by Dillon, Kym
Allie steeled herself, then got to her feet, marched over to the window, and ripped open the curtains—
There was no one down there.
“What the hell?” she whispered to herself. She opened the window and leaned out for a better look, but the yard was empty. Mark was nowhere to be seen. Had she imagined it?
Her hand made contact with something on the window ledge. She looked down. A pebble. So she hadn’t been imagining things. Someone really had been throwing rocks at her window tonight. What was going on? For a split second she wondered if he hiding somewhere right then, laughing at her. No, that couldn’t be the case. Mark had hurt her, yes, but she didn’t think he had ever intended to. She was angry at him for everything that had happened, but in her heart she knew that he hadn’t set out to make her feel foolish or unlovable. She believed that he hadn’t intended to be cruel.
So, what was going on here?
Too curious to let it lie, she grabbed a flashlight from her desk drawer and ran downstairs and out the door. Once outside, she circled around the house to the yard under her window and cast her light around, looking for clues. There were footprints in the dirt, but she couldn’t tell if they had been made recently, or a few nights ago when Mark had stood there, summoning her to come out. She lost her breath for a moment at the memory of that night, the passion they’d shared after returning to Mark’s yard. If only tonight held such promise.
“Mark?” she whispered. “Are you here?”
A figure stepped out from behind the tree. “You’re out late, Allie.”
She recognized the voice and stepped closer, her heart rate returning to normal as the flashlight caught his face. “Liam. What are you doing here?”
He closed on her. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“It’s my yard,” she said, stepping back slightly. There was something different about him, a set to his jaw that flew in the face of the Liam she knew. He had always been her port in a storm, her older brother figure. After her childhood friendship with Mark had dissolved, Liam had been the one to make her feel safe. But there was nothing safe or reassuring about the way he was looking at her now. It was almost predatory.
“Strange thing to do, though,” he said. “Coming outside in the middle of the night, all alone. Were you looking for something? Or someone, maybe?”
“Were you the one throwing rocks at my window?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Then, you wanted me to come out.” She folded her arms across her chest. “And like you said, it’s the middle of the night. I don’t have time to play games. I have somewhere to be first thing in the morning. Why don’t you tell me what this is all about?”
“Somewhere to be?” He stepped closer to her again, and Allie backed up. Now her back was pressed right against the siding of the house. There was nowhere else to go. It’s Liam, she reminded herself, her heart pounding. Liam would never hurt me. This is ridiculous. I’m being paranoid because it’s the middle of the night and he surprised me, that’s all. “Where do you have to be?”
“I’m catching a plane,” she said. “I’m going back to New York.”
“So soon?” Liam frowned. “You just got here.”
“I was never planning to be here for long,” she said. “Only while I was between jobs. I just needed a place to crash that didn’t cost as much as a New York City apartment, so I wouldn’t dry out my savings account. I got an offer, so I’m returning.”
He stepped closer to her again, close enough now to touch, and she gasped. His grey eyes were full of malice.
“You can’t leave, Allie,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “What about poor Mark?”
15
“What about Mark?” Allie asked.
“Poor Mark,” Liam said, his voice dropping to a lower pitch than she had ever heard from him. “All alone in the world, isn’t he? Parents dead, and the whole town turned against him. Not a friend left to his name. Not until you arrived in town, that is.”
“I’m his attorney,” Allie said, trying to control the tremor in her voice. “That’s my job, Liam. I’m his public defender.”
“No, you aren’t,” he said. “You told me the story of how you lost your job in New York. You were working as a state prosecutor. Why would you take on the job of defending Mark?”
“Because he’s innocent,” Allie snapped. “You might not want to believe it. This whole town might want to write him off. But I’m a lawyer, and I know how to examine evidence, and in Mark’s case, there isn’t any. It’s all circumstantial. He didn’t kill his parents.”
“You can’t prove it,” Liam said.
“I don’t have to prove it. All I have to prove to get him exonerated is that there’s room for doubt.”
“You’ll never convince a jury of his peers. Not in this town.”
“It won’t go to trial. The arrest won’t stick.” Allie wasn’t sure why they were debating the merits of Mark’s case, of all things, but the longer she kept Liam talking the better off she was. It was a short run to the front door from here, and Allie was fast and knew the terrain. Liam was stronger than she was, but if she caught him by surprise she might be able to outrun him and make it inside. If he turned his back, even for a moment, she would go…
“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Liam asked. “Strange that you would come back to town for such a short stay and involve yourself in a legal matter. Strange that you would represent the defendant, when your experience is as a prosecutor. Strange that you’re leaving now, before the case is over.”
“Mark’s an old friend,” Allie said. “I wanted to do my part.”
“An old friend? Is that what he is?” Liam leaned closer, leering. “Or is it something more?”
“It’s my business if it is,” Allie said.
“Don’t bother trying to keep it a secret. Dani saw you with him. Everyone knows.”
“So we were dating,” Allie said. “So what? We broke up.”
“More than dating, I think,” Liam said.
“More than dating? What does that even mean? We weren’t engaged. I just got here. It was a new relationship, and it’s over now. Is that seriously why you’re prowling around my yard in the middle of the night? Because you want to interfere in my love life?” But Allie felt a chill as she spoke. She and Mark had been more than dating. They had been—or at least, believed they were—mates. They had thought they shared a permanent and unbreakable bond. Could that possibly be what Liam was referring to? But how could he know?
“I told you to stay away from him,” Liam said. “I warned you. Wasn’t that one of the first things I said to you when you arrived in town? That it wasn’t safe to be close to him?”
“Well, you were wrong,” Allie snapped. “He didn’t kill his parents.”
Liam smiled grimly. “I know that, Allie. I know he didn’t, because I killed them.”
She recoiled, trying to process the words. Liam couldn’t have killed Mark’s parents. Liam was one of her oldest friends. He had always been so kind to her and the rest of their classmates. She would have trusted him with anything when they were young. He couldn’t possibly be a killer. She couldn’t have been so wrong.
“No, you can’t have,” she whispered.
“Why can’t I have?” He paced in front of her slowly, looking more predatory than ever, and Allie felt like a witness on the stand in court. How many times had she circled someone like this, closing in for the figurative kill? “Did you think your boyfriend was the only one in town with secrets up his sleeve?”
“But...but Mark knows who killed them,” Allie said, her mind racing.
“Does he?”
“He said…” What had he said? It was the Black Bear Clan. He had been sure of that, hadn’t he? But what evidence had he had to support his claim? The rivalry between the two clans? It was a convincing motive, but it was far from being proof.
“But why would you kill them?” she asked Liam. “I know you
didn’t like Mark, but what did you ever have against his parents?”
Liam shook his head. “Allie. You’re smarter than this. Go on, solve the case. Why would I want to hurt Mark’s family? You know the reason.”
“I don’t,” she whispered.
“You do. You just don’t want to admit it. But you know. That brain of yours is always busy, isn’t it? Always working things out. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you’re putting together everything you’ve learned about Mark, everything you know about what he is, with everything you’ve ever known about me, and you’re solving the puzzle. Go ahead, Allie. Why did I really miss a year of school? What was I sick with? You know the answer to this.”
It can’t be. She stared at him, eyes widening, breath accelerating. “You’re a shifter.”
“Very good. You see? I knew you could do it.”
“You’re...you’re with the Black Bear Clan, aren’t you?”
“Mark told you that, did he?” Liam closed his eyes for a moment. “I wish he hadn’t figured it out. I definitely wish he hadn’t gotten you involved. Why did you have to go over there, when I told you to stay away? I warned you, didn’t I? I told you it wasn’t safe.”
“I don’t understand,” Allie breathed. “You know he never killed anyone. You know he wasn’t a danger to me. What are you saying?”
“Outsiders are never safe in this world.” Liam’s hands clenched.
Allie was forcibly reminded of the moment in Mark’s yard when he had been angered and trying to restrain himself from shifting. She wouldn’t stand a chance against a bear, but if Liam began to shift, it might provide the distraction she needed to make a break for the house. She tensed her muscles, waiting, ready to spring. “What do you mean?” she asked, desperate to keep him talking, so he wouldn’t notice that she was preparing her escape.
“I like you, Allie. You’re a friend,” Liam said. “I don’t relish what I have to do here. But you’re Mark’s mate, and nothing will destroy him more thoroughly than losing his beloved mate. It’s a fate worse than death for a shifter. The pain of it will drive him mad.” He pulled out a gun and examined it thoroughly. “I’ll make it quick. I have nothing against you. I have no desire to cause you unnecessary pain.”
“Y-you’re going to kill me?” Allie gasped.
“I’m sorry. I really am.” He came closer, arms outstretched. If she tried to run in either direction, he would catch her before she could take more than a couple of steps.
“Liam, no, listen,” Allie begged. “We’re friends. We...we’re old friends, remember? Remember when we took trig together and I tutored you every day so you could pass and not lose your place on the basketball team? Or the summer we made a list of all the classic horror movies and watched them together? This is you and me. Come on. You don’t have to do this.”
“Mark has to suffer,” Liam said. “This rivalry between our clans is much bigger than you and me, or even me and Mark. It’s in our blood. I have no choice.”
“But he’s losing me anyway!” she said frantically. “I’m going back to New York in the morning and...and I’m not even his mate, Liam! That was a mistake, it’s why we broke up! He told me himself. He thought we were mates, but he realized he got it wrong, and he ended things.”
“And you believed that?” Liam shook his head. “He lied to you, Allie. He’s been stinking up the joint since the moment you hit town. Hormones. I can smell him from here. And his yard...I mean, my God, did you two have sex out there?”
“You were the one who broke in!” Allie cried.
“Of course I was, and that’s why he broke up with you,” Liam said. “Once I’d been inside, he knew I had the scent of the mating bond, and that I had your scent as well. He probably knew from that moment on that I’d be coming for you, and he told you whatever he could think of to get you to leave town and forget about him.”
“Then we are mates,” Allie whispered. Even now, facing down Liam and his gun, it was a relief. She was glad he had told her. It meant that everything she and Mark had shared had been real after all. The breakup was just his way of protecting her.
“Of course you are,” Liam said. “Couldn’t you feel it? Your bond must be incredibly strong, if the scent is anything to go by.”
“Please don’t do this to us,” she whispered. “We’ll leave. We’ll both leave town, and you’ll never have to see or hear from us again. You can forget Mark exists. Just let us go, Liam, please. Let us be together.”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I would if I could, Allie. Honestly. But you’re not a shifter, and you couldn’t possibly understand the ways I’m bound to. I have to put my clan first.”
He raised the gun slowly, aiming it squarely at her heart.
16
Allie was looking death in the eye, she was sure of it. This is the end.
Then, with a rustle of leaves, a snapping of twigs, and a roar that frightened Allie so badly her knees gave out altogether and she fell to the earth and landed ungracefully, a bear burst onto the scene.
Allie was so startled that it took her mind several minutes to catch up to what she was seeing. It was Mark, of course. There weren’t any bears in downtown Cedar Rapids, so any bear she saw had to be a shifter. And this one matched the form Mark had taken before. Not only that, he was now standing between her and Liam and snarling ferociously. Allie wished she was less afraid, and that her muscles didn’t feel like wet noodles. The fight had escalated exponentially. It now seemed almost certain that someone would not be walking away from this, whether that someone was Allie, Mark, or Liam, was uncertain, but Mark was the one with fangs and claws, and Liam was the one with the gun. Allie scuttled deeper into the shadows behind the bear, trying to take herself out of harm’s way.
A loud crack rent the night air. Strangely, Allie’s first thought was thunder, and her immediate feeling was relief. If it started to rain, that might provide the cover she needed to get out of here, to get inside. But could she really leave Mark on his own?
He can take care of himself, Allie told herself firmly. With those claws, he can handle anything.
But even as the thought occurred to her, the bear roared in pain. Allie couldn’t have articulated how she knew the roar meant pain, but she did. The mating bond, she thought. We’re connected. What’s happening to him affects me. As she thought this, she felt a sharp pain in her left shoulder, and the answer came to her. Liam shot him!
He had saved her life, but he had risked his in the process.
Allie’s shoulder was throbbing acutely. She was no longer in any doubt that Liam had been telling the truth. Probably, his whole story had been true. Not only the part about Allie really being Mark’s true mate, but also the part where Liam really had killed Mark’s parents. Now they were facing each other, man and bear, circling each other slowly. As they rotated, the bear slowly moved around to face Allie, and she saw the blood on his shoulder. It looked bad, dark and matting his fur. “Mark,” she whispered, unable to raise her voice any higher, so potent was her fear. “Mark, he killed your parents, he…”
Liam raised the gun again. Allie shrieked. At the same time, the bear lifted a huge paw and raked its claws down Liam’s arm. Liam cried out with the pain and the gun went flying—
And a bear seemed to erupt from the ground. A second bear, almost as large and bulky as Mark’s, this one sleek and black. So Liam was with the Black Bear Clan. It had all been true, every word of what he’d told her. Allie screamed again, but neither bear was looking her way anymore.
Liam was strong and frightening, and Allie was terrified, but it soon became apparent that the fight wasn’t going to go his way. Mark was quick, agile, and even wounded, an amazing fighter. He very quickly had Liam retreating. The only problem was the gunshot wound. It continued to take its toll, and after only a few minutes of battle Allie could see that Mark was limping, slowing, favoring his left side. A triumphant glint shone in Liam’s eye and he closed the distance between them again, r
aising a paw to strike—
A deafening roar tore through the air and yet another bear appeared, running at full speed. This was a black bear, like Liam, and Allie felt a spike of panic shoot through her. Liam had backup. Mark couldn’t possibly hope to take on both of them.
But, to her astonishment, Liam turned and sprinted away, leaving the fight behind. Allie blinked. Had he gone for reinforcements? As she watched, he disappeared from view, lost among the trees. “Mark,” she gasped, trying to recover herself enough to speak normally. “We have to get inside, now—
The newcomer shifted mid stride and landed gracefully. He walked past Mark without comment and knelt before Allie, who was half-prone on the ground and hyperventilating. “Are you all right?” he asked.
Allie nodded, her head moving much too quickly.
“My name is Brian,” he said. “I’m the Alpha of the Black Bear Clan.”
“Alpha?”
“It’s a word you already know,” he said with a kind smile. “The leader of the pack. It means I’m in charge of that.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder in the direction Liam had run. “And I can’t apologize enough for what happened here tonight.” He rested a hand on Allie’s shoulder. “Try to slow your breathing, if you can. You’re safe now, I promise. My clan is under strict orders not to harm either of you.”
Allie drew a deep breath and forced herself to exhale slowly. The world made its way into sharper focus around her. “Was your clan under orders not to harm us tonight?”
Brian made a rueful face. “I can understand why you’d ask that.”
“Because if they were, I’m not sure they’re under your control.”
“I issued the order,” Brian said. “Had I known there was a problem, I would have taken care of it sooner. I’ll explain everything, but for now we should really get the two of you inside. I don’t anticipate any more trouble, but it’s best not to linger.” Having said his piece, he shifted again. Allie noticed that he seemed to have much better control than either Mark or Liam had over when he shifted. Maybe Mark could learn that level of control too.
