Matt’s ears pricked as the sounds drew closer, and he held Jackie tight against him. Could he bring his bear over if he had to? He wasn’t sure. It had had some time to recover, but that first golem had savaged it badly, and it needed to heal on that other plane or whatever it was. Matt could feel it inside him, still sore and wounded. But angry and protective, too. The Division had pissed him off with its lies, but it had also taught him how to fight as a bear, and he knew he could kick some serious ass if he had to.
Clomp, clomp.
The heavy footsteps drew closer, coming abreast the suite of rooms Matt and Jackie occupied, and for a moment he thought the creature was going to enter again and do another sweep. If so, he prayed Jackie would be able to cloak them again, because he didn’t think his bear was ready.
After a brief pause, though, the golem continued on, and the sounds slowly diminished, then faded altogether. Matt let out a sigh of relief. He turned to see Jackie appraising him intently.
“What?” he said, and forced a chuckle.
“Nothing,” she said, but he knew it was something. Was maybe a lot of something.
Her dark eyes were serious, but warm. Staring into them, his bear gave that low, mournful sound again, and he felt something in his heart swell and flutter inside him. He blinked, feeling a wave of dizziness come over him, then pass. Could it be? he wondered. Could it really be … her?
He didn’t sleep with girls he just met very often. In fact, he hadn’t for a long time, not since he’d first come back from the Navy, all raw and broken from his experiences overseas. He’d drowned out his grief and pain with willing flesh, but eventually that had passed. He’d found a new place, a new life with a crew of shifters who were all good men and who took him in like family. Just like Paul had been. Like brothers. But something had been missing in his life, he knew that now.
Something huge.
Feeling something lurch in his chest, he glanced away from Jackie and blinked his eyes. My mate, he thought wonderingly. Can it be that I’ve found her at last? Frowning, he realized that he couldn’t know, not for sure, not until he knew who she was. She had secrets she’d been keeping from him. If he was going to allow his heart open to her fully, he had to know what they were.
But was she willing to share them?
Swallowing, he said, “And … what about you? You know all about me, but I don’t know anything about you. Except that you’re a thief and a magic-user. And that you’re willing to die for whatever you stole from Walsh.”
He turned to her again to see her looking away now. Her fingers traced an absent-minded circle around his left nipple, and she pressed her head against his chest as if seeking protection. From what? The truth?
He stroked her jaw with a finger, then tilted her chin up so that her eyes had no choice but to look into his.
“Tell me,” he said, but he made his words soft. “I need to know if …”
She waited, but when he didn’t finish she said, “If what?”
If you’re really going to be my mate. Instead of saying something like that, which would probably scare any reasonable girl off, he said, “I just need to know. And … I want to. I want to know you better, Jackie. What we just did, it …”
“Yeah?”
“It’s not what I usually do. I mean … with you it feels different.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well … bigger.”
Her eyes widened, and a serious look came over her, even more serious than before, but somehow that gave him hope.
“Really?” she said.
He cupped her cheek with his hand. “Really.”
She brought his palm to her lips and kissed it. “Okay, then,” she said. “I’ll tell you my story. If you want to know.”
He made himself nod, feeling as he did his heart buck against his ribs. Somehow he knew what he was about to hear was important. Maybe super important. It might—shit, he knew it would—change his life forever.
A weak, sad smile hovered at her lips, then faded. “Matt,” she said softly, “I’m a shifter, too.”
He grunted in surprise. “Really? I didn't smell anything. Weird. What kind?”
That sad smile came again, then just as quickly vanished. “Dragon.”
He rocked back. “Dragon?”
She flipped onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Propping himself up on his elbow, he laid himself sideways to regard her.
“Well, part dragon,” she amended. “Like, a small part. It was my grandmother who was a full dragon shifter. My grandfather was human, and he never Turned. And none of their kids were shifters, either. But one of their kids had me. By that time the blood was thin, diluted, and I could never shift completely. But I could make wings pop out on my back, and I could … well, I could breathe fire.”
Matt whooped, then put a hand over his mouth (in case of a golem) and whooped more softly. “That’s awesome!”
“I’m glad you think so. My father and mother were horrified, especially after I set the kitchen on fire one day. I was just trying to toast bread with my breath.” She smiled sheepishly. “It got toasted, all right.”
“Ha! You go, girl!”
“Anyway, I grew up trying to keep it a secret. And trying not to scorch Judith Eans’s hair when she called me Baby No-Breasts. Or sometimes No Bump.”
“Ouch.” Matt grinned and let his gaze stray to Jackie’s generous bosom. “Well, you showed her eventually.”
Jackie cleared her throat, drawing his eyes to hers again, but she did it with a pleased-looking smile. “Well, all the while I knew my grandmother had a terrible enemy. She loved me more than any of her other grandkids, and she took me deep into her confidence. She told me all about this evil mage named Walsh and how he’d made war upon her and her kind for hundreds of years.”
“He’s immortal?”
She winced. “Kind of. See, he uses his powers to steal the …” Jackie swallowed, and Matt could tell that what she was about to say next was key. Starting over, she said, “He uses his powers to steal the fire from dragons. When that happens, it’s like he takes their souls. He breaks them somehow. In here.” She tapped her chest. “They can never Shift again. But he can use that fire to lengthen his own life.”
“Like a vampire.”
“Yes. Something like that. Well, he had a grudge against my grandmother’s clan—my clan—because one of them had wounded him long ago. Scorched his arm before he could steal that dragon’s fire. He’s still burned to this day. None of his magic could heal the wound, and his right arm is twisted and shriveled.”
“Serves him right.”
“My grandmother told me all this when I was very young, and growing up I would always keep my eyes open for some sinister figure with a twisted arm lurking around the playgrounds and malls.”
Matt swore under his breath. “He was your boogeyman.”
“Exactly.” Jackie nodded, satisfied that he got it. “Well, one day when I was about sixteen and just learning to control my powers Walsh did find me. I was coming home from a date—my second-ever date, with Jimmy Gottlieb; he was so cute in that blue blazer—to find Walsh waiting for me outside my parents’ house. I was coming up the walkway to the front door—alone, Jimmy had gone—when Walsh just sort of … materialized. I don’t know if he was hiding behind a bush or using his powers to cloak himself, but he just appeared. Instantly I knew who he must be. He was dressed elegantly, but his right arm was in a sling. His left hand was laden down with fancy rings, all with gleaming jewels in them. It was night, but the outside lights were on—my parents had left them on for me—so I could see everything.”
Matt could see the memory of her fear in Jackie’s face; it had gone still and pale, and moisture gathered at the corners of her eyes. He reached out and held her hand. She surprised him by gripping his back fiercely.
“Go on,” he prompted gently. “What happened next?”
Jackie nodded, gathering her strength, and said, “He held up his
hand and spoke a word—a single word. That’s all it took. I knew what he was trying to do and started to Shift. My wings popped out on my back, totally shredding the cute dress I’d bought just for the date, and I began to gather my fire inside my chest. If I could just burn him to a cinder before he could cast that spell …” She let out a ragged breath. “But of course he was too fast, too powerful. The air blurred around his hand, and the blur moved forward and grew larger. It folded around me and tightened. Like it was strangling me. At first I thought I couldn’t breathe, but then I realized it wasn’t my breath he was stealing.”
“It was your fire.”
She nodded. “Yeah. He drew it out of me, and as he did one of his rings began to glow—a dark gem in a gold band. I let out a terrible scream and crumpled to the ground. My parents burst out of the house and saw Walsh there, all triumphant and evil and me weeping on the ground, my wings gone, my fire gone … half of me gone … and my dad went nuts. He leapt at Walsh, fists flying. Walsh could have simply vanished, or he could have frozen my dad in time or something, but he was—is—an utter evil bastard. He used my own fire, which still glowed in that gem on his finger, to kill my dad. I saw the ring glow bright, and then the brightness came over my dad. Flames consumed him in a heartbeat. Only then did Walsh utter a spell and flicker out of existence.”
Rage boiled inside Matt, a furious, protective anger that someone could have done this to anyone, let alone someone, he realized, almost to his shock, that he was beginning to care for deeply.
“Damn it all,” Matt said. “He stole your fire and killed your dad.”
Jackie nodded, her chin trembling, and tears streamed from her eyes. Matt couldn’t take the pain he saw in her face, but he wouldn’t let himself look away. He let that pain bore into him and lodge deep inside. One day, he thought, I’ll give that pain an outlet. I’ll unleash it on Walsh just like he unleashed Jackie’s fire on her dad.
Jackie’s hand squeezed Matt’s even tighter, so tight it was painful, but he only gripped hers more firmly in return, letting her know that he could take it, that he was there for her.
“My mom and I were devastated,” Jackie said. “She mourned for a long time, and so did I. But we were somehow separated. The tragedy should have brought us together, but it only drove us apart. I was in my own little world, a sphere of pain and isolation, and my mom was in her own place, too. It was like the pain built walls around us. I would have turned to my grandmother, but she had set off on a mission of revenge to kill Walsh for slaying her son and stealing my fire. She never did return, and I learned later that he killed her, too.”
“God damn.”
Jackie sniffed wetly. “I’d had big plans. College. A career. A huge life I’d planned out for myself. But after that … I just didn’t have the heart for it. I started wearing dark clothes, listening to death metal. I guess I kind of went goth. And all the while hate festered in me, and I knew I had to give it some release. I had to strike back somehow, if you know what I mean.”
“I get it,” Matt said, nodding.
“I hated Walsh for abusing his magical abilities like he did. So when I learned of a shifter who was using a magic amulet to make himself stronger and using that against others, I made it my business to steal that amulet. Later I learned of a mage doing nasty things with a seeing stone. And so on. One thing led to another. I learned there were a lot of bad guys in New York, so I went there. There’s a whole magical community there, and of course where there’s enough people some of them will be assholes. I made it my business to take them down a peg. To take away anything they were using against others, like Walsh used his ring against me and my dad. I turned it into a career of sorts, selling the magical items to fences in the community—under the condition that they wouldn’t sell them to bad guys. And I made damn sure they didn’t.”
Anger sparked in her eyes, and determination, and Matt liked the strength he saw there. But he also liked the fact that she’d trusted him enough to be vulnerable in front of him, to open her secrets to him. Maybe … just maybe …
“And Walsh?” he said. “What about him?”
Jackie wiped at her eyes impatiently. “He was always my endgame, my ultimate target. All those jobs I pulled before were just practice. Building up my skills to one day break into his lair and steal … it.”
Matt snapped his fingers. “The ring!”
“He would feed on a dragon’s fire for decades. He could make one dragon’s fire last him for half a century. So I knew mine would still be there. Just waiting.” Her toe prodded her purse on the floor next to her pile of clothes, and Matt suddenly realized what she’d been protecting. What she’d ferried here from New York.
“You did it,” he breathed. “You stole the ring!”
Pride showed in her face. “Finally, last week, I decided I was ready. I was really going to do it. I spent several days casing his penthouse, then broke in. I deactivated all his alarms and survived his magical booby-traps. He was asleep, and it was night—my element. I slipped into his bedroom and took the ring. I was almost out—I could have escaped without him knowing who took it—but I paused.”
“What for?”
For a moment, doubt entered her eyes. “I … I wanted to kill him.”
Matt could see that this really bothered her, that she had never forgiven herself for the impulse to murder the man that had ruined her life and taken both her father’s and grandmother’s.
“You wanted revenge,” Matt said.
“Yeah. I’d been about to leave, but I saw him lying there, helpless, and I knew I’d never have a chance like that again. I could avenge my dad and grandmother, and who knew how many lives I’d be saving if I did it? Because Walsh would definitely kill again, if he hadn’t already.”
Matt kissed her temple, which made her blink. She rounded on him in confusion.
“What was that for?”
He smiled what he hoped was a gentle smile. “Because you hesitated,” he said. “I would have simply torn the bastard’s head off.”
Moisture glimmered in her eyes “So you don’t hate me? For almost killing him?”
“Hell no! I wish you had. Then we wouldn’t be here.” Immediately he added, “But I’m glad we are. And I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Why?”
He grinned. “Because now I can kill him.”
“You really think we can?”
“Hell yeah. Anyway, finish your story.”
“Well, you know the rest. My hesitation gave Walsh the chance to wake up. When I saw that, I got out of there, but too late. He recognized me. Put out the alert to all of his contacts, which are plentiful. I needed a mage to interact with the ring. I know a few spells, but nothing that could transfer the fire from the ring back into me. My regular contacts in the Big Apple trembled in terror when I asked for their help—thanks, guys. So I cast my net wider, looking online for mages for hire, and came across Tannenbaum. I spoke with him on the phone, and he seemed nice and honest, and the mountains might be remote enough to be safe from Walsh. But somehow he was able to figure out where I was going, obviously, and set a trap for me. I’m so sorry that you’re in it with me, Matt.”
His voice was low and soft as he said, “I’m not. Not for a minute.”
Chapter 7
Confusion filled Jackie, but also wonder. When she studied Matt, she only saw honesty and tenderness there. And maybe something else, too. Maybe … could it really be the beginnings of something stronger? Something deeper?
She thought so. It frightened her, but also exhilarated her. She felt a fluttery feeling in her belly and had to fight the urge to pull away from Matt. She’d never allowed herself to feel for a man before. Or anyone, really. Not since she’d lost her dad and grandmother. And after she’d moved to New York, she rarely spoke to her mom anymore.
It was just her, just Jackie, existing in her own strange, shadowy world, alone and isolated, just as she’d been since Walsh stole her fire. Sure, she knew people, had co
ntacts. But not friends. Not confederates. Occasionally she’d tour the bars and drag a man back to her place for a screw, but that was it. Just physical need, with little satisfaction, either physical or emotional.
She’d told herself she was beyond that now. That she was cold. She had no fire, right? It only made sense. If she wasn’t hot, she must be cold. Like ice. She was Jackie Ice Queen Gage, strong and proud.
But here Matt comes, all heat and heart, and strangely—heck, almost magically—she felt her own heart begin to thaw in response.
“What is it?” he said, evidently seeing something in her face.
She looked away. “N-nothing.”
Gently, he grabbed her jaw and turned her face back to his. His eyes met hers like a blow, but a good kind of blow, and she gasped. She felt like she was staring right into his soul, and he was staring into hers. The ground seemed to move beneath her. Her breath caught in her throat.
He crushed his lips to hers. She kissed back, passionately, playing her tongue against his. She knew he felt it, too, that connection, that spark. This kiss was something bigger than just a kiss, it was a seal, a contract—a promise. It was their vow to each other that they meant something to each other and that their lovemaking hadn’t been a simple one night stand but the beginning of something larger and deeper than either had ever experienced before. She knew bear shifters believed in fated mates, and that if Matt felt this way about her then that meant … that meant …
“Mate,” she sighed when they parted.
His eyes went wide. “What did you say?”
She was surprised to feel a smile tug at the corner of her lips. “Mates,” she said. “That’s what you bears believe, right?”
“Darlin’, belief doesn’t enter into it.” He tapped his chest over his heart. “My bear can feel it. In here. It just is.”
Gulp. “What does your bear say … about us?”
“He doesn’t speak. He growls.”
She rolled her eyes. “What does he growl?”
“He growls …” Matt smiled, a huge wide smile, then ducked his head and buried his head against her navel. He gave her a loud, growling raspberry, and she giggled and beat playfully at his shoulders. “… this!”
Bear Fire: Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BBW) (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 4) Page 5
