“No, I don’t think she will, and if she does then we’ll deal with the fallout later. She isn’t going to recognise us for who we are as long as she keeps living this half life. We won’t be able to bond with her otherwise and I refuse to risk losing her.”
Nouel was concerned that this might blow up in their faces, but he didn’t have any better idea. “Have you two come up with a plan?”
“Besides scooping her up and throwing her in the back of a truck and speeding away?” Georges shrugged. “No, not really.”
“We need an ally.” Luc shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back against the hallway wall. “Someone who wants the best for Clara and is as concerned about her as we are.”
“If you’re willing to be honest, then I say we contact her brother. Both Marcario and Jelani said Brodie is a great guy. He’s going to understand how important this is and perhaps he will have some insight into why she is so out of sync with herself?”
“Nouel?”
“Already on it.” The moment Georges mentioned Clara’s brother, he started texting Marcario to ask him for Brodie’s number. “You know she is going to call this playing dirty, running to her brother like this.”
“She can call it whatever she wants if it means in the end she is in our bed and in harmony with herself.”
“Wow, you three really suck at being secretive.”
Nouel whipped around at the woman’s voice behind them. River McNamara stood with her hands on her hips, shaking her head, making her black ponytails wave back and forth. “Seriously, this is the best you could come up with? You do realize the bathrooms are down here and sooner or later there is a very good possibility that she would catch you?”
“Merde,” Georges cursed under his breath as he looked around River.
“No, I’m alone this time. She was acting funny and I was curious why she keeps looking over this way.”
“Are you going to tell her we’re here?” Nouel asked.
“Are you three going to stop pussyfooting around and claim her?”
“It’s not that simple, River. It’s complicated.” Luc scowled at her.
“Yeah, this shit always is. It’s not like I had an easy time with my guys but mine never let me walk away.”
River gave them each a pointed look. Nouel didn’t like it but she was right. They had let her walk away, but they wanted to make up for it now. Georges sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and then linked them at the back of his neck. Luc stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a dark brooding look on his face. Most people would be intimidated by that but River was Mated to three large bears. Nouel imagined it would take a lot more than a glare to intimidate her now.
“We thought we were doing the right thing by letting her go. You’ve read the poem, ‘if you love them set them free.’” Nouel tried to explain their reasons but River just snorted at him.
“If you three are in love with her but let her walk away without telling her, then you don’t have the intelligence I credited you with.” She walked past them, her platform boots making her over six foot in height. “If you three will excuse me, I have to pee and then get back to my friends. I’ll try to distract Clara and give you three a chance to get out of here without her knowing.”
“River.” Luc’s voice was filled with more emotion than Nouel had ever heard. “What can we say to her to fix this?”
“That’s easy.” River waved her hand as if the answer was so easy they should have figured it out themselves. “Tell her the truth. All of it, and then demand the same from her. There is no room in a relationship for secrets. They’ll only come back and bite you in the ass.”
River pressed open a door and disappeared into what must have been the bathroom. Not that Nouel would have known that since there was no sign alerting anyone to its presence.
“We need to get out of here before she catches us.” Georges watched as Luc wandered down the darkened hall and vanished around a corner.
Nouel’s phone vibrated in his hand and he glanced down to read the text that had come through. Marcario has sent him Brodie’s cell number. “I have her brother’s number. Should we call him?”
“No,” Luc said as he came back up the hallway. “River is right. Sooner or later Clara is bound to come down this hallway and that is when we’ll grab her.”
“And drag her kicking and screaming out of here?” Georges shook his head. “Bad idea.”
“There is an emergency exit out to the alleyway in the back. The door isn’t alarmed, I checked, and it will lock behind us as we leave. Nouel, go get the truck and pull it around. Georges and I will grab her and meet you out there. Keep the engine running. I don’t think she is going to make this easy.”
“I’m glad we brought your truck and not mine if she decides to shift inside it.” Nouel finally felt the knot that had resided under his ribcage relax slightly. Having a plan went a long way to making him feel better. “I’ll call Brodie and let him know that we’re the ones that have taken her so he doesn’t worry.”
“Good idea. Now as long as River doesn’t tip her off, this should be a simple plan to follow through with.”
* * * *
“Simple plan, huh?” Georges ducked the fist headed straight for his chin and angled his hips to avoid the downswing of Clara’s leg. He and Luc had been trying to restrain her the moment they got in the truck. To say she was pissed was an understatement.
Grabbing her had been as easy as they’d hoped. He and Luc had hid down the hall and just around the corner. It had been isolated enough that they’d been able to make out the scents of everyone who wandered toward the bathrooms. As soon as they caught Clara’s scent, they waited for her to come out of the bathroom and then both of them had rushed forward. Luc had wrapped his hand over her mouth and under her arms while Georges scooped her legs out from under her. They’d obviously caught her off guard because it wasn’t until they got to the back that Georges’s senses were hit with her scent. It hadn’t been fear that tantalized him but the earthy, erotic aroma of her arousal, under a cold, sharp punch of anger. As soon as the door to the truck swung open, she’d started fighting back. But he and Luc had eventually gotten her into the backseat.
Georges clamped his arms over her legs to stop her from crushing his balls and slammed the door shut.
“Ow!” Luc pulled his hand away from her mouth and shook it. “She bit me!
“What the fuck do the three of you think you are doing?” Clara screeched, the sound creating the most agonizing pain in his eardrums.
Nouel deliberately wiggled the steering wheel as he drove away, throwing them back and forth a bit, keeping them off balance. “Jezus, Clara. You sound like nails on a blackboard when you do that. You’re going to make me drive into a ditch if you do that again,” Nouel snapped from the driver’s seat.
“My nails are going to be the least of your worries, buddy. I’m going to tear you apart with my bare hands.”
“I’d like to see you do it with paws, Clara,” Luc snapped. “Come on. Put your money where your mouth is. Shift right here, I dare you.”
The crack of her hand on Luc’s cheek echoed in the silence that immediately fell over them. Luc hadn’t moved a muscle but Clara felt as tight as a hunter’s bow. “Go ahead, hit me back.”
Her chin was up and Georges could feel the straining of her leg muscles. Her lower lip quivered and she kept her eyes closed.
“Nouel, pull over.” Luc stared at Clara and she opened her eyes and they glared at each other.
“Why?” Nouel argued. “We just got her back.”
“Pull the fuck over!”
He hadn’t seen his brother this furious in years, maybe not ever. As Nouel pulled over and slowed to a stop, Luc bent forward and got face to face with their wild Mate. “If you honestly believe for one second that I would actually hit you, that any of us would raise a hand in anger against you, then you might as well get out now. We’d never lash out at you like that, but don’t thi
nk we’ll tolerate being on the receiving end either.”
Georges tightened his grip on Clara’s leg for a moment before letting her go. The last thing he wanted was for her to leave them again, but Luc had a point. If she didn’t trust them not to physically hurt her then they had bigger problems to deal with. He lifted his hands off her legs and rubbed his head before lacing his fingers together behind his neck. He couldn’t watch the myriad of emotions that flowed over Clara’s face without wanting to wrap her in his arms and tell her it was all going to be okay.
“You’re absolutely right. I apologise for slapping you.”
Georges’s heart gave a hard painful kick and he wondered for a second if it hadn’t stopped while he waited to hear what she’d say. Nouel met his gaze in the rearview mirror and Georges nodded at him that it was safe to get going.
“Accepted, and I apologise for deliberately digging into what I know is a sensitive situation for you.”
“I’m sorry for trying to injure you, Georges.”
He legs gently nudged his belly and he dropped his hands down to rest on her calves. “These are some wicked boots, Clara.” He ran his hand down the soft leather and cupped her ankle, lifting her leg slightly as he looked at the length of the heels. “I’ll forgive you if you promise to wear these and nothing else in bed one day.”
“I thought we decided that wasn’t going to work.” She tried to pull her leg from his grip but he refused to let her go. Instead, he lifted her leg a little higher, parting her thighs so he had a delicious view up her small skirt.
Clara pressed her hands between her legs, in an attempt to use her skirt to block his view. He slowly lifted his eyes to hers and winked. She might have been frowning at him but that mouthwatering scent of her arousal was back. She tried to move out of Luc’s lap but he clamped his arm around the back of her ribs and pulled her close to him. He laid his free hand over both of hers.
“We decided that this wasn’t a good idea, remember? You will all continue to fight and I’m only going to bring trouble to your doorstep. Do you really want to deal with my family if they decide to take me back?” She glanced back and forth between him and Luc as she spoke. She’d even looked over at the back of Nouel’s head once.
“You’re our Mate, Clara. No one would ever dispute that. Once we’re bonded then they can’t take you anywhere without the three of us. You know we belong to you as much as you do to us.”
“No, I don’t.”
* * * *
Tell them the truth. River’s advice rang in the back of Clara’s thoughts and the words shot out of her mouth before she had a chance to think. Understandably, they both looked at her as if she’d gone crazy. Which was understandable because how could a shifter not know their mates?
Georges lowered her leg back to laying across his. She tried to move and break the physical contact with both of them but Luc’s arm around her ribs tightened slightly and Georges wrapped his hand around her leg, just below her knee. She rubbed her thumb against the palm of her hand. It still stung from when she’d slapped Luc’s face. He didn’t have a mark, which she was thankful for, but she still felt guilty for her impulsive act.
She didn’t realize she’d been staring at her hands until Luc’s fingers wrapped around hers and he lifted her stinging palm to his lips, gently kissing the center of her palm. The kiss might not have made the sting vanish, but it did make her pussy tingle. “I don’t understand, Clara.” His breath was warm against her skin and she felt a rush of goose bumps dance along her upper arms.
“Do you know much about the Ursus culture is? How violent it can be? They still challenge to the death for leadership and my family is incredibly focused on maintaining the purity of our blood lines.”
“There are a lot of shifters that cling to the old ways, Clara.” Georges rubbed his hand lightly along her boot. She didn’t like feeling the sensation of him stroking her but not actually feeling his touch and was tempted to kick off her boots so she could feel his hands on her skin.
“I know, but I think Bears are the worst for that kind of archaic thinking. I don’t want to be like that.”
“Just because one group is old school doesn’t make them all like that. Look at your brother or the McNamaras.”
“My brother’s defiance is what made it worse for everyone. I hated him for that for so long. When the elders heard that he’d Mated with a human, they freaked. We weren’t allowed TVs or radios. Our community turned into the equivalent to a religious cult ruled by zealots.”
“And you rebelled the only way you could?”
“I became a vegetarian. They all thought I was mentally unstable and started treating me like I wasn’t an active part of the community. I wasn’t the only one. Others started to defy their orders as well.” She stopped. The memories still too raw after all this time, one incident that would influence her for her entire life. She could still remember the coppery smell of blood, and the terrifying growls and pain-filled screams. Her stomach tried to shrivel up and she could taste the bitter tang of bile in the back of her throat.
“What happened?”
She hadn’t realized she’d sunk back into her memories until his voice pulled her back to the present. Luc’s thumb brushed against her cheek, wiping away tears she hadn’t realized had escaped. Sinking into his embrace, she tucked her head under his chin. Georges continued to rub her legs in long, soothing strokes from her thigh to her ankle. She’d never felt so safe and secure in her life. If she hadn’t destroyed the connection to her inner animal, she’d be able to feel their presence and sense their emotions. Her father was right, her bear was mad and she could never risk letting it free.
“They wanted to made a public spectacle and teach everyone what would happen to those who defied the rules.”
A soft curse from Nouel in the front seat made her pause. “It gets worse. They wanted everyone to take part in punishing a community member. I didn’t want to do it. Many of us didn’t and those that defied outright were turned on. It was to be a fight to the death.”
“And you couldn’t do it?”
Clara shook her head. “I had been friends with Jacob since kindergarten. He and I played in the woods together growing up. I knew he was gay and in love with a man from the city. We had a plan to run away together. I’d pretend to be his Mate and we’d protect each other.”
She still remembered the calm look on Jacob’s face as he died in her arms. “They wanted me to kill him but he died in my arms from the injuries they’d already inflicted on him. Because of that they never knew the truth. He protected me that day when I should have protected him.”
“Clara, you would have died that day if you had tried.”
“And that makes it okay, because my life was saved and he was murdered?” Clara curled in on herself. The pain ripping through her was agonizing. It felt like she were being torn in two. The beast inside of her clawed at the walls she’d encased it in, fighting for the freedom she could never give it again. Luc’s arms tightened around her, holding her up when she was sure she didn’t have the strength to sit upright.
“Fuck, Clara, what have you done to yourself?” Georges rubbed her hip. “That bear inside of you is still you. You’re a beautiful person, so that bear tucked away inside of you is as well.”
“You’re wrong. It’s violent and wants to kill anything in its way.” She opened her eyes and looked at George. “You tell me I’m your Mate but I can’t sense that. I’m no more than a human in my abilities, but I can live like this.”
“You’re not living, Clara. You’re existing in a half life that is going to break one day.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She whispered the words, partially out of habit because she’d never spoken about this to anyone before. To say anything too loud felt like it would be tempting Fate. “I’m so scared. It’s tearing me apart from the inside.”
She pushed against Luc’s chest and sat up. Reaching toward the front seat, she laid her fingers against
Nouel’s neck as he drove. He instantly reached up and gripped her hand, pressing it harder against his skin. “I can’t stay here. Until I know for sure that I have complete control, I can’t stay. I could be a danger. What if the bear wins one day and I go on a killing rage? One of you would have to put me down. Do you really want to do that?”
“That would never happen, Clara.” Nouel met her gaze in the rearview mirror. He looked so determined, but she knew the truth.
“Yes, it could. I’ve seen bears that have gone mad, turned rogue, and then have to be hunted down and slaughtered.”
Georges wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her back against him as Luc scooped her legs up. He pulled her boots off and dropped them to the floor. She put up a token resistance but gave in quickly. It felt like she was too fragile, as if remembering that day had stolen her strength. “Clara, we’re here for you. You are meant to be in our arms, both you and your bear. Your bear is trying to fight against your fears, only it’s a vicious cycle in your head.”
Luc lifted a thick blanket from behind the seat and opened it up, laying it over her. It wasn’t until Georges tucked it up around her shoulders that she realized she was shaking.
“I’m too damaged. Even if you’re right I’m still losing it.”
“Clara you’re struggling right now, but we’re here to support you. Lean on us. Try to trust us even a little bit. We’re your Mates and we don’t ever want to see you unhappy. I know we fucked up earlier and the three of us talked out what was bothering us.
“What was it? I tried so hard to keep everything equal.”
“That’s the problem in a nutshell.” Georges’s voice rumbled in his chest and she could hear the words echoing under her ear. “You were so determined to keep everything equal that everything was feeling contrived, forced, and not natural.”
“I’m sorr—”
“You have nothing to apologise for.” Luc gently squeezed her foot and then began to massage it between his hands. The incredible feeling echoed up her body and she felt the muscles in her back slowly unlock. “We should have talked more instead of jumping in and expecting everything to magically fall in place. Just because we know you’re our Mate doesn’t mean that we don’t need to talk things out.”
Chasing Peace, Love & Fur [3xtasy Lake 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12
