Marrying The Bear (Gray Bears 1) (3 page)

Alisa swiped at her eyes and
tried to wind up the windows again but the damn things were stuck.

Gulping, she engaged the
locks but she didn't feel safer.

On the contrary, she felt
trapped.

Very slowly, she eased her
foot off the pedal and stared into her rear view mirror. She caught
a very slight shimmer, and she knew.

Vampires had no reflection.

But they could fade into mist
and seep through cracks and keyholes. And through open car windows.

Alisa whirled round and
stared into a pair of blood-red eyes. The vampire bared his fangs in
a smile and grabbed her.

Alisa screamed just as she
felt sharp fangs sink into her neck.

CHAPTER
SIX

Tristan's frown deepened as
he sped down the highway. He had been up and down the same stretch
of road for hours now, and he hadn't seen a single car. He had tried
Alisa's number but all he got was a no-service message.

He called his grandmother
earlier and when he told her that he couldn't locate Alisa, she and
Ne-ma had panicked and wanted to jump in their cars and drive out of
Shadow Point right away. Tristan had told them to stay where they
were in case Alisa showed up and promised that he would keeping
looking for her.

Tristan fingered his phone,
but he didn't call Gramma or Ne-ma. No point worrying and
frightening them. He would find Alisa himself and then give her a
piece of his mind for making those elderly ladies sick with worry.
It was irresponsible of her not to call and let them know she would
be late. It was clear that this woman didn't care for Gramma and
Ne-ma as much as they cared for her. He grew angry just thinking
about it.

But he'd promised them he
would find Alisa and he never broke a promise. Not to his Gramma and
Ne-ma.

Tristan scowled as he passed
another road sign. He stomped on the brakes suddenly and reversed.

The road sign indicated the
exit to Shadow Peak. Many people had taken that wrong turning. They
had mistaken Shadow Peak for Shadow Point. These two towns weren't
anywhere near each other, but their names were confusingly similar.

Could Alisa have made the
same mistake?

Tristan turned out of the
highway and headed towards Shadow Peak. If Alisa had taken this
turning, and just sped on for hours, she would be a long way from
Shadow Point by now.

Tristan grumbled under his
breath, but his grumbling was just a mask for the first prickling of
guilt and fear. He shouldn't have blamed her.

Alisa wasn't late on purpose.
She had lost her way, and she might have lost all forms of contact.
She might have had an accident. She might be injured, unconscious,
or even…

“No, no,” he
muttered, accelerating sharply.

He had to find her. She had
to be alive.

Tristan's breathing quickened
together with his heartbeat. His claws inched out and his bear
rumbled to the fore at the scent of danger.

He could smell blood, human
blood.

And he could scent a woman's
stark terror.

She was just ahead.

Tristan heard a crash and a
scream, and he bolted from his car, half shifting as he ran. His
claws and fangs extended and coarse, gray fur raced up his chest,
protecting his torso and vital organs.

The woman was half in, half
out of the car as she tried to fight off the vampire. The vampire
was skinny and pale, wearing baggy jeans and an oversized sweater.
He looked like a teenager, but Tristan knew that he wasn't a young
vampire. He had supernatural strength and speed, and he could fade
into mist, something only the older vampires could do.

Tristan saw the woman attempt
to punch the vampire, only to have her fist hurtle through a cloud of
mist.

She cried out in shock as the
vampire materialized at the passenger side of her car and tried to
grab her.

Tristan leaped onto the hood
of her car and smashed the windscreen. His claws raked across the
vampire's face and there was a blood-curdling screech from the vamp.

Tristan could move faster
than the vampire, and he stuck his claws into the vamp's throat
before the vampire could turn into mist.

“Who is your Master?”
he roared.

The vampire gurgled and his
mouth widened in a bloody smile.

Tristan pushed his claws in
deeper. Every vampire had a Master. He had to turn the vampire over
to his Master. Killing a vampire would bring the wrath of the entire
coven down on him and Tristan didn't want to risk the lives of his
family and his crew.

Tristan yanked the vampire's
ponytail to the side and saw the mark of his Master on his nape.

Tristan jerked in shock and
the vampire pushed himself free and stumbled away.

“Rosalina is your
Master?” Tristan shook his head. “She would never...”

The vampire snarled and his
eyes darted to the human woman. Tristan pounced on him but was an
instant too slow.

The mist snaked away from him
and flew into the night.

Tristan turned to the woman,
who was scrambling out of the car and backing away from him.

“Get away from me!”
she shrieked, her eyes wild.

Tristan sheathed his claws
and put his palms up. “I won't hurt you. My name is Tristan
Gray. Glynda and Neveah sent me to find you. You're Alisa, right?”

She made a strangled sound
before giving a jerky nod.

“I'm Glynda's
grandson,” Tristan continued speaking slowly, calmly,
approaching her as he would a wounded, frightened animal.

“The vampire...”
she squeaked.

“He's gone.”

“Will he come back?”
She whipped her head round, as if expecting the vampire to appear
behind her suddenly. She pressed her hand to the side of her neck.
“He b-bit me,” she stuttered.

Tristan's eyes flashed.

“Did he drink from
you?”

“Yes! No! I don't
know! How the fuck should I know? He just bit me, and I fought him.
I scratched and punched and jammed my elbow in his face.”
Alisa brought her blood-smeared hand down and stared at it. “Am
I...going to become...l-like him? Will I turn into...a v-vampire?”

She looked like she was about
to scream, or faint. Her eyes were too wide, too wild, and she was
deathly pale. She didn't seem to see him. Just stared straight past
him and kept murmuring incoherently.

“Alisa, listen to me.
You will not turn into a vampire. Only a Master Vampire can Turn
someone into a vampire. That vampire who attacked you was not a
Master. He has a Master, and I'm going to make sure he gets punished
by his Master.” Tristan put his hands very gently on her
shoulders. “I'll drive you to Shadow Point, okay? Your
car...” He glanced behind him.

“I know. It's gone to
car heaven,” she said numbly.

Tristan paused before asking,
“Your bags?”

“In the trunk.”

He retrieved her bags and
held her elbow.

She got into his car without
protest and sat stiffly in the passenger seat, staring straight ahead
with glazed eyes.

“You're safe with me,
Alisa.”

“Okay,” she
intoned.

Tristan wanted to reach out
to take her hand but she looked like she might break at the slightest
touch. She was holding herself together by sheer force of will.

Tristan glared into the
darkness. He would find that vamp and deliver him to Rosalina.

The vampire would beg for
death instead.

CHAPTER
SEVEN

Alisa felt Tristan's long
fingers brush against her arm as he slid the seat belt over her chest
and buckled her in. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then
cleared his throat and sighed.

Alisa swallowed and kept her
eyes on the road ahead as Tristan's station wagon roared down the
highway. He had introduced himself as Glynda Gray's grandson, and
she knew she should have called Glynda to check if he was telling the
truth but her phone was dead. Tristan didn't look like a serial
killer, but then, serial killers didn't come with a warning label did
they?

She had nothing to go on but
her instincts. She hadn't listened to her instincts in the past, but
now she would. And her instincts told her that Tristan was a good
guy.

After all, he had saved her
from a blood-sucking vampire.

With his claws.

“What. Are. You.”

Tristan turned at her
question.

Alisa took a sharp breath and
asked again, “What are you?”

He studied her for a beat
before answering matter-of-factly, “I'm a bear shifter.”

“Okay.” A long
pause. “Thank you.”

“You're welcome.”

A longer pause.

“Are Glynda and
Neveah...” Alisa gulped audibly.

Tristan shook his head. “No,
Gramma and Ne-ma are witches.” When she gulped again, he
added, “The good, but...meddlesome, kind.”

“Hokay,” she
managed and fell silent.

A few minutes, or it could be
a few hours—who knows?—passed before she said, “I
should have guessed.”

“Huh?”

“The name of their
inn.” Alisa's lips twitched in a small smile. “Broomstick
Inn.”

Tristan nodded, apparently
unsure of how to respond. He seemed almost afraid to utter the wrong
word, lest she splinter into fragments or worse, burst into tears.
Big, strong men were terrified of crying women, she'd heard.

Another stretch of silent
driving followed. Miles and miles of dark road zoomed past before
she said, “Do they ride them?”

“Um...”

“Your Gramma and Ne-ma,
do they ride broomsticks?”

That got a choked laugh out
of him. “No. But they ride our asses with them. Gramma and
Ne-ma used to whack my brothers and me on our buttocks with their
broomsticks.” He scrunched up his nose and muttered, “Still
do.”

She turned to him with an
amused smile. She couldn't imagine those sweet, petite ladies
running after Tristan and his brothers with broomsticks in their
hands.

He caught her staring at him
and smiled back. Alisa blushed. He had a really nice smile, and it
transformed his whole face. He'd looked like a deadly predator while
he was fighting the vampire. He was tall, fierce and intimidating,
but now she realized just how devastatingly handsome he was. Blond,
with sparkling green eyes, rugged, tanned features and a lean, hard
body. She could see his toned muscles under his white t-shirt and
those long legs filled out his old, ripped jeans perfectly.

“Ah, how many brothers
do you have?” she mumbled, suddenly aware of how close they
were in the enclosed space. He could just lean over and kiss her.
Oh, why was she thinking of kissing him? Or was she hoping that he
would?

Alisa felt her face growing
hotter and she looked away quickly. She shouldn't be attracted to
her new boss's grandson. She had just landed the job of her dreams.
Don't commit career suicide, Alisa!

“Three,” Tristan
replied. “I'm the eldest and Jackson is the youngest. Aidan
and Mason are in the middle. They're the same age, but they're born
eleven months apart. They're coming home soon so you'll get to meet
them. Gramma's summoned them home.”

“Oh. Where did they
go?”

“Aidan and Mason wanted
to experience city life, so they went off and found jobs they loved
in the city. They were working in a big security firm called the
Black Bears Group. I run a construction business here in Shadow
Point. Jackson helps me in the business, and I'm thinking I could
use Aidan and Mason as well once they're home.”

Alisa nodded. “And
Glynda and Neveah run the inn.”

“Yeah. Gramma and
Ne-ma have been best friends since forever. They practically raised
the four of us. It wasn't easy but they did it.”

“They did a good job,”
she said sincerely.

Tristan turned to her with a
look of surprise. “Thank you.”

His eyes widened and he
looked like he had just remembered something. Mumbling under his
breath, he pulled out his phone and dialed.

“Here.” He
handed the phone to her. “You should talk to them. They're
really worried about you.”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

Alisa put the phone gingerly
to her ear and heard the first ring. Immediately, Glynda's voice
came on. “Tristan! Have you found her? Is Alisa okay?
Where...”

“Hello, Glynda,”
Alisa said shyly. “I'm Alisa. I'm in Tristan's car right now.
He's driving.”

“Alisa!” Glynda
and Neveah yelled together. “Oh, we were so worried! Thank
God you're okay!”

“Yes, I'm okay.
I...I'm sorry I made you worry,” Alisa said, blinking quickly
as her vision clouded over. Their concern touched her deeply. They
really cared for her. They were not just her bosses. They felt more
like family to her.