Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series (23 page)

“I
still don’t get
it.,” Erin shook her head. “You took the cartel’s money and gave it away. You
don’t have their money or the SD card with their bank routing numbers is now
worthless, so why are they waging world war three on Big Bear Mountain?”

“Revenge. It’s as
simple as that,” Jarrad stated. “They’ve taken Elle, my mate . . . wife.
They’re using her as bait to get us all in their trap, and then wipe us all
out. For good.”

“Something’s not
right with that story. There’s more to it than that. I’ve been a reporter long
enough to know when a story stinks and this one smells like dead fish.”

“You’re a
reporter?” Spider challenged.

“What do you think
I was doing spying on you? This was supposed to be my big break. My big
exclusive ‘page one’ exposé.”

“So when you said
your editor knew where you were, you weren’t lying?” he continued probing.

“No. Well, yes.
Kind of. I mean, I have an editor, but he thinks I’m covering a symposium about
. . . well, I’ll save you the details but it’s a boring as batshit and I wanted
to find out what was going on up here with all the guns and gunships and stuff
blowing up.” She shrugged. There was not much else she could say.

“So what’s your
special ‘spidey sense’ telling you is wrong here? Good guys rip off the bad guys.
Give away money like Robin Hood. Bad guys come and kill them for payback. Seems
simple enough to me,” Jarrad proposed.

“Sure, but why set
the trap? They’ve got enough resources, guns, manpower, missiles and gunships
to come at you and take you all out, one by one. Why the elaborate kidnap ruse?
Doesn’t it seem a bit sophisticated for a bunch of gangsters whose idea of
subtlety normally involves posting body parts, a piece at a time, to those
they’re trying to manipulate?”

“So what are you
suggesting?” Spider queried.

“That there’s
something else they want and you either don’t know what it is or you do and
you’re not telling me the whole story. If I were into betting, I’d be going
all-in on you guys holding out on me.”

Erin folded her
arms as a look of triumph gleamed in her eyes. She was nobody’s fool and was
determined to let them know it.

“I
haven’t got time
for this crap. None of it matters. I’m going to get Elle back and I’ll do it
alone of that’s what it takes.” Jarrad moved toward the door.

“We don’t even
know where they’re holding her,” Spider pleaded.

“I think I might
be able to help with that,” Erin announced with beaming confidence.

“You?” Jarrad
paused and looked over his shoulder.

“I told you, I’ve
been watching these guys for a while. I didn’t realize until tonight that you
and the other guys weren’t on the same team. Now I’m seeing the big picture.”

“And where in this
big picture
is my wife?” Jarrad’s tone was skeptical.

And she told them.
Everything she’d seen before they captured her and the shooting started.

It all made
perfect sense. The three ex-military men looked to each other and silently
acknowledged that it made perfect strategic sense. They should have figured out
themselves, but it took a cooler head to prevail and point them in the right
direction.

Spider walked
behind Erin to gather up the rest of his clothing that remained discarded on
the floor. As he passed her, the back of his hand brushed against hers. A small
gesture but she knew it meant thank you and a lot more besides. Her fingers
found his and she gave his hand a quick squeeze as it passed. That brief,
moving gesture left her hankering for more. She wanted to feel the warmth of
his skin against hers again. All over her body. What was this man doing to her?

“So, what do we do
now?” Jack asked nobody in particular.

Erin picked up her
H&K machine pistol from the floor. “We saddle up.” She ejected the
magazine, inspected it, slapped it home again with her palm and then chambered
a round. “Lock and load.”

J
ack, Jarrad and
Spider all looked at one another, each equally confused. All equally compliant.
Who was this woman and why were they taking orders from her? It was as if she
had cast a spell over them as they all nodded in silent agreement.

“I saw a whole
bunch of cabins, like army barracks, not far from here. I think that’s where
they’re holed up,” Erin explained.

Spider spoke up,
“The old logging camp, where the workers use to stay back when they allowed
logging around these parts. I know the place. Nobody goes there, so it makes
sense they’d make that their base.”

“You think that’s
where they have Elle?” Jarrad asked, looking from Erin to Spider.

“I’d bet on it,”
Jack weighed in. “They wouldn’t split their team up if they were setting up an
ambush, using her as bait.”

“It’s a big
logging camp. Too big for us to search quickly with just the three of us,”
Spider protested.

“Four of us.” Erin
added hastily, not wanting to be left out. She slung her weapon over her
shoulder to emphasize her point.

“She’s my mate. I
can scent her. Don’t worry about that, I’ll find her,” Jarrad said with
confidence.

“She’s your what?”
Erin, ever the inquisitive reporter asked.

Jarrad looked
straight at Spider. “She doesn’t know?”

Spider rolled his
eyes and shook his head.

“Then why was she
spying on us?”

Erin coughed.
Loudly. “Does someone want to tell me what you’re all talking about?”

Apparently, nobody
did.

A
n awkward silence
hung in the air as they trudged down a rutted fire break. Jack and Jarrad took
point, leaving Spider to deal with Erin’s sullen silence on his own. Jack and
Jarrad were getting smarter all the time where women were concerned. They’d
both come a long way since joining the Big Bear Mountain shifter community.
Spider still had a long way to go.

“I don’t know why
you’re so upset. What’s the matter?” he pleaded.

Erin picked up her
pace to widen the gap between them. Spider put his hand on her shoulder to try
to slow her down so he could hear what she had to say. She brushed his hand
away and continued her petulant stomp along the dirt trail.

“So, we’re not
going for the stealth tactical option, then?” Jack commented as he looked
animatedly at Erin’s noisy boots.

A mocking snort
was her only response as she continued on. Spider trailed in her wake before
passing her and stopping dead in front of her, his massive, muscular bulk
forming an impenetrable barrier.

“Look, there’s
more to this place than you know. It’s not all about the cartel and the war
they’ve brought to our mountain.”

“Does it have
anything to do with how you can get shot and not have any bullet wounds to show
for it?” she ventured.

“Kind of. We’re
fast healers, that’s for sure.”

“That’s it? That’s
all you’ve got to say?”

She was an
outsider. A newspaper reporter, no less. He couldn’t tell her. It could ruin
everything they’d started to build on the mountain. It could destroy their safe
haven.

“We’re bear
shifters. All three of us.” His shoulders slumped as he made the revelation.
He’d betrayed the trust of the others and exposed them to an outsider. But he
had to tell her. He couldn’t lie to her if she was his fated mate, as his bear
seemed to think she was. But telling her meant they couldn’t be together. Girls
like Erin didn’t become mates for bear shifters. Ever.

“Just how stupid
do you think I am? Really? Werebears, like Twilight?” she scoffed.

“Actually, I think
they were wolves, but yeah, you got the general idea.”

Erin tried to
nudge her way past him. He remained unmoved, arms folded, a mountain of a man
who wouldn’t budge. Now it was his turn to be stubborn. He looked over his
shoulder to see Jack and Jarrad continuing on without them. They had no desire
to get involved with Spider’s domestic situation.

“If you’re going
to be a dick about it, then forget it. I’m over it and I’m over
you
.”
She stepped off the path and tried to go around.

It was a heat of
the moment decision. Not one he thought through a whole lot. Not at all,
actually.

Without warning,
Spider shifted into his bear, towering and growling over Erin. The enormous
beast reared up on its haunches and roared to the full moon, enjoying the
freedom and the opportunity to sniff its mate properly.

Just before she
fainted, Erin remembered where she’d heard that very sound before and suddenly
realized why Spider’s riotous laugh had seemed so familiar.

He wasn’t
lying.
That was her last
thought before darkness washed over her and the gigantic bear ran off down the
mountain side.

B
y the time she
regained consciousness, Spider was long gone. He’d been unable to restrain his
bear thanks to the abundance of mating hormones that flooded through its body
from his earlier encounter with Erin.

Blinking away the
last vestiges of her blackout, Erin saw that only Jack and Jarrad remained to
comfort her. Part of her still didn’t believe it. The other part was afraid it
was true.

“You two aren’t
going to . . .” She formed her hands into bear paws and bared her teeth,
imitating a bear-like growl.

They both shook
their heads. Jarrad snorted a laugh then answered, “No we’re not. I think
Spider just had some stuff going on and couldn’t control his . . .
shift
.”

“Where did he go?”

They both pointed
down the mountain, at the dense forest.

“We can’t shift
back into our human form straight away. That’s part of the magic, or the curse,
whichever way you want to look at it,” Jack explained.

“And we can’t
shift with things like this, complex stuff made of metal,” Jarrad added,
grabbing Spiders abandoned H&K machine pistol and slinging it over his
back.

“You’re not going
to hurt me?” Her voice wavered, still unsure of their intentions toward her.

“Absolutely not,”
Jack assured her, offering his hand to help her to her feet. “We really need to
get going, though. Got to have Spider’s back when he shifts again. God only
knows where he’ll end up. I’ve never seen his bear so worked up. What did you
do to him?”

She shrugged. No
way was she going to tell them what went on back at the rescue hut. Unsteadily
at first she got to her feet and righted herself when she began to lose
balance.

Both men moved to
help her but she quickly waved them off, preferring to look after herself. “I’m
fine. Let’s go,” she instructed.

“S
houldn’t we wait for Spider?” Erin asked as
they surveyed the disused logger’s encampment.

Jarrad kept watch
below but glanced askance at Erin, “Thanks to you, he’s a blithering hormonal
mess. Once he settles down, we can use him, until then, we need to find where
they’re keeping Elle.”

“So how does this
scent thing work, then? Can you smell her now?”

“That’s the
problem. She’s been here a while. Her scent is everywhere. I need to get closer
if I’m going to find her.”

“Diversion,” Erin
looked at Jack. “You and me?”

Jack looked at her
uncomprehendingly. It had been a long time since someone had given
him
orders.

“We work our way
noisily through the forest over there,” she pointed to the boundary of the
encampment furthest from their position, “and draw at least some of them away,
leaving Jarrad to do his bear sniffy thing.”

“It might work,”
Jarrad agreed. “But be careful and don’t take any chances. Jack . . . look
after her.” He put his hand on Erin’s arm. “Thanks.”

She got the
impression that was what passed as an emotional connection for Jarrad. She gave
him credit for trying.

T
he air was thick
with Elle’s residual scent, but then his hypersensitive nose locked onto a
stronger, fresher scent, like a beacon. Blood.

That can’t be
good.

He expected to
detect other pheromones, given she was bleeding. But they were unusually
absent. There was no fear or panic evident in the air. Only the strong scent of
blood — his mates blood — leading him to her location.

Clever girl.

Most of the
perimeter guards were busy chasing down the decoy infiltrators, leaving Jarrad
a fairly free run of the place, but that didn’t mean he could be sloppy. That
wasn’t his way. The army had trained him well. Never get too complacent.

As he drew near a
small utility building in the center of the compound, the scent of Elle’s blood
became overwhelmingly strong. He knew that’s where she was. He knew he should
wait for backup. Every instinct instilled in him during his training told him
not to be a lone wolf but to muster the troops and work as a team. Do it once.
Do it right. That’s the way they did it in the military.

But Elle was his
mate. She was in danger. She was bleeding.

Jarrad spun around
the corner, used his heavy boot heel to kick the flimsy door open and stormed
inside, gun up, ready to take out anyone who stood in his way.

The room was
empty.

All that remained
was a ramshackle chair and a wet puddle of blood on the floor.

Jarrad was still
processing all this when he heard the blast of the shotgun and felt the impact.
Point blank in the chest.

The H&K
machine pistol fell to the floor, his hand no longer able to hold it.

His final thought
before the darkness —
Sons of bitches!