Scottish Werebear: A New Beginning: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 4) (9 page)

The people in black were back.

She took a sip and observed a strange man she'd never seen before get out of the driver's side door and walk to the other side, opening the passenger door for someone else.

Matt.

Leah held her breath.

He was back.

The other man patted Matt on the shoulder, and then they embraced for but a second. The whole scene was eerie.

They seemed so similar. Their hair, their frames, even the way they carried themselves, as though no burden was too heavy to carry, no obstacle too tall to cross.

Her heartbeat sped up against her will.

What did she care if he came back? Matt had been toying with her all along, and especially since that night these people had first shown up.

Leah swallowed the lump that had developed in her throat upon seeing him.

That was when he turned around, and she panicked. Her kitchen was lit up like a stage while the street was much darker. He'd be able to see her much clearer than she could see him.

Shit, shit, shit!
She quickly jumped into action and left, pretending to herself that she'd never even noticed any movement outside the window.

He'd assume she hadn't seen him, right?

Way to play it cool, you idiot,
Leah chided herself.

After leaving the kitchen, she took a round of her living room and hall, making sure the extra dead bolts she'd had installed were securely locked, and the new alarm system engaged, then hid herself away in her bedroom. Although she wouldn't be able to sleep just yet - especially not now that she knew Matt was back home - there was no need to draw unnecessary attention to herself either.

Leah got into bed and held on to her steaming hot mug with both hands, yet chills kept running down her spine. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? He was just a guy. Just like all the other guys, who take what they want without for once considering how the other person felt.

Her phone sat beside her, lifeless on the wooden bedside table, practically taunting her. He wouldn't try to get in touch immediately, would he?
Rubbish
! And she wouldn't answer him if he did either.

She put the mug down and brusquely shoved the mobile underneath the pillow beside her.

There was no way, absolutely no way that she would keep on sitting here staring at it, waiting for the buzz of a message. Not now. Not after all that.

Morning came, and Leah felt like she'd barely slept, just sort of drifted in and out of a dreamless half-consciousness that hadn't provided much rest.

Matt was still there, after his late night arrival. She didn't know how she knew, but she could feel his presence nearby.

Despite her struggle to get through the night, she did feel somewhat lighter today, after nearly two weeks of having a dark cloud hang over her.

She'd been wondering what if he came back? What if he wanted to get in touch? He hadn't even sent her a single message. Knowing that he wasn't interested, perhaps could give her some closure and enable her to move on. That had to be it. She was feeling a bit better because she could close off that chapter of her life, not at all because he was back home.

It was still quite early, but there wasn't much of a point staying in bed if she couldn't sleep anyway, so Leah got herself up and into the kitchen, ready to start her day. The forecast had foretold clear weather, and she was hoping to finish work early so that she could catch a few rays sitting on her living room sofa before dusk would inevitably set in at around four-thirty in the afternoon. This time of year, the days were depressingly short, so any sunlight was precious.

While waiting for the kettle to boil, a rustling noise came from the front door, like something being pushed through the letterbox. Six o'clock was way too early for the postman, wasn't it?

She wrapped herself up tighter in her oversized knitted cardigan and left the kitchen to investigate. Indeed there it was, a little parcel on her welcome mat.

Leah picked it up and immediately opened the front door to get a glimpse of whoever had delivered it, but the street just looked dark and empty. A gust of cold wind made its way into the house through the open doorway, so she shut it again almost as quickly.

She weighed the packet in her hand. It was small, about the size of two small juice cartons taped together, but much lighter than that.

Should she open it?

Her heart beat a little faster while deciding on her next move. She didn't like the idea of having a random stranger deliver something through her letterbox. What if there was something dangerous inside? Then again, it hardly weighed much, how bad could it be?

She returned to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of tea first. Nothing good can come from a decision made before the first cup of tea, as her dad used to say.

Once ready, she carried both the parcel and the steamy beverage with her into the living room and put both down onto the coffee table.

As cautious as she wanted to be, there was no way curiosity wouldn't get the better of her eventually. She might as well open the thing right away, rather than torture herself any further.

She peeled away the first layer of brown tape with her fingernail, then quickly unraveled the rest. Underneath, a layer of bubble wrap, and then a sealed cardboard box. If the picture on the front was anything to go by, it was a basic mobile phone.

Why would someone send her a phone? And for free, no less.

As she opened the seal and lifted the lid off the small box, a piece of paper fell out the side with a short message scrawled on it.

"Your phone is being monitored. Use this one instead."

Oh damn. It was from Matt, wasn't it?

She wasn't sure what to think. Had he lost his mind completely? What made him think that he could just waltz back into her life after vanishing without explanation for nearly two weeks?

That was it. She was going to give him a piece of her mind, and she might as well use the new phone to do it.

She opened the box fully and switched the gadget on. It only took a minute or so. It didn't have very many apps, or perhaps even a Wifi connection. The phone book had only one number programmed into it, labeled Matt.

Should she call? No, that would be stupid. They'd messaged back and forth plenty, but never actually spoken. Hearing his voice might just make her forget what she wanted to say.

Her moment of indecisiveness didn't last long, because the choice had already been made for her. The phone rang.

Her throat went dry when she saw the caller ID. It was Matt.

Why wasn't she picking up? It was early, but he knew she was already awake.

Matt put the phone down and scratched his head. They'd had a connection, hadn't they? Before everything went to shit, and he was taken by the Alliance for his so-called training. They'd felt something together; he'd been sure of it at the time, but now doubts were starting to develop.

He'd been away for what, little over a week? Had she dismissed him so quickly?

It made sense, in a way. He wasn't exactly a prize; he knew that.

And to make things worse, at a time when she was already scared to death, he'd climbed into her house full-bear and terrified her even further. Follow that with the Alliance's attempts at managing the situation - and their secret - by convincing her she never actually saw what she thought she saw...

No wonder she'd shut down and wanted nothing to do with him.

Or perhaps she hadn't found the phone yet. That could be the case as well. He'd seen her light on when he dropped the little packet into her letterbox, but perhaps she just hadn't picked it up and opened it yet.

He'd give it a little longer, then try again. It wasn't within him to give up on the situation so quickly, not without ruling out all other possibilities.

Matt took a deep breath and picked up his laptop. So many emails from his clients, their tone ranging from concern to anger right down to dismissal. He ought to write back to them immediately, apologize for his absence, make up some health related reason why he couldn't notify them sooner. Anything would do to salvage his reputation and get his work life back under control.

There was just one problem: none of it seemed important anymore.

He was a bear. Within the blink of an eye, he could turn and rip an attacker to shreds if he wanted to. What the hell was he doing here, typing inane reports about foreign currency fluctuations or what the latest budget would mean to small businesses? None of that stuff mattered.

Leah. She mattered to him.

He had to get in touch with her, explain everything - preferably in a way that the Alliance didn't find out about it - and make things right. Over the course of little over a week, he'd gone from never leaving his house to being stuck at the Alliance base and even heading into a nearby forest to train with Jamie outdoors.

He'd felt the reluctant rays of mid-winter sun on his face. The icy winds cut through his flesh, right to his bones.

He'd emerged from a shell he'd confined himself in for so long; it was unthinkable to just go back to the way things were.

And she - the woman who had given him the benefit of the doubt initially - was right there next door, yet so far away.

He tried her new number again, holding his breath as the phone rang.
Please, pick up!

Then, rather than the expected recording informing him that the caller cannot be reached, there was a click and a second of static, before he finally heard a voice.

"Hello?" a female spoke softly at the other end.

He wasn't sure what to say. It was like he'd somehow drifted out of reality, and he wasn't actually on the phone with her.

"Leah?" he finally asked.

"That's me."

Oh God
. She sounded irritated. Or nervous. Or both. He wasn't sure, not without looking at her.

"I'm so sorry," he blurted out.

"You vanished. No response to any of my messages, except just once, which was just plain odd,"

"I know. And I can explain; not that I'm trying to make excuses for any of this, I'm not..." Matt rested his forehead in his palm. How was he going to make this right?

She didn't respond immediately, just sighed.

"What did you mean they're spying on me?"

"It's a long story. Probably best we don't do this now. Who knows if they're listening in somehow, despite the new phone."

"Okay..." She didn't sound convinced.

How strange. This was the first time they'd spoken on the phone. He couldn't shake the worry that he'd say something to fuck it all up, but still her voice seemed familiar to his ear. Like he knew her way better than was possible after merely talking via Whatsapp for a couple of weeks.

"I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but I really care about you. I just hope you'll give me the chance to make things right," he said.

She sighed again, and the thought that he'd hurt and disappointed her affected him deeply.

"I'm not someone you can toy with. Just know that."

Her words stung even more. Matt closed his eyes and tried to focus, but his emotions were all over the place. He had to do something more than this. Something compelling, that would show her the real him.

"I wouldn't do that. Please believe me."

"If you say so."

While he was away, he'd thought he'd just come back and explain, but this was way harder than he could have imagined. Her resistance was making him realize how fragile relationships could be. How one misstep could unbalance everything and destroy what trust they'd built up between them.

Was there even any hope? He didn't know the first thing about love or women even. He'd been away from it all for too long to know the rules.

He needed to think, to devise a plan to make it up to her. This was too impersonal, too distant.

"May I come over?" he asked. The question surprised him as much as it might have done her.

She didn't answer straight away. Matt wondered what would be worse, if she rejected him, or if she said yes, and he had to follow through on his word.

"Let me be totally honest," she started. Her voice was still soft but also determined. "The reason I answered your call was mainly to tell you that you just can't do stuff like this. You can't just disappear and expect things to be the same when you return. Things are definitely not the same for me."