The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (28 page)

“It’s okay, honey. I’m sure, after you get some rest, things will look better.” She handed Raine a shopping bag full of clean clothes and shoes. Exactly what she needed. “I just don’t understand. I thought you’d stopped seeing that last guy you dated. Eddie?”

She had. Raine hadn’t seen Eddie in weeks, but for some reason she didn’t think admitting that to her friend was a good idea. Whatever happened to her was something that could bring danger into Mandy’s life, and she would never be able to live with herself if her friend were to get hurt because of her.

Once she’d dressed in Mandy’s too tight clothes, she scanned the room. The stale-smelling motel room disgusted her. “Let’s go. I can’t stand being here anymore.”

Concern drifted from Mandy as she drove. The sharp scent of fear wrapped in worry permeated the car, making her stomach churn. How was that possible? Mandy’s concern for her was genuine and growing with every mile they traveled. With each of her friend’s sad glances, Raine’s guilt grew. It had been a bad idea to call her, but she had no one else. Mandy made a sharp turn, and they were on her street.

“Pull over for a moment.”

Mandy’s face creased, crystal-blue eyes filled with worry. “Don’t you want to get home first?”

Raine wrapped her fingers around the door handle and gritted out, “Stop.”

“But–”

“Stop!” She snarled. “Please…” She breathed. “Just—stop.”

She was fighting something for control. Her muscles locked. On top of all that was happening with her body, she now felt threatened. Why?

Breaks squealed. Tires rubbed against the pavement. They stopped at a curve several yards up her street. She shifted in her seat, clenched her hands into fists, and took a calming breath. Who could she go to for help? The police? No. They were likely to lock her up for sounding crazy. Talking about her body being possessed and weird shit happening to her. There was no man in her life to run to. Her parents were dead. She had no family. She needed help. That meant she’d have to go find someone to do the job for her. “What’s the name of that guy you mentioned everyone’s afraid of?”

“Who are you referring to?” Mandy asked “There’s quite a few men I’ve heard are dangerous in this town.”

“You’d mentioned a particular man who worked for hire. Someone you’d heard of?”

Mandy gulped. “I’m not sure I know who you’re talking about.”

Her friend was lying.

“Yes, you do. You’ve described him before. Saying how one of your patients had tried to hire him to do a job, but had been turned down and almost killed when he tried to push the matter.”

“I… Raine. We’re talking about people you and I don’t associate with.”

Not anymore. “I need to know who that guy is.”

“If you’re talking about Ryder Storm, then I really think you should forget it. He’s not just dangerous; he’s the definition of danger. He doesn’t follow rules.”

“Is he the one that does jobs for hire?”

“Well…I’m not one hundred percent certain... but I think so.”

“Is it him, yes or no?”

Mandy clenched her hands around the steering wheel. The leather squeaked in her grip. ”Yes, but you don’t want Ryder Storm, Raine.”

But she did. “Do you know where I can find him?”

Color drained from Mandy’s face. “Oh, Raine. He owns a bar called Blood Hounds, but I really don’t think you should be messing around with that guy. I’ve heard things—”

Raine lifted her brows. “What things?”

“Well…” She licked her lips and glanced away.

She curled a hand around Mandy’s arm and repeated the question with more force. “What things? I need to know.”

Fear filled the depths of Mandy’s baby blues. “I’ve heard bad things. That dangerous people hang out at his bar.”

“It doesn’t matter who hangs out at his bar. I may need to talk to him.”

A black town car sat parked in her neighbor’s driveway. She frowned. There should be no one there. Most of her block was away on vacation.

She turned back to Mandy, who was still studying her with alarm. “Do you mind dropping me off at my mom’s house tonight? I know it’s empty, but I always feel safer surrounded by their stuff.”

“Anything to make you feel better. And I don’t want you talking about Ryder Storm anymore. He’s dangerous.” One sharp U-turn and they were driving away from her house.

Things were different now. Her vision was clearer. Focused. Different scents drifted into the car and lingered during their drive. Some were pleasant, others not so much.

Her parents’ white and yellow Victorian came into view. The car slowed until they were sitting in the driveway. She turned to her friend. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

Mandy sighed. She released the wheel from her tight grip. Frowning, she turned to Raine. “I’m not sure what’s wrong, but I don’t know if you should be left alone. You look so…lost.”

Raine gulped. It was exactly how she felt. But it wasn’t fair to Mandy for her to push her problem on her. “I’m fine. I promise.”

Instinct propelled her to hug her friend. Mandy clutched her tight. “Oh, honey. I’m here for whatever you need. You’re not alone.”

Her throat closed up. Mandy had always been the type of friend who cared more about others than herself. Raine wouldn’t share her worries with her and stress her. “Thank you. I know.” The door creaked as she stepped out of the car. “Be careful going home.”

“You’re sure you don’t need me to stay?” Mandy’s features were filled with doubt.

She shook her head, marching toward the other side of the old car. Thank god she kept an extra key under the flowerpot in the shape of a yellow and white spotted frog. There would be no need to break a window or call a locksmith to get inside.

At Mandy’s insistence, she scurried inside and shut the door.

Fear and anger battled inside her. Her mind struggled to piece together the events of what had happened after she’d fallen asleep at the center. Cold dread filled her, turning her entire body numb with shock. Nothing, absolutely nothing, she’d ever experienced came remotely close to what she was feeling.

She bypassed the living room, where she’d spent countless hours reading to her parents or connecting them via video to some of their friends overseas, straight to the bathroom. Air struggled into her lungs. Why couldn’t she remember?

For one entire week of her life, she’d been gone, and not a single memory of that time popped up. Fury unleashed inside her. She glared at the woman in the mirror. Her eyes were bright gold, no longer plain brown. She curled her lips, showing off elongated canines.

“Oh, god!”

Even her voice sounded like she was suffering from a sore throat—raspy and deep. She shut her eyes and gripped the sink, choking on the anger and fear burning down her veins.

A quick image of hazy people in lab coats flashed through her mind. They had needles.

The more she strained to remember, the more her fury grew.

What sounded like nails raking glass made her jerk her eyes open. Her fingers were no longer fingers. It was happening again. She uncurled her hands from the sink and lifted them to her face. Long, sharp claws had replaced her nails. Nausea rolled up her throat. She hammered down the sick sensation back to the pit of her stomach. A light coating of fur covered her arms. She glanced at the mirror.

Oh dear god!

Her jaw fell open in shock. Her facial structure had altered. It was getting hard to breathe. Spots danced before her eyes. Panic took hold. Dread slashed down her spine. She was losing the control she had over her body. Fur appeared on its own. Her eyes glowed and her face elongated. No way. It couldn’t be. Never a fan of horror movies due to finding them unrealistic, right now she was living in her very own flick.

She was a monster.

Her breaths hammered hard in her ears. She needed to do something before the anger inside her consumed her. What if she hurt an innocent person? She’d never be able to live with herself.

Never had she considered the possibility of taking her life, but this…whatever was wrong with her, it was bad, it was terrible. She needed to stop things now, before whatever evil monster inside of her decided to get out. She wouldn’t be able to fight the powerful aggression growing by the second.

She gawked at the growing hair on her arms. She gulped. It had to go. She started scratching and pulling at the hair, but her long talons only sliced her wrists open. It didn’t matter that she was bleeding like a stuck pig; she continued to pull. Adding more pressure and speed, she ignored the bleeding down both arms. Her sole focus was to stop the hair that continued to grow with each pull and cut. She created multiple scrapes and slashes over her arms.

It took a few minutes before realizing she’d slashed her wrists and arms really deep. So deep that blood soaked the clothes she had on and created a puddle on the floor. The thought of getting help rushed through her mind, but she nixed it. It was for the best. If she was a monster, then she needed to die.

Staring at her bleeding wrists only added to her misery. The blood rushing down her arms slowly diminished. Skin met skin, closing the deep wounds and leaving no mark that she’d ever had a cut. Hair retreated. Smooth unblemished brown skin was all that remained.

“No!”

Gut-wrenching fear enveloped her. She’d need to get Storm to help her. If what Mandy had said in one of their past conversations was true, for the right amount of money, he’d take care of any problem. And right now her problem was being alive.

* * *

Bright sunlight made her wince as she stared at the bar Mandy had mentioned. The wind rustled. Cool air slid over her heated flesh in a soft caress. It did nothing to calm her nerves. She waited outside for what felt like an eternity before poking her head in. A woman set up at the bar area, with a man sitting there chatting with her.

She scented something in the man. There was more to him than met the eye.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” His lips curved up in a smile.

“I’m looking for Ryder Storm.”

The smile disappeared to be replaced by a clenching of his jaw. “What’s this about?”

“A private matter.”

“Sorry miss, but he’s not here right now.”

She didn’t know how, but she knew the man was telling the truth. Something else she’d have to add to this new and strange ability she had of knowing lies from truth. A mental institution was probably what she needed at this point.

* * *

Franks watched his patient sleep. The drug had repaired a lot of the damage he’d sustained while trying to escape. A small grin split his lips. How many people could say they survived an explosion and their bodies returned to perfection? None that anyone knew. Except for his test subjects.

“Doctor?”

He turned to the assistant he’d been given. A mousy little woman who did whatever he said. “What is it?”

“What will we do about PE #1?”

Private Experiment #1 aka Raine. His creation. She’d been the first of his test subjects to survive not only the transformation from human to shifter, but also take on the new dominant strain of alpha genes he’d created. His prized possession had escaped.

Remembering how the line of guards he’d had at her door had left a single man to watch her, made him want to kill them all over again. Not that he was a violent man by nature, no. He had people for that. He was a man looking to create the ultimate alpha, a combination of human and shifter.

Stronger than anything out there, able to fight multiple people at once and still come out of it standing; the project was his baby. But Raine had left before he’d finished his last few rounds of drugs, the strongest of the bunch. She wasn’t at full potential. And he knew that soon the mating heat was going to hit. He needed her back before then. For his next project. A pure born super alpha.

“Don’t worry about her. I’m getting her back. Soon.”

“But.” The woman cleared her throat. “She was going to be the one used for our demonstration at the investor’s meeting, Sir.”

Dammit. He’d have to take PE #2. The one he’d used to create Raine. He was still highly unstable. It was probably due to the painful and mind-altering transition of going from a regular shifter to being turned into an alpha through massive amounts of drugs. The subject was fighting the drugs that made him stronger. Oh well, there wouldn’t be any going around it.

“We’ll focus on PE #2, and do a full fledge series of the AS-201 dosage.”

“Sir, but…”

He turned to the woman then. Ignoring the comatose shifter, he grabbed her by her arm. “Is there a problem here?”

“No, it’s just that AS-201 has made our other PEs highly aggressive, sir.” Her voice shook as she spoke. And she called herself innovative? What a poor excuse for an assistant he’d been sent.

“And?”

“If we… If we use AS-201 on PE #2, then we risk him going fully feral.”

True, but all in the name of science. “We have other test subjects at the ready, don’t we?”

The woman gulped. Her eyes bulged in a too small face. “You got it, Doc.”

“Do it.”

Cell phone in hand, he left the woman behind. “Did you find her yet, Roman?”