Unbearable: Russet Falls Series (14 page)

But Zane blocked her way.

“Gabby,” he pleaded, “we don’t mean
to upset you. Honestly. Please believe Michael. We are shifters. Werebears.
Your father was also one, but he was supremely powerful, and that makes you
powerful. The others noticed it yesterday when you told Mick to leave you
alone.”

Gabby remembered how something
strange had occurred when she told Mick to back off. But she shook her head in
disbelief. “This is ridiculous! You’re all crazy!” she exclaimed, her voice
rising. “Now let me leave!”

Michael nodded and Quentin stood up.
Gabby wasn’t sure what was happening, but she didn’t like it.

Michael took a step back, and
Alicia moved from the couch to the table with Sam and Tommy.

“I didn’t want to have to tell you
this way,” Michael began.

“Fuck,” Zane muttered.

Gabby wanted to ask what was
happening, but then she gasped as she stared at Quentin, who was methodically
taking off his clothes.

“What the-’’

And then she wanted to scream, but
couldn’t.

Quentin was still Quentin—and yet,
he
wasn’t.

It was as if there was
something
moving under his skin, and his muscles begin to ripple and shake and then, was
she seeing correctly?

His chest was broadening from its
already large size, and growing bigger. His arms too! His biceps were bulging
and twisting, and she tried not to look below his waist, but his calves and
thighs were also thickening.

Her hand flew to her mouth as she
watched his skin darken as if a brown wave was rolling over his body. It took a
few moments but the brown was actually hair sprouting from his skin.

She felt Zane step closer to her,
protectively, and that’s when she looked at Quentin’s face and saw that it was
no longer the face of a man, but not quite the face of an animal. It appeared
that his nose was growing into a snout and then two brown ears sprouted from
the top of his head.

Quentin let out what reminded her
of a roar and his body rose up off the ground.

And then she screamed.

For Quentin was no longer a man
now, but a bear.

A bear.

A full-blooded, massive, brown
bear.

That’s when Gabby lost it.

“What the fuck?” she screamed.
“What the fuck is this?”

There was no choice between fight
or flight, and she turned around in sheer panic and ran smack into Zane, who
held her tight.

“It’s okay, Gabby, it’s okay. It’s
still Quentin. We tried to tell you. We’re bears. He’s a bear.’’

“No, no, no, no,” she cried,
pounding her fists against Zane’s ridiculously hard body, shaking her head so
hard that she thought her brain would rattle inside her skull. She needed out
of this freak show immediately. She didn’t know what kind of sick, twisted,
screwed up things were happening in this bizarre house, but she needed out, and
she needed out
now.

“Let me go!” she screamed, “Let me
go!”

She kicked, scratched and clawed at
Zane, crying hysterically as her heart hammered in her chest.

She was going to die.

There was a bear.

Who had been a man.

But was now a bear.

Gabby felt like she was losing her
mind, and the only thing she was certain of was that she needed to break free
of Zane and get out of this house before something worse happened.

But Zane held her tight.

“Please, please, please,” she
begged, crying. “Let me go, Zane. Let me go.” She was hysterical now, and she
continued to fight him with all her strength.

“I told you that was a bad fucking
idea!” Zane yelled over at Michael, yet still he held Gabby.

“Damn it,” she heard Michael curse,
and she heard approaching footsteps.

She screamed again. “No!” She was whipping
her head around wildly, looking for any sign of the bear.

The bear was still on the other
side of the room, pacing quietly, and just the sight of it pacing sent Gabby
into another fit, crying and yelling frantically.

Then Alicia was beside her, her big
green eyes warm and concerned. “I’m sorry, Gabby,” she apologized.

Gabby was too worked up and frantic
to have any idea what Alicia meant, but then she felt a prick and looked down
to see a large needle sticking into her arm.

“No!” she cried, but she could
already feel the medication. “Don’t,” she begged, feeling her body slacken.
“Please,” she murmured, as she let go of Zane, feeling her body droop.

Zane caught her, holding her tight
in his arms. “Why?’’ she whispered. She looked into Zane’s dark brown eyes,
which were filled with remorse.

Then everything went black.

Zane paced the floor anxiously, refusing
to look at where Michael was seated at Alicia’s small kitchen table.

“I told you it was a terrible
idea!” Zane burst out.

“Enough,” Michael said and Zane
felt the order move through him. He shook his head in anger. When Michael
mentioned that they could have Quentin shift in front of Gabby, he knew that
she would be terrified. He tried to warn Michael, but he would hear none of it.

And then when Michael mentioned
that they would sedate Gabby if need be, he knew it was another terrible
fucking idea.

And sure enough, everything had
been a disaster.

Gabby had been out for close to
three hours, and they had moved her to the extra bedroom in Alicia’s house.
Luckily Grayson wasn’t there, and it was just Michael and Zane waiting
downstairs while Alicia sat next to Gabby and waited for her to wake up.

“And now what?” Zane asked
furiously.

Michael sighed. “We tell her about
our offer.”

Zane let out a hard laugh. “Our
offer
.
You make it sound like she has a choice.”

Michael gave a small shrug. “She
has a choice.”

“Right. She can choose us, or
choose to die.”

“Depends on how you look at it.”

Zane shook his head angrily.

Alicia appeared at the top of the
stairs. “She’s awake. Give us a few minutes.” Then she disappeared from view.

Zane hurried to the bottom of the
staircase and waited. He tapped his foot anxiously, wanting to see Gabby. Even
though she was a pistol and she drove him up a wall, he found himself fiercely
protective of her, and even more so now that she would be forced to have a life
among the clan.

A small part of him hoped that she
would choose him as a mate, but he knew she would hate him if and when she ever
learned about his part in her father’s death.

“Alright,” Alicia called from
upstairs, and Zane took the steps two at a time, Michael following behind him.

He walked into the small bedroom
that would become Gabby’s room. Only she didn’t know this quite yet.

Gabby looked tired and worn out,
and she propped herself up on her elbows and frowned at Zane and Michael.

“Alicia says I didn’t dream it,”
she said, her voice horse from all the screaming and yelling she had done. She
looked hard at Zane and Michael, willing them to tell her otherwise.

Michael shook his head. “No. I’m
sorry.”

Gabby closed her eyes, sinking back
down onto the pillow. Zane watched as two tears slid down her cheeks. “How is
it possible?”

“We don’t know,” Michael spoke up.
“It’s just been this way for all of us. This is our way of life. There are
other shifter animals too. And other bear clans in the area. Your father was
part of a different clan.”

Gabby opened one eye and looked at
Michael. “There’s something else you’re not telling me,” she said
matter-of–factly.

“Yes. Now that you realize we are
in fact shifters, I have to tell you the rest.” Michael pulled up a chair and
sat beside Gabby.

“Don’t sit next to me,” she
snapped. Then she looked up at Zane. “You sit next to me.”

Michael didn’t seem bothered and
simply stood up, moving out of the way so Zane could sit next to her. Zane
nodded and moved close to her. He noticed Alicia standing uncomfortably in the
doorway.

Michael took a deep breath.
“There’s more to the story than the fact that your father was a bear king, and
that we are shifters. The problem is that the clan your father belonged to
wants you.”

Gabby eyed them suspiciously. “What
do you mean
wants me
?”

“We aren’t sure exactly, but it was
no coincidence that you were chased by a bear, that multiple bears showed up at
the park while you were there and that you were nearly killed yesterday.”
Michael cleared his throat, continuing, “And I don’t think they want you for
the right reasons. I believe they intend to kill you and gain power from
spilling your blood.”

She stared, her mouth hanging open.

Zane carefully watched her
reaction.

“I believe if we allow you to go
back to your father’s clan or allow you off our lands and out of our
protection, you will be slaughtered.”

“Christ,” Zane muttered, “Do you
have to put it that way?”

Michael turned a sharp gaze to him.
“I know no other way to put it that conveys the graveness of the situation.”

Gabby continued to stare, and Zane
couldn’t help but notice the swell of her chest as she took in small breaths.
She was clearly trying not to freak out.

“So what exactly are you saying?”
Gabby demanded.

“I’m saying that for your safety,
you should remain with our clan.”

Gabby blinked, her mouth dropping
open as she took in this news.

“And there’s more,” Michael added,
“your blood makes you very valuable to us, so I have to ask that you choose a
mate and help us produce offspring.”

“What?” Gabby exploded, leaping out
of bed.

Zane tried to help her back down,
but she swatted at him. “Don’t touch me!” She moved like she was going to yell
at Michael, but then she rounded on Zane. “This is your fault!” she yelled,
jabbing a finger at him. Then she looked from Zane to Michael. “So what? That’s
it? I can either go out and get killed by another tribe or stay here and fuck
one of you bear-weres or werebears or whatever the hell it is you call
yourself?”

Zane nodded.

“Then maybe I’ll take my chances!
Maybe one of the other tribes won’t kill me!” she said hotly.

The thought of the Cruentus, or
worse the Atrocitas, getting their hands on Gabby made Zane nearly lose his
mind. He jumped up and grabbed Gabby by the wrist. “You don’t know what you’re
dealing with!” he said loudly. “We are the gentlest of the three clans! Even if
they don’t kill you, I can promise you that you that they will take full
advantage of your heritage! They could lock you up and rape you repeatedly, or
let bear after bear have his way with you and turn you into nothing but a
breeding machine, popping out cub after cub, year after year!”

Gabby paled as she listened to
Zane, and she sank to the bed as Zane continued on.

“It’s not ideal what Michael is
offering you, I know that! I didn’t want this for you. But it is your best
option. He’s offering you a
mate.
As in,
one
. You can pick
someone from the clan, start a life with them and have children only with that
one bear. No sharing, no breeding, no imprisonment.”

He could see that he was getting
through to Gabby, but then the word
imprisonment
set her off.

“But it is imprisonment,” she
sobbed. “That’s what you’re telling me! My life as I knew it is over!” She
paused, pacing the room. “No! No! I won’t do it! Fuck all of you! You can’t
hold me here! You can’t force me to do this! I’ll go to the police! I’ll run
away! This is insane!”

“Gabby,” Michael said, moving
towards her, “I’m so sorry. We’ll give you some time for this to sink in. We’ve
arranged for you to stay here at Alicia’s.”

“Wait,” she said, looking up. “I—I have
to stay here? I can’t go back to my apartment?” Her lower lip trembled.

Michael shook his head. “I’m sorry.
We’ll have your things brought to you, and if you are uncomfortable here with
Alicia, then we can make other arrangements for the time being—until you choose
a mate.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered, sinking
down on the bed again. “Get out!” she screamed suddenly, throwing a glass of
water at the door. Zane and Michael ducked, and Alicia appeared.

“Give her space,” Alicia murmured.

Feeling like a piece of shit, Zane
looked at Gabby one more time; she was laying across the bed sobbing,

“Zane,” Michael said in a low
voice, “Let’s give her some space.”

Zane had no choice but to obey, and
he left Gabby in Alicia’s hands.

When she had finished crying and
was done feeling sorry for herself, she got up and washed her face in the
bathroom sink. Her eyes were puffy and red, but there was nothing she could do
about that now. She vowed that she would not shed another tear over this
situation.

And honestly, she was not just
going to sit back and let this clan of nut job bears try to dictate her life.

Screw that.

She went downstairs where Alicia
was humming and wiping down the kitchen. She looked cautiously over at Gabby.
“How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Gabby said, not caring
if she was being short with Alicia. “So now that I’m stuck here, what is
supposed to happen next?”

“Well,” Alicia said carefully, “You
can settle in here and make yourself comfortable. Then you can think about
finding a mate. I promise you, there are many great men in our clan, and I’m
sure that they will begin pursuing you.”

“And what does that mean?”

“They will begin showing up at my
door.” Alicia watched Gabby closely. “Though Michael has told them to give you
a few days to let everything sink in. But then, they will show up and ask to
spend time with you. Here. If you’re interested, then you can allow them to
take you out on an actual date.”

“So what?” Gabby asked
sarcastically, “These are, like, the bear dating rules?”

Alicia chuckled. “Sort of.”

There was a knock at the door, and
Alicia went to answer it. Gabby was going to freak out if these bears were
already pursuing her. Instead, Alicia came back with Zane behind her.

“Do you want to see him?” Alicia
asked.

Zane gave Alicia a lethal look.

Gabby was still upset.

“Sure. Why not?” she snapped.

Alicia nodded. “I’ll leave you two
alone.”

She left the kitchen, and Gabby
plopped down in a seat at the table.

“I’m not going to stay here,” she
said matter-of-factly as Zane took a seat next to her.

“I figured you would say as much.
I’m afraid you don’t have the choice.”

“I’ll just run away.”

Zane rolled his eyes angrily. “Then
you’ll be killed!”

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Damn it, Gabby! Be smart here!”

“How about you all be smart? Did
anyone stop to consider the fact that I have a sister? What’s to stop the other
clans from going after her?”

Zane ran a hand through his hair.
“Michael and I were just discussing that. We don’t believe your sister has the
same royal blood. According to our lore, only the first-born child of a king
has the powerful blood.”

“So, does that make me a queen or
something?” Gabby snarked, thinking that might not be half bad.

Zane laughed just a little. “Sort
of. You will certainly get perks within the clan. But Michael is our leader.”

“And you?” Gabby asked, peering at
Zane, “What are you?”

“I’m his Second.”

“His second?”

“Second in command.”

Gabby nodded. She paused, looking
over Zane’s chiseled body and his warm brown eyes. There was no denying the
attraction between them; her pulse had quickened the second he came into the
room. She could think of worse things than sleeping with him, but she sure as
hell wasn’t going to do it because someone told her she
had
to.

“I think you’re checking me out,”
he said cockily, leaning back in his chair.

“Go to hell,” she shot back, her
cheeks flushing, but Zane only laughed.

“You were!”

“I was not!”

Zane leaned in; he was so close
that Gabby could see each thick individual eyelash and smell his warm, woodsy
scent. “It would be so easy,” he breathed, his mouth only inches from her. “You
and I. Together. You could pick me.” He paused, his breath noticeably
quickening. “Think about it. You and I. We both know the attraction is there.”

Gabby felt her heart accelerate and
her nipples hardened within her bra. It would be so easy to give herself over
to Zane and let him have his way with her. She could just imagine the powerful
lover he would be, taking control in all the right ways. And the thought of
what lay between his legs…

Well, that was almost more than she
could handle. She had noticed his size when he had been hard against her last
night in her apartment.

She felt her sex clench, and she
had to close her eyes against the onslaught of her dirty thoughts. Falling into
bed with Zane would be so easy.

Amazing.

Mind-blowing.

But it would be
mating.

Something about that word brought
her back to reality, and she leaned away from Zane, shaking her head to clear
her lustful thoughts.

“No,” she said flatly.

Zane sat back in the chair, looking
at her scornfully. “You’re just being difficult.”

“And you just want to fuck me!”

“Is that a bad thing?”

She opened her mouth to reply, but
closed it. She wasn’t going to play these games with him anymore.

“Think about it,” he murmured, and
Gabby looked away, not wanting to give away just how turned on she actually
was.

Just then, Alicia came rushing in,
and Gabby was grateful for the distraction.

Until she saw Alicia’s face.

“Zane,” she choked. “There’s been another
cub.”

Gabby wasn’t sure what this meant,
but Zane jumped out of his seat. “Who?” he demanded.

“Liam,” Alicia sobbed.

Zane made a strangled sound and
pulled Alicia to his chest, hugging her hard. “No, no,” he said, “It can’t be.”

Alicia continued to cry. “Michael
needs you,” she choked out.

Zane released Alicia and turned to
Gabby, his face full of pain. “I’m sorry, Gabby. I have to go.”

And before she could ask any
questions, or even say anything at all, he rushed out the door.

Gabby stood there in the middle of
Alicia’s kitchen, which was slowly darkening as the sun went down. She didn’t
know what had just happened, and she felt helpless as Alicia sobbed. She slowly
moved towards Alicia. “Alicia?” she asked quietly. Alicia was facing the wall,
hugging herself, sobbing silently as her shoulders heaved up and down.

“Alicia,” she repeated, “I’m not
sure what’s going on, but can I do anything to help?”

Alicia turned around, her face
streaked with tears. “You can get over yourself already and help our damn
clan!” she cried, before rushing out of the room.

Stunned, Gabby stood there. What
the hell had just happened? She tried not to feel hurt; clearly Alicia was
dealing with something.

“She didn’t mean that,” Grayson
said quietly, causing Gabby to jump. She hadn’t heard him enter the house. “Her
nephew was just killed.’’

“Oh my God,” Gabby gasped, “How?”

“We believe bears from another
tribe are killing our cubs. We’ve had a number of cubs killed over the past few
months. They’re just kids!”

Gabby stared helplessly. That was
horrible.

“Our blood is already diluted,”
Grayson explained “because so many of us are mating with non-shifters. A number
of our children are born as non-shifters, so we treasure our shifter children
who will continue to produce more shifters. That’s why your blood is so
important. You can help build our shifter population.” He was blunt, but
honest. Gabby had to admire that. But that didn’t change how she felt.

“I’m very sorry,” was all she could
say.

“I need to go be with her,” Grayson
said nodding in the direction Alicia had gone.

Gabby watched him leave and then
sank down into a kitchen chair. Her head was spinning from everything that had
happened. She had been told that her father had been a bear, a
shifter
who could change from a man into a beast. And she herself had the same powerful
blood, making her some rare exception, even though she couldn’t shift. She had
been kidnapped and ordered to live a new life while picking a
mate
and
producing bear cubs.

It was just too much to comprehend
and she wasn’t going to let anyone else tell her how she should live her life.

“Screw this,” she muttered.

She hated taking advantage of the
fact that Alicia was suffering, but she had to take this opportunity. She
quickly went to the front door and slipped outside. She wasn’t sure where she
was, but she ran down the dirt road, grateful for the darkened sky that was
helping to hide her. The street was lined with a few other small houses, and
Gabby was surprised at the remoteness of the area. Even though she didn’t know
exactly where she was, she was sure Sam and Tommy hadn’t taken her too far.

The street came to a fork, and she
squinted into the distance. It looked like Michael’s house was up ahead on a
small hill. Maybe if she headed that way she  could recover her sense of
direction. She jogged down the dirt road, clinging to the shadows. Sure enough,
it was Michael’s house that she approached.

Curiosity got the best of her and
she quietly made her way closer. She noticed that Zane and Michael were sitting
on the front porch, and she couldn’t help but want to eavesdrop. Remembering
that Michael and Zane could turn into bears, she hoped that they wouldn’t be
able to hear her creeping around the yard.

She stealthily made her way up to
the side of the house, and she realized that she could hear them clear as day.
She hoped she would get lucky and learn where the hell she was so she could
figure her way out of this sketchy bear territory.

“-just like the others,” Zane
growled.

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“But he was just a kid! He was only
five!”

“They were all young, Zane, but I
know that you were particularly close to Liam.”

“I hadn’t spent as much time around
him in the last year,” he pointed out, his voice gruff, yet emotional. “But he
was such a sweet cub. He was nuts about Alicia.”

“This is devastating for all of us.
As soon as the sun is up, we will investigate further. It happened near the
Atrocitas border.”

“Of course it did, those dirty
motherfuckers!” Zane swore.

“Enough. That will get us nowhere.
Now tell me, where do things stand with Gabby?”

Zane laughed harshly, making Gabby
wince. “I have no idea. What should we say? ‘Hey Gabby, our cubs are getting
killed, hurry up and mate, please.’ ’’

There was silence for a moment.

“Perhaps she will choose you,”
Michael said thoughtfully.

Another harsh laugh. “Right. Until
she finds out the truth.”

Truth? What was Zane talking about?
Gabby had an uneasy feeling; she didn’t like what Zane’s words implied.

“You must tell her.”

“How?” Zane snapped. “How do I tell
her that?”

Again there was silence.

“No, perhaps its best that she
doesn’t know how her father died.”

What? Her father? A sick feeling
filled Gabby’s stomach.

“I was a kid,” Zane argued, his
voice filled with remorse. “How could I have known? And your father – your
father was so good to me, he helped me.”

“We all make mistakes,” Michael
said wisely.

“Oh yes,” Zane said sharply, “we
all kill bear kings.”

Gabby froze as his words sank in.

Kill.

Bear.

Kings.

Zane was afraid she would learn the
truth
.

The truth about her father’s death.

It was Zane.

There was no other way of
understanding his words.

She wanted to scream, to sob and
pull her hair out.

She couldn’t hear any more.

Covering her mouth to stop herself
from crying out, she hurried back down the hill as quick as she dared, so as
not to be discovered. It was all too much.

She ran and ran, staying to the
side of the dirt road, not paying any attention to where she was going.

Tears poured down her cheeks, and
she stumbled and tripped along the way, scraping and tearing her skin, but she
didn’t care.

When she finally couldn’t run
anymore, her legs gave out and she collapsed in a heap in the grass, crying for
the father she had lost so many years ago.