The Grisly Grizzlies: Maximus (The Grizzly Bear Shifters of Redemption Creek Book 5)

by Kim Fox

  The grizzly starts pacing around, the air thick with turmoil. Rigs is probably screaming at him to attack, but the bear doesn’t want to. Perhaps there’s still some good in them left.

  I grit my teeth and puff out my chest as I stare into his amber eyes. “Phase back now,” I command, and to my surprise, he does.

  Rigs looks freaked out when he remerges naked and shaking as he stares at me. “H-how did you do that?”

  I step forward, ignoring him. “It’s time to tell me everything, Rigs.”

  He takes a deep breath and then nods. “Bledsoe brought us here,” he says as he stares at the forest ground between us.

  “For Kennedy?”

  He nods and my whole body quivers. I feel like I’m going to be sick.

  “Did he find her?”

  I can’t even breathe while I wait for his answer.

  He shakes his head and it’s like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

  “Bledsoe found out that she lived in this town,” he continues. “She was supposed to be working at an independent bookstore, but when we got there she was gone.”

  “Gone?”

  He shrugs. “Gone. The employee working there didn’t know where she went. He told us that Kennedy had worked her shift the day before. Bledsoe roughed him up pretty good.”

  “Where did she go?”

  I start to panic. She could be anywhere. On the run, afraid, hurt, broke, desperate. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to calm my raging nerves so I can focus on helping her.

  “We don’t know,” Rigs says. I take a step forward and his palms fly up. “Maximus, I swear. I’d tell you if I knew. I always liked Kennedy, and I felt horrible for what happened to her.”

  Heat starts coursing through my body as I listen to his bullshit. I’m done talking about this.

  “If I could go back in t—”

  I crack him with a hard right hook that shuts him up really fast. He falls down to a knee and looks up at me with a dazed look on his face. His eyes are watering as he holds his jaw.

  “I guess I deserve that,” he says with a wince of pain.

  “You deserve a lot more than that,” I say, staring down at him.

  His shoulders slump as he takes a heavy breath. “You’re right, I do. I should have stayed with you, Maximus. I thought I made the right choice, but I didn’t. Bledsoe is unhinged. There’s something dark within him.”

  Of course there is. Anyone who would harm someone as innocent and pure as Kennedy has something wrong with him.

  “Where is he now?” I ask with a firm voice. “Is he in this town? Is he coming back here?”

  Rigs looks exasperated. “I don’t know. He comes, he goes. He never tells us where he’s going or where he’s been. He brought us to this cabin and then he bailed on us. We haven’t seen him in about two days.”

  I’ll be searching for him soon enough, but first I have to find Kennedy. She’s on the run and will need my help. I don’t deserve her love, but I can still protect her and keep her safe. It’s something I should have done a long time ago, but couldn’t. This time, I won’t fail.

  Rigs looks up at me with an ashamed look on his face. “I’m sorry, Max.”

  The words are so unexpected. They’re like a punch to the gut and it takes me a few seconds to recover.

  “You’re sorry?”

  He nods as he looks back down at the ground.

  “If you’re really sorry, you’ll let me know when he shows up.”

  “Okay.” His words are barely above a whisper. “I will.”

  I shouldn’t trust this guy after he betrayed me, but for some reason I do.

  It’s probably a bad idea, but I give him my phone number and he stuffs it into the pocket of his shredded jeans that are lying on the ground.

  “It could be hours, or days, or weeks,” he says. “I don’t know when he’s coming back.”

  I don’t have time to wait around. Kennedy needs my help.

  We lock eyes and it feels like I’m staring at the old Rigs. The Rigs who was my friend and brother back when he was in my crew. The Rigs who joked around at my campfire and had my back in the toughest of fights.

  I don’t think he’s going to betray me, but I also thought that the last time.

  Some people never fucking learn, and apparently, I’m one of them.

  “You call me as soon as he comes. Alright?”

  He nods. “Where are you going to be?”

  I take a deep breath and exhale. “You just call me when he shows up.”

  The next morning, I’m walking inside the bookstore where Kennedy works. It’s only me and the worker with the two black eyes who’s reading behind the counter. He keeps jerking his eyes up and flinching whenever I move.

  This must be the guy that Bledsoe beat up. He’s covered in bruises and looks all jumpy as if he’s going to be attacked at any moment. I shoot him a forced smile, but it makes him look even more wary of me.

  I stroll into the romance section and Kennedy’s scent hits me unexpectedly. Every nerve ending in my body stirs and tingles as I breathe in her familiar scent. It’s wrapped around this section like a warm blanket and I can’t get enough of it.

  It brings back a slew of bittersweet memories for me, flooding my brain with the happiest days of my life. I remember the first time we swam in the lake together and smile. She looked so goddamn sexy in her bikini that I got hard on the spot. ‘Do you always take a banana with you to go swimming?’ she asked with a gorgeous grin on her face.

  The fun memory is quickly replaced with the crushing guilt and shame of what happened. When the dragons came into Red Dead Creek, they gave each of the outlaw crews who wanted to stay a choice: stop your thieving ways or face the consequences.

  I was in love with Kennedy and the dragons coming was the perfect opportunity to change everything for her. I jumped on the chance to change. I wanted The Grisly Grizzlies to do some good in the world.

  But my second in command didn’t agree. Bledsoe resented the dragons for telling us what to do, and then he resented me for telling him what to do.

  Our crew split apart and became bitter rivals. Lachlan, Kneecap, and Skin came with me, and Carter, Rigs, and Colton went with Bledsoe.

  The fighting was vicious. I knew it had risen to the next level when Bledsoe killed Skin. Those two had always been at each other’s throats and when Bledsoe became our enemy, Skin jumped at the chance to finally slam his fist into the shifter’s face.

  But Bledsoe wasn’t playing around. He used deadly force and Skin was the first casualty.

  And he wasn’t the last.

  Bledsoe had always blamed Kennedy for my mellowing out. It’s true that I lost my violent ways when Kennedy had come into my life, but I hadn’t realized how upset it had made my second in command. I made a lot of mistakes in my youth, but not seeing that was a big one.

  Bledsoe ordered Carter to kidnap Kennedy who was only a teenager at the time. Lachlan and I heard about it and raced over. Carter turned into his psychotic bear and poor Kennedy got caught in the middle of a bear fight.

  It still makes me weak in the legs when I think back to that moment. The sound of Carter’s bear snarling. The flying paw with the long black claws. That horrible feeling, knowing she was too close, but being too far to do anything about it.

  The claws sliced across her beautiful face, marking it forever. There was so much blood. She was so brave. She didn’t even scream.

  I caught her as she fell and ran out of her parent’s house, not stopping to watch as Lachlan killed his best friend Carter for what he just did. I raced her to the hospital in my truck, holding her close to my chest as I sped over sidewalks and swerved around mailboxes.

  She survived, but her face would be scarred for life. Four long scars from the side of her forehead to her chin. She lost her right eye and had thick gauze taped to it when I saw her last.

  It was late at night and she was sleeping. Her parents took me into the h
all of the hospital and told me that I did this to her. I didn’t argue. I knew it was my fault. She had been in that situation because of me. It was my fault and I no longer deserved her love.

  “We’re leaving this town as soon as she can get out of this hospital,” her father told me. “Kennedy is coming with us, and I don’t want to ever see your face again.”

  “You two are done,” her mother said, the hate thick in her voice. “Look what happened to my baby because of you.”

  They blamed me for it. I blamed myself for it.

  Two days later, their house was empty with a crooked For Sale sign stuck in their front lawn. They disappeared completely and I just let her go. As painful as it was, I had to. She was better off without me so I never looked for her.

  I always knew that she was the one for me, my future mate, but what good is a mate who can’t even keep his girl safe?

  “Can I help you?” The worker with the black eyes is standing at the end of the hall with a phone in his hand. He’s looking at me skeptically, and I would bet that he has already dialed 9 and 1 and has his thumb hovering over the 1 button.

  “Is Kennedy working today?” I ask, trying to get some information out of him.

  He backs away with a horrified look on his face. “I knew it was one of you!” He hits the last button and raises the phone to his ear. “Yes, Sheriff? I need assistance at the Quill and Feather Bookstore immediately! They’re back!”

  “Wait,” I say, raising my hand. “I’m not… screw it!”

  I run out of there like I’ve just robbed the joint, sprinting through the park and not stopping until I’m on the other side of the town. I’m definitely not interested in explaining to the Sheriff what I’m doing around here.

  A phone booth catches my eye at the gas station and I hurry across the street to ring home. It’s been weeks since I left and for some reason, I get a strong premonition to call.

  I slide a quarter in the payphone and dial Lachlan’s number.

  He answers after a few rings. “Lachlan, it’s me.”

  “Maximus?” He sounds shocked. “Is everything all right?”

  I take a deep breath and shake my head even though he can’t see me.

  “Still looking,” I say. “How is everything on the ranch?”

  “We’re fine, but Maximus when are you coming back? She keeps asking about you.”

  “Who?”

  “Kennedy. Isn’t that why you’re calling?”

  His words aren’t making sense. “What?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  I hear him gulp. “She’s here. In the camp.”

  Now it’s my turn to gulp. “Who is?” I ask even though I already know the answer. But still, I have to hear it.

  “Kennedy. She arrived yesterday.”

  I slam the phone down and race across town to my pickup truck as fast as I can.

  Chapter Three

  Kennedy

  I wake up in Maximus’ bed, encompassed in his rugged smell. His scent on his bed sheets… I can’t get enough of it.

  The night was a mess of sweaty, twisted-up sheets and hot sex dreams. Me and Maximus rolling around in the tall grass like we used to do, in the back of his truck, on my parent’s couch, all of the old places where we couldn’t keep our hands off each other.

  I’m so wet. Not just between my legs, but everywhere. I’m sweating like I just completed a sex marathon, which I kind of did even though it was only in my mind.

  I close my eyes and breathe in his familiar scent, pretending for a moment that he’s here beside me. Flashes of last night’s dreams come back to me before they disappear forever—his weight pushing down on me, his strong hands spreading my legs, his thick cock sliding deep inside.

  I’m moaning as my hand slides between my legs until a loud knocking on the front door jerks me out of my happy place.

  “Kennedy, are you sleeping?”

  It’s Lachlan.

  “Breakfast is ready if you’re hungry.”

  I’m so hungry, but it’s not for pancakes… Okay, it’s for pancakes too.

  “I’ll be out in a minute!” I call out to him as I rub my forehead, trying to turn the R-rated thoughts in my head back to a more respectable PG-13.

  I arrived at The Grisly Ranch last night and Lachlan let me sleep in Maximus’ cabin. I probably should have slept on the couch, but I couldn’t resist lying in his bed one more time. As I get up and peel the wet t-shirt off of me, I realize that I probably should have slept on the couch.

  A quick wash up and change later, I step out of the cabin and the cool mountain air hits my face. I suck in a long breath and smile as the sun shines down on my closed eyelids. It’s late summer and the weather is perfect as usual. God, I miss Montana. Colorado is a close second, but nothing beats Big Sky Country.

  The crew is hanging out around the outdoor kitchen as Lachlan cooks up some food. They’re laughing while drinking coffee and a pang of loneliness hits me. I miss this—the comradery of living with friends.

  The only friends I have these days are in books. When I’m done work, I usually lock myself in my apartment and only leave when I absolutely have to. The world is an unwelcoming place for people who look like me. The stares, the pointing, the horrified looks—it’s easier to just stay home.

  I walk over, self-conscious as usual and wondering if I’ve made a mistake. There are nine people around the outdoor kitchen and I only know two of them. Lachlan was always so nice to me back in the day, and Kneecap, well, I always stayed away from Kneecap back then. Everybody did.

  The other seven—three men and four women—are strangers, but they seem nice enough. They’re all smiling and laughing as they tease each other.

  I only saw two of them last night before Lachlan brought me to Maximus’ cabin, so I’m fully expecting them to do that thing where they see me, gasp, and then nervously smile, pretending they’re not bothered by my scars while being completely obvious that they are.

  But when they turn around one by one and see me, not one of them looks shocked. They’re all natural smiles and grins.

  “Guys, this is Kennedy,” Lachlan says, presenting me with a smile. “From what I remember, she’s the best.”

  “Hi,” I say, smiling as I give an awkward little wave. “Sorry to show up unannounced like this.”

  “Nonsense,” Kneecap says as he rushes forward wearing only a loincloth. He wraps his huge arms around me, and for a second, as I’m squished into his huge pecs, I think he’s going to crush me. Thankfully, he doesn’t break any bones. He just bruises me a little. “Maximus’ girl is always welcome here.”

  Hearing him call me Maximus’ girl sends a jolt through me. I miss being called that, but those days are over. He let me leave and didn’t contact me for six whole years. I’m here for his protection. That’s it.

  They fight to introduce themselves, elbowing each other as they say their names. Abigail, Tito, Zoe, Nora—there are so many of them and they all looked thrilled to meet me.

  By the time they thrust a coffee cup in my hand and guide me to the picnic tables that are overflowing with food, I feel right at home.

  “So, what was Maximus like when he was younger?” Caleb asks, looking at me with eager eyes.

  How can I answer that question without giving my feelings away? He was amazing. The most incredible man I’ve ever met.

  “Stubborn,” I say with a chuckle.

  “So, he hasn’t changed,” Caleb says as everyone laughs.

  “Do you have tons of embarrassing pictures that you can give us to bribe him with?” Jessie asks, rubbing her hands together like an evil villain from a children’s cartoon. “Anything with bad haircuts or clothes that are out of style.”

  Maximus always looked good. No matter what he wore, he could pull it off. He was one of those guys.

  “I think I have some at home somewhere,” I say as Kneecap dumps a stack of pancakes onto my plate.

  “Relax, G
ary,” Tito says with a smirk on his face. “She’s not going to eat all that. She’s not a shifter.”

  “Who’s Gary?” I ask. I thought I had met everyone.

  Tito snorts out a laugh as he looks at Kneecap who’s frowning back at him.

  “You haven’t met Gary Halbert?” Tito asks as he presents Kneecap. “Accountant extraordinaire.”

  “Call me an accountant one more time,” Kneecap warns with a fierce glare.

  The twin doesn’t seem too phased. “Why, are you going to do my taxes if I do?” he asks with a smirk.

  Kneecap just shakes his head and takes a sip of his coffee, letting it slide.

  Wow. Things have definitely changed around here.

  Back in the day if someone said that to Kneecap, they’d be sipping coffee through a straw on account of their broken face.

  He seems to have settled down and found a girl. Nora, the pretty girl with the thick blonde curls and big ears, hugs his huge arm and smiles at him. He smiles back to her and suddenly it all makes sense. He’s in love with her and nothing else matters. Nothing is worth getting upset over because she’s by his side.

  We spend the rest of the breakfast telling stories and joking around, and I already feel like I’m one of the gang.

  I’ve missed this. Friendship.

  Romantic love is not in the cards for me anymore, but maybe I can try to make some friends when I get back home, whenever that will be.

  “Well, I have to go to work,” Abigail says as she stands up from the table.

  “Is it that time already?” Nora asks with a frown as she looks at her watch.

  “Yup,” Zoe says, standing up as well. “These animals aren’t going to heal themselves.”

  Abigail smiles. “And these drowning swimmers won’t save themselves.”

  The boys get up as well and go with their mates as they get ready to leave. Soon it’s only me, Lachlan and Jessie, who is currently falling asleep at the table.

  “Go back to bed, babe,” Lachlan says, gently waking her up. “I’ll do the dishes.”