The Bear's Heart: Clanless Book 2

by Victoria Kane

  The massive furry form advanced on the man for another second or two, then bounded off into the trees, disappearing after just a few seconds of running.

  Laura walked towards the man, raising the gun in front of her. “How did you find me?”

  “What? I… We…” the man stammered, clearly not fully understanding her question. He was shaking uncontrollably, and she noticed that he had pissed himself.

  Gross.

  She needed to focus him. A quick motion to turn the gun away, then she squeezed the trigger. The report resounded through the forest, seeming to bounce back to them from multiple directions. The thug started at the shot, then looked at her for the first time, finally seeming to realize the turnaround that had happened.

  “How did you find me?” she asked again, tone as steely as she could manage. Inside she was practically shaking, the adrenaline of her close brush with death still flooding through her body. It took all of her willpower to maintain any kind of calm.

  “What? Where did that damn bear go? And your question, how could we not find you?” he asked, clearly not understanding how she could be asking. “You drove out of New York city in a big old red truck. You got caught on like thirty traffic cameras before you were out of the city. Hard thing wasn’t finding you, it was arranging it so the cops didn’t. Took a lot of bribes to get those videos deleted.”

  “But why? Even if I could pay back everything my brother owed, you’ve probably spent more than that already just tracking me down!” She was practically shouting by the end, feeling just like a rat being chased by a cat. Could she ever get away from this?

  “I don’t know, the boss seems curious about you and your boy toy. Rick, is it?” She snarled, finger tightening on the trigger of the gun. He held up his arms in front of him, beseeching her not to shoot. “Hey hey hey! I really don’t know why we’ve put so much effort into this! I’m not high enough in the organization to really ask questions, you know? I go where they tell me to do what they tell me.”

  “So I should just let it slide, huh? You kept me in the trunk of a car, and you were going to let that other idiot kill me. Tell me right now why I shouldn’t just pull the trigger.” She was practically quivering by the time she stopped talking, all the frustration at her predicament threatening to overwhelm what little control she had.

  A roar shot through the trees around her, its sound reminding her of who she was. She wasn’t a murderer, even of those who might deserve it. If she let herself sink that low she would no longer know the person staring back in the mirror. She herself would be dead.

  Instead she popped the magazine out and pulled the slide back to eject the last bullet. She had become reasonably adept with handguns over the last few weeks. Rick had no qualms with her wanting to be able to defend herself, but without at least some training a gun could be as dangerous to the user as it was to those it was pointed at. They had spent afternoons in wooded clearings much like this one, practicing changing magazines, shooting, and general gun safety all with the small black pistol she had acquired their first day together.

  “Guess it’s your lucky day,” Laura told the cowering man. “Don’t count on that luck holding.” With that, she turned and walked away, heading the opposite direction Rick had run. He’d find her before five minutes had passed, and the last thing she wanted to do was reinforce the idea that she had a pet bear. If Vascenti was curious about him, that would only deepen it.

  As she had predicted, Rick’s still furry form was walking next to her before too much longer. She threw her arms around his great big neck, tears threatening to spill down her face.

  “I thought I’d never see you again!” she murmured into his fur. One of his bulky forelegs pressed against her back, the closest thing a bear could do to a hug without rearing up.

  She squeezed him one last time, but noticed that the pressure seemed to cause him pain. She drew back, really looking at him for the first time.

  Rick was a mess. His fur was snarled and matted with what looked like blood and fur, and there was a fist sized chunk missing where his neck met his shoulder. He even smelled bad, and Rick never smelled bad.

  “What happened? Are you okay? You’ve got to let me bandage this up!”

  A sound came from his throat, one that she had come to take as a chuckle. He motioned his head at her, a gesture that meant ‘follow me’ even when coming from an animal’s form. She fell into step beside him, well aware that they couldn’t just stand around in the forest for long. Those two men might come to and decide to give chase, or a state trooper might see the vehicles parked on the side of the highway and come into the forest to investigate.

  She held her questions for a few minutes as they walked. Soon enough Rick slowed, then stopped, his form shifting in front of her eyes. The sound of popping bones still sent a little shiver down her spine, but soon it was a man in front of her, the man she had come to love.

  He looked even more beat up in this form, however. His fur had done much to hide the blood and grime that covered him, but no longer. He looked like he had been through a warzone. The wound near his neck looked terrible.

  “Are you okay Rick? What happened?” she blurted out. She flung herself into his arms before thinking better of it, but he hardly winced at all.

  “Me and a couple friends tangled with Dillon’s pack. They won’t be bothering you anymore,” he said into her hair, arms squeezing her close. It felt unbelievably good to feel him again. “I’m sorry I didn’t stop this sooner.”

  “Shut up, you did the best you could, and I’d be dead already if it wasn’t for you,” she responded. She knew they had to move, but she needed just a few minutes to press herself into his chest, to hear his heart beating next to her.

  They stayed like that for a few moments before he pulled back. “I heard what that guy said, how much trouble they went to finding us.”

  “This is bad, way worse than I thought,” she conceded, mind whirling at what she had learned. “Everything we thought about Vascenti turned out to be true. Police in his pocket, long reach. But what’s really troubling is the why. He’s curious about us, which means he’s at least a little curious about you. We can’t let him find out about your secret!”

  It was one thing to have a crime boss angry at you. Anger burned itself out pretty quickly in most people, especially if the target of that anger wasn’t around to remind the person. Curiosity was way worse. Curiosity had made men sail across oceans not knowing if they could possibly reach the other side. Curiosity didn’t fizzle out, it only grew, and Laura was worried that their encounter in the woods today would only inflame Vascenti’s obsession. What would he think to learn that a bear had come to her rescue then run off? It certainly wasn’t the kind of thing that would make him less curious.

  Rick seemed to be thinking along the same lines that she was. He looked into her eyes, seemingly afraid of how she would respond to what he was about to say. “I think we need to leave here Laura. They know too much about us for me to feel comfortable staying anywhere near here.”

  “I know, you’re right. But where can we go?”

  He seemed surprised at her easy acceptance, and she quickly understood why. “I know where we can go, but I need you to understand what this means. We need to go and leave this behind us. We’ll have to give up trying to bring Vascenti to justice, at least for now. We can’t do anything to attract his attention.”

  Laura’s heart sank, but she knew he was right. As hard as it was to admit, she knew that they never really had any chance of succeeding, not against someone with the power and influence Vascenti had. It had been beyond a longshot right from the start.

  She had realized something today though. She wasn’t ready to die, nor did she want to spend the rest of her life in jail. Rick had given her something more to live for, something that made her excited to wake up each day. Being bounced around that trunk, thinking she was going to die, it had all made her realize what was really important. She wanted to bring Crai
g’s killers to justice, but she wouldn’t throw her life away to do it. Craig wouldn’t have wanted her to.

  “You’re right,” she said simply. “We give up on it, at least for now.”

  Rick’s eyes widened. Apparently he had expected some sort of fight about this, but all the fight had gone out of her, at least for now. She just wanted to feel safe for a while.

  “So where are we going to go?” she asked, mind already moving on to what was next.

  “I’ll tell you on the way back to Blackendale,” he said with a smile. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Chapter 11

  A few days later they were standing behind Gerald’s small house, both strapping on large hiking backpacks. Gerald had given Rick his insanely adjustable pack, claiming that he could get another one easily enough. It was much bigger than Laura’s, though it didn’t look so while he wore it.

  “I really can’t thank you enough, Gerald,” she said, stepping in for a quick embrace. He had been incredibly gracious in taking them in while they got ready for their trip. They couldn’t have risked staying at Rick’s cabin any longer, not after what had happened.

  “Don’t mention it girly,” he responded with a grin. “Us shifters gotta stick together, and as far as I’m concerned you’re one of us now.”

  After she stepped back Rick stepped forward and shook hands with the man, though he quickly pulled Rick in for a hug as well. “I owe you more than I can ever repay, Gerald,” he said simply, well aware that it was as true a statement as he had ever spoken.

  “Don’t mention it, someone had to show those wolves that they can’t just piss all over us,” the man said back. He had a fatherly air about him that Laura had come to like in their short time together.

  After a few more words they set out. It would be at least a three weeks of hiking to reach their destination, Rick’s clan up in Canada. They couldn’t cross the border without Laura leaving a trail, and Rick didn’t dare drive his truck to get them closer. It was too dangerous. That left hiking. Luckily the weather at this time of year would make the trip a bit easier than most other times. Autumn was just starting, and while the nights were quite cool, the days were warm and bright.

  Rick was quiet at the start of their journey. She knew that he hadn’t left his clan on good terms, so going back in this situation would be hard on him. Neither of them had any better options, however, so it was there they would go. He had assured her that his family would make a place for them upon their arrival, but he hadn’t seemed particularly thrilled at the idea.

  So they strode through the forest side by side, one step at a time to what would hopefully be a new life for both of them. As long as she had Rick by her side she could deal with the details as they came.

  After about an hour of walking they crested a tall hill that gave an incredible view of Blackendale and the surrounding region. They stopped for a moment to take in the scene. Laura imagined that she saw a figure step out of the trees near where she knew Rick’s cabin to be. She couldn’t make out his features, but she knew it was Craig. They spent a moment staring at each other, before the figure raised a hand in farewell.

  “Ready to keep moving?” Rick asked, slipping his water bottle back into the holder on the side of his backpack.

  Laura reached up and wiped a tear from her eye. “Yeah, I’m ready,” she said. With that she turned away, sparing but a single glance back before they lost the view. The figure was gone, as she knew it would be.

  Thanks again for choosing my book! Please leave me a review if you liked it!

  Victoria Kane

  The Bear’s Soul will release on April 15th, 2018.

  Laura and Rick are on the run, unable to find a way to clear Laura’s name. They head north to Canada to seek refuge with Rick’s clan, sure that they can find a new home there. What they actually find, however, is a group on the edge of falling apart. Can Laura and Rick reunite the clan? Or will ghosts from Rick’s past destroy them both?

  Get it on April 15th!

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