Bear Run: A Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Pine Ridge Bear Shifters Book 1) (7 page)

When she hit the road, she kept on going.

When she reached the curve, she
craned her head. Sure enough, Bradley and Pa, wiping their faces clean of dirt
and frosting, were leaving the treeline and heading after her. Fear rose in
her, but also exasperation. What did she have to do to get rid of these fools?
She was
done
with them. In her heart
of hearts, she had resolved that they were no longer part of her life. It was
painful, but there it was. They might be family, but they were strangers.

She hit Pine Ridge running and
panting, and she knew she was red-faced and covered in sweat, not to mention
generally bedraggled and scratched-up. Oh, and don’t forget the strawberry
around her lips.
Way to class it up, girl.

The truth was that she wanted to
cry. Taggart was strong, she knew. He had defeated Deke. But Kane was mean and
there were three of them. She couldn’t let herself think about what Kane would
do to him. Taggart needed help, but the only person she could go to and ask for
help was Mike. She didn’t know Mike, but she was sure that he would help his
brother. But what if Mike was not at the ski resort? She couldn’t tolerate that
thought. She knew she needed to keep going, to get to the ski resort quickly.

She hoped to see a police cruiser
or at least a constable making his rounds, but of course there’s never a
policeman around when you need one.

People on the street turned to
stare at her. She slowed and pushed on through the town, but she did make an
effort to wipe the strawberry filling off her face as she went. She might not
be exactly glamorous, but there was no reason to be a total trash-fest, either.
Constantly she looked behind her, but she couldn’t see Pa or Bradley anymore.
Presumably they were still after her, though, taking side streets and back
alleys but going in the direction they’d seen her travel in. She tried to zig
and zag, but that would only work if they could still see her, and she wasn’t
sure they could.

“Are you all right, miss?” asked a
woman on the sidewalk. She was in her fifties, well-dressed and sharp-looking.

Alice took a deep breath. “I’m just
fine.”

“Are you sure? You look ...”

Like what? Alice glanced down at
herself, noting the scratches and torn clothes and dirt. Part of her wanted to
tell the woman the truth. Maybe the lady would help her find the police
station, file a report and bring justice to Pa, Bradley and the Black Valley
shifters. Maybe even rescue Taggart. Alice was on the verge of spilling the
beans, all of them, every last little pinto, but at the last second she held
back. There was no guarantee the authorities would be any help at all. They
notoriously distrusted and feared shifters, and shifters were known to practice
their own forms of justice in their communities. If Alice brought the police
into this, there was no telling what would happen, and it was just as like to
go bad as good. And why bother when there was Mike and a whole crew of
(hopefully) non-assholish bear shifters waiting just up ahead?

“I was hunting with my father,”
Alice told the woman. “We ran out of supplies and I came into town to get some.
I’ve got to hurry back, though.”

Before the woman could so much as
raise her eyebrows in suspicion (if indeed she was suspicious; for all Alice
knew, she had completely bought the story), Alice dashed off again through the
streets, bound for the Pine Valley Ski Resort. It grew larger and larger up
ahead, like an old ruined castle looming over a medieval European town. Alice
half-expected Pa and Bradley to leap out at her from around a corner, but her
lead on them must have been substantial, as she saw no sign of them.

At last she reached the
resort—really a hotel, of course, catering to the skiers who would
theoretically show up in the winter months. It was an old building, she saw,
maybe built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and it really was built in the
style of a castle, much like Jack London’s Wolf Lodge, with thick stone walls
and many chimneys, but it was in poor repair, with broken windows, half-collapsed
walls in some places, and hastily-made wooden repairs.

A crew of brawny, sweaty men was
working on the hotel, which didn’t seem to be open, and a few were operating
bulldozers or other pieces of construction equipment. Some were up on
scaffolds, tearing down the poorly-fashioned wooden repairs and replacing them
with as close as the men could get to the original stone. Panting and sweating
just as much as any of the men, Alice approached the man barking orders through
a megaphone, and after snapping off one last instruction he turned to her. He
was a tall fellow with red hair and a red beard. Lively green eyes stared out
of a handsome but grim face, and Alice was struck by the sense of command and
authority about him. He could have been a general leading his troops into
battle instead of simply repairing an old hotel.

“Is there something I can help you
with, hon?” he said, and Alice didn’t miss the subtle chauvinism in his tone.

“Well,” she said, sucking in a deep
breath, “I hope so. You’re … in charge here?” She wanted to say,
You’re the alpha?,
but she wasn’t sure
if he really was a bear shifter, and if he was maybe that was supposed to be a
secret.

“That’s right. I’m Connor.” He
stuck out a huge hand, and Alice took it.

Hurry
up, girl,
she told herself. Even then Kane was dragging Taggart further and
further away.

“I’m looking for Mike,” she said.
“Is he here?”

Connor studied her, running his
eyes up and down her, but not, she thought, because he was checking her out in
any romantic sense, but because he was trying to figure out just who she was
and what she might represent to his people. If they could be called that.

At last he lifted his megaphone to
his lips and hollered through it: “Mike Buchanan, get your ass down here!
You’ve got a visitor!”

Alice saw one of the men on the
scaffolds, busy positioning a heavy stone, which was half-supported by a crane,
into its new slot in the wall. He grunted but kept on doing what he’d been
doing, and Connor didn’t push him. When Mike, if that’s who it was, had finished,
he wiped his hands on a rag dangling from the waistband of his jeans and
stomped down the walkways of the scaffold, at last reaching the ground and
coming up to Alice and Connor.

She clapped a hand over her mouth
in surprise. He wasn’t exactly Taggart’s twin, but damn, the two looked alike.
The same broad shoulders, blue eyes and wavy black hair. Mike’s mane was a bit
shorter and his face a little leaner, but still, the two were so alike it was
eerie.

“Yeah?” he said, speaking to
Connor, not Alice. Just the same, his eyes did take her in, and he nodded to
her in gentlemanly acknowledgment. She nodded back, gratified by his good
manners. Maybe these bear shifters really were better than Kane’s lot.

“This lady wants a word with you,”
Connor said. Then, to Alice: “How long do you need him for?”

She glanced over her shoulder,
still expecting to see Pa and Bradley sneaking up on her. When she turned back
around, she saw that Mike and Connor were staring at her strangely.

“Something wrong, miss?” Mike
asked.

Alice gulped down a breath. “You
better believe it.”
Here goes nothin’.
“Your brother needs your help.”

Mike blinked. “My ... brother?”

“You’re the brother of Taggart,
right?”

Mike passed a hand across his face,
then ran it through his dripping, wavy hair. “How do you know about Taggart? No
one’s seen him in years!” There was wariness but also something that might have
been excitement in his face. Hope.

“No time for the whole story,”
Alice said.

She started to go on but Connor
said, “Wait a minute.” He turned to bark another order through his megaphone,
then gave Alice his full attention. “Sorry, lass. We’ve got work to do. But go
on. I get the feelin’ my ears might be needed here, as well.”

Alice bit her bottom lip. “Is it
true you’re ... all bear shifters?”

The two men glanced at each other,
as if deciding whether they should answer, or maybe who
got
to answer. It seemed that Mike drew the short straw:

“That’s right,” he said. “I guess
it’s no secret. There’s been a little press about it in the local papers. We
even made the Bear County television news. What’s all this have to do with
Taggart?”

“I just needed to know for sure.”
Needed to know that I’ve got an army to call
on.
“Anyway, Taggart broke free of the Black Valley clan and came here to
join you—”

“Hot damn!” said Mike, eyes
shining.

“—but Kane and two of his jerkwad
bear shifters tracked him and grabbed him, and he was starved and shot with a
rifle—my Pa’s the one shot him—and we found your note in the cabin, and—” She
wiped the sweat out of her eyes and started over. “If you want to see Taggart
again, you’d better hurry. If they make it back to Black Valley with Taggart, I
think they’ll kill him. And if they don’t, he’ll make them.”

Mike’s face had gone hard. His blue
eyes swung to Connor, who looked appraising and thoughtful. A tense moment
passed.

“Well?” demanded Mike.

“I believe her,” Connor said.

“Shit, I know that,” Mike said, and
a wave of relief swept over Alice. “I mean can I get some guys together and go
get Tag before it’s too late?”

Connor’s eyes gleamed. “Hell, Mike,
if Kane himself is there, I’ll go with you. Me and one other. That plus
Taggart, should be enough. Hap should be able to lead the work while I’m gone.
He’s my second,” he added to Alice. Then, significantly: “You’ll be able to
show us where they went, right?”

Damn,
they want me to go BACK into the forest?
Alice gathered her courage and
nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Tag,
here I come.

Taggart blinked his eyes and smacked his lips. The world
took shape around him, resolving itself into dense forest. Two men had hold of
him, one on either arm, and were hauling him through the forest like a sack of
spuds. Kane led the way from a few feet ahead.

Taggart realized they still thought
he was out of it. Furtively, he glanced from side to side, getting his
bearings. He wanted to tug on his captors’ arms and see how good of a hold they
had on him, but that would give the game away. Shit. He might just have to take
the chance. He sure as hell couldn’t let them drag him back to Black Valley.
Screw that on a pile of pythons. Even if it meant his death, he wasn’t going
back.

Of course, if he did move against
them, he would have to kill them if he could. He'd never killed anyone before,
and he hated to start now. But they were murderers themselves, killers of
innocents, Kane's goons through and through. If Taggart didn't kill them, they
would only be responsible for more deaths in the future, of that he was sure.

More likely, though,
they
would kill
him
.

The only regret he had was that he
wouldn’t see Alice again if he died. Just when his life was beginning to make
sense, he had to go and get himself killed, damn it all.

And then there was Sam. Taggart
felt a wave of pity for his brother, but Sam had made his choices. At least
Taggart had the satisfaction of knowing that Sam hadn’t wanted any part in
hunting him down. Sam was a true brother, after all, despite his loyalty to
Kane.

Was it loyalty? Taggart wondered.
Maybe Sam had simply lost hope, hope that there could be a better life, a life beyond
Black Valley. Hell. Taggart had meant to break free and show him that there
could
be a life if he wanted it, if he
was willing to risk all for it. Now, unless Taggart was very lucky, that wasn’t
like to happen.

Enough hand-wringing. It was time
to take action.

Just as Taggart was about to bear-out
and maul Asshat Number One as an appetizer, and then attempt to move on to
Number Two and then Kane as a main course, there came a sound ahead.

The party drew to a stop as a
ragged, furious figure appeared ahead. It was Deke, still bloody and savaged
from the brawl yesterday. Taggart had healed from the wounds Deke had dealt
out, but it seemed Deke was still recovering from his set of lacerations. He
was mobile, though, and healthy enough to be pretty damned pissed, from the
sight of him.

“What do you want?” Kane demanded.
“I told you to head back to Black Valley.”

Deke stabbed a finger at Taggart.
“I owe that bastard. Turn him loose so I can tear his head off.”

Kane snorted. “If anyone’s going to
tear his head off, it’s me, and I’m not gonna do it here. I’ll do it before the
whole crew, so that everyone can see what happens to traitors.”

Deke gestured to his clawed-up
face. “It’s me that has a claim on his hide. Just look what he did to me! I’m
not healin’ from it. It’s gonna scar like this.”

“That’s what you get for going
after someone like Taggart by yourself,” Kane said. “He’s too tough for the
likes of you, and you should’ve known better. Hell, I would’ve had him as my
second if he’d been a better fit in Black Valley. But he never was. And now
he’ll pay the price. Out of my way!”

Kane started to move forward, but
Deke planted his feet and flexed his hands at his sides, as if imagining them
becoming claws. His eyes shifted color, signaling that he might be about to
change.

“He’s
mine
,” Deke said.

“You really wanna do this?” Kane
said.

“Bring it.”

Kane’s hands flexed, too, and
Taggart could all but hear his bear growl in fury. Suddenly a great black
grizzly bear exploded from him, superimposing itself over him, and launched
itself on Deke. Deke growled and leapt forward, Shifting to meet him. The two
bears struck each other hard, raking each other with their long curved claws
and sinking their fangs into each other’s flesh. Blood wept from their skin and
got tangled in their fur. The ground shook and rocks and pebbles scattered in
every direction. Deke wasn’t as big a bear as Kane was, but he was righteously
angry, and he gave as good as he got. Still, Taggart knew it wouldn’t be long
before he was down, either dead or incapacitated.

Now
,
Taggart thought.
It has to be now.

He lunged sideway, unleashing his
bear even as he moved. Asshat Number One was paying too much attention to the
fight. He didn’t even seem to notice Taggart bearing-out until it was too late,
and then Taggart had torn his throat out. Growling furiously, feeling the blood
dripping from his jaws, he wheeled toward Asshat Number Two, who’d had no
choice but to A) release Taggart, and B) meet him in combat.

Number Two Shifted, becoming a huge
brown grizzly bear with half his left ear missing, and he slammed hard into
Taggart, right in the shoulder where Tag had been shot. Taggart screamed in
rage and shoved back, sinking his canines into the other’s neck. Number Two
raked him with cruel claws, but Taggart wouldn’t be distracted by anything so
insignificant as pain. He had something to fight for now. Something to live
for.
Alice
, he thought.
I’m coming.

He slammed Number Two back, and
back some more, onto a patch of loose stones. Number Two lost his balance and
went down, sprawling and open. With all his strength, Taggart swiped his claws,
opening the other’s neck, and blood gushed out, spilling his enemy’s lifeblood.

Panting, he turned to see Kane just
finishing off Deke.

Spattered with blood, chest heaving,
Kane spun to Taggart, and the two eyed each other tensely as a sudden gust of
wind blew through the forest, shaking the grass and trees and making the whole
world seemed to rattle with the thrashing of tree limbs, like the sound of bone
on bone. Taggart shivered in the cold breeze, but he relished it, too. It might
be the last thing he ever felt—other than Kane’s teeth.

Screw
it
, he thought.

He rushed forward, toward Kane.

Kane growled, deep in his throat,
and lunged forward to meet him.

All of a sudden, a wall of muscle
and fur intercepted the two, knocking each of them back and separating them.

Shocked (and pissed), Kane lashed
out, striking something and drawing blood. Blinking, he saw that three bear
shifters in bear form had arrived and were separating him and Kane. Raging, the
two would-be combatants clawed and bit. Slowly, they began to ease off and
allowed the referees to separate them. At last Taggart slipped back into human
form, and so did Kane from some distance away.

Seeing this, the three new shifters
did, too, and all five stood there panting and staring at each other.

“You shouldn’t have interfered,”
Taggart panted. “He was mine.”

“Ha,” snorted Kane. “You were
mine.” His gaze settled on the two corpses of his men, then glared at Taggart.
“You’ll pay for this. All of you.” With that, he shot them all the finger,
turned on his heel and vanished into the wilderness.

Attention turned to the bodies of
the fallen.

“We'll give them a decent burial,”
said one of the new shifters.

Taggart studied him. The man looked
shockingly familiar. He looked ... well, hell. He looked like Taggart. The man
noticed Taggart staring at him. Slowly, he began to grin. Just as slowly,
Taggart grinned back.

“
Mike
, is that you?”

“As ever was,” Mike said. “It’s
good to see you, brother.”

They clapped hands—not hugging,
since they were both naked—and Taggart fumbled for words.

"It's been so long," he
said. "You look just the same, though. Just a bit taller."

"I'm so glad you made it out
of there. I've waited a long damn time for this."

Mike didn’t seem to know what to
say after that, either. Just then, Taggart noticed a fourth newcomer to the
scene. She was standing off a ways, her face tense and eyes swimming. When she
saw that Taggart had seen her, she rushed over. She slammed into him even
harder than the brown bear had and peppered him with kisses. He laughed and
kissed back.

“I was so worried,” she said.

He grimaced. “Did you see ... what
happened?”

She nodded, her face tense. “I
saw.”

“Do you ... ? I mean, I killed those
two.”

She shook her head, taking one of
his hands and kissing it. “I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you mean. And
I don’t hate you for it, either. You only did what you had to. I understand.
And ...”

“Yes?”

She smiled, her lips trembling.
“And I’m glad.”

“Glad?”

She nodded. “You didn’t go meekly
to get slaughtered in Black Valley. You
fought
,
Tag. You fought for
us
. For a new
life together. I ... It makes me love you even more.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind
her ear. “Love?” It was the first time either of them had said it aloud.

She nodded again, and tears spilled
down her cheeks. “Love.”

Mike and the others had given them
some space, but now they approached, or at least Mike did. The other two had
begun to dig the graves, using rocks and sticks for shovels.

“Alice says you want to come to
Pine Ridge,” Mike said.

“That’s right,” Taggart said. “We
found your note.”

Mike laughed, but it was a sad
laugh. “I’ve left that note ... God, I don’t even know how many times. Always
it got shredded or wet or taken by some animal. But I kept rewriting it and
replacing it. I hoped that someday you and Sam would find it. Sam ... is he ...
?”

“He’s alive,” Taggart said. “But
still in Black Valley.”

“Maybe someday ...”

Taggart inclined his head in
agreement. “Maybe someday.”

Alice had a backpack on, but now
she unslung it and unzipped it, spilling an array of convenience store
foodstuffs.

“I know you must be, like, totally
starving,” she told Taggart.

At the sight of spicy Cheetos, his
stomach rumbled loudly, and Mike laughed. Taggart wasted no time in bending
down, ripping a bag open and devouring the contents. Then a second bag. On his
third bag, he stopped to sweep Alice into his arms and plant a spicy, cheesy
kiss on her lips. She giggled and melted against him, and he could feel himself
grow hard.

Pulling back, he said, “I think we
need to talk to Mike about finding us a room.”

When she spoke, Alice’s voice was
hoarse: “Yeah. And fast.”