Mine To Bear (A Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Atonement Book 2) (2 page)

Edward

"So, do you have a plan?" he asked Derek as the jeep bounced across the uneven terrain, leaving the plane far behind.

"I tracked them some distance the other week, after they went after Keri. Then I had a helicopter pilot and cameraman follow them from a distance. I'm not sure exactly where their den is, but I have it pinpointed to less than a square mile of area. It shouldn't be hard to find them from there." His voice was terse, spitting out the facts and leaving emotion behind.

The three of them focused in on the landscape ahead of them as the jeep sped along. The trees began to blur by for him, his tunnel vision only seeing the looming mountainside ahead. They were nearing their quarry, and soon the hunt would begin.

Slewing the jeep to a stop, Derek killed the engine.

"We're here."

The friends climbed out, looking around, testing the air.

"I have them," Edward said, his sense of smell having always been keener than that of his friends. Without argument, they fell in behind him as he lead the way up the hill. The trees began to close in on them, forming natural barriers to the side that would prove difficult to maneuver in for their bears.

"I don't like it, this would be the perfect place for an ambush." The ground rose sharply to either side of the barely worn path, thick stands of trees preventing them from going anywhere but forward or back.

"Spread out and change. Let's not get taken by surprise."

No sooner had Derek uttered his words than they heard the snarls of approaching wolves.

"Go! Shift!" his friend exclaimed, not waiting to see if they followed his orders.

Crouching down, he opened the link in his mind. His bear roared its agreement, charging down the now open tunnel, exerting itself in the real world for the first time in awhile. He felt his limbs stretch and change, his skin thickening and sprouting fur. There was always a short, blinding moment of pain as the transition completed itself.

When the pain didn't subside, and the world began to spin, he assessed what had happened in that brief moment. His right flank was on fire, and the world was upside down. He had been hit by a wolf before the change had completed, when he was at his most vulnerable.

As he rose swiftly to his feet, another wolf darted in and tore at his rear legs. He roared in pain, echoing noises filling the air from his friends. The wolves had gotten the drop on them, hitting the trio before they could complete their shifting. Spinning, Edward flung a paw out at an approaching wolf, sending it tumbling away, huge gashes opening in its neck. Tired of being on the defensive, he let loose with a battle cry, doing the exact opposite thing the wolves expected.

He attacked.

Charging into the midst of a clump of wolves, he landed heavily on one, bones breaking beneath the gargantuan weight of his over-sized bear. A backhand from his front paw sent another wolf flying into a tree and falling beneath it, unmoving. Just like that, the odds had changed.

Feinting at the last wolf close to him, he drove it back a few steps before he spun and in the blink of an eye accelerated back up the path to his friends. Derek was holding his own, but Philip, the smallest of the three, was in trouble. His flanks were bleeding badly, and he had a wolf on top of him while another was worrying his legs.

As Philip saw backup charging down, he got rid of the wolf on top of him the easiest way he knew how. He rose up and slammed his back against the trees, crushing the wolf between them. The second attacker, sensing an opening, began to dart forward.

He got no more than a step before Edward's mass hit him like a runaway freight train. The wolf didn't move as Edward continued to roll along, flicking out a paw to open the throat of one of the wolves Derek was battling. Slowing, he turned back to face the carnage in his wake.

It was over.

Wolves lay strewn across the path, almost a dozen of them downed between himself and his friends, in the span of mere seconds. It had been a slaughter, completely senseless. He couldn't help but wonder what they were protecting. It had to be something extremely important, but he had no idea as to what.

He stayed in his bear form while Derek tended to Philip. The wounds looked bad, but shifter's tended to heal quickly and easily, so there was no need to worry besides closing them up. Patrolling the perimeter, he ensured that they weren't snuck up upon again. None of them had expected to find this many wolves, which told them there was something more going on here, something the wolves really did not want anyone else to see.

With the three of them ready again, they continued up the hill, Edward leading the way, his monstrous bear sniffing constantly to detect any future threats. They came across one cleverly hidden bear trap, but his nose easily picked up the metal, and they were able to disable it without harming anyone.

The path became more worn as they neared the side of the mountain, indicating more traffic. There was still no further sign of wolves, not even once they sighted the opening to the den. Carefully they entered the opening, wary of any traps that may be set. Once they got past the first set of rooms, something came to Edward.

It was a human female, not a shifter.

Without thinking he pushed past Derek as he moved deeper inside.

"Edward, slow down! We don't know what's back there!" His friends scrambled after him, trying to keep pace.

It was useless, however, for he was on a mission, focused completely on the scent he had picked up. There was something about it, something that spoke to him in a way he hadn't known possible. He bulled through doors, obstacles flying out of the way as he pushed through room after room. The sheer size of the den wouldn't register on him until later, until after he had located the source of the scent.

He shouldered his way through one last door, before coming up short. Derek nearly bounced off him as he tried to come to a stop. He stood rooted to the spot, staring intensely across the room at the filthy, half-naked, screaming woman locked in a cage.  It was almost too painful to look at, now that he had located her, realizing just what had been going on within this room. The other scents in the room told him what they had been doing to her.

Taking a step forward to open the cage, he froze when she scrambled back against the far side of her prison, desperately clawing at the walls behind her, trying to get free. Then he remembered he was still in his bear form. Without thinking, he shifted right there in front of her.

"Out of the room," he spoke to his friends, not being rude, simply taking charge of the situation. They exchanged glances and backed out of the room, going off to explore the rest of the cave complex, to ensure no rude surprises awaited them. Philip went to close the door on his way out, but at the look of panic in the woman's eyes, Edward held it open.

"It's okay. We're not the same men you've had to deal with." He spoke slowly and in soft, comforting tones. It was not a normal method of speech for him, but it felt right for the situation at hand, so he did his best.

Doing his best to not make any sudden, jarring movements, he shuffled to the side, leaving nothing between her and the open doorway. He could see the almost feral light in her eyes as hope shone for the first time in probably a long time

"Do you know how long you've been here, or what day it was they took you?"

She focused on him at the sound of his voice, almost as if she was unused to anyone actually talking to her, asking her opinion. He could not begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for her in here. Instead of prodding for an answer, he simply sat back and waited, keeping his eyes on her, doing his best to look relaxed and non-predatory.

"February 21. How did you do that?" She finally managed to speak, her voice sounding dry and raspy, not having seen much use lately.

It took him awhile to stop trying to formulate an answer to her question and realize that it was now the middle of May, which meant she had been here for over three months. His fury threatened to boil over at that, but when she shrunk back in terror, he immediately let it dissipate, trying his best to emulate calm and control again.

"Sorry for that, it wasn't directed at you, but at those who held you."

"Who are you? What are you? If you aren't with them, how are you here?" There was a little bit of hope in her voice this time.

"My name is Edward, and I'm no friend of those who  took you. The rest of the answer is a bit more complicated. I'm not sure how much time we have. There may be more of those men coming, and my friends and I are already a little hurt from our first encounter. If more do show up, they'll be better prepared and we may not be able to escape."

"Let me out then, please let me go." She was pleading now, almost as if she didn't believe that he was going to take her with him.

"Can I trust you to come with us? You're in the middle of the mountains, with no clear way of escape. We have a jeep nearby, we'll gladly take you to the hospital, but I need to know that you won't fight us on the way there."

"I promise, I'll be good." She was trying to stand now, but her collar wouldn't let her up, but it didn't stop her from trying to open the door.

"Where are the keys?"

"They keep them over there," she said, pointing to a nail hammered into the wall, where a single key on a piece of string hung.

Fetching it, he moved over to the door, slowly inserting the key. As soon as the lock was undone, she pushed it open and tried to duck past him. Fully expecting it, his arm swooped down and around her waist, picking her up and hugging her tight.

She kicked and screamed, yelling at him to let her go. He didn't do anything else, simply holding her off the ground and firmly against him.

"It's okay. We're going to take you home now." He kept repeating those words, over and over again. Eventually, she tired of struggling, at which point her screams slowly turned to sobs. The warm dampness dripped through his shirt as she shuddered against him repeatedly, her noises muffled by his shirt.

Gently he raised his free hand and stroked her head. At first she flinched away, but before long she rested against him, exhausted. He continued to whisper and talk to her long after she had passed out from exhaustion in his arms. More gently than should have been possible for a man his size, he carried her all the way back to the jeep. The entire time her head was nuzzled against his neck.

Edward had never been so petrified in his life, for holding her like that felt more natural than anything he had done in a long time. Yet he didn't even know her name.

She didn't wake the entire time they were in the air. It was only upon their arrival at the hospital she stirred, much to his relief. He had monitored her breathing to ensure she didn't go into shock or worse, but he had begun to worry when even the landing of the plane hadn't woken her.

They told the nurse a modified version of what had happened, leaving out the part about everyone being shifters. They had simply been in the woods, found a cave of some sort that was on Derek's property and shouldn't have been there, and then men, who had fled as they approached. Upon further inspection, they had found this one locked in a cage.

The nurses had wanted to call in the police, but with a carefully placed name drop, the staff realized who the three men actually were. That had been enough to calm the issue. Turning to leave, Derek and Philip had headed towards the door. They had done their job, it was time to get some sleep and recover from their wounds.

"I'm staying," he pronounced, sitting in a chair outside of her room, leaning his head up against the plain white wall.

Both of his friends stopped and turned back to look at him in surprise.

"Why?" Philip asked, while Derek remained thoughtfully silent.

"Not sure, there's just something about her. I need to be here, it feels like the right thing to do. Does that make sense?"

"No, actually it doesn't Edward," the reply came. Eyeing his friend, he noticed Derek nodding slightly off to the side.

"You get it, right?"

"I get it. Call or text us if you need anything, food, clothes, etc, okay?"

"Clothes would be wonderful," he said wryly, eyeing the ripped clothing that hung off him currently. Changing into a bear was rarely good for clothes. "I'll get some food delivered though, but thank you for offering that one."

"See you in the morning." Derek gave him a nod, before turning and heading towards the elevator, giving Philip a tug when he didn't immediately follow.

After he had some food ordered, he told the nurses what he was doing, only raising an eyebrow when they tried to object.

"I'm going to sit in that chair and sleep, eat some food, and occasionally use the washroom. I won't do anything more, which includes bothering any of you for constant updates. In return, when she's awake and able to speak, you ask her if she is willing to talk to me.  If she says no, I go. If she says yes, you let me in." He was polite with his words, but made it very clear to them that it wasn't a request. Shrugging in defeat, they left and went about their work, leaving him to do as he promised.

The delivery guy was awestruck when presented with a huge tip, but by that point Edward was just too tired and hungry to care about waiting for change. He didn't want to deal with any human presence unless it was his mystery girl, whoever she was. Wolfing his mediocre sandwich down, he tossed the remnants away and settled in to wait.