Bears & Beauties - Complete (13 page)

Only, he wasn’t back. Because it wasn’t Kalvin.

Instead, a tall, blond haired man dressed in an expensive looking suit stood outside my door. He was as tall as Kalvin, though not quite as broad-shouldered, giving him a lithe and sinewy appearance.

“Well hello there,” the man purred. “Who do we have here?”

I backed away from the doorway a step, my hand still on the doorknob. “I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong apartment.” I said before trying to shut the door. Much to my dismay, the man held up a hand and braced the door open.

“No,” he started, “I think I’m exactly where I belong. How about you let me in and we have a little chat?”

“I’d rather not,” I told him. Then, in an attempt to dissuade any aggression, I added: “I’m expecting company.”

The man snorted. “Oh, I bet you are. Of the deep-pocketed, tall, dark and grizzly variety, no doubt?”

My eyes went wide with shock. Whoever the guy was, he knew about Kalvin.

“What do you want?” I asked the man, doing my best to sound firm despite my wavering confidence.

“Let me in and we’ll discuss it. It’s rude to make a guest stand out in the hallway.” Then, before I could protest any further, the man pushed past me and stepped inside my apartment. He spent a few seconds looking around and taking in his surroundings, before finally murmuring, “Quaint.”

Leaving the door open, I strode across the living room toward the kitchen. Grabbing my phone off the counter, I started to dial 911.

“I wouldn’t do that,” the man said,
tsk
ing me while wagging his finger.

“Why’s that?” I shot back, my finger hovering over the call button.

“Simple. You finish that call, and all the police will find when they get here is a bloody mess. Not even a body.” His lips curled up into a cruel grin and something in his eyes darkened.

I felt the blood drain from my face as I stood there, staring in horror at the man and his threat. Just
who
was he?

The man closed the door then took a seat on my couch and motioned for me to take a seat as well. I sat the phone back on the counter, then cautiously made my way to the chair across from the couch.

“That’s a good girl,” the man chided. “Now, let’s talk. I bet you’re wondering who I am and why I’m here, correct?”

I only nodded.

“Well lucky for you, I’m feeling chatty.” He flashed me a wicked smile. “My name is Darrel Collin. Your mate and I, well, we have some unfinished business to attend to, and I really need to see him. Thing is, he didn’t show up at work this morning, so I couldn’t get to him there. I did manage to track him to
here
, however. At first, I thought I was mistaken. But then
you
opened the door and you are
covered
with his scent. I have to wonder, how long have you been mated? And, more importantly, why in the world does he lock someone as delicious looking as you up in this dump?”

Whoa. In a few short sentences, the man - Darrel Collin - had just thrown a ton of information at me. Kalvin’s
mate
? His
scent
? What in the world?

“I…I think you’re mistaken,” I managed. “I’m not Kalvin’s…mate?”

Darrel arched an eyebrow at me skeptically. “Come now, dear, you don’t have to deny it. Like I said, I can smell his scent all over you.”

I shook my head at him, “We literally just met. Last night, in fact.”

Darrel pursed his lips and cocked his head to one side. “And?”

My face flushed. “And we haven’t mated!”

“Right,” Darrel scoffed. “You’re telling me that you’re somehow covered in an alpha’s scent, are clearly claimed by him, but that he hasn’t fucked you? Not buying it.”

“Look,” I half-shouted at Darrel. “I don’t know what you’re after, but Kalvin obviously isn’t here. So if you don’t mind…”

Darrel stood up gingerly, then stalked over to the kitchen where he found the note Kalvin had left me. I shuddered as he read it.

“He isn’t here
yet
, I think you mean,” Darrel purred, flashing me a set of pearly white teeth. He glanced in the sink where the steaks were thawing. “Aww, how kind,” Darrel stated, feigning delight. “I’m famished and here you are setting me out a snack.”

Then, without warning, Darrel’s face shifted into a bestial form, a cross between a man and a mountain lion, and he devoured the half-frozen steaks - package and all - in a single motion, before shifting back to the sharp-nosed face of the human who’d been there before.

If it had been possible, my jaw would have been on the floor. Instead, I just let out a scream.

Darrel rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Now, now. Enough of that.”

But I didn’t stop. Instead, I jumped to my feet and began backing away from him as quickly as I could toward the door, my lungs still burning with my screams.

Before I could make it to the door, however, Darrel crossed the room and grabbed me by the mouth. With no apparent effort, he lifted me from the ground, his palm cupped beneath my jaw. “Should’ve just kept your mouth shut,” he purred, flashing me a pair of fangs. Then, without warning, he tossed me across the room. My head collided with the wall and I sank to the floor, the world spinning as my consciousness escaped.

Kalvin

It was dark well before I managed to escape my office. Or, rather, my
former
office. As of the market’s close, I no longer owned the majority stake in the company. By morning, I was betting that the company would be dissolved altogether. Just the thought of it had my brain threatening to leak out my ears.

I’d spent the entire day scrambling. I called every legal and financial expert in the city, trying to find some way around the hostile takeover. Trying to give myself even the slightest bit of breathing room. Much to my dismay, no one could even begin to offer me the slightest bit of help. I was on my own, and there was jack-shit that I could do for myself. Even if my bear had decided to make an appearance, there was no way to turn the ship around. I was sunk. Point blank, period.

I was more than a little pleased to note that the media circus that had been encamped outside my building all day had finally tapered off. No doubt to chase some new, fresh story. With any luck, my name would at least be out of the media by morning.

Shaking my head, I made my way toward the car, gesturing my thanks to Tony for pulling it up.

“Where to, boss?” Tony asked as I climbed in and shut the door.

I’d left Megan a note saying that I’d be back tonight. Assuming she’d found the note, she’d be expecting me back at her place any time now. As much as the thought of seeing her sent jolts of warm electricity down my spine, I wasn’t so sure that it was the best thing at the moment. For one, I’d pretty much just experienced the single worst twenty-four hours of my life. Not only had I lost my position as reigning alpha in the fight club, but I’d also been left for dead, abandoned by my bear, and lost the company that I’d built up virtually by myself. There was no way that the day could get any worse, but with my already-shaken confidence, I didn’t think I was in any state to spend time with my fated mate.

That’s assuming she even wants me. I’m a failure.

“Kal?” Tony prodded, forcing me away from my thoughts.

Fuck it. I needed to see her. If for no other reason than to pay her back for her help. “Elm and Third,” I told him.

With a nod, Tony pulled off and started toward Megan’s apartment. The closer we got to Megan’s place, the faster my heart began to beat. Before long, I could barely hear over the constant drumming in my chest. It was as if all of my nerves, fears, and anxieties had decided to explode at once, taking my heart along for the ride with them. Something felt off, but I couldn’t place it.

When we reached Megan’s building, I asked Tony to let me out and told him to go home. I’d call him if I needed to, but I planned on staying for more than a few minutes.

As Tony pulled off, I started toward the stairs. Taking them two at a time, I climbed up to the third floor, then took a moment to brush myself off and straighten out my clothing. I’d abandoned my suit jacket in the car, but my tailored pants still clung against my legs with each step. Finally, I walked over to Megan’s door, took a breath, and knocked.

Much to my surprise, the door opened against my knock, creaking away from me a few inches before stopping. A dim light spilled out into the hallway and through the crack I could just barely make out the form of a person curled up on the couch. “Megan?” I asked, pressing against the door, easing it open. “Megan, it’s me, Kal.”

The form on the couch didn’t stir and an alarm went off in the back of my brain. Even if my bear had decided to take a leave of absence, his instinctual and predatory concern still persisted. Without wasting another second, I shoved the door all the way open, letting it slam against the wall, and stepped into the dimly lit apartment.

“Shhhhh,” I heard from across the room. “You’ll wake her.”

My eyes shot toward the source of the voice, landing on a man leaning back against the far wall. From his place in the shadows, I could barely make out his features. I could tell that he was tall, almost as tall as myself, and stood with an air of confidence about him. Even in the dark, there was something familiar about him.

“Who the fuck are you?” I growled, my protective nature emerging even despite the bear’s absence. “What did you do?”

The man waved a hand in front of him as if to dismiss the questions. “You’ve chosen well, Kalvin. Your mate is…lovely to say the least. If you hadn’t already imprinted on her, I would have taken her for myself.”

“You son of a bitch,” I snarled, stalking across the room toward the man. How he knew she was my mate, I had no idea. Especially since I
hadn’t
imprinted on her. That would have involved an exchange of fluids. Something that hadn’t yet happened. But his veiled threat was enough to put me over the edge. Even without my bear, I’d still tear him limb from limb.

Before I could reach the man, however, he bent low and dove toward me, driving his shoulder into my stomach, knocking the breath from my lungs and knocking me onto my back. The man climbed atop my torso, his legs spread on each side of me, and drove a fist into my still-injured ribs. A flash of pain ignited as my ribs cracked and I let out a soundless yelp of pain.

“What? No fight left in you?” The man purred, baring a set of pearly white fangs as he did. Leaning down toward me and out of the shadows, I managed to make out his face. He had the same sharp and unmistakable features of the shifter who had nearly killed me in the octagon the night before.

Oh shit,
I realized.
Oh shit. Oh shit.

As if he could read my mind, the man leaned in close, his nose less than an inch from my own. “Oh
yes
,” he hissed. “I think we have some unfinished business,
Kalvin Dare
.”

The man spat my name out as though it tasted bitter on his tongue. The fact that he knew my name at all more than startled me. The fights were supposed to be anonymous. Names and identities were never revealed, only status within the fight club itself.

“You see, after I bested you. After I
destroyed
you,” the man continued, still hissing with each word, “the security in the club decided that I was a hazard to the rest of the people there. Rather than let me enjoy or claim my victory, they tranquilized me. They rendered my victory illegitimate.”

I let the man enjoy his fitful monologue for a moment, doing my best to recover my breath as he did. When it finally returned, so did the predatory instinct. Without wasting another second, I shot my head forward with as much momentum and force as I could, crashing my skull into the man’s unsuspecting nose. For the second time in as many days, I broke the man’s nose and send him reeling backward and onto the floor beside me. Seizing the opportunity, I mounted the man, doing my best to display a position of dominance. Even if he did have an alpha inside him, the presence of mine should have been enough to force him into submission. Thing is, my alpha still refused to make his presence known. Rather than give the man enough time to realize that, I immediately went to bashing his face in with my fists.

The man had enough time to throw up his arms in a defensive position, but I still managed to slam my fist against his skull. Multiple times in fact.

“
Enough!”
the man roared, driving his elbows downward and into my thighs with enough force to deaden them on impact.

I let out a loud howl of pain, then sat up, preparing to deliver a finishing blow with as much force as I could muster.

“Enough!” the man roared again. “I’m warning you. If you ever want to get your company back, you need to back the fuck off.”

That was enough to get my attention. “What the hell are you talking about?” I hissed.

The man grinned widely, wider than should have been possible in his human form. “Did you think it was a coincidence? That Dare International would collapse the night after
you
did?”