It was only Drew. Of course, she should have known he wouldn’t allow her a moment of peace out here.
“What now?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he walked across the small, grassy space between the trees and the riverbank, and sat down next to Hope. He kicked off his shoes and socks, then rolled up his pant legs and put his feet in the water. Hope couldn’t help but notice how big and strong his feet were. He was such a giant of a man. It was easy to forget sometimes that he wasn’t actually a shifter. After a few moments of silence, he finally spoke.
“You didn’t say anything to the others,” he said. His voice was calm, a markedly drastic difference from his anger earlier in the day.
“Yeah, well, I’m trying to process everything,” Hope said, crossing her arms. She didn’t want to say much more. She was still fuming mad at him, and she definitely did not want to admit that she was worried that he might have been right about her staying away from the bar.
Drew ran his fingers through his hair and leaned back on his elbows, looking up at the late afternoon sky. He was silent for a long time, and then looked over at her with a sorrowful, tired look.
“I’m trying, Hope. I really am. I know this doesn’t all make sense to you, and you’re angry at me for keeping things from you guys. But I honestly didn’t think about the mayor thing being that important. And, well, I kind of don’t like talking about all the bullshit going on in the world right now. I feel stupid saying this, because obviously as a human it’s less of a threat to me. But I just hate even thinking about all the atrocities happening to shifters out there. My family is half shifter, you know. I’m worried about them just like you’re worried about yours.”
Hope frowned. “If you’re so worried, then you should understand how much I just want to talk to my family and at least know they’re ok. This big ban on any communication with the outside world that you think is so necessary is keeping me from even knowing whether my parents are alive or not.”
“They’re alive,” Drew said.
Hope shot a questioning glance in Drew’s direction. “How do you know? Did you talk to them?”
“I talked to my dad,” Drew said, sitting up straight again. “I know, I know. I said I wasn’t going to contact my own parents either. But my dad contacted me. He has his ways. Anyway, he’s actually heading up to Alaska with the rest of my clan. They’re going to Glacier Point, and they’re going to hide out in the Black Ice Caves.”
Hope’s eyes widened. “Really? Those are even still open?”
The Black Ice Caves were an extensive network of underground caverns near Glacier Point, Alaska, where Hope’s family lived. There was plenty of room in the caverns for a lot of shifters to hide, but no one had been in the caves for years. Hope was surprised anyone still knew where the entrance was.”
“Yeah, your dad and a few of the other older guys from your clan found them and dug out one of the old entrances. It’s the perfect hiding place. The caves have been sitting there untouched for almost two decades. There are no computers in there. No electronics. No way for anyone to track them down. They’ll be safe. And there’s room for a lot of bears in there. It’s going to be a good hiding place for more and more shifters as this whole mess continues.”
Hope nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. But I’m still mad at you for talking to your dad when I haven’t been able to talk to mine. And besides, if the caves are so safe and so great and all of our families are there, why don’t we all just go out to Alaska? Why are we still sitting here in Michigan by ourselves?”
“Because, Hope. Michigan is a long ways from Alaska, and there are eye scanners everywhere right now. I mean, everywhere. Being out in the open for that long is a huge risk. We’re safer here. At least, we were, before that little stunt you pulled today. Who knows at this point.”
Hope rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, Drew. Give it up. Seriously. I had a couple beers and made small talk.”
“You made small talk with one of the nosiest guys in the county,” Drew said. “I guarantee you that for at least the next week, he’s going to be asking every single person who comes into that bar whether they know who you are.”
“So what if he does? We’re in the middle of nowhere. Even if they realize someone else is staying out here, they’re not going to do much except gossip about it. They’ll probably just think you got a new girlfriend that you don’t want to tell anyone about, or something like that,” Hope said, her frustration and anger rising. She was starting to wish she had chosen somewhere other than this waterfall to try to find a moment of peace and quiet. This spot was too popular. Of course Drew had known to look for her here.
“Hope, you don’t get it,” Drew said, his own voice rising. “There is a freaking holocaust of shifters going on. They’re trying to kill off all of you. You should be grateful you at least have a cabin to stay in instead of a being cooped up in a cave. Although it might not be that much longer before we have to move to the cave, so enjoy it while you can.”
“There’s not too much to enjoy about being stuck here with you,” Hope spat out. “And besides, even if there is a holocaust, the bartender didn’t seem like the kind of guy to be scared of shifters.”
“Oh, no. He’s not the type to be scared of shifters,” Drew said. “But he’s definitely the type to make a quick buck when he can.”
Hope furrowed her brow, confused. “What do you mean?”
“The Federal Government is offering a reward for the capture of shifters. Ten thousand dollars per head, dead or alive. Plus ten thousand dollars for information that leads to the capture and conviction of anyone harboring shifters, which is apparently a felony these days.”
Hope stared at Drew in shock. “Ten thousand dollars? Each? Dead or alive? That’s insane! They’re treating us like America’s Most Wanted or something.”
Drew’s look of anger had once again melted into an expression of sadness. “I know. It’s sickening. But it’s the reality of what we’re dealing with right now. There are nine of you here, Hope. Plus I’m worth an easy ten grand since I’m harboring you all. So if the bartender, or anyone else, discovers our little hideout, it’s worth a hundred grand to them. We have to be careful.”
Hope felt foolish and sick to her stomach all at once. She hadn’t realized yet the full extent of how much the rest of the world hated her right now. She stared down at the swirling water in the river below her and tried to focus her attention on the patterns of ripples. She tried to forget the harsh truth of reality. She was angry at herself for brazenly going into town as though she had nothing to lose. And she was angry at Drew for not being honest about how bad things were out there.
“I never would have gone to the bar if you had just been honest with me about what was going on,” Hope said, her voice cracking with emotion.
“I’m sorry,” Drew said, surprising Hope with how earnest his voice sounded. “I just wanted to protect you guys, somehow. I thought there was no point in telling you how bad things are out there, since there isn’t much you can do about it, anyway. I thought it would just make you all upset for no reason.”
Hope tried to formulate a reply, but she wasn’t even sure what to say. And then, without warning, she started to cry. She had never been much of a weeper. With a twin brother like Calum, she’d had to learn early on to develop a thick skin. But everything that had happened today, and in the last few months, had finally caught up with her. It was too much.
“I’m a good person!” she said between sniffles. “Most shifters are good people, but we’re being hunted like wild animals. And now there’s literally a price on our heads.
“I know,” Drew said gently. Then he surprised Hope by reaching over and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. The sweetness of the gesture, especially coming from Drew, caught her off guard and brought on a fresh wave of tears. Hope tried to tell herself to stop crying like a silly baby, but she couldn’t stop. And she couldn’t
keep a torrent of frustrated confessions from spilling out of her mouth.
“I just feel so trapped here, you know? I had so much freedom in Chicago. I had a beautiful condo, and a career I loved. I used to make art, Drew. Art! I was a graphic designer and I spent my days on the computer making the most beautiful graphics you’ve ever seen. I was damn good at it. Now I sit here and twirl my thumbs, feeling useless and wondering whether I’m ever going to have a real life again. I know you probably think I’m just whining. I mean, you’ve been living out here forever and don’t care about technology. But technology was my life. Everything familiar to me has been ripped away.”
“I’m sorry,” Drew said again. “I won’t pretend to understand exactly what you’re going through, but I know it’s been hard on you. And I know the secluded life I live isn’t for everyone. But you have to believe things are going to get better, eventually.”
“Are they, though?” Hope said, wiping at her eyes as she finally started to regain control of her emotions. “We’re all just hiding. None of us are fighting. Nothing is going to change while we all just sit here and wait. Someone has to actually do something.”
Drew reached up and took Hope’s face in his palms, forcing her to make eye contact with him. The strength and warmth of his hands sent an unexpected shock of desire through Hope’s body, and she silently told herself to get a grip.
“Things will get better, Hope,” he said, his voice earnest. “I promise. Everyone is hiding now so that they’ll be safe, but we’ll all regroup. We’ll make a plan. We’ve dealt with threats to shifters before, and we’ll do it again.”
Hope found herself trembling under the electricity of his touch and the intensity of his voice. His eyes blazed with a crazy rage that, for once today, Hope knew wasn’t directed at her. In her peripheral vision, she could see his tanned biceps bulging. For a moment, she wondered how he even still had a tan in the middle of a Michigan autumn. She slowly nodded her head, letting him know that she had heard him. That she understood him. His words had touched her, truly. He wasn’t born a shifter, but he stood ready to fight alongside them. She shouldn’t have given him such a hard time for his strict rules. She had been too hard on him. He was doing the best he could.
“I’m sorry,” was all she said. She didn’t need to say more. He knew what she meant.
“Me too,” he said softly.
And then, without warning, he leaned in and put his lips on hers. They were rough and warm, and she felt an instant flash of hot fire passing from his body to hers. He had closed his eyes, but hers had flown wide open with shock.
Drew Brooks, a man she would have sworn hated her only fifteen minutes earlier, had just kissed her.
As suddenly as he had made the move, he pulled back and opened his eyes again, looking a little shell-shocked himself. Then, without any further words or explanation, he jumped up and took off into the woods, leaving Hope alone and baffled.
She touched her lips where his had been moments before, and then, despite the shitty day she’d had up to this point, she cracked a small smile.
Chapter Five
Drew sat on the tiny porch of his one room cabin, puffing on a cigar and listening to the soft snoring coming from inside. It was past midnight, and everyone else was asleep. But Drew couldn’t seem to quiet down his racing mind, so he’d decided to come out and get some fresh air. He stared over at the massive addition to the cabin that was days away from completion. Drew should have been excited to move in, but he was starting to wonder if the building project had been a waste. The more he saw on the news, the more he had a feeling that the crew wasn’t going to be able to hide out in Michigan much longer. Sure, they were in the middle of the wilderness. But there were people around. People who liked to ask questions. And, although Drew had tried to be as conservative as possible with the amount of groceries he ordered from the general store, he knew the grocer was starting to get suspicious. There really wasn’t a way to order food for himself and nine bears and not have it look a little questionable. After today, he was pretty sure it was just a matter of time until someone figured things out.
Besides, Hope was right. They couldn’t sit around and hide forever while the rest of the shifters in the world were being hunted and killed. Drew had always viewed the government as corrupt and useless, but he had preferred to keep his distance. This time, however, things had gotten too personal. His own family was being hunted. His friends’ clans were being hunted. Every day, new shifters were being murdered for the simple crime of just being shifters. Drew couldn’t keep just sitting by and watching that happen, and he knew his friends couldn’t, either.
Drew took a long drag on his cigar, and then puffed the smoke out in little circles, watching as the moonlight lit up the small, gray shapes. He’d spent the evening finally coming clean to the rest of the crew about the news he’d been keeping from them. He hadn’t intended to be secretive. It had just kind of happened. He’d minimized what was truly going on out in the world in an attempt to protect his shifter friends. After all, if there was nothing they could do to help at the moment, anyway, wasn’t it better for them to be blissfully unaware of how awful the persecution had become?
Drew had acted with good intentions, but he saw now that his secrecy had been a mistake. The clan had handled the news better than he’d expected, and instead of becoming blind with anger they had started brainstorming ways they could help. Thankfully, they had also forgiven him for not being thorough with the news. Hope had stared daggers at him the whole time, but that was about it. And he could handle a couple of angry looks from her. In fact, he almost enjoyed it when she glared at him. She looked so sexy when she was all fired up like that.
Drew felt a stirring of desire, and he let out a long sigh. He should have known that being around beautiful shifter women all day would eventually lead to his developing a big crush on one of them. Drew hadn’t had a girlfriend in years, and he didn’t have plans to change that. Most women didn’t want to live out in the woods like he did. Oh, sure, they’d claim that they longed to be one with nature and have the peace and quiet that the forest offered. But after a few weeks the novelty of it would wear off, and they’d get bored and whiny. So Drew had given up trying.
Hope was no different. She was already complaining about how different life out here was. Drew tried to be patient and remember that she’d just completely lost the life she built up for herself in Chicago. But he really didn’t understand how someone could be so attached to a loud, flashy life in the city. The fresh air and freedom of nature was much better in his opinion. And, heck, he wasn’t even the one who was half bear.
Drew shook his head in bewilderment. He’d often heard his dad complain about how shifters these days were losing touch with their roots. They didn’t want to be a part of clans anymore, and they were moving away from the wilderness at alarming rates. Drew had always thought his dad was overreacting, but now he wasn’t so sure. The crew he was helping out right now seemed to give validity to his dad’s complaints. Although, to be fair, they had formed a tribe of sorts after the escape from Chicago. They considered themselves a clan of their own now, with Grant and his lifemate Storm as the alphas. Drew chuckled. No matter how much a shifter tried to run, the longing for a clan never seemed to truly go away.
Drew allowed himself to fantasize, just for a moment, about what it would be like to allow himself to truly be part of Hope’s clan. To be her mate, and to be part of something bigger than himself again. But he quickly pushed the thought away. He didn’t want to join another clan. As the only human child in a clan of shifters, he’d grown up always feeling just a little bit different. For the most part, the other kids had treated him like he belonged. But if someone was mad at him or was in the mood to be a bully, they would take the opportunity to remind him that he wasn’t a shifter and didn’t belong. Drew knew that he should let these childhood remarks go. Kids said all kinds of things that they didn’t really mean. But Drew still harbored a lot of res
entment deep within him. He loved his shifter friends and would fight to the death for them. He was a man of deep loyalty and honor, and he would put his own life on the line to keep this clan safe. But he didn’t want to get too close to any of them emotionally. Opening up your heart to a shifter was, in his opinion, a recipe for heartbreak.
Which is why he’d been an idiot to kiss Hope earlier. Not only had he made it obvious to her that he was attracted to her, but he’d lit a fire in his own belly with that kiss. He could not get her out of his mind. And every time he thought about her, he wanted to kiss her again. He wanted to take her back to that waterfall and kiss her until she could hardly breathe anymore. He wanted to tear off her clothes and lay her down in the cool grass, then tear off his own clothes and make love to her until she screamed his name so loudly that even the sound of the rushing waterfall couldn’t drown it out.
Drew sighed and let out a frustrated grunt. He was letting his imagination run off with him again, and his body was responding to his fantasies. Between his legs, his dick had become a hard, stiff rod, throbbing with anticipation and begging to be allowed to find relief in Hope’s body.
“Get a grip, Drew,” he said aloud to himself.
But the more he admonished himself to get it together, the more he realized what an impossible task that was going to be. He’d danced too close to the edge, and he’d fallen right over it. Hope Pearsons, the woman he’d been blazingly angry at just this morning, had somehow managed to completely bring to life passions in his heart and body that had been lying dormant for nearly a decade.
This was going to be a hell of an interesting ride.
Mischief in a Fur Coat Page 3
