by Serena Vale
It all made the back of his neck prickle in unease, helpless to do anything but watch as he continued to sit there, hoping to catch sight of the woman he had been hired to find.
It had been surprisingly easy to track her down, either she wasn’t very good at hiding or she just hadn’t cared that much, but he was betting on the former. There was an innocent naiveté that came across loud and clear in the photo of her.
Jay sighed as he looked down at his empty coffee cup. He was wasting time just sitting there, he knew that. He had to make a decision soon. Either go in, try and find whatever room she was staying in, and potentially spook her into running again, or leave and come back tomorrow.
But she might just as easily be gone by the next day. He growled in aggravation. It could go either way, and he just wouldn’t know the answer until he rolled the dice. Pocketing his keys and his brown leather wallet, he casually opened the SUV door, got out, and threw it shut behind him.
He would just take a look around the building, case any exits, then walk up to the front desk and hope he got lucky. Slowly, he moved to the sidewalk, surreptitiously keeping an eye on the people he passed. She really couldn’t have picked a better neighborhood to hide in? He just shook his head.
Anyone trying to mess with him would be in for a rough surprise. He had specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention his size alone was enough to intimidate most people. At six and half feet of pure, lean muscle his physique closely mirrored that of his animal half.
As Jay neared the alleyway running behind the dilapidated motel, he paused, his instincts going on high alert. His unusually sharp ears had picked up something, he just couldn’t make sense of it. There it was again. A soft, almost imperceptible shriek, full of terror and completely feminine. What the hell?
Jay turned in that direction, and the sudden sound of a scuffle followed by a metal trash can being knocked over had him rushing around the corner to investigate.
Chapter 2
What he saw turned his blood to ice. A group of disreputable looking men were slowly advancing on a lone woman. He couldn’t see her clearly in the dim shadows of the dirty alley, but he instantly recognized the severity of the dire situation. This girl was in serious trouble.
His reaction was instantaneous. Years of training on top of his animal instinct had his body reacting almost before his thoughts had time to register. Something about the woman, now pressed up against the jagged brick, caught his attention and tried to distract him, but his iron will kept his focus on the five men still walking toward her tauntingly.
No one had seen him yet, his movement’s fluid as he advanced in the shadows, making sure he kept to the deepest parts. It wasn't fully night out yet, so there were still patches of dusty like flickering down the alley. He moved slowly, silently, and as he neared the last of the men, his muscles tensed in preparation.
He quickly read them. The one directly in front of him now seemed the weakest, he would go down first. The three men just to his right were obvious lackeys, but they each held a makeshift weapon. A piece of two by four, a short length of pipe that could be deadly for either himself or the woman.
The real problem was going to be the front man, the gang leader. He was the one the others followed, and he carried a wicked looking knife that glinted dully in the dim light. He tried to ignore the woman’s soft, terrified pleading as the men advanced on her even further but it hit him, causing his chest to tighten painfully as every animal instinct in him bellowed at him to save her, protect her. At all cost.
He shook off the intense reaction, knowing if he lost focus it could end really badly for both of them. Just as the lead thug opened he mouth, he struck. Still moving silently, he reached for the smallest man directly in front of him, placing hands on either side of his head, and with a quiet snap was lowering him bonelessly to the pavement.
The woman still hadn’t noticed him, but he wasted no time advancing on the three next men. The second went down as quickly as the first, and he moved with supernatural speed to cut the others off before they could surround him. He could see it in their eyes that they didn’t realize the extent of the danger they were in, confident they could take down one, lone man. But what they didn’t know was that he wasn’t just a man.
He used his supernatural strength to land a blow that had the third man falling with a wet squish as his body hit a dirty puddle. Uncertainty started to fill the last man’s eyes, and he cast a questioning look at his leader, who was just now turning away from his prey to take in what was happening behind him.
The guy’s beady eyes looked black in the darkness of the shadows as his eyes widened on Jay and the devastation he had wrought in his crew. Five had become two in a matter of seconds. The head honcho froze for a minute before a drug-induced rage and confidence had attacking when he really should have been running for his life.
Jay steeled himself, smelling the drugs on his skin as he neared. He knew this guy wasn't going to give up, unwilling or unable to process the reality around him. Jay assessed the situation. The woman, still huddled with her face covered, cowered against the wall safely out of his path. The two men, one holding a piece of pipe like a bludgeon, the leader still wielding that deadly blade as they both advanced on him, one in front and one in back.
He made the tactical decision to go after the weaker looking one, the man holding the pipe, trying to take him down before the other could reach him. Two against one were more than fair odds for him, but it would make it harder to protect the now silent female.
He turned to look at her, noticing how silent she had gone, and found the biggest, deepest blue eyes staring back at him, opened as wide as they could go. The impact of her gaze hit him like a semi-truck. He knew this woman. This gorgeous, terrified creature. The hair was different, dyed some store bought shade of dark brown, but the features, the mouth, the curve of the cheek, and those eyes.
It was her. Adeline. Of all the women, it had to be her staring at him like a startled bird about to take flight. He let out an ummgph as his momentary distraction cost him a sharp sting across his left shoulder as the pipe made contact. He shifted forward, his body moving like water despite his size, so the blow just glanced off his back, but he shook his head trying to dispel the image of big azure eyes boring into him. He had to focus.
He turned quickly, avoiding the slashing blade glinting evilly now at his back, and leapt toward the guy holding the pipe like a baseball bat. They had him at a disadvantage now. Shit. He cursed at himself, at his mental lapse as he couldn’t help but steal another quick glance at her.
Jay might be able to hold them off in his human form, but not bring them down and protect her at the same time, and his animal half was refusing to let him do anything but. He could practically hear the beast growling impatiently inside him. Bears could shift at will, and usually he felt in perfect harmony with his other half.
For the first time in his life, he could feel control slipping away as his instincts clamored like mad, screaming that he had to protect this woman, keep her safe. Never had Jay had a reaction this strong, and while mentally he tried to hold onto the image of his normal, human shape the pull to shift was overwhelming.
He felt the moment that he lost the battle. Bone re-knit and skin disappeared under fur almost instantly, the change happening seamlessly as he was mid-air, leaping towards the would be attacker.
He moved with a deadly grace despite the giant size of his bear form. The man holding the pipe fell within seconds, fear filling his face just before a sharp swipe from Jay’s massive claw had left him lying unconscious next to the others.
With a fierce growl, he turned on the leader of the gang, watching his face turn ghost white before releasing a high pitched shriek and dashing towards the other end of the alley, the strong smell of urine making Jay wrinkle his nose and wish that his animal sense wasn’t quite so sharp.
With a shake of his massive brown head, he seemed to elongate and then almost deflate back to hi
s normal size. The fur disappeared and his regularly tan skin appeared. Within seconds Jay was back to his human self, his stomach dropping as he turned to the woman expecting the same ‘shriek in terror and run away’ treatment.
What he definitely wasn’t expecting was the way she ran at him, threw her arms around him, and whispered thank you over and over huskily into his chest. Jay stood frozen for a moment, absorbing the shockwaves of her embrace as they swept over his adrenaline charged body.
Finally, and way too soon, she took a step back, re-adjusting her button down shirt that was now covered in filth and her new dark brown hair. Her eyes had drained of the fear that had swamped them, and he now looked down into clear blue oceans reflecting gratitude, embarrassment, shock, and he thought, a spark of desire. Maybe he was just projecting.
“Come on,” his voice was a gruff rumble echoing in the now silent alley, “let’s get you cleaned up.”
Chapter 3
Adeline stared at the bathroom mirror. Looking, but not really seeing. She replayed the awful scene from the alley over and over in her head. Remembering the crippling fear, the fear that she hated in herself, the fear that Adeline had thought she’d overcome when she had finally left her abusive boyfriend.
It had taken her almost a year to leave Blake, but she knew if she hadn’t she would have ended up trapped, hurt, or worse. She lifted up the corner of her now clean t-shirt to examine the faded yellow and purple splotched bruises along her right ribs, fainter now that they had started to heal.
Blake had been so sweet, so loving in the beginning. She had thought she was in love him. Had even moved in with him. But after a few months he’d changed. He had become incredibly possessive, and flew into a jealous rage over the slightest thing.
He had isolated her from her friends, and the only family she had was back in Virginia. She had felt so alone, so dependent on him. She looked at the bruises again. That had been the last straw. Blake had screamed at her that she had been flirting with the checkout boy at the grocery store.
It was a ridiculous excuse, but she had been petrified at the look of absolute rage in his eyes. She had packed her suitcase and fled that very night, spending the last two weeks constantly looking over her shoulder, expecting him to be there.
She took in the pale wash of her skin, ghost white under the fluorescent lights of the bathroom overhead lamp. Her deep blue eyes dominated her face, still widened, making her look startled. She took a deep breath, thinking of the big man still waiting out in the main space of the hotel room. It was really just a big bedroom but it had a couch and TV stand set up on one side, and a small kitchenette toward the back.
Adeline could easily picture him, he’d said his name was Jay, pacing back and forth on the worn beige carpet. He had saved her, in more ways than one. Standing in that alley, watching the gang of thugs walk closer to her, she had given into her fear.
She hadn’t been able to move, to run, or even scream and she loathed that fact. Blake had turned her into this shivering creature she barely recognized, and she ached for the chance to prove herself. But she knew it would take time to build back her confidence, which was why she was so taken aback with how comfortable she was with the hulking stranger.
Adeline felt like she had known him forever, felt so safe and protected in his presence she had acted more like her old self, her real self, than she had in a long time. Not since before Blake had come into her life, and turned into someone she didn’t recognize.
She tugged discontentedly at the drab brown she had dyed her hair in the hopes it would help her remain hidden. She missed having blond hair, thought it complimented her pale complexion while the mousy brown just washed her out. Oh well. It was a small price to pay, she thought. Just a little longer, and she would be on her way to another state to disappear for good.
Stealing herself with one last look in the mirror, making sure she at least looked more respectable than when she had entered in her grime covered cloths and mussed hair about twenty minutes earlier. Smoothing the skirt down over the flair of her hips, she nodded at herself in approval.
She had grown up uncomfortable in her own skin, developing curves at an early age, it had taken her a long time to love her lush body. Looking at the hourglass shape, the dip of her waist, and the womanly flair of her hips, she just felt a brief moment of pride at her figure. Blake had always told her she needed to lose weight, take better care of herself, but she was healthier than he was. In fact, she consistently outpaced whenever he made her go on those awful runs.
It had nothing to do with looking good for the devastatingly handsome man still waiting for her on the other side of the room. Nope, not at all. She had forced down the surge of desire as she had taken in his wave of light brown hair, and dreamy chocolate brown eyes.
She thought again of the last few hectic moments in the alley. Adeline was sure she had seen…something. She had been hunched against the rough brick, trying desperately to disappear. But she remembered the charge of electric current suddenly thick in the air, and where Jay had been standing, she could see a big, brown bear the same exact shade of light brown that matched Jay’s perfectly.
She shook her head, maybe she was in shock, or seeing things because of the massive surge of fear that had flooded her body. Adeline thought again of the way he had brought down those five tough looking men, barely breaking a sweat, and then had been so incredibly gentle with her.
Maybe she had been imagining things, but maybe…just maybe there was something else to this man, something that went beyond the sheltered world that she knew.
Chapter 4
Jay paced restlessly, waiting for Adeline to come out of the bathroom but willing to give her as much time as she needed. She had just been through something awful, and from the looks of the faint bruises wrapping around her upper arms in the shape of fingers, she had been going through something awful for a long time.
There was no way in hell he was going to bring Adeline back to that Blake Newcombe asshole until he had the whole story, and then, well, then they would see. But he had a feeling that if those bruises turned out to mean what he thought they would, he would be paying Blake a visit very soon. And it wouldn’t be pleasant for either of them.
His bear half paced just as restlessly inside him, wanting to growl, and claw, and smash at the thought of anyone hurting Adeline, anyone touching her.
The thought whispered through his mind before he could push it away. Mine. He tried to contain the surge of warmth as the word repeated relentlessly. He knew that’s not what she needed right now.
Jay turned quickly as he heard the door creak open, his breath catching as he drank in the sight of her haloed by the cool white light emanating from the bathroom. She looked like an angel to him, every perfect dip and curve pulling at him so that he ended up with his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his dark blue jeans in the hopes of controlling his body. It seemed an impossible task when he was standing barely five feet away from her.
He couldn’t take his dark eyes off of her as she walked barefoot into the small motel room, looking so out of place to him against the backdrop of the dingy space. Like a pearl shining bright and clean on a pile of rocks.
Jay shifted his feet, searching for the right words to say to comfort her, to explain that he would make sure she was safe. He had a few ideas, a rough plan forming in the back of his mind while he had been waiting. But he needed to hear the whole story, and he wasn’t sure Adeline was ready to tell it. Maybe he would give her a few days, and then come back. Like hell. As if he could stay away from her at all. The thought caused an ache right below his chest as his whole being protested the idea.
Jay took a half step towards her, then hesitated, not really sure what he was still doing there in the first place. His deep, rumbly voice was hushed in the quiet room.
“I guess I should be going.” Adeline took a quick step forward, her hand raised instinctively to try and stop him. She didn’t know what it was, but there w
as a feeling that fell over her like a blanket whenever she was near him. Like the safest place in the whole world for her was by her side.
He made her fear melt away, although what replaced was pure desire, shocking in its intensity. In the beginning, she had fancied herself in love with Blake, but that paltry flicker was nothing beside the inferno that flashed through her now.
It was the strangest thing, and Adeline couldn’t wrap her mind around it, but she wasn’t willing to let it just walk out the door. She was so tired of sacrificing what she wanted, or just maybe, needed.
“Wait…Jay.” Her words were as softly spoken as his. “Please, would you, will you stay?”
“I ahh…well, I don’t know…”
“I mean, on the couch. Maybe you could just sleep here, on the couch.” Her entire face flashed pink, not even sure herself why she was asking him to stay, but desperately wanting him too. “I just…I don’t want to be alone.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course, I can stay.” Adeline peered up at him, trying to read his expression but it was hard in the softly cast glow coming from the bathroom and the faint light of the lamp on the night stand. She sighed in relief. He was going to be there with her, that’s all that mattered to her.
Chapter 5
Jay lay on his back on the hard, slightly musty smelling couch, wondering what the hell he was doing there. He checked his watch, again. Almost three in the morning, and he hadn’t slept a wink. He didn’t expect to either. Not with the soft whisper of Adeline’s rhythmic breathing filling his ears, her scent, a mix of lavender and chamomile wrapping so tightly around his senses he was afraid he would never shake her loose.
Did he even want to? He cursed at himself. She was just getting out of a terrible relationship, she didn’t need him. He had to reign in his anger anew as he thought back to their conversation a few hours ago, sitting at the small table crammed into the corner as she told him about running from her ex-boyfriend. Not husband. He had mentally sighed in relief at that, even though he knew it was of no consequence.
