Bearly Consenting: Russet Falls Series (15 page)

Drew winced.

“No. I don’t plan on that.”

“Then I think we’ll be alright.” She touched his face,
looking into his eyes. “I’m serious, Drew. I’m serious about us.”

He stared back fiercely. “So am I.”

He kissed her again and then released her. “Alright, enough
dark and down talk,” he announced, finishing his second beer. “Finish that wine
and dance with me.”

“What?” she asked with alarm.

“You heard me. Finish that wine and come dance with me.”

Avery looked around at the empty roof, ready to argue that
she felt ridiculous. But then she looked out at the beautiful city and realized
that she was experiencing something most people never get to experience in
their lives, and especially someone like herself.

So she polished off her wine, put it down and stood up with
Drew.

He took her into his arms, and they moved across the empty
dance floor.

Avery pressed herself close to his body, feeling his arms
wrap protectively around her.

This is where she belonged.

No matter what, and no matter what lie in the past.

Drew
was
her past.

He was also her present and her future.

They danced until their feet hurt, and kissed with the
skyline surrounding them

Chapter Twenty

Drew tiptoed out of the room, kissing Avery as she slept. He
made his way to the hotel lobby and then out to his waiting car. His meeting
was simple—he was looking to create an east coast office and New York seemed
the perfect hub. Plus, he had a real rock star in his Portland office who would
be a great fit for running a New York office.

He checked in with Avery who had decided to do a little
sightseeing on her own, and had refused the shopping spree he had offered her.
He didn’t want to offend her, but he had plenty of money, and he was more than
happy to spoil her.

He had been elated by Avery’s declaration to move forward
with their relationship.

He had never dreamed that he and Avery would have another
chance, and when it came to her he was a lovesick schoolboy. She held all the
power, and though she may not know it, Drew knew it.

But he understood her desire not to take his money and he
respected it.

He would do his damn best not to disappoint her and there
was no way that Seraphina was going to take this away from him again. He was never
going to give Avery up, and being perfectly frank, if he had his way, he was
going to marry her someday.

He was nearly at the hotel when his phone rang. He didn’t
recognize the number.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Drew?” a deep, male voice asked.

“Yes?”

“This is Ryker.”

Drew’s body went rigid. What the hell could Ryker want?

“Hello, Ryker,” he said slowly. “What can I do for you?”

“Funny you should ask,” he said, and Drew could pick up on
just a hint of his authoritative alpha tone. He felt the bear in him submit
slightly in obedience.

He hated it.

“I need you to come home so we can review some business.”

“Business?” Drew echoed.

What kind of business could Ryker possibly have with him?

“Yes, tribe business.”

“Are things alright?” Drew asked tightly.

“They will be,” Ryker said darkly. “But I need assistance.”

Drew didn’t like the sound of it.

“When would you need me?”

“As soon as possible.”

Drew felt the bear in him resist yet submit at the same
time.

“I’m busy until tomorrow afternoon. And I still have a
company to run in Portland.”

Even though it was his company, he really couldn’t afford to
take more time out of the office.

“I think you need to try to work it out,” Ryker said, the
threat undeniable.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Drew growled.

“Good.”

And with that, the line went dead.

Drew couldn’t even focus on his day in the city with Avery,
and he was pissed that he was letting Ryker get to him and ruin his day.

At first, he was going to tell Avery, and then he realized
that would truly ruin their time together, so instead he kept it from Avery and
tried to enjoy the day as best he could.

Avery was in a wonderful, vulnerable mood and it lifted
Drew’s spirits. He knew that he could not entirely defy Ryker’s orders because
Ryker was the alpha, and Drew was still a member of the clan, even if he didn’t
live in Russet Falls.

But instead of busting his ass to get back to the clan lands
on Sunday, he was going to wait a few days. He knew Ryker would seek him out
again, and he would probably be angry, but Drew was willing to take that
chance.

He had a business to run, especially since he had been
Seraphina’s errand boy earlier in the week. He would wait until he heard from
Ryker again.

He tried to soak in every moment with Avery, but it was
impossible. Before he knew it, Sunday afternoon came, and they found themselves
boarding their plane.

“This is too much,” Avery said, shaking her head as she
stepped into the plane.

“It’s not,” Drew assured her.

The flight attendant smiled and took their luggage and Avery
lowered herself into one of the plush chairs. Drew sat in the chair next to
her.

Once the flight attendant brought them drinks, and the plane
prepared for take-off, Drew turned to Avery.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” he began. Avery’s
eyes widened and he could see she was nervous. “Ryker called me yesterday
morning.”

Avery looked puzzled. “Why would he be calling you?”

“He wants to see me. He
needs
to see me,” Drew
corrected, his voice darkening.

“But why? What does that mean? What could he possibly want?”
Her voice rose a few octaves with worry.

“I’m not sure exactly, but I don’t want to see him. I’ve
tried hard to disassociate myself from the clan, not to mention how much work I
need to get done in my office. I’ve been traveling way too much.”

Avery nodded, only half-listening it seemed.

“But I don’t understand why he would need to see you.
Whatever is going on in the tribe, couldn’t possibly have anything to do with
you. You haven’t been there for seven years.”

Which was exactly what Drew had thought and he couldn’t help
worrying that it might have something to do with Seraphina. For all the times
she showed up unexpectedly and bugged the hell out of him, it seemed strange
that he hadn’t heard from her, yet her husband had contacted him.

“I know. So I’m going to wait until I hear from him again.”

“But, you’ll have to go, won’t you?” She asked. “That’s how
it works. If he orders you do something, you have to obey it.”

“Right. If it’s something clan related.” Ryker couldn’t
order him to do something like fall in love with Jade, or anything else
emotionally-related. Avery knew exactly how the clan worked; she had grown up
with all their strange rules and mystic ways.

How could Drew ever consider being with someone else? Avery
knew him inside and out. Knew the parts of him that no one could ever know,
knew his animalistic side.

“I don’t like it,” she said quietly. “If you have to go
back, then I want to go back with you.”

“Definitely not,” Drew said firmly. That was way too risky
given their track record with Seraphina and the mysterious bad luck that seemed
to follow he and Avery. Throwing Ryker into the mix only made things even more
dangerous.

“I’m serious, Drew. I’m not letting you go find out alone.
You and I both know that the tribe does some pretty terrible things. I’m not
going to let Ryker summon you for some cruel mission.”

Drew hadn’t even considered that. What if Ryker was
summoning him for tribe business? Any tribe business with their tribe,
Atrocitas, was usually cruel and horrible. Not to mention the lives that were
lost just last month on an order by Ryker.

“I don’t care what they are trying to do,” Avery continued.
“I don’t actually believe in all that Bear King and Bear Princess talk. It’s
ridiculous, and who cares?”

Drew had completely forgotten about the talk that had been
going around the tribe. The two other tribes, Cruentus and Virtus, were less
cruel and kept their distance from the Atrocitas.

“Listen, let’s not worry about it now. We have five
uninterrupted hours together now in this incredible plane. Let’s enjoy them.
We’re going to return to Portland, and go about our daily lives—you to
teaching, me back to the office. We will deal with Ryker only when we can no
longer avoid him.” He looked over at Avery seriously. “Got it?”

He could see the resistance in her eyes, see that she was
considering fighting back.

But she gave in and sighed.

“Fine. For now. But I fully intend in supporting you however
I can.”

Drew reached over, taking her hand and kissing it. “Thank
you. That means a lot to me. Just know that as deeply as you intend on
supporting me, I intend on protecting you tenfold.”

Avery narrowed her eyes. “You can’t keep me away from the
clan lands.”

Drew merely shrugged. He knew he would win in a struggle of
wills. He just hoped that time would never come.

He forced all thoughts of Seraphina and Drew form his mind,
and directed all his attention on Avery.

He wasn’t sure what he had done in the past seven years to
deserve Avery’s presence back in his life, but he wasn’t going to waste it, or
take it for granted now.

Chapter Twenty-One

The flight passed quickly with Avery by his side, and the
next thing Drew knew he was back at his very large and very empty house. It
seemed silly now to have such a beautiful home filled with beautiful things and
no one to share it with.

Of course, he hadn’t particularly been interested in sharing
his life with women until he reconnected with Avery.

Before he and Avery parted, Avery had asked again about Drew
coming over so she could cook for him and her roommates. Drew had promised that
he would try to make time, though he didn’t know how.

Knowing he had a full day ahead of him, he went to bed,
feeling strangely lonely without Avery. Even though Avery was ready to move
forward with him, she had not been ready to move forward intimately. As much as
Drew wanted that, he understood.  As he sank into his comfortable, oversized
bed, he hoped that someday soon Avery would be lying next to him.

He slept easily and soundly, which was somewhat surprising
given that Ryker’s call was looming over him. But once he was in the office he
was far too busy to give Ryker a second thought. And fortunately, he did not
hear from Seraphina, so he was able to conduct
actual
business.

Before he knew it, the clock in his office said it was just
past six. A moment later, Ricky came breezing into his office, a delicious
aroma wafting in his wake.

Drew stood there momentarily surprised.

“Hello,” Ricky said cheerfully, hurrying over to the table
in his office and he began to unload the contents from Drew’s favorite carryout
place around the corner.

Ricky saw Drew somewhat confused and laughed. “I guess you
don’t remember telling me to bring your favorite take out in for dinner
tonight.”

Drew looked hard at Ricky. “But I didn’t.”

“Yes you did,” Ricky explained, “You sent me the message
last night.”

“No, I didn’t.”

Ricky stopped what he was doing and pulled his phone out of
his pocket. “Here,” he said, showing Drew the message. Sure enough there was a
quick email asking Ricky to bring his favorite take out into the office for
dinner just after six. But Drew hadn’t sent it.

Just then Drew’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Hang on,” he mumbled, pulling the phone out.

It was Avery.

“Surprise!” she said. Then she paused. “Drew?”

Things slowly fell into place.

Instead of feeling anxious, Drew felt himself relax. “Was
this you?”

“Umm, I’m guessing your dinner is there?”

“Yes. So you did this?” He waved at Ricky to show him that
everything was fine, and Ricky went back to setting out his table.

“Well, yes. I wanted to surprise you but I realized that I
had no idea what you even liked for dinner, so I was kind of vague. I didn’t
know if it would actually work, so I’m surprised that it did.” She laughed.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. But that was very sweet
of you.”

“I figured that you would be so busy with work today that
you wouldn’t take any time for yourself.”

She was absolutely right. He would not have stopped to eat,
and probably would have gone home and rummaged for something in his cabinets.

“You are correct. I would not have stopped. It was
thoughtful of you, Avery.” And sneaky. How had she even gotten a hold of his
phone? Let alone known who to contact?

“I hope I didn’t overstep. I grabbed your phone while you
were in the bathroom, and I remember you saying that your assistant was named
Ricky.”

“Yes. Thank you again.”

“Okay, well I won’t keep you. I know that you are very
important and very busy,” she teased.

Drew was touched. He wasn’t used to people caring for him
like this. “Avery,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion. He stopped to clear
his throat.

Christ, he couldn’t let Ricky hear him like this.

“I have a dinner meeting tomorrow, but how about I come over
Wednesday night for dinner. Would seven be too late?”

“Not at all!” she said happily. “Seven it is!”

“I’ll see you then. Thank you, Avery.”

He wanted to say more, but not with Ricky in the room. He
hung up and looked over to see Ricky busily setting out a fork and a knife. He
had a sly little grin on his face.

“Just say it,” Drew grumbled, walking over to the table.

Ricky shook his head, smiling. “I’m not saying anything.” He
gathered up the take out containers for the trash. “But,” he added, “I think a
nice girl would do you good.” He laughed. “Of course, I know lots of nice boys
who would be more than happy to keep you warm at night.”

Drew rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, thanks.” It was no secret
that Ricky was gay, and it had never bothered Drew in the least. In fact, Ricky
and his partner, Kurt, were very serious. Drew kept expecting to hear that they
were going to get married.

Ricky left the office, and Drew found himself eating his
dinner alone.

That had always been the norm for Drew, but now being alone
felt so incredibly
lonely.

He worked late, and didn’t bother going home to sleep, and
instead stayed in the apartment above his office. Again, the thought of
returning to his large empty house depressed him.

 He got up early and was already hard at work before the
office started filling up. He moved through his day, being every ounce of the
businessman he had become in the short seven years.  His dinner meeting was
boring and uneventful, Wednesday rushed by in another busy blur.

Emme buzzed into his office at five-thirty.

“Sir, I’m heading out, but I’m reminding you about your
dinner plans.”

“Right!” he exclaimed. It didn’t make sense for him to go
back to his house, so instead he slipped upstairs into his apartment to shower
and dress. Fortunately, he kept a few more casual clothing items in the
upstairs apartment, and he dressed in a pair of dark jeans, loafers, and a grey
shirt.

His driver took him to the address, and he waited anxiously
for Avery to open the door.

The second he saw her, he relaxed, and so did his bear.

He hadn’t even realized his bear had been tense until that
very moment.

“Drew,” she nearly cried, throwing herself at him.

“Hi,” he murmured, drawing her to him and inhaling her
scent.

The kissed, and he could smell the arousal on Avery.

His bear went from being relaxed, to being highly aroused.

Drew made a deep groaning sound that sounded somewhat
animalistic, because Avery pulled away, sheepish.

“Oops, sorry.”

“Don’t even apologize for that.”

She giggled a bit. “Okay. Come on in,” she pulled him
inside, and he followed her in. She was dressed more casually, and it suited
her. She was wearing a simple teal shirt, with a pair of black capri pants, and
black flip-flops.

She looked incredibly relaxed.

And beautiful.