Control (5 page)

“Okay, good.” I clipped the words. “Please send someone to the back when you get a second. I really need a drink.”

More nodding.

I pivoted and jogged back over to Robert. When I reached him, I instinctively grabbed his wrist, flipped it over in my hand, and leaned over to kiss the pulse point. My mother had calmed me that way when I was young.

He opened his eyes a little wider, which I wouldn’t have thought possible.

“Something startle you? I would ask if you saw a predator,” I teased, grinning, “but what hunts a bear?”

“That was,” he began, cleared his throat, and then he looked at his wrist in my hand a second before lifting his gaze back to mine. “That was nice, what you did.”

“What was? The kiss?”

“Well, yeah, that was nice too, but no,” he replied earnestly, taking hold of my jacket. “You were gentle with Laura.”

I had done it on purpose, reached out to her, but it was not his place to tell me I had done a good job. I was not a child. “Just so you’re clear, I’m the kuar, and so I am never mean and I’m never nice. I simply am how I’ll be. You don’t seem to be getting that. What kind of ket or—what do bears even have?”

“I’m sorry?”

I shook my head. “Where’s the table? You look like you’re gonna pass out, and we need to get some things straight.”

When I tried to brush by him, he caught my bicep and held tight. As strong as I was, he could break me in half if he wanted. The thought was both terrifying and arousing at the same time.

“Wait,” he commanded.

I turned my head to him slowly.

“I’m not looking to fight with you; I’m trying to give you a compliment.”

I waited.

“I’m very pleased with you.”

I stepped back, released his wrist, and stared up at him. “I’m sorry? You’re
pleased
with me?”

“You had to enunciate the word like that?”

“Pleased? With me?”

He rolled his eyes like I was ridiculous, and even though my body was heating merely from standing that close to him, my mind was fully in control, and so I took one step back and then another.

“I mean,” he said, after taking a breath, “you weren’t nice to her earlier, right? We can agree on that. At first you treated her like a serving wench or something, but then you made a concerted effort to mend it, and that was nice. Really nice. I misjudged you.”

“Misjudged me?”

“Just”—he growled—“listen to my words. I’m trying to give you a compliment.”

I nodded, spun around, and headed back out the front door.

“Kuar?” Laura asked worriedly as I strode by her.

“Feed him,” I told her, glancing over my shoulder. “He needs a lot to eat; he’s a bear, after all.”

My words had the desired effect, and I saw her stiffen with dread. Yes, it was a dick move, but I didn’t care.

Compliment me… fuck him!

I was charging down the street to my Nissan pickup, seeing red, hearing my heartbeat pounding in my ears when I was grabbed by the shoulder and swung around.

“How dare you put your hands on—”

“Oh, I think that’s your whole problem,” Robert thundered, gripping my biceps tight and hauling me forward until only inches separated us. “No one puts their hands on you.”

I struggled. He tightened his grip, lifted me up, tossed me over his shoulder, and slapped my ass before carrying me across the street.

He set me roughly down in front of the closed aromatherapy boutique and grasped hold of my face before I could say a word.

“Stop. Please stop,” he pleaded hoarsely. “You’re leaking pheromones, and it’s making me crazy.”

The way his voice cracked, the way he was acting, like losing control was really horrible instead of really hot, like succumbing to his beast would be the absolute worst possible thing imaginable… all of it cleared my head.

He trembled violently, clenched his jaw, and balled his hands into fists. I watched him fight, watched him stamp down the animal trying desperately to claw its way out of his chest. It was amazing and terrifying at the same time. I was impressed by the amount of energy he exerted to remain human, but I didn’t understand the need for such a display. We were far enough away—he could shift and disappear into the night. Why the need to rule the animal within?

But at the moment, the why wasn’t important, only the fight was, and I wanted him to win, to remain human, because I wasn’t sure what losing the battle would do to him.

He was a gentle man, a patient man; that much I already knew. Looking at him reminded me that maybe there was another choice, a better life than the one I’d been living.

“Fuck!” he rasped, obviously in pain.

Rippling energy almost sparked off him, sweat plastered his shirt to his chest and abdomen, and he smelled absolutely delicious.

I wanted to attack, to ravish him, but more than that, deeper, I wanted to help. I reached up, wrapped my arms around his neck, and eased him down to me. I opened my lips against the base of his throat and reveled in the feeling of his pulse pounding under my mouth. He jolted in my arms, and I sucked hard, not the least bit deterred when he shoved his hands under my ass and lifted me into a kiss. He ground his mouth over mine and bumped me into the wall beside the display window of the shop.

“Vy,” he moaned into my mouth as he pressed against me, taking, devouring, claiming what was his instead of shifting right there.

All the power in his big, hard body moved from fighting the shift to mauling me. He kneaded my ass hard, gripped my thighs tight, and kissed me deep, shoving his tongue down my throat. I held him through the storm that raged inside him, meeting every passionate advance with my own, writhing against him, kissing him back, not letting him pull away until, finally, he tore free to drag in a great gulp of air.

Even in the faint glow of the streetlights, I could see his blown pupils and swollen lips. He clung to me and panted, and we stayed there, breathing close, our foreheads pressed together.

“How did you—” He sucked in another breath. “I was so close, but I… you…. Vy.”

“I know all about shifting.”

He nodded and slowly put me back on my feet.

“I’d like to see your bear someday, if you can trust me enough.”

His gaze was locked on mine. “You need to understand something.”

I waited.

“For me, helping me not to shift—that means more,” he choked.

“Why don’t you shift?” I pried, because I had to know.

It wasn’t about something done to him; I already knew he was stronger than that. It was about something he did. I just needed him to tell me so I could explain it wasn’t his fault. Because whatever had happened, I knew he had done it without malice or forethought. He was too good, too kind, for something to have gone down any other way.

I opened my mouth to talk to him, to plead with him, but the words died in my throat at the sound of my title.

“Kuar!”

Stepping in front of Robert, instinctively protecting him, I was faced with Brady Lyman, a member of my ket. He skidded to a stop in front of me, doubled over, put his hands on his knees, and threw up.

“Brady,” I groaned and stepped back, not wanting to step in vomit. “What the hell are—”

“It’s Chris,” he heaved out. “Please, my kuar. The pack from White Springs…. Their guys went after him. They hit his car. He’s hurt.”

I sucked in a breath; the sound was sharp and loud, louder than I intended—a cry. “Where is he?”

“Lookout Canyon. He’s gonna go over the edge, and he can’t shift. He’s trapped. I would have stayed with him, but Jodie’s there.”

It made sense, his choice to find me and hers to stay. Of the two of them, Jodie Ruiz, the beautiful, curvy captain of the high school cheerleading squad, was the fiercer predator. At seventeen, she was already a powerful shifter.

“Let’s go,” I commanded. “My truck’s over here. Show me.”

“Vy.”

I glanced over at Robert.

“I can help.”

He was my mate, there was no question. Always he could help me.

“Come on.”

Robert

T
HE
DRIVE
to the cliff where the boy—Chris Miller—was trapped didn’t take long. Vy peeled over to the side of the road and jumped out of the car before the dust had a chance to settle. Brady wasn’t far behind him.

I peered through the windshield and saw a silver minivan teetering on the edge of the steep incline. It was flipped on its side with the back end hanging past the point where the land ended and pitch-black empty space began. Even more disconcerting was the sound of rock cracking off and rolling down. It seemed the thinner ground near the edge of the cliff couldn’t hold the weight of the vehicle, and so it was crumbling. Of course, that meant the support holding up the van was getting smaller, which was probably why the van was rocking.

“Chris!” Vy shouted. “Get out of the car!”

Bears have great hearing. Didn’t matter that I hadn’t shifted in decades; I could hear the kid’s breathless voice.

“I can’t,” he sobbed. “I’m stuck. The door crumpled and the steering wheel’s against my chest and… I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.”

“I told you to quit saying that!” the young female shouted.

“You’re not going to die,” Brady added, and then he paused and in a hopeful tone said, “Right, Kuar?”

Choosing not to answer him, Vy instead snapped, “You need to get out of the car right now.”

Unfortunately, his order didn’t work. The boy kept crying and chanting, “I’m gonna die,” over and over again.

“Chris, listen to me. You need to calm down.” Vy was using what I assumed was intended to be a soothing tone. It was calmer than his normally gruff, demanding voice, but I wouldn’t exactly call it bedtime-story relaxing. Well, I’d relax if he told me a story in bed in that voice, but that was probably more because of the bed and him part than anything he’d be saying or the way he’d be saying it. “You can’t shift if you’re too tense. Your muscles are locked up. You need to relax so you can shift, and then you’ll be able to fly out of there.”

I heard a loud crash and jerked my gaze toward the cliff, where I saw rocks rolling down at an increasing pace. We were running out of time. Apparently, the realization didn’t escape Chris, probably because the van was tilting further down and starting to slide.

“I’m gonna die!”

“Shift!” Vy screeched, his patience seemingly gone in a fit of worry.

I doubted Vy’s shouts would help Chris shift because they were unlikely to calm him. Thankfully, I’d spent years mastering ways to achieve a relaxed state. The alternative was losing myself to my bear form during times of anger or frustration, which was unacceptably dangerous. So instead, I’d learned to meditate and do yoga.

Yes, yoga. Six-foot-four-inch, two-hundred-ten-pound me regularly sat cross-legged on the floor with my arms at my sides, thumbs and middle fingers pressed together, and eyes closed. Namaste.

“Obey!”

At the sound of Vy reaching his breaking point, along with what sounded like the cliff doing the same, I opened the truck door and stepped out. “Maybe I can help.”

The girl—Jodie—screeched loudly and flipped around. She was taken off guard, apparently not having realized anyone was waiting in the truck. “You’re not ket!” She glared at me and threw her arms to the side in what I assumed was an attempt to block me from Chris and Vy. It was charmingly naive.

“I’m with Vy,” I explained.

She made an odd sound in the back of her throat, a warning or maybe a threat.

“I think I can help your friend.” As I spoke, I bent my knees slightly, hunched my shoulders, and lowered my neck. It was an odd position, but it cut a few inches off my height, which tended to make people feel less intimidated.

She was torn. It was all over her face: take the chance to trust me or stand guard.

Not that she had a chance of keeping me away if I charged forward, but forcing my way into the situation wasn’t what I wanted to do. Not then or any other time.

“I will take your eyes if you don’t move!” Vy warned her from his position next to the van, apparently having no reservation about how to get Jodie to step aside.

I raised my gaze to tell him I had it under control and noticed that he had both hands on the edge of the window, his feet braced on the ground, and the sides of his neck were bulging. He was trying to keep the van from slipping. Strong as he was, no way could he do that on his own, not when the rocky edge was crumbling more every second.

Dammit, we were out of time.

“Please,” I said to Jodie imploringly. Either she’d step aside, or I’d bodily move her. I was really hoping for the former. “I only want to help.”

Jodie lowered her chin and arms, leaving me room to pass. I leaped toward the van and landed on the furthest end just as it was rising from the ground to begin its slide down the hill.

“I’ll hold the van,” I told Vy. “You get him out.”

He flicked his eyes toward me, and I saw how scared he was. Whatever anger I’d thought I heard in his tone wasn’t because of impatience or frustration with a ket member who wasn’t listening; it was due to fear.