by Amelia Jade
He was gone.
She sat up with a start as that thought registered in her brain. Looking around, she wondered if perhaps he had gotten up for food or to watch TV. A quick glance and listen told her that the place was empty. Even the bathroom door was wide open, giving him no refuge.
"Calan?" she called out softly, wondering why he wasn't there. The night before had gone so well she had thought.
Night? Hell woman, the entire day!
So why had he left her now? Things just seemed to be getting better.
Unless...
Unless he had what he wanted now and was ready to move on. That would explain it. She got dressed in the sweats and shirt she had worn yesterday, stuffing her lingerie into a plastic grocery bag she found under a counter.
He had seemed so interested in her for so long because she kept pushing him off, not letting him have her. But now that he had taken what he wanted, he could move on to the next girl. Most likely he was already down at the Quencher hitting on Sandra or somebody like her. Thin waist, large breasts and not willing to put up a fight, that was the type he wanted, but his pride hadn't let her get away from him.
Her anger was starting to form, erasing any form of rational explanation as to his absence. Thankfully she didn't have to travel far, for she always kept a spare set of clothing or two at the firehouse. It would be embarrassing for sure to walk in there all disheveled, but she could work her anger out on cleaning the vehicles at least.
Opening the door, she noted that even his shoes were no longer there. He had most definitely left. Lifting her chin in disdain, she slammed the door shut behind her and walked toward the firehouse. She wasn't looking forward to having to work with him, if he was even being serious about staying in town. For all she knew it had just been a big act for her benefit. Her anger doubled when she realized he had played her father as well. Jack was a nice man, and she hated it when people tried to take advantage of him like Calan had.
She rounded the corner of the open bay door and practically ran into him.
"Woah! Morning, Harley. Glad to see you're awake, sleepyhead."
He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she violently shook it off. Sam was standing there with him, doing his best to look innocent. What had the two of them been talking about?
"I had to talk to Sam about something." That was all the answer he had when she glared at him, the question unspoken.
With a shock, she realized what he had been talking about. He had been telling Sam all about his conquest! Her cheeks flushed red as she realized Sam must now have the image in his head of her bent over taking it up the ass in the shower. She wanted to runaway and cry, hiding until all the tears had fallen, but she couldn't. Her own pride was too strong to let that happen. Instead she stormed off to her locker, stuffing the silly costume inside and grabbing the bag with clothing in it.
"Hey, Harley, what the hell? What's wrong?" Calan came jogging over to her after giving Sam a confused look.
"Don't. Just don't. I don't want to hear it, so just keep it to yourself. I have to go to work." That wasn’t entirely true, her shift didn't start for almost two hours, but it was the best excuse she had at the moment.
His own anger flared at the dismissal as he grabbed her arm to keep her from fleeing again.
"Okay, fine, you want to be like that? Be like that. But after your shift, we have to talk."
We have to talk.
She knew what that meant. That was the breakup talk. Which was silly, since they weren't even dating. But she knew it was when he would tell her he couldn't actually stay in town, in fact, he was just getting the house ready to sell and he was leaving forever.
That was what he would say, and she went about her entire shift telling herself that. The fact that she had been betrayed again hit her hard with less than twenty minutes to go in her shift. Unable to keep the tears from finally falling, she walked up the steps to the office her dad inhabited, doing her best to blink them away.
"Chief, I need to ask a favor." In the three years since she had been here, Harley had never once asked for help while she was on the clock. It felt wrong even now, but she knew that it needed to be done. After three years of proving herself, of showing up early and staying late, she deserved a little show of help when she truly needed it.
"What is it?" her father asked, looking up sharply. He was no slouch, he understood just what those words cost her.
"I need to leave now."
"Absolutely," he said, not even hesitating as he saw the look in her eyes.
"Also, Dad. I don't have a car here."
"Take mine, sweetheart." He tossed her the keys to his pickup. It was a relief to her that he didn't ask questions, simply helping out however he could.
She tried her best to give him a smile, but failed. She fled his office and the fire station as fast as she could. Calan was busy rewinding the hoses on one truck, so he didn't even see her leave. Once outside, the darkness quickly swallowed her, and she was gone.
***
Chapter Nine
Calan
Shit.
Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.
He had screwed up, and screwed up bad with Harley. Things had been going so well that he had gone and pushed it too far with her. She had come to him looking for sex, but he should have known better. Despite outward appearances, she wasn't ready for it. If Calan had been listening to his human half, he would have known that. Instead, he had given in to his bear and now she was pissed at him.
The way she had come storming out of his apartment had to mean that she regretted her actions the night before. If she needed space, Calan was going to give it to her until she came to the conclusion that this was meant to happen, which was something even he was still unsure about.
Fated mates were not a thing, just a concept used in fairy tales about his kind. Shifters found love like any human, by trial and error until they found someone they could put up with for the rest of their lives. Or at least, that's what he had believed before he had met Harley. Perhaps it had just been one big coincidence that he had run across her the way he did. Or, could it be that something else was at work?
He shoved that thought aside though. However it had happened, it had, and he needed to focus on making sure he didn't screw it up anymore than he already had. Their shift was already half over, but Harley had yet to acknowledge his presence, and only when she was forced to be in the same area as him for a job necessity had she even been seen. Otherwise, she had been busy cleaning, sorting and stacking things as far away from him as possible.
Each time he approached, she walked away to do something else. Her point was very clear, but like he had told her earlier, they needed to talk after her shift. Calan would tell her exactly how he felt and that they were going to take a break until she was ready to proceed.
He slammed the door to his locker closed as his shift ended, looking around for Harley. It was dark out and she didn't have a ride home. He waited, and waited, but she never appeared.
"She left before her shift ended," Sam said as he walked by on his way home.
"Shit. How did she leave?"
"Boss gave her his truck since she didn't have any wheels."
"Thanks, Sam, that's twice I owe you." With a nod, Sam headed out, meeting up with Jack to give him a ride home as well.
Calan still didn't like the situation, but he felt somewhat less worried knowing that Harley wasn't walking home. It left far too much unresolved between them. He had a suspicion that going to her house and forcing a conversation would make things even worse. So, he resolved to wait through the night and talk to her in the morning, no matter what it took.
The idea of sleep was completely unappealing, so he decided to head out to the Pass and put his new chainsaw to work. At least that way he would be able to work off some of his anger. There were numerous trees that needed to come down, including that pesky oak that was leaning precariously across the driveway. He could bring that one down tonight, and
if he didn't get everything moved by the morning, it wouldn't matter.
The loud roaring of the chainsaw and the flying woodchips were like a symphony to his senses, making him feel like he truly was in his element. It was so relaxing that he even contemplated taking up a career as a lumberjack. The tree fell with ease, and he began the pleasant part of the job. Hauling all the pieces that were laying about over to his woodpile, where he would stack it and let it dry before he chopped it up. His muscles were beginning to burn by that point, so he decided to call it a night after the road was clear.
The shower was beckoning as he tossed the last piece, but before he could get to it, his phone began to go off. Curious as to whom it was, as he did not receive many calls, especially this late at night, he picked it up quickly.
"Calan, it's Jet. Get down here, something's wrong."
His heart stopped. There was no humor to his voice. In fact, he sounded as if someone had just died. Dreading the answer he was going to get, he responded.
"What do mean, Jet?"
"Her Jeep's here, but she isn't. Smells bad."
"I'm on my way."
There was nothing more to say, so he hung up and sprinted for his truck. The tires spun, shooting gravel across his property as he wheeled through a ninety-degree turn and shot off down into the valley.
Harley was in trouble and she needed his help. That was the only thought going through his mind until he reached the Quencher. As he jogged over to Jet, who was pacing back and forth near her Jeep, he could smell it in the air.
Fear.
It was distinct and definitely Harley. Something had happened to her in the parking lot. He tasted the air again, letting his bear through to the surface. It immediately picked up a familiar scent, one he would recognize anywhere even though he had only smelled it once.
Stale sweat, tobacco, and beer.
Dusty.
He growled, the low sound reverberating between the cars and the buildings, drawing the attention of Jet, Sandra and the few patrons who were milling around outside. They backed away from him, all except Jet.
"I smelled him, too."
"I'm going to kill him." The blunt statement drew a sideways look from Jet, but no more reaction than that. Messing with a shifters mate was a bad, bad idea, and the two men thought humans would have learned that by now. Apparently they were both wrong.
"How long ago did she leave?"
"She turned up about two hours ago, looking like she'd had a rough day. Told me to feed her a drink an hour until she'd had four, then send her packing. She ended up leaving about five minutes before I called you."
It had taken Calan twenty minutes to get to the Quencher, which meant she'd been gone for twenty to twenty-five minutes, depending on how long it took to subdue her. Looking at the tracks surrounding her Jeep, it seemed that she hadn't gone down without a fight. His bear was awake now, fully aware of what had happened to his mate and demanding vengeance.
"I can't track them in their truck. Any idea where they might go?"
"Actually, yes. He owns a cabin in the woods toward King where they often go hunting."
"Show me."
Jet didn't argue, simply heading toward Calan's truck. There would be little time before they did something to his love, and he intended to show them all how bad an idea that was. If she hadn't been touched by the time he got there, he might even let them all live.
Part of his anger was directed at the men who had kidnapped his mate. But as he slewed through another turn, following Jet's directions, he realized that part of his anger was directed at her for being there alone. She knew that Dusty was just looking for an opportunity to corner her alone, so why had she given him one?
He just didn't understand why she was acting so irrational today. Being mad at him was one thing, but making stupid decisions was another. It wasn't going to stop him from helping her, or raising all sorts of hell with Dusty and his gang, but it angered him as well.
They turned onto a road that clearly had seen recent use. There was only one single track of tires down it, and the center channels were slightly off-color, indicating that whoever had made them, had done so recently. His bear pushed closer to the surface as they closed on their prey.
***
Chapter Ten
Harley
Harley cried out in pain as her head hit the bed of the truck when they bounced over another bump in the road.
At least, she tried to cry out, but the gag muffled the noise enough that it barely qualified as a whimper. Struggling against her bonds yet again, she commiserated about the events that led to her being here.
From the fight with Calan to her desire to have a few drinks to numb the pain. The only thing that had been numbed was her caution and, after Dusty had hit her, pretty much everything.
After work, she had gone home and waited until Jack arrived to take his truck. She felt bad for practically ignoring him, but Harley just wasn't ready to talk yet, not even to her dad. Sleep had refused to come, so she had decided to head to the bar, have a few drinks and try to calm down. The effort of ignoring Calan all day had taken its toll on her.
Dusty and his gang had gotten the jump on her as she left the Quencher to head for home. She was about to open the door when he spun her around and pinned her to the Jeep door.
"Well, my-my, look at what we have here, boys. This poor little lamb’s lost her way. What do you say we help her out?" The evil laugh that had come from his mouth after that had sent shivers down her spine, chilling her to the core. She knew exactly what they intended to do with her.
"Knock it off, Dusty, even you can't be that stupid. You know people will find out it's you."
"There won't be any proof of that little lamb, none at all. Why, they would have to find your body first."
That stopped her cold. He had thought about this, he knew what he was doing, had even planned it out before. If he had gone to that much effort, she was in a world of trouble. Nobody was nearby either, but perhaps she could make enough noise that someone would hear her.
"Oh, no, you don't." Before she had even finished inhaling he clamped an iron hand over her mouth. Her knee-jerk reaction was to bite down on his hand as hard as she could.
"You bitch!" he yelled, balling his free hand into a fist. That was the last thing she remembered seeing until she woke up in the back of the truck.
Although shifters were stronger than normal humans their own size, Dusty and his two friends were enough to overpower her. If she had been Calan though, they would have ended up in a heap. Unfortunately, Calan was not around to rescue her from this situation.
She asked herself yet again what he and Sam had been talking about. Why had he left the apartment so early? Had he truly been bragging about fucking her?
The more she thought about it, the less likely that seemed to be the case. Not once during the time he had attempted to court her had Calan come across as the type to air that sort of information out for everyone to know. If anything he had been fiercely protective of her, making sure he was by her side as often as he could manage. The one time she had pushed him away, she ended up trussed up like a pig in the back of Dusty's pickup.
She had been an idiot, she realized. Her own insecurities had blinded her to whatever the truth was. Harley had practically wanted him to betray her, because that would validate all the terrible things she was thinking in her head. But he hadn't, she forced herself to say.
Just because he hadn't made her breakfast in bed didn't mean he was going to up and leave her. Still, he had made no effort to hide the fact that he wanted to mate her, yet when he had the chance to claim her as his own, he hadn't taken it. All it required was breaking the skin of her neck with his teeth while they made love. It was practically effortless if you were truly with your mate, or so she had been told.
Yet her neck was smooth and unblemished, despite their rabid lovemaking the day before. Why was he holding back?
Because you weren't ready.
&nbs
p; The little voice in her head cut to the chase far too easily for her liking. She snorted, because it was her own subconscious, so of course it knew just what to say to get through to her. She hadn't been ready to commit to him, and he had been able to see that, even when she couldn't.
Perhaps he really is my mate.
If her bear could roll its eyes at her it would be doing so right then, she could tell. The animal half of her soul thoroughly agreed with the assessment that Calan was her other half. It had seen clearly the entire time, but she had ignored it, thinking her human mind was smarter. A sarcastic snort came from her bear, but it didn't attempt to convey any further emotions.
The truck slammed on its brakes and she slid roughly into the wall separating her from the cab. She struggled to break free before they could get to her, but the ropes held firm. She was hauled bodily out into the middle of a clearing. Her feet were bound as well, so they had to drag her, until they reached a picnic table.
One limb at a time, they bound her spread-eagled to it, leaving her hips at the edge as they tied her calves to her thighs and then anchored those to the wood. She dreaded what was about to happen, tears finally falling from her eyes as Dusty began to undo his pants.
"If you make it worthwhile, I promise we'll be swift once it's all over. You won't feel a thing. But if you struggle, we're going to burn you alive." He glanced over to where his buddies were busy uncovering a big rock pit, filled with pre-cut wood.
His clammy hand ran up her leg until it reached her shorts. He muttered something unhappily, taking out his knife to start cutting them off. In seconds, he had exposed all of her private parts completely. The fire was roaring now, the light casting shadows across her now naked body.
Rough, sweaty hands began to touch her, pulling on her nipples and squeezing her breasts non-too gently. Dusty was laughing evilly, positioning himself between her legs, preparing to take advantage of her. Harley screamed as best she could behind the gag, shaking her head, trying to do whatever she could to stop him. He was pressed up against her now, one more push and he would be inside of her. Sobs wracked her body as she began to accept the inevitable.
