The Witness and the Bear: (Werebear Shifter Romance) (11 page)

“Piss off,” she murmured, and tipped the cup until every last drop spilled against her tongue.

Tasty, it was not, but i
f Riker was determined to ruin these last few hours of freedom for her, she wasn’t doing this sober.

Hannah hadn’t got half as schnockered as she’d hoped to by the time the plane landed
, and it was all thanks to Riker telling the stewardess she should cut her off like she was some misbehaving alcoholic.

She
stormed to the rental car he paid for and slunk into the back seat, as far away from him as possible.

The car rocked as he sank behind the wheel and she threw a death glare at the back of his head. His fingers gripped the wheel and his shoulders moved under the weight of his ragged breathing.

“You forget how to drive?” she spat out.

“It was for your own good. You need to be able to keep your head.”

“For what?” she exploded. “For the torture that’s coming for me? They’re going to bleed me, Riker. I wanted to go in with a little liquid courage and you couldn’t even allow that.”

“I know you think I’
m betraying you,” he gritted out.

“No, I get it. I do. You have your people to take care of, and if it’s a
choice between them or me, it’s an easy call for you to make. I understand it, truly I do. What I don’t understand is why you can’t let me have a drink or twenty if I want before I go. You forget, Riker. I’ve been tortured by these people before. I’m not naive about this.” She leaned back and crossed her arms, glared out the window. “I know exactly what kind of hell is coming for me.”

“I should’ve let you drink.”

“No shit. Too late now, garcon. Chauffeur me to the drop off place and let’s get this sweet ass goodbye over with.”

“Are you hungry?”

“Last meal time? Fine. If you’re buying, I want a steak dinner. A nice one.”

His eyes captured hers in the rearview. “I didn’t bring anything nice to wear to a dinner like that.”

She glared.

“Right,” he said. “Doesn’t matter.”
Pulling into traffic, he yanked his cell phone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number.

“Hey, it’s me. I have her at the airport. We’re still on for the drop point we discussed at eight tonight?” A muffled voice answered and Riker shook his head like her future tormenter could actually see him. “No, I said I wouldn’t involve the police. No wires, no weapons. I just want this done and my people left alone.”

As he disconnected the call, Hannah’s heart sank. He’d planned this out with the men who had ruined her life, killed people she cared about. He’d worked with her murderers and the betrayal stung like a burn she’d never felt before. She’d trusted him, loved him and he was handing her over like she was worth nothing to him.

“I hate you,” she whispered.

A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he didn’t answer. Instead he became terribly busy with punching an address into his phone and listening to the monotone voice feeding him directions.

Even at the off hour, they had to wait
thirty minutes at the bar to be seated at Keen’s Steakhouse. Which would’ve been totally worth it if the food didn’t sit in unappetizing lumps against her tongue. It smelled delicious, but fear of death tended to make everything taste like tree bark. Keens was rich with history, plush leather chairs and crisp cream colored linens on every table. Even the silverware was fancy. They were seated in a corner booth with a great view of the rustic room.

She
wanted to binge drink, but couldn’t even bring the fancy cocktail to her lips without shaking and spilling it. Fate had to be laughing at her right now. And to make matters worse, Riker stared at her the entire dinner like he wanted to say something important. If he confessed his adoration for her now, it would fall on deaf ears. She did her best to look anywhere but his face. What they looked like to others dining at this fine establishment, she hadn’t a guess. But then again, at the moment, she didn’t really care.

Every time Riker checked his watch, she wanted to throw up. Her time was ticking down
. In moments of panic, she weighed her options. If she went to the police, maybe they could put her back under protective custody, but Jeremy hadn’t had time to find the mole and she’d be as good as dead within a week again anyway. She could run off on her own, start over, get a job as a waitress in some small town and try to eke out a living always looking over her shoulder. But what if Stone’s men went after Bear Valley again in hopes of finding her there? She couldn’t stomach the thought of Jenny, or Blaine, or any of the others she’d met being placed in danger because she wanted to run from her fate for another few days.

She was utterly stuck.

Hooking her hands under her chin and resting her elbows on the table, she stared out the window at the sun, hanging low in the sky. “We should go soon.”

“You haven’t finished your meal.”

She was too nervous to eat, but she’d never admit that to him. “It’s getting late.”

Leaning forward, he reached for her hand, but she pulled it away. “I know you think you know my reasons for doing this,
” he said, “but you don’t.”

“Let me keep my delusions, Riker. If I think you’re doing this for the good of your people, at least I can feel like I’m going out with honor.”

“God, Hannah. You’re making this so hard on me.”

She
bit her cheek hard to stifle the urge to reach across the table and slap him. Hard on him? He wasn’t the one who was going to die. He’d get to go back to his paradise and rule his people without ever having to spare a thought for her. Low enough for only him to hear, she said, “At least you’re turning me over before the summer solstice. You’ll have time to go back home and choose Merit as your mate and she can wash the guilt right away from you.” She’d meant it to hurt him, but as his eyes darkened in anger, it was her who burned at the realization that Merit would be the one to sleep with him at night.

Moisture burned against her eyes and she threw her napkin on the table and excused herself. Outside, she leaned against the building next door and waited for him to pay and take her to
Stone’s men.

A woman with a baby stroller walked by, the wheels bobbing gently across the pristine pavement. She smile
d at the child and cooed nonsensical things. Passersby talked animatedly and a woman came to a stop beside her. Pretty, likely in her mid-twenties like Hannah, she held a cigarette between two fingers and begged a light.

“I don’t smoke,” Hannah said apologetically.

“Pity,” the woman said, leaning against the brick wall beside her. She cocked her head and a small frown pulled at her delicate eyebrows. “You okay?”

“Ah, yes. Just people watching.” The lady’s day would definitely be ruined if
Hannah admitted what was really happening in her life right now.

“Is that your man?” She pointed her unlit cigarette toward Riker, who
stood across the street in front of Keens, watching her with an unfathomable expression.

“For now.”

The woman made a series of popping sounds with her glossy red lips as she studied him. “Well, if you’re tired of him, toss him my way.”

“You sure? He’s a bit of a bear.” A giggle escaped Hannah’s lips, and she cleared her throat to cover it.

“Hmm,” the stranger said with a grin. “See you around.” Shoving off the wall, she disappeared around the corner.

The woman would
never know it, but Hannah was glad she’d stopped for those few words of conversation. The stranger had gifted her a laugh, and right about now, it seemed important to get her smiles in while she could.

Riker had disappeared and moments later, t
he black rental car pulled around the corner. He threw open her door from the driver’s side. “Get in.”

Lowering herself to the seat and pulling the door closed, she asked, “What would you do if I didn’t come willingly? Would you force me?”

“I don’t know.” His voice was cold. Distant as she’d learned to expect it over the last few days.

The high rise buildings and appeali
ng architecture gave way to manhole riddled streets, neon lights and people darting this way and that in front of the sedan. The sound of honking cars was constant until they escaped the chaos of the city. Blocks of abandoned buildings with broken windows and trees growing from sprawling cracks in the pavement said they were getting close.

The robotic lady on Riker’s phone said they’d arrived but
all Hannah could see was a battered parking lot in front of a dilapidated building. A black SUV waited in the shadows, just outside of reach of the lone street light.

A whimper escaped her and she clenched
the denim of her jean shorts with rigid fingers.

Riker reached over and gripped her hand
with his and she let him. It was the last kind touch she would ever receive.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, voice strained with emotion.

“Don’t.” Kicking open the passenger side door, she stood and walked toward the SUV with her hands over her head.

Riker followed.

Heart pounding, she tried to steady her breathing. She could do this.

Two men with hand guns stepped from the SUV and when she reached them, one of them asked, “Hannah Michaels?”

“That’s me.” She’d meant for her voice to come out stronger, but it was weak and shaky. In fact, her entire body was shaking.

“Check her,
” the dark haired man instructed a shorter, younger, lighter haired man in his early twenties. He was younger than her, with the scraggly facial hair of a youth, and already torturing for money. His mother must be so proud.

Boy B
eard approached and yanked her hair out of the way, revealing the heart shaped scar on her neck. “It’s her.”

“Ms. Michaels,” the older man drawled. “You’re a very difficult woman to track down.”

“And yet you made it look so easy.”

His chuckle was
cruel and chilling. “Pat them down.”

The boy felt up every crevice of her anatomy and then moved to Riker. “Lift your shirt.”

“Why?” he growled.

“So we know you kept your word and aren’t wearing a wire. And because if you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

Seemingly satisfied with that horrifying answer, Riker lifted his shirt and twisted so they could see his back as well. “I want your word my people are safe. I kept my end of the bargain.”

“Yeah fine. We don’t give a shit about your little cult in fucking Montana,” the boy spat out. “All our boss wants is her. Go.”

Riker turned and left without a backward glance, the rat. He didn’t even know how lucky he was. Stone’s men never let loose ends go. She swung her gaze to the two men, as Riker’s car engine revved and the tires popped and groaned against the gravel and broken glass.

“This way,” the older one said.

The younger pushed her in the back and she followed them through a dented metal door of the building behind them. Gray paint hung from the walls in flakes and vines crept up from a crack in the floor, stretching for the sagging ceiling. The steady
drip, drip
of a leaky pipe echoed down a long corridor, and a fluorescent light flickered above.

She was led down a set of stairs to a mu
sty office. Moldy boxes sat stacked against the wall as high as her shoulders and a desk took up most of the room. Behind it sat a man with cropped, mud colored hair, eyes so blue they almost looked white, and a predatory smile.

“Ms. Michaels. So nice to finally meet you.
I’m Dane, Mr. Stone’s most trusted advisor.”

“You mean
contract killer.”

He shrugged, unoffended.
“It’s a rare thing to find a person still living who has made my boss as angry as you have. We’ve got plans for you and lots of time, so how about we show you to your sleeping quarters first? Hmm?”

The sleeping quarters in qu
estion were nothing more than an oversized closet with chains on the walls, a bucket of water in the corner, and a terrifying looking machine that resembled a giant Taser with more buttons. On a table against the wall lay an array of sharp instruments. The urge to pass out on the dirty floor buckled her knees. She was so scared. Her breath came in pants and pitiful tears streaked her cheeks and she didn’t care about being strong anymore. There was no one left to be strong for. It didn’t matter.

A clatter sounded from above them and Dane jerked a suspicious glare to the ceiling. “You weren’t followed, right?” he asked the dark headed bruiser.

“No, we checked. The only one around was the fellow who brought her here, and he looked like he couldn’t wait to get rid of her.

“Danny, you’re with me,” Dane ordered, pulling a pistol from a holster on his hip. “Ellis, you stay here and secure her. I don’t want any surprises. Not when we’re this close to having this finished.”

“Your name’s Ellis?” Hannah sneered thickly through her tears. “That’s a pussy name for a hit man.”

“Shut up.” Jerking her wrist, he clamped the first manacle around her fine bones and reached for the other.

A thud sounded above them, hard enough that the plaster on the ceiling rained down on them. Ellis glared at the swinging light bulb on a string above them. “What the f—. Stay here.”