Bears & Beauties - Complete (20 page)

Julie did her best to run through her breathing exercises, trying to remain calm. She needed to figure out what was going on or, preferably, a way out of here. She’d seen videos on the Internet about escaping from kidnappers, but she couldn’t remember anything about them. Hell, she’d even taken a few self-defense classes here and there over the years, but they weren’t going to do her much good bound and gagged in some dank corner of wherever-the-hell she was.

Someone will come
, Julie told herself.
You aren’t going to die here. You can’t.

And she knew she couldn’t. She had too much to live for. Too much to do. She was a successful and intelligent business woman. And she was in love. The more she thought about it, the more ludicrous it sounded. And yet, the more right it felt. She’d only known Anthony for a week, had only been held and kissed by him once, but she knew. She couldn't’ deny it. There was something powerful pulling them together, and she couldn’t shake the feeling. If she could only escape, she’d find a way to let him know. To let him explain the photograph and find a way to move past whatever he’d done. She had to. She
needed
to. There was nothing in the world that she wanted more than to with Anthony and in his arms again.

A loud clang erupted nearby followed by the sound of footsteps approaching. As best as Julie could tell, the footsteps belonged to only one person, and they were coming toward her.

“Boss wants to see you,” a gruff sounding voice said.

Julie felt her wrists being untied from the metallic object above her head. Once they were untied, the feeling shot into her fingers, sending needles of pain into every nerve. Julie cursed behind her gag, struggling to wiggle her digits as the feeling returned and the pain lessened. Before she could get herself sorted, though, the gruff voiced man grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her to her feet.

“Start walking,” the man huffed, one hand on her shoulder as he guided her forward.

For a moment, Julie considered striking at the man, hoping to connect, in an effort to give her a moment to remove her blindfold and take in her surroundings. The more rational part of her recognized the danger in that, however, so she decided to play along for the moment.

Julie let the man guide her for a while. She did her best to keep a mental count of the steps and turns she was taking, but soon lost track. Being blindfolded was disorienting and for all she knew, she was being led around in a long circle. Instead, she decided to focus her mental energy on picking up sounds and smells that might help her later. Nothing, though, seemed to stick out.

After what felt like forever, the man stuck his arm in front of her, abruptly driving Julie to a halt. “Got her right here, boss,” the man said.

Julie heard someone else sigh. “Dammit, Raul, does she really need to be bound and gagged like that?”

“Keeps her in check, boss,” the gruff sounding man - Raul, apparently - offered.

“Bah. I doubt she’s much of a threat. And besides, I can’t have a conversation with someone who’s gagged.”

Raul harrumphed, then went about removing Julie’s gag, followed by her blindfold. For the first time in what felt like days, Julie’s eyes were greeted by daylight. She squinted at first, allowing her vision to adjust as she stood there. Then, once her eyes were adjusted, she did a quick scan of her environment.

Julie was standing in a greenhouse. Or, rather, what was left of one. The remnants of old and rotted plants surrounded her, all while being enclosed in an enormous glass structure. The greenhouse was big enough that it could have taken up the better portion of a city block, but, Julie realized, she wasn’t in the city. Beyond the glass walls of the structure she could only make out the trees of a dense forest. Turning her gaze back to her immediate surrounding, Julie recognized Raul as the man who had abducted her in the first place, his dark hair looking grungy as it hung just above his crooked nose. The other man, the one Raul had referred to as “boss” was unlike any other she’d ever seen.

The boss was tall, maybe 6’5”, and built like a professional MMA fighter. He was lean and muscular, with sharp features and short cropped silver-blond hair. His eyes were a vibrant purple, something that immediately stood out to Julie as both lovely and cruel at the same time. He stood there with a wolfish smile on his face, dressed in a black tank top over a pair of black military cargo pants and a pair of black leather boots. There was something very jagged about his appearance, and the look in his eyes sent a chill down Julie’s spine.

“Good evening,” the man said, flashing that same wolfish smile at her.

Julie tried to respond, but her voice caught in her throat. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the man’s large purple orbs. They were just too alluring. Hypnotic even.

“My name is Cyrus,” the man said. “And I do apologize for Raul’s brutishness. He’s a barbarian, but he’s effective and cheap.”

Raul grunted at that, still standing just behind Julie, ready to grab her if she tried anything. Not that she could. Not while Cyrus’s eyes were still there. Not while she was still trapped in his gaze.

“At any rate,” Cyrus continued. “It’s unfortunate that you’re in this situation.” He gestured at her bound wrists. “But it’s one of the costs of being acquainted with Anthony Drake.”

The sound of Anthony’s name snapped Julie’s attention back to reality.

“What do you mean?” she stammered, more than a little confused. Was she being ransomed to Anthony? Did this have something to do with the photo and the blackmail attempt?

Cyrus shook his head. “Oh, don’t play coy, dear. I’m aware that you saw the photograph, and that you recognize the implications of it. Your mate is a murderous and traitorous monster.”

My mate?
Julie thought. But then she knew. And she finally understood.

Anthony was a shifter. She should have known. Should have caught on. His former boss, Kalvin Dare, was publicly a bear. His apparent acquaintance, Grayson Days, was a bear. So
of course
Anthony would be a shifter too. And she was apparently his mate.

Julie had heard of fated mates before. She’d even discovered that Grayson’s wife considered her and her husband to be fated mates. They were drawn to each other from the first moment they’d met, much like Julie had been toward Anthony. She’d craved him from the first moment she set her eyes on him. It explained why she felt such a connection with the man, despite essentially still being strangers. She loved him because she was
fated
to love him. And to think, Anthony had kept it from her.

She felt a stab of pain through her heart. It was just another secret that Anthony had kept. Just one more thing he’d withheld.

And now, this man before her, this roguish man with alluring eyes, was telling her that her apparent mate was a murderer. He was all but confirming her initial thoughts, and doubt was filling her mind. At the same time, Julie’s instincts told her that something wasn’t right. That she shouldn’t trust a man who had abducted her and had her bound and gagged, but the more she looked into his eyes, the more she believed and trusted him.

“You see,” Cyrus continued, dragging Julie back from her thoughts, “I’ve known Anthony for a long time. In fact, I basically grew up with his family. And I watched him kill them, one by one, until he finally slaughtered the man in that photograph. That man, by the way, was Anthony’s father. He ran from his clan back then, seeking to hide. And he did, for a while. But I’ve found him now, and I’m here to draw him out and take him to justice. You, my poor sweet, are just a means to that end.”

“But you demanded money,” Julie managed, one final bout of protest left in her.

“A ruse,” Cyrus said, waving a hand dismissively. “I needed to draw him out. Had I known he had a mate, I would have grabbed you first. I didn’t learn until after sending the package just how significant you were to him, and even then it was only a guess. Now, with you here, he’ll have no choice but to come out into the open. He can’t hide in his tower any longer.”

Julie nodded, somehow finding herself understanding the man’s plan. Everything inside her screamed that it was lunacy, that something very sinister was going on, but she couldn’t bring herself to defy Cyrus. She couldn’t bring herself to look away from those eyes…

“Sir!” A voice sounded from nearby, and Julie watched in her peripheral as a third man ran up to Cyrus and whisper something in his ear.

“Wonderful,” Cyrus said, dismissing the man and turning back to Julie, locking his gaze on hers again. “It looks like our mutual friend is on his way here.”

6

ANTHONY CARRIED a briefcase in each hand, each one massive and filled to the brim with hundred dollar bills. As directed, he also had packed several capped out cashier’s checks to stem the gap between the few million dollars in the briefcases and the massive sum Cyrus had demanded. How Grayson had managed to get everything together in such short time was behind him, but Anthony had to admit that he was more than a little grateful. As expected, he’d been texted the address around midday, and after a quick online search discovered that it was, indeed, well outside the city. In fact, the large greenhouse Anthony had been directed to was actually in Vermont. After several hours of driving, he’d finally reached the address just before midnight, parked at the end of a long dirt road as directed, and began the trek toward the greenhouse.

As the forest around him thickened, Anthony couldn’t help but be reminded of his childhood home. It had been like this, crowded with trees and a calm silence rather than the constant bustle and concrete of the city. He couldn’t deny that some small part of him missed it. He’d never really fit in anywhere, but there was something about being surrounded by nature that eased his bear’s mind. It was a good thing too, because right now, he needed his bear focused and its instincts honed.

He could already smell Julie. He’d picked up her scent, even in human form, the moment he’d stepped out of his car. The bear had perked up at her scent, and a certain bliss had begun to creep its way into Anthony’s mind. He had to remind himself that this was still a very dangerous situation, and that just because Julie had a scent it didn’t necessarily mean that she had a pulse.

After several long, silent minutes of walking, Anthony finally came up on a clearing and the greenhouse came into a view. Even with a full moon beaming down from above, the outstretched shadows of the forest clouded what should have been a clear view through the glass structure. During the daylight, Anthony imagined that he would have been able to see straight through the greenhouse and observed whoever or whatever was in there. Now, though, he might as well have been a blind. And, if not for his bear’s heightened senses, he would have been.

Anthony could smell four different scents emanating from the greenhouse. Two of them were familiar. Cyrus and Julie. The other two were new, and their musky stench reminded him of wet dogs. If he had to guess, those other two were some form of shifters as well. He just didn’t know what kind.

Anthony stopped walking just as he reached the clearing, then dropped both briefcases to the ground on either side of him.

“I’m here,” he shouted. “Come show yourself, Cyrus.”

A booming laughter filled the air, followed by the cackling of two other voices. Cyrus and his goons, no doubt.

With a clang, a door opened on the side of the greenhouse and a lone, tall figure stepped into the moonlight, his silhouette unmistakable. Anthony would recognize the wolf anywhere, even without his scent sending Anthony’s bear into a frenzy. His bear remembered and his bear was bloodthirsty.

“You have the money?” Cyrus called out, confidence in his voice, as though he’d already bested Anthony somehow. There was something going on here that Anthony didn’t understand, something that he couldn’t quite place.

“Right here,” Anthony pointed a finger at either bag. “Where’s Julie?”

Even in the darkness, Anthony could make out the wolfish smile broaching Cyrus’s face. “Oh, her? She’s right here.” He turned back to the inside of the greenhouse and extended a hand. Much to Anthony’s surprise, a hand reached out and took Cyrus’s. Julie’s hand. Then, without any prompting, she stepped outside with him, her beautiful face turned toward Cyrus’s, her eyes locked on his.

Anthony felt a sharp pain in his stomach. In an instant, he understood. Cyrus, as an alpha wolf, had a rare gift even among alphas. He had the ability to manipulate and essentially
control
others, just by catching their eye. It was a form of supreme dominance, and it was specifically for bending an unruly pack member to your will. The fact that Cyrus was using it on Julie, a human, was not only abhorrent, it was expressly forbidden.

But then, so was murdering your clan mates. It wasn’t like Anthony had much room to judge.

Still, they had been able to defend themselves. Julie had no way of understanding or fighting Cyrus’s domination.

“Son of a bitch!” Anthony snarled, his bear starting to rise to the surface at the sight of his mate caught in Cyrus’s gaze.

“Now now,” Cyrus said, wagging a finger at Anthony. “Best not get too feisty. It’d be such a pity for such a lovely face to be ruined.”