Her Russian Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Dating Agency Romance (Fated and Mated Book 3)

by Harmony Raines

  Chapter Fifteen – Artem

  The water was freezing and his shoulder hurt, but he lay there, pretending to be dead. It had been Alain’s idea, and it had worked, even if the rubber bullet had hurt like hell. At least his suspicions that Alain had really meant to kill him were unfounded.

  He let his body float away, the sound of Elina screaming filling his head, ricocheting off his skull. He wanted to stop and swim to shore, to tell her it was OK, but he had to go with it, had to make Mr. Harrington believe he was dead, so that Alain could record it, and he would finally be free of those who were searching for him.

  And they were searching for him. When the sheriff had checked for reports of a tiger last night, he had instead come across a picture of Artem walking through security at the airport. The cab driver had been located and told the police he had taken Artem to Bannock.

  He had not been as careful as he had thought. So Alain had told him he must die to ensure Elina’s safety and happiness. It seemed the sheriff might have had a crush on Elina, but he understood the mating bond and wanted nothing but her happiness.

  Staring up at the sky, he let the river take him. Soon he would pass under a stone bridge and that was where he had to haul himself to the side of the river and wait until Alain came searching for the body. He promised to deal with it all, from the identification to the DNA testing and cremation. It was to happen fast, and no one would ever know that it was a huge hoax.

  As he saw the bridge come into view, he turned over and swam for the shore, thinking of how sad his parents would be to know that he was dead, for real this time. There was no way he could tell them otherwise, no way he could get a message to them without compromising himself, and that would mean putting both Alain and Elina in danger.

  All these thoughts circled in his head while he sat and waited for the sheriff. It was hours, that felt like days, until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. It was almost dark, and he strained his eyes to see who it was, but he sensed her first. Then a voice called. “Artem, are you there?”

  “Elina, you shouldn’t have come,” he said, pulling himself up the bank towards her.

  “I had to see if you were all right. And Alain couldn’t come; he is too busy filling in his report. He has made a good job of making you dead.” She looked up at him, and there were tears in her eyes. “I thought I had lost you.”

  “I know.”

  She buried her face in his still-wet jacket and sobbed, his arms closing around her. “I don’t think I could go on.”

  “You could.”

  “And I have to. I can’t leave, not yet, but you have to. Alain said you will have to drive. So here, take my mom’s old car. She left it here when they went to Peru; she won’t mind you borrowing it I’ve filled it with fuel, and here is some money. You should have enough there to put fuel in and eat. Just avoid any cameras.”

  “Elina. I can’t leave you.”

  “You have to. I’ll come to you. I know where you are.”

  She kissed him, and then took his hand and led him across the fields to a quiet lane where her car was parked. “Look after it.” She handed him the keys. “She’ll be wanting it back.”

  “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter Sixteen – Elina

  The plane touched down at Novosibirsk International Airport, and Elina disembarked along with the rest of the passengers, feeling as if she has stepped into another world. The air was cold, colder than it ever got in Brannock, and she was glad she had packed lots of layers. This was a short trip, but you wouldn’t have guessed from the amount of luggage she had. Not that she was intending to take it all back with her, no, inside her suitcases she had packed gifts of clothes and other useful things for the people she was about to visit. She remembered Artem telling her how poor his family was, and she wanted to help them.

  Heading out of the airport, she was pleased to see a smiling face, holding a sign with her name on it. “Miss Harper?”

  “Yes.” She smiled, and he took her suitcase from her and led her to a car parked in the parking lot. “And you are Ivan?”

  “Yes. I am pleased to meet you.” He opened the car door for her—a sleek new car, not exactly what she would have expected from a poor peasant family.

  As she got in, she was just grateful that it was warm inside and she took a moment to let go of the tension in her body. This trip had been organized so quickly, she had been afraid no one would meet her and she would be left stranded in a strange country where she knew no one.

  “Our village is a few hours away. You might want to catch up on your sleep.”

  “Do I look that tired?” she asked.

  “A little. It has been a long journey for you.”

  “Thank you for coming to meet me.”

  “It is my pleasure. You are the mate of my brother. That makes you part of the family, even if…”

  “There is another reason I have come here.” She wanted to tell him now, but was suddenly nervous. What if they didn’t believe her and thought she was here for some other reason? They only had her word, through letters she had sent after Alain tracked down the family, that she was Artem’s mate. “I wanted to tell you all something.”

  “Are you pregnant?” he asked, his expression hopeful.

  She placed her hand on her stomach. “I might be.”

  “You came all this way to tell us you might be pregnant?” he asked, incredulous. “Or is there something else you want? My parents are poor. They cannot give you money. If that is what you need, then ask me, or my brothers. I will not have a gold-digger hoisted on my parents when they are already upset about Artem, their oldest son.”

  “No. No, nothing like that I promise you.” They were heading out of the city. Unable to bear hours in the car with Ivan without him knowing, she said, “Pull over, and I’ll explain.”

  He drove on for another couple of miles before he found a place to pull over. Then he turned to her and said, “Tell me why you came?” His voice was hostile.

  “It’s nothing bad.”

  “So you have not come here to ask us questions about Artem, questions that we have no answers to. You said you are his mate. Is this even true?”

  “Yes. Of course. But…” she looked around, and then said, “Can we talk outside?”

  “Why?”

  “I need the fresh air.” She opened the car door, and got out, the cold air hitting her. Even her tiger blood couldn’t protect her from the bitter cold. Ivan, seemed to be immune to the bitterly cold wind, that now held hints of snow.

  “Stop playing games, Elina. If you are false, I will take you back to the airport right now, and you can go home.”

  “I’m not false. But what I have to tell you needs the utmost secrecy.” She paused then took a deep breath and said, “Artem is not dead.”

  “What?” Ivan shook his head. “This is the second time he has tried to invent his own death.”

  “It wasn’t exactly his idea. And it was partly my fault. He saw me on a dating website, and knew he could not put his picture on there so he flew to where I lived. His face was picked up on the security cameras, which your country must have access to.”

  “He’s alive, though. You are sure?”

  “Yes. Luckily this time your country believes so too. The sheriff who came up with the idea is one of us. A shifter.”

  “A shifter?” He thought for a moment. “Sdvig? Izmeneniye medved. Changer?”

  “Yes. A changer.” She nodded. “He managed to make the proof impossible to disprove. And I have come here to scatter his ashes. In his homeland.”

  Ivan looked around. “And you fear you have been followed?”

  “I don’t know. This spy game is all new to me. I’m doing the best I can, but most of it I’ve learned from watching action movies.”

  He laughed, his eyes lighting up, and she saw the similarities between Ivan and Artem and her heart wrenched in her chest. She had not seen her mate in ov
er two months, not since the day he drove off in her mom’s car.

  The case against Mr. Harrington had been drawn out, but Jim had been released straight away. She had been a witness, and had gone through the court case having to lie about Artem’s death. Although she had been spared having to break her oath about it. The prosecutor, also a shifter, had been instructed to ask her whether she saw him shot, not if she had actually seen him die.

  “Shall we go and tell your parents? Will they be angry?”

  “No. My mom has sworn he wasn’t dead. She has refused to grieve. But to the outside world we have. The outside world has seen her cry and sob, and no one would believe she holds such hope in her heart.”

  He took her hand and kissed it, making her blush. “Thank you, Elina.”

  “My pleasure. There is one more thing I would like you to do for me.”

  “Anything, mate of my brother.”

  “Do you know where to find Galina Vetrov?”

  “I have never spoken to her. But I know where she lives.”

  “After we have seen your parents, and scattered the ashes, will you take me to her?”

  “I will.”

  They drove back to Multa, and despite him encouraging her to sleep, she couldn’t. His excitement was too much to ignore: it filled the car, washing over her as he whistled along to the radio. She couldn’t help smiling at his obvious excitement. But then he was going home to tell his parents and the rest of his family that Artem was alive.

  ***

  “I told you,” were the first words out of his mom’s mouth. “I would not believe that my son could have been shot and killed. I knew the first time, and I knew it this time. He is too clever for that.”

  Elina stood a little way back from Ivan who had broken the news to his mom and dad. She was a little bit in awe of them. She had come here expecting a small hut, from how Artem had described his home, but the house they were in was a beautiful wooden cabin, tucked into a valley, with complete privacy.

  “And you are the woman who is his mate?” Elina was enveloped on a bear hug, and kissed on each cheek. When she was released, she almost fell over.

  “Yes. I am.”

  “You will call me Rada. You are a lucky lady. And I think he is a lucky man. Will you tell us how he is?”

  “Of course.” Elina was ushered through the house, which was principally made of wood. There were carvings of lions and bears. But no tigers—maybe she should ask them to add one. “I love your house.”

  “Ivan built it for us. I told him we would not leave the village. So he built this. He is a good boy.”

  Ivan grinned as he came into the kitchen. “I am good, but Nikolai is better.”

  “Nikolai spends too much time away. Like our Artem. I would love to see my eldest son once more.”

  “Maybe one day you can come and visit. When everything has calmed down.”

  “We will visit when you have a child,” Ivan said.

  “Now. Sit. Talk. And we will drink a toast to my son in his absence.”

  Artem’s family were wonderful. All three sons, Ivan, Nikolai, and Ruslan came to the memorial they had arranged. Elina dutifully scattered the ashes she had brought with her, and if anyone came to watch, they would have thought it was a family in mourning. She had no idea anyone could wail as loudly as Rada. However, by the end of it, even Elina felt somber. They might not have lost their son to death, but they had lost him to a world they had to be separate from.

  It was then she realized that part of Rada’s sorrow was real. Elina’s thoughts then turned to the other reason she had come here. Glancing at Ivan, she only hoped he would be able to do as he said and locate Galina.

  Then she would go home and join Artem, and tell him her news that she was pregnant with their child.

  Chapter Seventeen – Artem

  “We are two very miserable Russians,” Vadik said, coming to sit next to Artem at the bar.

  “Indeed,” Artem said, passing Vadik a shot glass and the vodka bottle he had opened in order to once more try to dull the ache inside his chest.

  “Do you ever think it is perhaps better to risk it all for love? To go back and claim the women we are meant to be with?” Vadik asked.

  “Would being imprisoned in a Gulag make your suffering easier? I cannot ever set foot in our country again, and if I did, I could not live with the thought of Galina going through hell because of me. They would use her, just as they would use Elina if they had the chance.”

  “I know, but that does not make it easier.”

  “Your Elina will come to you soon. You know that.” Vadik downed his first shot of vodka and immediately refilled his glass. “Maybe we should go for a run instead of sitting here drowning our sorrows.”

  “My bear is so miserable too, I do not think I could stand listening to his pitiful roar. At least not until we have drowned out all coherent thought with this.” Artem poured them both another shot.

  “Sometimes I think I can feel her close by,” Vadik said. “Then I remember she thinks I am dead, and is a thousand miles away. That is when I feel I will drown in despair.”

  Artem sighed. “Elina might as well be a thousand miles away.”

  As he took the next shot, there was a tapping on the window of the restaurant. “Who is that? One of those ladies must have forgotten her purse or something.” He got up, already unsteady on his feet. But as he swayed a little, he was relieved to know the vodka was doing its job. He was comfortably numb, a state he had found the easiest to cope with once the restaurant closed in the evening and he was alone with his thoughts. He was beginning to understand how Vadik had felt all these years and wondered how, or why, he coped with it.

  Of course, he lived in hope that one day he would find a way of being with the woman he loved again.

  As he approached the door, his bear moved. In his mind, it had been days since he had had any interest in anything going on in the world around them. Placing his hand on the key in the lock, he turned it, a sense of expectation thrilling him.

  She’s here.

  However, when he opened the door, it was not Elina standing in the doorway, it was Galina.

  “What?” he asked, but she didn’t see him, her eyes instead slid past him to where Vadik sat at the bar, pouring another shot of vodka, but then he turned, and the clear liquor spilled unseen across the counter.

  “Galina!” He got up, and was across the restaurant floor in two massive strides to wrap his arms around his lost mate and pull her to him. “I am so sorry.”

  “It doesn’t matter; I am here now. We can be together.”

  “I’m sorry,” Vadik repeated. “So very, very sorry.”

  They kissed, and Artem felt like an intruder on this private moment, but he had to stand there, had to watch, to make himself know it was real, and that miracles did happen.

  “Shall we leave them alone? They have a lot of making up to do.”

  “Elina.” She came to stand next to him, watching the two lovers as they hugged and laughed. Then she took Artem by the hand and they went out into the night, walking together like lovers in the moonlight.

  Chapter Eighteen – Elina

  “How did you find her?” he asked.

  “I went to see your family, and your brother Ivan knew where to find her.”

  “You have seen my family?” he asked incredulously. “Why didn’t you say?”

  “I didn’t want any kind of suspicion raised. So I went there under the pretense of scattering your ashes, which was surreal to say the least. When I came back, I told everyone in Brannock I needed a change of scenery. I’ve got a job in Tidleton, and I am renting a house here in Grizzly Hollows. I can’t see that anyone will ever come looking for me.”

  “And Galina?”

  “I have managed to get her a visa. We’ll work out the rest of the details when we need to. But, as I have found out, it’s surprising how many of us there are in the world. In every corner of it, in places I could never have dreame
d of. Some very high-profile shifters. So I am confident that you and Vadik will be forgotten in no time, and Galina will be free to stay here.”

  “You are a clever woman.”

  “I am.” She leaned on his shoulder, liking the feeling of having him close. “I’ve missed you.”

  “I have missed you too. Each minute has been like a lifetime. Now you are here, I don’t want to ever let you out of my sight again.”

  “Oh yes, you are. But I know what you mean.”

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until her insides turned to liquid fire. “I mean it; I would chain you to my side if I could.”

  “It’s a good thing you can’t.” She linked her arms around his neck. “You don’t need a chain. We’re together now.”

  “You’re sure? About living here.”

  “Yes. The time away from you made me realize that it doesn’t matter where we live as long as we are together. And after what happened with Mr. Harrington … I don’t know, I really felt like I needed to move on. This is an exciting change for me. The firm I work for now represents shifters. There are a lot of us out there, and having someone represent them who understands who they are makes sense.”

  “I didn’t think I could ever feel this happy.”

  “And you? Is the restaurant enough for you? Your parents told me how clever you are, how natural technology is for you to understand.”

  “Yes. I am content.”

  “Because if you aren’t. I know someone who could get you a job…”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I am content here. And when we have a child, I will stay at home and look after it if you want to continue working.”

  “That might be sooner than you think.”

  “You mean…”

  “I’m fairly certain.”

  “So soon.”

  “We are meant to be, Artem. I’ll get a test tomorrow. I wanted it to be something we found out together.”

  They had reached the small house she had rented. “This is it. Want to see inside? Because I do. I rented it off the Internet.” She turned to point to her car. “I haven’t even unpacked my stuff yet.”