Outlaw of the Bears (Wild Ridge Bears Book 2) Read online

  I gave him a smile and walked toward Arkady’s office. Butterflies danced behind my ribcage as I opened the door. Arkady sat with his feet up and his hands laced behind his head. He kept his expression neutral as I walked in. I took a seat on the chair in front of his desk and folded my hands in my lap.

  “You’re good,” he said. “I watched you.”

  “Thanks.” I tucked a hair behind my ear. “I’ve finished all my cleanups. Is there anything else you need?”

  “You have a ride?”

  “What? Oh. No. I have my car. I’m good.”

  Arkady pulled his feet off the desk and dropped them to the ground with a loud thud. “It can be dangerous out there at night. Blackfoot isn’t what you think it is.”

  “What do I think it is?”

  “Small town. Quiet life.”

  He raised a sardonic brow as if I should know some inside joke. I shivered. His words felt like a warning. Watch your step, or the monsters will get you. I shrugged and picked at a loose thread on my skirt. “I guess so.” This felt like a test. Could I take care of myself. Well, damn straight I could. Had Arkady known Avery too? Had she sat in this very chair answering his cryptic questions and bearing that cold, calculating stare?

  He moved so fast I didn’t see it. But he was at my side and put his hands on my shoulders. My heart thundered in my ears as he held me with a vice-like grip and kneaded my muscles. “I can have someone walk you to your car.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, jerking away from him. I couldn’t get Avery out of my mind. I conjured up all kinds of horrible things he could have done to her. I had no proof. I had only my gut to go on. Every instinct in me told me it was Arkady who wasn’t what he seemed, not the town. He let go and I stood and turned on him.

  “You look familiar,” he said. “You did when you walked in here last night.”

  “Yeah? Maybe I just have one of those faces.” I bit down on the inside of my cheek to force myself from giving him any other reaction but disinterest. Did he recognize me? Was he remembering Avery?

  He nodded. “Or maybe I knew you in a past life.”

  I let out a lilting laugh. “If you believe in that sort of thing, I guess. But I swear I hadn’t stepped foot in Blackfoot before last week.”

  He took a step forward and lifted his hands. He brushed his knuckles along my jaw and smiled. His eyes changed. If I’d blinked I might have missed it. But, they seemed to deepen in color, turning almost red. It must have been a trick of the light, but it sent a fresh wave of ice down my back. I couldn’t breathe.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” I jerked away and took three ungraceful steps toward the door. The hair on the back of my neck rose, and I thought for sure he’d stop me. He didn’t though. Instead, he let out a low, sharp laugh as I flung the door open and headed for the back exit. Tracy was gone. Arkady’s friends were even gone. I practically ran toward my car. I’d parked it directly under a streetlamp. Clutching my keys in one hand and the outline of Martha in my purse with the other, I got to my car.

  I chanced one look back toward the bar. Arkady hadn’t followed. His office light glowed through the window, and I saw just the shadow of movement. Then I turned back toward my car and opened the door, eager to get the hell out of there. Maybe this whole thing had been a terrible mistake. But, I was committed now. Something sinister hovered over that bar. I could feel it. If whatever it was had something to do with Avery, I needed to find out for myself.

  As I slid into the driver’s seat, a flash of light caught my eye. I nearly screamed, thinking Arkady or one of the other men had indeed followed me out. They hadn’t, but I wasn’t alone. A hulking figure stood beneath another of the streetlamps. If his eyes hadn’t glinted, maybe I wouldn’t have even noticed him. I did though. It was almost as though instinct made me turn to look.

  Cullen.

  He stood watching me, his face a hard grimace. I turned the key, intending to drive away. Then, another shadow crossed in front of me. When I looked up, Cullen was standing before the passenger side window. I rolled it down and flicked the lock.

  “Get in,” I said, not knowing why, only that having him beside me right now seemed critical. He arched a brow and smiled. Then he slipped into the passenger seat as I drove away.

  Chapter Four

  Cullen

  Jealous rage colored my vision. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my leather jacket so she wouldn’t see my claws. There was no way I could even try to keep them sheathed right now. In that tight dress, with her ample tits nearly popping out, she looked more fuckable than I imagined last night. I coughed to cover the predatory growl my bear let out.

  “Are you stalking me?” she asked as she made a sharp turn away from the bar. Her tires squealed as she hit the accelerator. Rage seemed to fuel her too.

  I wanted to bite her. Mark her. Make her park the car and pull her into the back seat and claim her. My dick strained against my jeans and I hoped she couldn’t see it. Or, fuck it, maybe I did want her to see it. Something thrummed between us. I saw it color her cheeks. Her breasts heaved and tiny beads of sweat formed in her cleavage. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to rip that dress off her or throw my jacket over her so no one else could see her like that.

  Mine!

  Quiet, bear, I told myself. I worked on trying to steady my breathing. If I couldn’t get a handle on it, I was liable to shift right there in the passenger seat.

  “No,” I managed to get out. “At least, not in the way you think.”

  “What then?” She turned to me.

  “You’re not safe here.” I answered. My words came out measured and forced. She had no idea how fucking hard it was to sit this close to her while she looked like that and not lose control completely. I should have done a better job hiding. I couldn’t help it. The minute I smelled her … the minute I saw her, all bets were off.

  She pulled into the parking lot near the foot bridge over the river where she’d parked last night. Slamming the car in park, she turned toward me, eyes blazing.

  “Tell me what you know!”

  I reared back. I felt my nostrils flare as my breath came out hard. I blinked away my darkening vision and hoped the shadows hid the turmoil behind my eyes.

  “That place,” I said, “It’s dangerous for you there. This town is dangerous for you.”

  “Who are you? Who are you really?”

  My leather jacket creaked as I turned toward her so I could stare at her straight on. If she saw anything in my eyes, she didn’t show it. She kept her hands gripped on the steering wheel.

  “I’d like to know the same thing about you, Anya. What are you really doing here? You’re not from here. You don’t have any people here, no one to look out for you.”

  “How do you know that?” She whirled on me. “I mean it. How do you know things about me I haven’t told you?”

  I shut my eyes and pressed my thumb and forefinger to the bridge of my nose. My hands were normal for now, but I figured I’d better be careful not to touch her. Never mind her own intoxicating scent, I could smell at least three other werebears all over her. She’d been around them all damn night. Dammit, I should have thrown her over my shoulder last night and carried her off to a cave. I should have tied her up and sat on her. Anything to keep her from going back to that place where they could hurt her. I still might do just that.

  “I don’t,” I lied. “I just know some things about the kind of people running that bar and in this town. You don’t belong here, and if you stay, you’re going to get hurt. Can’t you figure that out for yourself? Any normal girl would have gotten the hint after what almost happened in that damn alley. You should leave.”

  “I can’t,” she answered, and her voice got very small. When I opened my eyes, she had shrunk back against the car door. Color drained from her face. Grief. I felt it pouring off her and it gutted me.

  “Anya.” I managed to get the rage out of my own voice. She was scared. Someone had hurt her. And I kn
ew she was just as alone as I was. “Look at me.”

  I reached for her. I put my hands on her bare arms and pulled her forward. It was dangerous to do it. Her flesh against mine set off a tripwire inside of me. My blood simmered to the surface and the bear stirred. She trembled beneath my touch. If I needed any more proof of what she was, I felt it in the warmth of her skin and the fire in her eyes.

  Mine!

  “I can’t leave,” she said. “And nothing I do is any of your business.” She lied even though I knew her body was telling her the exact opposite. Everything about her was my business. “I can take care of myself.”

  “I don’t doubt that. But you know Blackfoot has evil in it. You’ve seen it. It’s touched you. And I suspect it touched someone close to you, didn’t it? Is that why you’re here? You’re looking for them?”

  It was a stab in the dark, but I could read it coming off her in waves. Her grief was palpable; it nearly had its own scent beneath the musky sweetness of her. She told me yesterday she was looking for someone.

  Anya’s bottom lip trembled and she pulled away from me. I took my hands off her, careful not to spook her anymore. Though my bear knew she was mine, I’d never take her by force. If she didn’t want it, I’d never take her at all. And the simple truth was, I still had no right to her since I had no clan of my own anymore.

  “Get out,” she said, her voice dark and flat. Her words struck me almost as if she’d slapped me in the face. “I don’t trust you. I don’t trust anyone. If I find out you know something, or if you had anything to do with what happened to my… Just go away, Cullen. I know what I’m doing and I don’t need any help.”

  Her fear and grief tore through me. It was a feature of hers, as plain as her red hair. And I wanted to rip apart whoever had hurt her or someone she loved. For now, all I could do was exactly what she asked. I gave her a slow nod and sighed. She wasn’t ready for me. She didn’t trust what she felt yet. And the longer I stayed with her, the greater the risk the polar bears would scent her on me.

  I got out of the car and stared after her as she pulled away and headed back home. I’d follow her, of course. But, I’d keep my distance. I couldn’t be as careless as I had been tonight and let her see me. She could lie to herself all she wanted, but the danger she faced was real. I knew then and there I’d give up my life to keep her safe.

  I don’t know how long I stood there. Anya’s scent became a faint whisper in the wind. I focused on her so intently, I didn’t sense the presence right beside me.

  “Best get out of town before they figure out you’re still here, boy.”

  Growling, I whirled toward the voice coming out of the shadows. He was old. One of the oldest bears I’d ever seen with silvery-gray hair and a craggly face. He didn’t even bother to shield his bear eyes. They flashed amber as he walked toward me. He was smart enough to cut a wide circle and he held his hands out, palms up. He wanted to talk, not fight.

  “Best mind your own business, old man,” I said.

  He shrugged and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black wool overcoat. He stood about six feet away from me. The temperature had dropped and I could see his breath as a misted cloud beneath the sharp glare of the streetlamp.

  “You’re messing with trouble trifling with that girl.”

  I couldn’t place the scent coming off of him. He was a grizzly, for sure. But he didn’t belong to the clan of bears hanging around the Bluelight or the ones who’d followed Anya last night. But, he had a clan, that was obvious. Not Russian, not Wild Ridge, of course. It had been so long since I’d been to the Yukon or seen my mother’s people, but maybe he was related.

  “That girl is the one who’s in trouble, and you know it. You know what she is as plainly as I do.”

  He pursed his lips and nodded. “Yep. But you keep circling around her, you touch her like that again, it’s gonna get you killed. Then what good are you to her or yourself?”

  “Thanks for the tip, old man. Now if you don’t mind, I don’t feel like talking.”

  He moved fast for his age and shoved a finger into my chest. My bear flared with anger and a growl escaped my lips. “They know,” he said.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  “They know you’re alone. Not going to take too long before they figure out you’re banished. No clan. No protection. And yet you keep crossing their territory.”

  “This isn’t their territory. They belong in the Russian Arctic, or Siberia.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe so. But, there are more of them than there are of you. If you get into the trouble you’re asking for, nobody’s going to come down here to back you up. Isn’t that right?”

  I wanted to scream in his face. I wanted to shift and get into the fight my body was spoiling for. But, it wasn’t the honorable thing to do. He was big, but had at least fifty years on me. God, that made him ancient for a werebear. Any other time, I might have invited him out for a beer so he could tell me about the way things were before the wolf pack wars when our clans roamed all over the world. Now, we stayed on designated clan lands. The Yukon, Siberia, the Arctic Circle, northern California, and my home, Wild Ridge, Michigan. Just thinking about home made my heart ache.

  “You got a bum deal,” the old man said. “I always did think your father was a selfish son of a bitch.”

  “What do you know about my father?” He probably knew enough. Though the clans stayed separate, gossip flowed fast and free. Last year, my father made a power play to take over Wild Ridge for himself to the detriment of the rest of the clans. I had nothing to do with it. He’d kept his plans secret and allied himself with clan enemies. I might have killed him myself if I’d known what he was up to. But bear law was absolute. He’d been the head of the James clan and I was his only son. When they banished him, they banished me too. Now he’d disappeared and I couldn’t give a damn if he lived or died.

  “I know enough, son. You should have stuck to your original plan. So do it now. Head north to the Yukon. Beg your mother’s people to take you in. Stay here and you’ll get yourself killed. That’d be a damn waste of a good bear. And there’s not enough left of us to afford something like that. Take my word for it. It’s not worth it.”

  I gritted my teeth. “I can’t leave now and you know why.”

  He sighed and dropped his shoulders. He looked back in the direction Anya had driven. Shaking his head, he gave me a half smile. “Talk sense, boy. You can’t have her. They’ll try to take you out if you even try and it’ll probably get you both killed.”

  “Who are they? Who are you? And what the hell are a bunch of Russian polar bears doing out here in Indiana? What is it about this place? There are wolves here too that shouldn’t be. There are too many shifters where they shouldn’t be. How come none of the North American clans know about this?”

  “Me? I’m just somebody who’s been around too damn long. Seen too much, but I’m too stubborn to die yet.”

  “She’s Anam Cara. You know it as much as I do.” My bear growled. Anya’s scent still lingered in the air. I knew the old man could smell it too.

  He nodded. “And if she’s smart she’ll listen to you and get the hell out of here. But unless you’ve got a clan to back you up, you’re wasting your breath even saying her name. Let it go. Get the hell out of here. Live to fight another day. Trust me on this.” He put a heavy hand on my shoulder and his eyes twinkled.

  “Who are you?” I asked him again. “I smell Yukon.”

  He let out a low laugh and put his hand back in his pocket. “Time was, yeah. But I doubt there’s anybody up there who still thinks about me. My name is Tobias and that’s all you need to know, son.”

  “So how is it those Russians haven’t chased you out of here?”

  He shook his head. “Well, I don’t plan on being dumb enough to stick around to give them a chance. Plus, look at me. I might have one or two good fights left in me, but not against a clan of polars in their prime. And as far as who I am, you’ll know w
hen you need to. If you ever need to. Meantime, I’ve been standing in one place too long, and so have you. I mean it, keep going north. For her sake and for yours.”

  He took a step back, out of the circle of light and into the shadows. His old eyes flashed dark and he dropped to all fours. For as old as he was, he still had great power in his shift. His thick brown fur sprouted and his back arched. He rose on his hind legs, bringing himself to his full eight feet. Shaking his head back and forth, he huffed at me then took off running toward the woods on the other side of the river.

  It was a challenge for me to follow. And he was right; the smarter thing to do would have been to accept that challenge and get far away from Blackfoot. But, for all his warnings, I think he knew I couldn’t. He’d go back to whoever sent him and tell them at least he tried. I didn’t have time to ponder who that might be. The wind shifted and Anya’s scent grew stronger. I turned east and headed toward Danforth and her duplex, keeping to the shadows.

  I hadn’t planned to let her see me. I would have waited all night beneath the cover of a large weeping willow on the other side of the street. From there, I could see straight into her bedroom window and know when she slept. But when I got there, someone else had beat me to it.

  My bear senses flared a warning. I saw Anya in silhouette, standing in front of her bathroom door. She wore nothing but a black bra and panties as she grabbed a towel from a shelf. She was beautiful, with a flat stomach, generous hips and those perfect breasts. They swung heavily when she dropped the towel and leaned down to pick it up. My whole body shook as I tried to contain the lust coursing through me. She was perfect. She was built for me. I knew it in my gut.

  The figure beneath the tree made his move. His growl vibrated through me. I knew him immediately. He’d been there the other night in the alley. He’d turned tail at the first sound of a police siren. The thing that drew him here was the thing that kept him from sensing me.

  Anya. His roiling lust, nearly as strong as mine poured off him as he watched her from the window. He crossed the street and stood beneath her bedroom window. She was humming. She’d turned on the shower and in another second, she’d strip naked in front of his leering eyes, and I knew the effect that would have on him. The same effect it would have on me.