Redeem The Bear (12 page)

“You just texted me a picture of a dick,” he said. Was that amusement she heard in his voice?

“Yours is much bigger. I should’ve added at least four more dashes.”

“Jesus, woman. I have no idea how to respond to you most of the time. Look, I’m sorry about earlier,” he said. “This is hard for me.”

“What is
the
this
we are talking about?” she asked. It wasn’t a test. She was really confused about which part was hard. Talking to her or remembering his past? Or maybe it was the aftermath of the battle he was struggling with.

“I want you. I know I’m no go
od for you right now, but later…I want to make you happy. Hearing your voice is important to me.”

A slow smile stretched her face. “Because you need me?”

The line was quiet and she closed her eyes and pursed her lips, hoping he wasn’t shutting down again.

“Because I need you,” he agreed.

Three days passed with no call from Brooks. It was a slow hell she was spiraling into, overanalyzing their exchange. Maybe she’d made him mad, or maybe he just realized the effort was too much to make with her.

She’d left him three messages on his voicemail and l
ast night, she had even sent him a text, but that had gone unanswered too. Most likely, he just wasn’t that interested. A man so hot and cold couldn’t be, right?

The diner had been busy today
, and the last couple of regulars had stayed past closing time. It was dark outside, and the eyelash moon did nothing to alleviate the shadows in the empty parking lot. She always borrowed Chase’s jeep on the days she had a shift at the diner, and after she’d locked the restaurant doors, she jogged across the gravel lot toward the black off-road vehicle. It didn’t have any doors, so she threw her shoulder bag straight into the passenger’s seat.

The hairs rose on the back of her neck, and she turned but couldn’t see anyone there. The one street light on this side of the road was useless
outside of fifteen yards. Frowning, she hopped behind the steering wheel and turned the key. The engine stuttered, and she twisted it again. This time it caught and roared to life.

“Thank you,” she muttered.

A meaty hand clamped down on her mouth and yanked her back before she could throw the jeep into reverse. Her scream was muffled behind the palm, and a man whispered in her ear, “You fucked the wrong Long Claw.”

His other hand slid into position on her
throat and she thrashed wildly. He was going to break her neck! Biting down as hard as she could, she tasted blood as the man jerked and loosened his grip just enough for her to reach her scrabbling fingers toward the gear shift. Ripping it into drive, she gunned the gas, and the man bellowed in fury as he lost his hold on her. The jeep bumped and rocked as it hit the curb and flew into the grass, and Corin shrieked in terror as he lurched forward and gripped the open frame. Long sandy brown hair whipped in the wind and his eyes were an inhuman copper color.

With o
ne hand on the wheel, she pummeled him with her other, over and over as he tried to hold on to the swerving jeep.

His fingers were slipping, and she jerked the wheel hard to the right. He roared as he went flying, and a grizzly ripped out of him
before he even hit the ground.

“Oh, shit,” she whispered, jammi
ng the gas.

Grizzlies were fast and he was gaining on her.
As second gear caught and then third, she put distance between them. Fumbling for the phone, she hit Brooks speed dial icon and pressed the phone to her ear. “Pick up, pick up.” She so needed him to pick up this time.

“Corin?” he asked.

“Someone’s after me. A bear. A shifter. He just attacked me!”

“I can’t
hear you very well. Someone attacked you?”

It wasn’t the sketchy connection that was the problem. Someone was screaming on Brooks’ end
, and a faint roaring sound echoed through the background. “Corin?” he asked low. “What did the man look like?”

“Long hair. Grizzly.” She was gulping air as she stared at the disappearing bear in her rearview.

“Fuck. It’s Mace. Did you get away? Are you all right?” Something crashed in the background. “Corin.” His voice was somber and dark. “I can’t talk right now. Get away from Mace and go straight to Riker, you hear?”

“Ye
s, yes, I understand.”

“
Can you get to Bear Valley?”

“Yes, I got away. I’m going to Riker now. Brooks! Why is he after me?”

Another tremendous crash sounded, and the roaring became louder.

“Because you’re mine,” he growled, then the line went dead.

Something was really wrong. Whatever Brooks had avoided talking to her about was bad and was now leaking into Bear Valley. That sounded like vicious fighting in the background, and the reasons for Brooks not calling her for three days began to frighten her.

“What’s happening?” she whispered as terror constricted her throat.

That man, Mace, was trying to kill her. Not torture her, or enlighten her of his evil plan like they did in the movies. He’d come to the diner to kill her swiftly. She had
fucked the wrong Long Claw
? What did that mean? She’d slept with the alpha of the Long Claws, and from what she understood about that clan of savages, the alpha could do whatever he wanted.

She took the corner onto the dirt road that led to Bear Valley going
fifty and nearly took the jeep up on two wheels. Fear drove her as she imagined Mace the Grizzly appearing beside her open door to claw her face off if she slowed for even a mile.

As soon as she saw the no trespassing signs on the Bear Valley
gates, she slammed on the brakes.

Nick and Brad
, the night guards, came running.

“
A bear…Long Claw…Brooks’ second came after me at the diner,” she rushed out. “He tried to kill me!”

Brad turned and started relaying her story into a hand held radio.

“We’ll call for back-up and see if Riker wants us to hunt him down,” Nick said as he scanned the road. “Go straight to the alpha’s house.”

Lurching forward on the gas, she took off again. Brooks had told her to go to Riker, and it hadn’t been just because he was her alpha and could protect her. He knew what was happening. She didn’t know how she knew, but
every instinct screamed that Riker was privy to what had been going down with Brooks’ clan.

Screw the
secrets. Someone was going to explain why she was nearly killed in the diner parking lot tonight.

It was a long drive into Bear Valley and Riker was waiting outside on his front porch when she pulled to a stop in the open field in front of his house.

As she slid from the driver’s side door, he said, “Brooks called. I’ve ordered Chase, Brody and Juan to track Mace down. We have permission to end him outside of Bear Valley property.

“Brooks called?” Two rival alph
as were working together, and suddenly, something unsettling dawned on her. “How many times has Brooks called you?”

“I think we should talk. Come on inside.”
He led her into the kitchen where Hannah was frying chicken. The pop of the grease and the fragrant smell of the breading filled the open space. The dark colors and natural wood countertops of the alpha’s house had always reminded Corin of a cave. Maybe that’s how Riker preferred his living space.

Riker gestured her to a seat at the table, then sat across from her when she was settled.
“I have been talking to Brooks daily since the battle with the Long Claws.”

She’d been waiting for a call from him for days, and Brooks had been calling Bear Valley. He just hadn’t wanted to talk to her. “
Is he in trouble?”

“Yes.”

Panic and fear and worry welled up in her, filling her until she was so sick and tired of everything. “Well, fuck, Riker, don’t sugar coat it!”

His eyes lightened and one side of his lip pulled back in a snarl.

Hannah clucked her tongue once like a warning, and Riker canted his head. “What Brooks is trying to do hasn’t been done before in the history of the Long Claws. He’s trying to bring them under order, under bear shifter law. Not just the laws they choose to abide by when it suits them. He’s trying to right the wrongs they’ve done. With any change like the one he’s trying to enforce, there are those who don’t see anything wrong with their old ways. They enjoy the kill and have been trained to think they should fight and steal land until only Long Claws remain. And they were so close. For hundreds of years, every alpha in their clan has had one thing on his mind. Conquering the other clans. And they had us all whittled down to almost nothing when Brooks took over. Their war with us was supposed to be it. After hundreds of years, they would be all that’s left of our culture.”

“Is Brooks okay?”

“I don’t know. He’s been hurt, and still he’s fighting the ones who oppose him. It’s a daily battle.”

“Why does he call you?” she asked, hurt that he’d been leaning on someone this entire time, and it hadn’t been her.

“For advice. He’s trying to bring the Long Claws under a similar rule that I enforce here. He has no background in anything other than absolute power though, and he has questions. If he loses this fight, the shifters trying to overthrow him will come after Bear Valley. He is all that stands between us and another attack. This time it wouldn’t be organized war. It would be a massacre.”

Hannah turned off the heat
on the stove, and leaned against the counter. She looked positively green and unsurprised as she crossed her arms over her chest, like the gesture would protect her from the truth of Riker’s words.

Corin dropped her face into her hands and rubbed her bleary eyes.
What Brooks was trying to do was huge. It seemed impossible that he could bring about such change to his heartless people.

“This is your fault, you know?” Riker said.

When she looked up though, he didn’t seem mad. On the contrary, a small smile crooked the corner of his lips. “He wouldn’t be trying to force a permanent alliance with us if you hadn’t reached him.”

Corin stood and swallowed hard. “And if he dies for his cause, that will be my fault too.”

Corin had called Brooks twice more this morning to no answer, and at this point, she was sick with worry. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t stop wringing her hands and halfway through her work day in the fields, Juan had given up on her being any help at all and sent her home.
Get some rest
, he’d advised.

Yeah right, rest. She hadn’t been able to sleep since Riker told her Brooks was in danger. He’d made it sound like it was Brooks versus the entirety of the Long Claw Clan. She’d seen them
on the battlefield. They were some scary bears.

She had to do something. Go to him and help him fight, talk them down, something. Riker se
emed to admire him, so maybe he would sanction a small group to go with her to help if she begged. Yes! This was genius.

Emboldened with a plan, she pulled
on her best sneakers and her good luck holey jeans and a red sweater. Red would definitely get Riker riled up. Wait, that was bulls. Whatever, red for war, because action was better than waiting for Brooks to lose, and then absorbing the Long Claw’s wrath afterward.

Chin high, she marched her brilliant little self straight toward Riker’s house with the intention of not taking no for an answer. She would simply annoy the shit out of him until he gave in.

In the open field near his house, Hannah waved. “I was on my way to come get you.”

“You were? Why?”

“Riker asked me to. More like told me to because he’s being a moody dick today.” She fell into step next to Corin. “He woke up in a foul mood, then told me I was being emotional, then I had to viciously fight the urge to pee on his cereal, and now he makes me his errand boy while everyone is inside for some big meeting.”

“Wait,
big meeting about what?” Corin began to jog through the waving grass.

The lawn was littered with pickup trucks and SUV’s she didn’t recognize.

When she turned around to see why Hannah wasn’t answering, the alpha’s mate had a big goofy grin on her face. “I
love
love,” she murmured. Was she crying? Jesus, maybe Riker was right about her emotions. They were swinging left and right like a pendulum.

Taking the
porch stairs two at a time, Corin threw open the door. The living room was full of strangers. She didn’t understand. A tall, elderly woman nodded her head and moved gracefully to the side.

Brooks stood with his hands behind his back, talking quietly to Riker across the room. His dark eyes were somber and the set of his lips grim. He stood rigid and tall, looking the warrior even now among the soft hum of easy conversation.
He was the most beautiful sight she’d ever laid eyes upon.

His gaze slid to hers, and she weaved through the crowd, faster and faster until he opened his arms and caught her. Words weren’t important right now, only touch—only being in his arms and feeling the solid thump of his beating heart against her chest.