Hero Bear: BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (8 page)

Chapter Ten

The last time Caleb had felt this much like giving up was right after he’d lost his foot. He’d been in a hospital in Germany waiting to recover enough to go home. It was the first time he’d realized that his military career was over. Being a Marine was all he’d ever wanted, all he’d ever planned for, and all of a sudden he was facing a life that was nothing like he’d planned.

This was nearly as bad.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Michaela. He alternated between missing her something fierce and being hurt that she could have betrayed him the way she did. And then he’d stop and think about how she didn’t know it was a betrayal, and he’d cycle all the way back around to missing her. He was making himself crazy. When he’d seen her on Monday, he thought his heart would break all over again. She’d looked so sad.

Thursday was his day off, so he threw himself into the chores around the house with a vengeance, hoping to drive away any random thought of a certain pretty green-eyed brunette. He even decided to mow the lawn, even though he usually left that to Dalton, and even though the late-summer heat was fierce. Lucille kept him company, snoozing on the front porch and occasionally lifting her head to look at him like he was out of his mind.

It was bad when even the dog thought you were nuts.

Dalton got home from work about the time Caleb was finishing up, pulling in the driveway while Caleb was busy wiping the sweat from his face with his T-shirt. Dalt showered at the mines before he came home, but it was never enough to get all the day’s coal dust off, so his first move was almost always to shower again when he got home. He stopped short when he got out of his truck at the sight of Caleb.

“What are you doing? I was gonna take care of that today.” Dalton grabbed his lunch bucket from the truck and closed the door. Lucille barreled off the porch and threw herself into his legs until he leaned down and petted her.

“I know, I needed something to do.” Caleb wheeled the mower back toward the shed.

“You know, some people go out and do things on their days off, not sit around the house moping.” Dalton followed him instead of going into the house, Lucille trotting behind.

“I’m not moping.” The air inside the shed was twenty degrees hotter than outside, and Caleb shoved the mower into place and got out of there.

“That’s bull. You ain’t gone anywhere but work since that girl kicked you out.” Dalton caught Caleb by the arm before Caleb could get past him to the house. “Why on earth did you tell her anything, Cal? What were you thinking?”

Caleb shook loose. “I don’t know. I wanted her to— to know. It seemed like the right thing.” He hadn’t breathed a word about mates or mating. Dalton would probably laugh. He didn’t believe in any such thing.

“And you expected her to just believe you. Did you ever think what it would mean if she’d blabbed like she did to anybody but me and Dylan Ellis?” Dalton was
pissed
. Caleb just hadn’t known how much before now.

“Nobody else would have believed her,” Caleb muttered.

“There’s just enough folks in this town who have seen and heard things, you might be surprised who’d’ve believed her.” He crowded into Caleb’s space. “And the people who didn’t believe her would’ve thought she was crazy. You want her getting that reputation in town?”

“I didn’t think about it,” Caleb admitted.

“Seems to me you didn’t think about much of anything where she’s concerned.”

Caleb crouched down to pet Lucille so he didn’t have to look Dalton in the eye. Lucille looked back and forth between them anxiously, like she sensed the tension. “There’s just something about her. I can’t shake her. Even though I know she can’t stand me anymore.” He expected Dalt to laugh, or to say something crude about thinking with his little head. He couldn’t have been more surprised when Dalton crouched down too, also paying attention to the hound. For her part, Lucille was delighted to be the surrogate for brotherly affection, and rolled over to beg for belly rubs.

“If it matters, I don’t think she hates you.” He scratched lazily at Lucille’s exposed belly. “She’s mad, but I think it’s all hurt. Cal, she thought you were making fun of her.”

“I still can’t believe she’d think I’d do that.” It didn’t make any sense. He was crazy about Michaela.

“You wouldn’t. I know that. She would too, if she’d stop to think about it.”

Caleb tried to find the words for what he wanted to say that wouldn’t make Dalton laugh at him or roll his eyes. He finally gave up and decided to just say it. “I love her, man. I know you don’t believe in true mates— but I think she’s it. She’s my mate. Nothing else explains it. Don’t go tellin’ me it’s just lust, because I know what that feels like, and this ain’t it.”

Dalton surprised him again. “Just because I don’t believe in it, that don’t mean it’s not true for other people.” He stayed quiet for a minute, then said, “I’ve seen you with all kinds of girlfriends, and I’ve never seen you tore up like this about anybody.”

“I don’t know what to do. I saw her Monday. I think she lost her job. She was carrying a box of stuff and she looked like she was about to cry.” As long as he was being honest, he might as well keep going. “I’m afraid it might’ve been because of me, cause I go there for therapy.”

“That don’t make no sense, not if y’all broke up.”

Lucille finally tired of being the center of attention, and got up to trot across the yard to pee. Caleb was forced to either keep looking at the ground, or face his brother. He looked up. “I know, but... I still think it’s my fault.”

Dalton gave him a little flash of a smile. “Call me crazy, but here’s an idea: why don’t you talk to her?” He pushed up to his feet and held out his hand to help Caleb up.

Caleb let Dalton haul him up. “She’d hang up on me. I don’t think I could stand that.”

“So go over there, you big chicken.” Dalton picked up his lunch bucket. “She can’t hang up on you if you’re right there.”

“I can’t do that.” He could though, it was an idea.

“Chicken. Come on, I’ll even let you have the shower first. You stink.” Dalton looked like he did the time he dared Caleb to jump off the roof when they were kids. “Or are you too yellow?”

“Fine, I’ll do it, but you’re gonna have to come bail me out if she calls the cops.”

Michaela found herself actually looking forward to going to Louisville. She hadn’t been back since moving to Salem Creek. The idea had been too painful. As long as she didn’t think too long about actually walking into a police station there with Brenda, she was fine. She could look forward to seeing her old neighborhood, maybe visit that little diner down the street from her old place— assuming the police didn’t keep them locked in a room all day. That was the scariest part, not knowing what to expect. She wasn’t even sure that the Louisville police were the right people to start with, but if nothing else, they’d point her and Brenda in the right direction.

She was all packed— she’d planned to spend at least Friday night at Brenda’s, maybe the whole weekend— so there wasn’t much else for her to do. She poured a glass of ice water from the fridge and took it out to the back porch. Miss Harvelle was gone to some church function or another, so she had the stillness of the woods entirely to herself. Settled into the rocking chair, she caught herself doing what she’d been doing for days now: trying not to think about Caleb. And of course, by trying not to think about him, that meant she was doing little else. She gave in and closed her eyes, remembering how she had felt safe in his arms— before she knew better.

“You weren’t answering your doorbell.”

Michaela froze, and slowly opened her eyes at the familiar voice. Coming around the corner of the house was someone she thought she’d never have to see again, at least outside of a courthouse. Reuben was tall and broad, but where Caleb’s size gave her a feeling of safety, Reuben had always seemed menacing. It was never true more so than now.

“How you been, Michaela?” In a few large steps he was around the house and up the steps of the back porch.

“What are you doing here?” Part of her brain was yelling that she should get inside and lock the door behind her, but the message wasn’t getting to her feet, which were frozen in place.

“We had a deal.” He crowded into her space. When Michaela tried to back up, he grabbed her arm. “Seems like you broke it. Do we need to talk about what those terms were again?”

Michaela yanked her arm futilely. “I didn’t! I didn’t tell anybody.” Yet— had he found out what she and Brenda were planning?

The hand around her arm tightened. “Don’t lie to me. I know you’ve been talking to Brenda.”

Oh god, he did know. How did he find out? “No— I mean, yes, I talk to her. She’s my friend.”

“She’s been snooping around, and then she came out here to see you.” He shook her by the arm, like a terrier. “What did you tell her?”

Why had she come to the back porch? Why hadn’t she just sat on the front porch where somebody might see her?

The whole drive over to Michaela’s house, Caleb tried to psych himself up and figure out what he wanted to say. He still couldn’t prove what he’d told her was true, and it still smarted that she’d revealed his secret to the very people he was keeping it from.

But Dalton was right. He’d put her in a bad position, telling her such an unbelievable thing. He didn’t know how he could fix anything. All he could do was tell her the truth about how he felt and apologize for hurting her. Anything other than that was up to her. That was the hard part— knowing that everything wasn’t up to him, that he couldn’t control everything. The past year of his life had been one long lesson in things he couldn’t control.

When he got to her house, he stopped short of pulling into the driveway. There was already a car there, one he didn’t recognize. Damn it. He should have called first. The plate said Jefferson County, so was it one of her friends from Louisville?
Maybe it was a boyfriend
. The little voice was insidious and sly and he was seized with irrational jealousy. His inner bear, which had been largely quiet since he’d lost Michaela, grumbled and scented the air.
Mine
. The last thing he needed to do was storm in and make a scene over nothing. That would sure convince her that he was nuts. He’d just have to come back later, and hope her company was gone by then.

Caleb pulled his truck back on the road and drove away.

“I swear I didn’t tell her anything.” Michaela wasn’t quite lying— they hadn’t talked about Reuben’s scams at all that weekend Brenda was here. “If she knows, she didn’t hear it from me.” That much was completely true. She heard the sound of an engine slowing out in the road in front of the house and had a desperate moment of hoping that Miss Harvelle had come home, but what could a frail octogenarian do? But the car kept going.

“I know you’re lying to me.” Reuben loomed over her, close enough that she could smell the stale mint from the gum he always chewed. “That’s why I went ahead and made sure your boss here knew who they’d hired.”

Michaela had known it must have been Reuben that had called Dottie, but hearing it confirmed made something snap inside her. “You got me fired. Over nothing! I didn’t tell Brenda anything!” With her free hand, she gave him the hardest shove she could, envisioning sending him flying off the porch. All she managed to do was break free and push him back a few steps. Breaking free would have to be enough. She turned and bolted for the back door.

Caleb couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Or rather, his bear couldn’t. He could feel the disturbance inside him, pacing back and forth like it was in a cage. He was twitchy. His body flooded with adrenaline, the bitter taste of it in the back of his mouth. It was like the warning scent of a forest fire. Of smoke. Of an IED. It was a sixth sense he’d come to trust.

Something was
wrong
. And because it was his bear that was so agitated, the very bear that had come back to him thanks to Michaela, he couldn’t shake the idea that something was wrong with her. It wouldn’t hurt to check.

He turned his truck around.

Turned out, breaking free wasn’t quite enough. Michaela just managed to get her hand on the doorknob when Reuben caught up to her and grabbed her around the throat.

“I don’t think so, bitch.” He pulled her backwards while she grabbed at his arm, trying to pull it loose. “You’re going to come with me.”

She stumbled down the steps and nearly fell to her knees. The arm around her neck tightened enough that she saw stars. Panic clawed at her with sharp bright talons. She couldn’t breathe. He was going to kill her. She couldn’t even scream. She managed to rasp, “Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere we can talk. Somewhere quiet.”