Unbearable: Russet Falls Series (12 page)

Zane and the others stood back, watching Jeffries. “He was
the last king,” he wheezed, “and he wasted it away. He bore no sons, only
daughters,” his mouth twisted. “And not only that, but he married a
non-shifter.”

Zane knew what that meant. The chance of having shifter
offspring was slight when a shifter married a non-shifter.

Yet, Zane still wasn’t seeing the connection to Gabby.

“Then came the accident,” Jeffries whispered. “I still don’t
know what actually happened. No one I have met knows the truth. And only a very
few of us even know that the bear had been the last of the king dynasty. All I
know is that roughly twenty years ago, he was found killed in the woods, at a
spot on Cruentus land, just yards from our own borders. There were scents of
our tribe and the Cruentus tribe, but none of the Atrocitas. No culprit was
ever found, so we will never know. Perhaps it was someone from his own tribe
who realized what he truly was.” Jeffries sighed loudly. “The Cruentus members
found him, and the only thing they said was that the strength of the bear that
had killed him seemed unusual.”

“Meaning what?” Zane cut in, sounding sharper than he had
intended.

Jeffries turned around to stare at him.

Really stare at him.

Zane’s stomach turned at the site of Jeffries’ cloudy eyes;
the man had to be blind.

“Meaning,” Jeffries rattled, “the bear that killed him
didn’t seem to know his own strength.”

A sickening feeling had begun to grow in the pit of Zane’s
stomach, and he tried to focus all his energy on keeping his thoughts calm. At
the same time, he felt his bear clawing at his insides, desperate to get out,
desperate to run.

“But,” Alicia prodded gently, forcing Zane’s mind back to
the story, “What’s the connection to this young woman?”

“Ahh, yes, the young woman,” Jeffries cleared his throat
again, “I believe she is the daughter of this king.”

The room erupted in noise, but everything sounded far away
and hollow to Zane. Michael shot him a look, and Zane knew that Michael
knew.

“Quiet!” Michael finally barked. “We must discover that for
ourselves.” He turned to Jeffries. “We appreciate your wisdom more than words
can express,” he said, his voice full of gratitude. He bowed before Jeffries to
show his respect. “But tell us, please. How would we know if this woman is the
daughter of the king?”

Jeffries nodded at Michael to rise. “You will know when she
is pursued by other bears, particularly the Cruentus. They will sense it;
something in their bones will alert them to her presence if she is near their
border.”

Every puzzle piece was falling into place. Everything was
making sense.

“She will be wanted by not only her tribe, but other tribes
as well. Her blood is,” he paused, “extremely powerful.” He brought a shaking
hand to his mouth and coughed a wet cough. “Should she mate with a shifter, she
will
produce cubs.” He paused again and then dropped his voice. “Yet if
she is killed, her blood will make her killer stronger and more powerful that
before.”

Zane couldn’t stop himself. “Would that have happened with
her father’s blood?”

Again, Jeffries fixed his unseeing eyes on Zane, causing him
to shudder. “Oh, yes. Whoever killed the king has gained superior strength and
power from spilling his blood.”

Wordlessly, Zane nodded.

“Protect her,” Jeffries wheezed, turning in the direction of
Michael. “If you want my advice—bring her into the tribe, protect her and give
her no choice but to mate. She will strengthen the gene pool.”

Michael nodded. “We are indebted to you. We will not take up
more of your time.” He looked to the others. “Let’s go and leave Jeffries in
peace.”

The others nodded, quietly following Michael out into the
night. Zane brought up the rear, feeling Jeffries eyes follow him.

Did Jeffries know?

Could he feel Zane’s secret?

Gabby was exhausted, and she ran a hand through her long,
wet hair before twisting it on top of her head and kicking her feet up on the
couch. She had just finished dinner and had taken a shower. She should have
checked in with Lucy, but it was just too much in one day. She was planning on
watching some bad reality TV and hopefully falling asleep on the couch.

She stretched out, grabbed the
remote control and managed to find a reality show where a bunch of women vied
for the affections of a man who claimed he was searching for his wife.

Perfect.

As she watched the women talk about
each other behind their backs and prance around in bikinis, she began to feel
her eyelids get heavy. Just as she was about to sink into blissful sleep, a
loud knocking at her door jolted her awake.

She jumped up, her heart pounding
wildly. Who would be knocking at her door this late? A quick glance at her
watch told her it was nearly ten o’clock. She paced back and forth in front of
her couch, debating if she should answer it or not.

Another loud pounding and she
jumped nearly three feet.

What the hell?

Who could it be?

She tiptoed to the door, willing
the person to just leave.

The knocking came again, louder
than before and Gabby squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lower lip.

No, no, no. She could not handle
this.

“Damn it, Gabby. Open up.”

Her eyes flew open.

What the hell?

Feeling braver, she moved towards
the door and peeped through the peep hole. Sure enough, there was Zane.

Fear gave way to anger and she slid
the deadbolt across and yanked the door open in annoyance.

“What are you doing here?” she
demanded. “And how the hell did you know where I lived?”

She took in Zane’s appearance and
noticed that he looked somewhat disheveled. And his somewhat wild hair was even
wilder.

And there was something else.

Wait.

He wasn’t dressed in his ranger
uniform.

Wow.

He was wearing faded, worn jeans
and a dark, long-sleeve shirt, which could not hide his bulging biceps or his
broad chest.

She shook her head, trying to focus
on Zane standing at her door and not the fact that he looked deliciously,
mouth-wateringly sexy.

“I—I looked your address up,” he
said, though Gabby didn’t quite believe him. “I needed to know that you were
okay. I had to check on you.” And his voice was so urgent and so worried that
she couldn’t help but believe him.

“I’m fine,” she said carefully. “I
really appreciate you checking on me, but you know that it’s ten o’clock at
night.”

“Shit. I wasn’t paying attention to
the time. I probably scared the crap out of you.”

“Yes. You did.” She stood in the
doorway, still unsure of how to proceed. She wanted to be angry with him, but a
part of her was touched that he actually came to check on her. “So, you really
just wanted to check on me?”

“Yes. I just needed to make sure
that you were okay. After everything today, and then me taking you back to the
park office,” his voice trailed off, and the memories of that afternoon came
rushing back to Gabby.

“Yes,” she said feeling all fired
up, “that was a real dickhead move. Those people, whoever they were, were
assholes!”

Zane nodded. “You’re right. Most of
them
are
assholes.”

Oh. Well. She didn’t expect him to
agree with her.

“I’ll get going. I see that you’re
okay, so I’ll get out of your way. You probably have to go to bed soon, too.”

He started to head down the hall,
but something inside her made her call out to him.

“Zane. Wait.”

What was she doing?

He paused and turned around. She
couldn’t place it, but something was different about Zane. He was off somehow.
There seemed to be a bit of panic about him, a wildness she hadn’t quite
noticed before.

“I need to go,” he explained, but
he didn’t move.

Oh god, she was going to regret
this.

“I have to get up early for work,
but do you want to come in for a few minutes?”

He hesitated for only a moment.
“Sure. A few minutes.”

Gabby stepped back, allowing Zane
to enter.

She nervously watched as he looked
around her sparsely furnished apartment. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t
great. The living room was small, and she had saved up for three months for the
plush couch and armchair, but the coffee table and the end tables were from a
thrift store, and her TV was nothing special. A few photos and pieces of art
lined the walls, and she had splurged on a few nice pillows to dress up the
room.

There was a small nook between the
living room and the tiny kitchen which housed a weathered kitchen table and
chairs, but she had taken the time to repaint the table, and she had to admit,
it looked nice.

But sparse or not, it was all hers
and she wasn’t going to feel ashamed for being able to support herself. She
stood up a little straighter, waiting for Zane to make a smart-ass comment.

“It’s really nice,” he observed.

Gabby wasn’t prepared for that. She
wavered a bit, unsure of what to say. Usually she and Zane seemed to spar back
and forth.

“Oh, thanks,” she paused, “Can I
get you something to drink?”

Zane didn’t answer right away, and
she realized that he was checking her out.

Damn!

She had forgotten that she was
dressed in a tight tank top and a pair of running shorts.

“Hello?” she snapped, “A drink?”

“Oh! Right,” he grinned sheepishly.
“Some water is fine, thanks.”

“Unbelievable,” she muttered as she
stalked into the kitchen and filled up a glass with water. She had half the
mind to spit in it.

She placed it down in front of
Zane, a tad too hard, and sat on the armchair. Zane followed her lead and sat
down on the couch.

“So, any particular reason you felt
the need to come by this late at night?” she asked.

Zane was quiet for a moment. “A lot
happened today. I just had to check on you.”

“So you said. Why do you care?” she
couldn’t help asking. “I mean, we barely know each other.”

He furrowed his brow. “I know,” he
said darkly, “yet we seem to keep running into each other.”

They sat there in awkward silence,
and Gabby realized she was stupid for inviting him inside. There was no reason
for him to be sitting in her living room. And for all she knew he could be an
ax murderer.

Sexy biceps or not.

“Well, I really should get to bed,”
she said quickly, standing up. She felt like a fool and for some reason the
room suddenly felt hotter. She needed some fresh air. She went to grab Zane’s
glass of water, which he had only taken a small sip from, but instead, Zane
grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing?” she accused,
trying to snatch her wrist back.

“Stop,” he pleaded, his voice
husky.

Oh crap.

He tugged her down so she was on
his lap, and she was too stunned to fight back. She couldn’t deny the
attraction between them.

True story.

It was there, and both of them knew
it.

She could say something sassy and
try to resist, but what was the point?

“This is crazy,” she muttered, but
Zane’s hand was already in her hair and then he cupped her cheek, pulling her
towards him as he kissed her.

She kissed him back, and then
pulled away. “Is this why you came here tonight?”

“Maybe,” he breathed.

She kissed him again, and then
pulled back again.

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

As long as she was clear.

She leaned into Zane, settling onto
his lap as she slowly kissed him, allowing him to run his hands through her
hair and along her bare shoulders. His kiss was soft, yet urgent, and there was
a certain sadness to it.

The intensity began to build, and
Gabby felt her nipples harden, as her heart beat erratically. She turned so
that she was straddling Zane and he groaned, wrapping his hands around her
voluptuous backside, and pulled her even closer to him.

She felt his erection press into
her, turning her on even more. She wrapped her legs tighter around him, feeling
reckless as she pushed her tongue hard into his mouth.

Gabby was the first to admit that
she didn’t have much experience with men, but something about Zane made her feel
wild and irresponsible. As the kiss deepened, she knotted her fingers in his
hair and playfully bit Zane’s lower lip.

“Fuck,” he growled and she felt him
harden even more against her. Things were escalating quickly and before she
knew it, Zane was pulling her tank top over her head.

She wanted to tell him no, but she
just couldn’t find the words.

Or the desire.

His thick hands moved against her
soft stomach, and she was too aroused to be self-conscious. She was a meaty
girl, no flat stomach here, yet Zane seemed to revel in her curves as his hands
moved across them, hugging at her flesh appreciatively. His hands moved even
higher, until he reached her breasts, and Gabby’s breathing hitched as he
cupped her with each hand, squeezing through the thin material of her bra.