It took Bruce only two seconds to figure out what she was saying. If anything happened to the villagers it would be because of Tara. And Jenna was down there… and Lori hadn’t been there when he’d arrived.
Shit.
He turned around and ran, barreling into the trees. Tara’s laugh followed him into the darkness between the trunks, haunting him, making him hope he wasn’t already too late.
Chapter 2
It was one of the darkest nights Jenna had ever experienced. When she’d left Bruce’s place close to midnight the night before, limping on her sprained ankle, her home felt like it was miles away.
Just the short distance to the cabin had seemed impossible. Her ankle had hurt when she stepped on it, but that wasn’t what had gotten to her. The darkness had been so thick it had been like a blanket around her, suffocating her. It had been so bad it had almost felt like if she stuck out her hand she could have touched it.
She’d looked up at the moon and wondered how it could be that dark if it was so close to full moon.
There had been sounds in the night, like something behind the trees had been watching her.
But she’d made it to her cabin without anything happening, and crawled into bed, wishing she hadn’t left Bruce’s place at all.
When the sun fell through her window and she woke up again, the first thing she noticed was that even though the darkness was gone, that heavy feeling still hung in the air. Something was out there. She could feel it, and she was starting to think that ignoring it, the way she’d done before, wasn’t the right thing to do.
She’d always thought it was in her head. But this one was hard to shrug off.
The second thing she felt when she moved was her ankle. It throbbed painfully under the covers and when she tried to move it a sharp pain shot through the bone. When she pulled away the covers to look at it, it was swollen to almost double its size with an ugly bruise striping its way around the bottom of her ankle.
She swung her legs off the bed and tested it, but she couldn’t stand on it.
“Dammit,” she said, falling back onto the bed. She was going to have to go to the doctor. The day before she’d refused because she’d been able to walk on it still.
She found her phone and turned it on. She hardly used it, everyone knew everyone in town and if you wanted to talk you could just stop by wherever they were. But as backwards as Williamsburg was they had cell phone signal and now she was glad about it.
She phoned doctor’s offices.
“It’s Jenna,” she said to Margaret, the receptionist. “I’ve hurt my ankle quite badly and I can’t get into town. Could you send someone to pick me up and bring me there?”
“Phil’s here now, picking up something for Murray,” she said. “Can I send him over?”
Jenna agreed. He’d been the one that had carried her down the mountain the day before. If anyone could help her it was him. She thanked Margaret and hung up. Fifteen minutes later Phil stopped in front of the cabin in a rusted pickup truck that he’d probably borrowed from the lumber yard.
“Thanks for this,” Jenna said when he helped her into the truck and got in on the other side.
“Not a problem, I was in the area.”
Jenna chuckled. Anywhere in Williamsburg was ‘in the area’. She was relieved it was Phil taking her and not Drew, who she hadn’t heard from since the accident, or Bruce who would worry too much.
Phil glanced up toward the mountains, leaning over his steering wheel.
“Cold is coming,” Jenna said. Phil nodded.
“And wild animals,” he said.
“Really?”
He nodded. “There have been a few sighting of wolves and bears not far from here. They’re coming a lot closer than they have before. We’re setting some guys up on watch, just to be sure. There’s no good reason for them to be coming down the mountain.”
“Is it something you’re worried about?” Jenna asked.
Phil shrugged. “It’s not strange, not yet. But my dad is going to put out a warning, just in case. Keep everyone safe.”
Jenna thought back to the time when she’d gone to visit her mother’s grave, and there had been something in those trees, watching her. She’d written it off as foolishness then – Jenna had been struggling with feeling like she was watched more often than she thought was realistic – and wondered if maybe she hadn’t been so far off all along.
The truck pulled up in front of the doctor’s office and Phil helped her inside.
“Thank you,” she said to him and he nodded at her before he left the reception room.
“Doctor will be with you now, he’s just in the can,” Margaret said and smiled at Jenna. That was the only reason a doctor in a town so small would be too busy to see someone right away. Jenna nodded and pulled up her leg so her foot was on the edge of the chair, her knee bent. She rubbed her ankle with her fingertips, trying to relieve some of the pressure that just kept building.
A few moments later she was in the doctor’s office, sitting on the bed. Louis was the doctor and she’d known him since she was a little girl.
“Well, that’s a nasty sprain,” he said when he saw her ankle. “What happened?”
Jenna explained and he nodded as his fingers probed the bone through the swelling. She winced when he reached the bruise and he apologized, nodding as she talked.
“You should have come to me yesterday, you could have prevented this if you didn’t walk on it. All you really need is time on this one,” he said and walked to his desk. “I’ll give you anti-inflammatory pills for the swelling, and you can pick up crutches from Margaret on your way out, she’ll unlock the store room. But the best remedy will be to stay off that foot until it’s much better.”
Jenna thanked him. After paying, Margaret unlocked the store room and produced two wooden crutches that looked like every single person had used them since Williamsburg had been founded.
“You take care now, stay off that foot,” Margaret said and Jenna hobbled out into the sunlight.
She leaned on her crutches and looked out at the people walking in the road. Some waved to her. Lisa, the waitress at the café, saw her and came to her. After explaining what had happened, Lisa shook her head.
“That’s a pain. Do you want me to give you a ride to the salon?” she asked. Jenna agreed, grateful, and got in Lisa’s car. At the salon she got out and managed to get into the shop. Again she had to endure questions before she could ask for the day off, and finally she started home, hobbling the short distance to the cabins.
By the time she rounded the last bend sweat poured off her back and the sun was higher than it should have been. Her arms hurt from the crutches and she felt sick. When she rounded the bend Bruce was in front of her door, pacing back and forth. His face was serious. When he looked up and saw her he came to her at a jog.
“My god, Jenna. When you weren’t home I thought something had happened to you.”
Jenna frowned. “I’m never home this time of day, when I’m working,” she said. “What could happen to me?”
His face changed to an expression she couldn’t read, but he shook his head.
“Let me help you,” he said, not answering her question. It was faster to get to the cabin with Bruce’s help. After he helped her inside and settled her on the couch, he walked to the kitchen and put on the kettle, findings mugs and the instant coffee container. Jenna watched him move around her house, knowing exactly where everything was. It was like he belonged there, like he’d always belonged there.
“What’s up?” she finally asked him, when she’d watched his back for long enough. Tension ran down his neck and into his shoulders like a cord and he moved like he was stiff, like he was ready to attack.
Bruce turned around and leaned back against the counter. He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest.
“You were fine last night,” Jenna pointed out. “Now you’re so uptight I can feel you all the way over here.”
Th
e moment she said it, Jenna regretted her words. She didn’t feel comfortable talking about what she was feeling, having something like a sixth sense. But lately so much had happened that just didn’t seem like it fit in her natural world, she hadn’t been able to help it.
Something crossed Bruce’s face, something dark and pensive. The kettle boiled and he poured water into both cups. He added cream and sugar before bringing the cups to Jenna, handing hers to her and putting his down on the coffee table.
“I know this is really sudden,” he said, looking at his hands. “But let’s leave.”
Jenna blinked at Bruce.
“Leave?” she asked.
He nodded and looked up at her, and his dark eyes were very deep and intense. She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes.
“And go where?”
Bruce shrugged and looked back down at his hands.
“I don’t know. Anywhere. We can go wherever we want to, just you and me, and start a new life.”
“Together?” she asked, and he hesitated only a moment before he nodded.
Jenna thought about it for a second. He’d only confessed his feelings for her the day before, and now he was asking her to leave with him?
“What’s the rush, Bruce?” she asked.
“I just want to get away.”
“Aren’t you happy here?”
He sighed. “I’m very happy. But don’t you sometimes feel trapped?”
Jenna thought about it. Trapped? No. Lonely, sometimes. But never trapped. This was her home. This was the only place she knew, and the town’s folk were her family. All of them, even if they weren’t related.
“I can’t just leave here, Bruce,” she said. “I have nothing anywhere else. This is my home. I grew up here, and I love it here. I love the people.”
“We can meet new people,” he said. There was something about him, something urgent that Jenna didn’t understand. She thought he was happy here. Why would he have stayed so long if he wasn’t? He leaned back into the couch and rubbed both his hands over his face.
“My parents lived here and died here. I can’t just find a new place for that, a new place for all the memories,” Jenna said.
“I’ve traveled before, Jen. I know it’s not always easy fitting in at first, but you come to love the people, you get accepted. It’s not so bad.”
He sounded like he was trying very hard to convince her. But it didn’t make sense.
“I already have a place where I fit in, with people I love. I don’t want to leave that behind. I can’t just run away. What about Murray, and Murphy, and the salon? The people here have been there for me through everything. Chaz and Phil came to my rescue yesterday, you saw that. And what about Drew?”
At the mention at Drew’s name Bruce’s face clouded over. He looked angry, and Jenna could feel his presence expand, spilling into every corner of the room until there was almost not space for anything else.
“I thought things are over with Drew now,” Bruce said.
Jenna nodded. “I have decided that I don’t want to be with him after all, yes. And what happened yesterday, the time we spent together last night, made me sure of what I want. But I still have to speak to him. I haven’t seen him since yesterday and I still have to tell him what’s going on. And even after that, I still can’t just run away, leave it all behind.”
Bruce nodded and he looked resigned. It was like the fight had gone out of him, and he shrunk in on himself, pulling the presence he’d shoved outwards into the room back into himself until the cabin felt empty.
“Surely we can just be us, together, here?” Jenna asked, feeling like somehow saying no to leaving had driven a wedge between them. Bruce nodded but he didn’t look at her.
“What’s going on, Bruce?” Jenna asked when he still wouldn’t look at her.
“I just needed a break,” he said and stood up, shrugging it off. “But you’re right. We can’t just leave.”
“Please don’t leave now,” Jenna said. She didn’t want him to go now, after he felt so very far away. She wanted him to come back to her, to be the Bruce she knew, the Bruce she recently found out loved her. But he shook his head.
“I’m very late for work,” he said. “When I came to check on you and you weren’t here I panicked and I didn’t show. I have some explaining to do.” He looked up at her, eyes dark and almost threatening. Goose bumps crawled over her arms for a reason she couldn’t understand. “And you have to talk to Drew,” he added.
Jenna opened her mouth to speak but Bruce had already walked to the door. He opened it and left, closing it behind him, leaving Jenna gaping, searching for words to throw at an empty room.
She knew he was right. She was going to have to talk to Drew. She was going to have to tell him that she didn’t want to be with him, after all. She’d been stupid trying it with him. But she’d wanted to get over Bruce. She’d wanted to try and forget, because she’d thought with Tara on the picture it was just never going to happen.
Speaking of Tara, had Bruce spoken to her yet? Was he going to? Why did he want to leave, run away like he had something to hide? There were so many questions Jenna suddenly wanted to ask, and now Bruce was gone.
What if Bruce wasn’t going to break it off with Tara? What if he decided that he was going to stay with her, despite his outburst in the forest, his confession of love? Jenna was suddenly nervous. As much as he’d wanted to run, be with her somewhere else, he’d never told her what he intended for them.
He’d never asked her if she wanted to be with him.
But she wasn’t going to leave, no matter what. Even if Bruce left. This was home. Her parents were here. Maybe not in body, but in spirit. She couldn’t just leave her home behind. She took a deep breath and picked up the coffee she hadn’t touched yet. Bruce’s cup stood next to hers, half full, and both of them had gone cold.
She took a sip of the cold coffee and pulled a face. It wasn’t going to be easy talking to Drew, but she was going to have to do it, no matter how distasteful it seemed. It was like cold coffee. Something that sounded like it could work if you were prepared, and at the end of it, it still tasted vile.
She put the cup back on the coffee table and moved down until she was lying down. She tipped her head back and closed her eyes, tried to ignore the heavy feeling that pressed on her chest, the sense of foreboding that was creeping in.
Chapter 3
On his day off Bruce changed into a bear in broad daylight and started working his way through the woods. His starting point was close to the town so he was careful not to be seen. He worked through the trees, fanning out in a spiral.
He wasn’t hunting. He would do that later. Right now he was risking being a bear for longer because he wanted to find tracks. He wanted to find evidence that the Family had been around the town, keeping an eye on his people. And as a bear he could spot the signs easier, find footprints and scents without having to look so hard. Every sense was sharpened when he was in bear form.
He knew that usually the animals all hunted at night. It was safer that way, and easier to change, because no matter the shape of the moon, she was visible at night.
Most of the time.
But Bruce had a feeling that they’d started hunting his people during daylight hours. It was just a hunch, but it would make sense. During the day the town’s folk were out and about, easier to get to. At night they were tucked into their homes and harder to get to without leaving a trace.
Bruce spent almost five hours working his way through the trees. And he found tracks. Tracks and scents that he recognized. The wolves, Stephen and Rosa, Lori the bear and even something that reminded him of Tara herself.
They’d been here.
Nothing had happened to the villagers yet, but he was worried. All of them were special to him, but he was scared for Jenna the most. And this couldn’t happen. He wouldn’t let Tara take away his people.
There was a sound in the bushes, a crack as a twig broke, a rustle of leav
es. Bruce turned himself to face whatever was coming full on. If it was a man with a gun, say Murray or his sons, or one of the lumber yard men, he was in trouble. He wouldn’t attack them, and no matter what, they would try and attack him.
He held his breath and looked for a way out. He went up on his hind legs in case he had to defend himself. But a man stepped into the clearing before he could move, and a moment later his scent rode the wind to Bruce.
It was a smell his bear knew. Dwayne walked up to him.
“Bruce,” he said softly, recognizing the man within, but he held out his hand so the animal could sniff it.
Bruce smelled his skin, curled up his lip, and dropped back to all fours. Dwayne was the only human in the Family, only accepted because he was psychic, and a strong one at that. He had senses he could send out anywhere he wanted, and he knew things. He couldn’t read minds, but he read emotions and intentions, and that was almost the same thing. His long hair was tied back in his neck and he wore a brown, rough leather jacket and something that looked like moccasins. His eyes were almost black and with his sharp features he reminded Bruce of a crow.
Bruce turned his focus inwards, and concentrated on his body, the movement of his blood in his veins that ran alongside the magic. His cells, the space that he took up. His human.
Slowly he started shrinking. The fur felt like it was getting to big, hanging over his hands and bundling around his shoulders. The bones in his body shifted, moving under his skin uncomfortably and he groaned.
When he was back into human form, standing on all fours on the mulch, he heaved and panted, trying to catch his breath. No matter how many times he changed into a bear and back, it was a strain every time and it took a lot out of him.
“What are you doing here?” Bruce asked Dwayne when he was ready to speak. Dwayne had sat down on a rock, waiting for Bruce to reach his human self again.
“I’ve come to warn you,” he said. “You can’t run.”
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 82
