift. Ghost's massive shoulders were too wide. As he angled for a safe shot, finger on the trigger of his gun, all Derek could see in the doorway was a seething mass of yellow-white fur and snarling fangs and small, enraged eyes.

  Then Ghost powered through the door on sheer fury, scraping off fur on both shoulders. Derek got off one wild shot before the massive, furious polar bear flattened him.

  NOW I'd better shift! He let his bear surge upward as he held Ghost off, both hands clutched on the fur under Ghost's chin. The bear's strength, added to his own, gave him that extra bit of muscle to keep Ghost from ripping his throat out as he felt his own body start to change—

  Something slammed into Ghost and suddenly the bear was no longer on top of him, rolling end over end across the alley to slam into the wall.

  There was a screech of brakes.

  Dazed, Derek stared up at the bumper of his own car, inches from him.

  The car ... had hit the bear?

  The driver's door cracked open and Gaby leaned out. "Derek! Get in!"

  Derek scrambled to his feet, curling his hands to force his claws back into normal human fingertips. His bear snarled inside him as he fought it down. But this wasn't the time or place for a bear fight. Too many possible witnesses. Too much potential for someone to get hurt.

  Too much potential for Gaby to get hurt, since she plainly wasn't going to stay out of it.

  As he piled into the passenger seat, he snapped, "I told you to leave!"

  "Not without you!" Gaby shot back, though she looked terrified. She stamped her foot on the gas pedal, sending the car roaring out of the alley. Looking back, Derek saw the polar bear struggling to get up.

  "Gabriella dear, did you just hit a bear with this man's car?" Luisa said from the backseat.

  "That was awesome, Mom!" Sandy crowed. "Do it again!"

  Chapter Eight: Gaby

  She couldn't believe she'd just hit a friggin' bear with a Mustang. At least Derek's car was an older model, built back when cars were made of heavy steel, before all the concern about crumple zones and fuel efficiency. A modern car probably wouldn't have survived. She'd felt the shock all through the frame when they hit him, and it looked like the front end was a little bit crumpled, but the car was still driving just fine as Gaby skidded out onto the street, nearly getting run over by a delivery van that honked loudly at her.

  "Slow down," Derek panted. "He can't chase us on foot when we're in a car."

  Gaby forced herself to slow to something approaching the speed limit. Her hands were shaking. She'd just fled a burning building, got attacked by an assassin, and hit a polar bear with someone else's car.

  She glanced sideways at Derek. There was blood all over his shoulder. "Do—do you need a hospital?"

  "I'll live," he said. "Take us to the hotel."

  "But you're bleeding—"

  "It's more important to get you somewhere safe."

  "You just got mauled by a polar bear!"

  "I'll heal."

  From the backseat, Luisa remarked approvingly, "He's as stubborn as you are. Good match for you."

  "Mama! I can't believe you're matchmaking at a time like this!" Looking up, she registered a light turning red, slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt with the car's nose in the crosswalk. The car behind her honked. "Yeah, I'd like to see you do better after the day I've had, buddy!" she yelled over her shoulder.

  "Gabriella," her mother said disapprovingly. "You are driving like a maniac."

  "Mother, if you can do better, you are very welcome to come up and take the wheel." Gaby huffed out her breath, blowing a loose strand of hair off her nose. "Derek, I have no idea where I'm going."

  "Hotel," Derek said. Grimacing, he reached across his body to holster the gun he wa
s still holding, and then fumbled in his pocket. "Do you remember where it is?"

  "Yes, sort of, but is it safe?" She still couldn't believe Ghost had set fire to the apartment building just to get to her. She craned at the rear-view, trying to see if there was a plume of smoke. The city skyline appeared undisturbed.

  Derek got his phone out one-handed. "Safe enough. I don't think he knows about the hotel."

  "Yes, but if he did that once—" Gaby swallowed, looking in the rear-view mirror again.

  "The light is green, Gabriella," her mother said helpfully.

  "I know, Mama!" she snapped, stomping on the gas.

  "Your apartment should be okay, Gaby," Derek said, seeming to read her thoughts. "The fire department got there quickly, and it wasn't a big fire to begin with. He just needed the fire alarms to go off. And there'll be better security at the hotel. He won't just be able to walk in."

  "Yes, but—" Gaby clenched her teeth on a protest. She was all too close to tears, and she wasn't about to break down in front of her son.

  "You're holding up great," Derek told her quietly. "I'm gonna call Keegan and get some extra cops on the hotel, okay?"

  Wordlessly, Gaby nodded. Derek put the phone to his ear.

  "Keegan? Meet me at the hotel. Bring a first-aid kit. Oh, and a change of clothes would be good, too."

  Gaby couldn't hear the words, but she was able to hear the exasperated tone on the other end of the line.

  "I didn't do anything to myself," Derek said, sounding annoyed. "We had a little encounter with the Ghost at Gab—at Diaz's place. We're gonna need to beef up security on the hotel."

  Gaby tried to tune out the conversation as the two of them started hashing out details. When she stopped at the next traffic light, she twisted around to look into the backseat and forced a smile. "How are you two doing back here? Sandy, are you taking care of Grandma like I told you to?"

  Luisa smiled and put an arm around her grandson. "He's doing very well."

  Sandy nodded, his curls bouncing. "Mom, you ran over a bear."

  "Pretty exciting day, huh?"

  "Yes," Sandy agreed. "I'm hungry."

  That's right, dinner was cooling and congealing on their table. "We'll get dinner where we're going," Gaby told him. "We're eating out tonight. That'll be cool, right?"

  "The light is green, Gabriella."

  "I know," Gaby sighed, putting the car in gear.

  ***

  She parked in the underground garage. Derek took the backpack and Gaby helped her mother unfold the walker for the trek upstairs.

  "Keegan's looking into getting a second room on the same floor, so we won't be crammed into one," Derek said.

  Normally she'd have been delighted to have some alone time with Derek, but right now she just wanted the whole family together, where she could keep an eye on them. Still, Derek's vigilance as he shepherded them upstairs made her feel a little safer.

  It was impossible to be truly terrified with Derek there. He would keep her safe. Even against someone who could turn into a polar bear.

  She remembered the solid impact as the car's bumper connected with the Ghost. That was the moment when he'd stopped feeling like an apparition and started feeling truly real, and somehow, that actually made it better. He might be a monster, but he wasn't really a ghost. He could be hurt. He could be stopped.

  Does Derek ... turn into something like that?

  She wished she could talk to him about it, without her mother and Sandy present. Okay, maybe separate rooms were going to be a plus.

  But for now, they all crowded into the room where she and Derek had eaten lunch—and done a few other things, she realized with a shock of embarrassed horror at the sight of the rumpled bed. Hastily she flipped the covers up over the sheets, and then, for good measure, sat on them to make sure her mother didn't choose that bed to sit on.

  She needn't have worried; Luisa took the chair, parking her walker next to it.

  "So what's our next move?" Gaby asked.

  "Food?" Sandy suggested hopefully, climbing into her lap.

  "Food sounds good," Derek said. He handed the room service menu to her. "Order me a steak. Don't worry about cost; you aren't paying. I'm just gonna go in the bathroom and get cleaned up. Don't open the front door unless you're sure of who it is."

  As the bathroom door closed behind him, Gaby wished she knew how bad his injuries really were. He was moving almost normally, but his shirt was tattered and bloody around the shoulder.

  She tried to take her mind off it by helping Sandy pick out something from the menu, followed by arguing with her mother over it. Luisa insisted on picking the cheapest item she could find. "Mama, no. Order what you like. If we're going to have to go through all of this, you should at least get a good dinner out of it."

  Just as Gaby was hanging up the phone after placing their order, someone knocked on the door. Luisa started to struggle out of her chair to answer it.

  "Mama, no! It's too soon to be our food." Gaby put her arms around Sandy. Could he have found us so soon?

  Derek came swiftly from the bathroom, stripped to the waist, with a towel flung over his injured shoulder and his gun in one hand. Gaby wished terror weren't interfering with her appreciation of all the naked, toned manflesh on display.

  "There's someone at the door," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking.

  "I know." Derek glanced through the peephole, sighed, and opened the door. "You're gonna get shot doing that, Keegan."

  "You were expecting me," Keegan retorted, shoving a bundled-up bag in Derek's direction. "Ms. Diaz. Shame we couldn't meet again under better circumstances. This is your family, I presume?"

  Introductions went around, while Derek vanished back into the bathroom. Gaby left her mother talking to Keegan, and went to tap on the bathroom door. "Derek?" she called quietly. "Do you need any help?"

  After a pause, Derek said, "C'mon in. Just you."

  Gaby slipped through the door and closed it behind her. Derek was sitting on the closed lid of the toilet. The bag that Keegan had brought was open on the counter, with gauze and other first-aid supplies scattered around, along with a balled-up, clean shirt.

  The towel was no longer covering his shoulder, so she got her first good look at the damage Ghost had done. No wonder he'd been trying not to use his left arm. His shoulder was a mass of clotted blood and the yellowish stain of iodine smeared around puncture wounds. Gaby tried not to let her horror show on her face, but from Derek's wry, tired smile, she didn't think she'd managed.

  "It's not as bad as it looks."

  "It looks pretty bad! You shouldn't be patching it up yourself. You need antibiotics! Stitches! We have to get you to an emergency room."

  Derek shook his head. "Shifters heal fast. It'll be almost good as new in a day or two."

  "Are you serious?"

  He nodded, then winced as the movement pulled at the wounds. "I just need to get it cleaned up so my body won't have to work as hard to heal it. I've done the front, but it'd be really great to get someone else to help me with the back."

  "Oh no, there's more?"

  "The front's the worst," Derek said. Gritting his teeth, he leaned forward.

  "Well, I hope so, because if your back is worse than this, I'm getting the lieutenant to help me drag you off to a hospital whether you want to go or not."

  But he was right; his back was much less damaged, mostly scraped and bruised. As she leaned over his shoulder, cleaning the injuries while he bore it in stoic silence, Gaby tried to focus on her task and not on the muscles of his back, the graceful curve of his spine. Or on how good his hair smelled, an intensely masculine smell ...

  As a mom, she had more than her share of experience at cleaning up minor injuries, and she was fascinated to see that the scrapes on his back looked like they were already starting to heal up. They certainly didn't look like they'd been made no more than an hour ago.

  Which made her wonder about the scars on his side. If
shifters healed as fast as he said, how bad had those wounds been, to leave scars like that?

  "You doing okay?" Derek asked quietly. His voice was a low rumble; leaning over his shoulder, half in his lap, she could feel the vibration through his rib cage.

  "I am. So far. Having to keep it together for Mama and Sandy actually helps in a way, you know? If it was just me, I'd probably be a basket case by now."

  "I find that hard to believe," Derek murmured. "You're brave and tough, Gaby. Hell, you probably saved my life today."

  She could feel herself blushing and turned her face away as she finished disinfecting his scrapes. "Well, the only reason why you're here at all is because you're protecting me. I couldn't just run off without trying to help."

  "A lot of people would have."

  She couldn't think of anything to say, especially not with all of him in such close proximity to her. She turned her head just as he turned his, and his lips met hers, warm and soft.

  "Gabriella!" her mother called through the door. "The food is here!"

  They smiled against each others' lips. "Duty calls," Gaby murmured.

  "We'll have to pick up where we left off a little later."

  "I'm looking forward to it."

  He nibbled her bottom lip lightly and then let go. With reluctance, she pulled away and washed her hands in the sink while Derek, wincing slightly, put on the clean shirt.

  "Do I look like I was just fighting a bear?"

  "No, you look great—oh, wait." She stood on tiptoe to kiss him again, and carefully folded down the collar of the shirt. "Okay, now you look great."

  "I'm glad it meets your exacting standards," he said dryly, and opened the door.

  The food smelled wonderful, making Gaby's stomach grumble and reminding her how long it had been since she'd last put anything in it. She'd expected Lt. Keegan to be gone, but he was still there, sitting on a corner of the neatly made-up bed with one leg tucked under him.

  "Get us another hotel room yet?" Derek asked him.

  "Actually, I've got a better idea." Keegan reached into his pocket and took out something that rattled. He tossed it to Derek, and Gaby saw that it was a set of keys. "I have a cabin out in the sticks, north of the city. Nobody knows about it, and it's not even in my name. It's for the times when I need to get off the grid for a little while."