The Bears of Blackrock, Books 1 - 3: The Fenn Clan (26 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Josephine scrambled backward through the snow, unable to breathe. She stared into the blaring lights of the truck, trying desperately to make sense of what she’d just seen, but an instant later, remembered – Rory.

Josephine jumped to her feet and ran for the side of the road. The scene that lay before her was too much to take, so she pretended not to see it – not to see the shattered windshield and the blond figure now hunched prone over the steering wheel, shards of glass scattered all over him. And above all, she pretended not to see the broken animal that lay seemingly lifeless in the middle of the road, the front bumper of the truck imploded around him.

That creature wasn’t Kirk. It couldn’t be Kirk. What she’d seen was impossible. Kirk was ok. Kirk was somewhere, unharmed. It couldn’t be him. It couldn’t be him!

“Momma?”

Joe cried out in a mix of relief and despair, grabbing her daughter from the top of the snow pile as she tried to climb over. Rory clutched her mother a moment, hugging her tightly. Then she began to squirm.

“Kirk? Kirk!”

Rory tore from her mother’s arms and rushed toward the truck, dropping to her knees beside the bloodied bear. “Kirk! Wake up! Don’t be hurt! Wake up, please!”

Joe stumbled forward, the revelation of her daughter’s words breaking her heart with each step. “Get away, baby. Don’t touch it -”

“Kirk, wake up! Please!!” Rory cried, shoving her whole body weight into the limp and massive beast.

Josephine drew close enough to see blood beneath the fur, and tatters of the flannel shirt Kirk had been wearing clinging to the wet beast.

“Rory, come away! Please,” she said, sobbing.

Rory ignored her, grabbing at the fur and yanking, screaming. The bear rumbled, suddenly. Despite the impossibility of what she’d seen, Joe’s heart leapt to see the beast lived.

Oh god, please be alive. Please, just be alive.

Yet, even as hope sprung in her heart, another movement stilled her in abject terror. The blond figure in the cab of the truck was waking up, too. Josephine recoiled, fear leaving her helpless.

“Momma! He’s alive. Momma!?” Rory called from the bear’s side.

Joe reached down to Rory as Carson lifted his head, shaking away glass shards from his hair. She grabbed hold of Rory’s coat and yanked her to her feet.

Rory cried out in protest just as the bear’s shape began to change. The dark fur retreated, leaving bare, bloodied skin free to the cold air. Joe’s stomach turned as she watched the massive beast shrink into the familiar shape of Kirk Fenn, his blood splattered into the snow around him. The two men seemed to come to at even speed. Carson climbing out of the truck just as Kirk pushed himself up onto his feet. How could he be alive? How was it possible? He’d taken a pickup truck at full speed, how could he have survived that?

Kirk’s left arm hung useless, his bare chest scraped and bleeding, but he steadied himself there, naked. He was wounded, barely upright, but by some miracle, he was alive.

Joe turned to Rory, dropping to her level to speak to her. “Run home, baby. Run back to the house and hide. Can you do that for me?”

Rory’s brow furrowed, ready to protest, but Joe shook her softly.

“Please do as you’re told, damn it! Hide so well, even Momma can’t find you. Please, baby.”

Rory shot a glance toward Kirk, seemingly satisfied with the knowledge he was alive, then as her lip quivered, she nodded her agreement to her mother.

Rory was running down the snowy road a second later, the hood of her puffy jacket bouncing wildly at her back.

“What the fuck are you, man?”

The voice felt like a nail gun to the nape of her neck, but Joe turned to watch as Carson stared at the naked man in the road, his eyes wide in disbelief. Kirk stood his ground there, looking broken, but sturdy.

Joe searched for words, wanting desperately to protect Kirk, wanting to scream out against this monster she knew too well, but just his presence left her frozen, and she hadn’t the courage to say a word. He stole her courage. He held power over her that was unbreakable, and she hated him for it.

“I suggest you get off my land,” Kirk said, the words muffled by what she could only assume was a wounded jaw.

Carson snorted, his own stature hinting at unseen injury. “I don’t think so, pal. I’ve got something I need to take care of before I go.”

“There’s nothing here for you. I suggest you go.”

Carson chuckled again, but then his eyes went dark with malice. “I’ll go when I’ve taken what’s mine.”

Kirk stepped forward, and Carson recoiled. A familiar rage crossed his face at having shown weakness, and he glared at Kirk. She knew that expression well. Then Carson seemed to catch himself, smirking. “How do you expect me to take you seriously there, guy?”

Carson gestured to Kirk’s naked state just as Kirk straightened, turning to look back down the road toward the house.

“What’s the matter?” Carson said, then he laughed to himself.

Kirk’s expression changed, and he took off, moving fast despite limping.

“Kirk, where are you going?!” She screamed, terrified to be left in the company of the man who haunted her dreams. Yet, she saw what it was that Kirk saw – a subtle yellow and orange glow was growing through the trees, flickering around the house as a gray tower of smoke belched up from therein.

The house was on fire.

“Nice job telling our daughter to go hide where even you couldn’t find her, huh?”

Joe took off running. What had she done?

Kirk was gaining speed, and Joe followed close behind, screaming Rory’s name as she stomped over Kirk’s bloody footprints.

Kirk was up the driveway and running around the house before Joe could follow. She stopped for an instant at the driveway, her insides buckling at the sight of the flames rising from the roof over the garage.

“No, no, no!” She screamed, running around the house toward the deck. She reached the high windows and lunged for the glass doors. Kirk grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her away.

She fought him, trying desperately to pull free, but he held her there. “Stop, Josephine! Stop! You can’t open the door.”

“Why?!”

Kirk dragged her around the side of the house, glancing intently toward each basement window. “If you open the door, it could cause a rush of oxygen. It’ll fuel the fire and might cause an explosion.”

Joe collapsed into the snow, wailing. “My baby’s inside! I have to get in!”

He grabbed her up, taking her face in his one good hand. “Sh, baby. I’m gonna get her. I promise you, Josephine. I’m gonna get her.”

Kirk turned back to the house, grabbed up a rock from beneath the snow, and smashed the tiny basement window. He crouched down, his bare skin raw and bloody, but his focus unshaken. He smashed out the pane of glass until it was clear. “Do you have your phone?”

Joe patted her pockets, feeling the small contraption in her coat. “Yes!” She said, pulling it out to check for signal as Kirk dropped onto the ground and began to shimmy his feet through the window.

“Call 911.”

She nodded, her hands shaking as she pulled up the buttons. She watched him disappear through the window before the horror set in. He was gone, into the fire, and all she had to assure her of his return was faith. What if he got hurt? What if she lost them both in one night? She wouldn’t survive it.

“Kirk! Please!”

But he was gone, the dark basement window now trickling smoke from the floors above.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“My house is on fire, and my daughter’s insi -”

The words stilled in her throat. She couldn’t acknowledge them. If she just didn’t say them, maybe they wouldn’t be true. She screamed up at the house, the smoke beginning to pour out from the upstairs windows. Josephine thought of all the places she could be hiding – her room, her closet – would she hide in the garage apartment?

Josephine turned back toward the deck, desperate to see inside. There were no flames within the main part of the house yet, but smoke was pouring across the ceiling inside, belching in from the garage door. She stared into the house, praying softly to herself. Suddenly, she spotted movement. Kirk was barreling down the bedroom hallway, clothed now in jeans and a massive sweatshirt that he pulled up over his head, tying the hood tight around his face. What the hell was he doing taking the time to get –

Kirk ran through the kitchen, tested his hand against the garage door, and threw it open, disappearing into the wall of black smoke.

“No! Oh my god, no!” She whispered, dropping to her knees on the snowy deck.

Please god, let them come out alright. Please god, let them come out alright. Please don’t do this to me! PLEASE!

“Ma’am? Ma’am, are you there?”

Joe caught the sound of a distant voice and startled, only then remembering the phone still in her hand. She pulled it to her ear. “Yes. I’m here.”

“We have the fire department on the way. Are you somewhere safe, honey?”

Josephine shook her head silently, unable to speak. Did it matter if she was safe? Rory wasn’t, Kirk wasn’t, and they were all that mattered in the world.

She felt the sting of something sharp graze over her skin, and flinched, crying out. The flinch only drove the edge of the blade across her throat.

“Finally, that asshole is gone, huh?” Carson whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arm across her shoulders, the knife pressed purposely up under her chin. “Why don’t you hang up the phone?”

The 911 dispatcher called in the distance, “Ma’am. Are you still there? Is everything alright?”

Joe shut her eyes tight, and tapped her thumb to the screen, ending the call.

“Got company coming, huh? Guess we should move quickly then, shouldn’t we baby?”

Carson yanked her up onto her feet and held her against his chest, moving her as he looked around the space. Joe was afraid, her insides empty at the mere touch of this man, but her eyes remained trained on the house beyond those high windows. Kirk hadn’t reappeared. Rory hadn’t reappeared. If they weren’t meant to survive this night, perhaps Carson was an act of mercy from some divine being. Let her die, if those she loved were meant to. She trained her eye on the house, even as Carson turned her about face and dragged her toward the deck stairs – the stairs that led to the water, and to Kirk’s boat.

Joe struggled to keep pace with Carson, the man caring little as to how much damage his knife did. Joe felt her skin splitting at the edge of the sharp blade each time it grazed over her. Yet she couldn’t protest. He had such power over her, over every thought she had. It took every ounce of courage just to reach up, and take hold of his wrist in an attempt to keep the knife still. He turned his nose into her hair, giving her a kiss on the cheek in response to her gesture.

“You think I’d hurt you, my sweet girl?”

She shuddered in his arms just as something far below caught her eye. She gasped, succumbing to overwhelming relief. A dark head bobbed just inside the cabin door of the boat, spotted them, then ducked back out of sight.

Joe sobbed in relief. Rory was on the boat below. The thunder of her next thought almost buckled her knees beneath her. Carson was leading her to that boat – to Rory. If they made it down these steps, he would find her. He couldn’t find her. Carson could never find Rory. Joe whimpered with each step they took.

This can’t happen, she thought. You can’t let this happen!

She’d die before she’d allow him to have her. She’d die!

Josephine planted her foot into the post in the railing as Carson tried to push down the steps. The forward momentum of his movement made his wrist pull away from her throat. Joe’s heart shot into the back of her mouth as she grabbed his wrist, took another step down the stairs, and yanked Carson’s arm forward just as she bent at the waist. She felt his weight shift violently, as his body heaved over her back and down the stairs. His weight pushed her forward, throwing her off balance, but as she tumbled over on the stairs, she felt the stairs vibrate beneath her as Carson rolled with far greater force just a few steps ahead. Josephine’s shoulder and arm caught on a post. She winced in pain, but was able to grab hold, stopping herself from tumbling. She lunged to her feet, chasing the tumbling figure with a sudden madness, no longer concerned for her own safety. All she’d need do is push the boat away from the dock. Just put distance between Rory and land – the coast guard could easily collect her, but Carson? There’d be nothing he could do. Carson began to slow several yards down from her as headlights flashed across the railing below – someone had arrived.

Yet, she was too determined to be drawn from her purpose now. Carson lay just a few steps down, and he was still between her and her daughter. She reached him on the stairs, and despite her fear that he might retaliate, lunged over him, bracing her hands on the railings as she lifted herself up and over. He mumbled something venomous as she moved, his hand snatching at her ankle. He caught her pant leg enough to throw her off, and Joe tripped, failing down the last six steps to the dock below.