Her Big Bad Polar Bear (7 page)

Chapter 16

Cosmo pulled up to the bed and breakfast and slammed on his brakes. The SUV was still there. He and Ivan got out of the truck and rushed inside. They heard a moan and followed the sound. Mrs. Fielding was lying on the floor. Cosmo was terrified for Andy.

“Ivan, check on Mrs. Fielding. I’m going to look for Andy.” He ran up the stairs. He scented her fear, but only faintly. Even before checking all the rooms, he knew that she would not be there. He headed back downstairs. Ivan was carrying Mrs. Fielding to the couch.

“Andy’s not here and neither is Vega.”

“Mrs. Fielding moaned something.” Ivan looked up at him. “I called the paramedics and they’re on their way. I think Mrs. Fielding said...truck.”

Her truck was usually in the garage. Cosmo ran outside toward the garage but the door was open and there was no truck inside. Vega could have taken Andy anywhere.

*****

Andy was fighting her panic. It wouldn’t do her any good right then. She needed to remain calm. She glanced over at Rhonda and was amazed at how calm the other woman was. She would have assumed Rhonda would be in hysterics. When she turned to look Andy in the eyes, there was something there she had never seen or maybe never noticed before. Sharp intelligence, calculating, and also trying to signal her.

Andy glanced at Denny. He had moved the gun away from her side and had it loosely lying in his lap. She wasn’t sure what Rhonda was trying to tell her. She looked back at Rhonda with confusion. She mouthed, “What?”

Rhonda mouthed back, “Get ready.”

Ready? Ready for what?” Then Andy watched in shock as Rhonda headed straight for the parked police car. She wasn’t slowing down either. Andy didn’t have a seatbelt on, so she placed her hands on the dashboard and tried to brace herself.

“Watch where you’re driving!” Denny yelled, but it was too late. Rhonda drove the truck directly into the front side of the sheriff’s car, making it spin to the side. The truck kept going.

Andy turned to look back and sighed with relief once she saw the sheriff run out of a shop toward his car. He turned to look at them in anger. “Thank God the sheriff wasn’t in the car. How did you know that?” she asked Rhonda, amazed.

Rhonda shrugged. “I didn’t.”

Denny pulled the gun back up and pointed it at Rhonda. “Do something like that again, and I’ll shoot that dumb empty head of yours.”

Andy believed him. He had a crazy look in his eyes and he was desperate. Combine all that with holding a loaded gun and it spelled trouble. There was no stopping this; they were going to Miracle Lake. She hoped that Cosmo stayed away, where he was safe.

*****

Cosmo’s cell phone rang, interrupting his pacing back and forth inside the bed and breakfast. It was Niko. “This isn’t a good time, Niko.”

“Cosmo, some blonde driving Mrs. Fielding’s truck just rammed the side of my car. What the hell is going on?”

Rhonda Lee was involved somehow. “Did you see Andy?”

“Andy who?” Niko asked.

Right, not all of his brothers had met Andy yet. “How many people did you see in the truck?”

“Two women and a man. Why?”

“The man is Denny Vega. I think he is unstable. I’m at Mrs. Fielding’s and someone had knocked her unconscious.”

“Is she okay?”

“The paramedics have arrived and are taking her to the hospital. What direction did they go?”

“North. Toward Miracle Lake.”

“I’ll head there with Ivan.”

“Wait. This is my job as the local law enforcement. I’ll handle this.”

Cosmo hung up without responding. He needed to get to Andy. He walked outside and watched Mrs. Fielding being lifted into the ambulance. Ivan told the two researchers to go with her and keep them updated. He turned to look at Ivan.

“Where did they go?”

“The truck hit Niko’s car on the way to Miracle Lake.”

“Is Niko okay?”

“Yeah, but he’s pissed.”

“Cosmo.”

“What?”

“Mrs. Fielding said something else, too. She said that Vega had a gun.”

Oh, shit.
Andy was in real danger. His bear wanted to break free and hunt down whoever was threatening their mate.

“Let’s go.” Ivan and Cosmo went to the truck and got inside. He would protect her. He had to.

“I’m calling the others,” Ivan told him, reaching for his cell phone.

He hoped they weren’t too late.

*****

Denny shoved Rhonda so hard she almost fell to her knees. Andy reached out and helped steady her. “Are you okay?”

Rhonda glared back at Denny. “Just fine.”

“Keep moving. Andy, where were those tracks?”

Andy turned to look at Denny. “Let Rhonda go. She has nothing to do with this.”

“She knows too much now.” Denny waved them to continue walking with his gun.

Rhonda laughed. “That’s the first time any man has said that about me.”

Andy looked between the two of them like they had both lost their minds. Rhonda was making jokes while Denny was pretty much telling them that he wasn’t going to let them go. She felt like she was dropped down the rabbit hole that Alice fell in.

She stopped walking at the spot of the tracks. They were almost frozen in place now. She pointed down and watched as Denny’s eyes widened.

“It’s true. I need to take this back. There may be hair samples embedded there.” He threw his backpack at Rhonda.

“What the hell!”

“Open it up and grab the digging tools.”

Rhonda did what he told her to. “Now what?”

“Give them to Andy. Andy, cut around the track, making sure to keep it intact. We’ll have to find somewhere to keep it cold so it doesn’t lose its integrity. Once I get this analyzed, I’ll make an announcement to all the news stations on my findings. I’ll offer the specimen to the highest bidder. I’ll be rich and this place will be swamped with teams of researchers and fortune hunters. I can see it now.”

Andy could see it too. It would be a disaster. Cosmo and his clan’s well-kept secret would be jeopardized. The clan might have to move from the only home they had known for centuries, and it would all be her fault. She couldn’t let that happen. She had to stop Denny. She knelt down on the ice next to the tracks.
Cosmo’s tracks.
She would protect him and his people if it was the last thing she did.

*****

Cosmo was next to Ivan. They were both in human form, but the rest of his brothers had shifted to polar bears. They surrounded the area on the lake where Vega stood with the blonde. Andy was on her knees. He wasn’t sure why, but seeing Vega looming over her made him see red.
Mine. The male took my mate, threatened her, and scared her.
He would rip his throat out.

“Easy, brother. You’re starting to shift.”

They moved closer. He watched as Andy took some kind of cutting tool and stabbed it into the lake ice, hard. She repeated it over and over. Then Vega started screaming at her, but she didn’t stop until there was a cracking noise. She scooted backward. A piece of the ice started to sink into the frigid water coming up around it.

“No!” Vega yelled as he stalked toward Andy, who was getting to her feet.

“You are a stupid bitch! You’ve ruined everything!”

Cosmo rushed forward. “Stop moving, Vega! You’re surrounded.”

Vega turned toward Cosmo with the gun up. “It’s all your fault!”

*****

Andy feared for Cosmo. It was at that moment with Denny threatening Cosmo that she realized that she had fallen in love with the big shifter. “No!” She didn’t think twice as she ran and threw herself directly between Denny and Cosmo. The gun went off and she felt a sharp pain in her side. She touched her side and felt something wet and lifted her hand. Blood was coating her hand. She heard a roar behind her and slowly fell down to the ice. Funny, she wasn’t really cold; she felt really warm and dizzy. The last thing she saw was Cosmo’s eyes, so black and furious.

“So sorry. I love you,” she whispered to him. Darkness was coming for her and her eyelids were so heavy.

*****

Cosmo roared in fury when Vega shot his mate. Seeing her fall, he leaped toward her to try to keep her head from hitting the ice. “Come on, baby. You can’t die on me.” He looked back to watch as the blonde swung the backpack she was holding at Vega’s head. The male dropped the gun and fell backward. He would have gone after him, but Ivan and Niko were there. He needed to focus on his mate.

“I called the paramedics. They’ll be here in five minutes,” Luka told him. Ryder knelt on the other side of Andy. Ryder worked as a deputy sheriff but also as a fireman. He knew about injuries.

Ryder took his coat off and tore it into strips. He tied it around Andy. “This will help slow down the bleeding. It’s not too deep and I think it missed all the vital organs.”

Cosmo nodded and looked down at Andy. She started at him with foggy eyes. She whispered so low he almost didn’t hear her. “So sorry. I love you.”

“Baby, I love you too. Don’t leave me now that I’ve found you.” She smiled then she passed out.

“Where’s the damn ambulance?”

Epilogue

Two Weeks Later

Andy sat on a comfy sofa and watched in fascination as Cosmo’s mother and grandmother scolded him for not bringing her to them sooner. She was introduced to the clan and the rest of the family. Everyone seemed to welcome her with open arms. A few bear shifter females weren’t happy; they had wanted Cosmo for themselves. She ignored them. He was Andy’s and she wasn’t going to let him go.

He had been so sweet to her. She woke up in the hospital after Denny had shot her to find out that Cosmo had refused to leave her side. She also found out that Denny was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. He deserved it.

She called her bosses and quit her job, telling them that they sent researchers in the wrong direction and that they endangered her life. They pulled out their interests there to prevent bad publicity. She wasn’t sorry she had destroyed the tracks. She had Luka bring her laptop to her so that she could get rid of the picture she took and delete the program that had identified the tracks. She didn’t want to leave any kind of evidence behind that might put Cosmo in danger.

The only thing she couldn’t do anything about was Rhonda. For some reason, the woman refused to leave. She pretty much took up permanent residence in Mrs. Fielding's bed and breakfast, helping her out until she made a full recovery.

Cosmo had been amazing too. He told her every day how much he loved her. When she was released from the hospital, he took her to his own cabin to take care of her. She fell in love with him even more when he called her father himself and told him about Denny shooting her. Her father flew down the next day. Cosmo had him stay in her old cabin on Miracle Lake. Once her father felt she was going to be fine, he headed back for a meeting in Toronto.

Cosmo was acting secretive. He’d brought her here to meet the rest of his family, but they all seemed to be in on his secret. They gave her winks and knowing smiles. What was going on?

He showed her his childhood bedroom that he shared with Ivan. “This was my bed.”

She sat down on it and picked up a picture of him with his whole family, including his dad, which sat on the nightstand. She smiled. “You and Ivan look just like your father.”

He knelt on his knees in front of her. “Mom always said that. It’s the eyes.”

She nodded. “Yes, you all have the same eyes.” She sat the picture back in place. “So what are we going to do today?”

“I’m hoping that we’ll get engaged.”

She blinked a couple of times and watched as he lifted his hand, palm up. In the center was a gold band and a diamond mount shaped like a snowflake. She looked up into his dark eyes.

“That’s if you’ll have me as your husband.”

“We’re already mates.”

“Yes, but you’re human, and humans recognize marriages. I already asked your father for your hand and he gave his approval. All I need is for you to say yes. Say yes.”

He had asked her father. How sweet was that? There was no doubt what her answer would be. “Yes. I love you.”

“I love you, baby.”

He put the ring on her finger then kissed her soundly. She was marrying her polar bear and she would never look back.

About the Author

KD Jones has been a huge fan of both romance novels and science fiction novels since she was 16 years old. Her favorite television shows growing up were Star Trek and Doctor Who. When not writing, she can usually be found curled up on the couch with a good book, working on her hobby of photography, or spending time with her family. As a single working Mom she wants to show her son that a person can follow their dreams no matter how old they are and where they are in life. Dreams can come true if you work hard and keep believing.

www.kdjonesauthor.net