Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) (5 page)

“Don’t know what you always had against your old man anyhow. He took care of you after that skank you call a mom ran out—”

Cage was across the room in a second, holding Pete by the collar and letting him see the rage in his eyes. “Don’t you dare,” he said, nearly choking the other man. “Don’t you dare talk about what she went through.” He released Pete with a shove, and Pete grimaced as he brushed himself off, as if erasing Cage’s touch.

“Son of Will or not, if you double-cross us, you’ll pay,” Pete said. “Jake wasn’t worried about taking you back for one reason only.” Pete folded his still buff arms. “If you cross the Aces, the Aces will cross you.”

Cage nodded. “I’m not stupid enough to think I could get away with attacking a branch of the strongest MC in the country.” Which was the truth and why he intended for them all to be long gone before they could prove he’d done anything.

Pete still didn’t seem convinced, and there was a palpable tension in the air between them. “You were a good kid,” he said. “Your dad had to be rough on you because that’s what dads do, but you turned out okay.” Pete pulled out a file. “You even served in the military. We have some other ex-vets.” He shut the drawer and leaned on the desk, faded blue eyes narrowing. “But why did you come back now? And why are you really in my office?”

A prickle of danger moved up Cage’s back, and he realized it was time to go.

He turned to leave but stopped when Pete whistled.

Cage turned around and saw Pete holding out a folder. “Here, your next assignment.”

Cage walked over and grabbed the file from Pete’s hand. He opened it and quickly scanned it. “She’s not going to sell.”

“That’s where you come in,” Pete said. “You’re going to make her.”

Cage shook his head and tossed the file back. “No. Even my dad didn’t believe in seizing property.” Though he’d seized women as if they were property.

Pete slammed a fist down on the desk angrily. “You take care of this or I’ll give it to Harv. Heard you made a scene at the bar last night. Some kind of move on the owner. Carrie, is that her name?” Pete’s eyes narrowed maliciously as Cage’s face went tight and hard. “Right. Carrie. Well, Carrie is going to give that bar to the club one way or another. You do it, or we will.” He handed the file back, and Cage took it with an angry swipe of his hand.

“I’ll need time,” he said.

Pete shrugged. “We’ll see how long Jake’s willing to be patient. But if you can’t make things happen for us, then you aren’t one of us.” Pete eyed him carefully. “You’re involved with the girl, aren’t you? If you want her, put a patch on her and get her in the club before Harv can.”

Cage’s lips tightened. It was odd advice from someone as hostile as Pete often was. But sometimes the man was a mystery.

“We’ll give her a good deal on the bar,” Pete said. “Make her see that.” He folded his arms. “It can’t go well for her if she resists.”

Cage sighed. “I need a month. Give me that or I’m not taking the assignment.”

It was a bluff. He definitely couldn’t allow anyone else to take it. But he needed time so he could finish what he needed to do to the Aces before he was supposed to hand over Carrie’s bar.

Because he was here to protect her from the Aces. Not take from her for them.

But they couldn’t think that. Not yet.

“Fine,” Pete grunted, finally giving in. “But not a day more.”

“Fine,” Cage said.

“Oh, and Cage?”

Cage turned back to the man, anger blazing inside him. He could take him apart with one hand, let the bear in him out to tear the place apart. But he had more important things to do, and one man was nothing in the scheme of this awful club. He had to bide his time. Be patient.

“Now that I think about it, that girl who owns the bar, Carrie… you knew her as a kid, didn’t you?”

A muscle in Cage’s jaw ticked. “Yeah. Sort of.”

“Well, if we get any hint that you aren’t with us, I’ll make sure someone breaks her fingers. We clear?”

Ice went through Cage’s veins, but he nodded, already imagining the things he would do to this man for daring to threaten Carrie. He gave Pete a polite smile. “Crystal. Now if you could excuse me, I may as well head over and get started on this.” He held up the file Pete had handed him.

Pete shrugged. “Or you can go tonight, with the guys. I think they’re planning to visit the bar together. Let her know what she can expect if she doesn’t give up the place. We need her to see it’s better for everyone if she just lets go. It’s not good to get in the Aces’s way.”

Cage gave him a grin that didn’t hide the feral beast inside him and saw Pete whiten visibly. Cage knew the men of the Aces sensed something off about him, had even when he was a kid. But none of them knew what that was, and when they did, it would be only be because he was ending every last one of them.

He cracked his knuckles and left the room, heart pounding in his chest. He’d protect Carrie, whatever it took.

He walked out around the side of the compound and leaned against a wall where he knew no one would hear him. It was cold outside, isolated, and most of the Aces were on a ride.

He unlocked his phone and dialed a number, and the voice on the other end picked up quickly.

“Cage?” Bronson asked. “How’s it going?”

Bronson and Limes were the two men he’d formed Bear Claw Security with after they’d served their time in the Special Forces. They’d all decided that keeping people safe was something they wanted to do in the private sector, and since they were all bear shifters from a special army shifter unit, they had unique skills to do it.

They’d been pretty successful before he’d left to do this job, and he knew they were eager to have him back. They couldn’t understand why he’d taken this gig in the middle of nowhere. He didn’t know how Willow had figured out he had a business and sent him a letter to hire him.

But she had, and here he was. And now he was on a deadline.

“I’m doing okay,” he said. “Hit some complications.”

“Limes says we’re going to need the log in to the main computer.”

“That’ll be tough, but I can get it,” he said. “I may need back up.”

“Sure, anytime,” Bronson said. “Even if it means coming to Podunk Nowheresville.”

“Hey, I grew up here,” Cage said.

“I always knew you were a hick. Say, what’s the real reason you took this job. It’s a girl, isn’t it? Come on—”

“I have a month. An unexpected deadline came up. If I’m not making serious progress in about two weeks, I might need you or Limes out here.”

Bronson coughed. “Of course, man. You know we’ll back you up anytime.”

Cage let out a breath. “Thanks.”

“And then get your ass back here. We miss you.”

“You miss the money I bring in.”

Bronson laughed nervously. “Yeah, that, too. You’re good, man.”

“Not as good as Limes,” Cage said. “It’s the hacking that’s important.”

“There’s not much he can’t do with a computer, sure. But you got that brain…”

“And you got the muscle,” Cage joked. “I know.”

Bronson’s deep voice got serious. “You be careful out there, man. You hear me?”

“I got you,” Cage said. “You, too. Tell Limes I said hey.”

Bronson laughed. “He doesn’t need that mushy shit. But yeah. Let us know if you need backup.”

Cage grinned. “Will do.”

Then he hung up and leaned on the wall, enjoying the breeze. It was nice to remind himself he wasn’t alone anymore. And he didn’t just have Carrie either. He had friends, people who cared. As much as he and the guys joked, he knew they’d spill blood for each other.

They’d have his back in an instant.

But he really wanted to take care of this himself.

It was his mate after all.

He put his phone in his pocket and walked back to his room to get ready, steeling himself for seeing Carrie again.

He could hardly wait.

C
arrie was walking back
from Willow’s, energized from spending time with the kids, when she heard the sound of a motorcycle engine.

It was a sound that generally made her cringe, sending chills up her spine, and was often followed by a catcall or something rude. She’d just turned onto the main road that led back to her place, and she was alone, with only the trees and a few lonely buildings looking over her.

She walked a little quicker, away from the direction of the motorcycle engine. She didn’t want to look back.

Instead, she focused on her conversation with Willow about Cage. Willow was just glad he was back and encouraged Carrie to be happy as well. Willow knew how much he’d always meant to her.

But Willow didn’t know all of it, and Carrie hadn’t had the heart to tell her Cage was a part of the Aces.

She’d probably find out on her own soon enough.

The whirring of the engine caught up to Carrie quickly, and she sighed and whirled around to face whatever was coming.

Sure enough, on a glossy red Harley, was the man she’d come to hate more than any other in recent weeks.

Harvey Willard, an officer in the Aces who was extra persistent about wanting to make her his old lady. She shifted her basket to her other hand and folded her arms as she turned to look at him.

He had dark hair, swarthy skin, and glittering black eyes. He was built but in a rough, burly way. Nothing like Cage’s sculpted, impressive muscle on his tall, lean frame.

“What do you want?” she asked, pausing only a second before continuing to walk again.

“Wait up, babe,” he said, parking the bike and walking after her. His arms crept around her waist from behind, and she struggled, breaking free of his gross grip before he could lock it around her.

She whirled on him.

“Stop it! I’m not interested. Not in you or anyone else in the Aces. I’m not going to be anyone’s old lady.”

Harvey frowned but seemed undeterred. He reached for her again. “You could be. You might like it,” he hissed in her ear.

“That’s it,” she said, frustrated. She took a step forward, making him lean over her, and then stomped her foot down hard on his instep, making him howl in pain as she quickly began striding away from him. She heard his footsteps pounding behind her and broke into a run. She hadn’t gone far when she felt his rough hand close around her wrist.

Dammit
.

He yanked her back against him, and she elbowed him in the waist, but she was no match for his strength as his hand caught her face and roughly stroked it. She tried to bite his finger, but she was pinned back against his chest and couldn’t reach very well.

She saw a couple cars go by, the occupants inside sympathetic but unwilling to get involved in something involving one of the Aces. Dammit, was anyone in this town brave enough to take them on, other than her and Willow?

Two women shouldn’t be alone in the world against men like this.

She heard the roar of another engine and rolled her eyes. Another of Harvey’s cronies to back him up.

“Let her fucking go,” a low voice growled, and she looked back in shock to see Cage striding toward them, looking intimidating in his tight leather jacket and fitted dark jeans. His black hair was pushed off his face and his eyes were glowing like intense sapphires. He didn’t stop until he reached them, grabbing Harvey’s arm and forcing it behind him.

Harvey winced and stepped back, nearly spitting in rage. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

Cage got between her and the other man. “Staking my claim,” he said.

“She isn’t claimed,” Harvey said. “She can choose who she wants.”

“Oh, is that what she was doing?” Cage asked snidely. “Choosing you? That’s not what it looked like to me.”

“Who the fuck cares what it looks like to you, outsider!” Harvey said, losing his temper and pushing forward with a shove that barely moved Cage at all. Cage wasn’t as bulky as Harvey; he didn’t have the extra fat that Harvey did from years of drinking. But he clearly had a lot better balance and reflexes.

Cage grabbed Harvey’s collar, lifting him effortlessly off his toes. “You don’t want to get involved with me, Willard. Trust me on that,” he growled.

Harvey wriggled free and swung at Cage, who dodged. “You think you’re some big shot just because your dad was president and you got an easy entry. You didn’t earn your place in the Aces, and one day, they’re going to see what you are! A pussy.”

Cage cocked an eyebrow. “Odd choice of insult,” he said. “And the result of a lesser mind.” He kept himself firmly between Harv and Carrie, and she gulped at the sight of his wide, tall back.

“I’ll show you a lesser mind,” Harv said, pulling off his jacket and tossing it to the side. He rolled up the sleeves of his worn Henley and put up his fists, which were covered with fingerless leather gloves.

Cage frowned. “I don’t want to fight you. Brothers don’t fight.”

Harv grinned and his gaze darted to Carrie. “Fight or get out of the way. I’m tired of you interfering. She’d like me if she just got the chance.”

“That so?” Cage asked, looking back at Carrie.

Carrie shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach that she was causing him trouble. “No, I don’t think any amount of time with him would bring anything but disgust.”

“Why, you little—”

But Harvey didn’t get to finish whatever disgusting thing was going to come out of his mouth. Because as he started toward Carrie with menace in his gaze, Cage stepped forward with one quick, heavy punch that seemed to go straight through Harv’s face and sent him flying back about ten feet.

No human should be able to punch like that. No matter how long Cage had been in the army or how strong or smart he was.

Cage just gave her a grin, shaking off his hand. “No problem.”

She winced, seeing blood drip from a split in his knuckle. Something in her was buzzing, curious. Something was wrong; something had always been mysterious about Cage.

He’d fought for her before, when she’d been harassed by the Aces as a teen. He’d always stuck up for her as needed. But never like this.

She’d never seen anyone go flying like that from a single punch.

She bit her lip. “We should take you home and get you cleaned up.”

He folded his arms and cocked one hip. “Does that mean you’re inviting one of the Aces into your home?”

“I’m inviting you,” she said. “Not one of the Aces.” She shook her head and walked forward, her heart still pounding from the adrenaline as Cage picked up a phone and made a call to someone at the club to pick up Harv.

She was still a little shocked that he’d shown up when he had, but she was glad. Harv had never been that aggressive, and who knew what would have happened if Cage hadn’t come? She’d have to be more careful about walking alone from now on. She’d let her guard down because Cage coming back into town had distracted her.

Not again.

She waved for him to follow her. “Come on. It won’t be the first time I’ve administered first aid on you.” She wished she could take the words back the minute they came out of her mouth. She looked back and saw Cage was silent behind her, looking around at the scenery, seemingly unbothered by her comments.

She hadn’t meant to bring up something painful from the past, but seeing him bleeding, seeing that cocky grin on his face made it impossible not to remember something from the past.

She let it all come flooding back as she led the man she loved back to her home.

S
he was reading
a book in the front room when a knock sounded. It was raining outside, and Carrie had been enjoying the sound of it as she relaxed in the rocking chair while the other kids watched a movie in the living room with Willow. Carrie didn’t think there was anything better than reading a book on a stormy day.

The knock sounded again, and she figured Willow couldn’t hear it, so she set her book aside and got up to open the door. She wasn’t high enough to look out the peephole, so she simply undid the lock and swung the door open.

What she saw made her gasp. Cage was standing on the front step, leaning against the archway, utterly soaked, his dark hair streaming over his face, which was battered and bruised. Blood dripped down his chin and one eye was swollen shut. He was cradling his arm. He looked up at her with a cocky grin, his boyish, fourteen-year-old face trying to make this look less serious than it was.

“Can I come in?” he asked. Then he stumbled forward into her arms, and she caught him, holding his substantial weight. Goodness, he was already getting so tall compared to her, and he was barely in high school. She looked to the living room and saw Willow walking toward them, but Carrie put a finger up to her lips as she helped Cage walk up the stairs to her room.

She wanted to take care of him first. See what she could do for him first.

Those damn Aces. She wanted to kill them.

She knew by now, with Cage’s semi-frequent visits, that his dad was one of them, pretty high up in the organization, and he and his dad didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.

Cage had had bruises before, but nothing like this. When they reached her room at the top of the stairs, he groaned as she leaned him on the wall to push her door open. Then she helped him into her room and set him on the bed.

She tried not to flush as he flopped back on it, one arm over his stomach, bared by his lifted shirt, one arm over his head. He looked a little like a fallen angel, with his pretty boy features and pale skin and striking dark hair and eyes.

The older they got, the more she was starting to see him more as a boy, less like a friend. When she read her romance books, he was the one who came to mind. She could picture him rescuing her, the hero in some ridiculous teenage fantasy.

But right now, he needed her to rescue him. She ran for the first aid box in Willow’s bedroom and brought it back in. He’d pushed himself into a sitting position with his legs dangling over the side of the bed.

She pulled a small chair over so she could work in front of him, trying not to blush at their closeness as he waited patiently for her to pull things out.

She looked him over. Maybe it was just in her mind, but already, the cuts looked less severe. Perhaps she’d thought them worse than they were due to the shock of seeing him like that.

“Worrying you?” he asked.

She nodded. “Of course. I want to go down to the Aces and beat them myself.”

“No,” he said, his face going tight as he reached to take her chin in his hand and make her look at him. “Promise me you’ll never, ever go there. Promise me.”

She was shocked at the harshness of his voice. He was a year younger than her, had no right to scold her like that. Yet the protectiveness there warmed her to the core. “I didn’t want to go anyway,” she said, cutting a length of gauze to tape over the cut on his eye. Then she dabbed a ball of cotton in alcohol. “I have to cleanse your cuts. This is going to hurt.”

“Okay,” he said.

She lifted a damp ball in her hand and began to press it to his forehead. He hissed, and she pulled back but was shocked to see the cut was nearly closed. What on earth was going on?

It was like magic.

Cage seemed unperturbed, so she kept going, dipping the cotton and disinfecting spots on his face as she cleaned him so she could see what needed to be bandaged. But it was almost like he was healing right in front of her eyes.

“Why did he do this?” she asked, taping gauze over the small cuts on his hands and the one over his eye. Even if they seemed to have stopped bleeding, she wasn’t taking any chances. Besides, she was kind of enjoying caring for him. The feel of his skin, his male scent beside her.

She had a feeling this was the only boy she could ever fall in love with.

“We had a fight,” he said, folding his arms. Then he sighed and lifted his shirt, baring his small chest to her.

She gulped. Small or not, he was still a boy her eyes, and his lean muscles made her adolescent heart skip a beat.

“Here’s the worst one,” he said, gesturing to a large burn across his ribs that was blistered and pink. “What should we do with that one?”

“I don’t know,” she said, trying not to flush at the fact that her crush was shirtless. “Maybe just wait? Your body has an odd way of healing itself.”

He grinned. “Nah, it just looks less bad under the blood.”

She frowned and began gently drying the burn so she could apply sanitary gauze. Sadly, they got a lot of abused kids here at Willow’s ranch, so she’d become adept at applying first aid to things like this. But every time she did, she ended up hating humanity just a bit more.

When his burn was covered, he pulled his shirt back on, grinned, and stood. His grin was more of a grimace due to the shallow cut on his lip that was looking much better but still there.

The evidence that a grown man could hit a boy.

“Cage, we should call the cops.”

Cage had walked to the window but then just turned and looked at her blankly. “And you think they’d do anything about it? When it involves the Aces?” He blinked, and she realized he might actually be blinking away tears. He swiped at them, and her heart broke for him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “Don’t pity me.” He sat on the window seat that looked over the yard, his legs in front of him. “Don’t worry about me. I’m gonna get out of here someday. I’m going to be better than him. Stronger than him.”

That’s right. He should leave this place. Escape. That was all that mattered. She could be happy here with Willow, although she’d miss him. But he’d have no chance if he stayed here with the awful men he lived with at the compound.

He looked over at her, and she memorized the image. The beautiful dark-haired boy, smiling against his bruises as he sat in front of a window with water streaming down it in all directions. Like the sky was crying for him.