Safe with Her Bears

by Madeline Hill

  “Nothing, Jules,” Carter said, but there was no silly grin on his face this time. Not even a hint of a smile. Fear tickled down her spine.

  Carter fixed his eyes on the rear-view mirror again and watched. The engine revved as they sped up, the view from the window smearing into a gray-green blur. Her heart pounded in her chest. She desperately wanted to sit up and figure out why they were speeding and what Carter was looking at, but she knew she couldn’t. Bright yellow headlights glimmered in the rear-view mirror and Jules gasped. Were they being followed?

  She heard the screech of tires and the whir of an engine as the lights veered to the left. The sound of the engine grew louder from her side and she realized the other vehicle was neck and neck, parallel with their truck.

  Suddenly glass shattered. Jules screamed as gunshots rang out and tires squealed, the movements of the truck veering and growing erratic. It all happened so fast. Carter shouted something as he leaned over and gripped the steering wheel. The truck rumbled and shook as tires left the pavement and thumped over grass and dirt. There were more bangs and the windshield crumbled, shattering into a million pieces. Jules’s skin pricked as the shards landed on her skin. Then there was a crash, a scream of metal, and the truck careened. Jules tumbled forward, somersaulting as the truck flipped over. Her head cracked against glass and she slammed on to her back, her vision going black.

  32

  “Grab Jules!” Carter screamed from where he hung upside-down in the passenger’s seat.

  He unbuckled his seat belt and jerked the car handle, but it wouldn’t budge. So he slammed his side against it, blowing open the door and rushing out into the torrential rain.

  Max’s vision turned red as blood pooled into his eyes and throbbing vertigo racked his head. He wiped his eyes and forehead with the back of his hand, finding it drenched in blood. Through the blurry crimson sheen, he reached back behind his seat and wrapped his arms around Jules, who lay unconscious on the ceiling of the truck.

  With one swift kick the truck door careened open. He dragged her out, the rain hitting his back like bullets. He looked around through the curtain of rain. Their truck was upside-down, its body crumpled and dented. A hundred yards ahead, a red car was parked, its high beams shooting white tunnels through the air. Surrounding the car was four, maybe five men, trotting forward and waving guns. Two had shotguns, the others handguns. A roar bellowed through the sound of the rain and the rumbling thunder, and in a millisecond, two of the men were down, barreled into by Carter’s bear like a train. Gunshots blazed and whizzed as the other men scrambled.

  Max growled as he dragged Jules’s body deeper into the trees and hid her behind a large boulder. He knelt down and pressed two fingers to her throat, finding a steady pulse immediately. Her porcelain skin had been nicked by shards of glass, and there was a bruise on her forehead, but she hadn’t taken any bullets, thank God. He leaned down and whispered into her ear: “I’ll come back for you.”

  Then he bolted out to help Carter. His head throbbed with pain, but he willed it away. He clenched his eyes shut and his bear tore out of his skin. When he opened his eyes again, he was on four legs, racing towards the scene, his paws trampling on slick mud. Two of the men were on the ground, one with his throat torn out, a bleeding, crumpled mess. The other two now stalked in their cougar forms, one crouched on its forelegs, snarling at Carter and ready to pounce. Max targeted the other one and slammed into him like a Mack truck. The cat screeched, tearing at him with his claws, and biting and nipping with its sharp jaws.

  Max wasn’t gonna let them win this time. He roared ferociously, the sound of his fury combining with the deep rumble of thunder. In one swift move, he tore into the cat’s belly, ripping its flesh. The cat squealed and yelped, struggling to get away, but Max had him pinned down solidly. His jaws pierced deep and he craned his neck, tearing out a chunk of muscle and fat. The cat’s eyes bulged, tongue slipping out the side of its mouth.

  Shots rang out and he looked up, bullets whizzing through the rain. Carter had managed to tear the life out of the other cougar, but another remained, still in human form, arms shaking as he emptied his clip. Max realized it was a human.

  The man was wide-eyed with fear, the realization of his impending doom casting a hopeless shadow over his rain-drenched features. His last bullet clipped Carter’s shoulder as he barreled towards the thug. Carter didn’t even react. He snarled, baring his long sharp teeth, and the man stared at him helplessly as his gun clicked, empty. A moment later he was on the ground, jaws tearing into his throat.

  Carter looked up, his teeth dripping with blood. Their eyes met and they nodded.

  Somehow, through the chorus of torrential rain and furious thunder, Max’s ears picked up on twigs snapping. He looked over his shoulder to see Jules emerging, wobbling uncertainly towards them. Her eyes took in the scene of carnage and her jaw dropped, stricken by fear and shock.

  The three collected their belongings from the crashed truck. Carter and Max dressed in fresh clothes and took the guns from the corpses before climbing into the red car. In a flash, they were back on the highway.

  Jules couldn’t still her racing heart. It had all happened so fast. She watched Max, now in the passenger seat, as he tore a strip of cloth from a flannel shirt and wrapped it around his bleeding head.

  “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” she asked, reaching across to the front seat and squeezing his arm.

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “The bullet just grazed me. Thank God. I think we all got lucky.”

  “Those bastards had some nerve,” Carter said, gripping the steering wheel tight, his voice fraught with adrenaline. “I can’t believe they just came right out and attacked us like that.”

  “At least they made it easy,” Max said. “They saved us hours of searching for them.”

  “Where did they come from?” Jules asked. “Were they following us?”

  “I guess they recognized our truck,” Max replied. “Someone must have given them a description. I knew it was them as soon as I saw them in the rear-view mirror.”

  Jules leaned back, chest shuddering as she inhaled deeply. “You think they’ll send any more guys out?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Carter said. “We’ll be nowhere in sight. They won’t be able to find us.”

  Jules bit her bottom lip. Carter seemed certain, but she was doubtful. Nick had resources. He would keep looking and he wouldn’t stop. He was stubborn like that. And with the body count rising, he was bound to get more and more angry and determined to get his vengeance. Jules shivered as she wondered whether more innocent people would be harmed in Nick’s pursuit.

  There was no end in sight to the thunderstorm. The rain poured endlessly as the car whipped down wet highways. Jules eventually stretched out in the backseat, feeling exhausted but too full of adrenaline and anxious thoughts to fall asleep.

  The dark gray of the dismal weather eventually gave way to the black shadows of night. Yellow and orange lamps lit the side of the road, forming trails of light as they passed. Speed increased, and so did the traffic, as she realized they’d taken an on ramp to the interstate. Hours passed both quickly and slowly as she drifted in and out of sleep. She was afraid of letting sleep take her, because when she closed her eyes, her mind immediately flashed to the trauma of the truck crashing and tumbling, and the grisly scenes of carnage, the dead men and cougars strewn lifeless and bloody, guts spilling out into the mud.

  Her stomach clenched, a voice in the back of her mind repeating endlessly: This is all your fault. All your fault. All your fault...

  33

  Carter drove all night. He wasn’t tired. His blood still pumped from the battle, the thrill of tearing those thugs apart thrumming deep in his soul. It excited him and only served to cement his devotion to Jules. He’d fight a million criminals. He didn’t care. With Jules as his mate, he felt like he could do anything. His bear was fierce, his strength multiplied by the force of his love and the determination to
protect her at all costs. Part of him wanted to systematically track down each and every one of Nick’s thugs and exterminate them all so Jules could sleep peacefully and never have to worry about them ever again.

  He hoped and prayed that they’d learned their lesson. He hoped Nick wouldn’t send any more out. They would never be able to track them down, anyway. But if they did, Carter would be ready for them.

  They stopped rarely, and when they did, it was brief. Only for pee breaks and to pick up snacks. They lived on chips and sweet tea and sunflower seeds. Conversation was sparse. Jules remained quiet in the backseat and his heart ached for her, hoping that she wasn’t too traumatized by their experience. He vowed that when they arrived at their destination, he’d make her forget all about those painful memories. He couldn’t wait to wrap his arms around her, nestle in between her legs, and kiss her fears away, comforting her in the knowledge that they were hundreds of miles away from Nick’s thugs.

  Despite his optimism, the vibe in the car remained tense, all three suffering in anxiety until they arrived safely. Every cop car they passed made both he and Max stiffen with fear. But each mile that clicked on the odometer brought them closer and closer to freedom... well, relatively.

  Early next morning, their stolen car rattled up the rocky dirt road to his uncle’s old cabin. Memories of his youth flashed through his mind. He’d spent summers here with Max, helping his uncle garden and fish. They attended clan council meetings, watched grizzly tournaments and made bets with his uncle on who would win. Carter always picked right and got to enjoy ice cream as his prize.

  Now the cabin was empty and abandoned, left to Carter in his uncle’s will. It had been two years since his uncle passed away, and Carter felt guilty that he hadn’t come to this land until now.

  They passed a bend in the road and the old cabin came into view. It was just like his image from childhood, only now it looked considerably run down. The front yard was a tangled, unkempt mess of weeds and tall grass, and the windows looking into the cabin were layered with a sheen of dust.

  They exited the car and Carter wrapped his arm around Jules, relishing her touch. He kissed her cheek and watched her as she took in their new residence. Her eyes lacked enthusiasm, but Carter chalked it up to the long, exhausting car ride. He guided her inside and they went to work making their house into a home.

  The cabin was musty and old and covered in dirt but contained all the amenities they needed: pots and pans in the cupboards, running water, two beds, blankets and quilts, a dining table and chairs, a stove and a small refrigerator. A generator out back provided just enough electricity to keep the appliances and the lights going, but there was no television or internet.

  That first day, Jules busied herself with cleaning and setting up the house, but her senses felt dulled, like everything was covered in a thick fog. Thoughts churned in her head and her cognitive faculties moved as slow as cold molasses. Carter and Max seemed happy enough and relieved to be there. Sure, she was relieved as well, but as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t conjure up much enthusiasm.

  After getting the house in order, the three of them cooked dinner with food they’d packed with them: smoked salmon, carrots, and bread. Carter and Max joked around, flirted with her, swept her hair out of her eyes and stopped every now and then to kiss her and wrap her in a warm embrace. Instead of melting, Jules was surprised to find she had a different reaction. Each touch, each tender word, each affectionate smile only twisted her stomach with anxiety and pricked her heart with pain.

  Her shoulders sank with heaviness, and her head was clouded and distracted by garbled, mixed up thoughts. She tried as hard as she could to feign happiness. She’d grin, reply to their jokes with sass, kiss them back with as much passion as she could muster. But every movement hurt. Her body rebelled against them. She didn’t want to be close. The closer her proximity, the more her heart ached. At one point she had to excuse herself to use the bathroom, where she ran the water harshly to block out the sound of her sobs.

  That night, Jules said good night early to her two bears, who sat on the front steps drinking a beer and talking. She kissed them both and climbed under the covers. An hour or so later, she heard muffled steps approaching. She closed her eyes and feigned sleep as they crawled into bed with her. Carter draped an arm over her back, and Max nuzzled in close. She knew they wanted to make love to her, but she remained still, keeping her breath rhythmic to make them think she was sound asleep.

  She waited patiently until their snores filled the dead air. She glanced back and forth between her two beasts who always slept so soundly and peacefully. They were fully grown men, big and strong and full of ferocity, capable of ripping other creatures to shreds, but when they slept, they looked like little bear cubs.

  Tendrils of pain wrapped around her heart. She stealthily maneuvered herself out of the covers and crept down to the foot of the bed, slipping out from between them. The floor creaked and she froze. When no one stirred, she continued, holding her breath and trying not to put too much weight on each step.

  Jules slipped on a pair of sandals, grabbed the keys from the kitchen counter and quietly opened the front door, easing it shut behind her so no noise escaped. Eighteen urgent strides forward, through the front yard and down the road, and she was at the car. She slipped inside and put the keys in the ignition, praying that the sound of the engine wouldn’t wake them.

  Twenty minutes later the car was on smooth pavement, gliding through dark woods until the wilderness gradually gave way to farms and houses. The glow of lamps cast the quiet main street of the little mountain town in a yellow hue. She kept her eyes wide and searching as she drove slowly down the streets, looking in every direction.

  At last her eyes settled on her destination.

  Jules pulled into the parking lot and stepped out of the vehicle. The cold night air nipped her skin as she briskly glided up cement steps and pulled open a heavy door. The harshness of the florescent lights inside made her eyes sting. A middle-aged woman at a desk behind a plastic barricade glanced up at her vacantly.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked, snapping bubblegum between her teeth.

  “My name is Jules Robinson. I’d like to turn myself in.”

  34

  The thick door heaved open and in stepped a portly man with gray gristle on his cheeks and neck. His eyes were tired and droopy, bottom lids lined with red. Jules gripped her Styrofoam cup tightly, knuckles whitening as he grabbed the chair on the other side of the table and raked it across the cement floor, pulling it uncomfortably close. He straddled it backwards and rested his arms on the top, peering into her eyes in a way that made her squirm.

  “Miss Robinson,” he greeted with a gravelly voice. He extended a blotchy hand and she shook it gingerly. “I’m Detective Carlton. I’ve been watching your case with interest.”

  Jules nodded.

  “You’ve made quite a stir,” he said with a crooked smile. “You had a whole lot of people looking for you out in Yellowstone. You mind tellin’ me how you made it all the way up to Oregon?”

  Jules inhaled, filling her lungs with stale air. “Yes, I mind. It doesn’t matter. I’m here now, and I’m in custody.”

  Carlton laced his brows together. “Huh. That won’t fly. You know you’ll have to tell us.”

  Jules’s throat felt constricted. Her head pounded. She took a sip of coffee. It was weak and lukewarm, and the watery bitterness on her tongue made her recoil.

  “What made you want to turn yourself in?”

  She bit her bottom lip. “I’m tired of running.”

  “You made the right choice.” He leaned back. “But what made you run in the first place?”

  “I don’t know. I just panicked, I guess.”

  “Why were there drugs in your car, Miss Robinson?”

  “I was transporting them for a drug dealer. I pick up in Billings and deliver to Salt Lake City.”

  “How long you been doin’ that?”

/>   “A few years,” she admitted.

  “And who do you work for?”

  “Nick Ellis.”

  Carlton leaned back, face stretching into a satisfied smile. “I see.”

  She straightened stiff with resolve and looked the detective hard in the eyes. “It’s my understanding that Nick’s under investigation. I want to offer my help, in any way I can. I want him behind bars. I know things. I’ve seen things.”

  Carlton’s eyes widened with surprise. He rubbed his prickly chin, amused. “That’s very interesting.”

  He studied her thoughtfully. She tapped her fingers against the cup, waiting to hear his response.

  “Look, Miss Robinson, I’m gonna cut right to the chase. You’re in a lot of trouble, here. You had a hundred pounds of methamphetamine in your trunk, with intent to distribute. You know how many years that’ll get you?”

  Jules felt the blood drain from her face. She shook her head weakly.

  “I’ve seen men get life on a first offense for considerably less in their possession than that.”

  Her stomach twisted. Life. A life in prison... without her bears.

  “Now, you also resisted arrest,” he continued. “That’s gonna make things a lot harder for you. And to top it all off, you shot an officer of the law.”

  Jules shuddered. The memory of her beloved bear wounded and bleeding on the forest floor invaded her mind, and she strained to force it out.

  “He’s apparently not going to press charges,” Carlton shrugged. “Even still, you’re looking at a lot of time behind bars. The fact it’s your first offense will help a little, but it won’t take back what you did. It’s unfortunate, you know. A beautiful young woman such as yourself. Throwing your life away like that. It wasn’t worth it, was it?”

  She shook her head. “No. But I’m ready to make it right. Let me testify against Nick. I have so much evidence against him that I—”