Scottish Werebear: A New Beginning: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 4)

by Lorelei Moone

Matt felt his heartbeat speed up. The revelation that his, no, their parents were still alive after all these years had been a good one, obviously, but he couldn’t shake the worry that meeting him would be more of a disappointment to them than a joyous reunion.

  He hadn’t exactly grown into the sort of person - bear - they would have wanted him to.

  “What’s up? you don’t look too happy to hear that?” Jamie asked.

  “Nah, I am,” Matt said, but realized immediately he’d failed to hide the doubt in his tone. “I just don’t think I’m all that, if you know what I mean.”

  “Shit, are you kidding me? You’re alive, which is pretty much all they’ve wanted all these years. And finally, I can show face at home again as well.”

  Matt had to grin. “Yeah, after over a decade of being the son who lost their other son?”

  “Something like that.” Jamie shot him a wry smile.

  It was a rare thing, to recognize weakness in Jamie. He put on a hard front, but this little glimpse made Matt wonder if perhaps he wasn’t the only Argyle boy who had grown up a little messed up.

  “So. Ready to get back to your training? The sooner you get the hang of this, the sooner we can all get back to our normal lives,” Jamie said.

  “Sure, just one more thing. Is that why you go by Abbot?”

  “I didn’t want to have to go through the same story over and over again. In these circles, everyone has heard of the Argyle abduction case…”

  Matt remembered how weird it was to feel everyone’s stares when he’d first been faced with the Alliance team. “Fair enough.”

  “You know what?” Jamie asked.

  “What?”

  “You and I just had an entire argument without you sprouting fur or claws. That’s not bad at all.” Jamie grinned at him, then, without prior warning charged at him, pushing Matt against the wall with a loud thud.

  It hurt, and the concrete might as well be covered in ice, but instead of responding with aggression, Matt focused on another image. Another source of calm. The image of Leah balancing an impossible number of little parcels in her arms on the way to her car.

  He had to get through this. And if Jamie indeed managed to keep an eye on what Margaret was up to, perhaps it wouldn’t turn out so bad.

  She was fine; she had to be. Leah was a strong woman, and once he got back home, he’d explain everything to her.

  Matt saw the next blow coming from the corner of his eye and ducked out of the way, causing Jamie to hit his fist into the wall.

  “Damn,” Jamie growled, as he turned around.

  A glimmer of something different appeared in his eyes. A fiery amber, which Matt had only seen a few times before: in his own eyes in the mirror, when he’d felt his sanity slipping away.

  “Gotcha! How does it feel to be pissed off, bro? Looks like you’re very close to losing control yourself now,” Matt quipped.

  Jamie frowned. “Very funny, just you wait ‘til I get you again, little one.”

  Matt scoffed. Little one? Matt was at least as tall, if not taller than Jamie was. And they were both built, more so than regular humans.

  He stood his ground for the next attack, both his feet planted firmly on the ground. This time, when Jamie hit him, he felt it rattle his bones despite the gloves. He wanted to turn; he wanted to retaliate so badly, but he didn’t budge. Only the slightest flutter passed over his skin, its texture changing only for a moment, before morphing back into its usual, human appearance.

  “Better. And again,” Jamie ordered.

  Matt took a deep breath, fighting with every fiber in his body against the survival instinct that had developed in their kind over thousands of years. It’s common wisdom in the human world, not to suppress your emotions, and yet that’s exactly what this training was about.

  How stupid this whole secrecy thing was, anyway. Everyone was afraid of the unknown, so if the objective was not to create fear in humans, wouldn’t it actually make sense to be transparent?

  None of this would have ever happened if people had just been honest with Matt while growing up. And now he had to pay for it, in this cold, dark, horrible place, with his very own brother trying to rile him up.

  Ridiculous.

  Matt’s jaw tightened as he withstood another one of Jamie’s assaults.

  “Good job. Keep this up, and we’ll be able to progress to the next stage: outdoor training,” Jamie remarked.

  Chapter Nine

  For days, Leah had been keeping too much of an eye on the house next door - Matt’s house. And yet, she hadn’t seen the slightest curtain twitch or sign of movement at all.

  It was nerve wracking.

  By Thursday, his weekly grocery delivery came and went, and his door didn’t open for that either.

  That was the last straw for Leah, who had started imagining all sorts of horror scenarios.

  What if he hadn’t been ignoring her, but something bad had happened to him? What if he was unwell or worse and unable to respond to her repeated messages - or the doorbell? What if more of the same people who had come into her house to take her, had also broken into his place and successfully abducted him before those weird black commando gear people had turned up? But to what end?

  It just didn’t make sense, and not knowing where Matt was or what he was up to was driving her crazy.

  So finally, before the delivery van from the local supermarket had even pulled out of their road, she picked up the phone for one last message.

  “If you don’t respond, I’m reporting you missing with the police.”

  She bit her lips and waited, tears stinging in her eyes. How long she should wait for, she wasn’t sure, but it was all she could think to do.

  When the phone buzzed, about a minute later, she got so startled she almost dropped it to the floor.

  “Don’t do that. Everything will be explained in time.”

  From terrified, Leah reverted to being angry. So all this time he had just simply chosen not to answer her! The nerve. And what a weird, impersonal reply as well!

  Fine. In that case, she didn’t need to concern herself with this bullshit anymore.

  Leah threw the phone onto the counter and started work on the order she should have been focusing on instead of obsessing about Matt.

  Day after day went by, and Leah kept on feeling low. It was like all the joy had been sapped from her, like nothing could make her smile.

  And all because of a guy she hadn’t even properly met.

  It wasn’t that she didn’t have work to do and just set idle all day. Not at all. She had plenty on her plate. It was just that after a whole day of keeping busy, she had nothing to look forward to anymore. That’s what she told herself anyway.

  She had never had a large friend circle, only keeping a select few people close. Over the years of working at the call center, with all those night shifts, those few friends had drifted apart as well, so she’d mainly interacted with her colleagues.

  In this new place, she had nobody. She certainly wasn’t about to count Carrie as a new friend, no matter how often she chose to drop by for a chat - something that had been happening every other day or so since Matt’s disappearance.

  Leah hadn’t told Carrie much about her contact with Matt, only that she’d left him a note to say hello. But for some reason, Carrie must have been suspecting something. That was why she kept coming over, kept prying, however subtly for information about Matt.

  It was weird.

  Still, the days kept on passing drearily, and Leah started to get used to the emptiness left behind by the uninhabited house next door.

  On the tenth night, another strange, windowless van pulled into the street. It was late, so the neighbors would probably be asleep, but not Leah. She was making herself a hot chocolate in the kitchen and happened to be looking out the window when it happened.

  The people in black were back.

  She took a sip and observed a strange man she’d never seen before get out of the driver
’s side door and walk to the other side, opening the passenger door for someone else.

  Matt.

  Leah held her breath.

  He was back.

  The other man patted Matt on the shoulder, and then they embraced for but a second. The whole scene was eerie.

  They seemed so similar. Their hair, their frames, even the way they carried themselves, as though no burden was too heavy to carry, no obstacle too tall to cross.

  Her heartbeat sped up against her will.

  What did she care if he came back? Matt had been toying with her all along, and especially since that night these people had first shown up.

  Leah swallowed the lump that had developed in her throat upon seeing him.

  That was when he turned around, and she panicked. Her kitchen was lit up like a stage while the street was much darker. He’d be able to see her much clearer than she could see him.

  Shit, shit, shit! She quickly jumped into action and left, pretending to herself that she’d never even noticed any movement outside the window.

  He’d assume she hadn’t seen him, right?

  Way to play it cool, you idiot, Leah chided herself.

  After leaving the kitchen, she took a round of her living room and hall, making sure the extra dead bolts she’d had installed were securely locked, and the new alarm system engaged, then hid herself away in her bedroom. Although she wouldn’t be able to sleep just yet - especially not now that she knew Matt was back home - there was no need to draw unnecessary attention to herself either.

  Leah got into bed and held on to her steaming hot mug with both hands, yet chills kept running down her spine. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? He was just a guy. Just like all the other guys, who take what they want without for once considering how the other person felt.

  Her phone sat beside her, lifeless on the wooden bedside table, practically taunting her. He wouldn’t try to get in touch immediately, would he? Rubbish! And she wouldn’t answer him if he did either.

  She put the mug down and brusquely shoved the mobile underneath the pillow beside her.

  There was no way, absolutely no way that she would keep on sitting here staring at it, waiting for the buzz of a message. Not now. Not after all that.

  Morning came, and Leah felt like she’d barely slept, just sort of drifted in and out of a dreamless half-consciousness that hadn’t provided much rest.

  Matt was still there, after his late night arrival. She didn’t know how she knew, but she could feel his presence nearby.

  Despite her struggle to get through the night, she did feel somewhat lighter today, after nearly two weeks of having a dark cloud hang over her.

  She’d been wondering what if he came back? What if he wanted to get in touch? He hadn’t even sent her a single message. Knowing that he wasn’t interested, perhaps could give her some closure and enable her to move on. That had to be it. She was feeling a bit better because she could close off that chapter of her life, not at all because he was back home.

  It was still quite early, but there wasn’t much of a point staying in bed if she couldn’t sleep anyway, so Leah got herself up and into the kitchen, ready to start her day. The forecast had foretold clear weather, and she was hoping to finish work early so that she could catch a few rays sitting on her living room sofa before dusk would inevitably set in at around four-thirty in the afternoon. This time of year, the days were depressingly short, so any sunlight was precious.

  While waiting for the kettle to boil, a rustling noise came from the front door, like something being pushed through the letterbox. Six o’clock was way too early for the postman, wasn’t it?

  She wrapped herself up tighter in her oversized knitted cardigan and left the kitchen to investigate. Indeed there it was, a little parcel on her welcome mat.

  Leah picked it up and immediately opened the front door to get a glimpse of whoever had delivered it, but the street just looked dark and empty. A gust of cold wind made its way into the house through the open doorway, so she shut it again almost as quickly.

  She weighed the packet in her hand. It was small, about the size of two small juice cartons taped together, but much lighter than that.

  Should she open it?

  Her heart beat a little faster while deciding on her next move. She didn’t like the idea of having a random stranger deliver something through her letterbox. What if there was something dangerous inside? Then again, it hardly weighed much, how bad could it be?

  She returned to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea first. Nothing good can come from a decision made before the first cup of tea, as her dad used to say.

  Once ready, she carried both the parcel and the steamy beverage with her into the living room and put both down onto the coffee table.

  As cautious as she wanted to be, there was no way curiosity wouldn’t get the better of her eventually. She might as well open the thing right away, rather than torture herself any further.

  She peeled away the first layer of brown tape with her fingernail, then quickly unraveled the rest. Underneath, a layer of bubble wrap, and then a sealed cardboard box. If the picture on the front was anything to go by, it was a basic mobile phone.

  Why would someone send her a phone? And for free, no less.

  As she opened the seal and lifted the lid off the small box, a piece of paper fell out the side with a short message scrawled on it.

  “Your phone is being monitored. Use this one instead.”

  Oh damn. It was from Matt, wasn’t it?

  She wasn’t sure what to think. Had he lost his mind completely? What made him think that he could just waltz back into her life after vanishing without explanation for nearly two weeks?

  That was it. She was going to give him a piece of her mind, and she might as well use the new phone to do it.

  She opened the box fully and switched the gadget on. It only took a minute or so. It didn’t have very many apps, or perhaps even a Wifi connection. The phone book had only one number programmed into it, labeled Matt.

  Should she call? No, that would be stupid. They’d messaged back and forth plenty, but never actually spoken. Hearing his voice might just make her forget what she wanted to say.

  Her moment of indecisiveness didn’t last long, because the choice had already been made for her. The phone rang.

  Her throat went dry when she saw the caller ID. It was Matt.

  Chapter Ten

  Why wasn’t she picking up? It was early, but he knew she was already awake.

  Matt put the phone down and scratched his head. They’d had a connection, hadn’t they? Before everything went to shit, and he was taken by the Alliance for his so-called training. They’d felt something together; he’d been sure of it at the time, but now doubts were starting to develop.

  He’d been away for what, little over a week? Had she dismissed him so quickly?

  It made sense, in a way. He wasn’t exactly a prize; he knew that.

  And to make things worse, at a time when she was already scared to death, he’d climbed into her house full-bear and terrified her even further. Follow that with the Alliance’s attempts at managing the situation - and their secret - by convincing her she never actually saw what she thought she saw…

  No wonder she’d shut down and wanted nothing to do with him.

  Or perhaps she hadn’t found the phone yet. That could be the case as well. He’d seen her light on when he dropped the little packet into her letterbox, but perhaps she just hadn’t picked it up and opened it yet.

  He’d give it a little longer, then try again. It wasn’t within him to give up on the situation so quickly, not without ruling out all other possibilities.

  Matt took a deep breath and picked up his laptop. So many emails from his clients, their tone ranging from concern to anger right down to dismissal. He ought to write back to them immediately, apologize for his absence, make up some health related reason why he couldn’t notify them sooner. Anything would do to salvage his rep
utation and get his work life back under control.

  There was just one problem: none of it seemed important anymore.

  He was a bear. Within the blink of an eye, he could turn and rip an attacker to shreds if he wanted to. What the hell was he doing here, typing inane reports about foreign currency fluctuations or what the latest budget would mean to small businesses? None of that stuff mattered.

  Leah. She mattered to him.

  He had to get in touch with her, explain everything - preferably in a way that the Alliance didn’t find out about it - and make things right. Over the course of little over a week, he’d gone from never leaving his house to being stuck at the Alliance base and even heading into a nearby forest to train with Jamie outdoors.

  He’d felt the reluctant rays of mid-winter sun on his face. The icy winds cut through his flesh, right to his bones.

  He’d emerged from a shell he’d confined himself in for so long; it was unthinkable to just go back to the way things were.

  And she - the woman who had given him the benefit of the doubt initially - was right there next door, yet so far away.

  He tried her new number again, holding his breath as the phone rang. Please, pick up!

  Then, rather than the expected recording informing him that the caller cannot be reached, there was a click and a second of static, before he finally heard a voice.

  “Hello?” a female spoke softly at the other end.

  He wasn’t sure what to say. It was like he’d somehow drifted out of reality, and he wasn’t actually on the phone with her.

  “Leah?” he finally asked.

  “That’s me.”

  Oh God . She sounded irritated. Or nervous. Or both. He wasn’t sure, not without looking at her.

  “I’m so sorry,” he blurted out.

  “You vanished. No response to any of my messages, except just once, which was just plain odd,”

  “I know. And I can explain; not that I’m trying to make excuses for any of this, I’m not…” Matt rested his forehead in his palm. How was he going to make this right?

  She didn’t respond immediately, just sighed.

  “What did you mean they’re spying on me?”