Unbearable: Russet Falls Series

by W. H. Vega

  “What the hell is going on back there?” came a voice from the driver’s seat.

  “She bit me!” Tommy yelled back, his voice full of surprise and hurt.

  “Christ,” the other voice muttered. “I told you this was a stupid idea, Tommy.”

  “Shut up, Sam! Your idea was even stupider.” Tommy looked over at Gabby, and he seemed afraid that she might bite him again.

  Great. So not only had she been kidnapped, but it seemed that her captors were Dumb and Dumber.

  “Listen,” Tommy said, “we’re almost at Michael’s house. Zane will be there, too. I promise they will explain everything to you. We just had to bring you there.”

  This was getting ridiculous.

  Giving up, Gabby sank to the floor. There was no way that she was getting out of this van, and she only hoped that she really was being taken to Michael’s house. And she planned on tearing Zane a new asshole if he was there.

  She fished in her purse for her phone, but Tommy shook his head when she pulled it out.

  “What?” she snapped.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you call anyone.”

  “I have to be at work,” she snapped, “I need to tell my boss that I’m being held captive by two idiots.”

  “Hey,” Sam protested, offended from the front seat.

  “We already took care of that,” Tommy explained.

  Gabby felt the anger boil inside of her. “What do you mean, you took care of it?” she asked slowly.

  Tommy gulped, and she could tell that he didn’t want to explain further. “We talked to your boss. Paul. We told him that you wouldn’t be in today.”

  “Are you kidding me?” she exploded, jumping up again and nearly losing her balance as they rounded a corner. “That’s my job! You can’t just contact my damn boss and tell him that I’m not going to be at work! That has to be against the law, or something!!”

  “Sorry,” Tommy said apologetically. “I promise, we’re almost there.”

  She grabbed onto the top part of the van for support. She was so angry that she couldn’t even see straight. She glanced back over at Tommy, wanting to strangle him, and he shrugged and stared at his hands.

  If he weren’t holding her captive in the van, she would have found him handsome. He had a youthful face, and Gabby guessed that he was probably around her age, or a few years younger. He had light brown hair, which was on the shaggier side, light blue eyes, and perfectly straight white teeth. Michael, on the other hand, was thicker, taller and darker. She found it strange that they could be brothers.

  Suddenly the van stopped, and Gabby froze. She heard Sam get out from the driver’s side and a few seconds later, the van door slid open.

  Gabby froze again.

  She stared at Sam, and then, confused, turned back around to stare at Tommy.

  Tommy gave her an impish grin.

  “You two are twins?” she asked, feeling stupid as she looked back at Sam.

  “Yep,” Sam said, holding out his hand. “Let me help you.”

  Reluctantly, she took his hand and allowed him to help her out. Tommy came next.

  “Oh suck it up,” Sam said when he saw Tommy cradling his arm.

  “She bit me!”

  “Don’t be a pussy! And what? You couldn’t defend yourself?”

  At another time and place she would have found this exchange comical.

  “Oh, what am I going to do?” Tommy asked, “Fight a girl?”

  “I’m just saying you could have defended yourself.”

  “Fuck you.”

  They started walking forward, and Gabby hurried after them. There was a log cabin at the top of the driveway. It better be Michael’s damn house. Sure enough, Michael appeared on the porch a moment later, and Gabby hurried up to him.

  “What the hell is going on?” she demanded, “You had me fucking kidnapped?”

  Before Michael could answer, Zane came out on the porch.

  “Zane!” she exclaimed. “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on? And you better not tell me that you’re involved in this!”

  Michael and Zane looked at each other, then at Tommy and Sam, and finally at the van.

  “Did you kidnap her?” Zane asked in a low growl, his voice so deadly that Gabby herself wanted to shrink back.

  He was pissed.

  “We didn’t know what to do!” Tommy protested.

  “It worked, didn’t it?” Sam shot back arrogantly.

  “Idiots,” Michael breathed. “Get inside!”

  Sam and Tommy stalked into the house.

  “I’m so sorry, Gabby,” Michael began.

  “I don’t know what the hell is going on,” she raged, “but someone better tell me!”

  Michael looked at Zane who nodded. Michael turned around and strode back into his house.

  “What is happening?” Gabby asked, approaching Zane. “Am I going to get any answers? Does this have to do with the person who tried to hurt me yesterday?” Pain crossed Zane’s face.

  “Yes, it has to do with that. But first, I just want to tell you that I’m sorry.”

  Gabby stared at him, confused.

  “Sorry? For what?”

  Zane shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Gabby. For everything.” He hung his head as if he were ashamed. “Come on inside.” He pushed the door open and Gabby walked inside.

  Once she was inside, she didn’t have time to think about what Zane’s bizarre apology meant. She expected the house to be scant and woodsy on the inside, but it was the exact opposite. The inside was modern and posh, with sleek granite counters, high-tech appliances and modern furniture.

  “Whoa. Wasn’t expecting that.” She looked around and then noticed that the small but luxurious home was filled with people. Sam and Tommy were sitting down at a marble dining room table, and Michael was seated in an armchair in the sunken living room. There were also two other people who had been in the room with her yesterday when Zane had basically locked her upstairs at the park office.

  The woman, Alicia, and then another man, who Gabby thought was named Quentin.

  “What’s going on?’’ she asked for what felt like the millionth time.

  “Have a seat, Gabby,” said Michael in a deep voice. Something about his voice stopped her from questioning, and she obediently took a seat. “You remember Alicia and Quentin,” Michael said, nodding towards Alicia and Quentin who were seated on a small couch.

  She felt Zane move behind her, but he did not come into the living room.

  Michael cleared his throat. “I’m going to be blunt Gabby, and you will have to forgive me. We found it strange that a bear had chased you, and that multiple bears came onto the parklands while you were there. You see, we have a-” he paused, searching for the words, “peculiar connection to bears. One that your father also had, but one, we assume, he did not share with you.”

  Gabby wasn’t sure where this was headed, but she didn’t like that her father was being brought up. “What do you know about my father?’ she asked angrily.

  Michael looked apologetic. “Not much. But we do know some things that affect you.” Gabby went to speak again, but Michael held up his hand. “Do you know of any connections between your father and bears?”

  Was this some kind of sick joke? “Of course I do,” she said hotly, “my father was killed by one!”

  Michael nodded gravely. “Yes, we know that too. But is there anything else?”

  Gabby wasn’t sure how they knew about her father, but it wasn’t a secret. People in the town still remembered what had happened.

  “No,” she said flatly, “He hated bears. My whole family hates bears.”

  She felt Zane wince behind her.

  “I’m afraid there is more,” Michael said. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the world is not the place you thought it was. We,” he indicated to the people in the room, “as well as your father, have the ability to turn into bears.”

  Gabby stared at Michael.


  He was crazy.

  Bat-shit, loony, lock-you-up-in-an-institution crazy.

  “Okay. Ha, ha, ha. What is really going on?”

  “Gabby, he’s serious,” Zane said from behind her.

  Gabby rolled her eyes. “I have better things to do with my time. Now if you brought me here for a reason, please tell me, otherwise I need to get to work because I have rent due next week.”

  “Gabby,” Michael said, “I’m telling the truth. The thing about your father is that he was descended from a long line of bear kings. He was the last king that we know of, and that makes you a very valuable woman.”

  Gabby let out an uncomfortable laugh and stood up. This was just weird now.

  “I really don’t have time for this,” she said, moving towards the door.

  “Gabby, it’s the truth,” Zane said, his voice filled with pain. Something about the pain in Zane’s voice scared her, and her eyes filled with tears.

  “This isn’t funny,” she said, her voice cracking. “I loved my father, and for you to all sit here and disrespect his memory is sick.” She turned on her heel. “Now, excuse me.”

  But Zane blocked her way.

  “Gabby,” he pleaded, “we don’t mean to upset you. Honestly. Please believe Michael. We are shifters. Werebears. Your father was also one, but he was supremely powerful, and that makes you powerful. The others noticed it yesterday when you told Mick to leave you alone.”

  Gabby remembered how something strange had occurred when she told Mick to back off. But she shook her head in disbelief. “This is ridiculous! You’re all crazy!” she exclaimed, her voice rising. “Now let me leave!”

  Michael nodded and Quentin stood up. Gabby wasn’t sure what was happening, but she didn’t like it.

  Michael took a step back, and Alicia moved from the couch to the table with Sam and Tommy.

  “I didn’t want to have to tell you this way,” Michael began.

  “Fuck,” Zane muttered.

  Gabby wanted to ask what was happening, but then she gasped as she stared at Quentin, who was methodically taking off his clothes.

  “What the-’’

  And then she wanted to scream, but couldn’t.

  Quentin was still Quentin—and yet, he wasn’t.

  It was as if there was something moving under his skin, and his muscles begin to ripple and shake and then, was she seeing correctly?

  His chest was broadening from its already large size, and growing bigger. His arms too! His biceps were bulging and twisting, and she tried not to look below his waist, but his calves and thighs were also thickening.

  Her hand flew to her mouth as she watched his skin darken as if a brown wave was rolling over his body. It took a few moments but the brown was actually hair sprouting from his skin.

  She felt Zane step closer to her, protectively, and that’s when she looked at Quentin’s face and saw that it was no longer the face of a man, but not quite the face of an animal. It appeared that his nose was growing into a snout and then two brown ears sprouted from the top of his head.

  Quentin let out what reminded her of a roar and his body rose up off the ground.

  And then she screamed.

  For Quentin was no longer a man now, but a bear.

  A bear.

  A full-blooded, massive, brown bear.

  That’s when Gabby lost it.

  “What the fuck?” she screamed. “What the fuck is this?”

  There was no choice between fight or flight, and she turned around in sheer panic and ran smack into Zane, who held her tight.

  “It’s okay, Gabby, it’s okay. It’s still Quentin. We tried to tell you. We’re bears. He’s a bear.’’

  “No, no, no, no,” she cried, pounding her fists against Zane’s ridiculously hard body, shaking her head so hard that she thought her brain would rattle inside her skull. She needed out of this freak show immediately. She didn’t know what kind of sick, twisted, screwed up things were happening in this bizarre house, but she needed out, and she needed out now.

  “Let me go!” she screamed, “Let me go!”

  She kicked, scratched and clawed at Zane, crying hysterically as her heart hammered in her chest.

  She was going to die.

  There was a bear.

  Who had been a man.

  But was now a bear.

  Gabby felt like she was losing her mind, and the only thing she was certain of was that she needed to break free of Zane and get out of this house before something worse happened.

  But Zane held her tight.

  “Please, please, please,” she begged, crying. “Let me go, Zane. Let me go.” She was hysterical now, and she continued to fight him with all her strength.

  “I told you that was a bad fucking idea!” Zane yelled over at Michael, yet still he held Gabby.

  “Damn it,” she heard Michael curse, and she heard approaching footsteps.

  She screamed again. “No!” She was whipping her head around wildly, looking for any sign of the bear.

  The bear was still on the other side of the room, pacing quietly, and just the sight of it pacing sent Gabby into another fit, crying and yelling frantically.

  Then Alicia was beside her, her big green eyes warm and concerned. “I’m sorry, Gabby,” she apologized.

  Gabby was too worked up and frantic to have any idea what Alicia meant, but then she felt a prick and looked down to see a large needle sticking into her arm.

  “No!” she cried, but she could already feel the medication. “Don’t,” she begged, feeling her body slacken. “Please,” she murmured, as she let go of Zane, feeling her body droop.

  Zane caught her, holding her tight in his arms. “Why?’’ she whispered. She looked into Zane’s dark brown eyes, which were filled with remorse.

  Then everything went black.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Zane paced the floor anxiously, refusing to look at where Michael was seated at Alicia’s small kitchen table.

  “I told you it was a terrible idea!” Zane burst out.

  “Enough,” Michael said and Zane felt the order move through him. He shook his head in anger. When Michael mentioned that they could have Quentin shift in front of Gabby, he knew that she would be terrified. He tried to warn Michael, but he would hear none of it.

  And then when Michael mentioned that they would sedate Gabby if need be, he knew it was another terrible fucking idea.

  And sure enough, everything had been a disaster.

  Gabby had been out for close to three hours, and they had moved her to the extra bedroom in Alicia’s house. Luckily Grayson wasn’t there, and it was just Michael and Zane waiting downstairs while Alicia sat next to Gabby and waited for her to wake up.

  “And now what?” Zane asked furiously.

  Michael sighed. “We tell her about our offer.”

  Zane let out a hard laugh. “Our offer. You make it sound like she has a choice.”

  Michael gave a small shrug. “She has a choice.”

  “Right. She can choose us, or choose to die.”

  “Depends on how you look at it.”

  Zane shook his head angrily.

  Alicia appeared at the top of the stairs. “She’s awake. Give us a few minutes.” Then she disappeared from view.

  Zane hurried to the bottom of the staircase and waited. He tapped his foot anxiously, wanting to see Gabby. Even though she was a pistol and she drove him up a wall, he found himself fiercely protective of her, and even more so now that she would be forced to have a life among the clan.

  A small part of him hoped that she would choose him as a mate, but he knew she would hate him if and when she ever learned about his part in her father’s death.

  “Alright,” Alicia called from upstairs, and Zane took the steps two at a time, Michael following behind him.

  He walked into the small bedroom that would become Gabby’s room. Only she didn’t know this quite yet.

  Gabby looked tired and worn out, and she propped
herself up on her elbows and frowned at Zane and Michael.

  “Alicia says I didn’t dream it,” she said, her voice horse from all the screaming and yelling she had done. She looked hard at Zane and Michael, willing them to tell her otherwise.

  Michael shook his head. “No. I’m sorry.”

  Gabby closed her eyes, sinking back down onto the pillow. Zane watched as two tears slid down her cheeks. “How is it possible?”

  “We don’t know,” Michael spoke up. “It’s just been this way for all of us. This is our way of life. There are other shifter animals too. And other bear clans in the area. Your father was part of a different clan.”

  Gabby opened one eye and looked at Michael. “There’s something else you’re not telling me,” she said matter-of–factly.

  “Yes. Now that you realize we are in fact shifters, I have to tell you the rest.” Michael pulled up a chair and sat beside Gabby.

  “Don’t sit next to me,” she snapped. Then she looked up at Zane. “You sit next to me.”

  Michael didn’t seem bothered and simply stood up, moving out of the way so Zane could sit next to her. Zane nodded and moved close to her. He noticed Alicia standing uncomfortably in the doorway.

  Michael took a deep breath. “There’s more to the story than the fact that your father was a bear king, and that we are shifters. The problem is that the clan your father belonged to wants you.”

  Gabby eyed them suspiciously. “What do you mean wants me?”

  “We aren’t sure exactly, but it was no coincidence that you were chased by a bear, that multiple bears showed up at the park while you were there and that you were nearly killed yesterday.” Michael cleared his throat, continuing, “And I don’t think they want you for the right reasons. I believe they intend to kill you and gain power from spilling your blood.”

  She stared, her mouth hanging open.

  Zane carefully watched her reaction.

  “I believe if we allow you to go back to your father’s clan or allow you off our lands and out of our protection, you will be slaughtered.”

  “Christ,” Zane muttered, “Do you have to put it that way?”

  Michael turned a sharp gaze to him. “I know no other way to put it that conveys the graveness of the situation.”