Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) (9 page)

Inside his head, his bear offered to do the necessary if it was O’Dowd he had to carve up. It would have made Beau smile, but he knew his bear was thinking of revenge for what happened to Louisa, it was easy sometimes to forget what his bear had lost too. Days of racing across the mountains overlooking Bear Creek were remembered with a fondness that made his bear slip into a terrible melancholy for days.

“Right.” The guy in front of him was talking again, his eyes flicking up to Beau’s face. Then he hung up and said to the other guy, who was behind Beau, “Make sure he isn’t armed.”

Hands patted him down, and he had to grit his teeth to stop himself yelling at the guy to get his hands off. His bear was more than ready for action, and Beau knew he had to be careful: he was spoiling for a fight.

We have to stay calm. If we show them who we are now, we might not get in through the door.

His bear sulked. Loudly.

“This way.” A hand was waved at him and he was led through the warehouses, before they stopped at one which looked in darkness. There the guy who had spoken on the phone knocked, and the door opened.

Beau was not ready for what was on the other side of the door. The shell of the warehouse from the outside looked worn and beaten up, and on entering, they stood in a small loading area in a similar state of disrepair, purposely left in bad shape to fool anyone who might look inside. However, they walked straight across the dirty concrete floor and through another door.

“Wipe your feet,” he was instructed, which he did, so as not to leave dirty footprints on the deep pale blue carpet. He took a moment to look around; it was surreal, as if they were now stood in the foyer of a high-class hotel, complete with bar to one side. No expense had been spared, with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and plush sofas and chaise longues arranged in alcoves. He didn’t like to think what went on in here. He particularly did not want to imagine his sister had ever been undercover in a place like this.

Then O’Dowd appeared. Unmistakable, with the coldest, darkest eyes Beau had ever seen. “Mr. Rollings.”

“John, please,” Beau said, taking the offered hand, finding O’Dowd had a firm, warm handshake. What had he expected? Cold and clammy. This guy looked more vampire than shifter. Pale face, dead eyes. Beau shuddered.

“John. What can I do for you? I must say, I don’t usually meet up with anyone unless they have made an appointment.”

“Appointments aren’t really my thing. I think a surprise visit is a much better indication of how well a business is run.”

O’Dowd inclined his head. “I can understand that. No time to sweep the dust under the carpet.”

“Exactly. I’ve come to see your dust.” Beau smiled, but made sure it didn’t make it to his eyes.

O’Dowd studied him and then relaxed. “Drink?”

“No, thank you. I’d like to get straight to business, and I do that much better with a clear head.”

“And what business is it you think you want to discuss?” O’Dowd asked.

“Are we going to play that game?” Beau asked, disappointed, and inched towards the door so subtly, as if he was thinking of leaving these amateurs for other deals and other drugs.

O’Dowd laughed. False, his eyes still black as the abyss. “I like you. Direct. Come. I’ll show you.”

He walked away, and Beau followed, knowing he had to be self-assured, that he couldn’t hesitate. He belonged here, he was one of these men, and he was big and bad enough that no one would dare hurt him.

A difficult façade to keep in place when they entered a room with a woman tied to a bed, her mouth gagged, her eyes wild with fear.
What the fuck?
passed through his head, but it didn’t slip from his lips. He should have expected something like this. But he hadn’t.

“This is Jasmine. She’s a little kitty cat.” The dark eyes flashed with cruelty as he approached Jasmine. “You know what I mean?”

“A shifter. Yes. Of course. Why do you think I’m here?” he asked sounding bored, as if he were talking to a five-year-old, whom he had to explain things to in short sentences.

O’Dowd straightened up, and headed over to a small table with a decanter on it, and a couple of vials of blue liquid. “This is Niq It. A recreational drug in humans. In shifters, it disrupts the brain enough to make them susceptible to persuasion.”

“Persuasion?” Beau repeated.

“Yes. You know all about it. This mating bond. Well, once they have a taste of Niq It, they imprint on the first person they see.” O’Dowd poured out a glass of wine, and then added the contents of a one vial. “Here. I’ll leave you two alone. Get her to drink this, and she is yours, your very own shifter slave, she won’t be able to deny you anything. Let’s call it a gift of good will.”

Beau took the cup, feeling numb. Then O’Dowd left the room and closed the door, leaving Beau wondering what the hell he was supposed to do now. When he decided to come here, he had told himself he would do whatever it took. But he could not do this. No way.

“If he wasn’t my mate, I’d kill him.” Elise said those words to Brad. They were in his truck, speeding along the highway trying to catch up with Beau, but she had a feeling it was much too late.

“I should have known.” Brad shook his head, and increased their speed, the blue lights on his roof casting lighting up the night around them. She had always wondered what it was like to travel in a police vehicle. This was not the way she wanted to find out.

“So what do we do?” she asked.

“Follow the plan and hope he doesn’t screw it up.”

“If he’s still alive.” Her mouth turned down at the corners; she didn’t know how she would survive if something happened to Beau.

“You’d know.” Brad looked at her and nodded matter-of-factly. “I promise you, you would know.”

“And I don’t.” She searched deep inside herself, trying to find a pocket of despair that might signal he was in trouble, that he was hurt, but there was nothing, only a growing anger that he had left her.

Of course she knew he had done it to keep her safe, but they were in this together, he knew that. They should be confronting O’Dowd together. Instead he had left her, in the dead of night and skulked off to deal with it on his own. Didn’t he know they were a team?

“Maybe it’s for the best,” Brad was saying. “I doubt he would have let you go through with the plan anyway. Do you?”

She looked at Brad sideways. “You know him better than me.”

“Used to know him. I know the man he was before, but the man he was after Louisa died, I don’t know. A part of him, a large chunk of the rational Beau is gone. He just wants to protect you.”

“Because he couldn’t protect his sister.” She looked out of the window as they took the turning off the highway, and her nerves kicked up a notch. Would it be possible for her to pull this off, could she keep her cool and act the part?

She blew out some air through her pursed lips, trying to calm the nagging feeling that this was all going to go horribly wrong.

“Never done anything like this before?” Brad asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” she asked in return.

“Yep.” He grinned at her. “Don’t worry, I’m going to be close, and so are the others.”

She looked in the mirror, and saw the comforting lights of the other vehicle following them. “I’m so grateful for this.”

“Are you kidding? I can’t remember the last time we had some trouble. We’re more than happy to flex our muscles. Will and his biker gang are the people to have in your corner.” He laughed. “At least their mates have let them out. And Will has an excuse not to wear a suit and look respectable.”

“Is that what happens when you settle down, you become answerable to someone else?” Elise asked, worried that Beau hadn’t become answerable to her. He had gone off and done his own thing, without even thinking how she would feel when she heard his truck disappearing out of the driveway.

“Not exactly. And listen, Beau came here for you. Then he left, for you. And for Connor.”

“I know.” She smiled weakly. “It just hurts so bad that he might be in trouble, because of me.”

“It’s because of you and Louisa he’s there. He needs closure, he needs to know he’s put this bastard out of action so that he can’t hurt anyone else.”

“Then let’s do it,” she said as Brad pulled off the road and turned off his engine.

“So you know the plan,” Brad asked. “You just have to walk in there, and we’ll be right behind you.”

“Yes. I distract them, you move in.” She patted her pocket, hoping she could pull it off. Brad had gone the extra mile to get what they needed. It was only a pity he had gotten back so late last night, and decided not to disturb Beau with his plan.

He rubbed his hands nervously on his jeans. He hadn’t worn his uniform, not wanting to alert anyone who might be watching that he was a cop. With Beau already possibly in there, they did not want anything to kick off.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t just try to call his cell phone?” she asked.

“Nope. He’ll know you are there, let’s just hope he doesn’t overreact. But we can’t let O’Dowd have any idea you are coming, or that you have backup. We need the element of surprise.”

“He might have one hell of a surprise when I walk in,” she said, slipping out of the truck. Slamming the door, she put her hand up and waved to Brad. Then she turned resolutely away and walked towards the place where she hoped Beau was, her hand occasionally going to the small lump in her pocket. He had to be safe. They had to get through this together, so she could kill him for leaving her in the first place.

Entering the gates of the compound seemed like a really counterintuitive thing to do. It was like walking into the lion’s den. Something even bears knew better than to do. However, there was no other way to work the plan.

That was all she had to do.
Work the plan
. It became her mantra as she weaved in and out of the warehouses, hoping sooner or later she would be seen and captured.

Counterintuitive. Right.

“Well, hello there, sweetheart.” A voice from the shadows greeted her, and out stepped a man, bearded and carrying a little too much weight. He didn’t exactly look like a lookout; she had expected someone like Beau, built for trouble. Which meant he probably had a gun. He had to defend himself somehow, didn’t he, and fighting just did not look like his thing.

“Hi. I’m looking for Gerald. Gerald O’Dowd.”

He burst into laughter, and then said, “Hey. Ray, we got another stranger in town.”

Ray appeared from behind a warehouse to her right. Now he looked as if he could hold his own in a fight. Although not against her bear. “This one is much prettier,” Ray said. “I think we might need to frisk this little filly.”

They laughed, and the first guy came closer, licking his lips. “I don’t think you want to touch me.” She held her ground, knowing she couldn’t let them see her fear. And she was afraid, afraid she would never see Beau, or Connor again, and afraid she would let her bear free and rip their heads off before they had a chance to take her to O’Dowd.

Before we have a chance to rip his head off
, her bear said.

That’s not the plan,
Elise answered.

“And why wouldn’t we want to touch you? Or maybe taste you. We get mighty hungry out here.”

“Because I’m Gerald’s mate,” Elise said matter-of-factly.

Ray laughed. “Oh, my, we got one of
those
.”

“Well, let’s take you to see him. He must have been missing you.” They both laughed. “We don’t want to mess with the merchandise.”

Following close behind Ray, she walked on legs that felt as if they would buckle at any moment towards the man who was responsible for at least two deaths, one directly, one indirectly. Or maybe O’Dowd didn’t dirty his own hands, maybe one of these men were responsible for putting their hands around Louisa’s neck and strangling her.

However, as soon as they reached the warehouse, and she came face to face with the man she had been hunting, she knew he was more than capable of it. Capable of enjoying watching the life leave another person’s body. O’Dowd didn’t just have the eyes of the abyss; it was like his whole persona was dark and deadly.

And he wasn’t pleased to see her.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” O’Dowd asked, coming across the room to her.

She had been brought into a warehouse, and then through another door into a kind of sitting room, it resembled a tart’s boudoir, with plush sofas and what looked like a makeshift bar to one side, which was shrouded in darkness. Elise could only imagine what kind of parties this sicko held here.

“I came to see you.” She sidled up to him, and moved to stroke his cheek, but when she saw how much her fingers were shaking, she dropped her hand to her side. “I thought you’d be pleased to see me. Mates are supposed to be together forever, aren’t they?”

“How did you find me?” he asked, his words like lashes of a whip.

Elise moved away from him, and headed over to the bar area, praying she could do what she needed to do. He made a grab for her, but she twisted free. “Come on, Gable, let’s have a drink. Celebrate our reunion. I have missed you.”

She took two glasses, and grabbed the first bottle of wine she came too, fumbling as she tried to open it. Looking up, she watched O’Dowd as his face grew darker, and his eyes slid towards a closed door. Letting her fear subside for a moment, she allowed her other senses to kick in, and there it was, the sense that Beau was close.

Would he be able to sense her? Would he come out and mess this up? Or was he a captive?

“Yes, he would,” she said out loud as a door swung open, and a raging Beau stood there, looking from her to O’Dowd and then back again.

“What the fuck is going on?” he said, shaking with rage.

“Gable and I are just having a drink for old times’ sake.” The wine cork popped and she quickly poured it out. “We haven’t seen each other for months. And mates are not supposed to be away from each other for that long, it makes us terribly horny.” She giggled, and put the drinks down briefly, leaning on the bar to support herself.

Beau took a step forward, putting himself between Elise and the three men. “What is this?”