Tempted by the Bear - Complete (26 page)

I
sabelle

I
cannot wait
to get out of the kitchen. If I have to watch one more set of true mates drool over each other, I might throw up. I search for Luke. I find him exactly where I expected to, near the keg. After the sun went down, the crew built a bonfire. The fire snaps and crackles as the scent of grilled meat hangs in the air. Annie sure does know how to feed people, if I’m too stuffed to crave another burger.

I rub my stomach as I make my way toward Luke. He’s laughing loudly and won’t be driving home any time soon. A bottle of my brother’s Arctic Ice vodka is being passed around. Fortunately, I’m sober. I’ve been too busy helping Annie to think about drinking too much.

When he sees me, his face falls, and he says, “Hey, baby.” He flashes a stern look at the guys he’s talking to, and I think he doesn’t want me to know what was said. I quickly scan the faces of his friends. More than one has a lecherous look that makes me wonder if my dear mate is sharing details of our sex life. I scowl at them as I speak in Luke’s head.
“What did you tell them?”

“It was nothing.”
He slides his arm around my waist and pulls me against his body.

I ask,
“Really? Then why are they looking at me as if I’m dessert?”

Luke nuzzles my neck.
“Seriously baby, it was no big deal. Eric wanted tips on a first date”—
he nips my earlobe—
“and I gave him some ideas.”

I push at Luke to step away. Fabulous. These guys all know how Luke got me off under the dinner table in a restaurant.
“You’re such a dick. Which reminds me, if you ever want me to suck yours again, you’ll stop sharing what we do sexually.”

He says, “Let’s go get a beer.”
“Uptight much?”

When we get away from his friends, I ask, “Do you have any idea how disrespectful that is?”

Luke threads his fingers through the hair at the base of my neck. “C’mon, you know how I feel about you, Izzy. All that did was make them jealous of me.” He kisses my neck, and I sigh. Our mate bond doesn’t care about bickering, and my body responds with a zing of desire. I let him capture my mouth and lose myself in a kiss.

“Izzy, let’s go behind the shed.”

I don’t know what’s come over me, because I reply,
“Not here, Luke. Everyone will know.”
I’ve never cared much about anyone else knowing. In fact, sometimes it gets me off, but not tonight.

“Since when did you care about that? Why are you being such a bitch tonight?”

Anger bubbles in my bloodstream, and I take a deep breath to keep it at bay. I speak in a low tone. “You’re not very smart, college boy. You’ve got five minutes to say goodbye to your playmates. I’ll be in the car.”

“What the fuck?” Luke grabs my butt and yanks me against his body. His erection is hard between us. “I can smell you want me.”

People turn to stare at us, and he kisses my neck again. I should just give in. We do have a good thing, even if we’re not true mates. But something feels wrong, and I push at him to stop. “No. I said not here.” My rage is close to exploding, but I know better than to let it take over.

Luke grips my bottom and growls in the sexy way he knows I like. “Baby, I think you need this. We can find a room.”

My insides twitch with lust. I do want sexual release.
So what’s my problem?
I relax a bit in his embrace, and I’m about to say yes to the room idea when he sinks his teeth into the flesh of my shoulder. Like a bucket of water has been thrown on a fire, the burning rage is doused, and pleasure spreads like smoke throughout my every cell. I moan, and now I’m sure we’re being watched. I whisper, “Shed. Now.”

As we walk by his group of friends, one guy gives him a fist bump. Deep inside my head, anger flares, but it barely flickers before the need to climax drowns it out. I shove my mate up against the wood wall of the shed so hard the building shudders. And I have no doubt Luke’s ego is being stroked as his buddies listen to us get it on.

When we’re done, I finish stripping out of my clothes and hang them on a hook. I say to Luke, “I’m going for a run. I’ve got pent-up energy to get rid of.”

He frowns at me. “You’re going to run now?”

“I really need to do this.”

“Isabelle?” Luke strokes my cheek, and the renewed rush of love our recent bond brings warms me. “What’s going on?”

I push the real answer away. “Nothing. I just need exercise.”

I turn away from him to shift, and he says, “Okay, I’ll be here.” By the time he finishes speaking, I’m in bear form and moving.

My rage stays under control until I’m deep into the woods. I let loose the power of my bear when I swing an arm at an oak tree. It splinters and cracks, but the noise doesn’t satisfy me. I break a few more, but my anger has no legs, and the pine tree I hit next teeters for a few seconds before it falls over. I stare at it as if it’s my sanity.

I sink to the ground as the vision of my mother comes to me. The spittle on her lips is what I recall focusing on when she screamed the words that echo in my head.
Nobody loves a girl like you.

I stand and shake from head to tail to realign my fur and rid my negative thoughts. I may not have true mate love, but I do have Luke. And that’s not bad for
a girl like me
. As my body pushes its way through the forest, branches and brush succumb to me by way of my size and strength. I have the ability to cause so much damage, and some days my grasp on that force is slippery. But I’ll keep hanging on, because if I don’t...

The image of my mother in a white dress, twirling around to music only she could hear flashes in my mind. And when I focus on the face, I realize it’s me.
No!
My feet pound on the earth as I race back toward the party. When I get there, I heave a sigh of relief. I’ve managed to outrun my demons. Again.

T
ori

I
stretch
my legs out in the passenger seat of Keith’s Jeep. My muscles are sore, I have a sunburn, and I’m exhausted. But it was one of the best days of my life, because I worked construction by Keith’s side. And he was right. I do feel good about donating my time and womanpower to help build housing for the De Rozier clan. Lucy told me they’re struggling, and the sooner we can get them here, the better.

Unlike the times Keith and I worked together in the past, I didn’t question what he said or did today. I know he’s in love with me, and it makes me want to squeal. When Annie mentioned that we’ll be discussing a wedding some day, it hit home that I want that. I gaze over at Keith. I want him, werebear or not, forever.

The tires hum over the asphalt as we make our way toward my apartment. Keith reaches for my hand, and I slide over a bit in my bucket seat, wishing I could snuggle against him. He glances at me quickly and says, “I don’t want to drop you off.”

“I don’t want you to either.” The little ways Keith touched me when he got the chance today have been stoking my fire, and sweat isn’t the only thing that he must be able to smell with his super-sensitive bear nose.

“Good. Because I’m going to be selfish right now and ask you to pack an overnight bag and come back to my house.”

I stare at him, and a flash of braveness takes over. “Is this sleepover going to require pajamas?”

He lifts my hand and kisses the back of it before he says, “That depends on you.”

I laugh. “I guess I didn’t make myself clear the other night.”

“I’m just making sure you haven’t decided that being with a big, burly bear isn’t such a good idea.”

I let a low rumble come from my throat in my best attempt at a growl. “I’m looking forward to the growling part.”

“Are you, now?” He shakes his head as the window lowers. He leans out, and buttons beep as he pushes the code to get into my apartment complex. When he’s done, he says, “Tell you what. Why don’t I drop you off so you can shower and get your things, and I’ll go get us sushi?”

“That sounds like a fantastic plan.” The engine ticks when Keith turns off the car to get out. He opens my door, and I say, “You don’t have to walk me to the door, you know.”

“I know, but maybe I want to.”

I slip my arm around his waist as we walk, and the scent of his musk is strong too. A vision of him standing in a shower flashes through my mind, and I think maybe I’ll need to see that later. When he opens the door, I turn to him and give him a kiss. “See you soon.”

He winks. “Not soon enough.”

With any other guy, I’d roll my eyes at the line, but not this man.

Gary, the doorman, greets me as I go by his station, and while I wait for the elevator, a guy comes out of the stairwell exit door. He’s carrying a decorative bag that makes me think it’s a present and comes to wait beside me. A ding sounds, and the elevator door swishes open. Once we step inside and start to move, the man asks, “Tori?”

“Yes?” I gaze at him, trying to figure out who he is.

“I’m glad I caught you. I’m Davis, and I live on the floor below you.”

“Oh. Hi.”

“I was just coming down to leave this for you. Somehow it got delivered to my apartment.”

I frown at him, because I can’t think of who would send me something. I take it, and the paper handles dig into my skin because of the weight of it. I can’t tell what’s inside without moving the tissue paper, but my guess is it’s a large bottle. “Okay.”

When we stop at his floor, he says, “Nice to finally meet you. Enjoy your night.”

“You too.” I lift the bag up and add, “Thanks.”

As soon as I get off the elevator, the tissue paper rustles as I remove it from the bag to look inside. It appears to be wine, but I discover it’s champagne when I lift the bottle out. A small tag is attached. It reads, “Congrats on the new digs and guy. Can’t wait to see you. Ginny and Nessa.”

My sisters sent me champagne?
It seems kind of odd, because we don’t do stuff like that for each other. I shrug and set the bottle down to reach for my phone in my back pocket to call my sisters, but my cell’s not there. I sigh. It probably fell out in Keith’s car. I make my way to the bathroom for a shower.

When I’m ready, I realize I can’t text Keith, and the button is smooth under my finger as I buzz Gary. “Hey, it’s Tori. You didn’t happen to have someone turn in a cell phone, did you?”

“No. Can’t say I have. But if I do, I can contact Lucy for you.”

Darn it. I’m lost without that thing. “That would be great, thanks.”

“Sure. Keith just walked in. Should I buzz him up?”

“No, I’ll come down. Thanks, Gary.” I hope my phone is in his Jeep. Otherwise, it must be at the building site, and I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get it.

“You’re welcome.”

I glance over at the champagne bottle on the table. My insides flutter a bit as I think about getting down and dirty with Keith tonight, and I grab the bottle to stick in my bag. I think our first time is the perfect reason to drink it.

When I get to the lobby, Keith walks toward me and takes my bag before he gives me a quick kiss. He says, “I had trouble deciding what to get, so I got one of everything. We might have trouble finishing it.”

That’s a lie, because when it comes to fish, I don’t think Keith ever gets full. I say, “I have something for us too. My sisters sent me champagne, and I thought tonight might be a good night to drink it.”

Keith frowns for a second and then smiles. “I guess if you’re staying over, it’s okay. But don’t you dare tell anyone I’m serving a minor.”

A yellow glow from the parking-lot lights illuminate Keith’s face as we walk to his Jeep, and I say, “Technically, the minor is serving you.”

“I knew you were trouble the day we met.” He places my bag on the backseat with a thud.

I wonder how to take that. His smile is gone. Is he rethinking our relationship? I recall how I approached him and made a fool of myself when he acted like he had no idea who I was. My seat belt clicks in place, and I ask, “When you saw me that first day, you knew who I was, didn’t you?”

Keith nods as he leans close to me. “The whole time, all I could think about was what this would be like.” He kisses me, and my body tingles. When he stops, he says, “But I wasn’t ready for you. It was too soon.”

I gaze into his eyes as pain flashes through them. My lust makes way to sadness for Keith and the loss of a true mate. A loss I’m not sure I could live through when I imagine him gone forever. I wonder if he still needs more time and say, “Keith, I can wait if you need to.”

“Tori, I want to be with you tonight. Taylor is my past and gone forever. You”—his lips brush mine lightly—“are my future.” When we kiss again, Keith’s passion sweeps me away, and I believe him.

A
nnie

J
ust after midnight
, Tristan made everyone leave. Designated drivers were checked out, and everyone should make it home safe. Many will be back in the morning to continue working on the dorm, but the amount that was accomplished today is amazing. I gaze out at the skeleton building. Stars twinkle in the background, and I smile. The house should be ready for occupation in just a couple more days, and Tristan plans to call the rest of his clan to come.

Empty vodka bottles clink as Sven lifts the bag of returnables to carry it to the garage, and the screen door slams as Lucy comes outside and toward me. I say to her, “Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Lucy watches Sven as he turns the corner, and I say, “I hope you’re staying here tonight.”

She turns her gaze to me to say, “If that’s okay, yes.”

“It’s more than okay. Now that Sven has moved here from Carly and Brady’s I’d like you to think of this as your home too until Sven can get a place of his own. You’re welcome to stay any night you wish.” I place my arm around her shoulders and give her a hug. “I think it will make things easier for Sven with the crazy hours he’s keeping now, don’t you?”

Lucy says, “You guys are doing such a great thing for the De Rozier clan. I know Sven appreciates it.”

I seat myself on a bench, and my hand thumps lightly on the wood when I motion for Lucy to join me. “It’s my pleasure. I’ve led a fortunate life.”

She sits. “Me too. I forget how lucky I am, but Sven is making me super-aware.”

I think about how difficult things are for Tristan’s clan members. He told me that many have lost their homes, and they spend most of their time in bear form while they live off the land. The adjustment to life in Maine must be difficult.

The crickets chirp out a song in the night, and I glance at the girl next to me. I get an idea. “Lucy, what did you have planned for this summer?”

“Part-time work at Ink It and not much else. Why?”

“Would you consider helping me here? I think Tristan’s clan is going to need assistance adjusting.”

Lucy grins. “You mean getting used to humans being equals?”

I smile back. “That. And I’m going to need help getting them to and from appointments for jobs, registering the children for school, buying new clothes, and sorting out their new daily routine.”

She takes a moment to consider my proposition. “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

“Fantastic.”

The springs on the back door squeak as it opens, and Tristan steps out to ask, “Have you seen my mother?”

“No,” I say. “I thought she went up to her room.”

He shakes his head, and I stand as I frown. The extra nanny we hired to guard Helga went home a few hours ago. “Did you check all the rooms?”

“Yes,” he says. “She’s not in the house.”

Lucy says, “Maybe she went for a run. I’ll check for her clothes behind the shed.”

Sven comes around the corner, and Tristan must speak in his head, because Sven immediately strips and shifts. His feet make the ground shudder when he takes off. Tristan says to me, “He knows her scent and will be able to pick up a fresh trail.”

I guess they’ve had to do this before. Lucy has returned, and she shakes her head when we look at her. I say, “Lucy and I’ll go make another round of the house just in case.”

Tristan gives the slightest nod and walks away. I say to Lucy, “The girls are asleep upstairs, so we’ll need to be quiet, but look everywhere you could imagine hiding.”

Lucy cocks her head at me as she walks across the tile floor of the kitchen, and I shrug. “I’m not sure what to expect, so we might as well cover all bases.” While the De Roziers may feel a need to keep Helga’s state of mind a secret, I don’t think we can take any chances with her right now. The woman is almost at the height of her manic phase, and she’s not rational. I have the gorgeous gardens she planted in one night by herself to prove it. I have to trust Lucy to keep it to herself.

Before we get to the second floor, Tristan sends me a telepathic message.
“Did you lend anyone your car?”

“No.”

Tristan growls as he enters the door from the garage that leads to the great room. When he sees me, he says, “I think Helga took it.”

I walk to the kitchen, and the bare hook where I keep my keys gleams in the brightly lit room as if it’s warning me. “Where would she go?”

“I have no idea.” He rakes a hand through his hair and doesn’t seem to care that he’s left it all askew. “She doesn’t have any money.”

I say, “My tank is only a quarter full. She won’t get far.”
My pocketbook.
With all the guests we had at our house today, I put it on a shelf in the garage, and I push my way past to Tristan to check.

It’s gone, and I turn to my mate, who’s followed me. “She’s got my purse.” Something flashes in his eyes, and he takes a deep breath as I ask, “Should we call the police?”

He frowns at me. “Humans against my mother isn’t a good idea.”

“We have our own force. They’ll be able to track her by my license plate and when she uses my credit card.”

“Okay, but we’re going to have to be covert. Helga is too smart for humans, and I fear what she might do if they try to apprehend her.”

“I get it. Would you mind if I brought Brady and Carly into this?”

He sighs and turns from me to pace the great room. His steps are heavy and thud on the hardwood floor. The coffee pot in the kitchen clatters. I fight the urge to go bake something, and wait for Tristan to give me an answer.

He turns to me and says, “I don’t like sharing my family problems.”

“I know.” I step toward him. “But right now I think you need Brady’s connections.”

My mate nods as he walks over to me and grips my arms lightly. “You’re right, my love. Call him.”

I slip my arms around Tristan’s waist and speak telepathically to Brady and Carly, who are both Le Roux alphas and able to communicate with all of the clan.
“Helga’s run away with my car and wallet. We need your help.”

Brady replies,
“I’ll call Ted, and we’ll be right over.”

Ted is the chief of police and a werebear. I gaze up at my mate’s troubled expression. “Brady and Carly are on their way over.”

I hug Tristan tight, and the muscles of his back are firm under my arms, as if he’s tensed up and ready to attack. He’s put on muscle mass and is much bigger than he was when he arrived six months ago, and it occurs to me that my mate could easily kill any bear in the Northeast Kingdom. I say, “Tristan, we’ll find her.”

“I know.” Pain that I imagine is from childhood memories flashes through his eyes. “It’s cleaning up after her that has me worried.”