Bear West: BBW Bear Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance (7 page)

Seth’s voice trailed off and he sighed, staring into the distance. After a long moment, his gaze came back to hers, and his expression was cold and hard. “Well, then I’d have to do something I don’t want to do. Do you understand me?”

Carla’s thoughts raced, but she couldn’t see a way to escape yet. If it had been only one or two men, she might have fought, but there was no way she could take on four. They hadn’t brought out any weapons, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have any. Even if she screamed, there was no one in sight; probably no one was near enough to hear.

Just agree to whatever they want
, she thought.
I can call the cops after I get back to town.

“I understand. What is it you want me to do?”

Seth smiled, but no warmth reached his eyes. “It’s real simple. I want you to leave town.” He spread his hands, showing his open palms. “That’s all. Not too much to ask, is it?”

“Leave town? But... why?”

“Fucking Ramirez,” muttered Ezra, behind her.

Carla twisted until she could see Ezra’s face. “Diego? What does he have to do with this?”

Caleb scowled. “None of your business!” Carla couldn’t imagine how she’d ever thought Caleb was a nice guy, even if she had been drunk. At least she seemed to be sobering quickly, with adrenaline chasing the alcohol from her blood. Now Caleb just looked nasty, with the dangerous, vicious expression of a feral dog.

Seth made a placating gesture, waving Caleb back away from her. “Me and my brothers, we’ve got what you might call a feud with Mr. Ramirez. You don’t need to worry yourself none about it. We don’t want to hurt him either. We just want him to leave – and give us back our land. If you stick around, you’ll encourage him to stay. But if you leave, I predict Mr. Ramirez’ll follow not long behind you.”

“Diego and I – we’re not – ” Carla wasn’t sure how much they knew. She and Diego had gone on several dates since she had moved to Pioche, and maybe the Sullivans had spied on them. But how could they think that she was so important
her
presence would be the thing to determine whether Diego stayed or went? She’d only known him for a few days, after all. She couldn’t make him change his mind about where to live.

“We don’t have that sort of relationship,” she finally finished, though that explanation seemed woefully inadequate to describe all the complicated emotions between her and Diego.

“Of course you don’t,” Seth said condescendingly. Carla wished someone would punch him in his smug face. “Since you don’t love him, then you won’t have any problem going back East, right? This news just means that our deal will be even easier on you than I originally thought.”

“No!” As soon as she’d said it, Carla knew she shouldn’t have. But Seth and his brothers were just the sort of petty bullies that she’d always hated, and she refused to give in to them, even if it was the safe thing to do.

Seth shook his head and leaned into her personal space. “Are you going to make me do something that I don’t want to do?” Over his shoulder, Carla saw Jamie, the smallest brother, turn pale and close his eyes.

She swallowed past a lump of fear in her throat. “You can’t make me do anything. You’re a bunch of cowards, threatening me like this. What sort of odds are four to one, anyway? Were you afraid one bully wouldn’t be enough?”

“You’ll change your mind.” Seth showed his teeth, but it was more of a snarl than a smile. Carla took a shaky breath and tried to straighten her shoulders, determined to show no fear.

She sent up a prayer that someone would help her, but it wasn’t her dad or an anonymous policeman that she pictured; it was Diego. Even though they’d had a fight, it was him that she wanted to be here, by her side. She knew that he would never let anyone hurt her.

Diego had been thinking about Carla all day. That wasn’t unusual, but today it was particularly bad. He’d dropped his tools so many times Andy had finally taken them away from him, cracking a joke that Diego was behaving like a teenage boy with a crush.

This feeling was nothing like having a crush. To have a mate meant that you could feel them all the time, know where they were, and sometimes even sense their emotions. Even if Carla technically wasn’t his mate yet, she had the potential to be, and Diego’s bear wasn’t going to let him forget it.

Finally he surrendered to his animal instincts. Andy had shaken his head as Diego hurried away. “Carla’s fine – what’s the worst thing that could happen to her in Pioche, anyway? It’s too small to get lost in, and even if she went hiking in one of the nearby parks, the weather’s fine today.”

Diego hadn’t been able to explain; he just knew that he had to get to her. Andy had understood even if he teased him about it. He was a shifter too, after all. He agreed to finish fixing the fence they were working on by himself, and Diego decided to drive into Pioche to check on Carla.

He knew he should phone first, but with each minute that passed, the urgent tension thrumming beneath his skin grew stronger and stronger. It no longer was a pleasant distraction. Instead it felt like having another shifter in his territory, or when an electric storm caught him in bear shape: a sense that something was wrong, that he needed to be prepared for danger. He didn’t even bother to shower or change his clothes, but hopped straight into his truck and pulled out onto the road.

There’s plenty of time to find her before she could get really hurt
, he told himself. Still, every time he glanced down at his truck’s dashboard, he saw his speed had crept back up, putting him well over the legal limit.

After what seemed like years but realistically was less than an hour from when he’d first felt that tingling unease, Diego saw Pioche over the crest of the next hill. There, next to a general store, was Carla’s hotel, but his bear insisted that she wasn’t there.

He didn’t know how he could tell her location, but he decided to trust his instincts. Diego drove straight through Pioche, his bear telling him to go forward. It made no sense, but that tingle of impending danger was growing stronger and stronger. The hair on his arms and the back of his neck stood up, like the hackles on a bear that rose when it was threatened or angry.

Carla needs me
, he thought.
I don’t know how, or why, but if anyone has hurt my mate, I’m going to kill them
.

He was driving past an unremarkable hill, a sharp crest of gravel and sandy dust that looked exactly like every other hill outside of Pioche, when his bear roared,
There! Mate!

Diego slammed on the brakes and pulled his truck over to the shoulder of the road, leaving a streak of black rubber on the asphalt and raising a thick cloud of dust from the dirt. He launched himself out of the truck, not bothering to lock the door behind him, and raced up the hill.

It was like his chest had a compass in it, one that pointed straight toward his mate, and all he had to do was follow it. It wasn’t a feeling a human would have been able to understand, but Diego was more than human: he was a bear. And right now, he was a pissed off bear, one who cared about nothing except for finding his mate and protecting her.

He reached the top of the hill and there, on the other side, was Carla, surrounded by most of the Sullivan wolf pack. He’d barely registered the sight before his bear exploded out of him.

Normally shifting was a long, slow process that required Diego to focus on the feeling of being a bear, but this change happened in seconds. His bones lengthened, his muscles extended, fur grew from his skin until he was entirely covered. He dropped from two legs down onto four, and by the time his hands hit the dirt, they’d become paws. Nearly a ton of grizzly bear landed, enough to shake the ground.

Diego roared, his fury echoing off the hills. The people below simultaneously swung around to face him. Diego started for the one who was holding his mate; faced with an oncoming angry grizzly, the man immediately let go of Carla and took a few steps back, then transformed into a wolf.

Carla screamed at the sight, but Diego had no time to reassure her. Two of the other Sullivans also changed, moving to either side of their brother to back him up. They snarled and snapped at the air, but none of them wanted to be the first to attack a bear, and so they stayed back, waiting for an opening.

The one shifter still in human form lunged toward Diego’s mate. It was the alpha –
Seth
, the human part of Diego thought – and he caught Carla by the upper arm, yanking her toward him with a fierce grip. He pulled her around to shield himself, one arm across her throat. Diego roared again and clawed at the ground, but he didn’t dare do anything that might put his mate in danger.

“Stay back!” the alpha wolf shouted. “Leave, and I’ll let her go – ” his threat broke off suddenly in a yowl, as Carla bit down hard on his hand. His grip must have loosened, because she broke away and managed to put a few feet between them.

That was all the opportunity Diego needed. He sprang forward, slapping at the alpha wolf with a paw the size of a dinner plate, his claws fully extended. He put enough force behind the blow to send the alpha flying several feet before he hit the ground with a thump. He rolled over and over, and by the time he came to a stop, he had become a wolf. Diego had hoped he would knock him unconscious, but the wolf climbed back to his feet, shaking his head before crouching down in preparation for a leap.

Diego had given too much of his attention to the alpha. Another one of the wolves lunged at him from behind, getting his fangs into Diego’s hind leg. Roaring with anger, Diego spun and knocked that one off, but then it seemed as though wolves were coming at him from every direction.

Diego turned from one side to another as swiftly as he could, swatting at any wolf within reach and occasionally managing to catch one in his jaws. There were four wolves and only one bear, but wolves weren’t meant to take on grizzlies. He had them outclassed in every way: weight, reach, speed, and most definitely strength.

Diego let his bear’s instincts take over, and stopped thinking like a human. In the animal world, there was only action and reaction; smells and sounds that told him more than eyes could. There was a flow to the battle, and he felt as though he could sense each attack before it actually came.

Lost in that space where only the present moment existed, it was hard to tell how much time had passed, but Diego thought it had only been a minute or two before the fight was over. He had won.

The wolves backed up out of range. Each one limped or favored one side, and blood showed through their fur where they’d been scratched or bitten. Diego reared back up onto his hind legs, all nine feet of grizzly bear towering above his enemies, and roared out his triumph.

One wolf whined pitifully, his ears low and his tail between his legs. They all moved away cautiously, afraid to turn their backs on him, and then turned and ran over the crest of the hill.

Diego thudded back onto his feet and slowly began to take stock of his injuries. He was winded, he’d been nipped in at least a dozen places, and his head hurt. Nothing too bad, but before he could take care of himself, he needed to make sure that his mate was okay.

Unlike the wolves, she hadn’t run away. She stood halfway up the hill, well out of range of the fight. Her hands were up by her face, covering her mouth in shock. He could smell fear coming off of her, but at least she was still there.

Diego took a slow, careful step in her direction. His mate lowered her hands, staring at him. “Diego?” she whispered.

He couldn’t speak while he was in bear form. All he could do was walk slowly forward, trusting that his mate would recognize him. She stood strong, making him proud. She even took a few steps toward him. She reached out one hand – she was shaking slightly, but she set it on his broad shoulder without flinching. When he stayed still, she began to stroke him, running her fingers through his fur.

“Oh my God,” she said, speaking more to herself than to him. “You’re real. This is really happening.”

Her touch was so soothing, it felt like it alone could heal him from the fight. Diego tossed his head, pressing his muzzle against her hand. Carla startled back, but only for a moment, and then she reached out again. This time she laughed as she stroked him.

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “I saw it with my own eyes, and I still – I never knew that magic was real!” Diego recognized the wonder and the wariness in her voice; it was the same way he had felt the first time he shifted. A whole new world had opened itself up to him.

He’d experienced that same miracle again more recently: the first time he saw Carla. He had never really thought that he would meet his mate, but here she was. And with her, it felt like everything had changed – that possibilities he had never imagined had appeared, that there were new colors in the sky and new scents in the air.

When he was in human shape, Diego had doubts about how to make a relationship work between two people who hardly knew each other, worries about how a shifter and a regular human might misunderstand one another. But as a bear, he felt only love.

Carla knew it was dangerous to be anywhere near a wild grizzly bear, but she felt no fear. Everything she knew about the world had been turned upside down today.

It sounded ridiculous, but when she looked at the bear’s face, it was Diego’s eyes that she saw. Those gorgeous brown eyes, flecked with amber, which had always looked at her with such concern and desire and love, that looked at her like she was something precious. It had to be Diego. No one else looked at her that way.

“My knight in shining armor,” she murmured, not quite sure why she was talking out loud. Could Diego even understand her, in bear shape? “Or maybe I should say knight in brown fur. You showed up just when I needed you.”

Tears stung her eyes, and Carla leaned forward and embraced the bear. It was crazy – who
hugged
a grizzly bear? – but it felt right. This was where she belonged.

The bear was so big that her hands didn’t meet, and his shoulder was just the right height to bury her face, even though she was standing up and he was on all fours. He was warm, and his fur was much softer than it looked. She could feel the immense muscles ripple beneath her touch when the bear shifted slightly to better accommodate her.