First Bear: BBW Shapeshifter BWWM Werebear Paranormal Romance (Wild Alpha Shifters Book 1) (7 page)

“Don’t worry, Jada. I know the dress,” Herb said.

He stepped into the back and returned with the garment. “Here you go. Good as new.”

“Thanks, Herb,” Jada said with a smile.

She paid him and walked back to her car. Another car had pulled in beside hers. Herb had always been good at what he did, but Jada decided to check his work just the same. It had been a nasty stain. Jada pulled the dress from its plastic wrapper, and as she did, she noticed a familiar face out of the corner of her eye.

Was it?

No.

Croyston?

Faster than Jada could turn her head to confirm, a wet, chemical-smelling cloth came down over her nose and mouth. Jada thrust her arms out and tried to scream, clutching at the rag on her face. Then, she saw nothing but blackness.

************************

Brandon drove to the dealership in high spirits. Even in the morning light, he felt good about his decision. He was going to tell Jada about his bear. He wasn’t going to dither around. He wasn’t going to take it slow. He was going to heed his father’s advice and simply tell her. Yes, he had to be careful, and yes, he had to pick his moment. But there was no need to be anything but confident in the result. If Jada had any bear in her, and given his impossibly strong attraction to her he didn’t see how she couldn’t, then she would understand. She would see that he was a bear and she would accept it as surely as she would come to accept the bear blood within herself.

Brandon pulled up to the dealership in the Bentley coupe he had borrowed the previous evening. Normally he didn’t like to drive such a flashy ride, but after his time with Jada, it had just felt right. Just thinking of her and the way her eyes had sparkled as they’d said goodbye the previous evening steeled his resolve. He knew exactly how he was going to say his peace.

Though Brandon wanted to pull Jada out of work completely, he realized that might embarrass her, so he would persuade her to take an early lunch. Then, once they settled into a quiet corner table at the Wild Grill Restaurant, he would tell her about his bear. No mincing words. No lies. He would just come right out and tell her about it. She might think he was crazy, but he would do it the honest way, the Alpha way. Even if she chose to argue with his sanity, she wouldn’t argue with the shimmering diamond necklace he would present her with. It had been his mother’s and he thought it an appropriate token of his love.

She might think that he was trying to fool her, or playing an elaborate joke, but he would give her time to digest what he told her. If she accepted him and accepted what he was, then, after lunch, he would show her his bear. Then, and only then, would he know she was ready to be claimed as his mate. Brandon jumped out of the Bentley with a big smile on his face. Greg greeted him on the showroom floor.

“Somebody’s smiling,” Greg said.

“I’ve got a good feeling about today,” Brandon said.

“I can sense that, bro. Jada’s not in yet.”

“I thought she started at nine?”

“Come on, catch me up. She’ll be here soon.”

They sauntered past Amanda at reception and took a seat in Greg’s office. Greg and Brandon had always been good friends, but more than that they were bear brothers. Greg knew Brandon’s secret because he was a shifter, too.

“Have you made your move on Amanda yet?” Brandon asked.

“What can I tell you? I’ve been waiting for the right time.”

“She’s a good-looking woman,” Brandon said.

“Hey. I thought you liked Jada!”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You’re in love, bro.”

Brandon turned to the window looking out on the showroom floor. His own reflection grinned back at him. There was no denying it. He looked like one happy Alpha.

“I love Jada,” Brandon admitted. “She’s the one. Beautiful curves and a beautiful soul. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t appreciate that Amanda might be the one for you.”

“Nah. She just thinks of me as her manager. And then there’s the whole bear thing.”

“That’s what I need to tell you. Don’t worry about it. You need to just let it go. If she’s the one, she’ll understand. I mean, I get it, obviously we can’t go announcing our presence to the world. They’d lock us all up like we were a bunch of freaks. But if you think she’s the one, if you really think she’s the one, then telling her is worth the risk. Plus, we live in Wild Summit. It’s not like there aren’t rumors out there.”

“Rumors are one thing. Actually coming face to face with one of our bears? That’s something else.”

“Trust me. I’ve been to therapy for this. I’ve denied my bear for this. I’ve spent countless hours wondering how I would ever tell anyone. Now I think I know. I’m just going to do it. If she’s the one, that’s the way.”

“You mean with Jada? Today?”

“Today, Greg. Today I’m going to tell her what I am.”

There was a knock at the door. It was Amanda. Immediately, Brandon could see a change come over his friend. Greg stiffened in an exaggerated attempt to relax. His bear brother clearly had it bad for soft, curvy Amanda.

“Hey, Amanda, come in,” Greg said.

“It’s about Jada,” Amanda said.

At the very tone of Amanda’s voice, Brandon felt his heart sink like a stone. He could tell something was wrong.

“What is it?” Brandon asked.

“She’s late. And she’s not picking up her phone. It’s probably nothing, but Jada’s never late.”

“Give her a few more minutes. She’ll show,” Greg said.

“No. Late and not picking up her phone? Something’s not right,” Brandon said, rising from his seat. “I’ll check her apartment.”

“Brandon, people are late sometimes,” Greg said.

“You heard Amanda. Not Jada,” Brandon replied.

And he walked out the door.

Chapter Six

Jada awoke to find herself in a dark space. She had a headache, a really bad headache, and she felt disoriented. Maybe she just needed a glass of water. She tried to get up but immediately hit her head.

Hit her head?

Since when did she smack her head getting out of bed? Then her bed bumped up and it all came back to her. The dry cleaning. The chemical smell. The rag over her mouth. There was another big bump and she reached out. She felt carpet. Metal. And then she knew exactly where she was.

In the trunk of a car.

Croyston. He had taken her. He had taken her and locked her in the trunk of his vehicle. Jada felt a scream welling up within her. It gathered force deep inside of her, finally breaking free. Jada called one name. One name she knew in her heart of hearts could save her.

“Brandon!”

Her voice trailed off into nothing. She tried to get her breathing back to normal. If Brandon couldn’t hear her, which she knew in her rational mind that he couldn’t, then she would have to do something else. She would have to get out of this herself.

************************

Brandon knew he had heard something. Not his human form, but his bear. His bear had heard Jada scream. He was sure of it. He was no longer just checking to see whether she was okay. His bear’s instinct now told him that she wasn’t. He knew with absolute certainty that this was a rescue mission. He pulled into her apartment and ran up the stairs.

“Jada!”

Brandon banged on the door. When nobody came, he wasted no time looking for a key. Instead he burst inside, breaking the doorjamb with a simple check of his massive shoulder. But Jada wasn’t there. She had slept in her bed. She had gotten dressed. She had eaten her cereal. But there was no other sign of her. No sign but for a single dry-cleaning receipt left on the kitchen table.

Brandon read the receipt. It said that her garment would be ready for pickup at nine
AM
. It wasn’t much, but it was something. Brandon stormed out of the apartment.

************************

Jada was terrified, but she had calmed herself down enough to think. Croyston was obviously farther off his rocker than anybody had thought. Clearly the police had released him from custody. And clearly he had drugged her with some kind of chemical on that rag. God knows what he planned next. But Jada was no victim. She was a survivor. She reached around in the trunk for something, anything that could help her. She found it underneath one of the carpeted panels. A tire iron sat next to a neatly packed roadside toolkit. There was a set of pliers in the toolkit, a screwdriver, and a wrench. She didn’t think she’d need the smaller tools yet, but the tire iron, that was immediately useful.

She carefully removed it from the underfloor compartment and prodded it forward against the rear of the taillight. One hit, then two, and she got it. Daylight came leaking into the trunk through the jagged hole in the taillight of the car. Now she needed to get a message out. She could only hope that someone would see. And she hoped deep down that someone was Brandon. Because of all the people out there who would fight for her, somehow she knew that he was the one who would never back down. No, if she could get a message to him, Brandon would know exactly what to do.

************************

Brandon spoke to Herb the dry cleaner. Sure Jada had come in not long ago. He had given her a freshly cleaned dress. But where did she go? Herb wasn’t sure. He looked out into the rear parking lot.

“Her car’s still here,” Herb said.

“Thanks,” Brandon replied.

Brandon ran outside, but even though Jada’s black Mercedes was there, Jada wasn’t. He could smell her, though. She had been there recently. He turned. Her scent grew stronger. Was it her? No. Not Jada. Another woman walked by. Where was Jada? He continued toward the rear of the parking lot, following her rich scent. Just the smell of her would have been enough to drive him into delirium if his protective instincts hadn’t already been in overdrive. Something had happened to his mate. But what? Then he saw it. Jada’s yellow silk scarf lay in a heap on the asphalt behind a lamp standard.

Brandon scooped the scarf up, immediately bringing it to his nose. There was no blood, but there was something else. Another smell. Strong. Chemical. Some kind of knockout drug. Brandon’s bear welled up inside of him. If anyone went to this kind of trouble, he knew it was serious. He had little time to save her. But he couldn’t let his bear take control. Not yet. He called the police.

“Yes, sir, I understand. But if she hasn’t been missing for forty-eight hours there’s not a lot we can do,” the duty officer said.

Brandon hung up. He didn’t have time for procedure. He called Greg and told him what he had found. Then he went into the woods behind the parking lot and shifted into his bear form. After that, he ran.

************************

Jada lay uncomfortably cramped in the trunk of the car as the vehicle bumped along the potholed road. She had popped the taillight out of the rear of the car, but nobody had noticed. There hadn’t been a single other car out there. She could, however, see the road behind them and she had an idea where they were headed. North. Past the town, past the ski resort, past everything. It was a dead-end road and there was only one thing up it. The old mine. The road turned to gravel and Jada knew that was where they were heading. She also knew that if she wanted help she needed to tell the world where she was. She reached up to her ear and pulled out her gold earring.

Damn it, she liked those hoops, but they were nothing compared with her life. She tossed the earring out the hole in the back of the car where the taillight had been. Maybe somebody would find it. No. She had to stop thinking like that. She wished Brandon would come to her rescue, but she needed to be realistic. Brandon hadn’t been able to show up for prom. This was a much bigger ask. Jada was going to have to handle this herself. She was scared. But she knew just how to do it. The tire iron had a sharp, flat end on it. Sharp enough to do some damage. She hid the tire iron under the flesh of her arm, her hand firmly grabbing the bent end of the tool. Now it was only a matter of waiting.

************************

Brandon’s bear crashed through the bush. He hadn’t bothered bringing his backpack. When he transitioned to human form, he’d have no clothes to change into, but that hardly mattered right now. The important thing was to get Jada back. Her scent grew stronger as he wandered out into the road. An earring. It was hers and it had been recently worn. He smelled her delicious skin on it. Brandon knew the roads in the area like the back of his paw. And as he inhaled Jada’s rich scent, he knew there was only one possible place she could be going. The old mine. The gravel road wound around, but if he crashed through the undergrowth, there was another way. A faster way. Brandon’s bear charged ahead with little heed for the trail, or boulders, or rocks. His beloved was in danger. He had to protect his mate.

************************

When the car finally slowed, Jada took a deep breath. This was it. Showtime. She couldn’t afford to wait for help. So she closed her eyes as if she was still unconscious. The engine shut down and Jada heard the car door open. Then she heard footfalls on gravel, followed by the chirp of an alarm. The trunk latch released. Jada kept her eyes closed in the flood of light. She wanted to meet her kidnapper head-on. She wanted to look into his eyes, but she dared not. No. She had to work with what she had. And what she had right now were two things. The element of surprise and her ample curves.

“Wake up, fat ass,” a gravelly voice said.

She recognized the voice immediately. Yup. It was Croyston. But she wasn’t going to wake up. Not at his command. She felt a rough hand slap her face, but she stayed exactly as she was. Let him try to lift her out of the trunk. Getting her in would have been easy. She was on her feet. But taking her out? That little man was going to have his work cut out for him.

“Wake up or I’ll make you wish you did,” Croyston said.

Jada didn’t move. She kept her eyes closed, her cheek turned away from him. What did he want? Why her?

“Nobody embarrasses me, and nobody testifies,” Croyston said. “Nobody.”

So that was it. He must have found out she planned to testify against him. Croyston grabbed her roughly by the collar. Jada kept her eyes closed. She let herself go limp, sensing him standing over her.