Bearing It All (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (22 page)

I gulped. “Don’t kill him,” I said. “I couldn’t live without you.”

The words came out of my mouth before I realized I was going to say them. But once they were out there, I couldn’t take them back even if I’d wanted to pretend I never said them.

“I won’t,” he said with a gruff laugh. “But I can’t promise how close I’ll get.”

As he vanished into the woods I fished my phone out of my back pocket. No police, I knew, but if I could at least get someone on the way out here, life would be easier. I couldn’t think
who
though.

No reception. Zero bars. So, I was going to have to go back to town.

I needed to think of someone though. Running down the list of candidates in my head – Lex, Henry, my parents – none of them made much sense. Lex maybe,
maybe
, but...

Then it hit me. During one of the seventy times I’d seen Erik, our town alpha, on the news, he’d been standing around in his leather pants and open-necked shirt, and said that he wanted to be the sort of alpha people came to when they had problems.

He wanted the town to feel safe with him in the lead, he’d said.

“Well,” I said under my breath, “I guess I’m going to go see the mayor.”

––––––––

“S
omething’s got to break,” Erik said, squeezing the side of his huge, walnut wood desk so hard that Izzy thought he was about to pull apart.

Without warning, a bat flittered through the window, grabbed ahold of an overhanging bar and wrapped itself up. Moments later, black hair, a pencil skirt with a long slit, and a pair of tremendously dangerous-looking stilettoes replaced the wings and claws.

“Yeah,” Jamie said, letting her hair fall down her back in an ebony cascade as her wings melded into her back. “That desk is about to, if you’re not careful. And I’m not sure there’s room in the budget for another one, but Izzy would know.”

Erik let out a sigh and relaxed his grip. “It’s just... god
damn
whoever is doing this!”

“What Erik means,” Izzy interrupted him with a hand on his shoulder, “is that he’s frustrated with the current events in town. He hasn’t slept much at all lately, and... just between you and me,” she pulled Jamie aside and whispered, “he hasn’t been doing much else at night either.”

“Hey!” Erik half-shouted. “I’m not sure that’s necessary information, Isabel.” His voice was mocking, but there was a little twist of a mischievous grin trailing afterwards.

Izzy shrugged and gave Erik a squeeze on his sloped, muscular shoulder. “Anyway,” she said. “I’m not telling her anything she doesn’t already know. Moving along!”

Izzy and Jamie both had a laugh while Erik faked that he was irritated. The short break of levity was just what he needed to get his mind back into something approaching control.

“Did you see anything when you were swooping around up there?” He asked, turning to Jamie, but keeping his hand nestled safely on the small of Izzy’s back. “Anything about the kidnapped girls?”

Jamie shook her head. “Nothing new. From what I hear though, there’s been a rash of kidnappings all over the place. Unsurprisingly,” she curled her tongue around the word and paused. “They seem to follow that carny asshole’s fighting promotion. But, they all seem to stop when he leaves. And the girls – that’s what they all are – never get found.”

“Have you been trailing him?” Erik asked. “If you have, then how could they keep kidnapping girls?”

Janie shrugged. “I
have
been, but I can’t fly as far as he can drive. I’m in pretty good shape, but that’s still a little bit of a stretch. Either way, he’s back in town. Or actually in Clinton, but that’s close enough to the same thing.”

“Jamesburg is
way
less
Deliverance
than Clinton,” Erik said.

“Yeah but only because all the brothers would be leopards here,” Jamie said, helpfully, before another round of relieved laughter broke out.

Just then, the door burst open, and a very worried Professor Duggan shuffled in, pulling up one of his suspenders as he did. He blew a puff of air upward that pushed the few hairs on top of his bald head backwards, and mussed his mustache.

“Another one is gone!” he said. “That’s two! Two freshman, both kidnapped. And both of them missed my exam! Do you realize what that means, Erik? It means I’m going to have to hold extra office hours! I’ll have to proctor my own exam! Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?”

Erik put his hands up in a defensive gesture, and stood up from behind his desk. “Look, Duggan, I’m not sure that your office hours are the most important thing here. There are missing girls and... wait, did you say another one?”

“Yes!” Duggan squeaked. “This morning! I have two classes with her, and she’s never missed a single one. She was in Greek History at nine – I always teach Greek History at nine – but then she missed the one at eleven!”

“So... you’re not actually sure she got kidnapped, right?” Erik asked. “She could have just... I dunno, decided to go out drinking? I mean she
is
a college student.”

“Oh no, no, no, not this one,” Duggan said. “Henrietta has never missed a class at all. And she’s not particularly the sort to go out drinking in the middle of the day. I went to the library, as I always do after that class, to check the new releases. That’s when I found it closed!
Closed
, Erik! The library at a college, closed!”

“Was she a librarian?” Izzy cut in, asking. “Or—”

“Oh my God do you think he kidnapped
all
of the librarians?” Duggan was just about to puff his head up and start stress-squeaking when Jamie started petting his back gently.

“I really doubt it, Duggan,” Jamie said softly. “But I know Henrietta – Lawson, right?”

Duggan nodded. “That’s the one, yes, the very soft spoken turtle girl. She’s one of my Master’s students. Oh no, what’s going to happen with all those essays I need her to grade? This is just getting worse all the time.”

“Right,” Jamie said. “She really isn’t one to miss class. I know her parents fairly well. She was really excited to go back to work on her Master’s, so—”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” Erik asked. “A Master’s student! Much more reliable than your run of the mill college kid.”

Izzy elbowed him so hard in the ribs that he grunted and almost doubled over.

“Sorry,” Erik grunted. He winced as he straightened back up. “It’s a defense mechanism. And I didn’t know you had a good enough elbow to join the fighting circuit, Izzy.”

She cocked a half grin that looked almost exactly like one of Erik’s.

“We have to do something,” Duggan said, exasperated. “As the senior member of the town council, I officially mandate that something be done!”

“Good,” Jamie said. “That’ll probably do the trick. Anyone want to go get some lunch? I figure we’ve got nothing but time now that Dr. Duggan has professed something should—”

The door to the business office where the four were chatting blasted open so hard that it slapped backwards against the doorframe.

“Holy shit!” Erik shouted.

“Holy shit!” Jamie added.

“Who’s there?” Izzy asked, looking up from her books.

“Pffft!” Duggan panicked, squeezing himself into a ball and letting out all his anxiety by puffing.

A girl – a very small one – with reddish brown hair, a mousey look about her, and the cutest little mouth that Erik had ever seen – except for Izzy’s of course – stumbled through and blinked. “I... uh... sorry,” she stammered. “I’m not used to doing things like this. I just went to the biggest doors and figured I’d find you here, uh, sir. Alpha, sir.”

“Normally this is traffic court, although I like the notion of looking for me behind the biggest doors you could find. There’s something simple and brilliant about that.” Erik cocked his head. One of the leaves tattooed on his neck throbbed in time with his pounding heart. He’d never admit to being surprised, but he most certainly was. “But what’s going on? Why did you just kick my traffic court’s door open?”

“Can it, Erik,” Jamie said. “Violet? Violet Larue? You’ve grown up a
lot
since—”

“Jamie! Thank God you’re here,” the girl said, sucking air to try and catch her breath. “I was hoping...”

“How are your folks? Dan and Marcia still doing all right?” Jamie asked. “I used to babysit this little fox when she was a cub,” Jamie explained to the rest of them, who all nodded, as she squeezed a hug around Violet’s shoulders.

“They – uh, yeah, they’re good. Dad had a heart attack last year but it wasn’t a bad one. And mom was really upset that Clint Eastwood used so many swears in his latest movie, but other than that, they’re doing pretty well. How’ve you been?”

“Oh that’s wonderful,” Jamie said. “Personally I didn’t mind the swears, but then again, I barely listen to anything he says. That is a
hot
silver fox. Not a real fox, of course. But...”

She looked around at the three pairs of bewildered eyes watching her, and cleared her throat. “Yeah, well, we can catch up later. Er... anyway, why
did
you kick the door open like Sonny Crockett?”

“I love that show,” Violet said.

For a second, everyone in the room looked around, not really sure who was going to speak next, so Erik clearing his throat was a nice segue.

“Oh!” Violet said, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, right, uh... my boyfriend,” she paused and gulped. That was the first time she’d ever called him anything other than his name, but goodness did it ever feel good. More than good – it felt
right
. “We, uh, followed some trucks and we found some things.”

“Violet!” Duggan erupted. “You’re here! Why aren’t you at the library? Did you know they stole Henrietta?”

She cocked her head to the side in a very foxy gesture. “Because if I was at the library, I couldn’t be here tell you how my boy... friend,” she grinned that time, “and I found the girls.” She stared at Duggan’s face for a second and then what he said hit her. “Henry? She’s been... how do you know?”

“He doesn’t,” Erik said. “Wait a second, did you just—”

“You
found
them?” Jamie asked. “How did—”

“My boyfriend,” Violet said, getting visibly flustered. “He’s... Crag, you know, Morgan. The, uh, the bear?”

“I know the Morgan family,” Erik said. “But Crag – that’s the big one, the younger kid, right? Anyway, he left town to play football or something.” Erik pursed his lips. “
Any
way, I’m guessing the family history isn’t that important. But how did... wait, does it even matter? We have to move, and
now
. If what this girl’s saying is true, it’s time to bust some heads.”

Rushing past her, Erik brushed his arm against Violet as walked to the door, but when he got there, he spun around on his heel and went right back to his desk. “Forgot my jacket,” he said, slinging the black leather jacket over his huge shoulders.

He zipped it half way, his muscle chest pushing the top open. Immediately she thought of Ash – she thought of
her boyfriend Ash
– and his incredible body. She flushed a little, imagining his hands on her back, pulling her close.

“What are you all sitting around staring for?” Erik demanded. “We’ve got a bunch of girls to save.”

No one moved.

“Come on!” he shouted, jolting everyone to life. “Can you take us to where they are? And are we going to need backup?”

Violet shook her head. “I, uh, yeah maybe. We’re going to those woods east of town. The Witch Woods. There are nine guards and... no, ten if you count Marlin.”

Everyone’s face visibly sank. “Don’t tell me Jenga is behind this again,” Duggan said. “My heart would never recover from pushing for his sentence to be commuted and then—”

“Witch,” Violet said. “Leota Barlowe, she’s... making a potion.”

The sinking on everyone’s face was immediately replaced with anger. “I knew something like this would happen eventually,” Erik said. “But Leota’s been around town for so long, and she’s never done anything like that before.”

“She’s not exactly the nicest person,” Violet said in a small voice. Swallowing her panic, she cleared her throat. “I don’t have time to explain, but... she’s not just some kooky old woman with a cauldron.”

Erik looked over at Izzy, who shot him a nasty glance. “You promised you wouldn’t do anything dangerous, Erik, you...”

“Hey, hey,” he said, lifting his hands like he was deflecting punches. “There’s no time! The hyenas always take forever to get places... I’m just doing what I can.”

With that, he brushed past Violet again, on his way to the door. “You come with me,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I’m gonna need a guide. Jamie, Izzy, Duggan, I’d tell you to stay put but somehow I don’t think you’d listen. So instead I’ll just say to follow, and make sure you don’t get there before us. If this Morgan boy really is helping, he’ll be all the help I need. Those bears always could fight like hell.”

Jamie nodded. “But only when they really believe in something. And... aren’t you forgetting something? We
do
in fact have a police force.”

Erik let out a groan. “Yeah, okay, fine. Call the hyenas. Make sure Daniels is with them. We’ll get there first, but I... guess that if this is really as organized as it seems we might need the heavy backup.”

“That’s surprisingly reasonable, Erik,” Jamie said. “Thank you.”

Another few glances were made, then Erik grabbed Izzy’s wrist, pulling her in and burying her in a kiss. “Stay safe,” he said. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you. I’m not gonna kiss either of you two, but you’re both my friends, so you stay safe too. You?” he turned back to Violet. “Come on. You, I’ll keep safe, though I don’t think that boyfriend of yours is going to need any help on that count.”

Seeing how Erik had grabbed his mate and kissed her right then and there in the middle of everyone made Violet realize exactly how strong their love was. She wondered for a second, as she trotted to Erik Danniken’s motorcycle, if she and Ash could ever have something like that, or if they were just two stupid kids in the middle of a pointless fling.