Bear No Defeat (9 page)

Then Jax threw himself on the snow, rolling over so the tiger that’d been on his back had no choice but to let go. Jax was on him before he could put any distance between them, his fury obviously catching the twin tigers off guard. His eyes were ablaze with rage as he caught the tiger by the tail as it tried to escape, pulling him back so he could slash his claws into the sides of the predator, hacking down and feeling tough flesh give in.

Jax got a better hold of the tiger and pushed him over on his side now, ready to maul him. The other tiger was bleeding in the snow, unable to get up properly because of the damage to its leg. Jax was sure nothing could stop him from killing both of the fuckers when Alice’s voice cut through his bloodfury, rooting him to the spot.

“Stop! Jax, stop!” she begged, running to him and standing opposite of him, behind the tiger he was looming over.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with fear and remorse and he could see the streaks the tears had left on her cheeks. That more than anything else seemed to clear his mind a little, his attention on her now rather than the desire to rip the tigers to shreds.

“Wait a second,” she said, catching her breath as she glanced from him to the tigers. “You two realize that he’ll fucking kill you, right?” she asked, her voice shaking. “I don’t care what the hell your issue is with my father, this is not the way to go about it. You either promise me right now that you leave both him and us alone or…”

She trailed off and Jax could see the bluff in her eyes, behind the worry and the guilt. He nodded his head slightly, urging her on.

“Or we’re going to hold you here until the sheriff comes around and throws your oversized asses in jail.”

Now that was another surprise. He’d expected her to say that she’d let him loose on them or something along those lines. Internally, he smiled.

The tiger farthest from Jax shifted back, slowly though on account of his injuries. He was ursing his broken arm. He had a dark look in his green eyes, glaring daggers at both Jax and Alice, but with obvious reluctance, he nodded his head.

“Fine. I’ll tell Joe that the debt’s paid.”

The debt?

Regardless, Jax stepped back and let the other tiger out from under his crushing weight. The feline practically bounced away from him, snarling, though when Jax growled back, he seemed to cool his heels a little and consider his options. One on one, there would be no chance for him against one of the best enforcers in the league.

Jax could hear the murmur of the crowd getting closer. In a minute or two, they’d be there and there would be no more privacy for them. Thankfully, the tigers seemed to realize this as well and while both of them were bleeding and injured, the man and the tiger backed away a few steps before breaking into a run in the opposite direction of the oncoming crowd.

Jax allowed himself a moment of relief before shifting back, feeling the jersey stick to his sweaty skin and the taste of blood still lingering in his mouth. Wordlessly, he grabbed Alice’s hand and her suitcase and pulled her along quickly, looping back into the parking lot. She trotted behind him and he could feel her uncertainty in every move she made and every breath she took.

He didn’t say anything before they were at his truck and he threw her suitcase in the back seat while they both got in. Only when he’d grabbed a bottle of water left in the cup holder and taken a swig to clear out that coppery taste did he finally turn to her, his expression stern but gentle.

“Alice, talk. Right now.”

It didn’t take a genius to understand that she had been trying to leave. The suitcase and the bus stop were clear enough signs of that. He felt his heart throbbing painfully, needing her to explain.

Why the hell was she running from me? And who the fuck were those guys?

“I… I’m so sorry,” she started, and already he felt pain coursing through him.

“That’s not what I need to hear. Where were you going and who were those guys?” he asked firmly.

“I was going back to New Hampshire. I didn’t want to leave before the game ended because you said… well, I didn’t want to leave too early. But I couldn’t stay. Those guys… my dad got into trouble. Real trouble. He owes money to these guys back home. He took out a big loan. I don’t know how much he paid back but they were asking me to get them six hundred thousand or something would happen to him. When we were in Gallant Falls, my dad called me and confirmed it.”

She quieted, looking down at her hands. Slowly, Jax’s shoulders relaxed.

“I would have given you the money,” he said bitterly.

“I know. That’s why I needed to leave.”

Jax looked up, turning her gently by the chin so she would face him.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I knew you would have given me the money if I’d asked. I didn’t want that to be… to be us. There’s no way of knowing if those guys would ever stop and if the first thing we did together would be paying off some crazies because of my dad… Jax, I couldn’t live with myself then and I couldn’t do it to you. I wouldn’t. That’s why I was leaving. If they couldn’t find me, they’d leave you alone and come after me and my dad and we could figure it out from there.”

She bit her lower lip and it was the sweetest little thing. Jax cracked a slight smile, letting out a tense breath. So he hadn’t been wrong about her. All this time when he’d felt more and more sure that he’d found the woman for him, there’d been a nagging worry at the back of his mind that he was only going through with it to appease his father. But now, understanding how upset he was at the possibility that she would leave and he’d be left without her made it all make sense.

He hadn’t been wrong. And she was most definitely his.

There were tears in her eyes again when he leaned forward to kiss her, taking his time with it. She responded, though he could feel her uncertainty, her worry. When he pulled back, he was smiling, cupping her chin with both of his big palms.

“You should have told me, Alice. We would have figured out a way out of this. I promise you that much. You shouldn’t have run.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” she whispered, her lip quivering.

“I know,” he said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

Her pale blue eyes were gorgeous even when they were sad, and it was nearly impossible to drag his gaze away from hers. So he wasn’t going to even try.

“Alice, listen to me. I know this whole thing is crazy and hasn’t exactly played out the way we thought it would. But I’m ready to do this with you and I don’t want there to be any secrets between us. Whatever the hell’s going on with your father, we’ll figure it out and we’ll fix it. And we will
always
find a way, together. But only if we do it together. I’m not going to pressure you into staying and if you don’t feel the same way then I won’t keep you here. But I love you and I want to marry you, damn the consequences.”

He must have been holding his breath as he waited for her response, because when she spoke, he finally let out a breath that had threatened to strangle him.

“I want that too,” she said softly. “And I love you, Jax.”

He grinned wide, kissing her on the lips again, finding her responding more eagerly this time, the stress slowly leaving her body.

From that day onward, Jax Darmuth was dedicated to making sure that those pretty eyes never had to fill with any tears other than happy ones ever again. And the first stop for that was to go find Warren and then make her Alice Darmuth as soon as he could. Frankly, he couldn’t wait.

EPILOGUE

Alice

Seven months later…

“Jax! He’s doing it again!” Alice called excitedly, clutching two hands to her growing belly.

“Tell him not to stop before I get there!” Jax roared from somewhere in the house, making Alice chuckle.

She was about three and a half months into her pregnancy. With shifter babies, the whole process was faster, with the pregnancy only taking about five months, but to Alice it still felt like a lifetime since she’d found out she was carrying Jax’s baby and to feel it finally start kicking.

She smoothed her hands over her stomach, placing her palms right where he was kicking, one of them being so hard that it made her wince. Still, Alice smiled. He was a tough little guy. His daddy would appreciate that.

Jax came flying into the living room, almost knocking over a recliner when he scrambled over the back of the couch and fell next to Alice on the couch.

“Is he still doing it?” he asked, immediately covering her hands with his wide, callused palms.

“He is,” she said with a chuckle, slipping her hands out from under his so he could feel it directly.

Jax’s gray eyes went as wide as saucers when he looked from her stomach to Alice and then back again, a smile slowly forming on his lips. She matched it, grinning as well as he leaned down and put his ear to her stomach, as if he could hear the heartbeat of their baby.

On second thought, maybe he could. Those damn shifters seemed to have an advantage in just about everything, after all.

“Clearly he’ll be a hockey player too.”

“How do you figure?” Alice asked with a smirk, rolling her eyes a little.

She was sure every hockey bear claimed this. How could their sons
not
follow in their powerful pawprints, right?

“With that kind of fight in him? He has to be a hockey player,” Jax said with the utmost conviction, falling back to rest against the couch, letting Alice snuggle close while he kept a hand on her stomach. “We’re going to need a name.”

“Already? I thought we were going to wait to see who he looks like,” Alice protested mildly.

“We can at least haggle on the names we don’t want, right?”

“I can’t see any harm in that,” Alice said cautiously, though knowing her dear husband, she was sure she’d have to pick her words carefully or he’d wrangle it into a win for himself one way or another.

That competitive spirit of his didn’t only shine through on the ice. She’d come to really enjoy their sparring though, especially after she’d seen what he could do when he set his mind to it.

Alice’s father had not been lying. Joe and his people were serious enough and after what had happened in Shifter Grove, they had clearly planned to retaliate. Jax had taken it upon himself to find out who they were, and with the somewhat begrudging help of his father, they’d tracked the guys down, made certain that Andrew hadn’t actually owed them anything in addition to what he’d stolen from the Darmuths, and then swiftly had the gang locked up for harassment, illegal betting, and a slew of other charges.

Alice’s relationship with her father had not bounced back too well, though she still had the occasional phone call with him. Now that he had been sober for more than half a year, she and Jax made plans to go see him sometime after the baby was born. Jax’s own father was getting worse by the day and he wasn’t any nicer than he was before, based on Jax’s commentary, but he’d been civil when Alice met him.

One of the goals of the trip back to New Hampshire was going to be showing both sets of grandparents the baby as painlessly as possible. Neither Alice nor Jax was particularly looking forward to it but despite everything, they still loved their parents and the last thing they wanted was to create any more pain in their lives.

Alice had taken up a position with the Shovelers in Shifter Grove, working on their accounting team and enjoying her time with her new friends. Shifter Grove was welcoming and warm and as a result, Alice had found herself becoming more and more happy and understanding as well. Though, of course, Jax had a much bigger part in it than anything else.

“I just wanted to say we’re not calling him Jordan,” Jax said, kissing her on the temple.

“Why not? I think Jordan as a second name would be okay,” Alice protested.

“But… really?”

“He did get us together,” Alice said, quirking her brow at Jax.

“I guess you’re right about that,” Jax agreed with a sigh. “But no Joe!”

“Okay,
that
we can agree on,” Alice said with a smile.

It was odd how life worked sometimes. Alice had gone through the weirdest experience in her life only to end up right where she needed to be: with a man who loved her above all else and a baby on the way, her new life blooming before her with opportunity and joy. Sometimes, it took a lot of wrong decisions to get to the right one, and she couldn’t have been happier for having taken them.

Don’t miss the excerpt of Anya’s next book,
Buck Me…for St Paddy’s
, on the next page!

Want more? Pick up one of Anya’s other Shifter Grove series:

Bear the Burn – First Book of Firebear Brides

Make Him Purr – First Book of Shifter Grove Brides

Did you miss the previous books in this series? Check them out here!