Bears in Flight: Book Four - Supernatural Bounty Hunters Romance Novellas (9 page)

Present day

Logan shut off the shower and began toweling off. When he woke up in the witch doctor’s house, it was to find Maya and Brick already gone, taking with them any evidence they had of Merrick’s dealings.

He went to the cops as planned, but without evidence nothing could be proved and Merrick had friends in the police department. The laughter of the detective he spoke to still rang in his ears, even to this day.

He hadn’t known how to react to Maya leaving. He’d been numb. Needing to get away, he’d left Canada, traveling all over America, spending less than a couple of months in each place until he found Playa Lunar. It didn’t feel like home, but it was homier than anywhere else he had ever been. It was a big city full of supernatural shifters. He could fit in and remain anonymous and for a while that had satisfied him.
Then he met Mia, and wherever she was would be home.

He didn’t bear Maya any ill will. Not really. She was a lot of things – deceptive, cunning, selfish… but she’d been there when he needed someone, and for that he was grateful. Now he was helping her, and after her situation resolved itself, then they’d be even and he could get on with his life. Then, he could focus on the future.
His future with Mia.

*

Mia tapped her foot as the phone continued to ring.
What was he doing that was so important he couldn’t answer his damn phone?!
She knew Logan had told her that he was busy and that he would come see her if he could, but she just wanted to hear his voice. Her animal was constantly in pain over their disintegrating relationship, and she just wanted to hear his familiar rumble. She wanted him to tell her that everything was going to be okay.

She felt a moment of relief as someone picked up, followed by horror as a female voice said, “Hello.”

A woman was answering Logan’s phone!
A woman!
Who? Who was this female who had Logan’s phone? Her rabbit whined. Was this the now infamous Maya?
The woman she had been building up in her head as a love rival for Logan’s affection.

“Is someone there?” asked the honeyed female voice.

Mia gasped and then squeaked. “Maya?” she croaked, unable to stop herself.

The voice paused. “Yes, who is this?”

“Is Logan there?” whispered Mia. Her chest hurt as her heart pounded ferociously.

“He’s just in the shower.”

Her rabbit was panicking, and Mia wasn’t far behind. “Who are you?”

Maya clucked her tongue. “You already said my name.”

“Who are you to Logan?” she asked fearfully.

“I’m his wife; who are you to him?”

Mia felt like her heart had been ripped out. “Me? I’m no one,” she breathed before ending the call.

Chapter Nine

Mia sobbed into her pillow as her tiny beast howled into the sky. Yes, she was acting like a child, and she didn’t care. As far as she was concerned her life was over, and that was that.

How could he do this to her? Had he been married this whole time? Is that why he wouldn’t tell her anything about his past? Maybe he’d been leading a secret double life this whole time. Lord that made her the other woman! Logan had been using her to cheat on his wife.

He’d told her such beautiful things, told her he loved her and that she was his, and all the time he had been married. She’d fallen over herself acting like a stupid little school girl, jumping into bed with him when she barely knew him and fawning all over him. She was a fool.
A dumb little fool.

No wonder her father was so keen to set up an arranged marriage – she couldn’t be trusted to find her own man.
Clearly, her judgment was awful.

She curled up into as small a ball as she could manage and continued to weep until she had no more tears to shed.

*

Mia groaned and slowly unfurled herself as her phone persisted to chirrup. Unwillingly, she swung herself off the bed and padded over to it.

Part of her hoped it was Logan, but she was relieved to find it wasn’t. Honestly, her nerves couldn’t take a confrontation at that moment. It was Julian.

She considered sending it to voicemail, but decided not to. She needed a friend at that moment more than anything.

“Hi,” she mumbled.

“Hey!” he replied brightly, “I’m back in town, how about that drink?”

She blinked for a couple of seconds before remembering about their tentative plans. “Oh, umm, right.”

“You okay?”

“Ummm…”
She wanted to scream, no, no no! Above all else, she was not okay.

“Has something happened?”

“Ummm…”
Yes, the worst thing imaginable!

“Come out for a drink and tell me about it.”

His voice was so warm and lulling. How could she not agree to that? The alternative was moping around in her apartment imagining just what Logan was doing with Maya at that very moment. Her lip trembled again, and her rabbit sighed.

“Okay,” she said gratefully.

Julian said he’d come round and pick her up in about half an hour.

She steeled herself and dragged herself to the bathroom. She gasped at the pale young woman staring back at her. Well, she was always pale, but now she looked positively ghostly – apart from her red, blotchy cheeks.

She washed her face and dabbed on some make-up, trying to make her look alive again.
It was a losing battle.

Ambling back into her bedroom she slipped out of her skirt and pulled on a pair of jeans and some ballet pumps. She didn’t exactly look good, but she’d do for a dark bar and a few drinks with a friend.

Hopefully, talking with Julian would put things in perspective. She wasn’t exactly thinking clearly at that moment.
A few drinks couldn’t hurt either.

*

Mia sucked on her beer bottle.
Her fourth beer of the night
. Usually, she settled for one and nursed it all night, but that night, they just seemed to keep disappearing down her throat and then Julian would order her another.

Her rabbit bucked her teeth disapprovingly, but Mia didn’t give two figs. She was upset – why shouldn’t she enjoy a little liquid happiness? It wasn’t like she went around getting drunk on a regular basis. The last time was in college at a party when she ended up kissing Julian… She flushed at that memory.

She gurgled down the last drop and Julian immediately held up his hand for two more beers.

The attractive, bosomy waitress appeared out of nowhere and simpered as she passed Julian the drinks; the wolf shifter didn’t even notice. He just took his beer and murmured a thank you. She flounced away huffily.

Mia looked at him objectively. Sure, he was pretty damn fine. Even she, his best friend, could see that. They met on their first day of college when Mia, true to form, was lost and couldn’t find the cafeteria – she’d ended up at Julian’s dormitory. They’d been friends ever since. The female co-eds had been particularly jealous of their relationship. Mia snorted; they needn’t have been, they were friends, and that was all they’d ever be. Maybe there was a time when both of them had hoped for more, but that time was long gone.

In irritation, Mia noticed that just about every woman in the bar was eyeing up Julian. Okay, he was handsome, but they were practically drooling for heaven’s sake.
Logan was better looking
. Oh, that thought caused her a twinge.

A couple of women – well barely legal college girls – were making eyes at him, but Julian gave Mia all his attention. She was being selfish maybe, but she was glad of it.

“So, then,” she slurred slightly, “so then, she just says that she’s his wife, and do you know what she asked me? She asked me who I was to him! Just like that. She obviously had no idea who I was – that’s how little I mean to him.”

She hiccupped and clutched at her beer bottle.

Julian pursed his lips. “You’re sure she was telling the truth? Maybe it was just a practical joke…”

“Some joke!” she exclaimed in outrage.

“She could have been his sister,” he suggested placidly.

Mia shook her head fervently. “Nope, he doesn’t have a sister – I managed to get that out of him at least,” she said bitterly.

Julian gave her a lopsided smile. “Maybe she was an escaped lunatic.”

Mia gave him a pitying look. “Who just happened to be in Logan’s apartment and just happened to have the same name as his mystery woman? What are the odds?”

“We could work them out if you wanted?”

Mia groaned exaggeratedly. “No, never. I will never work out the odds of anything ever again!”

He chuckled deeply, and she joined him. Their worst class in college was Professor Barton’s math class; the good Professor was obsessed with probabilities, and they spent hours trying to work out probabilities for the strangest and most random scenarios.
It was a miracle they ever passed that class.

Julian sobered and took her hand. He ran a thumb over her knuckles. “You’re imagining the worst of him; maybe you should talk to him before things get worse.”

She nodded. “I know I should, I just… I’m just afraid that I might actually be imagining the truth and I… I just feel like such an idiot. Six months we’ve been together, and he’s barely told me anything about himself, and I just ignored all the warning alarms. What kind of a person completely hides their past from the person they claim to love and want to bond with?”

“Amnesiacs? People on the run from the law? Illegal aliens? The ones from Jupiter of course.”

She took her hand from him and threw a napkin at him. “Idiot,” she scolded without much conviction. “Thank you,” she added.

His eyebrows arched. “What for?”

“For making me feel a little better, for getting me drunk, for listening to my drunken ranting, for being my friend – honestly, pick one.”

“You’re very welcome, Mia. Now, I think I’m going to have a whiskey – how about you?”

“Good thinking; that will get me drunk quicker.”

Julian shouted his order to the love-struck waitress and within seconds they had two very large whiskeys in front of them.

“Cheers,” he said brightly.

“Cheers,” she garbled in reply.

*

Numerous drinks later –
far too many for Mia to count
– she found herself stumbling slightly along the hall to her apartment. Julian was guiding her; one hand held her arm and the other lightly ghosted over her waist.

Her rabbit was watching in quiet disapproval. The animal had never been Julian’s biggest fan, and she had been all for sulking in the comfort of her own home with a pair of comfy pajamas and a buttload of ice-cream. Mia preferred the drunken option. It meant she didn’t have to remember how much ice-cream she actually ate.

Mia dared a glance at Julian and was thoroughly displeased to find that, although he had drunk more than her, he seemed fine.
Lucky wolf shifter genes
. Although she had a higher tolerance to alcohol than humans, she couldn’t compare to the bigger shifters like wolves. And bears, her rabbit added.
Yes, and bears…

Gloomily, she wondered what her bear was up to at that moment. He was probably with his wife, she thought sullenly.

She passed one of her neighbors, a sourpuss of an old woman called Mrs. Adler. Mia bid her hello and tried to wave, but it came out as more of a sloppy salute. The elderly woman muttered something about letting riffraff live in the building and bustled away.

“Some people are so rude!” Mia complained loudly.

Her nose twitched in annoyance. Julian let out a laugh and looked at her with fondness, and some other emotion that Mia didn’t want to identify at that moment.

“What are you laughing at?” she asked haughtily.

“You, you’re so cute. I love it when your nose twitches.” Suddenly, his voice turned husky, “You’re so beautiful.”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her nose. She felt his beery breath on her cheek and froze as his lips hovered over her face. No, no, no, screamed her little rabbit. This was wrong; this male was not her mate.
He wasn’t allowed to touch her.

He took her stillness for acquiescence; his grip around her waist tightened, and he tried to press his lips to hers.

Her mouth went dry as panic lanced through her body. Just in time, her rabbit managed to break through her intoxication and her indecision.

“No,” she breathed and turned her face to the side.

He caught her cheek instead. She heard and felt the low rumble of desire from his chest.

His warm hand traveled down her back. “Mia, I’ve always cared…”

“What the fuck?” roared a deep and very irate voice.

Mia felt horror surge through her body, and she felt boneless. Her legs gave way, and she leaned on Julian even more heavily.

Hell, what was Logan doing there?

Chapter Ten

Logan strode down the hall. His face was a picture of ferocity and barely restrained violence. Her rabbit yipped for her mate, but Mia didn’t know whether to be terrified, pissed or embarrassed.

Logan trembled as his bear battered him, trying to force the shift. He wanted to be let loose so he could rip apart the wolf who dared to touch his mate. He contained the animal…
just
.

“What the fuck is going on here?” he hissed, balling up his fists and pressing his unsheathed claws into his palms.

He’d called his mate over and over, but she’d never picked up. He’d tried tracking her phone and found it back at her apartment, but when he got there, she was nowhere to be found. He was worried that something might have happened, so he had been scouring the city, going to all the places he knew she liked. Finally, giving up, he returned to her apartment and found her in the arms of another man. It was too much. At least she hadn’t wanted that damn kiss - that was the only consolation.

His blackened eyes searched his mate for an answer, and he was surprised by the hurt and hostility he saw in her face.
She was the one currently in the arms of another!

Logan wanted to tear Mia away from this other male. He wanted to beat the male to within an inch of his life, not just for having to gall to touch his mate, but to prove to Mia which one of them would make a better, stronger mate.

This male,
this wolf
, his bear spat in disgust, had tried to kiss his drunken mate, and she had rejected him. Logan dreaded to think what might have happened if he had not arrived. In her inebriated state, would she have been able to defend herself? Would this male have pressured her into taking him to bed? Would she have given in? The thoughts chased round his head enraging his already livid beast.

Something was wrong with Mia. She was angry with him. He could feel the unfriendliness coming off her in waves. Not angry enough to cheat on him, although maybe that could be more down to her lack of arousal for the wolf than her determination to stay faithful.

Mia’s nose twitched and, to his consternation, she turned to Julian. “Maybe we should call it a night.”

Julian’s upper lip curled at Logan, but he softened when he turned to Mia. “I’m sorry…”

She shook her small head but then groaned at the motion. “Call me tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to leave you like this.”

Logan huffed furiously. “No, you’d rather stick your dog tongue down her throat.”

Julian bared his fangs at the bear shifter.

“Don’t,” whined Mia. “Please, don’t.”

Both males backed down, and Julian reluctantly let go of her body. She slumped against the wall.

Julian looked between the two of them with indecision. “Will you be okay?” he asked Mia, pointedly.

Logan let out a snarl. “How dare you! Of course she’ll be okay.” Who was this fucking male to suggest he would hurt his mate!
He wasn’t the one trying to seduce a tanked rabbit shifter who just happened to belong to someone else.

“I’ll be fine,” sighed Mia. “He won’t hurt me.”

Julian let out a snort. “Maybe not physically,” he muttered, loudly enough so Logan could hear.

His bear howled at the other male, but Logan remained silent. He was sure that barbed crack alluded to something, but he wasn’t sure what. Sure, Logan hadn’t exactly been forthcoming emotionally, but he hadn’t purposefully hurt her.
What the fuck was going on?

After a few moments of silence, Julian let out a deep breath. “You can call me anytime - anytime at all. Let me know if you need help.”

He gave Mia an imploring look, and she managed a watery smile in return. Without glancing at Logan, Julian turned on his heel and stalked away.

“Who the fuck was that?” demanded Logan slowly and with a deadly undercurrent in his voice.

She had never mentioned a male wolf shifter in her life, so unless she just happened to have picked him up in a bar… His bear shuddered at the thought. No, that male knows her which meant that Mia had deliberately chosen not to tell him about the wolf.

Mia gazed at him coolly, with as much dignity as a drunken rabbit being held up by the wall could. “He’s just a friend.”

“A friend?!” snapped Logan. “Why haven’t you ever told me about him? Some friend he is, what would have happened if I hadn’t turned up when I did?”

Mia pursed her lips and began shuffling along the wall to her door while scrambling to find her key for the door. It was painful to watch. Logan, amidst her protestations, scooped her up and took her into the apartment, opening the door with his key.

Mia made a gagging noise. “Ugh… I think I’m…”

Logan darted to the bathroom and managed to get her to the toilet before an unholy amount of vomit exited her body. He was amazed that so much could possibly come out of such a dainty little creature.

Absently, he couldn’t help but think that she deserved this for going out drinking. She put herself in unnecessary danger. Seriously, what would have happened with the wolf if he had not turned up?
What if the wolf hadn’t taken no for an answer?

He shook his head, trying to dispel those awful thoughts. His mate was fine, maybe a little worse for wear, but she was fine.

He dutifully held her hair and rubbed her back as she sobbed and heaved over the toilet bowl. Eventually, she stopped and completely collapsed into his arms.

Diligently, he stripped her out of her clothes and washed her face with cool water. He clothed her pliant body into a pair of homey pajamas covered in – what else - bunnies, and put her to bed.

Mia tried to object, but it was a half-hearted and sleepy objection. She was mad about something, and she wanted to talk to him, but it would have to wait. He was eager to talk to her too. No, he was eager to berate her for going out and getting drunk with another man.
A wolf shifter of all things
. She was just in no fit state to talk at that moment. His bear was impatient to talk to her, but his need to protect her overwhelmed him, and talking could come later.
Although, not too much later, he hoped.

*