Bear to the Rescue (Bear Claw Security Book 3) (12 page)

Her chest heaved and her fists balled at her sides as she stared at him.

“Hello,” he said quickly, putting up a finger for her to wait.

He knew how it looked. He knew he needed to explain. He knew she was fragile and her trust wasn’t easily won, but was easily lost.

But he didn’t even know if he could fix it right now. But there was something he could fix. Even if she didn’t want him. Even if he was beginning to think she could never trust him.

“What’ve you got?” he asked Limes quickly.

“We ran the prints. The guys you met, they work for someone named Sanderson,” Limes said.

Bronson swore, “Damn.”

“You know someone like that?”

“Yes,” Bronson said, running a hand through his hair. “Dammit.” How had he not seen it coming? The people after Regan today, they weren’t after her. Well, they were only after her because she was around him. Because the people he’d been running from had finally caught up. He sighed into the phone.

“What can I do, man?”

“I need you get Sanderson’s address,” Bronson said. “I think I know it, but just in case. I’m headed out, so send it to my phone.” He slammed the receiver down and picked up his phone, shoving it into his pocket as he moved into battle mode.

Regan gaped at him. “You’re leaving? After I just saw that?”

Bronson exhaled in frustration, feeling truly stuck between reassuring the woman he loved and solving a problem that desperately needed solving.

He loved Regan; he truly did. But he didn’t know if he was ever going to be able to get her to trust him. Let alone in the little time he had to spare as he left the building.

“I saw you kissing another woman in that picture,” Regan choked out. “What, you’re getting sloppy now that you know I’m giving us a try? Like a bear, you can’t just have one woman?”

Bronson felt anger fire up in him. Sure, he knew how it looked. But he had hoped against hope that Regan was finally understanding him. Even if it looked impossible, a part of him had hoped she would just for once give him the benefit of the doubt.

“It’s not what it looks like. I can explain, but I don’t have time right now.”

“Right,” she said. “So now that I’m questioning you, you’re just going to run.” She threw up her hands. “Perfect.”

“Seriously, you’re making a mistake,” he insisted, trying to get around her to the door. “But you’re not going to believe me even if I tell you, and I have to get moving
now
.”

She took a step out of the way, hurt in her expression. As he moved by her, she looked up angrily. “The only way you could explain that is if you somehow have an identical twin I don’t know about.” She huffed. “You’re kissing another woman in that photo. Clear as day. I can see every feature.”

“Then you should know it isn’t me,” he said, grabbing her by the shoulders and looking her in the eyes. Wounded green pools glared up at him. He released her. “But if you don’t know me well enough by now to know I’d never do that to you, then maybe you don’t know me at all.”

She glared at him and then turned away, letting him pass.

His heart pounded in his chest, both for the damage between them and the way it would be almost impossible to repair. But he was nearly choking on the fact his running from his former life was finally catching up to someone other than himself.

He needed to find the people responsible for that image and make sure they couldn’t hurt Regan or anyone he cared for again.

And most importantly, at this moment, he had to save his brother.

And if Regan hated him after this moment, then he’d just have to win her all over again.

He didn’t say anything to the other staff as he rushed out the front office. Just gave them a wave as if to say he’d tell them later.

There was no time to lose.

His brain moved into action mode as he ran down the stairs to avoid the elevator and get to his car as soon as possible. He was halfway to his Charger, keys in hand, when he heard someone step out behind him.

He turned slowly just as he heard the whoosh of something being fired, and something sharp hit him right in the neck. He slapped his hand up to find something hard sticking out.

They’d tranqued him. He growled in anger as the world began to swim around him. He made his way toward the dark figure in front of him, ready to do battle, but felt two more sharp pricks in his leg and chest.

He reached up, pulling out the darts, but the world was spinning too quickly.

He fell to his knees just as the figures around him closed in.

“Shit, that guy took as much as a rhino to take down,” someone said.

“Yeah, he’s really something,” another voice said. This one was feminine, tinged with an edge that made him shiver as he felt nails graze the bottom of his chin.

He knew that voice from his worst nightmares.

It was the last thing he heard as it all went dark.

R
egan was still shaking
as she sat in the office alone, the image of Bronson in another woman’s embrace still burning in her brain.

Could it really be him? Who else would have his face? That beautiful, handsome, movie star face? It was as striking as it was damning in a situation like this.

Her heart throbbed, pounding harder than she’d ever felt as betrayal coursed through her. Bronson couldn’t do that to her. He’d looked hurt by even the thought of her suggesting it. Yet the proof had been right there in front of her. And he hadn’t even stayed to explain.

What could be so important to take him away?

She stumbled to his desk and rested her hands on it, keeping herself standing on trembling legs. What a day. First held at knifepoint, then finally agreeing to commit, then forced to see her new partner was a cheater.

Was it even cheating since they’d only made it official today?

Still, she felt stabbed in the heart just thinking about it. She wanted to pick up something and break it.

She took deep breaths and tried to think clearly. He’d run out on her. His eyes as he’d been desperate to go burned into her. What the hell would make him take off like that?

Even if he were a dirty cheater, she had to know what was bothering him. What had put that haunted look in his eyes? Was he going after the woman who exposed him? Was he…?

She thought back to what she’d said to him a moment earlier.

The only thing that could explain it is if you had a twin…

She blinked. No, it wasn’t possible. He’d said he had a younger brother.

Younger
.

But a twin could be younger, right?

Ugh. She slapped her forehead as she took off running out of the office and through the front doors.

Cage, Carrie, and the others stared at her in shock as she ran to the elevator and slammed her hands down on the buttons.

“Shit. Shit. Open!” she said, banging her hands down. Gasping, she saw the stairwell and ran for it, pushing open the door and nearly falling down the stairs in her haste.

Please, please, be on time
, she thought, bursting through the doors at the end of the stairway.

She saw nothing, just a van screeching out the exit, taking a turn way too hard and fast to be normal.

She ran out into the parking lot, looking for Bronson, but saw nothing. As she got closer to where he parked his Charger, something flashing on the ground caught her eye.

She grabbed it and saw a missed call. Where the hell was Bronson?

Behind the missed call, the image of what looked like him kissing another, older woman was still there, breaking her heart to even look at it. But as she looked closer, something was definitely off. Yes, the face was Bronson’s. But the expression, the clothing?

She slammed her palm over her forehead. No one could blame her for jumping to conclusions. How could she have known Bronson’s estranged brother was a twin? That must have been even more painful—to be separated as kids.

She sank to the cement with the phone in her hand just as a new message from Limes beeped on the screen.

She opened it to find an address and Limes saying it was the one Bronson had asked for. Above the message, she could see old messages and clicked the one that had come with the picture to see what it said.

When she read it, her blood went prickly.

I’m getting what I paid for.

Now she knew why Bronson had run. He hadn’t had time to explain what was going on because someone had his
brother
.

She saw Bronson’s keys a few feet away and lunged at them, swiping them up in her hand as she ran to his car and unlocked the door. She set a map to the address on Bronson’s phone and screeched out of the parking spot as she dialed Limes’s number.

“Hello?” he said as she squealed out of the parking lot and bottomed out Bronson’s car as she made the same hard turn the van had taken, hoping to catch them.

“It’s Regan. Limes, they’ve taken him.”

“What the—”

“I’ve got his keys and phone,” she said. “And the address you sent.”

“But—”

“Don’t but me. That’s my mate they’ve got,” she snapped.

“‘Bout time you realized it,” Limes said. “But where are you going?”

“I’m going after him, obviously. You have a tracker on his phone, right?”

“Yeah,” Limes said.

“I’m headed in the direction of the address you sent. Grab the other guys and follow.”

“You should wait for us. Bronson wouldn’t want you to—”

“What Bronson wants doesn’t matter right now,” she said. “My body’s moving on its own, and I’m going to keep him safe.”

“Be careful,” Limes said sharply, as if he suddenly understood he couldn’t stop her. “Bronson will kill us if anything happens to you.”

“If Bronson is well enough to be killing anyone, that’s all that matters to me.”

Limes laughed darkly. “All right. Well, I’ve already texted word to Hercules and Cage. We’re on the way.”

“Got it. Bye.” She swallowed as she took another hard turn, speeding to the extent she was sure she could be pulled over any minute if a cop spotted her.

Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any around.

She took deep, steadying breaths as she fought to catch up to the van she’d seen, but she didn’t see any glimpse of it as she drove farther into the country. It was in the opposite direction of where she lived, and the roads were long and winding.

She felt her whole world bottoming out as she thought about something happening to the man who meant everything to her. If only she’d trusted him, maybe they could have talked about this together. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone running down there alone.

But then they would both have been captured. No, she was better off separate, where she had a chance to sneak up on them and save him.

No evil woman was setting even a finger on her mate.

She took turn after turn, speeding as quick as the road would let her, until she finally came to a road that led up to a solitary mansion a hundred yards away. She slammed on the brakes and swerved off into the trees, out of sight so no one would see her.

There was a van in the driveway, with men around it, and as she looked closer from behind a tree, she could see they were unloading something big.

Bronson.

He was totally unconscious, his beautiful body manhandled by the shifters as they attempted to haul him inside. And just ahead of them, an elegantly dressed woman in a red sweater beckoned them forward. She hated everything about the woman, from her perfectly coiffed blond hair to her slender figure but mostly just the way she looked at Bronson like she owned him.

Maybe she
thought
she did.

Only one woman had any rights to Bronson, and that was Regan.

She waited until everyone was inside and the door boomed shut behind them, and then she snuck up the path to the house, zipping from tree to tree, though she had the feeling no one was watching her. No one was expected to notice Bronson was gone that quickly.

The bitch was probably planning to move fast.

Usually, Regan could be a reasonable person. But right now, some bitch had her mate, and she was just an angry she-bear waiting to sink her claws into some bitch flesh.

She scampered over to the side of the house, looking for a side entrance. She had no idea where they’d taken Bronson once they’d gotten inside.

She stood next to a window, hiding herself, and then snuck a quick peek at what was happening inside. She saw the men moving up the main stairs in the middle of the mansion.

She ducked back behind the window.

She eyed the road. When would the guys from Bear Claw get there? There were way too many for her to take on, but she couldn’t afford to wait and let something happen to Bronson.

She looked at her watch and took a deep breath. She didn’t have many options.

She crept along the side of the house until she saw the side door she was looking for. When she pulled on it, it didn’t move. Damn. It must have an old-fashioned deadbolt, because she didn’t see any security system. If there were one, she could have hacked it.

She sank against the door, ready to cry in frustration.

Then she heard a window open on the floor above her. She heard voices inside and knew the woman was in there. And Bronson had to be as well.

Of course. If the woman was trying to get ‘what she’d paid for,’ then she’d need time alone with Bronson. Especially since he was out and probably being tied up at this point, if they were smart. If Bronson woke up untied, he could probably take all of them with one hand.

She crept over to the wall beneath the window and looked up. She looked down at her tennis shoes and then up at the ten or so feet of brick she had to scale to get to him.

She focused and extended her claws from her fingers. Just a very small shift was all she needed. She dug her claws between the first set of bricks she needed and braced her foot on the brick in front of her.

Slowly, she climbed, trying to be quiet, despite the rising anger in her as she heard the woman above her telling the men to leave now that they’d tied Bronson.

She clutched the wall, adrenaline pounding through her as she kept her spot, waiting for the right moment.

Then she heard the door to the room shut and lock. The woman was alone with Bronson now. This was Regan’s best shot.

She heard cars pulling up to the mansion, but she looked back to see they were still several roads away. They wouldn’t here soon enough.

She heard an angry but groggy male voice speak up. Bronson was awake.

And he was pissed at something that was happening. She swung her foot up onto the windowsill and dragged herself in, just in time to see the woman leaning forward over Bronson where he was tied to a bed by his wrists and ankles.

She didn’t even feel the shift happening. She just knew the next moment, she was flying into the room, a blur of fur and claws, and the blond woman over her mate was the only thing in her field of vision.

She tackled the woman to the floor just as the bitch changed, and they rolled across the stone floor in a growling, flailing mass and then came to a halt as the woman pushed off of Regan and stood, licking a wound on her paw.

Got you, bitch
.

Regan grinned and then lunged again. She was so focused on swiping the rapist lady bear across the face over and over that she didn’t notice the door open at the other end of the room until it was too late.

“Regan,” Bronson yelled. “Look out!”