Rescued by the Bear (Bear Creek Clan 1) (5 page)

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she questioned why he hadn't taken his truck. It made little sense. He had gone off on foot, perhaps someone was picking him up in a vehicle at the end of his drive. His deputy in a police car maybe? Whatever the reason, she was grateful. His truck was her ticket out of there.

Back to his house keys. There was a big bunch of keys hanging up, she guessed they might be for his office, but wasn't sure. Would he put a house key on the same set? She carefully tiptoed to the front door, and looked at the lock. It would give her some idea of what key she was looking for. Although with the lack of light, it was going to be impossible to look at them accurately.

Trying to keep calm, she went through the keys. Hoping she could put her plan into action before reinforcements arrived.

He had carried on down the trail, following Sam’s lead. He and Sam had scented strangers about two miles away, they were heading over to them now. It worried him that they had made it so far into Bear Creek. The old Francis place, where Abbi had hidden, was another five miles away. He had expected to have to travel to that edge of town to catch their trail. Not to find them practically on his doorstep.

Brad would have liked to pick up the pace, to move faster to find their quarry. However, they were capable of missing something if they went too fast. He was glad Sam had taken the lead. For once, the town sheriff was not the one with a cool head. He was too emotionally involved to think straight. Acknowledging this, he made a point of dropping further back, behind the others. Only Hal remained behind him, bringing up the rear.

It took a full half hour to pick up the trail. Fresh scents crisis crossed each other, making it hard to pick a direction to follow. It was a mixture of wolf, lynx, and perhaps fox. Some of the scents were those of creatures indigenous to the area, meaning they might not be shifters at all. This always make things confusing.

They decided to follow the wolf scent. There were no ordinary wolves in the surrounding area. Making that scent was the one most at odds with the natural scents they would have expected to find. Wolves tended to run on the other side of the mountain. Wolf Springs was their pack territory, and boundaries were seldom crossed. If bears and wolves kept out of each other's way, there was less trouble. Only one other bear clan lived close by. They were further over the mountain, higher up the canyon. The two clans did not mix well.

This meant that Bear Creek had its own scents and smells. One of the jobs he found most enjoyable was patrolling their territory. It gave him an excuse to take bear form during the day. He could spend hours checking no trespassers had crossed the boundaries.

Tonight those boundaries had been breached, and the trespassers needed to be taught a lesson. No one came here to steal from Bear Creek inhabitants, especially not females.

Ahead of him Sam grunted, and stopped. He sniffed around in the dry leaf litter, and then lifted his head and scented the air. He moved off again, giving Brad a worried look. It didn't take Brad long to understand why.

Sam was leading them back along another trail. It ran parallel to the one they had come down. What did that mean? They were heading back up towards his house. The very place where he had left Abbi was the very place the trespassers were heading. And he had left her there all alone. He had promised her she would be safe. He had lied.

She was sure she had found the key. Lifting it carefully she went right up to the front door and waited. When she heard no sound, she pushed the key into the lock, relieved when it slid in smoothly. She didn't risk turning it. She had to leave it to fate that it was the right one. If not she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

Leaving it in the door, she went back to the rest of the keys. Taking the truck key off its hook, she held it tightly in her hand. Then she made her way back along the hallway. She went into the dark kitchen. It was still full of the warm delicious smell of the meal they had shared a lifetime ago. The urge to stop, to sit down at the scrubbed wooden table and wait for Brad was overwhelming. But he couldn't help her now. He was too far away. She was on her own.

Going to the back door, she checked to see if it was locked, which of course it was. She looked around for the key, being a sheriff he didn't leave it in the lock, as she would have.

The kitchen was too dark, and so instead of using her eyes, she had to use her hands to feel around. Damn she couldn’t find it. Where would he put it? Going back to the door, she felt along the door jam, an obvious place she knew. Not there either.

Surely, he wouldn't hide it too far from the door. Growing more agitated as the minutes ticked by, she managed to knock into the table. The legs dragged across the floor, making a horrible screeching noise. She stopped, and then ducked down, crawling back towards the hallway. They must have heard it, but there was no sound. No voices.

Nothing until something hard slammed into the back door. Her heart hammered in her chest. She hadn't needed to open the door to get their attention after all. Now all she had to hope was that her plan worked, and their attention was drawn to the back of the house while she sneaked out the front. She moved quickly back to the front door. Putting her ear against it, she listened. She couldn't hear anything, other than the splintering wood as the back door gave in to her pursuers.

Quickly, knowing she now had nothing to lose, she opened the front door. Clutching the truck keys in her hand, she left the house. Once she was outside, she pulled the door closed behind her. Wasting precious minutes, she locked it, hoping to slow down her pursuers.

Looking around furtively, she could see no other movement. She had no choice now, she ran for the truck. Thankfully, Brad had parked it close to the house when he carried her in. With trembling fingers, she unlocked the truck, and climbed inside. All the time anticipating a hand reaching out and grabbing her.

Slowly, carefully, she pulled the truck door shut, hoping they hadn't heard the click as it closed. She didn't think so; they were too busy ransacking the house. All she had to do was start the truck, and get out of here. Sliding up onto the seat, she froze. One of them was outside, some way away talking on a cell phone. If she tried to start the truck, and something went wrong she would give herself away. Keeping her mouth clamped shut; she swallowed her scream of surprise. She sank back down in the seat, and carefully slid her hand up to lock the door.

In the dark, she felt around for something she could use to cover herself up with. She found Brad's hi viz jacket, it had 'police' emblazoned on the back, it would have to do. If they inspected the truck too closely, she would be seen. A cursory glance might miss her if she kept still. Lying on her side, she tucked her feet and legs behind the seat. With her body covered by his jacket, she waited for their next move. Abbi only hoped they wouldn't see the truck shaking as her body trembled with fear. All she could do was wait. For what? Soon Wag would turn up and track her down to the truck.

There was nothing for it, she would have to bide her time and then try the ignition. Abbi put it off as long as possible. Her feet and legs slowly went to sleep, while her ears strained to catch any sounds or voices. It was all quiet. Flexing her stiff legs, she made to move, when a voice shouted.

"She's not here. But I'm sure she's been inside the house. If it didn't stink so much of bear we might have a better chance of tracking her. Where the hell is Wag?"

"Coming, but it seems the bears have caught his scent, he's trying to lead them away. Well, lead them to an ambush down at Forks Crossing."

Two things battled for dominance in her head. The first was that, from what was said, Brad was a shifter. A bear. It all clicked into place. He was one of them.

But he had rescued her. He had come to the house she was hiding out in and taken her home. Fed her, clothed her, and, more importantly, made her feel safe. Then he had gone out, risking his life to end this. For her. Yes, she knew it was his job as sheriff, but he had said it was all off the record. Of course, so that no one asked any questions about men that changed into other ... things. No questions, no interrogations. It was all kept quiet. That was the way Bear Creek handled itself.

It didn’t stop the second half of the exchange between the men outside hitting home. Brad, and whoever was helping him, were heading for an ambush. She had to warn them.

Taking firm control of her courage, she sat up, hauled herself up into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. One way or another she had to help the bears. If that meant she had to give herself, then so be it. She wouldn’t let anyone get hurt while she hid herself away. She turned the key.

The sound was like an explosion ripping through the air. It fired into life straight away. She needn’t have questioned that it would. Brad was a sheriff; he would never chance having a vehicle that wouldn't start. He would need it to be reliable for when he had to get to an emergency fast.

Her next problem was the lights. She wouldn't get far if she couldn't see where she was going. All the trees between her and the road would be obstacles she would never avoid. She started flipping switches, and got the windscreen wipers, and then the lights. Once they were on, she could see the danger she was in.

Right in front of her, running full pelt at her was a man. Who at the same time was turning into a creature of some kind. Abbi didn't wait to watch what he became; she hit the gas and drove.

There was a bang on the passenger door. Enough to put a dent in it she was sure. There was no way she was hanging around to find out who, or what, had done the damage. Insurance details were not about to be swapped. Instead, she drove the truck as fast as she dared, while still staying on the track leading down to the road. This was harder than she thought it would be. The darkness was complete under the trees, only the trucks lights showing her the way. The twists and turns made it hard to anticipate the direction she should be taking.

A few near misses brought her down onto the road. She didn't stop, turning sharply onto the tarmac, only to narrowly miss a motorcycle. Swerving, she couldn’t hold the road, and ended up in the bushes. Jolting forward, her head narrowly escaped hitting the steering wheel. Instead, her hands gripped it until the whites of her knuckles showed. They shone in the light from the motorbike now lying on the road.

Feeling the shock taking hold of her, she tried to think of what to do. This must be the others, coming to join in the hunt for her. It was no good, they had won. Maybe she should simply go quietly, spare the bears from having to fight for her. But that was the old Abbi.

Opening the door, she slid out, her knees only just supporting her. More headlights came towards her, single lights. Motorbike lights. There were at least five of them, maybe more but they dazzled her, and she shielded her eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" A man dragged himself up off the road, his eyes a strange amber colour. He was enraged, and she shrunk from him, her courage failing. Was this another tiger come hunting? "Why did you come out of there like that? You do know you're supposed to look."

"Yes ... I was trying to get away..." This was not a story anyone would believe. 'I'm running away from men who can change into animals. Yes, asylum here I come'.

"Wait. That's the sheriff's truck. Are you running away from the sheriff? Or something else..."

She looked at his eyes, seeing the unnatural glow. "Something else."

He turned to his men, and signalled. They turned up the drive towards the sheriff's house. "Is the sheriff at home?"

She shook her head. "No. He went out. I think he went to deal with the men who were chasing me. But there's an ambush. A ... creature named Wag is leading them into a trap."

"We'll deal with these first. Then we'll try to find the sheriff." He turned to the men on motorbikes and called. "Leave one alive. We need to get some answers."

"I know where they're going. Forked Creek."

"Then let's see if you've wrecked my bike. If it's still working, we'll go and save your sheriff."

"Oh, he's not mine," she answered.

"If that's a come on, I'm not interested."

"No. No, it wasn't just a statement of fact. He wouldn’t be interested in me."

Motorbike guy looked her up and down, taking in her clothing. She glanced down, and saw where he had got the idea. She was standing in the middle of the road, with the sheriff’s truck crashed behind her, wearing his shirt. If anything screamed, slept with the sheriff. She did.

He quickened his pace. In all the years he had spent in law enforcement, he could definitely say this was the most scared he'd ever been. Not for himself, but for Abbi. What if they had made it back to his house and found her. What kind of fool had he been to leave her there alone? He had told her to trust him, and she had. Now the guilt at having put her in danger was almost too much. As they loped along, he struggled to stop himself running headlong up the trail.

For Brad, it was lucky he still had his self control. If he had gone off on his own, he would never have survived the pack of assorted mongrels that were waiting for the bears. Outnumbered three to one. It appeared the tiger had sent an army to capture Abbi.

A lone man stood leaning against a tree. As the bears approached, he put his phone back in his pocket. "Well, well. What a mangy bunch of bears you are. No match for my crew. So why don't you go on run away, back to your empty homes. And yes, sheriff, your home is empty. My friend just informed me they found the little cock tease. So if you boys want to back off, we'll leave. We have what we came for."

Sam stood firm, he turned his head to look at Brad, who shook his head. There was no way he was giving up his mate to these men. They would fight these beasts, and then he would track Abbi down. If it meant leaving Bear Creek to do so, he would. She was everything to him, his future bound up with hers in a way he would never understand. But that was the way it worked. He wouldn't fight his fate. But he would fight these mutts.