Bear Mountain Bride: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  Ace didn’t care. Live or die, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that if he was going to die that he took Walker with him. Walker’s need for vengeance would die with him. Ace thought as the bikes kept moving, dipping over a hill and then bouncing along a rutted two lane that led into a mass of buildings now haunted by burned out squatters and mental cases.

  Walker spun his bike in a circle, kicking up dust and gravel. He kicked the stand below the bike and came off of it, his gun already drawn.

  Ace came off his too. His gun was in his hand and he faced Walker, both of them breathing hard. The sun beat down, baking along Ace’s head and shoulders.

  Walker grinned at him. “You topok my sister.”

  “You took my cousin.”

  “Yeah but you know what? That bitch was useless. All she was, was a skanky whore. You were the only one who didn’t see that. You were the only one who didn’t know just what a whore she was.’

  The words would have hurt, if they ha dbene true. Ace didn’t drop the gun a single inch. His smile didn’t falter. “Yeah, I did. But you see, I know what made her into what she was and I didn’t blame her for being what she was. No matter what, she was the only family I ever had, the only person who ever knew what loyalty looked like until I got into the crew.”

  Walker sneered. “Yeah the crew you never would have gotten into if it hadn’t been for that bitch Melinda. My sister’s sorry ass mother. You know what? I told my dad to let her be, to leave her alone and stop trying to mess with her. He wouldn’t hear it. Not him. He had to have her, had to. I don’t know what it was about her that made him so crazy for her. Hell I don’t know what it was about that bitch sister of mine that made Pete so crazy about her. What I do know is that she was the key to everything and you fucked her and you fucked me right out of what is rightfully mine in the process.’

  “Rightfully yours?” The hammer on the gun went back. His thumb was steady as was his eye. “She’s a person, not a bag of dope or money. You don’t get to trade her off because it suits you.”

  “The hell I don’t! She’s property, just like every single other person who ever comes to my crew. I own her and I own them and I will do whatever the fuck I want with them!”

  “How’s that working for you?”

  Walker twitched. Ace understood something then. Walker was beyond violent, he was completely fucking off his rocker. He was insane and the mental illness that was driving him would never let him stop until one of them was stone cold dead. That was fine by Ace, really it was, but he knew that if he was the one that died there Julia would never be safe.

  Walker didn’t just want Julia as a form of revenge against the former leader of the Son’s. He didn’t just want her to trade off for his schemes. He wanted her because as far as he was concerned Julia was just a possession, one that he wanted and he was not going to let go of, no matter what.

  Walker smiled. His finger twitched. The gun went off.

  **

  Julia stood in the middle of the room. The cops were gone. The kids had been hustled out the back and taken somewhere else. She was alone now, waiting for someone to come and tell her what was happening. She was more frightened than she had ever been in her entire life too. The woman who had taken the kids after talking to the cops had not told her what to do. Megan had vanished with her. What should she do?

  Unable to stand it anymore Julia managed to crawl up the stairs, taking her vcructhes with her. The broken glass was everywhere. She eyed it and then went back into the apartment that held the door to the basement. She found a broom and dustpan and began to clean up the glass. She cleaned the foyer and the broken glass in the apartment. She hobbled outside to see more glass on the sidewalk and she cleaned that up too. Neighbors stared at her and she lowered her head, shame eating into her.

  This had nothing to do with those people and it was not fair, that they had to handle it. Had anyone who was not in the club hurt? She managed to get the full dustpan to a set of trash cans and dump it then she swept more glass off the sidewalk, tears threatening. She knew it was probably stupid, being outside like that, but she was at a total loss as to what else she could do just then.

  A cop car pulled to the curb and she stared it, wordless as two uniformed men got out and headed toward her.

  **

  Ace went sideways, dropping to the gorund and rolling. The bulet whined over his head and he shot from where he lay, aiming low. Walker went down. His hand opened and the gun hit the dirt. Ace got to his feet and kicked it further from Walker’s reach. Walker, bleeding from the upper part of one thigh, grinned ta him. “You missed.”

  “No I didn’t.”

  Ace was no killer. He was a lot of things but amurderer was not one of them. He had to take Walker down, no doubt about it and for a moment there he had really thought that he could kill him. But if he killed Walker he was heading off to prison for a very long time and what would happen to Julia then? He had to be there for her, to protect her and be with her.

  He loved her.

  He didn’t want to but he did.

  Walker made it to his fee3t. His grin held madness. “What now Ace?”

  Good question. Ace leveled the gun at Walker. “Now you’re done. I don’t care how this goes down but you’re done.”

  Bikes slewed into the lot. Jack sat astride one and Bert on the other. Both were bloodied and Jack was obviously seriously injured but they were there.

  Ace lifted the gun and brought it down hard on Walker’s head. Walker’s eyes rolled back in his heads and he staggered to the left. He went down on his knees in the dirt. Ace kicked him, righgt in the ribs. Walker let out a low gasp. He shouted, “You can’t do this to me!”

  Ace looked at Jack. Jack nodded wearily and took out a phone. Bert got off his bike and strolled closer, carrying a gun in his left hand.

  Walker said, through teeth that dripped blood. “What are you doing? What are you doing Ace? Go on, kill me.”

  “I think there’s only one thing worse than death,” Ace said softly.

  Walker’s face showed terror. “No way man. Don’t do that to me. Do it. Kill me. Kill me goddammit! Don’t you dare do that to me! That’s worse than death!”

  Ace smiled at him and it was not a nice smile. “I know, and you will have plenty of time to think about all the things you did to the people who would have followed you if you had just let them love you, you sick twisted sonofabitch.” Then he raised the gun again and brought it down on Walker’s temple.

  Walker toppled to the dirt. He lay there, not moving. Jack rested a finger against Walker’s neck, looked at Ace, and nodded. “He’ll live. Man, you sure about this? I mean putting him in the pen, that’s harsh. That’s a death sentence all its own and he won’t go alone. Half his crew will go, and some of ours too.”

  “I will go.” Ace’s heart ached. “I’ll take the whole fall but you have to promise me to look after Julia. You have to swear it on your colors. Swear nothing will happen to her while I’m inside.”

  Jack looked him in the eyes. “She’ll be cared for. We won’t let anyone or anything take her down. That’s a swear on my colors.” He took his jacket off and lifted a knife from his pocket. He sliced a small nick into his wrist and poured his blood over the patch on his jacket then handed the blade to first Ace and then Bert. Their blood joined jack’s on the patch.

  Ace managed to breathe. He’d be away from her for a little while. He didn’t want to be but if he was going to be able to be with her he had to do it. Walker would do hard time, and a lot of it. The rest of his crew would face various charges. There was nobody there who was high enough up or who would have enough connections to keep the crew going. It would crumble and fall.

  There’d be another crew that took Queens eventually. That was just the way of it. Ace hoped his crew could find a way to call a truce between themselves and the next Queens crew. The Son’s were nobody to fuck with, and any crew that came in while he was in prison would have that understanding lo
ng before they rolled their bikes into Queens and took it over

  “Good.” Ace took his gun to a burned out building and quickly stripped it down, scattering the pieces all around and covering tem with dirt. Jack handed Bert his gun and Bert headed off in the opposite direction.

  The cop cars came as Walker began to stir. The back door of one opened and Julia got out. She moved toward him, her crutches unsteady on the ground. Ace ran to her and held her, his arms holding her up. She looked up at him, tears falling from her eyes.

  “You’re okay,” she whispered. “You’re okay.”

  The cps were putting Walker into the car. He screamed, “You got nothing on me!”

  More cruisers screamed into the lot. One, an unmarked car, held two men in street clothes. They got out and came to where Julia and Ace stood.

  One of them said, “Ace, you know you gotta go in.”

  Ace nodded. Julia clutched at him. She asked, “Why? He didn’t do anything wrong!”

  One of the detectives said, “Bad news, you don’t get to have a shootout on the street and not go to jail.”

  Julia clung to him. “No, he didn’t have a shootout on the street, Walker and his guys shot up the house!”

  The detective looked at Ace. “Tell her to back off or I’ll lock her up too.”

  “Wait!” Julia’s voice shook. “What about a trade?”

  The detective frowned. Ace’s brow wrinkled too as he looked at her. Ace asked, “What are you talking about?”

  Julia licked her lips. Her eyes went from the detectives to Walker to Ace. “He’s going to get at least ten years right? The crew won’t take care of him because a lot of them are going down too and when you go to their place you’re going to find stuff that will keep them in jail a little longer but…” She drew a long breath. “But I know who killed that cop last year. I know where the gun is. I know who killed the shopkeeper over in Sunnyside too and I can give you all the stuff you need to know about those things. I will. But you have to let Ace and the others on the crew, his crew, go, if you want it. That’s my offer. If you don’t take it I won’t talk at all.’

  Ace’s mouth fell open. What she could give the cops would wreck Walker’s crew forever and keepWalker in prison for life. He would never get out and many of his crew would be facing life sentences too. Ace was smart enough to know that as soon as the detectives went to the house and started gathering evidence a lot fo the prospects and even some of the crew would roll over and start telling their own tales. But did they know what Julia knew? Could they possibly?

  The detective pursed his lips. “You know that for sure? How?”

  Julia gave him a long and level look. “He’s my brother,” she said softly. “That’s how.”

  Chapter 15

  Three weeks had passed since the shootout. Julia stood in the bathroom of Ace’s apartment, staring at the stick she held. The test was positive. She was pregnant!

  Her eyes widened and she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t know how she felt. Part of her was ecstatic but the other part was very scared. Ace had always been careful not to have kids. He had told her, not so long ago, that he had never wanted them because his own childhood had been a mess.

  His father had bene in prison for most of Ace’s life, and still was. His mother had not wanted to care for her kids and her sister had been equally careless with margo. Ace had said he was afraid he would mess a kid up, and now they were going to have one.

  Julia left the bathroom and headed through the apartment. The house was quiet. Now that Walker was in jail waiting for trial and with all the complaints the Son’s had toned down their business a lot. They had had to. The cops that were on their payroll were scant protection right now. They’d managed to withdraw from the dope trade for the moment, which suited Ace to a T. They still had a whle lot fo other things going on and the legit businesses were doing well, well enough that money was nto an issue.

  Julia had told the cops where to find the guns and a few more things, trading secrets for the lives of Ace and his crew. She did nto have to testify and other than a few people nobody knew just how deep her betrayal of Walker went. She knew and there were times when that weighed heavily on her. Blood was supposed ot be blood but the only blood she felt tied to was the blood that bound her to the Son’s, and the love that kept her tied to Ace.

  She stepped into the living room. Ace sat at a small desk, a computer program was up and running on the desk top in front of him. He looked up at her as she entered and stood there.

  He said, “I meant to ask you how class went today.”

  “Great. I learned a few things.” Her hands twisted together and she bit her lips. “I need to talk to you.”

  “Shoot.”

  She gnawed at her lips. “You remember that first night we were together? And the next day?”

  “Yeah why?”

  “I wasn’t on birth control. I’m still not and when you found that out you started using condos”

  He frowned. “So?”

  “So we didn’t use condoms that first night or that next day either.”

  Ace’s eyed held a puzzled expression. Then that expression cleared and shock took its place. Julia’s heart sank. He asked, “Are you saying…are you saying that you are pregnant?”

  Tears stung her eyes. Her teeth chewed at her lip. “Yes.” She held her breath, hoping he would say something but silence spun out between them. Her legs squeezed together and her heart beat sped up, moving faster and making her slightly dizzy.

  Ace stood up. His chair banaged a little as it settled. He walked to the windows and stared out, not speaking. Julia felt wetness roll down her cheeks. He was angry then. This was not what he wanted and she had known it would not be. He had been clear that being a father was not for him that he would screw it up and that the last thing he wanted to do was ruin some poor kid’s life by being a bad father.

  She could not think of a single thing to say to him just then. She wanted to reassure him that he was a good man and that he was be a good father but she was afraid to speak.

  Finally he did. He said, in a heavy voice. “I’m in my forties Julia.”

  “I know that.” She swallowed hard. “I’m not even twenty and yet we have made that work. I mean I know it’s not easy…I…” She fell silent.

  Ace’s shoulders went tight with tension. “My dad never did a goddamn thing for me. I never had a father. I don’t even know how to be a father. I mean, what do you to be a dad? I don’t know.”

  “I don’t really know what to say.” It was true. She didn’t. he didn’t want this child growing inside her. She could feel that and it hurt. She did. She wanted that baby. She had never considered being a mother but now that she knew that she was going to be, she wanted it. There was a lot to think about. She had to figure out how to stay in her classes and make her dreams of being a clothing designer come true. She had to figure out how to be a mother and to not let the bad things in their lives touch her child. She had to figure out a way to make Ace accept that having a baby was not such a horrible thing and it was the last part that had her the most stumped.

  Ace turned to face her. His face was pale. He said, “What if I fuck this kid up?”

  “You won’t.” It was all she had to offer.

  Ave looked away form her face then back. One hand ran through his thick hair. He said, “I’ll be sixty when it gets out fo high school. Oh my God, what if it is a girl! I don’t know anything about girls!”

  “I don’t know anything about boys.” Relief had begun to trickle through her. She was scared and so was he but he was nto saying she had to get an abortion or arguing that maybe the baby was not his, all the things men sometimes did when the subject came up.

  Ace let out a shaky laugh. “I guess…I guess we will have to figure out how to get a crib up those damn stairs, huh?”

  She blinked. Had he just said what she thought he had? She whispered, “Are you sure?”

  He asked, “Are y
ou?”

  She took a long and steadying breath. “I am. I’m scared as hell too though. I mean, I’m so young and…and I don’t know much about raising a child with its father. All I ever really remember was being the daughter of a single mom. So I don’t know what to do wither. I don’t know…like what happens when I get fat? Will you still want to be with me?’

  He blinked. Then he burst into laughter. “Did you ask me if I would still want you if you get fat?”

  “Yeah,” her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive gesture. “I mean women gain weight when they get pregnant you know.”

  Ace kept right on laughing. Julia dropped her arms and stared at him. “What’s so funny?”

  “That you would think that I would nto want you. I have news for you, I want you all the time. I wouldn’t care how you looked either. In fact, I want you right now.”

  She went into his arms. His hands led her to the bedroom and she went gladly, her body already fired up with lust and joy.

  Ace’s hands went to her clothes. He stripped her neatly, leaving her shivering with every garment that dropped away. Her nipples pressed upward, the taut peaks so stiff that they almost stung.

  His tongue found them, his mouth surrounded them and the pressure combined with his clever tongue stroking across those pink points made her squirm with pleasure. He didn’t stop there. His tongue moved lower and she went down on the bed, the backs of her knees hitting the edge before she managed to get onto the narrow length of it.

  His mouth found her labia and then his tongue was moving inside of her, parting her soaked lips to find her clitoris. His tongue circled it while his fingers moved inside of her, adding friction to the sensations already coursing through her.

  Julia surrendered to the moment. His hands and mouth continued to move against her flesh, eliciting little gasps from her as he massaged the throbbing bud harder and faster while his fingers thrust deeper within her coral hued inner walls.

  Her legs spread wider, her breath came faster, and she could smell the raw and powerful aroma of her body, the rich scent of arousal coming from the fluids leaking down the cleft between her buttocks.