Loyal To The Bear (Second Chance Shifters 2) (4 page)

C
arly fluttered
her eyes open and looked over at Henry sleeping soundly next to her. She gently ran her fingers through his shaggy hair, and he opened his eyes and smiled brightly at her.

“Well hello, beautiful,” Henry said.

“Hi,” she smiled back. She was so happy to be back in his arms.

Carly’s smile faltered as her train of thought shifted to how much time she wasted with their relationship. They had been so happy, and because of her fear, she ran. She was the one to blame for everything, not Henry. Carly looked down and sniffled a little bit, holding back the tears that were starting to form. Henry reached out and touched her face.

“Hey,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

“I just feel like such an idiot,” she said. “I ruined everything between us because I wasn’t willing to hear you out.”

“You’re not an idiot,” Henry said. “You survived a traumatic experience as a child. Have I wished that you waited and heard me out? Of course. But please don’t think I blame you for this.”

“I know,” she said. “I’m just afraid now that I’ve completely ruined things.”

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “You haven’t ruined anything. It’ll be something that we work on, but I know us. I love you, Carly. And you’re totally worth all the wait. You’re the most important thing in the world to me, and as long as you’re willing to work on our relationship, then so am I.”

Carly leaned forward and kissed Henry deeply. His confidence in their relationship amazed her. Despite her continued fear of shifters, she finally understood that Henry was truly different. With him she would always feel safe.

Henry broke their kiss and grinned at her.

“Come on,” he said. “Let me make you some pancakes.”

C
arly walked
outside Henry’s apartment with a smile on her face. She looked up and saw him from his balcony, watching her.
Always looking out for me,
she thought.

After convincing him that she was capable of walking home and that she didn’t mind doing so, she kissed him goodbye, and he told her that he would come by her place this evening to take her out on what he called a “proper date.”

Carly’s mind drifted to what a proper date could mean. The only real date she ever had was a completely awkward one Avery had set up when she moved to Boston. Carly and Henry had never really dated, as they had the normal college relationship of hanging out in each other’s dorm rooms. Carly smiled at the memory of movie marathons and popcorn.

The Boston streets were crowded for a Saturday afternoon. Carly turned the corner and quickly speed dialed Avery. She answered on the first ring.

“So,” she said. “I take it that the rest of your evening went well.” Carly could hear Avery smiling into the phone. She let out a light laugh.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Carly said. “How was Thor’s twin?”

Avery chuckled and told her about the rest of the night.

“So what happened with the guy at the bar? I saw Henry punch him in the face and then you left with him. I tried to get over to you, but you guys were gone before I could.”

“Oh gosh, Avery, I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t make you worried,” Carly said.

“Psh, you didn’t,” Avery said. “You were with Henry, so I knew you were completely safe.”

Carly started to tell Avery all about the events of last night as she came up to a particularly busy intersection. She brushed past a lean man that seemed oddly familiar, in a trenchcoat and sunglasses, but quickly forgot about it as she rushed across the street.

When she reached the other side, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She had the distinct feeling that someone was watching her. She quickly looked around and didn’t see anyone. She shuddered and chalked it up to her paranoia after the events of last night. She turned on her street, which had no one on it, unlike the main road she had been on.

“ All right Avery, I’m about to be home. I’ll call you later when I’m flinging clothes from my closet,” she said.

“Later, girl,” Avery said.

Carly dropped her phone back in her large purse and dug in the pockets to find her keys. A stick snapped behind her, and Carly looked up to see if someone was there. When she saw no one, she rolled her eyes at herself and went back to digging for her keys.

Carly heard a noise again, and this time, she swore she felt eyes on her. Getting more paranoid by the second, she finally fished out her keys quickly and went to unlock the door.

Strong, long arms encircled Carly’s waist, and before she could scream, a cloth was shoved over her mouth. The cloth was damp and had an odd smell to it. Her adrenaline kicked in, and she quickly remembered the self-defense training she had taken. Carly threw her head back as hard as she could and hit her captor’s face with a loud crack. The arm around her waist loosened a bit, but it wasn’t enough for her to get free. The hand with the cloth pushed harder over her mouth and nose, and she suddenly started to feel woozy. Carly tried to throw her body to the ground so her attacker would lose his grip on her, but her body wouldn’t agree with her commands.

Everything went limp and darkness consumed her vision.

H
enry had
a huge smile plastered across his face for the rest of the day. Carly was finally back in his life, and he wouldn’t let anything prevent that from continuing.

My parents would have been so proud
, he thought. They had always taught him about finding his true mate. His smile faltered a little when he thought about his parents. He wished they could have met Carly.

When Henry was twelve, he lost both of his parents in a gas explosion at their home. The fire had consumed the home within minutes, so there was no chance for them to escape. Henry had been off playing with some of the other clan members when it had happened. He had grown up a lot that day after the accident. When he was younger, for years he blamed himself for not being there to protect them. Through therapy, and speaking with several of his clan’s elders, he had finally learned to accept what happened, and he knew that the accident was truly no one’s fault. That was exactly what he hoped to teach Carly. He wanted nothing more than to help her heal.

The date with her tonight would help start the process of proving to her that he was a decent man. The problem was, he was never too great when it came to planning dates. So he had called Andre to help him out. Andre was a bit of a ladies’ man. Every weekend, he had a new fling he was taking out somewhere, and he always had crazy stories about one-night stands with different girls. Henry loved Andre like a brother, but one-night stands were just not for him. He was a one-woman kind of man.

Andre was working on the details, so Henry decided to hop in the shower and start to get ready. While in the shower, he heard his phone buzz, and he assumed it was Andre telling him where to take Carly for the evening. He finished up in the shower and wrapped a towel around himself as he walked back into his bedroom.

His phone buzzed again and he went to check it. The screen flashed Amanda Tate’s number. Carly must have called her and told her about getting back together with him. He smiled at the thought and let the call go to voicemail. He’d give her a ring tomorrow and let her know how things went.

He walked back to his closet to pick out what to wear that evening when his house phone started to ring.
That’s strange
, he thought. He quickly grabbed the suit he had picked out and flung it on his bed as he walked over to the phone.

“Hello?” he said.

“Henry, it’s Amanda.”

“Oh, hey! Sorry I missed your call, I’m sure Carly—” Amanda quickly cut him off.

“It’s about Carly,” she said with a shaky voice. “I think—I think something terrible has happened to her.” All the blood drained from Henry’s face.

“Tell me everything.”

A
manda had explained
to Henry that she had received a strange call that evening. A man with a raspy voice had called her to tell her that he had kidnapped Carly and that he planned on teaching her, along with the other shifters in the world, a very hard lesson. At first she thought it was just a prank call, but the man had called her back now several times, and she had heard Carly whimper into the phone.

“How is this even possible?” Amanda cried. “It’s not real, right?”

Henry hoped that it was just a prank, but all the information about the Shifter Killer victims raced through his mind. They were captured in broad daylight. Their friends and family were called by a man with an untraceable number who gloated about kidnapping them and explained that he would teach all shifters a lesson. Henry let out a loud growl and forced his eyes shut. He had to get to Carly, and fast.

Henry told Amanda to sit tight and that he would go and check on Carly at her place. He quickly dialed her cell and it went straight to voicemail. Henry quickly dialed Andre.

“Hey man, I thought you were all set for tonight?” Andre said.

“Something bad has happened to Carly,” Henry said. “I think the Shifter Killer has taken her. Her mother got a phone call, and then she called me. I’m texting you her address. Can you fly over there and see if you see anything? I’ll meet you there.”

“Sure thing,” Andre said and hung up the phone. Henry raced to his bedroom and grabbed his leather harness with his ID tag, and he rushed out of the apartment. Andre would beat him to Carly’s even with him in his bear form. His grizzly bristled under the surface and he quickly shifted. In his grizzly form, he was enormously large, even for an average grizzly bear, and his fur was so dark that it almost looked black. His senses were heightened, and he was able to discern Carly’s scent easily even though she had been there only a few hours ago. His large paws hit the pavement, and he raced down the street, growling at pedestrians to let them know to get out of the way.

He reached Carly’s apartment, where Andre was already out front. Andre must have alerted the rest of the Search and Rescue Team since several other shifters, along with some police officers, were there as well. Andre flung him an extra pair of clothes and Henry quickly shifted into his human form and pulled on the pants.

“Any sign of her?” Henry asked.

“There’s none,” Andre said. “The doorman was off duty earlier today and didn’t start his shift until about thirty minutes ago.” Henry punched the door in frustration. Andre grabbed his arm.

“We will find her, Henry,” Andre said. “We have at least a few days until the full moon.”

Henry pushed his phone at Andre. “I need you to call her mother, Amanda, and get all the information you can about the man that called her. See if he sent pictures or if she can tell us anything about where he was.” Andre nodded and walked over to the police officers with the cell phone. Henry pushed himself inside Carly’s apartment and tried desperately to calm himself down. He glared at the security guard as he walked in, even though he knew it wasn’t his fault. His grizzly was furious and wanted nothing more to rip someone to shreds for taking his mate.

He had to find her.

C
arly slowly opened her eyes
. Her vision was blurred, and a sharp pain emanated from the back of her head. Carly focused her eyes and realized she was lying down on a concrete floor. She tried to push herself up, but realized that her hands and feet were chained and wrapped around a pipe. Sheer panic gripped her, and the broken memories of walking back to her apartment flooded back into her mind. Someone had attacked her, and she tried to fight back, but she lost. Her eyes darted back and forth, realizing that she was in a decrepit warehouse. Adrenaline kicked in, and Carly desperately started to wiggle her hands to somehow slip her wrists out of the cold, hard metal.

“It’s no use,” a female voice said, coming from the other side of the darkened room. Carly froze in place, fearful of the voice.

“I’m not the one that put you here, if that’s what you’re thinking,” the voice said again. Carly let out a shaky breath and squinted through the darkness, trying to make out where it was coming from. She heard chains rattle as a twig of a woman scooted her frail body out into the light. Carly could see she was barely wearing any clothes, and when the woman looked at her, she could see that her green eyes were sunken in and her dyed red hair was in tangles.

“I’m Marissa,” she said.

“How long have you been down here?” Carly asked.

“About a week, I think? It’s gotten a bit hard to keep track of the time. The only thing I know is when that monster throws down food, and that when I was brought here, there were two other girls. Now both of them are gone.”

“Where did they go?” Carly asked. Marissa gave Carly a sad smile, and she knew that their fate was not one she wanted to have.

Carly was about to ask more questions, but she was stopped short by the sound of the door to the warehouse creaking open.

“Shit,” Marissa said under her breath, and she scooted back into the darkness, leaving Carly in the light all by herself. A figure moved forward, and Carly held her breath, hoping that this was not how her life would end.

“Well, well, look who’s finally awake,” a familiar rasping voice said in the darkness. Carly scooted herself back against the cold wall in a desperate attempt to put space between her and the figure. Into the light stepped Lee, the cougar shifter from the bar that Henry had protected her from. Bile rose in her throat as she remembered his golden eyes and the way he had possessively looked at her.

Lee stalked up to Carly and violently grabbed her face. She let out a cry as she felt his hands shift to claws that dug into her skin. “Now that I have you alone and away from that lumbering grizzly, I can have my way with you,” he sneered. “You will be forced to pay attention to me now.” Lee pushed her head back hard and it cracked against the concrete wall. She let out a moan of pain as it started to throb.

“What do you want from me?” Carly asked. Lee let out a loud, menacing laugh.

“Well, that’s easy. I want you all dead. Every last shifter, dead.”

“But,” Carly squeaked, “I’m not a shifter! You are!”

“Each and every one of my victims has denied being a shifter. But I know who you are. I can smell it on you. I didn’t smell it on you that night at the bar, but that’s because there were so many people around. When you passed me in the street the other day though, I smelled it, and I knew what you really were. As for me, you’re right. I am a shifter. And I’m just as evil as you are. Once I rid Boston of your type of trash, my mission will be complete, and I will no longer be needed to do my work.”

Carly stared up in disbelief. He was absolutely insane. She was trapped in a warehouse with a literal madman. Fear gripped her stomach, and she tried to steady her breathing so she would not go into a panic attack. She had to find a way out of here.

“Enough about my mission for now, though,” he said. “I came back here because I need to discipline this one.” He stalked over to where Marissa was hiding, and Carly could hear her muffled cries as Lee unlocked her chains and dragged her by her bright red hair into the light.