He took a soda, told Ben it was nice to meet him, and vanished into his bedroom. That left Layla looking at the back of Ben’s head, a hard lump forming in her throat. On the walk, they’d had Si and his fellow shifters to discuss, but now there were no questions left to ask, no gaps to fill in. There was only Layla and a guy she hardly knew, but one who did strange things to her insides every time he spoke.
“You wanna put the TV on?” Layla asked as she approached the couch. “I’m almost certain there’s some manly kind of sport on that you’re missing.”
Ben took a soda from her and shook his head. That gorgeous wave of dark hair fell into all sorts of shapes, framing his handsome, serious face.
“I prefer to actually play than watch,” he confessed.
Layla was grateful for a conversation starter, for her mind was already filling with all sorts of wild ideas. One minute he was her date, the next he was guarding her, and she hadn’t managed to separate those roles yet.
“What do you play?” she asked.
“Football, tennis, a little water polo,” Ben began, then in the same breath he added: “And please don’t make the joke about horses in the water.” Layla giggled at that. “But I love to run too. I saw that you-”
“Oh yeah,” Layla cut in. “Usually I have to do all my running at the gym. My neighborhood’s not exactly jogger friendly.”
“It must be nice to run out here in the park then,” Ben mused.
Layla nodded. “It puts me in the zone, you know? Helps me forget.”
Ben’s face lost a little of its seriousness, his brow raised.
“What have you got to forget, Layla?”
And the conversation was dead, straight out of the gate. Layla could feel the hurt stinging in her chest. It was an old hurt now, but she’d had it so long that she knew it was never going to go away completely. Like a tiny shard of glass that’d always be stuck in her heart. She felt uneasy telling Ben everything about herself, even though part of her wanted to. There were other things they could talk about, surely. Layla tried to think what she might have said if they’d ever got to their dinner date.
“It’s a shame our blind date got cancelled,” she said, a smile creeping into her lips. “You look really nice in that suit.”
Ben looked down at himself, straightening his shirt. Then, suddenly, his head snapped up, those golden eyes studying Layla.
“Wait, you were my date?” he asked. “That’s why you were down there?”
“You think I dress like this to eat dinner alone?” Layla challenged in reply.
And Ben’s eyes wandered then, over her sleek red dress, all the way down to her feet and all the way back up. Layla felt a twinge in her stomach, and she saw the way Ben’s breath began to hitch in his throat.
“Wow,” he murmured, “Now I really hate Si Reed.”
They looked at each other then. Ben’s face had almost completely relaxed, giving way to a boyish grin. Layla bit her lip, tempted beyond all reason to keep their flirting going.
“Well, Si’s not here now,” she claimed proudly. “Come on, Ben Best. Give me your best date talk.”
And that was how it begun. The conversation got easier and easier as night drew in, and the sunrise was creeping into the windows by the time Layla put her head down to sleep.
When Layla woke, late the next morning, Ben was no longer on her couch. She emerged into the shared living room of the suite, eyes drawn hopefully to the spot where a Ben-shaped imprint still lay on the cushions. The door to the minibar gave a click, and Layla’s gaze snapped toward it. Brent was popping open two mini bottles of orange juice. He put one on the breakfast bar and slid it in her direction, then he pointed at the couch and pulled a face.
“I am very disappointed by this,” he confessed. “You let the poor guy sleep there all night. All alone.”
“Down boy,” Layla answered, giving her friend a warning look. “We were talking for hours. It was, like, four-thirty or something, and I went to the bathroom. When I got back he was out cold, so I threw a blanket over him and went to bed.”
“You talked for hours?” Brent asked.
Layla nodded. True to form, Brent changed tack and melted at once. Where before he’d been disappointed that Layla hadn’t had a night of passion with her new shifter bodyguard, now Brent clutched his hands together in the sweetest way.
“Oh Lay, he’s one of those gentlemen types!” he exclaimed. “You think it’s the fresh air makes ‘em that way?”
“I think it’s more a case of ‘his grandma would beat him to a pulp if he treated a girl badly’,” she answered with a chuckle. “He was raised right. Strict German family. He told me all the history.”
Brent rested his chin in his hands and gave a little sigh. He could be such a middle schooler when he wanted to, full of hope and romance.
“So today you need to go find him out in the park,” Brent suggested.
And that might have been the plan, if not for the siren which suddenly sounded. A crackling speaker burst into life somewhere nearby, and Layla was surprised to hear a voice coming from the ceiling. It appeared that the lodge’s rooms had a PA system, one which didn’t seem to have been used in a while. Layla and Brent shielded their ears against the whining and whistling of the speakers, until the static died and a voice came on the air.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is a park safety announcement,” the voice began. Layla recognized the frail quality to the tone, and she pictured Anina’s lined face, mirroring the same concern she heard in the words. “We regret that we have to ask you to remain in the Old Spring Lodge for the duration of the morning and lunch hour. This section of Fairhaven Park is experiencing some animal control issues.”
Layla and Brent glanced at one another, their eyes brimming with concern.
“We expect to have the issues resolved within a few hours, but for your own safety, please enjoy the spa, café and other indoor facilities of the Old Spring building for now. We’re very sorry to limit your experience at this time, but this is a nature reserve and nature does happen. Thank you for your time.”
Layla was already up and moving. Brent followed her, asking questions with every step.
“Does this mean those werecats are here? The numbers that Si talked about? Layla? Layla, will you talk to me?”
But Layla could hear nothing. All she knew was that danger was lurking right outside her window, like it did so often at home. And here she was, helpless and useless, watching the bad things of the world happen from her room. She felt the old sting of regret and loss burning in her belly, and she shook her head. In her bedroom, she ransacked the closet and found her running gear, the darkest sweat-suit that she owned. Regardless of Brent and his panicked questions, she began to change her clothes.
“Oh no,” he chided at once. “You cannot be thinking of going out there. Girl, are you crazy? This isn’t pest control, or a freaking raccoon problem!” He still achieved no reply. “You’re insane. You’ve gone totally insane.”
When Layla was dressed and ready to leave the room, she found Brent blocking the door.
“Sorry honey,” he told her, “crazy people don’t get to leave this room.”
“I can’t leave Ben out there alone,” she insisted.
“He is not alone,” Brent shot back. “There’s whole team of rangers, right?”
“You don’t know that,” Layla pleaded. “They could be outnumbered, or separated from each other.”
“Plus he’s a bear,” Brent pressed. “Have you thought about that? I mean, what are a few cats gonna do to a huge grizzly bear?”
Layla could see the reasoning in his words, but her mind flashed back to Ben’s tense seriousness the night before. When he’d spoken of Si’s clan working as a hunting pack, it didn’t sound like he felt capable of taking them on alone. She couldn’t quell the fear in her heart, and she put her hands on Brent’s skinny chest, gripping his t-shirt tight.
“Get out of my way,” she demanded.
“No!” Brent insisted. “What do you think you’re gonna do? What is a Crenshaw-adjacent shop-girl gonna do against a pack of wild cats bent on violence?”
“I just have to go,” Layla urged. She felt the tears burning against her eyes, and she let Brent’s shirt go. “When Dad was out there alone… I didn’t go. If I’d gone, maybe…”
Sobs burst from her chest, and soon the water flowed in silver lines down her cocoa-colored skin. Brent broke, his mood switching as it so often did.
“Oh honey,” he said, reaching out to hold her.
It was a huge mistake. The second he took a step forward, Layla smashed him to one side and bolted out of the door. She ran down the hallway, tears still stinging her face. She had no idea what she was doing, it really was totally crazy to think that she could help. But she wouldn’t stand by and see Ben face Clan Reed alone. She had to find him and know that he was safe.
“Where are you going?” Brent screamed after her.
It was a very good question, one which Layla had no answer to.
Layla took the south circuit of the park, the one on which she and Ben had been reunited. The whole thing usually took a couple hours to complete, but with her mind blazing in panic and worry, she was running at double the usual pace. Breathless and terrified, Layla streaked past the trees, hills and springs in search of the guy who’d sworn to protect her. He’d been there for her when Si made his creepy little approach at the grill, and he’d stayed all night to calm her nerves. She couldn’t let him down.
It was after two full circuits that she began to lose hope. That section of the park was totally void of tourists, all of them heeding Anina’s warning to stay safe and out of the wilds for a while. Layla was fraught as she reached a bend in the path, screeching to a halt and panting with short, sharp breaths. There was dense forest off the path to her right. The trees were so thick here that sunlight barely pushed through their canopy, and the darkness of the thicket drew Layla in.
She walked for a few tentative minutes, listening to the rustling in the trees all around. Nerves and exhaustion had turned her spine to Jell-O, and she was beginning to heed all of Brent’s warnings from earlier in the day. What was she doing out here? She had let the past get her all mixed up, her emotions putting her into danger. Now, she was deep in a forest filled with vengeful men, or vengeful beasts, depending on whether they had transformed or not. Perhaps it was a sensible idea to turn back now, and see if there was any news of Ben at the lodge.
The cry of an animal stopped her in her tracks. Somewhere not far off, a long mournful call was coming from a growling beast. It hit a place deep in Layla’s heart, setting her off with tears again. The animal didn’t sound fierce or furious. It was wailing, crying even. Another long call echoed off the trees, and Layla felt every inch of the creature’s pain. She followed the sound of the cry, treading softly through the trees.
What she found was a bear lying by the side of a stream. To her horror, there was a trail of blood beside the animal. It was only a very thin trail, but it was trickling into the stream and coloring it with a pinkish glow. In the semi-dark of the dense forest, Layla observed the huge, heaving body of the grizzly. He had dark fur in a shade of brown that she recognized, and his eyes were wide and golden. His massive jaw opened, displaying a full set of large, sharp teeth as he wailed again.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Layla said gently. “I’m here, I’m gonna help you.”
How she was going to help, she wasn’t clear on. Department store first aid didn’t exactly prepare a girl to dress the wounds of a grizzly bear. She approached the animal and put one gentle hand on the side of its head. She could feel the heave of his breath and she tried to soothe him a little, stroking the soft fur. The wound was further down, matting some hair on the right side of his abdomen. Layla inspected it carefully, finding that it was smaller than she’d first thought. Perhaps it wasn’t as bad as it looked.
And then, something incredible began to happen. The bear felt as though he was buzzing, just for a moment, with a kind of energy that Layla couldn’t describe. It made her take her hand away from him, and she stood back as she realized that he was starting to shrink. Fur receded into flesh, which was appearing all over the body of the being on the ground. Layla was amazed by the way the head changed shape, the long snout and jaw of the grizzly twisting into a more square form, before it settled back into an almost-human face. Moments later, there was a naked man, who lay bleeding beside the stream. Layla looked at him carefully, studying his wave of dark hair and the shape of his face.
“Oh,” she exclaimed, “you’re Dietrich, aren’t you? Ben’s brother?”
Dietrich nodded, but as he did the jerk of the motion made him clutch his stomach in agony. There, Layla realized that what had looked like a small wound on a bear was much larger on the abdomen of a man.
“Can you get me to the clan?” Dietrich pleaded. “I can’t stay here. I’ll bleed out.”
Layla helped the injured shifter to his feet, and she felt his considerable weight leaning on her for support. She gave him the jacket of her black sweat-suit, and he tied it at his waist to try and stem his bleeding. With his massive arm over her slim shoulders, Layla did her best to guide Dietrich to safety. He was panting and unsure of himself, talking downright nonsense by the time they were on the path that approached Old Spring Lodge. And all that Layla could do was keep him calm and keep him going, that fierce determination back in her chest.
Ben was there when they arrived at the lodge, along with Anina and a woman that Layla had never seen before. It was immediately apparent that the pretty blonde was Dietrich’s girlfriend. From the moment she glanced Layla hefting him up the path, she burst into tears and rushed to help. Ben dashed in and took over on Layla’s side, which gave her a chance to heave out an exhausted sigh. Dietrich had been getting heavier and heavier with every step of the circuit, and now the blood from his wound was coating his bare legs and making Layla’s jacket sag with its weight.
“Get him inside, Hart’s waiting with first aid,” Anina urged.
At the door to the Old Spring, tourists peered from behind a makeshift blockade. To them, it must have looked as though poor Dietrich had been savaged by the animals in Anina’s warning. It was true, if you left out the other details of the situation. Kurt and Reinicke were at the door, and they lifted Dietrich clean into the air when he reached them. Soon he had vanished down the corridor of the luxury hotel, a dripping trail of blood in his wake.
“There, there, Elise,” Anina said, gathering the blonde girl into her arms. “Hart’s trained for this. He did three years at med school before he quit. It’s a decent wound, but not too deep. It’ll be all right.”
Anina’s pained look suggested that she might not believe her own words, but she cradled Dietrich’s girlfriend all the same. The two women slowly re-entered the lodge, and Layla found that she was clutching her aching heart from all the strain. She looked at Ben, who was staring at her in amazement.
“I came here to see if you were okay,” he explained, “but I sounded the alarm as soon as your friend told me you’d gone out. If we hadn’t all been here getting a search party together, Dietrich might’ve…”
Ben stopped himself, his voice verging on breaking. Then, without warning, he stepped up to Layla and kissed her. He held her shoulders, strong hands gripping her tightly, and his kiss was warm and firm where it pressed on her lips. The contact sent tingles rushing down her arms and straight through her body, like a bolt of lightning passing into the ground. But no sooner than she’d been struck, the moment was over. She’d barely had time to enjoy it before Ben broke it off.
“Thank you,” he said. Then, his gaze widened, as if he realized what he’d just done. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I’m just so grateful, I-”
Layla took her chance before he could make any excuses. She cupped Ben’s handsome face with her palms and kissed him back, more gently than he had kissed her. Her lips lingered on his hungrily, ghos
ting against them for a few extra seconds when the kiss had technically already ended. Ben’s hands had found her waist in the exchange, and he held her afterwards, looking at her in amazement.
Amir (BBW Bear Shifter Moonshiner Romance) (120 Proof Honey Book 3) Page 13
