Bears in Flight: Book Four - Supernatural Bounty Hunters Romance Novellas (18 page)

Chapter TwentyOne

Mia groaned.
Ugh, her head
. What was happening? Her rabbit mewled, and her nose twittered as she tried to remember what the frak had happened.

She shuddered as she recalled someone grabbing her. No, not someone, it was John.
Or was it?
It was weird. She thought it was John, but he hadn’t smelled like John. It was the darnedest thing; he smelled like a wolf shifter.
What was that about?

A sudden jolt had her head connecting with something solid.
Ouchie!
A few more jolts followed, and she realized she was in a car. Judging by the cramped and dark accommodation – cramped even for someone as slight as her – she was in the trunk.
Terrific
.

Her eyes tried to focus. Yep, definitely a trunk, but sadly there was no tire iron to keep her company. She gingerly tried to move her arms and legs but found them to be tightly trapped together by duct tape, and even her mouth was covered with duct tape.

Oh, this was bad.

Her rabbit was panicking up a storm, but Mia tried to stay focused and remember what Logan had told her. In the course of his illustrious career as a bounty hunter, he had found himself tied up once or twice. And when she’d stopped laughing at him, she had actually paid attention to how exactly it was that he managed to get himself untied.

Okay, so one time he had a knife in his boot. Hmmm, not helpful as she was wearing flip-flops. Another time, he was able to cut himself free on the claw of a sleeping tiger. He’d managed to find himself drugged, tied up and thrown into the cage of some wild tigers at the zoo – the events that led to that moment were quite involved. Yeah, that situation really didn’t apply to her now.

Oh, this was really bad.

Her body slammed into the side of the trunk as the car came to a stop. Vaguely she was aware of a car door slamming and someone getting out.

Oh, no.
She barely had any time to come up with a plan. What could she do? Frantically, her eyes darted around her darkened, enclosed space, desperately searching for inspiration, but to no avail.

A gasp died in her throat as the lid was flung open. She blinked at the sudden brightness assaulting her eyes.

“Come, on, honey, time for you to ride up front.”

Big, strong hands reached for her and she froze. Her body became as stiff as a board as her rabbit howled in disgust at the male groping her shivering frame.

She didn’t try to make it difficult for him, but she certainly didn’t try to make it easy. Sadly, her tiny body posed no problem for the male that had at least a foot and eighty pounds on her.

He placed her on the edge of the trunk and smoothed the hair out of her face. She still had duct tape over her mouth, so she was relying on her eyes to tell him how she felt. Right now she was trying to convey hurt, betrayal and murderous, fucking rage.
She may only be a timid bunny, but damnit, she wasn’t above gnawing on those who try to hurt her.

John smiled serenely at her. His eyes looked wild and unfocused, and his clothes were rumpled. He looked like he hadn’t had a decent night’s rest in days.
And why the heck did he smell like a wolf shifter?

He pressed his lips to her temple, and she had to force herself not just to crumple to the ground and start crying.

His hand curled around her neck, applying gentle pressure. “I’m going to take the tape off your mouth, and I don’t want you to scream. Do you promise to be quiet?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he sighed while squeezing his hand a little more.

“I don’t want to hurt you, but I will. I know this all seems harsh, but it’s for your own good. The more you struggle, the worse all this will seem. Now, do you promise to be quiet?”

Mia slumped her shoulders a little. There really was no point in antagonizing him.
Yet, anyway
. She kind of wanted some answers. She widened her eyes and nodded at him.

He smiled. “Good girl.”

Slowly, he peeled away the tape, trying to make it as easy as possible on her. When it was finally away, she gulped in some big breaths.

“Take it easy,” he said soothingly.

“What’s happening?” she croaked. “John, why are you doing this?”

He looked at her in surprise for a few beats before he groaned. “Sorry, honey. Forgot about that.”

He reached under his shirt, pulling out a pendant and snapping it away from his neck. His face shimmered for a few seconds, and he became Julian again.

Wait! Julian?!
Mia’s eyes widened in horror. She mouthed his name, but no sound came out.

“I know you’re confused, honey, but this was the only way. After that night when the bear interrupted our kiss, I knew he wouldn’t let us spend time together, so I had to find a way to be near to you without anyone knowing. So, I bought this charm to make me look and smell different, and I managed to get a friend to introduce me to your dad. The charm only has so much power, and I have been using it a lot. Fucking thing’s stopped working.” He tossed it to the side of the road. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but I couldn’t risk the fucking bear ruining this.”

“But, why?” she whispered as her rabbit twittered.

Julian cocked his head on one side. “Because I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I just can’t wait for you to realize you love me anymore. I figured you’d work it out eventually, but with the bear poisoning your mind, I just don’t have the time.”

“You love me?”
Since when?
Why had he never said anything before?

“Ever since that kiss in college, honey, I’ve known we were meant to be together.”

He lifted a strand of her hair, pressing it to his face and inhaling deeply. She tried not to cringe too much.

Her chest tightened. “Did you put the cameras in my apartment? And were you the one who smashed all my mirrors?”

He looked a little shamefaced. “I’m sorry about the mirrors; I lost my temper. I didn’t mean to scare you. I did it after you first told me about the bear. But I can’t apologize for the cameras; I put them in to make sure you were safe.”

“And sent a damn sex tape to my father,” she said bitterly.

“I was hoping that your father would see sense and get rid of him.”

Mia would have laughed if she weren’t so scared. “Well, that backfired. They bonded over my supposed stalker.”

He watched her through hooded eyes for a few moments, trying to judge whether she was mocking him. She kept her expression blank.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he growled. “You’re mine, now.”

She couldn’t help the whimper that escaped her. His eyes swam with the amber of his wolf, and his tone was menacingly possessive.

“I don’t mean to scare you, honey, but this is the only way I can get through to you. Now, I want to untie you, but I need you to promise not to run away. Can you do that?”

Mia bit her lip. She wanted nothing more than to run like hell at that moment, but, even if her legs didn’t feel like jelly, she knew she couldn’t outrun a wolf shifter. Julian was clearly having some kind of breakdown. For now, the best thing she could do was just play along, not rile him and to try and figure out some kind of plan.

Dejectedly, she nodded her head.

“Good girl.”

She stilled as he took out a knife and cut through her bonds. She peeled away the tape from her sore skin and rubbed her wrists and ankles.

He saw her doing it and grimaced. “I’m sorry that was necessary, and I’m sorry I had to drug you back at the house, but you were trying to scream and I needed you to be quiet. I hope that from now on we don’t need to do that again.”

He helped her to stand up and led her to the passenger side. She thought about pushing him away or biting his hand –
her bloodthirsty bunny was all for that
– but given that he didn’t seem averse to hurting her and that she was still kind of woozy, she rejected that plan.

He slid into the driver’s seat and grinned at her. “You’re in shock at the moment, but soon you’ll see that this is for the best and that you love me. I’d rather you came to it on your own, but that fucking bear hasn’t given me many options.”

She felt queasy. Would Logan know she was missing? Would he try to find her? How long after she disappeared would it take for him to find a new mate? Her rabbit whined at that.
God, she was pathetic
. She’d been kidnapped by her best friend, and the thought that bothered her most was how quickly it would take her boyfriend to get over her.

“Don’t look like that,” said Julian, icily. “He’s not worth it. He’s not right for you. He’s too old, too big and far too much of an asshole for you. You deserve better.”

Mia wanted to scream at him that he was wrong, but doubted that would go down well. Instead, she held her tongue and looked out the window. Satisfied with the silence, Julian started driving. Countryside flew by.
Just where the heck was she?

*

They drove for… Mia had no idea how long. She slipped in and out of consciousness – the after effects of the drug no doubt. Eventually, they pulled up to a gas station.

Julian wanted her to stay in the car, but Mia begged to use the bathroom, and after wheedling him, he gave in. After he had filled up and procured some snacks, he said he would wait right outside the bathroom while she went in. If she tried to communicate with any other women he would know and he would come in and hurt anyone she talked to.
So, unless she wanted that on her conscience…

Mia silently entered the bathroom, smiling wanly at the two bubbly, chatty women who were gossiping and applying make-up. They were probably her age, but Mia felt like she aged ten years within the last few hours. She felt a world away from the carefree, young women, probably making their way to some exciting adventure.
While she was being held hostage.

She relieved herself and felt moderately better. She went to wash her hands and tried to ignore the women who didn’t seem to want to budge, and were taking up all the counter space.

Mia prolonged drying her hands; she wanted as long as possible before she had to face Julian again.
Or at least as long as she dared before he came in to find her
. She checked her own appearance and caught a contemptuous smirk from the redhead.
Yeah, she looked like shit, why even bother checking.

She glanced down and spotted a phone in the top of the redhead’s purse. If she could get it, she could phone for help maybe.

The two women started arguing about lipstick colors. The red head was adamant that the purple was far too slutty, but the black haired woman thought it was classy. With both of their attention drawn away, Mia swiped the phone and pushed it into the elastic of her sweat pants. Slowly, she made her way to the exit.

“Hey, you!” called the black haired girl.

Mia gritted her teeth. The last thing she wanted was to be harangued by one of these girls; if Julian came in, who knows what he would do to them, and then to her for trying to get the phone. Reluctantly, Mia turned to face them.

“Second opinion, what do you think of the lipstick?”

Mia’s jawed dropped open in astonishment.

The redhead stared at her. “Well? She asked you a question.”

“Umm, I prefer pink,” muttered Mia, forcing herself to quell the bubbling, hysterical laughter.

“Told you!” crowed the redhead as Mia spun on her heel and dashed out the door, straight into Julian.

She didn’t say anything, and Julian seemed satisfied that pink lipstick wasn’t some kind of code for SOS. He took her hand and led her back to the car, quickly bundling her inside.

As he drove she huddled herself into the corner of the car, dragging the blanket he had given her around her body.
Yeah, gee, wasn’t he thoughtful?
She pulled the phone out of her pants and carefully tapped out a text to Logan and her dad. Thank heavens she remembered their phone numbers! She told them the name of the gas station they just left and that they were heading north. She told them not to reply to the message – just to find her.

She stashed the phone back in her pants and feigned sleep, eagerly expecting to hear police sirens following them. They continued on their way, wherever that was, for a while until…

All at once Mia jumped, Julian roared and pulled the car over to the side of the road as the song ‘Milkshake’ started blaring out of the phone.

“What the fuck?” he snarled.

With rough hands, he leaned over and grabbed at her until he found the offending item. He crushed it in his paw and looked at her with fury.

Shit
. Her rabbit, who had been quiet for so long, suddenly leaped up and squeaked at Mia to run, run, run! Which she did!

Mia fumbled her way out of the car, narrowly escaping his grasping hands. Discarding the flip-flops she ran for the cover of the trees they were passing. She heard the yowls of the wolf shifter behind her, but there was no way she was looking back to see what he was up to.