Bear King's Curves: A BBW Werebear Shifter Romance (15 page)

The two men shook their head. So did I, wondering how
wickedly addled Branson's brain really was to think of Lyla as
anything but a harmless, if misguided art thief.

I watched Branson, just a couple paces away, silently
fuming next to Judy. He wiped his mouth, salivating like he was
getting ready for a fight.

Suddenly, he lunged forward. I did too, making a line
between him and Hector. Gerald and Beamer scrambled to separate us.

I glared at the Elder, growling, but all his hatred was
directed past me at Hector.

“
You dirty old rat. Fucking vermin!” He
panted. “I'll gut you myself with my own bare claws when all
this over. You've just chosen the wrong side, old man.”

“
Please,” Hector coughed to the guards. “He
made me...now I'm telling you the truth.”

I wanted to roll my eyes. Of course, the old fart was
being self-serving as usual, but at least it was only feeding the
suspicions I wanted fed about my one-eyed rival.

Very few bears were left watching the spectacle. Several
growls erupted from a few paces away. I turned, horror wrinkling my
face as I saw Lyla running past several very pissed kinsmen a hair
away from shifting.

“
Hey!” Beamer yelled after me.

I ran, putting myself between the grizzly bears and her,
preparing to turn to protect her. She threw herself into my arms, not
even caring that I was still buck naked from changing before.

“
I'm sorry, Nick,” she whispered. “I
couldn't wait a second longer. It sounded like a pack of wild animals
tearing into you over the mic...then it went dead. My phone wouldn't
get any reception out here. I couldn't call help.”

“
Harry! Arnold!” I shouted over her
shoulder, stroking her hair. “Back to your cabins. You know you
can't take me, and I'll seriously fuck up both your worlds, human and
bear, if you lay a single hair on this woman.”

The bears snarled, but kept their distance. Beamer and
Gerald caught up to us. I growled, foaming with rage as they tore
Lyla from my arms.

“
Separate these
two!” Beamer shook his head, clearly overloaded with all the
craziness. “Fuck me! Now we've got
five
outlaws to deal with, and four of 'em might still be our superiors.”

“
No! Not another trial. Please!” Lyla
screamed. “People know we're missing. If we don't check in,
they'll come looking...you can't kill me. And you won't hurt Nick
either!”

She spat at the ground. Beamer looked up and growled.
Gerald lingered cautiously, a few steps from leading the Elders away
to a holding place.

“
I've had it up to here with you, female,
especially your little threats,” Beamer said. “Look, if
you're really as harmless as Nick claims, then you won't do shit.
Come with me. Stop struggling. Nobody is getting hurt tonight. I'll
even put you two in the same cell...mostly because there's nowhere
else for you.”

“
I trust him, Lyla,” I said quietly.

She stopped kicking and flailing her arms. Slowly,
Beamer fished out two pairs of handcuffs and clapped them on both of
us.

We were at my old friend's mercy. At least I wouldn't
have to worry about Lyla out there, all alone, though I wished every
second she'd started the car and driven away to safety.

It was far from over. Things were only beginning to get
wild and complicated.

Hold on tight, beautiful. It's gonna be a long night
before the sun rises in the morning.

VIII: Blood and Answers
(Lyla)

“
Tell me again. Did you kill Victor that night?”
The big bear named Gerald standing over me gave me the worst looks
I'd seen since the ruthless beast he was asking about.

God, what an idiot. I can't believe I let them take
me from him, even if there wasn't much choice.

If an interrogation with these assholes is our only
chance out of here, then I'll keep telling them the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth.

“
For the last time...No!” I said it so loud
I nearly choked. “I came around the corner with Nick, and he
was already gone. Obviously, he must've shifted and attacked Nick
first.”

I ignored the rattling cough across the table from me.

“
Fine. You're insisting you have nothing to do
with this. Just wonder how deep all this goes. How much has been
planned...this isn't the only time you've seen Hector since your
first trial here, is it?”

Our eyes met. The old man gave me a careless look, like
he wanted me to spill everything.

“
For the last time, we met once at some ho-dunk
town in California,” I said, biting my bottom lip. “It
was shortly before I took the artifact off bear land. He said he was
an art broker, promised me a pretty penny for getting that thing into
his hands...”

“
And I told her to guard it with her life. I
warned her others would be coming for it, just like Branson told me
to. She was supposed to kill Nick when he came for her. Better yet if
they killed each other. Guess you could say Branson got a lot more
cunning since he offed Nick's old man, Grant, in that accident.”

Gerald sighed. He paced the room slowly, totally acting
the role of a salty old cop who'd seen far too much in his day,
unable to digest one more great big disaster.

“
We lost one good man and had a hell of a scare,
all because of this conspiracy?”

Bah. It's sickening how many consider this Victor guy
'good.' I'm not crying any tears.

“
I told you already, that's Branson's mode of
operating,” Hector sputtered, coughing into his palm one more
time. “Been waiting to get rid of this bastard for a long time.
I went along with him, using this girl as a pawn...”

His old eyes flicked up. I saw amusement dancing there,
rather than remorse.

Well, fuck you too, old man.

“
Looks like she's proved herself way more useful
than that. Never would've dreamed in a million years Nick would find
out the truth with this human girl. The Gods' work is a mystery!”

He laughed. Gerald and I locked eyes, sharing a brief
moment of mutual sympathy.

Selfish prick. You oughta be going down like Branson,
I thought, scowling across the table.

“
Quiet,” he said to Hector, before turning
back to me. “Your stories match. But why, then, didn't you ever
tell Nick you'd seen this man before?”

I blushed. Bottling the secret up turned my stomach,
almost as much as being separated from my love while they were doing
who knows what in his own inquisition.

“
There wasn't any reason for him to know...when we
found out about the destiny stone at that Indian lodge, I wanted him
to be confident. I think my brain shut down too.”

“
Shut down?”

Across
the table, Hector smiled. Nick was right. He really was a
self-serving bastard, even if he was
our
bastard right now.

“
Yeah. Nobody wants to think they're being
manipulated. I knew Branson and the Elders were scum the minute they
put me on trial.” I stressed the plural, staring Hector right
in the eyes. “But I didn't want to believe they were
so...manipulative.”

“
It goes both ways, female,” Hector said.
“You underestimate us. We've always just been dumb animals or
monsters to your kind. And you humans...no bear wants to believe
you're the seeds of our destruction, even though it keeps happening
time and time again.”

Silence. Gerald finished one more lap around the room as
Hector forced himself through another round of coughing.

“
What happens next? I've given you everything you
wanted.”

Gerald turned his icy bear eyes on me. I could see the
predator inside him, restless and frustrated, the same way Nick's
eyes glowed with blood and fire when he wanted to let his baser
instincts roam.

“
I'll take you back to him for now while we sort
that out. As for you...” Gerald turned to Hector. “We've
got a lot more questions for you. Just as soon as we're done with
Tunder.”

Gerald walked me back to the empty little storage room
they called a prison cell in the dank basement of that huge old
mansion. I pulled the single worn blanket there over me and slept.

When I woke, the door popped, and Nick slid in through
the small gap.

Beamer was behind him. I sat up straighter when I
noticed he didn't shut the door right away.

“
What is it?”

“
You're both free to go for now. Nick will fill
you in on the rest...”

“
What?” I smiled, and ran to hug him, but he
didn't return half my exhilaration.

“
Let's get out of here. Sounds like the cabin's
turned into a mess since I left. Or rather somebody ransacked it and
turned it into a mess.” He paused, looked around at the torn
wallpaper. “Still beats the hell out of this place.”

It was early dawn. We crossed the familiar path in
silence, with Beamer behind us, one more set of guns and claws to
make sure no impulsive bear tried to jump us.

“
Fucking hell. Looks like a bison charged through
here,” Nick said, as soon as we opened the door to his cabin.

It wasn't a crazy description either. What little
furniture remained was turned over, a small table and sofa splayed
along the ground.

Everything else had been pillaged. The wood carvings,
the bony trophies, the old paintings...everything was gone.

I closed the door behind me and stepped further into the
devastated living room. My feet kicked up stray ash that had spilled
out of the fireplace and I sneezed.

Above it, someone had scratched TRAITOR into the brick
wall.

Nick looked at me closely, taking his sweet time. I
waited, knowing the storm building inside him had reached its peak.

“
Why didn't you tell me?” He said, drawing
closer. “You lied to me, Lyla. After everything we've been
through the past couple months...”

My intestines formed knots. I didn't know about the
condition of the bathroom, but if this kept up, I'd have to take my
chances to relieve the nausea cramping my stomach.

“
Hector?” I waited until he nodded. “I
didn't know there was a plot. Honest, I didn't! I couldn't let you
think they'd manipulated me, twisted me into doing what I did...God!
That old bastard told me where to find the destiny stone.”

Funny how that backfired, isn't it?

For a second, I thought Nick was going to charge me, pin
me to the wall, and rip the lies from my throat.

Instead, he collapsed back on the shredded sofa,
darkness swirling in his eyes.

“
Never lie to me again. I don't care who you're
trying to protect. There's no room for half-truths and white lies
among bears. Been too much of that lately. We're all about blood and
claw to fix our problems. And covering the way he kicked this whole
thing off is much worse than a little white lie, Lyla.”

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry...

I fought back my tears, staring right in his eyes. Then
I realized trying to keep up this fake tough girl act had gotten me
here, looking straight at the betrayal of the man I loved more than
any other.

“
Fuck!” I screamed, spun, and slapped the
brick. “I didn't mean this. Never, ever meant to hurt you. I'm
overwhelmed, Nick...so fucking beaten.”

I crumpled against the wall, not caring about stray ash
flying around. Tears rolled down my soft cheeks, hot and sharp. Even
the cold brick against my forehead couldn't cool the furor raging
inside me.

It wasn't until his hands wrapped around my waist that I
knew he was behind me.

“
You made a mistake. A big one between a human and
a bear.” He paused, pushing his lips to my ear. “But
mistakes can be mended.”

He kissed me, held me close. One of his rough hands
found its way to my face and wiped the stream of tears from my eyes.

I still felt horrible. But having this man's muscular
arms around me, bathing me in his love, swept away all the dark waves
sloshing inside me.

He made me feel beautiful, inside and out. As long as I
didn't continually fuck up, I knew he'd keep doing it too, no matter
how much I stumbled, or even if I gained a few more pounds.

Mine. His. Forever.

“
There's something else,” he said,
whispering softly in my ear.

His hands let up. I turned to face him. The serious
glimmer in his eyes scared me.

“
The guys have sorted this shit out.” He
paused. “Sort of.”

“
I knew there was a reason they released us.”

“
Branson's invoked a right to defend his rule.
Hector spilled the beans on the old chronicles his buddy had stuffed
back in some dusty closet all these years. Things his father hid
during the kingdom's time.”