Bearly In Time (6 page)

The wedding started in half an hour.

He ordered a coffee from the sweating waitress then stared at the church with slumped shoulders.

“Keep your hands off me,” a waitress yelled from behind him.

Connor turned and whipped his head back around when he saw Mark sitting at the table. He was eating with three guys wearing tuxedos. They were all laughing at the flustered waitress.

Connor slowly turned back. The pretty waitress with the short skirt had red cheeks and was backing away from them.

“Come on,” Mark said with his palms on the table. “I’m getting married in thirty minutes. It’s my last chance for a fling.”

“What a lucky girl,” the waitress said, glaring at him. She stormed off with her nostrils flaring. Mark leaned over, staring at her ass as she left.

“Well no tip for her,” Mark said. The men at the table burst out laughing.

Connor turned back to his coffee as Mark stood up. “Gotta piss,” he said.

Mark walked to the bathroom, swaying on the way. He looked drunk.

Connor slowly stood up and followed him into the bathroom.

Rebecca held her jittery stomach as she walked down the hall with Grace and Angie. The wedding was starting soon. Too soon.

“Let’s get some pictures outside by the large maple tree,” the photographer said, holding up her camera.

Rebecca closed her eyes, her head spinning. This was all wrong.

The four of them stepped into the elevator. Rebecca grabbed the door as it was about to close. “I forgot something in the room,” she said, slipping out between the doors. “I’ll meet you guys downstairs.”

“Want us to come with you?” Angie asked.

“No,” Rebecca snapped. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”

She rushed down the hall, holding up her long wedding dress in her shaking hands. She sailed past her room and headed straight for the stairs that led to the emergency exit in back of the hotel.

Fuck it
.

She was now a runaway bride.

“Ahhhh,” Mark groaned at the urinal, his head rolling back.

Connor quietly stepped into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He stood with his hands on his hips and his heart pounding as he watched the pathetic man who was about to marry his mate.

His bear growled in Mark’s presence.

“Someones got to take a shit,” Mark chuckled, slurring his words. “You must’ve had the Sloppy Joes.”

Mark zipped up his pants as he turned from the urinal. Connor grabbed him by his suit jacket and threw him against the wall. His shiny shoes dangled over the floor as Connor held him up with his fists.

Mark’s eyes went wide as he stared at Connor in shock. If he hadn’t just peed he would’ve done it now.

“If you ever cheat on Rebecca again,” Connor hissed, “or hurt her, or act in any way but a gentleman than I will find you.”

“Help!” Mark screamed.

Connor dropped him but stood there, blocking his way to the door. “Nothing is going to save you from this.”

Connor let his bear come forward. Not all the way, but just enough to give this guy months of nightmares. His teeth burned as his fangs extended down. His skin sprouted brown fur and his body swelled up to double its size. His shirt ripped and stretched under his massive, ballooning muscles. His nose grew out into a muzzle and his fingers grew long, black nails.

Mark shrank down the wall covering his face with his arms. “Stop,” he whimpered. “Stop.”

Connor reeled his bear back in and the transformation reversed. His body shrank back down to his human form and his face turned back to normal. His shirt had three long rips in it across the seems.

Connor bent down to the trembling groom and stuck his face an inch from his. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, “but I can’t say the same for my bear.”

Mark was shaking his head and mumbling something. His eyes were glossy and blank. Connor wanted to make sure that his message got across loud and clear.

He slapped him lightly on the cheek and Mark snapped out of it. He looked at Connor with fear.

“I’ll be watching you,” Connor said. “Remember. One look at another girl, one rude comment, one insult and my bear will come visit you. And next time I won’t be able to hold him back.”

Mark gulped as he stared at him.

Connor stood up and walked out of the bathroom. He threw ten dollars onto his table as he walked past it and headed out the door of the restaurant.

He had seen enough. It was time to go home.

Rebecca ran down the street clutching her dress up so she didn’t trip. She had no idea where she was going. She just had to get as far away from the church as possible.

What the fuck had she been thinking? It was so clear in her mind now. She couldn’t marry Mark. She hated him. She had been lying to herself this whole time. She hated him for cheating on her. He had used her emotional instability to slither his way back into her life and she had felt trapped.

Not anymore. She was out of the trap and running for her life.

Rebecca sailed past the diner beside the hotel and ran around the back towards the parking lot. She jumped over the curb and sprinted across the pavement. There was a train station a few blocks away that she was heading for. She would jump on the first train that came and disappear.

“Rebecca,” a voice called out from behind a car.

She glanced over while still running, hoping it wasn’t a friend or family member who was attending the wedding.

She dropped her dress and stared with an open mouth at him. At Connor. Her feet kept going on their own. Her foot stepped on her dress and she flew forward. Her forearms crashed into the cement and a loud rip filled the air as the seems of her dress tore open.

He was by her side at once, holding her, as she looked at her bleeding arms.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, shifting onto her butt. Her dress was ruined. Ripped and dirty. The blood from her arms dripped onto the expensive white fabric. Her hair, all done up, was falling onto her forehead and temples in loose strands.

Connor looked down. “I just had to see you one last time,” he said.

“Why?” she asked, holding back tears. Everything was all fucked up.

He sighed. “So that I could see you happy and try to get over you.”

“Get over me?” she asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. “You got over me pretty fast.”

He jerked his head back. “My bear bonded with you. You’re my mate. How could I ever get over you?”

“I saw you,” she whispered. “With that girl.”

Connor’s pulse was racing. “What girl? There are no other girls. Only you.”

“Save it,” she said rolling her eyes. She held up her ripped, blood-stained dress. “Do I look like I’m in the mood for your bullshit right now?”

He grabbed her arms. “What girl?”

She took a deep breath as her eyes started to gloss over. “The girl with the auburn hair. You were running your hands through it.”

There were so many thoughts racing through his head. “That’s what this is about? That’s why you blocked my number and stood me up?”

“Well yeah,” she said. “I know we didn’t say that we were exclusive but I thought it was different with you.” She looked down at her skinned knee. “I guess I was wrong. I’m not the kind of girl that is okay with that.”

“Either am I,” Connor said.

“You’re not that kind of girl?” Rebecca asked with a smirk.

“Rebecca, that girl is my sister. Roxy.”

Her face dropped. “Are you sure?” she asked, scratching her temple.

Connor laughed as warmth radiated through his body. It was all a misunderstanding. A giant misunderstanding that meant there was still a chance for them.

“Yes I’m sure,” he said. “I’ll introduce you. You’ll love her.”

Rebecca winced. “Oh Connor,” she said, shaking her head. “I ruined everything.”

He cupped her cheek and kissed her softly on the lips. “Are you kidding?” he whispered. “This is the happiest moment of my life.”

She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his head towards hers. This time she kissed him. Connor couldn’t kiss her back properly because he had a grin on his face that could not be contained.

“Hey slut!” a voice called out from behind them. Connor turned his head and Mark was walking towards them with his three friends beside him.

“Let me handle this,” Connor whispered to Rebecca. He went to stand up but she pulled him back down.

“No,” she said, with a fierceness in her eyes. “He’s all mine.”

Rebecca stood up and marched right up to Mark, clutching her hands into fists by her side.

“We’re done,” she hissed at him. “You’ve been nothing but rotten to me for years. You made me feel ugly and weak. I can’t believe that I almost married you.”

“So what?” he asked, trying to look tough in front of his friends. “You’re going to marry this guy? This freak of nature?”

She turned back and looked at Connor with glowing cheeks. “You bet your ass I am.”

“You’re not going to embarrass me like this again,” he said stepping forward and reaching for her.

Connor was about to rush forward when Rebecca threw a right jab that landed with a smack on Mark’s nose. Before he could react her left fist flew forward in a roundhouse and connected with his jaw. His knees gave out under him and he collapsed into his friend’s arms.

“And I’m taking Lucky,” she said, as he looked up at her through dazed eyes.

twelve

Rebecca sat up on her towel and handed the sexy bear shifter her bottle of suntan lotion. The sun in Anguilla was as hot as her shirtless, tanned mate.

After she had escaped from her wedding she jumped in the car with Connor and they drove to her apartment to rescue Lucky and get some of her clothes. They then drove to New Hampshire, stopping every hour or so, for some heavy making out.

Rebecca was the one who had booked her and Mark’s honeymoon and she still had the vouchers. She wasn’t about to let two plane tickets to Anguilla go to waste. They left Lucky with Connor’s sister Roxy and headed to the airport as quickly as they could. Rebecca had seen a poster of Anguilla one time, with the white, powdery sand beaches and turquoise blue water and convinced Mark to go there on their honeymoon. She had rented a private villa on a secluded beach with his credit card.

Connor squirted a glob of suntan lotion into his palm and rubbed it on Rebecca’s shoulders. His touch still gave her shivers even in the hot sun. His firm fingers rubbed the lotion into her skin, massaging her muscles at the same time. He slid his hand under her bikini strap, trying to cover all of her back.

Rebecca glanced up and down the long beach. They had it to themselves.

“Let me make it easier for you,” she said. She reached around her back and unclasped her bikini top. She heard him swallow hard behind her as she slid it down her arms and dropped it onto the towel.

Connor squirted more lotion into his palms and reached around her. She moaned as he cupped her breasts and caressed them in his hands. She leaned back in his lap, feeling his erection hardening on her lower back. He massaged every inch of her breasts, working his way up to her nipples.