BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (102 page)

He was ready for her. He took her attack head on. Her claws scraped through the flesh on his chest and he roared but smacked her to the side with a sweep of his paw. She tumbled but regained her footing and launched again.

Bruce was aware of Dwayne moving toward Jenna and he wasn’t worried that the man would harm her. He crouched by her and Bruce knew that it was for peace. He didn’t know how he knew, he just did.

He didn’t have more time to think. Tara was on him again, her jaws cranked wide open, her eyes a bright white that had no feeling in them, nothing was a wish for death. She jumped on Bruce and he lost his balance, falling to the floor.

Tara latched onto his throat and tried to work through Bruce’s thick fur. He tried to peel her off but she clamped down so he started rolling.

He outweighed her by about two hundred pounds and his weight took its toll on her. Her animal made a strained sound as the air was forced out of her body. She squirmed underneath butch and he didn’t let up.

When her breathing was so shallow he could hardly hear it he let up. He wanted to drag her across the plateau and fling her off the cliff while she was too weak to survive the fall. He couldn’t look into her eyes and kill her without her rolling him with her mind, and every time he tried to get her face turned away from him she pulled it back to him.

She had other powers, mind powers that scared him.

From out of nowhere a wolf jumped on his back and he roared at the pain when it bit into his shoulder. It wasn’t as sore it was a surprise. The pack wasn’t supposed to get involved, the fight was between him and Tara.

By attacking Jenna, Tara had indirectly challenged Bruce. It was fight between the two of them. The pack wasn’t supposed to get involved. That didn’t stop them from getting in the mix though. Cleveland hung back and Dwayne was still crouched with Jenna who seemed to be frozen with her eyes glued to the fight.

But Stephen and Rosa had both shifted and he knew it was Stephen on his back. Rosa was crouched a few feet away with her lips curled back in a sneer, baring sharp teeth and glowing eyes that were downright scary.

Lori was in the throes of shifting to a bear. It was different than his change – she had less to fuel her and she was weaker. But the moment she was a bear Bruce would be in trouble. She matched him in size and weight and if she was against him, with two wolves and a wereleopard on her side he was outnumbered and overpowered by many.

He turned to Dwayne and for a moment he tried to read what was in the psychic’s eyes. And he found nothing comforting. He turned back to the pack that were suddenly all turned against him, and he knew that this fight was only going to end one way – in death. The only variable now was whose death it was going to be.

He launched at Tara again, the strongest of the pack but the leader. If he could kill her the others would have no choice but to submit. But the time Stephen had bought her by jumping on his back had given her enough time to recover from her lack of oxygen, and she was on her feet again, growling at Bruce.

He attacked her nevertheless, because as long as he was going for her, the pack would go for him instead of Jenna. He threw himself on her with teeth bared and claws slashing, trying to cause as much damage as he could. But the wolves were on him and Lori clapped him with a claw that left deep cuts into his skin. He started losing blood and the wolves managed to take chunks out of his fur, too. It was like once his skin was broken, his strength started leaking out those holes.

As if the others knew what was happening they eased off and it was easier for Tara alone to take Bruce on. She growled and  at first Bruce thought it was aimed at him. But then he realized it was a command toward the others. A command that involved Jenna. He turned to her and roared as long and loud as he could.

Dwayne translated for Bruce.

“Run!” he shouted.

Jenna got up and headed for the trees, running like her life depended on it, because it did. Cleveland was a bird in less than a second and set off after her. He would guide her, Bruce knew. Cleveland was on his side.

The others set off into the trees after her. Bruce tried to stop them but they were faster, and finally he had to make do with knocking Tara down and trying to kill her. But the leopard got away from him, too, and he watched her white and yellow fur disappeared between the trees, after his wife.

He groaned and crumpled on the plateau, alone, hoping to god that Jenna was going to make it out. Because if she didn’t, he wouldn’t.

Chapter 1

Bruce watched the pack disappear between the trees and he died a little every second he had to wait for his body to repair itself. Jenna was in those woods, a human being chased by four shapeshifters who would think nothing of killing her. The only thing on his side was the fact that the moon was so far from full, just a thin sliver in the sky. The shifters wouldn’t lose control of the bit of humanity they had left as easily as if it were fuller.

Bruce’s body repaired itself quicker than a normal bear or human would – his immune system was strong and his wounds knit closed as he watched them. But time had slowed down and every second dragged by. It could be too late for Jenna. Any moment one of the shifters could catch up with her, and then she would be done for.

If Jenna died on Bruce’s watch he would never forgive himself. After all he had done to keep her safe, watched over her, mated her, that would be beyond ironic. It would be downright cruel.

It couldn’t have been more than a couple of minutes before Bruce was on his feet, but it had felt like hours. He ran into the trees, not caring for the smaller shrubs, just plundering his way through like the devil was after him. Or, more accurately, like the devil as after Jenna. The wounds were closed completely, but the skin on his shoulders and his back were tender and his muscles ached with every step. It didn’t matter.

What mattered was getting down the mountain as far as possible. He focused on himself as he ran through the trees, focused on the tug inside of him, the direct line that he knew he had with Jenna now. If he could find her he might be able to get to her. If he could find her, she was still alive.

Cleveland had gone with Jenna and there was no doubt in Bruce’s mind that it had been for him and not for the pack. The bird was flying with Jenna, showing her the right way, looking out for the shifters. He knew this as certainly as he knew Jenna was still alive. She wouldn’t be able to outrun them, and they would smell her if she hid, but Cleveland would help her more than she would have been able to do for herself.

It took a while for Bruce to find Jenna. He was panicked and caught in the middle of the emotions that surged through him it was hard to be at peace enough to feel where she was. The animal was hovering on the verge of full control because Bruce was slowly losing his grip on his calm. He was panicking and it was going to go over into hysteria if he didn’t find her soon.

But somehow he managed to push everything to the back of his mind, to ignore the iron fist in his stomach, to ignore his heaving lungs and his hammering heart, and to focus on finding her.

The line was faint, like a phone line with too much static on it, but he found her. She was quite some distance down the mountain, and moving as fast as she could. She wasn’t on one of the pack’s natural paths and Bruce assumed that was because of Cleveland. When a shapeshifter knew the road he was traveling on he didn’t have to think. His body moved with the earth and that made it faster.

If it was unknown territory the trees didn’t seem to sway out of the way, the ground didn’t beg to reach out and meet your feet halfway so it felt like you were floating.

Bruce turned off the trail and into the trees. It was new territory for him, too, but he had a link with Jenna and he was going to find her, even if it meant he had to go straight through trees instead of around them. The way he took was straight down the mountain, the straightest path he could manage.

He would meet up with her. He just kept praying to whoever would listen that it wasn’t too late.

Somewhere he lost his footing and started falling. He hit the ground with his left shoulder and a sharp pain shot into his chest that made him grunt. He tumbled down hill, took out a tree that was young enough not to be rooted too deeply. It felt like everything that had just knitted itself together was tearing open again, and somewhere he felt warm thick liquid trickle into his eyes. It was his blood, he was sure of it.

He tumbled down a small rise, fell with a thud, and kept moving. He managed to find his feet again, and then suddenly everything stopped. The ground had evened out and his momentum was finally broken. And Jenna was close, he could feel her.

Two wolves ran at him, the bigger one trying to stop when it saw him and it tripped and fell. It was Stephen and he skidded a small distance in the dust. Rosa came to a stop behind him, her eyes glowing and completely animalistic. As Bruce thought it, she pulled her lips up and growled at him. So much for hanging onto her humanity. She was completely buried under the animal.

He growled back and she backed off because he was bigger and stronger.

Lori arrived next with Tara right behind her. Tara sniffed the wind but it was blowing in the right direction. Bruce couldn’t smell Jenna either and that made him feel a little calmer. At least she was safe. For now.

Tara’s power was terrifying. It pushed against Bruce like a giant hand and he gasped for breath. Her anger made it that much worse, and for a moment he wondered what she’d needed him for if she was capable of this. But then, she wasn’t always this enraged. Wild emotions tended to give shifters wild abilities.

Bruce reached deep down to find Jenna, and she was close by. He could feel her. Not close enough for the others to know, but too close for comfort. Bruce didn’t want to look around and give it away, but he was aching for her, screaming on the inside, terrified she wasn’t alright.

The pack were facing off. The air suddenly shifted and Bruce knew this was going to be a fight. There was no way that this kind of atmosphere, this kind of power, was going to die down again without something happening.

Just as Bruce thought it, Lori bared her teeth and launched at Bruce. It was unexpected, he’d been keeping his eye on Tara, and she knocked him from the side. He didn’t take long to recover. He turned around and managed to wrestle her down, clawing her in the face and then shoving her against a tree. He heard the breath leave her body with an audible huff.

“That’s enough!” a female voice cut through the tension and everyone stopped. Goose bumps traveled up Bruce’s arms and when he slowly let go of Lori and turned, Tara stood there in human form. She looked terrible. Her hair was tangled and she had a thin line of blood trickling from her forehead. Her eyes were haunted. Everything stopped when she shouted. Lori and Bruce stood unmoving. Stephen was licking his paw like something was wrong with it and Rosa cowered like she was scared of Tara. Which wasn’t that far off – they were all scared of Tara on one level or another.

Dwayne came through the trees just as Tara opened her mouth to speak again. She glared at him but he looked right back, staring her down coolly. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling, but besides that you wouldn’t think he’d just come into company where everyone wanted to rip each other’s throats out. Or at least, where everyone seemed to want to rip Bruce’s throat out.

Dwayne glanced at Bruce as Tara started talking and his eyes held knowledge that Bruce didn’t have access to.

“This has gone on long enough,” Tara said. “I’m not going to let the Family run around the woods like lunatics.”

Bruce held his breath and wondered if everyone thought the same thing he did – that of all the shifters, the only lunatic was Tara. Maybe they didn’t feel that way about it.

“The human must go,” Tara said and she pinned Bruce with a hard stare. He tried to calm himself, tried to let go of the tension. It was like strands, blowing in the wind, but still stuck to him and he couldn’t seem to shake it off. Still, if he wanted to talk to Tara he had to shift now.

Somehow he managed. A lot of it was forced, but a few moments later his body started shrinking again. And it was agonizing. The reopened wounds had just started knitting closed again and they burned. Bruce felt lightheaded and the world started to spin. He should have waited until the animal was calmer. But this was important.

When he was a human he leaned against a tree, trying to keep his balance. He was aware of blood on his face and trickling down his hands. He swallowed hard and tasted it in his mouth, too, metallic on the back of his tongue.

“No,” he finally said and his voice was hoarse. But it was loud enough so that everyone heard what he’d said. Because when Tara said ‘the human has to go’ she’d meant death. She wouldn’t let Jenna even leave.

“I’m getting really sick of you and your idea that this is some sort of democracy,” she said and her voice was low and dangerous. “When I say the human goes, she goes.”

“It’s my fault,” Bruce said and Tara snapped her mouth shut. There was a collective intake of breath from the others. Tara narrowed her eyes at Bruce.

“What do you mean it’s your fault? I
know
you didn’t tell her.”

The way Tara said that she knew he didn’t tell was in a way that people said ‘you better hope it wasn’t you, or else’. Bruce took a deep breath, gasping for air. It felt like there was an anvil on his chest and he was running out of energy. He hadn’t hunted yet and judging by the position of the moon the night was drawing closer and closer to dawn.

“She found me in the woods. I was careless.”

It was close enough to the truth. He wasn’t going to mention about the bond that drew her, and the fact that he didn’t know. The others would know about it and he felt like an idiot.

“So, you don’t want to punish a poor innocent human for you mistakes, is that it?” Tara asked. Bruce nodded even though he knew that most of that sentence was sarcastic.

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Lori spoke up. The pack was usually quiet when they had their disputes. Bruce was the only one that stood up to Tara or challenged what she said. Everyone looked at Lori. She’d also changed back to human form and she looked the best of all of them. She hadn’t been tumbling through trees, Bruce thought. She looked like she’d hunted, in fact. He wondered if he counted as prey.

“Why should we let our rules slide so some human Bruce is in love with can survive and place us all in danger?”

Dwayne cleared his throat and everyone looked at him.

“In all honesty, as long as she stays away from the others with this news I don’t see anything going wrong.”

When Dwayne said he ‘saw’ something going wrong, he really meant he saw it. It wasn’t a figure of speech, he saw visions the same way people saw other people.

“Full moon,” Tara sneered at Bruce. “That’s how long you get to work this out. And I’m not doing it because I like you. I do it because I like
him
.” She nodded toward Dwayne. He was by far Tara’s biggest asset, and if he said she was safe then she believed it. Lori grunted and walked into the trees. The two wolves followed her like lapdogs, Stephen limping a little. Tara stayed behind, glaring after them before turning her murderous eyes on Bruce.

“This is not how I play this game. One thing goes wrong and she’s not the only one that’s going to end up dead.” Her voice was full of threat and Bruce didn’t miss the implication.

She turned and disappeared into the trees as well. Bruce and Dwayne were left alone between the trees.

“Thank you,” Bruce said after a moment of silence.

“Don’t thank me yet. Things are going to get worse before they get better.”

“I’m surprised they’re not worse already. Mercy isn’t in Tara’s nature. I’m lucky either of us are alive.”

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I know there are ripples. Something right now is working out differently, but it’s going to come back at you a hundred times.”

Bruce looked at Dwayne for a second. “That’s a bad thing,” he said after a moment. Dwayne nodded.

“It’s not good, no.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

Dwayne sighed. “If I were you, I’d cut my losses and run.”

Bruce looked around him, up at the trees, the dim light of morning that started bleeding into the night sky at the edge of the mountains. He couldn’t leave this place. He couldn’t leave Jenna.

Especially not now.

“One thing at a time,” he said. Dwayne nodded but they both knew that life never worked out that way, and if Bruce wasn’t careful, life wasn’t going to work out at all.

He left Dwayne in the trees and started walking back down to the village. He had to go see Jenna. The bond told him that she was back in the cabin. He had time to think now that the panic was over and he was calm enough to feel something again. His fighting instinct wasn’t threatening to take over.

And anger set in, replacing his natural urges to protect. He was furious at Jenna for what she’d done. He hadn’t wanted her to meet the pack. He’d told her so. Bruce took a deep breath and climbed up the steps to the front door. When he pushed it open he heard the click of a rifle. The door swung open, revealing Jenna with the gun rested on the back of a turned armchair, pointing it at Bruce.

“Easy, Jen. It’s just me,” he said, holding his hands up. It was like it took a moment for Jenna to register before a shudder rippled through her body and she lowered the gun enough not to be a threat. Jenna would have been able to take care of herself in most circumstance, her hold on the gun was firm even though the grip on herself wasn’t. But shifters didn’t just die from bullets.

“What were you thinking?” Bruce asked and he was aware of how loud his voice was. He was trying to deal with his anger but it felt like it was just channeling in one big rush toward her. “You could have died tonight. Do you have any idea what I’ve been through just to stop them from going at you?”