Wild Mate: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (10 page)

She spun round at that
disgusting, familiar voice.

“
Phin,” she spat.

“
It's good you can still
recognize your husband's voice, and remember your husband's name. I
thought you'd forgotten all about me, after humping that big, blond
beefcake.” Phin circled her, smirking.

Rebecca bit the inside of her
cheek. She didn't have to deny or confirm anything. She didn't have
to explain herself to scum such as him. Those days were over. She
feared him no more. And she would give him no more power over her.

Rebecca simply stood still and
stared him straight in the eye. She didn't even bother trying to
cover herself with her hands, even though she was stark naked, fresh
out of her shower. Her hair was dripping, and water droplets were
slowly trickling down her legs to form a small puddle at her feet.

“
Why am I here?
How...did I get here?” she said tightly, pivoting on her heel
to stare at him levelly as he circled her. It was obvious that he
was trying to make her feel like a cornered prey, make her fear him.
She had fallen for that trick before. She had been so shocked, and
bewildered, unable to fully comprehend how and why the man she had
married had morphed into a monster overnight. His violent temper and
rages had stunned and terrified her. And he had used her fear and
her silence viciously and ruthlessly against her.

Well, now she knew better.

He was nothing but a coward, a
monstrous, brutish coward.

She almost laughed aloud at
herself. How could she have been afraid of a coward?

What did that make her?

Rebecca flicked her gaze to
the silent figures standing in the shadows against the wall, watching
them.

“
Who are they? Friends
of yours?” she smirked. “Somehow I don't think so. I
don't think they'd want to make you their
friend
. Their slave
maybe.”

“
You!”

She saw his face contort with
rage, but he didn't make a move to strike her. She smiled slowly.
She was right. Phin was afraid of them, whoever and whatever they
were.

She recalled the mist, and the
choking sensation. She raised a brow at the realization that she had
been misted here. “Are they...vampires?” She gave him a
smug, knowing look. “They are, aren't they?”

Phin snarled at her. “Shut
up, slut!”

One of the vamps spoke up.
“That's enough. Lock her in the back room with the other
human. You have work to do, Phin.”

Phin scowled and grabbed
Rebecca by the arm. He shoved her towards a small door at the back
of the room. Unlocking the door, he pushed her through the narrow
doorway. “Get in,” he shouted.

Rebecca stumbled and landed on
her hands and knees.

By the time she struggled up,
the door had slammed shut behind her.

She felt her way through the
darkness to the door, and jiggled the door knob furiously.
Scratching and kicking, she attacked the door until she heard a small
sound behind her. It sounded like it had come from the far corner of
the room.

Rebecca whirled round, putting
her back to the door. She squinted but she couldn't see anything in
the pitch blackness.

“
Who's there?” she
demanded, glad that her voice sounded stronger than she felt.

“
Hi.”

“
Is Hi your name?”

“
No.” The laugh
was gentle. “My name is Oliver Woods. I've been kidnapped by
these vamps and I've been sitting in the dark for...I don't know, a
day or two now.”

“
Oliver.” She
took a steadying breath. “What are you, Oliver? Are you
human, or...?”

“
Yeah. I'm human. Are
you
human?” His tone was leery.

“
Yes. Yes, I am. I'm
Rebecca. I...I was taken right out of my shower. I'm dripping wet
and I don't have anything to wear.” She didn't know why she
told him that.

There was a moment of utter
silence. Then she heard movement, and she began to inch away.

“
W-what are you doing?”
she gulped. “D-don't come any closer! I'm warning you! I...”

“
I'm just taking off my
jacket,” Oliver said. She could hear him take a tentative step
forward. “So you can wear it. I'll just stand here, and hold
my jacket out, okay?”

When she made no response, he
sighed and went on, “Look, I've been kidnapped and had every
inch of my neck pierced by new vamps trying out their brand new
fangs. I heard the vamps laughing about it. I'm weak from blood
loss, hungry, scared, and regretting I ever let my brother talk me
into going to Club Mate. I might not live to see another friendly
face. You're the only friendly...voice here, since I can't see your
face. I'm not going to try anything funny with you.”

“
You...you were at Club
Mate?” Rebecca felt her eye twitching.

“
Yes. That's where we
were attacked. My brother, Oscar and I have never been to a blood
bar before, and Oscar wanted to just have a look-see. We didn't stay
long. We left after the first act, that fire-eating act. We were
just leaving by the backdoor when these two vamps attacked us. Oscar
escaped. But here I am.”

“
You weren't there to
see the strippers?” she prodded.

“
No, that's not why we
went there. Oscar wanted to see why so many of our human friends
frequented the blood bars. They would wear fake fangs and pretend to
be vamps or demons. We thought it was kind of stupid, and now that
we're been inside a blood bar, we do think it's pretty stupid. These
blood bars are meant to keep the vamps and blood demons from hunting
humans, from drinking straight from our necks. And yet these foolish
humans walk into these bars, giggling and baring their necks for all
these blood suckers. They're just tempting the vamps and demons to
break the law and bite them!”

Rebecca bit her lip, wondering
what Oliver would say if she told him that she was a stripper at Club
Mate. She decided to keep that tidbit to herself.

“
I gather it's not your
scene then,” she said dryly.

Oliver snorted in reply.

Rebecca shuffled her way
towards Oliver, using his voice to guide her. Her hand closed around
a shaking, thin wrist.

“
Ow! Ouch, ouch!”
Oliver yelped. “Shit!”

“
Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so
sorry!” Rebecca withdrew her hand immediately. She hadn't
grabbed him that hard. Why would he yell out like that?

“
I'm sorry,”
Oliver apologized. “It's not your fault. You didn't hurt me.
Those vamps did. They pierced my neck, my wrists, my
arms...everywhere! I'm like a bloody pin cushion!”

Rebecca gasped. “Oh
God, I'm so sorry...”

“
Here, take it. Go on.”
She felt a soft, warm jacket being shoved at her.

“
T-thank you.”

She heard Oliver sigh in the
darkness as she draped the jacket around her naked body. The way the
jacket fitted her told her that Oliver wasn't a very tall, broad man.
He certainly didn't have Levi's build. Instead, she gathered Oliver
was rather slim and more or less around her height.

“
I really don't want to
die here,” he mumbled. “But I wonder if anyone even
knows where we are.”

Rebecca felt her way to him.
He was sitting down, leaning against the wall, and she slid down
beside him. Their shoulders touched lightly.

“
The PAC Enforcers will
find us,” she said with conviction.
Levi will find me
.

Oliver remained silent.

“
How many of them are
there?” Rebecca asked after a long while.

“
You mean the vamps? I
think there're three or four of them. But only two of them use me as
their training cup. So perhaps the rest are going to use you...”
His voice trailed off, and Rebecca heard him swallow hard. She
heard him fidgeting and swearing softly beside her. After a moment,
he suddenly seemed to freeze. “I'm sorry, but what did you say
your name was again?” he asked slowly.

“
Rebecca.”

“
Are you...Rebecca
Rose?”

“
I...how...?”
Rebecca struggled to get the words out. “Y-yes. I am Rebecca
Rose, but how did you know my full name?”

“
I heard that man
mention your name. Repeatedly.” Oliver's tone was cautious.

“
Who? What?”

Rebecca could hear the frown
in his voice when he spoke again, “One of them isn't a vampire.
He's human. I think. But...he seems to have certain paranormal
powers.”

“
That man is Phin
Lester,” Rebecca said.

“
Yes, yes. I heard the
vamps calling his name. Phin, yeah. When the vamps took me out of
this room, I saw him, and he was behaving really strangely. He was
just staring at a blank wall, but it seemed like he was seeing
something, something only he could see. He kept snarling and
cursing, and I heard him scream your name. He said...” Oliver
gulped.

“
What did he say? It's
all right. Just tell me.”

Another gulp. “He said
he'd kill you. And your bear lover.”

Rebecca reeled. “How
did he...?”

“
Okay, I know it's no
business of mine.” Oliver took a deep breath and continued,
“But I think...he saw you—through the eyes of that bear
guy.”

Rebecca started to shake, and
she wrapped her arms tightly around herself. “What makes you
say that?” she whispered at last.

“
I don't mean to upset
you. I just thought I should warn you,” Oliver said softly.

Rebecca nodded even though she
knew Oliver couldn't see her in the inky darkness.

“
Phin Lester is my
ex-husband,” she said in a dead voice. “He beat me, all
the time. I had to go to the hospital, many times, and each time, I
always told them that I'd had a fall.”

Oliver remained utterly silent
beside her.

“
When I filed for
divorce, he tried to kill me. He escaped from the psychiatric ward
and came for me. He didn't manage to kill me, but he did manage to
put me in a coma. When I woke up, a PAC Enforcer was in the hospital
room with me. He had been assigned by the PAC to protect me. He's
the bear guy.”

Rebecca hiccuped a sob and she
felt cold, clammy fingers reach for her hand. “I'm sorry. I
know that's not the words you want to hear, but I am sorry. I truly
am,” Oliver muttered.

Rebecca gave Oliver's thin,
shivering hand a light squeeze.
Everything will be all right.

“
Do you know where we
are?” Rebecca sniffed.

“
I think...we're in some
sort of old underground bunker.”

“
Makes sense. Vamps
don't like the sun, so I guess an underground bunker is the perfect
hideout for them.”

“
How...” Oliver
began and hesitated.

“
It's okay. You can ask
me anything.” Rebecca shrugged. “What is it you want to
know, Oliver?”

“
This, um, remote
viewing thing. Was your ex-husband able to do this all along? Or
did he buy an under-the-counter spell or something from a witch...?”

Rebecca shook her head. “I
really don't know. I don't think he had this ability while we were
married. We weren't married long, but...no, I'm pretty sure he
couldn't see through another person's eyes then. One night, while
Phin was beating the shit out of me in our kitchen, he was taken away
by a blood demoness to her demon lord. The demon lord drank his
blood, and made Phin ingest some of his demon blood. Phin was
brought back to the city after the torture and thrown into the
psychiatric ward. I suspect the demon blood has something to do with
his change, but I really don't know and I really don't care. Phin is
a monster, with or without the demon blood in him.”

She could sense Oliver nodding
quietly in the dark. “So now the vamps are using your
ex-husband,” Oliver said.

“
Using Phin? How?”

She heard Oliver release a
shuddering breath, before he replied, “To spy for them. I
heard them talking, and I gathered...that your bear guy is a PAC
Enforcer.”

Levi sat at the long
conference table in the PAC meeting room and glared at Jett. Why had
Jett dragged him into a Council meeting instead of letting him go
search for Rebecca? Time was of the essence. He shouldn't be
sitting around, listening to a Council discussion when he could be
doing something.

Jett was reporting the rogue
vampire attack to the Council. “Oscar Woods is in a stable
condition, and recovering well. But we still haven't found his
brother, Oliver Woods. I sent two of my vampire Enforcers, Faye
White and Evan Barnes, after the rogues, but the trail went cold.
They traced the rogues to the edge of New Moon City, and then all
traces of the rogues just disappeared. Completely.” Jett
threw out his hands. “How is that possible?”

Lucas Rieve, the PAC Alpha,
turned his eyes to Glenn Constantine, the Master vampire on the
Council. “Is that possible, Glenn?”