Luke (Bear Shifter) (New World Shifters) (12 page)

Luke

Once our passions were momentarily spent, I could sense that Zoe needed to talk more. I understood the desire. She’d seen so many things in the past few days, and I was impressed with how well she was coping with the existence of Shifters.

But she needed her rest, and I’d gently but firmly extended a touch of my magic to convince her eyelids to become heavy and bring her mind at ease enough that she could find some sleep.

Zoe surprised me by how well she was able to fight it, but just as I was about to give up she finally slipped into an easy slumber. She lay in my arms as I felt her breathing slow and sleep take her at last. I held her close and let her breathe in the heat of the fire, hoping it would drive out very last of the cold, if any of it still lingered from the icy river.

Eventually, I untangled our limbs and got up. Once I was dressed, I watched her as she slept across the fire from me. For the first since I’d smashed the ice and dragged her from the rushing water, I was no longer worried about the hypothermia ending her life.

I was happy. For the first time in possibly forever, I was relieved that the search for my Mate was over. Of course, the guilty conscience that was already sitting on my shoulder reminded me that wherever my true Mate actually was, I’d just betrayed her…

I sighed. So be it. I’d fought my desire for Zoe for as hard and as long as I could. Father, Darius and Timber had always said that when I found my Mate in the world I’d know, and it had
felt
like that was what happened.

But she wasn’t related to Virginia Dare. I knew that for a fact.

In order to take my mind off the vow I’d just broken by my union with Zoe, I cast my senses wide, using the Bear magic to split my senses between the world outside the cave and the last of the chill still residing in her center.

Yes, sleep was the best thing for her. The chunk of ice I’d sensed earlier was already almost completely gone, and I had no doubt that the incredible sex we’d just had was a major part of that.

As I thought back to the fight with the Wolves, I couldn’t help but shake my head in amazement at her. I’d seen bravery before and I’d seen my fair share of stupid, too. But what Zoe had done was far more than both of those. It was a completely new breed of fearlessness and I was in awe.

It was thrilling to be in the presence of someone capable of that. But there was more… There was something else about her too, something that made me want to watch her more closely. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was a hint of something secret to her.

She wasn’t related to Virginia Dare, but maybe there was a chance that she was something more…

Zoe

I felt like I was swimming in that damned river again. There was light up ahead, and as I kicked my legs frantically and struggled for the surface, I was terrified when I felt the rough underside of ice against my fingertips.

I’m dying
, I thought frantically.
These are my last thoughts and this is stupid and all I ever had I ran away form because I didn’t want my son to remember me enough to hate me. I’m drowning, and my lungs are about to-

“Come back to me,” Luke commanded. He locked on to my wrists with his powerful grip and dragged me from the river, which evaporated around me. I hadn’t been in the water again at all. It had just been the last throes of the vision or dream or whatever I’d been locked in. My hands had been pressed against the freezing cold wall of the cave, which had fooled me into thinking that I’d been trapped under the ice again.

“Sorry,” I whispered, embarrassed. “I thought…”

“Yes,” he said, something strange glinting in those piercing blue eyes, “We need to be careful with you for a little while. I imagine you have many thoughts. You saw a lot that was meant to remain hidden.” He pointed at my clothes, folded by my side. “I’m going to go outside and check for signs of the Pack. Bruno slunk away from our battle. He was wounded, but I think he may have survived. Get dressed, and keep the fire stoked high. I promise I won’t leave you for long.”

Bruno. Now that I was awake the mention of his name made me shudder even more than before, and goosebumps raced down my arms. “What if he comes back?”

Luke shook his head. “If he dares, I’ll spill his guts in the snow. Trust me when I say that I’ll die before I let anything get to you.”

I nodded, and Luke took one long, last look of longing at me before turning and striding from the cave. It was bright outside, and I realized that the light I thought I’d seen beyond the layer of ice in my dream had merely been the sun.

I climbed out of the sleeping bag and pushed myself to my feet and hurried to get my clothes back on. I couldn’t help but smile to myself when I realized that he’d even sewn a couple of patches into the torn fabric of my pants.

And, he’d done a pretty good job! The colors didn’t match, of course, but other than that the stitches would hold the two fabrics together well.
Wow
, I thought to myself,
muscles and magic and the guy can sew, too. I’ve found myself a keeper
.

I thought of last night and smiled to myself, stretching some of the aches from my tired muscles. Each new movement awakened an entirely different pain, but all I could do was grin like an idiot. Even though I must have hit every rock the riverbed had to offer on my way downstream, it didn’t matter.

I was alive. I was in one piece. And Luke and I had made love!

I passed the time in the cave exploring the depths of it. At the rear Luke had installed shelves, and what few tools and supplies he had were stashed back there.

It had been years since I’d worn a watch, and my impromptu swim had soaked my phone to the point of destruction, all of which meant it was impossible to keep track of how long I waited for Luke to return before giving up and deciding to venture out of the cave in search of him.

Sure, Bruno could still be out there, on the prowl. But I felt like Luke wasn’t far away, which would probably make my old boss keep his distance. Besides, I could hardly just sit on my hands in here all day. I’d worked my ass off of all of my life, and I needed to feel like I was contributing.

Being on my own in the cave was only making me feel like more and more of a burden. I needed to contribute, and I was going to start now. Whatever Luke needed, I’d do. I wasn’t a hanger-on. I could help, and I was determined to.

I’d expected the light outside to be waning, but instead found myself stepping into a bright, crisply beautiful day. There was a clear set of tracks leading from the mouth of the cave and I followed them down the rise to the edge of the thinly wooded area. Worried about getting tricked by the ever crafty Wolves, I studied the boot prints left by Luke, only to discover that a few feet away they changed into the massive paw prints of a grizzly bear.

That was confirmation enough for me. I followed the tracks through the trees, trusting that the birdsong that sprung up around me was a greeting and not some warning about impending doom.

Less than a minute later, I had my answer when I crunched my way around a particularly tall snowdrift and found a huge bear I recognized instinctively as Luke. He was only twenty or so feet away, and as I watched he reared up onto his hind legs and stretched to his full height, hacking at the trunk with his thick claws as high as he could reach. Bark and chunks of tree rained down around him, leaving an impressive set of slashes oozing thick tree sap a good four or five feet above the next highest such mark.

“Marking your territory?” I asked with a smile. “Bears scratch and Wolves pee. You may be on different sides, but it turns out that men really are all alike.”

He dropped to all fours and whirled on me, the movement so fast I had trouble tracking it. An instant later he’d already charged at me, cutting the distance between us in half. His massive jaws were stretched wide and one of his great paws raised to strike.

I screamed, a high clear sound that sounded like it came out of a horror movie heroine as opposed to my own throat. There was a shimmering wave of power, and the air wavered the way it does above a highway in the high desert. I threw my hands up, my instincts insisting that I try and protect myself from the bear.

The forest was still, and when I finally lowered my hands to my sides, Luke was standing in front of me, a lean, grizzled man in jeans and a faded flannel shirt that had gone out of style a decade ago at least.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his keen eyes drinking in my face. Whatever he saw made his jaw go tight with tension, and he took a step forward to put a gentle hand on my arm. “Truly.”

“It’s okay,” I lied. “You just scared me, that’s all.”

Luke watched me closely. “It’s time for the truth, if you know it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who are you
really
, Zoe?”

I shrugged. I didn’t have any idea what he was talking about. “I’m just me. But what were you thinking, charging at me like that? You and I, we’re on the same side, so what’s the point of scaring me like that?”

He rubbed at his eyes for a second before finding a sturdy fallen log to sit down on. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

I was going to fire back an answer, but something in his voice gave me pause. He was shaken, and now that I knew what to look for I could pick up some other signs of stress in him; the tightness across his broad shoulders, the way his eyes were crinkled at the edges, as if he were trying to see something at a great distance and failing.

But most of all it was his hands. Even though I’d only known him for a little less than a month, I was already used to those big, competent mitts of his moving only in sure, certain patterns. Making the fire, paying his tab; whatever he did with those hands had always made him seem effortlessly confident.

But now, that was completely absent. I watched as he plucked at the collar of his shirt for a moment before dragging his fingers through his hair with a new, nervous energy. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “And don’t tell me nothing’s wrong. I may not be a Shifter, but that doesn’t make me an idiot.”

He sighed, glancing over at me and then away, peering through the trees. “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you’ve got a smell about you.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up his hand to stop me.

“It’s not like that. Everyone has a scent, and I assure you that yours is mouthwatering. It’s what remains of your perfume and your shampoo and your sweat and your skin. It’s
you
, and I’ve grown to… Well, I’ve grown to crave it, over the past few weeks. But when you snuck up on me just now, I couldn’t smell you at all. I couldn’t hear you, even though you must have been making noise as you broke trail. Hell, I couldn’t even hear your heartbeat, and I know you’ve got one. I couldn’t sense your presence in any way.”

I reached up and put my own fingers against my jugular, just to make sure. “Yep, the old heart’s definitely still pumping.”

Luke nodded. “I know. I can hear it now. Once you spoke to me, I could hear you and smell you and sense you. It was like… It was like I couldn’t find you until you wanted to be found.”

I shrugged. “Maybe you’re just off your game?”

“I don’t think so.” He turned back to face the trail I’d followed to find him. “See what I mean?” he asked, pointing. 

I swiveled on the log, studying the area he was so intent on bringing my attention to. “What am I looking at?” I said eventually, feeling dumb.

“Do you see your footprints?”

“Yes,” I answered. And I could, quite plainly. I could even see where he’d rushed at me, and where I’d recoiled in fear. I traced the footsteps in the snow back from there, in the direction of the cave.

And found that they vanished a few feet from where the confrontation happened.

“Um…” I said, turning back around and cocking an eyebrow at him. “What’s the deal?”

“To be honest, I have no idea. Shifters can’t even do what you just did.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed, reaching out with his other and gently angling my head so that I had no choice but to lock eyes with him. “You might not be the right bloodline to be my Mate, but you’re something very special just the same.”

  I was glad that he thought I was important, but what really mattered to me was that he thought of me as
his
. I was about to open my mouth and try to get him to stop thinking about bloodlines and magic and just accept that he and I were meant for each other despite all of this stupid magic…

But then a noise sounded from deeper in the trees. “Did you hear that?” I asked, though I probably didn't need to. Luke was already cocking his head in the direction from which it had come, and I knew that his hearing was far better than mine.

Wary, I got to my feet. It was an odd sound, a scratching sound. Like the beak of a bird against a tree branch, something hollow and sharp and wooden all at once. I didn't like the way it felt in the air. It sent chills p and down my spine. I already knew it didn't bode well, and when Luke started stalking after it I followed him, my heart pounding.

“Stay here,” he told me, though I don't think either one of us was surprised when I ignored him. I'd been told what to do enough, and though I knew he meant well, I was an equal in this. He'd fought off the Wolves and so had I. As far as I was concerned, that made us partners just as much as our lovemaking had. I didn’t know if he considered us Mates yet or not, but I wasn’t going to stand around and wait for him to do the important stuff without me.

It was bright out here. Even though it was almost dusk, the way the sunlight was slanting in, just avoiding the peak of the mountains to the west set the whole valley on fire with its light. It was beautiful.

I scanned the tree line and the frozen river. For the first time since the plunge I saw the spot in the ice, not yet healed, where I’d crashed through the thin surface and taken the Wolves down with me. I didn't know how far down current of the river had swept me, but it must've been a fair distance. Even as I walked now, the aches and pains of that rough journey cried out to me for attention.

“There,” Luke said as he pointed, and I saw a woman across the river. She was standing with her back to us, her face almost pressed to a snow-lined tree trunk.

“Is it a Shifter?” I asked. His cave was behind us, and I didn’t like that we’d have to go to the other side of the water to investigate.

Luke shook his head. “No. But there's something odd about her just the same.”

I nodded. I was getting the same sort of feeling, actually. She had long, tangled brown hair. The dress she was wearing was completely inappropriate for the weather. I could see her arms and the bottoms of her legs, and they looked red with angry welts and cuts and blue with exposure.

“Shouldn’t we help her?” I asked.

Luke didn't answer. He left the trail and I did too. Together the two of us carefully crossed the river on the stones as we crept toward her.

As I got closer, the hair on the back of my neck stood up and my breath started to catch in my throat. I’d known there was something off about her before, but now that I was able to pick up a few more details, I could see that something was
very
wrong. Part of it was the way she stood, as if her ankles were broken. She moved like a robot, like a puppet without strings.

I watched as she went from one tree to the next, clawing at the bark with her bloody hands before leaning forward to inspect her work. Now and then she'd finish up what she was doing, but most times she was happy enough to advance to another tree and repeat the process.

“Do you know her?” Luke whispered.

“Huh?”

“Do you know who she was?”

I shuddered. I didn't like the way he said that. She was standing right there before us, no more than twenty feet away, and for some reason he'd chosen to use the past tense to describe her.

“No. Why would I?” But even as I said it, I wondered if it were true. There
was
something familiar about her. I just couldn’t put my finger on where I’d seen her before…

Maybe I’d spoken too loudly. Maybe the woman knew my voice. Whatever the reason, she chose that moment to turn around, wobbling as if she about to fall over before regaining her questionable balance once again.

I
did
know her. It was Bridget! I hadn't seen her for almost a week, and in that time it looked like a string of terrible events had marred her body, but I could still tell it was her. Her nose looked broken, and her hands are bloody from clawing at the trees. Her eyes rolled back in her head, one and then other, and pink, seeping drool escaped from the corners of both of her lips.

She was smiling, at least that's what looked like. That could've been a grimace, but there was certainly pain in the expression. Her flesh was either white or blue, and she looked like a corpse.

“It's Bridget,” I said, fear overriding what would normally have been my instinct to go to her. She clearly needed help, but something in me told me that she was beyond it.

“Who's that?” Luke asked.

“Remember? She worked at Bruno's with Carla and I. She's been ditching her shifts. We just assumed that she'd found something better and moved on. It happens all the time, but I guess we were wrong.”

“Think you guys were half wrong, at least,” Luke said. “She’s certainly moved on.”

“Don't talk about her like she's dead”, I whispered. “She standing right here. She's clearly alive.”

Luke shook his head sadly and took two steps forward. “She's not alive the way you and I understand it. She's a vessel. Someone has poured a task into her head, she's doomed to repeat it until her body breaks down or another task is given to her.”

“Yeah?” I asked, confused. “So what's her task then?”

Luke walked to the trees she’d been scratching at and I followed, careful to keep him between Bridget and I. The woman turned away from us and went back to her work, moving farther away and clawing at more tree trunks with what was left of her broken fingers.

“It looks like she's supposed to be sending us a message,” Luke said, his voice rough. “Or sending one to you, at least.”

I looked where he was pointing, at the tree trunks that Bridget had already gotten to. The lettering was rough and bloody, but I could read what she'd scratched into the wide trunks amongst the stringy bark.

And it stopped my heart cold.

Come to Bruno's. Meet your son.