Diamond Dust

by Vivian Arend

  Another car pulled into the parking lot, and Tyler stepped to the side to watch with interest as the limo driver hurried around to open the door for Amanda Ainsworth.

  She glanced toward the pool building, her long coat trailing to the ground as the driver, not Todd, escorted her forward.

  Strange.

  Tyler made his way toward the front of the deck. By the time he got to a place where he could observe clearly, Caroline had slipped from the water in response to a low-toned feminine request sneaking through the change-room door.

  Her lithe form should have been a distraction, but the whispered conversation taking place just inside the doorway was more important than his longing to lick the water droplets from Caroline’s skin.

  Not being able to hear exactly what was going on was making him crazy.

  “Ainsworth didn’t show, but Amanda did?” Jim Halcyon was at Tyler’s side, tilting his head toward the trees. “We’d better stay alert. I didn’t expect him to come—Ainsworth hates the water with a passion—but you can be sure if anything happens to her, you’ll never hear the end of it.”

  “We know exactly who he’d blame.”

  Jim nodded. “Somehow, it would be your fault. Especially after this afternoon—your appeal is rising fast. It would only take a small nudge to push the entire shooting match into your favour.”

  That’s when Caroline and Amanda strolled from the change room, Caroline in her barely there swimsuit, Amanda covered from neck to toe in a colourful beach robe. The two women made their way around the pool edge.

  Caroline called out reassurances to some of the ladies in the water. Tyler moved as close as possible to where Caroline had spoken to him earlier. “Do you need my help?”

  Caroline’s cheeks were flushed. “Tell her how I got the marks on my skin.”

  She twisted a hip to showcase a spot where finger-shaped bruises marred her flesh. He could clearly picture gripping her, riding her hard from behind as they went wild the previous day.

  Only the passion faded as Tyler glanced at Amanda, his stomach plummeting. In being free with Caroline had he destroyed his case and lost all opportunity to make things better for the bears in the long run?

  Attempting to explain the marks on Caroline in less-than-graphic words wasn’t going to work—he was damned no matter what.

  The fire in Caroline’s eyes caught his attention as he considered what to say. One of her first taunts returned. What he was known for—honesty. She thought the truth would help.

  “Caroline and I were playing. Sexual games.” He undid his shirt collar and pulled it aside to display one of the more explicit scratches she’d left on him. “We both got overexcited.”

  Amanda stared at his chest. “You’re not in the habit of beating women?”

  Caroline slipped her arm through Amanda’s. “I told you he’s not.”

  The group of men in attendance had crowded forward, and Tyler motioned for them to step back. “You can watch just as well from across the courtyard. Give the ladies some privacy.”

  “I’ve been offered sanctuary by your girlfriend,” Amanda piped up. “Do you agree to protect me?”

  Oh, Caroline, what have you done? The men forgotten, Tyler moved forward, his gaze meeting Caroline’s. He’d trusted her and her instincts to now; he would to the end. “If you require sanctuary, my clan is yours.”

  “Takhini wolves also offer protection,” Caroline spoke loud and clear, obviously to the gathering of men behind him. “And if there’s any of the lot of you who think you can mistreat your women, I offer them sanctuary as well, even if I have to personally find them beds and jobs.”

  One of the clan leaders pushed forward. “See here. This isn’t right, going around Ainsworth like this. He should at least be able to stand up for himself.” The man shook his finger at Amanda who cowered against Caroline’s side. “Asking for sanctuary without reason.”

  Caroline was between the bear’s pointing finger and Amanda at the same moment Tyler stepped to the man’s side and laid a restraining hand on his shoulder.

  “He forbid her to come,” Caroline snapped.

  The clan leader nodded righteously. “Then we need to ask him to join us. Allow him to be a part of this.”

  “You bastard.”

  Caroline would have hauled back a fist and swung if Amanda hadn’t stopped her. The woman patted Caroline’s arm reassuringly before stepping into the open. “He didn’t want me to come because there’s no swimsuit that can cover this…”

  The cover-up dropped to the tiles underfoot, and the sound of protesting that had begun amidst the less charitable bears cut off like a cord had been severed.

  The marks on Amanda’s body were far more brutal than the shadows of lovemaking on Caroline’s flesh. For the damage to stay on a shifter, she’d been beaten hard, more than once, and recently.

  Caroline grabbed the cover-up and draped it around Amanda’s shoulders, turning the woman in her arms and holding her close. “That’s enough. They’ve seen. You have a home with me, because bastards don’t deserve a woman like you.”

  “Thank you.” Amanda nudged their cheeks together gently, then straightened her shoulders. Lillie was there, tucking Amanda against her side and leading her away.

  Caroline glared past Tyler, her expression one of total distain as she took in the clan leaders at his back. “I don’t know why you’re bothering to complete conclave. If any of you still think Todd Ainsworth is a serious candidate, you’ve lost your bloody minds. You’re voting to decide who can best guide you into the future. Are you really contemplating handing control to a man like that? He doesn’t deserve to be in charge of a cage full of rattlesnakes. Not unless he was staked in place and they’re dumped on top of him.”

  A flash of pure passion whipped through Tyler, his bear rattled and roused. It wasn’t sexual, but pure sweet admiration plus a desire to grab hold of her fire and never let go.

  It might have been insane, but at that moment? Tyler fell completely, and utterly, in love.

  Chapter Seventeen

  She was on a make-friends-and-influence-people roll. The kind where she didn’t give a shit who was standing at the end of it.

  Not true.

  The women behind her? They were the ones who needed to be standing on their own two feet when the air finally cleared, no matter what.

  Tyler moved toward her, leaping the railing in one smooth motion. He smiled for a brief second, before stepping to her side and turning to face the men.

  “I stand with her. Clan Harrison will not tolerate the abuse that’s been allowed. Not anymore. It’s one thing to blame our violence on our bear nature, but instincts go beyond the urge to beat the hell out of someone.”

  The wind picked up, whipping back her wet hair and raising goose bumps. Or maybe that was an excuse for the reaction she had to the conviction in his voice. Tyler examined his contemporaries, the lot of them shifting uneasily on their feet.

  “We’ve been idiots. Instincts don’t just tell me to fight, they tell me to fight for what’s right. To be there for the people who I love and care about.” Tyler slipped his hand into hers. “Instinct should make us hold back when our bears want to rip another to shreds for stupid reasons like financial or political gain. We’re more than our instincts. We’re humans as well as bears. Isn’t it about time we bloody well started acting like it?”

  Her sense of pride was ridiculous—what she felt for Tyler at that moment was way out of proportion. Still, that he’d been listening to what she’d said and put it together without a two-by-four to the head made her beam.

  He was a good man, or good bear, indeed. She squeezed his fingers, and the brief glance between them meant so much more than acceptance of her actions and his words. It was an affirmation that together, they were better.

  The squeal of tires in the parking lot pulled everyone’s attention to the taxi jerking to a stop by the front gate. Fear flared as Todd Ainsworth leapt from the back seat, slamming
the door behind him.

  Caroline pushed down her panic, darting a glance over her shoulder to where the ladies were slipping from the steamy water, Amanda Ainsworth staring with terror-filled eyes.

  Todd Ainsworth left his jacket on the ground of the parking lot, his shirt at the stairs leading to the observation area. Around her and Tyler, clothes fell to the ground as the men prepared to shift.

  Caroline regretted the swimsuit thing even more as she had no choice but to back away. Unarmed? No claws? She wasn’t a fool. This was no place for her.

  Tyler dropped her hand to strip off his jacket and shirt. “I’ll deal with him. Find a safe spot.”

  She snatched up his jacket, slipping it on. “I’ll take Amanda—”

  “Find a safe spot,” Tyler bit out, his voice softening as Ainsworth closed the gap between them. “Please, Caroline. I need to deal with Todd, but I need you to be safe. I can’t… God, don’t let anything happen to you.”

  Half the men had shifted, half stood naked in human form listening as Todd crossed the final feet toward them, cursing loudly. It was an eerie sight, bear and man mixed, violence simmering.

  Caroline ducked away, not waiting to hear what complaints Todd wanted to make.

  The view to the back of the pool was equally frightening. Most of the women had already shifted, making their way toward the assumed safety of the trees. Only their path of retreat was blocked. Dark bodies emerged from the perimeter—more bears.

  One of the ladies who had shifted was cuffed in the head by a newcomer, and a roar broke out behind Caroline as the woman’s mate barreled along the poolside, racing to protect his partner.

  More shifters arrived, snarls ringing through the air. Caroline clutched Tyler’s jacket around herself as she fled for the staff room of the pool, the door held open for her by a wide-eyed female wolf lifeguard.

  Caroline vanished from his sight down the pool deck, and that was the last glimpse Tyler had time for. He was too busy keeping teeth and claws from ripping off important parts of his anatomy.

  Like his head.

  Todd Ainsworth snarled a few comments to the crowd about people assuming too much responsibility, taking too much for granted. But when the men didn’t leap to take the bait or so much as grumble in response, Ainsworth cut his losses, shifted and attacked.

  Tyler shifted, but not fast enough to avoid a paw swipe to his human torso before fur and muscle took hold. Searing pain shot through him and shook his beast, forcing adrenaline into his veins. His vision clouded and rational thought failed.

  There were reasons he wasn’t supposed to do this, but damn if he could remember what they were. All he could think of was Todd Ainsworth dead in front of him. Preferably in more than one mangled piece.

  Tyler lurched forward and snapped, burying his teeth in Ainsworth’s shoulder, pushing with his full weight in an attempt to topple his opponent to the ground. Blood flooded his mouth, the taste increasing his anger. His human reasoning was at an all-time low, the bear stepping in and making decisions.

  The animal side knew one thing. The shifter dragging his claws down Tyler’s chest was a danger to everyone at the pool. Everyone in the conclave. Caroline had been right.

  Pain struck again as long claws stabbed viciously into his abdomen, followed by a burst of agony that raked across his stomach and hip as Ainsworth attempted to win his freedom.

  Tyler was gone. Only the bear remained, and his claws and teeth went to work.

  Five paces from her sanctuary Caroline found herself thwarted as a huge furry body fell over the divider wall into her path. She scrambled back, jerked open the door to the mechanical room and slipped inside.

  There was no lock on her side. There was no way out at first glance, either. She searched frantically through the items stored in the small cluttered space, looking for something to use as a weapon.

  Nothing. Pull buoys and flutter boards weren’t much use.

  The back corner held an old filing cabinet, the doors removed, shelves stuffed with water toys. Above the cabinet was a trapdoor—access to the roof?

  She shoved the pile of inner tubes over and scrambled to the top of the cabinet, undid the small latches and shoved the door open.

  Sunlight greeted her, and fresh air to filter away the chlorine and musty damp in her nostrils. She peeked out, but the roof was clear of everything except some leaves and branches, and one deflated beach ball.

  She paused, glancing back into the storage area. The sounds of fighting continued to rage, but she seemed to have a moment of respite. She shoved everything she needed onto the roof, then shut the trapdoor dragging the diving weights she’d found on top to stop anyone from following her.

  Underfoot, the rough asphalt lining the roof cut into her soles as she inched toward the roof edge to peer over. Blood and fur were smeared on the deck, groups of bears clustered together making it impossible for her to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys.

  Wolf bodies joined the mix as well—and those she recognized after years in the pack. The guards on duty were caught in a corner, more of the Takhini pack coming from the trees to rescue them. The wolves worked in pairs, snapping at heels and darting in and out of reach as they surrounded the pool.

  Wheels on gravel sounded, and she tore herself away from the fighting, turning instead to the side of the building that led to the campground.

  More vehicles were pulling into the parking lot—a long line of airstream RVs parked in a row at the entrance to the camping area, faces pressed to their windows examining the pool building. How much of the fighting could be seen from the road was impossible to tell from Caroline’s vantage point, but she had to stop any tourists from attempting a closer look.

  The camper she’d found for Shelley to work out of was parked on the other side of the trees. She jerked her cell phone from the suit pocket and called her sister.

  “I need you to run interference. Now, please.”

  Shelley groaned. “You’re damn lucky Chase likes you. Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Only, move it, we’ve got humans exiting their campers.” She hung up on Shelley, then hit a preprogrammed message, sending it off to one of her contacts. It only took a second to shove the phone back into her pocket. In a moment of blinding inspiration, she snatched up the basket of pool toys she’d hauled onto the roof. She yanked out the pair of sunglasses sticking from one side of the basket, and perched the oversized lost-and-found item on her nose.

  Fingers crossed this worked. Hopefully the glasses and coat made her look mysterious and not like an escaped maniac.

  She stood at the edge of the roof as doors swung open and the RVers crawled out. They were, as she expected, a group of older travelers. The type that typically moved from campsite to campsite together as they explored the northern frontier. Caroline had seen her share of RV convoys on the Alaskan Highway since she was girl.

  Seen so many campers in the Walmart parking lot she’d lost count.

  The retirees stood by their vehicles, staring across the parking lot toward the pool as they talked amongst themselves. One couple headed for the front doors, and Caroline mentally hurried her sister up.

  Shelley was just visible through the trees, not close enough to be spotted unless you knew where to look. Caroline had to distract these people. She scooped up a couple of the rubber duckies from the basket at her feet and tossed them in the air. Laughed loudly.

  Nothing. The couple kept moving toward the danger zone. So she nabbed the basket and upended it, small yellow birds bouncing everywhere as they hit the concrete outside the front doors.

  The gentleman who’d been headed toward the observation area paused, looked at the toys, then upward. He blinked, his eyes widening as he took in her outfit.

  Caroline waved and announced in her brightest, reality-show-announcer voice possible. “Hi. I’m sorry, the pool is closed. Isn’t there a sign at the highway warning we’re filming today?”

  “Filming?” The grey-haired woman
at her husband’s side eyed Caroline. “We didn’t see any sign. Sounds as if there’s murder going on.”

  Caroline clapped and smiled broader. “Well done. Yes, a murder mystery. It’s a Canadian Broadcast Corporation direct-to-television movie. The director has a marvelous reputation for realism. He’s using live animals in this one.”

  The couple glanced at the edge of the pool house then back up at Caroline. “Is it safe?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Of course it is, they’re professionally trained animals. Only I do remind you the pool is closed to the public—it’s much better for the performers if they’re not disturbed during filming. But if you would like to talk to one of our animal trainers, she’s right over there.”

  Caroline pointed back toward their RVs where Shelley had moved into sight, the leash in her hand attached to a collar around Chase’s neck.

  Her brother-in-law was going to kill her for this. Sometime, somewhere, the big Métis shifter would demand satisfaction for having to pretend to be a domesticated cat.

  The deception worked. The couple hurried to join their friends gathering around Shelley.

  Caroline called after them. “The campground is open, so go ahead and find spots. Someone will be around to help you in a while, once we’re done with this scene.”

  The gentleman waved a hand without even glancing back, he was so intent to get to Shelley and the giant cougar. Chase sat obediently on his haunches even as he stared at the roof in disgust.

  Caroline wiggled her fingers, then darted to the opposite side of the roof to catch up on what had been happening.

  Caroline.

  The image of her was the only thing that kept Tyler from going completely feral. Her face was in his mind, her voice in his head. The expressive what-the-hell-do-you-think-you’re-doing raised eyebrow contrasting with the whispered request for his reassurances.

  It was eerie the details his bear remembered about her. Not only expressions and words, but the force surrounding her. The energy and wild impulses that so suited his shifter side.