Her Wild Bear (12 page)

Tawny sat down on a small cot, her arms covering her breasts, and stared down at the floor. Her lip quivered in terror, shocked at the humiliation of being stripped.

“You can’t get away with this!” Kyle screamed. “If you bastards lay a hand on her, I swear to God I’m going to hack you into little pieces and feed you — ”

“Calm down!” Gary snapped as he trotted down the stone steps into the basement.

Tawny looked up to see him eyeing her through the bars with a licentious grin as he walked to Kyle’s cell.

“You can relax, tiger,” he said, stopping in front of Kyle’s cell. “We don’t plan to hurt her too much yet. We need her, after all. It wouldn’t be smart to risk her dying.”

He peered around the wall, glancing briefly at Tawny before looking back at Kyle. “You, on the other hand, have been a great help. It’s very much appreciated, don’t get me wrong, but you should keep in mind, Kyle, that you’ve completed your part in our plan. We no longer need you.” Gary’s voice was low and menacing, and he gazed steadily into Kyle’s eyes. “You should remember that before you make too much of a fuss.”

Tawny quivered, but shook off her fear enough to bolster some courage. “I’m okay, Kyle,” she yelled. She heard him groan. “Don’t make them angry. There’s nothing you can do right now. But I’m alright.”

Gary stepped over to her cell, taking two of the bars in his hands as he stared at her. He looked down at where her hands covered her nipples and gave an involuntary grin.

“I’m cold,” Tawny said. “Can I get a blanket?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, toots. I like you a bit chilly.”

Tawny sized him up cautiously. “Are we your prisoners now?”

“Prisoners?” he laughed. “No, you’re in protective custody with us.”

“Protective?” Tawny laughed bitterly. “How the hell is it protective to chop off fingers and strip women?”

“We’re out to protect the entire town,” Gary said. “Sometimes people get hurt during wars like these. That can’t be helped, I’m afraid. It’s usually a very ugly business.” He ran his eyes boldly over her body again. “But we make do where we can.”

Chapter 18

There were still wisps of smoke rising from the ashes and into the sunrise as Thomas rode up on his horse. He pulled back lightly on the reins when he saw Matt from afar, naked and hunched on the ground, staring out at the river. His body was mottled with dark bruises. Thomas guided the horse towards him, but stopped and dismounted when his steed spooked. He tied the horse to a tree and strode closer, gripping a duffel bag in one hand.

“You’re still not dressed,” Thomas called out as he drew nearer.

Matt shrugged, swallowing back the urge to kill. “Seems all my clothes were burned up in the cabin. Thank you for that.”

His gaze shifted from the river over to where Thomas stood. The large man glowered down at him, his knuckles white around the straps of his duffel bag.

“You came all alone,” Matt noted.

Thomas nodded. “I like to conduct my business in private.”

“And what’s to keep me from spreading your business halfway across the forest?” Matt growled. “I hope for your sake it’s not the goodness of my heart.”

Thomas gave a chuckle. “Of course not.” He tossed the duffel bag onto the ground next to Matt. The scent of her blood filled his nostrils immediately, even with the bag still closed.

Matt tore the duffel open, pulling out the shredded shirt splattered with her blood. He turned back to Thomas and stood up, his eyes dark and threatening.

“Before you kill me,” Thomas said with a casual wave of his hand, “you should know she’s okay. It was just a bloody lip, and she’ll recover — if I don’t kill her first.”

Matt stopped, though the burning in his chest didn’t. He took a tentative step back. “What do you want?” he spat.

“Good,” Thomas smiled. “Right to business. I like that. I’ll tell you what I want: I want to know where your clan is hiding. You’re going to tell me where they are and how to get there.”

“Really?” Matt snarled. “And here I thought I was going to tear your face off and rip your heart out.”

“I have your girl locked in a cell right now,” Thomas explained, impatience creeping into his voice. “If I don’t return this evening my men will kill her — slowly. I’ve instructed them to make it as painful as they can imagine, and my men can be quite imaginative. So you should be hoping nothing bad happens to me on the way back.”

Matt ground his teeth. “Fine,” he muttered. “But I’m not going to tell you where the clan is. They’re not hurting anyone. Why can’t you just leave them alone?”

“Not hurting anyone?” Thomas scoffed. “A few years back a couple of men were killed by one of you while they were out camping.”

Matt grumbled. “That’s been handled.”

“I can only imagine how it was handled. Probably gave the killer a medal.”

“We don’t kill humans,” Matt insisted.

“Where are they?” Thomas demanded.

“I can’t tell you,” Matt retorted.

“Then I’ll be back tomorrow,” Thomas said with a deep sigh. “Only this time, I’ll have Tawny’s pants and at least one finger.”

“No!” Matt snapped. “You leave her alone.”

“Tell me where your clan is and I’ll set her free,” Thomas offered. “Otherwise, I cut pieces off until she bleeds to death.” He stepped closer to Matt, his gaze mocking. “And the way we do things, that’s going to take some time.”

“I’m not telling you a damned thing, you bastard,” Matt snarled. “You can burn in hell.”

“And I’m sure I will,” Thomas laughed. “But before then I’m going to hold your woman down and slice off every one of her fingers, then every one of her toes…”

“You would do that to one of your own kind?” Matt cried.

“And then I’m going to cut her ears off,” Thomas continued. “That’s when we start getting creative.” He grinned, his eyes lighting up with cruel glee. “But the tongue is the last to go. I want to hear her screaming the entire time.”

“I can’t tell you!” Matt hissed. “They’ll kill me!”

“After a while I’m not even going to bother coming out here with the parts anymore,” Thomas taunted. “I’ll just start to enjoy watching her suffer. And every time I do I’m going to remind her that it’s all your fault.”

“You’re a monster!” Matt spat.

“Look who’s talking, berserker!”

“What the hell makes you think I’d betray my clan to save her life?”

Thomas leaned casually against a large boulder. “When her friend Kyle first came to us asking for help — ”

“Is that the boy who shot me with a rifle?” Matt muttered. “Maybe I should’ve eaten him when I had the chance.”

Thomas took a long, slow breath before he went on. “When he first came to us, we were baffled. We didn’t think your kind got along with people. We’d only known you to attack us before. And yet here we were listening to a story about a berserker who finds a lost girl, but doesn’t kill her. No… instead, he keeps her in his cabin. And we had to wonder why.”

He pulled up a blade of grass and chewed on it thoughtfully for a minute. “You’re savage, passionate creatures. You wouldn’t enslave her, because that would be too civilized for your species. You wouldn’t have hired her to clean, or something mundane like that — you don’t care about those things. And, if you just wanted sex, you would have simply ravished her and then killed her when you were done.

“Then it came to me. You were in love with her — you had to be. It was the only thing that made sense. I figured maybe you were holding her captive and maybe not, but either way you had feelings for her.” Thomas shook his head at the memory. “Imagine how surprised I was to realize that a berserker was in love with a human. I didn’t even know you beasts had those feelings.”

“We’re as human as you are,” Matt insisted. “But we’re something a bit more, as well. We’re not mindless animals. She stayed because she had nothing to fear from me.”

“Which is, of course, why you kept your true nature from her, right?” Tomas laughed. “Well, it doesn’t matter. This is fantastic. You can refuse as long as you like, but sooner or later it’s going to be too much for you. It’s just a question of how many pieces she’s going to be in when you finally cave.”

Matt glared at him, then stared over into the rushing water, his jaw clenching.

“I’ll see you here tomorrow,” Thomas said with a wave. “Is there any particular finger you’d prefer? This hostage business is ugly, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a little accommodating.”

“Fine,” Matt grumbled.

“What?”

“I said fine!” Matt snapped. “But when you find them you’re going to regret it.”

“Let me worry about that. Where are they?”

Matt stalled, but the sound of Tawny’s screams during the mob attack still rang in his ears.

“They’re over on the other side of Dillon’s Bluff,” Matt said finally. “You’ll have to go around Widow’s Peak, on the east side. It’s several miles further in from there. It’s a couple of days hike from here.”

Thomas grinned triumphantly. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”

Matt glared back, his face stone cold. “They’re going to shred you and your men.”

“We’ll see,” Thomas chuckled, his voice confident. “But meanwhile, we can’t have you tattling, can we?”

He reached behind his back and slipped an old Colt .44 revolver from his belt and rolled the cylinder open to check the bullets.

“You can’t shoot me,” Matt grumbled. “What if I’m lying or not telling you everything? You might still need me.”

“I’m sure your girl wouldn’t appreciate it if you’re not being completely upfront with me,” Thomas said flatly. “She’s the one who’ll pay the price if you’re not. If you have something more to say, now’s the time.” He lifted the gun and eyed the sights.

Matt spun and sprinted for the river. He felt the blinding pain of hot bullets ripping through his side and leg, and one boring through his back just below the ribcage. The piercing sound of the shots echoed through his mind as he stumbled, falling headlong into the river. The icy water rushed over him, the swift current dragging him into murky, smothering depths. The water turned dark red around him and he gasped for air, but his lungs filled with river water and blood.

Chapter 19

Tawny lay on her side, facing away from the bars and the stairs leading to the main floor. She still kept one arm over her breasts, and waited. She could hear heavy boots on the stone as someone came down along the steps, the stride slow and deliberate. She rolled her head over to see him, his large body blocking most of the light as he walked up to her cell. As he stared in at her, Gary rushed up to join him.

“Your bear friend caved,” Thomas gloated. “You’re a lucky young lady. You get to keep all your assorted parts.”

“You know where the clan is?” Gary asked excitedly. “What if he warns them that we’re coming?”

Thomas grinned, still eyeing Tawny, his gaze roaming up and down her body. “He won’t. I shot him. He’s dead.”

A suffocating horror sank over her. Her first reaction was to believe he was lying, but she knew he wasn’t. Suddenly the room seemed muffled and distant.

“Are you certain?” Gary prodded.

“I’m pretty sure.”

“You didn’t check his pulse?” Gary persisted. “Why wouldn’t you check the body?”

The harsh word “body” echoed in Tawny’s head, torturing her. Matt was just a body now.

“He fell into the river,” Thomas explained gruffly. “He was swept down with the current. But there’s no way he can survive. I got him three times, and one was square in the back. There was blood on the riverbank. He’s dead, period.”

“Didn’t you say that they can regenerate or something?” Gary persisted. “How can we be sure he won’t revive?”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Thomas barked, losing patience. “He was beaten and exhausted when I found him today. He needs to change into a bear in order to heal that quickly, and that means he needs to eat. He’s in no condition to hunt right now, even if he is still alive. He doesn’t stand a chance. There’s no way he’s going to live.”

Gary took a long, strangled breath. “Fine. He’s dead now. That means you don’t need these two anymore.”

“Let’s don’t kill them just yet,” Thomas suggested.

The words reverberated through Tawny’s dulled brain. She knew what he had said, and her heart began to long for the freedom death would offer.

“Kill them?” Gary asked, his voice strained. “You plan to kill them?”

“Casualties, I’m afraid. I don’t want to do it, but we have no choice. If they tell the authorities how we kept them captive here we’re going to jail, and everything we’re doing now would be pointless.”

“You never said we would be killing people,” Gary objected. “I thought we were just going to threaten them.”

“And now I’m telling you we’re going to kill them,” Thomas snapped. “And you’re a part of it, whether you like it or not, Gary. You’re in this as deep as I am. They may still prove useful, though, so let’s keep them here until the battle is done. Then, if we manage to capture some berserkers alive, we can use these cages for what we intended them for.”

They stood in silence, and Tawny felt her eyes burning with tears. The image of Thomas standing by her cell door melted into a blur.

“How?” Gary finally asked, his voice low and tense. “How are we going to do it?”

Thomas rubbed his thick beard thoughtfully. “Quiet and clean,” he mused. “We can hang them, here in the basement. The boy first, then the girl.” He eyed her greedily. “She doesn’t need to be dressed when it happens, either.” He yanked a bowie knife from his belt and laid it on a table across from her cell. “And she won’t necessarily need all her parts, either.”

He took a long, even breath, his eyes roaming her body. “Everyone thinks she’s still lost in the woods, and that Kyle’s out looking for her. As far as anyone knows, they’re still out there somewhere.”

Tawny’s stomach ached. She was never leaving the basement alive, and the threatening gleam of the knife would be there for her to stare at until they used it on her. She wondered, distantly, what parts they would slice off.

“And the bodies?” Gary asked.

And suddenly she was no more than a body, just as Matt was. Oddly, she felt comforted by this. It meant that, in a way, she was with him again.

“The quarry, with the deer.”

“Of course.”

“Get the men together,” Thomas commanded, glancing only briefly at Gary before looking back at Tawny. “And get the ammunition, as well. We take today and tomorrow to get ready. The next morning we’re all going bear hunting.”

“I hope they eat your liver,” Tawny spoke softly. “I hope you’re screaming when they kill you.”

Thomas chuckled warmly. “It’s not likely, young lady. That little group of misfits you saw yesterday was just some of the stragglers. We have an army of more than fifty men, all trained and ready for combat. And, in case the rifles aren’t enough, we have a nice handful of grenades, as well. Don’t ask where we got those from — it wasn’t entirely legal.”

“You’re more likely to get yourselves killed,” Kyle yelled.

“Oh, I haven’t told you the best part,” Thomas laughed. “It seems that berserkers have a harder time recovering from silver wounds than lead, so I’m having some of my men melt down jewelry into bullets. My Colt will be loaded with silver bullets, ready in case things get bad for us.”

“You’re insane,” Tawny grumbled. “How can you live with yourself?”

“Oddly quite well,” Thomas chuckled. “And when we get back, maybe you and I can make your last night on earth memorable. Sort of victory celebration.”

Tawny felt ill. She rolled back over and faced the dark wall. Closing her eyes she struggled to remember Matt’s face in every detail, but it wouldn’t come to her. She felt him slipping away as she tried to hold on tighter.