Worshiped By The Bear Kings - Complete (13 page)

CHAPTER
SEVEN

It was only a moment or two before
Spike was out of his seat. “No,” he said. “No, I won’t do it.” He shrugged off
a couple of the Destair guards and made his way out for an exit.

All eyes were
on Thunder Brad.

“Supposing we
were about to contact Lady Thistle,” he said. “Then what would you have us do?”

“You’ll need
her to negotiate a meeting with her father. When he has agreed to meet with
Hades and I, then you will be handed your tribe,” Gaspar said.

Brad looked
to Hades.

“Yes, what
our panther friend has said,” Hades remarked.

The door
opened to the side and the waiter entered with a tray of drinks and
refreshments.

“Please help
yourself to your orders,” Hades said, rising. “In the meantime, I’d consider
our offer carefully. There won’t be another.”

He signaled
to Gaspar and then the pair began heading for the side exit.

“Wait a
second,” Dennis called out. “Does that mean you’re letting us go?”

Hades turned.
“Please do, human.”

They exited.

Dennis and
Dara got up and went to Jasmine. “Are you coming with us?” he demanded.

Jasmine
looked to Brad. “No, I –”

“She’d be
happy to,” Brad said.

Jasmine’s
eyes flared. “What?!”

“Please,”
Brad said. “You’ll be safer with them. Spike and I are to embark on a very
dangerous mission.”

“With some …
lioness
?”

“I don’t
understand what the big deal is,” Dara hissed. “Are you coming or not?”

Jasmine
looked to Brad again.

“Please,” he
said. “Just go.”

Jasmine got
up, shaken. “Alright. Let’s get out of here.”

She walked
around the other side of the sofa whilst Dennis and Dara followed.

Although she
was sure that Brad was watching her, Jasmine did not look back.

CHAPTER
EIGHT

The mechanical gate to the Destair’s
compound closed behind them with a grim echo into the night. About a metre from
the car Dennis let out an exasperated sigh of relief, and struck up a cigarette.

“What are you
doing?” Dara shrieked. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Alright,
alright,” Dennis said. “Gees. It’s not like they’re going to come after us
again.”

“How do you
know that?”

Dennis used
his buzzer to unlock the car and Dara immediately opened and shut it loudly.

Jasmine’s
hands wrapped around her waist as she leant up against the backside passenger
door. Dennis stared at her, smoking his cigarette.

“You really
scared me back there,” he said.

“What?”
Jasmine mumbled. “Why?”

“Now all of a
sudden, you want to be with those bears?”

“So what? I
didn’t say that anyway.”

“You’re like
fucken Stacey, aren’t you?” Dennis whined. “You think these guys are
superheroes.”

“Don’t talk
bad about Stacey,” Jasmine said. “I thought you were bigger than that now.”

Dara tapped
loudly on the window. “
Get. In. The. Goddamn. Car.
”

“Fuck me.”
Dennis flicked his cigarette and got in the driver’s side.

Jasmine
opened the door behind her and got in the back of the car.

Dennis
started it and they pulled off the sidewalk.

“Thank God,”
Dara gushed. “Sorry for being such a bitch and everything but … wow. This is
the worst day of my life.”

“Where do you
want to go?” Dennis asked. “Back to the cops?”

“No,” Dara
said. “Just take me home. I’m serious. I need to get as far away as possible.
I’m not having any crazy stuff happening to me again. Not tonight.”

“What about
you, Jasmine? You want to be taken home too?”

“I guess so,”
she mumbled.

“Jasmine’s
not too far from here,” Dennis explained to Dara. “Just over the bridge. In
that area.”

“Okay,” Dara
said. “Then you’ll take me home, right?”

“Sure thing.
And I’ll stay around to make sure everything’s okay.”

“Everything’s
not okay. But I can’t deal with anything else right now.”

Jasmine
leaned her head against the glass.

She was
tired. The stress had taken it out of her.

It wasn’t
until Dennis arrived at the front of her house and she’d said her goodbyes,
leaving her standing out in the cold all alone, that she realized why her heart
was breaking.

Safe or
dangerous, she belonged with Thunder and Spike.

This old
world could no longer contain her.

CHAPTER NINE

Thunder Brad stood with his cousin at
the part of the road where the car had once been surveying the area in a grim
silence. He had yet to convince Spike of anything. Spike had withdrawn
completely once they were outside the compound, and Jasmine couldn’t be found.
He seemed to somehow believe she would be still here…

“Look,” Brad
said. “We have a task to complete now. We can’t stand about moping.”

Spike glared
at him. “Whatever we do for them, the Destair won’t keep their word. There’s no
trust there.”

“That might
be the case,” Brad replied. “Or it mightn’t. The point is that we need to
figure how to get our brother and sister bears back to safety and I don’t see
how we have any other option than to do what they ask of us.”

“There’s
always other options.”

“Name one.”

“We could
wait until the panther leaves here. Attack him when he’s alone. Get him to tell
us where the Uthuro are.”

Brad sighed.
“Are we going to stand out here all night then? What if he doesn’t leave until
tomorrow morning? Or the next day? What if when he does, he has plenty of
protection?”

“I hear what
you’re saying. I just can’t put another woman through any of this again.
Especially not Lynette.”

“Our bond
with her is dead,” Brad snapped. “She is a lion, and belongs to her pack. She
always has. She was never truly with us.”

“You didn’t
understand her like I did.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Forget it.”

Brad put his
hands out into the air. The frustration was overwhelming.

“Time is
running out, cousin,” he said. “Are we to make our move now, or aren’t we?”

Spike kicked
a pebble across the ground. “You shouldn’t have let her go.”

“Who?
Jasmine?”

“Jasmine …
Juliette… What’s the difference? When we have a mate our duty is to protect
her. What protection are we giving now?”

Brad grabbed
his shoulders. “If we brought her with us she would be in even greater danger.
At least if she’s at home all by herself, our world can’t touch her.”

“If she can’t
be with us, and be safe,” Spike said, “then she never will be.”

Brad turned
away. His cousin had a point.

“Do you even
know where she is now?” Spike asked.

“No,” Brad
swallowed. “There wasn’t time to ask.”

“Then how are
we ever supposed to find her again?”

“Her address
is back at the ranger’s office. Scott has it as well.”

Spike shook
his head. “You are pathetic.”

He turned
away from Brad and started walking down the road.

“Hey!” Brad
shouted. “Don’t insult me!”

“See you in
another life, cousin.”

“No! You get
back here now!”

But Spike
wouldn’t turn back. And now Brad was all alone out here in the city, without a
clue of what he was supposed to do.

CHAPTER TEN

Inside the house, Jasmine closed the
front door and turned on all the lights. She threw her camping gear away, took
a shower, got changed into a fresh pair of jeans with a jumper, and wandered
into the kitchen. She made herself a tofu salad, and then went into the lounge
to consume it.

Looking down
at her hand as she held the fork, she noticed it was shaking. What was behind
her was all too surreal. She wanted to laugh and poke fun at herself. It seemed
so ridiculous now – giving herself away to the first shifters she’d met since
the wedding. She hadn’t realized it then. Why she had been so easy and free
with them. Why it had felt so right. Her mind just kept going back to Stacey
and remembering how happy she had been. Was it too much to ask to have that
kind of love in her life? Or was what she really deserved another douche like
Jake?

Hmm. She
shouldn’t think bad about him. Now that he was dead. You would think that would
have turned her off as well – the bear killing her friend with a rifle blast to
the head. But no. It had meant nothing. Something was clearly wrong with her.

“Shut up,
brain,” Jasmine grumbled out loud.

She wished she
had someone to talk to right now. The only person she trusted and knew what she
was going through was miles and miles away … but Stacey had left her Firebound
Palace’s phone number. She’d never called it. Jasmine was too afraid. Of what,
she wasn’t sure, but…

She looked at
the clock on the wall and saw it was just after ten pm. Late, but not too late.
It was worth a try, she figured. She was having a meltdown anyway.

Jasmine put
her salad down and walked into the bedroom to uncover the phone number. She grabbed
her phone out of her camping bag and punched in the numbers.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

“Hello, you’ve called
Firebound Palace. Unfortunately no one can answer your call right now. You are
reminded that the palace’s office hours are between seven am and seven pm,
Monday to Saturday. If you could please leave a message, then someone will –”

Jasmine put
the phone down angrily. She let it sag out of her fingers and hit the carpet
below. Her face flushed and she felt tears bubbling up.

“Oh no,” she
whispered.

She ran into
the bathroom and ran the faucet to wash her face. She then covered it with a
towel and marched back into the living room.

It was a
stupid idea anyway. Why should Stacey care about her anymore? They hadn’t
spoken in so long. She’d never phoned Jasmine to find out how she was doing.
She’d probably forgotten all about her.

Jasmine fell
into her couch, shaking her head. It was probably time to call it a night now.
She’d feel better in the morning.

Buzz, buzz.

Buzz, buzz.

Jasmine
looked down at the floor. Her phone was vibrating.

When she
picked it up, she saw it was Firebound Palace’s number. She hastily answered
it.

“Hello?”

“Jasmine?”

Stacey’s
voice.

“Stacey?”

“Did you try
and call us?”

“I tried to
call you,” Jasmine gushed. “I heard the answering message. I thought I wasn’t
able to get a hold of –”

“I had your
number flagged,” Stacey explained, “so that if you ever called a message would
be delivered to my computer.”

“Oh. I didn’t
realize you had a computer out there.”

“Well, we’re
not Neanderthals,” Stacey laughed.

“Right – but
you don’t have your own cell phone –”

“That’s
because I don’t need one. I’ve left all that behind. I don’t want … your
brother calling me, or –”

“But that
means I can’t call you.”

“We’re
talking now, aren’t we?”

Jasmine smiled.
“I guess we are.”

“So how are
you?” Stacey asked. “What are you doing with yourself?”

“Um … I’m
actually going through something difficult at the moment.”

“Oh no.
What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. I
mean, I’m okay. But I met up with a bunch of bear shifters today. I’m sort of …
with them now.”

“You’re with
them now?”

“No, I’m at
home actually. But … I’m
with
them. You know?”

Silence for a
moment.

“Keep going,”
Stacey said.

“Well, I was
kidnapped.”

“Oh no!”

“But I got
away. So I’m alright.”

“Who
kidnapped you?”

“Like this,
other bunch of bear shifters. It’s pretty full on. I just…”

“What is it,
Jasmine?”

Jasmine
didn’t know what to say.

Could she
tell her after all this time?

“Nothing,”
Jasmine whispered. “It was just a really difficult experience.”

“Do you want
me to talk to Zane? Send some protectors out to you?”

“No,” Jasmine
said. “I think I’m okay now. My bear kings sorted it out for me. So I don’t
think I’ll be kidnapped again.”

Unless…

“Are you
sure?”

Jasmine
swallowed. “I think so.”

“Well… Do you
think you’ll be seeing your … what did you call them again?”

“Bear kings.”

“Do you want
to come visit Zane and I with them? Maybe he could check them out for you, make
sure they’re trustworthy.”

“I think
they’re alright,” Jasmine said. “I’m just…”

“What?”

“Oh, never
mind.” The words seemed to whisper in her ear. “Have you had your baby yet?”

“No,” Stacey
said. “I’m nine weeks pregnant though – but it’s not like a human pregnancy.
Dragon babies can stay dormant for up to twenty four months, or as little as a
couple of days. There’s no telling when it’s going to come out. I’m a bit
freaked, because it’s really dangerous, but thankfully Zane has a whole bunch
of doctors and nurses on standby for when it happens.”

“What…?”
Jasmine whispered. “How is it dangerous?”

“Well, it’s
not a baby boy or girl coming out of there. It’s a baby dragon.”

“It will
hurt?”

“Zane tells
me not to worry but the mortality rate is high.”

“You know, I
would like to come and see you.”

“With the
bear kings?”

“Oh. I don’t
know,” Jasmine said. “I just want to come to the Island. Maybe stay for a bit.”

“Sure. We can
send one of the dragon guards to come and get you. When were you thinking of
coming down?”

Jasmine
opened and closed her eyes.

Tonight,
tonight, tonight, tonight…

“Next week?”

“Sure that
will be fine. Any particular day?”

“I don’t
know. I have exams on Monday. Maybe on Tuesday.”

“Cool. Well,
I’ll call you before then to organize the arrangements.”

“That will be
awesome.”

“I hope
everything is fine with you,” Stacey said. “I know we haven’t been in touch for
too long. I hope you don’t think it’s deliberate.”

“No,” Jasmine
whispered. “It’s not like I tried to call you at all.”

“Right. Well,
it will be great to see you. Anything else you want to say now?”

Jasmine
paused. “No. I don’t think so. I think … I’ll just go to bed.”

“Okay.
Goodnight.”

“Say hello to
Zane for me.”

“Will do.”

“See ya.”

“Goodbye.”

End of
conversation.

Jasmine took
a deep breath in and out.

She knew
she’d soon have to tell Stacey about the dragon inside of her.

Tuesday
couldn’t come soon enough.