Falling for the Shifter Box Set, page 11
part #1 of Falling for the Shifter Series
I swallow down huge gulps of air and head toward the cave.
“Tarben,” I call as I enter our home. “Where are you?”
I’m cold as I scan the empty room. Could they have already been here and taken him? I glance over at the blue t-shirt. It’s still where I left it.
“Tarben?” I call out again, louder this time.
“Jade?” His voice is muffled. He’s still in the roof. “What’s wrong?”
“Tarben, you’ve got to come quickly. There are men here. Shifters.”
All I can hear is the beating of my heart. It seems like forever before he responds. “Don’t move.”
He’s down to the ground and the door to our home slams open, hitting the wall behind it. I rush into his arms and the words spill out. “I saw them, there’s three of them, and a man. There’s two SUV’s. Black. They’re searching for you. I tried to call, but you didn’t answer. We have to get out of here.”
His face is frozen and his eyes flick between mine as if searching for answers. “They’re here? They’ve found us?”
The realization seems unreal to him. After all this time living out here by himself, and now I come along and within a day it’s all gone wrong. I nod and pull away. “Just take the essentials. Clothes, money, something to get us lost.”
He grabs me and pulls me back. His voice is low and soft. “What did the man look like?”
“What? I don’t know. Tall and thin, and he looked like he hasn’t shaved for a few days. He was in charge.”
Tarben glances down to the floor. “Oleg.”
“Who?”
Tarben doesn’t answer, he doesn’t have to. It’s clear that he knows exactly who this man is, and it isn’t a meeting that he wants to have again.
Chapter 4
“Professor Oleg Scott.” Tarben spits out the name when I ask again. “He’s the one that did this to me.”
I nod slowly because I don’t have the words to give any sort of comfort to Tarben right now. All I can do is wait to see what he wants to do next. When he doesn’t offer any suggestions, I say the obvious. “We need to get out of here now.”
He shakes his head. “It’s no use. If he’s this close then he already knows where I am. Running will just make it worse if he catches us.” His eyes widen as if he’s just realized something and he grabs my shoulders. “But he doesn’t know about you. You can still get away.”
He stands up and grabs the empty bag I bought with me and walks over to the pile of my clothes and starts shoving them inside. He wants me to run.
I know he’s trying to push me away to protect me but I won’t have it. I want to slap sense into him and tell him to stop being stupid. We are together now.
“We can both get away.” I walk over and place my hand over his to stop him packing my things.
Tarben’s shoulders stiffen and I can see the internal struggle shudder through his body. He turns around to face me, his jaw clenched tight. “Jade. Don’t fight me on this.”
“No, Tarben, no. You asked me to move in with you because you want to be with me. I want to be with you, too. The minute things get rough you can’t throw me out and tell me to fend for myself. That’s not the way this works.”
He grits his teeth and growls out the words, “I can’t let him hurt you.”
“And I can’t let him hurt you.” I ball my fists together in defiance so he knows I’m not backing down.
Tarben narrows his eyes. “He’s dangerous. It won’t be easy to get away from someone like him.”
“And it wasn’t easy for us to come together and find each other. You said yourself that we belong together. We do. And we’ll fight this together as well.” It’s clear that I mean what I say.
He searches my face. “Are you sure about this?”
“I’ve never been surer of anything else in my life.” It’s true. I want to be with Tarben forever and not even the threat of harm is going to change that. It will only make me fight harder for him.
He closes his eyes and presses his forehead against mine. I close my eyes too and take the moment to be with him in silence. The sound of our breathing is the only thing that can be heard.
Then ever so gently I feel his lips brush against mine. I fall into him as I hear him whisper, “I love you, Jade.”
It’s the first time I’ve heard him say it and I want to hold onto this moment for as long as I can. I’ve said it to him, but now that he’s said it back it feels real and strong. Nothing can tear us apart now. Even with the threat of him getting caught hanging over us, I know we’ll make it. We have to.
Tarben suddenly stiffens and pulls away, breaking contact. The serious look has returned to his face. “What did the other men look like?”
Now that the moment is broken, I have to focus my attention back to what I was doing before. It all happened so fast I didn’t get a good description of them. “I don’t know. They were bears, so bear like, I guess.”
The corner of his lip turns up. “Not all bears look the same. What color fur did they have, what size were they?”
Maybe if you’re a bear then other bears look different, but they all look the same to me. Nevertheless, I try to remember what each of them looked like. “One was small, the other two about regular sized. All of them had fur that was darker than yours.”
“Dark fur. They are combat bears.”
“Combat bears?” I don’t know why I should be surprised by that now, but I am. Not only can he manipulate someone’s genetics to change into a bear but now he can choose the type of skills they exhibit too. “They have more than one kind?”
“You have no idea.”
“I have no idea because you don’t tell me.” It’s not supposed to be a snarky comment, especially given the tender moment we just had, but it comes across like that anyway.
I’m about to apologize to him, when he begins to undress. He lifts his tee over his head and then kicks off his shoes.
“You’re shifting? Now?” It seems a strange moment to want to change into a bear.
He pulls down his shorts and underwear and for the first time I’m not distracted by his nakedness. It seems normal now. “I’m faster this way.”
“What about me?” He knows I’m not quick enough to keep up with a bear. No one in human form could be.
“You can ride on my back.”
I frown in confusion. “Ride on your back?” I repeat. That’s a thing I can do? I didn’t even know that was possible.
“Yes. Although you’ll have to hold on tight.”
“To what? You have a saddle hidden somewhere in here?” It wasn’t meant to be a joke, but Tarben grins anyway.
“Hold on to my fur. Once we get outside, I’ll shift and then we’ll make a run for it. I can only run for short bursts so I’ll aim for the car park. We can drive the rest of the way once we get to your car.”
The plan seems solid. “You’ll need clothes for when you change back. Don’t want any campers seeing you like that.” I pack the clothes he just took off and place them in the bag with my own. I also put in my car keys, purse, phone and a few other things. I also place Tarben’s phone in the bag even though he frowns when I do so.
“Pack this, too.” He hands me the ATM card he showed me the other day. “We’ll need money when we get out.”
I hold the card in my hand. “Are you going to tell me how much money you have now?”
“I have more than enough to buy us anonymity for the rest of our lives.” He lifts my chin and kisses me softly. “You would consider me rich, although I’ve never made a newspaper rich list. That’s a good thing because I hate publicity.”
He’s rich. I knew it. Not only is he the best sex I’ve ever had, the sweetest and funniest man I’ve ever dated, he’s also hiding a stash of cash away. Not that it matters, I’d love him even if he was a bum living in a cave in the woods.
“That’s all good and well,” I say. “But that money isn’t going to do us any good hanging around, waiting to be trapped like rats. We need to get out of here.”
I check that my knife is still in my back pocket, grab the pack and follow him out of our home and into the darkened cave entrance. There is enough light in here to see him clearly and he silently mouths the words, I love you, again as he looks at me. I mouth it back.
Strength washes over him and he stands up tall. “Let’s run.”
Chapter 5
I’ve never ridden a horse before. Not with a saddle, and certainly not bareback. It goes without saying that I’ve never ridden a bear before either.
After Tarben shifts into bear form, I climb up onto his back using his thick fur to steady myself. His body is wide and strong and it’s a struggle to find a good place to sit.
It feels awkward and strange to be up here, but I make the best of it that I can, and lie close down on his back so I can hold on better. My pack is fastened securely to me and as long as the straps hold, we won’t lose anything.
Tarben growls softly.
I gently tap his shoulder and whisper, “I’m ready.”
He bounds out of the cave and while I’m expecting him to do it, it still gives me a jolt.
I try and look back over my shoulder to see if anyone has seen us, or worse, followed us, but there is no-one around. I wonder if the couple I met earlier, who wanted to go for a swim is around. If they saw me now it would be a complete shock. If anyone saw us, it would be a shock. How many people go around riding on the backs of bears? This is likely to draw more attention than we would in human form.
The wind rushes over my face and whistles past my ears. I feel like I’m on a roller coaster at the local fair but without the dips and rises. I never liked the roller coaster, but riding on Tarben’s back is different. I feel safe here, as long as I can hold on.
I wonder how fast we are going as the trees blur past. It’s more than double the speed that I could do on my own. At this rate, we’ll be back at the camp grounds in around ten minutes.
I’m glad Tarben chose to take cover in the thick trees rather than the path. He’s able to maneuver easily around the trees and over vegetation. It makes the run I did earlier to get here look slow in comparison.
Tarben stops suddenly and I have to grip hard to prevent myself sliding off.
“What’s wrong?”
He sniffs ahead and I look in the direction he’s indicating. I can’t see anything or anyone.
He slowly backs away and I keep my head down. Someone is around, but I can’t tell who it is yet. I silently hope it’s just a group of campers and not the scientists.
But luck is not on our side.
I hear the group of bears bounding toward us before I see them. Oleg is behind them. He’s not struggling for breath which I think is strange. He’s obviously fitter than I am and super fast to keep up with the bears.
Tarben shrinks back even further as the three bears surround us and I press lower into his fur.
“Tarben, my old buddy. I see you’ve found a new friend to play with.” Oleg’s voice is charming and sweet but there are malicious undertones. I feel Tarben’s body tense underneath me.
It’s obvious we can’t run now, we’d never get away. I have to get off so Tarben can maneuver better.
When I’m back on the ground, Tarben shifts back to human form. “Oleg,” he says coolly. “What do you want?”
Oleg throws back his head and the veins in his thin neck protrude unnaturally. “I want you back of course. I’ve missed you.” He glances over at me and tips his head to the side as if trying to determine how much I know about this, and how much he can say.
Tarben makes a low throaty growl. It sounds like a primal threat that a rabid dog would make before it takes out your throat. “How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy, I’ll tell you that much.” He paces up and down as he talks. “I’ve spent a lot of money trying to find you.” He gnashes his teeth together. “More money than you’re probably worth.”
“You should have saved it instead of looking for me.”
“And have one of my children lost in the big bad world? Tsk, tsk.”
One of his children? I can only assume he means figuratively since he’s not much older than Tarben is, and there is no resemblance at all.
He’s still pacing as he continues to talk and I look around to the three bears that have surrounded us. There is no way to escape past them. Not right now, anyway. Perhaps if I can create a distraction. I move my hand behind me to feel for my knife, trying not to draw attention to myself.
“The biggest tip was when I heard about a naked man in the woods,” says Oleg. “I funded over one hundred college students for my fake breeding program. Gave them the latest equipment. All they had to do was report back on their findings.” He steeples his fingers under his chin as he paces. “Many false reports and hardly any bears. It’s a shame what we are doing to our ecosystem, isn’t it?”
Tarben doesn’t respond.
“Anyway,” Oleg continues. “We had a break when the news reports of a bear spotted in the city when live. That prompted a few more of the college kids to come forward. The group that came here didn’t report they saw you it at first, they didn’t think it was important enough. You weren’t a bear, after all, just a man, but then the girl mentioned it. You gave her quite a lot of remember.” He glances down at Tarben’s nakedness and then over at me. “Seems a lot of women like you this way, but then again, you were always the favorite in the cages.”
I glare at him and step closer to Tarben. I don’t want to think about what the cages are or why Tarben was a favorite inside them.
“But that’s old news now. Here you are, and here I am. Back together.” He claps his hands and walks toward us.
Tarben growls again and I hear the familiar pop and crackle as he shifts back into bear form. His whole body shakes and I step away instinctively.
He’s not going to go down without a fight.
That means I have to make a move too. But who I’m going to go after, I haven’t decided yet.
Chapter 6
Tarben is the first to attack. He takes a running start and lunges at the smallest bear. I assume that’s because he’ll be the easiest to take down first, at least that’s why I’d go for him first.
Oleg isn’t paying me any attention now that the bears are fighting, and I take the opportunity to take the knife out of my back pocket. As he watches the fight with a sickening glee in his expression, I move closer. If I can use this distraction to my advantage, then I’ll be able to take down their leader and end this quickly.
I grip the knife in my fist, keeping it down to my side and away from Oleg’s view so he can’t see what I’m up to as I step closer.
Tarben’s paw swipes the dark furred bear and a flush of red droplets appear on the bear’s coat where Tarben’s claws have ripped open flesh. Immediately the bear changes back into a man, his naked body heavy with sweat, and he cowers away from Tarben.
The injured man’s blood is flowing freely and he gasps as he holds his hands over the gash to try to stem the blood loss while inching further away. I suspect he’s never been in a situation like this before and didn’t expect anything to happen to him. So much for being a combat bear.
I take a step closer to their leader. I’m only a few steps away from him now.
“Get him,” barks Oleg.
His sharp voice makes me jump, but he’s not talking to me so I don’t stop moving closer.
The other two bears jump to his command and both run at high speed into Tarben’s exposed side, knocking him to the ground with a sickening thud. I can see his eyes roll back in his head as he tumbles backward and I hope he’s okay.
I swallow hard. I have to decide now where I’m going to stab the knife into Oleg. I don’t care about making this fair, it has to be somewhere that will inflict the most damage so he won’t be able to fight back. I’ll slit his throat if I have to.
My grip is tight on the knife handle and I can feel the sweat under my palm.
I keep it at my side as I take the last slow step toward him. I’m behind him now. All I have to do is lift the knife and force it into his back.
Before I can, Oleg quickly turns and grabs my wrist, his thin fingers surprisingly strong as they dig into my arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He’s grabbed my empty hand. My knife is in the other and I swing it up toward his head aiming for his neck as I bring my knee up at the same time, aiming for his groin. My goal is to inflict the most pain at once, bringing him down fast.
Tarben roars and I turn to see what’s happening to him. Both bears are above him and are snapping their jaws at his face. This distraction is enough for Oleg to twist out of range just enough that I knee him in the side of the leg instead, and the knife passes harmlessly in front of his face.
I curse as I swing back, hoping I’ll catch him this time, but he’s fast and strong. As he jerks away from the knife, he uses the momentum to bring his head forward.
I hear the crack of contact before I feel the pain in my forehead where he’s head butted me. For a moment, I can’t see. Everything is swirling out of focus and I’m falling backwards.
My fingers release the knife as I fall.
I’m still conscious when I land. My head feels like it’s exploding as it hits the ground. I look over to see Tarben howling as the other two bears claw and bite at his limbs. Tarben is fighting back but he’s overpowered now.
I try and talk but a gurgling sound is the only thing that escapes my lips. Oleg is over me with a strange smirk on his face. He’s holding a syringe with bubbly clear liquid inside.
At first, I think he’s going to inject it into me, but instead he stands up and turns his attention back to the bear fight in front of him.
“Bring him here,” he orders.
The two bears growl in acknowledgement and lunge at Tarben again.
