Unbearable: Russet Falls Series (13 page)

“Oh!” she cried, tossing her head
back and biting her lip, as she nuzzled his head against her chest, trying to
absorb the sheer pleasure of being touched. Zane went to pull her bra down, but
she put her hands up.

“No,” she whispered, “I’m not
ready.”

Zane nodded, pulling her head back
down to kiss her. His hands slid down her neck and across her shoulder,
igniting the burning desire within her. They slid down her arms and across her
belly. He gripped her by her hips and quickly flipped her onto her back, before
lowering himself onto her.

Gabby knew things were escalating,
and the sheer fact that Zane was lying on top of her as they kissed was already
taking things further than what she knew best. She wrapped her legs tightly
around his waist, their tongues moving against one another. She slid her hands
under his shirt, dragging her nails along his back. He groaned loudly, sitting
up to his knees and tugging his shirt over his head.

Oh holy hell!

Zane was ripped beyond belief.

Gabby trailed her fingers along his
chest and down his stomach, feeling the slight indentation of his muscles. Her
breath was coming in small, ragged pants and she knew she was near the point of
no return.

Zane moved his warm mouth to her
neck and slowly caressed her jaw line with kisses. He moved lower –

Her neck.

Her shoulders.

Her collarbone.

“We have to stop,” she forced
herself to say, pushing back with her elbows.

She hardly knew Zane, and yet here
they were, half-naked on her couch. Maybe her near-death experiences were also
fueling her questionable choices.

“Why?” he groaned, though he
listened and pulled back.

She grabbed her shirt and pulled it
back over her head, before jumping off the couch.

“I must be out of my mind. I don’t
know what I’m doing.”

Zane pulled his shirt back on too,
but not before Gabby got one more good look at his stomach and chest.

Damn. He was so unbelievably sexy.
She knew she would dream about him tonight.

“I really think you need to go,”
she said, her own voice filled with lust.

Zane nodded. “I don’t want you to
hate me,” he said.

It was such a strange thing to say,
and Gabby felt like he was referring to something else, but that made no sense.

“I don’t hate you,” she told him.
“I’m just not this girl. And I need to sleep.”

She walked to the door and pulled
it open.

“Got it,” Zane said, “sleep.”

He suddenly seemed to have a chip
on his shoulder and his quick change in mood bothered her more than it should.

“I told you that I wasn’t going to
sleep with you,” she snapped. “I’m not the kind of girl who just sleeps with
guys that has she just met. And if you were coming over here for that then you
have grossly misjudged me!”  

“I wasn’t coming over for that,”
Zane shot back. “I shouldn’t have come here anyway.” And with that he stalked
out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Zane strode down the hallway of
Gabby’s apartment building and quickly made his way down the steps. He knew
that Sam and Tommy were watching him from the surrounding woods, and possibly
Quentin too.

Fuck them.

His bear was fighting at the
surface; he had wanted a piece of Gabby too, but now that Zane had left the
apartment, his bear was angry over a number of things.

He was glad that he had driven his
car over to Gabby’s instead of shifting, and he hopped into his Hummer hoping
that the bears protecting Gabby were watching him.

Why had he even gone over there?

Frustrated, he slammed his fists
down on the steering wheel.

He knew why.

There had been so much information
from Jeffries, and now Zane knew the terrible, terrible truth.

He had killed Gabby’s father.

He had slain the last bear king.

He remembered Michael’s dad telling
him that the bear had been some kind of a king, but it had meant nothing to
Zane at the time. Those words had been simply words, and he wasn’t sure if had
quite believed it, or even understood what it meant.

But hearing the way that Jeffries
had described it…. Well, it made Zane seem more like a monster than the
frightened kid he had been.

And not only that, but Michael knew
the terrible truth, too.

The only saving grace was that as
close as he and Alicia had been, he had never confided in her about that part
of his past. He shuddered to think of what could have happened if he had told Alicia
about that bizarre incident nearly twenty years ago.

She would have known. And
therefore, Grayson would have known.

And
every
member of the clan
would have known if Grayson was aware of that information.

And aside from the fucking
nightmare of the fact that he killed a bear, which happened to be the last of a
line of bear kings, the icing on the cake was that it was Gabby’s
father
.

Her father.

In what sick and twisted world
could that be true?

Zane was avoiding Michael because
he didn’t want to know what Michael had to say. He knew that Michael would be
rational and practical about the matter, and something that Jeffries said kept
playing over and over again in his mind.

Bring her into the tribe,
protect her and give her no choice but to mate. She will strengthen the gene
pool.

If Michael chose to do that, then
she would have to leave the life she knew and she would
despise
Zane
once she knew the truth.

Gabby hadn’t told Zane how her
father had died, or else Zane might have been able to place the puzzle pieces
together. Instead, she had only alluded to a fear of bears.

FUCK.

Zane wanted to keep driving, to
forget about Michael and Gabby and bear kings and protecting the damn clan from
blood dilution.

But he knew he couldn’t.

He was second in command, and it
was his duty to go back to Michael.

In fact, Michael had been more than
generous in allowing Zane to run off. He could have instantly commanded Zane to
come with him and get started on dealing with Gabby.

Which led to the other reason that
Zane had gone to see Gabby. He wanted to have one more moment between them
before she knew what a monster he was. Before she hated him and hated the
tribe. He didn’t want the shifter life for Gabby, but he was almost certain
that Michael would want to make use of her powerful blood.

A small part of him hoped that
Michael wouldn’t ask that of her, but when he pulled up to Michael’s house,
Michael was standing out on his porch waiting for him.

Zane pulled his car into the
driveway and got out.

“I’m not going to ask where you
went,” Michael said flatly, but Zane knew that he probably could take a pretty
good guess. And a few seconds of reading Zane’s thoughts would confirm his
guess. “But are you good now?”

“Yes.” Zane answered.

“Are you sure?” Michael asked.
“Because I need you to be one hundred percent.”

“I told you that I’m fine,” Zane
said, his voice harsher than he had intended.

“Watch your tone,” Michael warned,
and Zane bowed his head in to show his respect and his obedience. He could feel
Michael’s alpha working through him.

Zane followed Michael into the
house. Michael’s house was not large, but it was certainly impressive. From the
outside it looked like a larger log cabin, but once inside it was clear that it
was much more than a log cabin. The inside was done in gleaming marbles and
granite. Michael took a seat in the small but sumptuous living room.

“You know what I have to do,”
Michael began, cutting right to the chase.

Zane shook his head. “You don’t
have to do anything. You could reconsider.”

“How?” Michael demanded. “She will
more than likely die otherwise. What choice do we have but to take her in and
offer her protection?”

Zane let out a bitter laugh. “And
force her to mate, right?”

Michael looked uncomfortable. He
clearly didn’t want to force someone to mate with the clan. “Jeffries had a
point,” he said quietly, “And I need to make the best decision for our clan.”

“And what about her? What’s the
best decision for her?” Zane shot.

“Get it together,” Michael snapped,
“We can’t offer her twenty-four hour protection for the rest of her life. But
if she is one of us, she will be protected. If we claim her for our own the
other clans will have to leave her alone.”

“Under normal circumstances. What
if they don’t bother following that council law? They’ve already shown
disregard for so many other laws.”

“True,” Michael agreed, “but I
think it’s our best shot. They may not even fully comprehend what she is.”

Zane shook his head in disgust.
“And then what? How do we force her to mate?”

Michael took a deep breath. “I
think we allow her to choose her mate.” He gave Zane a pointed look. “She will
have plenty of choices.”

“It’s shitty,” Zane spat, jumping
up.

“Watch yourself!” Michael stood up,
too. “I see no other choice, Zane. I’m sorry. I need your help in this matter,
and I need you to put personal feelings and differences aside.”

The timber of an alpha order rang
through him and he knew he had no choice but to obey.

Fucking alpha orders.

He turned to look out the window,
seeing only inky darkness. “What do you need me to do?” he asked, his voice
lacking any emotion.

“Tonight I need you to get some
rest. We’re going to allow the girl to rest as well. Tomorrow Sam and Tommy
will bring her to the clan lands.”

Zane couldn’t help interrupting.
“Bring her? How?”

Michael paused. “By force if need
be.”

“Damn it,” Zane cursed, hating the
idea more and more.

Michael continued. “They will bring
her here. You, Quentin, Alicia and I will explain to her what she is.”

“Alicia?” Zane asked sharply.

“Yes,” Michael said firmly. “She’s
another female and Gabby seemed most at ease with her. I think that will help
with her comfort level.”

As much as Zane hated the idea,
Michael had a point.

“And then what?” Zane couldn’t help
asking. “Do you think Gabby will just be alright with that fucking bomb we’re
going to drop on her and then hop into bed with one of us? Because if you think
that, then you don’t know her at all,” he laughed bitterly.

Michael frowned. “No. I don’t think
that. I don’t expect her to take it well. But we’ll be prepared and we will
help her through it. Allow her time to mull it over and digest it. Alicia has
been more than generous to offer her home as a place for Gabby to stay—”

“That’s bullshit!” Zane exploded,
his temper getting the best of him, and he felt his bear tearing at the
surface. He could feel his muscles rippling as his bear begged to break free.
“She can’t stay there with Alicia and Grayson!”

“Grayson will not be there,”
Michael said calmly, ignoring the outburst.  “We will make this transition as
easy as possible.”

“She has a life,” Zane pointed out.
“A family, a job. We’re going to take all that away from her.”

“We aren’t saying that she can’t
still see the people from her past,” Michael said carefully, “we will just need
to closely monitor those interactions. Especially at first, since the other
clans, particularly Cruentus, will most likely be pursuing her.”

“And her job?” Zane asked sourly.
“She can’t continue that, can she?”

“No. That she will need to give
up.”

Zane turned back around to face
Michael, raking a hand through his messy hair. He was glad he had seen Gabby
tonight. He knew that Gabby would hate him after tomorrow, and there would be
no way that she would ever chose Zane to be her mate.

“Well, if everything is settled,
then I don’t see the point of me sticking around any longer.”

Michael sighed. “I’m sorry it has
to be this way, Zane. But try to look at it from another perspective. It’s
clear to me that you have a special affection for this girl. Perhaps she feels
the same way about you and will select you as her mate.”

Zane barked a laugh. “That’s very
doubtful. If anything, she’ll despise me now.” He walked to the door.

“Come back in the morning,” Michael
said, though it was more of a command.

Zane felt the order ring through
him, his body slightly stiffening as he was forced to obey. He nodded woodenly
and went out the door into the dark, moonless night.

Gabby woke up to sunlight filtering
in her room and she let out a small sigh of pleasure from waking up to the sun.
Today she wasn’t needed at work until ten in the morning, and although that
meant she needed to work until six, she wasn’t bothered because she wasn’t up
at the ass crack of dawn.

A small smile played on her lips,
and then the events of the night before came rushing back. She sat up quickly.

Oh shit, shit, shit.

She had made out with Zane.

Really
made out with Zane.

Groping, moaning,
take-your-shirt-off and grind-up-against-him kind of making out.

She buried her face in her hands,
mortified by her own actions.

But it had felt so damn good.

Why had it felt so good?

Well, no use worrying over it now.

She swung her legs over the side of
her bed, stood up and stretched and then stumbled into the bathroom. She took
her time brushing her teeth, applying makeup and doing her hair. After the
harrowing last few days, she spent a little more time on herself than usual,
wanting
to feel pretty.

She took her time eating breakfast,
and even had a few moments to check her email, which she hadn’t done in days.
Lucy had sent her an email from one of the computers in the school library.
Well, at least Lucy had managed to make it through the weekend and was now
surviving Monday.

Gabby threw a few things in her
bag, including a snack, and then locked up her apartment as she prepared to
head to work. She was headed out into the bright sunshine when suddenly a van
pulled up along side of her.

Before she could even blink, the
door slid open and a young man grabbed her and pulled her inside.

She screamed, but he was too fast,
and he pulled the door shut as the van peeled out of the parking lot.

“Stop!” she cried, fighting against
the handsome young man as they rolled across the floor of the moving vehicle,
“Let me go!”

He quickly released her. “Gabby,
it’s alright.”

How did he know her name?

And things were definitely not all
right; she had just been kidnapped!

“I don’t know who you are, but
please, let me go!” she begged, feeling her chest tighten with fear and panic.

“My name is Tommy. And my brother
Sam is driving. We’re the younger brothers of Michael.” When he saw that Gabby
didn’t understand, he explained, “Michael. He works with Zane at the state
park.”

Zane? What the hell does Zane have
to do with this?

Even though the van was moving, she
rushed to the doors, trying to pry them open.  She needed to keep a level head
even though she was in full-blown panic mode. “Is Zane involved in this? What’s
going on?”

“Hey,” Tommy said softly, pulling
her hands from the door, but she jumped back and shrieked. “We aren’t going to
hurt you. I’m sorry we had to do things this way.”

“Do things what way?” she cried,
“Kidnapping me and throwing me in a van?”

Tommy looked uneasy. “We didn’t
kidnap you. We just—we just didn’t think you would come with us if we asked you
to.”

“You’re damn right I wouldn’t
have!” she raged. “Stop the van and let me out!” It was clear that Tommy wasn’t
going to hurt her now, but she still wanted out of this van. She had no clue
what the hell was happening, and if Zane was involved with this it was even
more upsetting.

“I can’t. Just wait until we get to
Michael’s house. Please.” Now he seemed really uncomfortable.

“Michael’s
house
?” she asked
incredulously. “I am not going to his house!” She lunged at Tommy and did the
only thing that came to her.

She bit him.

“Fuck!” He cried, cradling his arm
and stepping back from her, nearly losing his balance as the van went around a
curve. “That hurt! Why would you do that?”

“Why the hell did you throw me in a
van?” she screamed. “Now let me out of here, or I’ll bite you again, damn it!”

“What the hell is going on back
there?” came a voice from the driver’s seat.

“She bit me!” Tommy yelled back,
his voice full of surprise and hurt.

“Christ,” the other voice muttered.
“I told you this was a stupid idea, Tommy.”

“Shut up, Sam! Your idea was even
stupider.” Tommy looked over at Gabby, and he seemed afraid that she might bite
him again.

Great. So not only had she been
kidnapped, but it seemed that her captors were
Dumb
and
Dumber.

“Listen,” Tommy said, “we’re almost
at Michael’s house. Zane will be there, too. I promise they will explain
everything to you. We just had to bring you there.”

This was getting ridiculous.

Giving up, Gabby sank to the floor.
There was no way that she was getting out of this van, and she only hoped that
she really was being taken to Michael’s house. And she planned on tearing Zane
a new asshole if he was there.

She fished in her purse for her
phone, but Tommy shook his head when she pulled it out.

“What?” she snapped.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you
call anyone.”

“I have to be at work,” she
snapped, “I need to tell my boss that I’m being held captive by two idiots.”

“Hey,” Sam protested, offended from
the front seat.

“We already took care of that,”
Tommy explained.

Gabby felt the anger boil inside of
her. “What do you mean, you
took care of it
?” she asked slowly.

Tommy gulped, and she could tell
that he didn’t want to explain further. “We talked to your boss. Paul. We told
him that you wouldn’t be in today.”

“Are you kidding me?” she exploded,
jumping up again and nearly losing her balance as they rounded a corner.
“That’s my job! You can’t just contact my damn boss and tell him that I’m not
going to be at work! That has to be against the law, or something!!”

“Sorry,” Tommy said apologetically.
“I promise, we’re almost there.”

She grabbed onto the top part of
the van for support. She was so angry that she couldn’t even see straight. She
glanced back over at Tommy, wanting to strangle him, and he shrugged and stared
at his hands.

If he weren’t holding her captive in
the van, she would have found him handsome. He had a youthful face, and Gabby
guessed that he was probably around her age, or a few years younger. He had
light brown hair, which was on the shaggier side, light blue eyes, and perfectly
straight white teeth. Michael, on the other hand, was thicker, taller and
darker. She found it strange that they could be brothers.

Suddenly the van stopped, and Gabby
froze. She heard Sam get out from the driver’s side and a few seconds later,
the van door slid open.

Gabby froze again.

She stared at Sam, and then,
confused, turned back around to stare at Tommy.

Tommy gave her an impish grin.

“You two are twins?” she asked,
feeling stupid as she looked back at Sam.

“Yep,” Sam said, holding out his
hand. “Let me help you.”

Reluctantly, she took his hand and
allowed him to help her out. Tommy came next.

“Oh suck it up,” Sam said when he
saw Tommy cradling his arm.

“She bit me!”

“Don’t be a pussy! And what? You
couldn’t defend yourself?”

At another time and place she would
have found this exchange comical.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” Tommy
asked, “Fight a girl?”

“I’m just saying you could have
defended yourself.”

“Fuck you.”

They started walking forward, and
Gabby hurried after them. There was a log cabin at the top of the driveway. It
better be Michael’s damn house. Sure enough, Michael appeared on the porch a
moment later, and Gabby hurried up to him.

“What the hell is going on?” she
demanded, “You had me fucking kidnapped?”

Before Michael could answer, Zane
came out on the porch.

“Zane!” she exclaimed. “Will
someone tell me what the hell is going on? And you better not tell me that you’re
involved in this!”

Michael and Zane looked at each
other, then at Tommy and Sam, and finally at the van.

“Did you kidnap her?” Zane asked in
a low growl, his voice so deadly that Gabby herself wanted to shrink back.

He was
pissed.

“We didn’t know what to do!” Tommy
protested.

“It worked, didn’t it?” Sam shot
back arrogantly.

“Idiots,” Michael breathed. “Get
inside!”

Sam and Tommy stalked into the
house.

“I’m so sorry, Gabby,” Michael
began.

“I don’t know what the hell is
going on,” she raged, “but someone better tell me!”

Michael looked at Zane who nodded.
Michael turned around and strode back into his house.

“What is happening?” Gabby asked,
approaching Zane. “Am I going to get any answers? Does this have to do with the
person who tried to hurt me yesterday?” Pain crossed Zane’s face.

“Yes, it has to do with that. But
first, I just want to tell you that I’m sorry.”

Gabby stared at him, confused.

“Sorry? For what?”

Zane shook his head. “I’m so sorry,
Gabby. For everything.” He hung his head as if he were ashamed. “Come on
inside.” He pushed the door open and Gabby walked inside.

Once she was inside, she didn’t
have time to think about what Zane’s bizarre apology meant. She expected the
house to be scant and woodsy on the inside, but it was the exact opposite. The
inside was modern and posh, with sleek granite counters, high-tech appliances
and modern furniture.

“Whoa. Wasn’t expecting that.” She
looked around and then noticed that the small but luxurious home was filled
with people. Sam and Tommy were sitting down at a marble dining room table, and
Michael was seated in an armchair in the sunken living room. There were also
two other people who had been in the room with her yesterday when Zane had
basically locked her upstairs at the park office.

The woman, Alicia, and then another
man, who Gabby thought was named Quentin.

“What’s going on?’’ she asked for
what felt like the millionth time.

“Have a seat, Gabby,” said Michael
in a deep voice. Something about his voice stopped her from questioning, and
she obediently took a seat. “You remember Alicia and Quentin,” Michael said,
nodding towards Alicia and Quentin who were seated on a small couch.

She felt Zane move behind her, but
he did not come into the living room.

Michael cleared his throat. “I’m
going to be blunt Gabby, and you will have to forgive me. We found it strange
that a bear had chased you, and that multiple bears came onto the parklands
while you were there. You see, we have a-” he paused, searching for the words,
“peculiar connection to bears. One that your father also had, but one, we
assume, he did not share with you.”

Gabby wasn’t sure where this was
headed, but she didn’t like that her father was being brought up. “What do you
know about my father?’ she asked angrily.

Michael looked apologetic. “Not
much. But we do know some things that affect you.” Gabby went to speak again,
but Michael held up his hand. “Do you know of any connections between your
father and bears?”

Was this some kind of sick joke?
“Of course I do,” she said hotly, “my father was killed by one!”

Michael nodded gravely. “Yes, we
know that too. But is there anything else?”

Gabby wasn’t sure how they knew
about her father, but it wasn’t a secret. People in the town still remembered
what had happened.

“No,” she said flatly, “He hated
bears. My whole family hates bears.”

She felt Zane wince behind her.

“I’m afraid there
is
more,”
Michael said. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the world is not the
place you thought it was. We,” he indicated to the people in the room, “as well
as your father, have the ability to turn into bears.”

Gabby stared at Michael.

He was crazy.

Bat-shit, loony,
lock-you-up-in-an-institution crazy.

“Okay. Ha, ha, ha. What is really
going on?”

“Gabby, he’s serious,” Zane said
from behind her.

Gabby rolled her eyes. “I have
better things to do with my time. Now if you brought me here for a reason,
please tell me, otherwise I need to get to
work
because I have rent due
next week.”

“Gabby,” Michael said, “I’m telling
the truth. The thing about your father is that he was descended from a long
line of bear
kings
. He was the last king that we know of, and that makes
you a very valuable woman.”

Gabby let out an uncomfortable
laugh and stood up. This was just weird now.

“I really don’t have time for
this,” she said, moving towards the door.

“Gabby, it’s the truth,” Zane said,
his voice filled with pain. Something about the pain in Zane’s voice scared her,
and her eyes filled with tears.

“This isn’t funny,” she said, her
voice cracking. “I loved my father, and for you to all sit here and disrespect
his memory is sick.” She turned on her heel. “Now, excuse me.”