Bears in Flight: Book Four - Supernatural Bounty Hunters Romance Novellas (10 page)

Saturday

Mia stirred and blinked awake.
Ahhh, head – sore - pain.
Her eyes swam as she tried to focus on the clock.
Ugh, 2am.

She heard a soft snore and slowly looked round to find Logan sleeping the chair by the window. His head was thrown back, and his large chest moved up and down rhythmically. God, he looked achingly handsome. Her rabbit whined, and she had an urge to clamber over to him and curl up in his lap.

No, not gonna happen.

Instead, she shuffled out of bed in search of aspirin and a cold drink. Once found, she sat back in bed and watched her mate for a few moments.

She felt the prickle of tears as she thought over everything that had happened that day. She was slightly concerned about Julian trying to kiss her, but that would have to wait. Every inch of her was given over to worry about her mate.

What would she really do if Logan didn’t want her? Lie down on the ground and give up on life?
Well, that was one option.

Hell, she was tired. Too tired to think about this right now.

She lay back on the bed and allowed the regular rise and fall of Logan’s breathing to lull her to sleep.

*

Mia woke again at 6am, and it was to find Logan already wide-awake and watching her carefully. His face was a mixture of concern and hard anger. Her rabbit fluttered at his just-woke-up scruffiness, and Mia hushed the little beast.
They needed to focus.

“How are you feeling?” he asked guardedly.

Mia sipped from the fresh glass of water Logan must have placed on her bedside cabinet. The cool liquid was a refreshing relief.

“Better than I probably should.”

“I’m annoyed at you,” he said bluntly.

She gaped at him in surprise. “You’re annoyed at me?!” she spluttered in disbelief.

His eyebrows knit together. “Well, yeah. I tried calling you over and over last night; I was worried about you. And when I finally found you, you were in the arms of another man. No, a fucking wolf shifter!” Logan’s voice began to rise as he felt his bear trying to grab control.

He took a moment to calm himself and placed his hands on his knees to stop himself from jumping over to the bed and pulling those awful bunny pajamas off her body. He wanted her – god how he wanted her at that moment. He wanted to kiss her and make love to her over and over until she submitted to him and promised she was his, and promised she would never see the wolf again…
He just didn’t think his actions would be particularly welcome at that moment.

“How do you know him?” he demanded roughly. “Because he sure seemed to know you, not as well as he’d like of course…” he muttered the last part, unable to keep the resentment out of his voice.

Mia stared at him impassively and drew her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. Less easy to launch herself at him in that position.
Her darn animal was horny for their mate.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but Julian and I went to college together,” she replied coolly and with much more confidence than she felt.

Logan’s eyes flashed as his breathing became labored. “None of my business?” he snapped. “None of my fucking business? How about him trying to kiss you? Is that any of my business?! Would it have been any of my business if he’d forced himself on you?”

Mia glared at him unhappily. “That wouldn’t have happened…”

“You don’t know that!” he hissed. His bear was so close to the edge the words ran into one another as he partially shifted.

In spite of herself, she recoiled a little. The slight movement was enough to calm him. Sure, he was downright furious at that moment, but he didn’t want his mate to be afraid of him. She, above everyone else, never had a reason to fear him.

“We were just drunk,” she murmured, staring at the tops of her knees.

He scoffed. “So how many times have you gotten drunk with him? Has he ever made it past a kiss while we’ve been together?”

She looked up at him suddenly; her eyes blazed as her tiny beast yowled in displeasure. “I’ve never cheated on you; I’m not the one who’s married!”

Logan stilled in shock.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“You… you know?” he bleated in shock.

She swallowed. This was not how she saw this conversation going. “Yes. Why didn’t you tell me?”

He looked down at his claw tipped hands. “Because I didn’t want you to know.”

“Get out,” she breathed faintly.

His head snapped up, and he blinked at her. “What?”

“I said, get out.” She was proud of herself for barely letting her voice tremble at all, although her animal certainly wasn’t feeling anything near pride at that moment.

She gasped as Logan let out a snort of laughter. “You think this is funny?”

He shook his head and gave her an odd smile. “No, baby, not funny. But…”

“I told you to get out,” she interrupted stubbornly.

Every instinct told her to go to him, to be with him. He was her mate, and a primal part of her told her she needed him. But in that moment she was fighting it for all she was worth. The distant nature of her mate coupled with arrogant, mocking voice of his wife was too much at that moment. She’d desperately wanted him to tell her it was all a mistake, but he hadn’t. He hadn’t even bothered to apologize.
For now, she needed him gone.

His bear whined as he realized she wasn’t kidding. Was it too much to ask for her just to trust him? He knew it looked bad, but he loved her and told her that enough. Shouldn’t she give him the benefit of the doubt?

His bear tentatively suggested leaving and going somewhere to lick his wounds. Logan almost let out another bark of laughter at the submissiveness of the beast. If this were anyone other than his mate, the bear wouldn’t even entertain the notion of backing down.

The man, on the other hand, wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel just yet. “I’m not going anywhere,” he told her firmly.

Her eyes turned stormy for a second before she scowled. “Fine,” she threw back the covers and jumped out of bed, “I’ll leave.”

She scooted toward the bathroom, trying to make her escape, but Logan was too quick. In two easy strides, he was caging her in against the wall. He leaned down but didn’t touch her.

Mia breathed in and out a few times as her nostrils flared in anger before her rage evaporated. She raised her eyes to his and he was alarmed to see sorrow laced with fear.

“Are you trying to scare me?” she asked in a strangled voice.

Logan took two steps back as pain seared his heart, and his animal yowled. “No, never.”

A tear trickled down her cheek. “Then leave.”

He stared at her in confusion and anguish for a few beats. “Is that what you want?”

She nodded and then fled into the bathroom. He groaned as he heard her barely muffled sobs. Fuck, how had things deteriorated between them so quickly?

How did Mia find out he was married? Had Maya told her somehow? He trembled as his beast pushed against him. He needed to let the bear out; he needed some kind of release.
Maybe then he could figure out what to do about this cluster-fuck situation.

Chapter Eleven

Sunday

Mia hugged her arms around herself as she stared up at her parents’ forbidding house. She’d spent the whole of Saturday moping around in her apartment, and now she had been summoned by her father to attend a Sunday family meal.

She groaned thinking of the reason her father wanted her there. Still, at least it would take her mind off a certain, seven-foot, sexy bear shifter.
Sort of.

She’d been going round in circles thinking about him. In hindsight, she was feeling a tad guilty. An emotion her censorious rabbit was more than happy to wallow in. Maybe she should have given him a chance to explain. Maybe.
Alright, yes she should
.

Okay, so he didn’t immediately deny it, but there could be a good explanation… she just couldn’t think of one at that moment. Separated! Maybe they were separated and just good friends. Yep, her animal was more than happy to get on board with that idea.

But why was she answering his phone? Well, if they were friends… And if it was so innocent, why hadn’t Logan told her about Maya?
Ummm…

Yep, that was the part that stumped her. It was a lie by omission.

Okay, so she knew a little bit of her guilt stemmed from the fact that she was keeping secrets from Logan too. But the only thing she had kept from him was her father’s unholy desire to get her into an arranged marriage and her best friend Julian. Although, the wolf was out of the bag about Julian now…
Crap, she still had to deal with that.

Julian had called her, but Mia let it go to voicemail. Yesterday, she hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone. She hoped against hope that Julian was just going to tell her that he was drunk, and it didn’t mean anything. Just like their last kiss; although at least this one was just a nose and cheek deal.
Last time it had been far more x-rated.

Back on topic, she wasn’t hiding a marriage from Logan. And, god, judging by his reaction, if she hadn’t found out he would never have told her.

Again, she was praying for a rational explanation. She felt a twinge over the fact that he hadn’t been clamoring to contact her and offer her an explanation. She’d checked her phone repeatedly and nothing, nada, zip.

Not that she was surprised. Yeah, he really hadn’t looked too happy when she threw him out of her apartment.
Was it any wonder he didn’t want to see her?

Maybe she should call him… And say what? I’m sorry I got upset over you being secretly married and making me your mistress!

Ugh, the situation was so… so…
fucked up!

Mia rested her head on the steering wheel and breathed in and out. Her rabbit mewled at her - whether in support or frustration she couldn’t tell. The animal was all over the place – just like her.
She would not cry; she would not cry.

A light tapping on the window had her screeching for all she was worth. As she clutched her chest, she turned to see her mother’s anxious face peering at her.

Mia reluctantly clambered out the car.

“Hey, Mom, sorry…”

“You should go home,” blurted her mom, Karen.

Mia blinked at her in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“Go home, now, and I’ll tell your father you were sick.” Karen’s eyes darted nervously between her daughter and the house.

“Why? What’s happened? Has Dad… has he… are you okay?”

She sensed the unease rolling through her mother. She was twittering even more than usual, and she was damn panicky about something. “I’m fine, honey, just… your Dad, he…”

“Mia!” roared Matthew, her father.

Both female rabbit shifters flinched as their beasts stilled before the angry predator. That was a tone of voice they knew all too well. Karen squeezed Mia’s hand reassuringly. “I’m sorry, honey,” she muttered.

Mia looked at her father in confusion. He was stood at their front door; every muscle in his body was tight and ready to pounce.
What the heck was happening?

“Get in the house, now!” he hissed. His voice even sounded booming when he was trying to be quiet.

Reluctantly, she followed her mother inside past her father. The look Matthew gave his mate was laced with disapproval and fury, but it was nothing compared to the downright acidic glance he gave Mia.

Gently, yet insistently, Matthew took Mia’s arm and led her into his study. Karen slipped in the room behind them, and although Matthew curled his lip at her, he didn’t say anything.

Mia was surprised to find her eldest brother, Holt, there too. Although similar to their father in nature, he was a lot more easygoing towards his family. Even more so since he had mated with a raccoon. At the moment, Holt was trying to hide his obvious embarrassment, only made worse by Mia’s appearance.

Mia turned to her father and hid her gasp as she noticed his eyes were already pitch black. “What’s wrong, Daddy?” she asked, guilelessly.

“Show her,” he ordered in a dangerously low voice.

Groaning, Holt swiveled the laptop on her father’s desk to face her. He pressed a button and then turned away to stare out of the window. She squeaked as she realized it was an amateur porn film of two people having sex.
Why would her father show her this?

She tried to turn away, and her father barked at her to watch it. Unenthusiastically, she did. The female was between the male’s legs, kissing his manhood for all she was worth. Within seconds, the large male pulled her up his body and ripped her skirt and panties away…

Holy crap on a cracker! The blood drained from her face.
That was her and Logan!

Mia rushed forwards and snapped the laptop shut. She turned to her father accusingly. “Where did you get that? Have you installed cameras in my apartment?”

His outrage and fury soared. “No, I have not!” he yelled. “I found the disc containing your little porno film on my porch this morning. Would you care to explain yourself?”

Mia twisted her fingers together. “I don’t know how you got it. Someone must have been filming me.”

Ice-cold dread filled her. Someone had been in her apartment and deliberately set up a camera. Someone who had no compunction about sending a video of her having sex to her strict and possessive father.

Logan? Had he been filming them for whatever perverted reason and then happily dropped off a copy with her father after she threw him out? Her rabbit wailed at her. No, he would never do that; deep down she still believed he loved her.

But if not him, then who? No one else, other than family members, had been in her apartment since she moved in.
At least, no one she knew of.

She shuddered at the thought. “Someone’s been filming me,” she whispered.

Her father looked at her in disgust, and she wanted to shrink to the size of a thimble. “Who is he?” She looked at him in confusion. “The man on the video!” he shouted.

“My boyfriend,” she replied, her voice cracking. “Or at least, the man who was my boyfriend…” she admitted sadly.

His jaw tensed. “How long have you been seeing him?”

Mia sniffled. “About six months.”

“Six fucking months!”

“Language,” admonished Karen softly.

Matthew whirled to look at his mate and wagged his finger at her. “I will swear if I fucking well want to swear! Don’t you dare talk down to me again, woman!”

Karen was nonplussed at his reaction, but Mia felt all the agony and ferocity that had been growing inside her over the past few days bubble to the surface. “Leave her alone!” she screamed.

All her family members looked at her in shock. Yep, tiny, little docile Mia was actually getting angry. She used her father’s dumbfounded look to her advantage.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him, but I knew you wouldn’t like him, so I kept him a secret. I was planning on telling you after I turned 25 so that you couldn’t say no to the marriage. But that’s all a moot point now anyway since we seem to have broken up.” She took a deep gulp of air at that moment and ignored the grumblings of her rabbit. “I don’t want to fight with you over this, but I haven’t done anything wrong. I wasn’t a virgin when I met him, and god only knows, no one in this room was a virgin when they met their mates. So I’ve no idea why you thought I would save myself for marriage.”

She looked at her father reproachfully. “Uncle Marcus told me what a horndog you used to be before you met Mom. So the fact that I’ve been with three men can hardly be cause for all this,” she waved her arms around, “furor.”

Karen rushed over to her daughter. “He’s not angry about you having sex…”

Her father snorted, and Karen gave Mia a little eye roll. “Well, maybe a little, he’s just upset about the tape and not knowing about your boyfriend. More importantly, we’re all concerned about your safety. I take it you didn’t know the camera was there?”

Mia looked at her mother aghast. “Of course not, I would never want to film myself doing that.”

Holt exhaled loudly. “Thank god, for a second there I thought my baby sister was leading a secret life.”

Karen clucked her tongue at her eldest son, while studiously avoiding the glower of her seething mate. She twitched her nose at her daughter as she chewed her lip. “Honey, you can’t go back to your apartment, clearly it’s not safe.”

Uh oh.
Alarm bells started ringing. “But…”

“You should stay here,” said Karen, gently.

“But…”

Karen gave her the widest most beseeching eyes she could. “Twice now your apartment has been broken into, and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing that you might be in danger.”

“But…”

“Listen to your mother!” snarled Matthew.

“Tomorrow, your father and your brothers will go to your apartment and…” Karen shook her head in revulsion. “And they’ll get rid of the camera, and we can see about some better security.”

Matthew huffed. “She should move back in here permanently until she gets married – problem solved!”

Karen released her daughter’s hands and silently made her way over to her mate. She leaned up and pressed a delicate kiss to his lips. Instinctively, he flicked his tongue over his lips, savoring her taste as she drew back.

She placed a hand over his heart. “It’s been a long day, dear. We’re all very upset; could we talk about this tomorrow, please?”

“Of course,” he breathed immediately.

Mia goggled at her dad. She had to hand it to her mom, small and gentle though she may be, she was still able to get her own way without even having to raise her voice.

Karen gave Mia a significant look and inclined her head at Holt who followed her out the room, pausing only to give Mia’s shoulder a squeeze.
Although he couldn’t look her in the eye yet
. He was still lamenting the fact that he had been in his father’s study when Matthew had first watched the disc. That was certainly not a part of his baby sister he ever wanted to become acquainted with.

Mia wrung her hands together. “I’m really sorry you had to see that Daddy.”

His wild eyes softened…
a smidge
. “So am I, baby girl.”

“I wasn’t doing anything wrong though,” she muttered reproachfully.

“I know. I just… sex should be special, between people who love each other. I regret the way I behaved before I met your mother; I regret not waiting for the right woman.”

Mia gaped at her father who was currently turning crimson. He’d left the birds and the bees talk up to Karen when it came to their kids. It was a little startling to hear him be so open about anything that pertained to the heart or the bedroom.

“Oh, ummm, okay, Daddy.”

Unexpectedly, he placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “You’re the most amazing girl in the world,” he said with feeling before he smiled wryly. “Apart from your mother, naturally. You deserve someone special, someone who will treat you the way you deserve.”

Matthew fidgeted after managing to rid himself of that uncomfortable sentiment. He soon resumed his normal cold and angry stare.

“For now, I want to know who the fuck has been threatening my baby girl,” he growled.

The softly spoken word ‘language!’ floated toward them, and Matthew huffed.

“What did I say about that, woman?” he roared half-playfully as he stalked out of the room.

Mia blushed as she scented a waft of both her father and her mother’s arousal.
Yeuch!

She dropped onto her dad’s leather couch and rubbed her temples. Her head felt like it was about to explode and yet the rest of her felt numb.

She thought about what her dad said. Logan is special… at least she thought he was… no, he still is, things have just hit a roadblock.
No, not a roadblock, it was more of a thirty car pileup
. Her rabbit deflated a little.

Plus, apparently someone had been watching her…

Mia clapped her hand to her mouth to stop herself from heaving. The thought of anyone spying on her most intimate moments with Logan was abhorrent. What if this person had been in the apartment while she was there?