Bear To The Bone (Bear Claw Security 1) (15 page)

Carrie nodded.

“I thought we were just taking precautions,” Willow said. “I didn’t think they’d be here this quick.”

The bikes went through the gate to Willow’s land and pulled up her drive, parking in the large gravel driveway. She heard the gritty thuds of men dismounting. She tried to count how many, but it was difficult in the dark.

“How many are there?” Willow asked.

“At least five or six, maybe more,” Carrie said.

“I’m kind of flattered,” Willow said wryly. “That they think an old woman, a young woman, and a bunch of kids necessitate that many fully grown men just to take us.”

“What are we going to do?” Carrie asked as Willow began flicking off the lights in the house.

“We hide,” Willow said. “Wait here a second.” She ran up the stairs as Carrie crouched out of the way of the door. The deadbolt was on, but she knew it wouldn’t take long for a group of men to break through that.

When Willow came back into view, she was holding a small rifle. “It’s all I’ve got,” she said apologetically. “Have you texted Cage yet?”

“Oh, right,” Carrie said. She pulled out her phone as she followed Willow to the entrance to the basement, which was entered through a trap door that hid the stairs. This place must have been built a long time ago.

She texted Cage as she waited for Willow to lift the entrance and go down the stairs.

Help, they’re here
, she texted Cage and then followed Willow down.

They ignored the whispered questions of the children as they shut the door above them and hid in the darkness. Willow shushed Robert, who’d woken up and was pouting, and Carrie moved him next to Janet so she could hold him and keep him quiet.

“We need everyone to play the quiet game, okay?” she asked. “It’s so important that the big kids might have to help. No one can be allowed to make a sound.”

The kids went silent, their eyes reflecting the light of her phone as they stared at her in fright and nodded.

She shut off the phone, leaving them in the dark. Robert whimpered, and Janet covered his mouth with her hand. He squirmed but stopped and froze in fear as the front door burst open, wood shattering as the lock broke free.

Carrie could only hope it would take them some time to find the entrance to the cellar, which was in a closet off the hallway that led to the upstairs.

She heard their voices and cursed herself for putting the kids in this situation. Cursed the Aces for making anyone have this kind of fear. Cursed Cage for not being here and for making them a target.

She knew that wasn’t fair, though. The Aces were after her anyway. Something was hidden in her bar. She should have known something was up. They hadn’t gone after any other private property with that kind of zeal.

The footsteps pounding on the floor above them were ominous. It was hard to keep her heart steady enough to think while fear was blaring through her mind in a loudspeaker, clouding things up.

It wasn’t so much fear for herself that was bothering her. It was fear for the kids, that something would happen to them because she was here. Fear for how Cage would feel if she got taken without ever getting to tell him again that she loved him.

She hadn’t had the time to really think things through about him, but she knew now with clarity, as she considered the thought of not seeing him again, the pain she felt at imagining him in pain, that she would always love him and no one else.

No matter what or who he was. No matter what he did. No matter if he was the bear in the woods or the boy she’d fallen in love with or the man who had tricked her in order to protect her, she would love him until her last breath.

She heard footsteps approaching the closet and turned to Willow. “Tell Cage I love him,” she hissed. “If something happens to me…”

Willow grabbed her by the arm. “Don’t do this,” she whispered.

The footsteps were getting closer. She heard them hesitate in front of the closet, as if the person wasn’t sure what they’d find inside.

“We don’t have a choice,” Carrie said, looking at the kids. “I can buy us some time. I’m all they want. To punish Cage, probably. They said they would come after me if he was caught.”

“Damn him for putting you in danger,” Willow hissed.

“I was already in danger just for owning that bar,” Carrie whispered, thankful for the thick wood that would muffle their voices. Though she and Willow could hear each other perfectly, she was certain the men thumping and talking and searching the house could hear nothing.

Her phone lit up. She looked down at it to see a text from Cage.
I’m on my way
.

Those four words meant everything. No matter what, he’d always be there for her. Just like she’d always been there for him.

The door to the closet opened, and she held her breath as whoever it was looked inside.

It was now or never.

Ignoring Willow’s hands on her arm and the little whines of the kids, she pushed the trap door up and flung herself out, shutting it behind her hard. The guy in front of the closet looked at her wide-eyed as she pushed past him, hoping to lead him on a chase away from the closet.

“I found her!” he shouted to the guys as she ran for the front door. Just as she reached it, she felt herself lifted off her feet and slung over his shoulder. He whacked her on the rear and laughed as he carried her outside. “Let’s go back to the compound.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief for the kids, just for a second, before she realized she was being kidnapped.

Oh well, it was bound to happen at some point. She just had to hope Cage would be there soon.

She pounded on the back of the man carrying her, but that only made him angry.

“Put me down!” she screeched. “What did I ever do to you?”

“Just orders,” he said. “Stop struggling. You’ll be fine.” He laughed. “Well, maybe you won’t when we’re done with you. But your man earned this.”

She pounded harder as he walked to his bike, the other Aces following. He forced her in front of him, then someone handed him rope, and he tied her hands together and then literally tied them to the bike.

C
arrie had never felt so humiliated
. She threw her head back and smashed the man in the teeth and heard his anguished howl. She was satisfied until she felt him reach around and grab her face, hurting her cheeks as he forced her to look at him.

“That’s it, bitch,” he said. “I’m first to take you when we get back to the compound.”

“You won’t be going back to the compound,” a voice shouted, running toward them in the dark. “Because I’m about to send you straight to hell for touching her.”

She squinted into the dark at the approaching figure, but she recognized the voice. “Cage!”

“I’m here, sweetheart,” he said, walking into the light given by the headlights of the rumbling bikes. But he didn’t look like anyone’s sweetheart.

He was wearing his leather, but the cuffs were rolled back. His hair was tousled with sweat and his hands dark with something, maybe blood. His face was set in a grimace, and he looked impossibly big as he drew something from his waistband and aimed it at the man behind her.

His eyes flicked to her tied wrists. “Committing felony kidnapping?” he asked calmly. “That justifies the use of deadly force.” He raised his gun but then stopped when Carrie felt cold metal to her head and gasped.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” the man behind her ordered. “Or she dies.”

Cage’s eyes narrowed to angry blue slits.

“Now set down the gun,” the man holding her said. He did. “Get him,” he said to the rest of the men.

The first two charged, and all Carrie could do was wait, frozen with a gun to her head, while she watched the man she loved face impossible odds.

The first man raised a gun, and Cage knocked it to the side with a quick, powerful strike and then caught the man under the chin with a hard punch. Then, as the man staggered, Cage hit the other in the stomach, making him bend forward in pain before Cage brought up a knee and smashed it to his face.

He dropped to the ground just in time for Cage to catch the staggering man by the shirt and pull him forward for a devastating punch to the nose. The man wavered, and then Cage lunged forward and planted a kick to his midsection that sent him flying back into the bikes behind him, knocking over the riders who were still watching the fight, wary of getting involved.

Cage turned to her, but before he could reach her, another man blocked his way, holding a knife. Cage did a move that put him around the man’s hand, and the next moment, the knife was his own. He tossed it into the darkness and then used both hands together to shove his elbow into the man’s chest, breaking his ribs with a crunching sound.

Carrie had never seen anything like the way Cage fought.

“Shit,” Carrie heard the man behind her mutter as he removed the weapon and started his engine. He seemed to realize there was no point in killing Carrie as Cage beat up his friends, because Carrie was his only hope at keeping the monster in the darkness from killing
him
.

“Cage!” she yelled as the bike started to pull out of the driveway. She saw him turn toward her in the darkness, his tall form surrounded by three or more men ready to fight. He gave her one last look and then turned to them with his fists.

She watched as he took one down, sending them flying into the night, and then another, as the third rushed him. They were in a pile together, though she could hear the crunch of bone on bone as Cage fought.

But it was going to be too late. The bike was already speeding into the night, and she couldn’t look back anymore. She heard shouts and growls and bikes knocking together and knew by the time Cage ran back to wherever he’d stashed his bike so he could sneak up on them without being caught, she and this asshole would be out of reach.

And if they made it back to the compound, then this asshole would have backup, and Cage had already been in multiple fights tonight.

Then she heard a roar and the sound of heavy galloping behind them. She looked back and gasped as she saw a huge creature rampaging after them in the dark, running impossibly fast. Cage’s bear eyes sparkled demonically in the dark, and Carrie felt a little chill go up her spine as she watched him gaining on them even at thirty miles per hour.

“Shit,” the man behind her said, revving the gas. But it wasn’t enough. Cage would have them soon, though what he’d do when he caught them, she didn’t know.

She heard more motorcycles starting back at Willow’s and knew the men Cage hadn’t knocked unconscious were now after them as well.

The bikes were roaring to catch up, and then Carrie heard a gunshot echo into the night and gasped. Just who did they think they were shooting at?

She heard Cage roar and looked in one of the rearview mirrors to see him swing around to face them. He caught one with a swipe of his huge paw to the front tire, sending it crashing off the side of the road. Then he pounced on the other as it passed him, bodily stopping it and leaving it in a heap before he took off, running even faster now as he tried to catch them.

The bike she was on turned onto a main road and screamed down it, literally burning rubber as the man behind her tried to accelerate from the angry bear that was now charging down Main Street in the middle of the night.

Good thing all the stores here were closed and the people long in their beds.

“Cage!” she called as she felt the man behind her reach in his coat. “Be careful. He still has a gun!”

The man turned and fired, and they lost balance, the bike swerving as the man behind her put his feet down to try to steady them. Carrie pulled again to free her hands but couldn’t. As the bike came to a stop, the man let it fall to the side, taking Carrie with it, as he turned to fire on the rampaging bear behind him.

The man walked forward, but Carrie couldn’t see anything out there anymore.

Where had Cage gone?

“Get out here, bear,” the man called. “Get out here and let me shoot you. I don’t have a tag, but I don’t think anyone will notice your monster ass gone.”

Carrie blinked and looked around. No Cage.

The man took another step down the dark road that was barely lit by far-apart streetlamps. His gun was trained on the darkness. On the bushes at the side of the road. On a car parked nearby. On a tree.

Carrie didn’t know how Cage had disappeared so fast.

Then she heard the slight scrape of claws on metal and glanced up over at the row of stores on the left side of the street. Something was on the roofs and had just clipped a drainpipe while walking.

Clever bear.

She looked back at her captor, making sure not to give away that she knew Cage’s position. When then man was about fifteen feet from Carrie, she heard footsteps scratch brick as Cage ran along the rooftops and soared into the night. She watched his long, dark form as it went over her and landed squarely between her and the man who’d been holding her.

Then he lifted on his back legs, his brown, shaggy form monstrous in the dark, and she turned away, not wanting to see what happened as he raised one paw and gunshots rang out in the night. She ducked and covered her head with her arms as she heard one last shout.

Then she looked up, and as smoke cleared, both from the burnt-out bike and the gunshots, she saw Cage stumble forward. Naked. He fell to the ground, and she screamed.

“Cage!” She tugged on her bonds, trying to drag the bike forward, but she was exhausted from the adrenaline rush she’d been experiencing ever since the bikers approached Willow’s house. “Cage!”

He turned to look at her, and a small smile crept over his lips, relief rushing through her as she fell on her butt next to the bike. Then his eyes went to her bonds and anger tightened his expression again.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Are you?”

He yanked a shirt off the unmoving man in front of him and pulled it over his head. Then he did the same with his pants. He looked down, and she saw blood spreading out from a wound on his side, but he shook his head. “I’ll be fine.”

She just stared at him with wide eyes. “Fine?” she asked, only slightly hysterically. “You’re bleeding, you’ve been shot, but you’re fine?”

He knelt beside her and untied her, and she fell forward into his arms, gasping as she tried to catch her breath.

His warm, strong arms came around her. “I’m fine as long as you’re fine,” he said. “And the Aces are done. We have all we need, and with Pete gone and the threat of the police and their main club hanging over them, the rest will clear out real quick.”

He leaned on her, and she could tell, despite his bravado, he was exhausted.

“You did good,” she said, running a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. “Even as a bear.”

“Did you know bears can move as fast as a car?” he asked in a tired, playful voice.

“I do now,” she said.

“So are you okay with this?” he asked against her neck, giving her shivers. “You’ve seen both sides of who I am. The things I hid from you. I’m a fighter now, Carrie. And a bear. And I’m still just the boy who was in love with you from saving me from a bear trap.” His arms tightened around her. “I’m all of those things, and I’m just so damn in love with you. Just tell me you’ll give me another chance and come back to New York with me.”

She swallowed. “I don’t know.”

He froze, holding his breath.

“I mean, it’s not really fair to ask that after you’ve just beaten half a dozen men with your bare hands and then chased down a motorcycle in bear form and gotten shot trying to rescue me. What’s a girl supposed to say in those circumstances?” she teased.

“Say you’ll marry me,” he growled grumpily. “Say you’ll be mine. Say everything will be great from now on.”

“All right,” she said, holding his face and looking into his eyes. “Everything will be great, and I love you, you big bear.” Then she kissed him, dead on the lips, and found that she meant it.

What had started the moment she met him in the forest had finally come full circle. He’d been the one in a steel trap, but she’d been stuck in this town, which had been caught in the trap of the Aces.

Cage had come back and risked his life to free all of them from that. The least she could do was go off and be happy with him.

“Now let’s get you home so you stop bleeding on me,” she said, helping him stand.

He touched the blood on his shirt and grinned ruefully. “It’s just a scratch.”

Then they both laughed as he called his work friends and she called Willow to let everyone know things were going to be okay. Cage heard sirens in the distance and waited as the town police pulled up.

He walked over to the first officer who got out, still holding his phone.

“I’m with Bear Claw Security,” Cage said, handing the cop the phone. “We have some info on the Aces you might want. The Aces should be clearing out of the compound tonight. You might want to make sure it’s a clean break.”

The cop stared at him with wide eyes but took the phone and listened as Bronson took over the fact giving.

Cage put his hands in his pockets and looked over at Carrie. He realized he had stuff back at the compound and should probably go back to get it before the whole place was vandalized, but he didn’t care. Nothing there was worth anything compared to spending the next few moments with her.

They’d both had guns aimed at them, their lives threatened, and it had worn on them.

He walked to Carrie and tucked her arm in his elbow. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”

“
B
ear Claw Security
, hm?” Carrie teased as Cage looked her over to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured and they walked down the road back toward her place. The street was now a mess of cop cars, and the cops had discovered the disarray Cage had left in Carrie’s bar.

“Yes,” he said. “I thought it was appropriate.”

She nodded and put her arm around his waist as they kept walking.

Pete was dead, Harvey and the other officer nearly so, but he’d let them escape. He couldn’t allow the same for Pete, who had fought like an animal and seemed determined not to stop until Cage was dead.

Cage had stopped only when he’d been sure Harvey and Steve weren’t ever going to try coming after him or Carrie again.

And while he didn’t like having to kill Pete, he knew without him, it would be much more difficult for the club to rebuild again somewhere else. And that was a good thing.

“Sorry, I don’t have my bike here,” he said. “It was faster to go by bear.”

She laughed. “So am I going to see a lot of your bear from here on out?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Depends on what you want. We run our company in New York, a long way from the city so there’s room for all of us to run.”

“Oh, right,” she said. “If I go back with you, I’m going to be meeting your partners.”

“That okay?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m sure I’ll like them if they’re anything like you.”

Slight jealousy washed through him, but he waved it away. She was with him, her soft hand tucked into his arm. Bronson and Limes would have to find their own.

“So your partners, what are their names?” she asked, seeming like she was trying to keep him talking to distract from everything that had happened.

“Bronson and Limes,” he said. “Both friends I met in the army.”

“Interesting,” she said. “Limes?”

“I can explain it better later.” He leaned down to nuzzle her ear. “Pay attention to only me, now.”

She laughed and pulled away. “Wait until we’re inside.” Luckily, her place wasn’t far away.

They walked surrounded by relative silence as they got farther from the bar.

The wind had picked up and blew leaves across their path.

“So Willow and the kids are okay?” Cage asked.

She nodded. “That’s why I came out and let them find me. I couldn’t wait anymore. I knew you’d be there soon.”

“Yup,” he said. “Can’t let anything happen to my mate.”

“Willow mentioned mates,” Carrie said, stopping a couple houses down from her own. “Explain that more. Was it just fated because I rescued you from that trap?”

“It’s just an animal instinct,” he said. “We’re mostly men, but the animals inside us think differently. Some bear shifters believe in it more than others. Other animals are bigger on the fated mate idea.”