Bear's Gold (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (17 page)

You can trust him.
The voice inside her reminded her.
She’d lived with him and his sons for a week and they had kept her safe. None
of that mattered, she told herself—it had all been a lie.

Chapter
Eleven

“Riley, I don’t want you to rush off
like this. Confused and afraid.” His thumbs stroked her arms. “I can see fear
all over you. Smell its sour musk. It doesn’t have to end like this. Stay a
little while longer and talk to me. Remember we are the same people you’ve
gotten to know, just a little different.”

“I…can’t.” Her voice broke as she
shook her head. “I need to go.”

She glanced away from him unable to
stare into those dark compelling eyes. Flashes of them metallic gold with
desire filled her mind, she blinked it away.

“Alright, I won’t force you.” He
dropped his hands as if he couldn’t bear to touch her any longer.

He began to turn when she stopped
him, needing the answer to one question that had been nagging at the back of
her mind. “You bit me.”

His gaze roamed along her face until
it landed at the curve of her shoulder, the spot in question hidden by her
shirt. Those dark orbs of his flashed bright for a moment then the shine faded
as his glanced back into her eyes. Finishing her thoughts, he said, “Don’t
worry, Riley, it takes three bites before you become one of us…infected.”

She wanted to feel relief at his
words, but couldn’t as she watched him turn and walk away, taking one twin’s
hand in each of his as he moved further into the crowd of onlookers.

Her eyes began to burn as the three
Kodiak men moved completely out of her reach. She should have said good-bye to
the boys. Explained why she had to go. Let them know she didn’t dislike them.
They were children, little more than toddlers, and she knew from experience of
working with that age group that they would blame themselves. However, it was
too late for that now. That bridge had been burned. Theo wouldn’t let her close
to his boys ever again.

“Riley?”

Turning to the person now standing
at her side, she looked at Jack. He stood there with her keys dangling from his
fingers. “Theo wanted me to give you these.”

She stared at the keys. Something
that she had wanted for the last five days now seemed so unimportant. Reaching
up, she grabbed them.

“Thank you, Jack.” Those damn tears
became more insistent, but she held on to her sanity for just a moment longer.
If she gave in to crying it was possible she wouldn’t be able to stop. Taking a
shaky breath, she firmed up her resolve.
It was time to go, Riley.

“You’re welcome, little lady.” His
face held understanding as he said, “If it is any consolation, my mother was a
human female who my father fell in love with and changed. I grew up hearing
stories of how hard my father had to work to convince her. Seeing our world
through an outsider’s eyes can be hard.”

Unable to resist, she wrapped her
arms around the older man and whispered, “I appreciate your words. Please tell
everyone…Theo… that I didn’t mean to hurt him and the twins. I just—”

“Don’t worry about that Were-bear;
he’ll find some way to deal with it.” Jack patted her back.

Nodding, Riley stepped away. She was
sure that Theo would be better after tomorrow night; he’d find an available
female during the run that was already a part of his world. Someone that would
help him raise his boys.

“Thank you for everything.”

“Your car is at the end of the
opening of the fairgrounds on the main street. I’ll bring a couple Weres with
me to clear the barriers for you.”

“Okay.” She turned to head to her
car.

“Riley, if you ever need anything,
my address is on the card in your glove compartment.”

Smiling at his kindness, she moved
through the path the people created for her. Like the Red Sea, people parted
before her as if she had some kind of disease they didn’t want to catch.
Ignorance
was always contagious.

Understandable, they didn’t want to
have any contact with her. Blocking her mind, she kept her pace brisk and fast
as she crossed the grassy area headed to town.

“Ms. Riley! Ms. Riley!”

“Wait! Ms. Riley, wait!”

Hearing her name chanted she turned
to see Bernie and Aubrey running in a full sprint toward her.

Her heart swelled. Bending down, she
scooped them up in her arms as they squeezed her in a tight hug. The tears
escaped her eyes then.

“I’m sorry I have to leave, boys,” she
told them.

“Dad said you have to see your
family,” Bernie said once she’d set them on their feet on the ground again.

Theo had protected her and his boys.
Kept them from hating her, because of her rejection of what they were.

“We’re going to miss you.” Aubrey
wiped the tears off her cheek.

“I’ll miss you two as well. Be good
boys for your father.” She stroked her hands over their wind-tousled dark hair.

“We will.” Bernie leaned in and
kissed her cheek.

Aubrey claimed the other one.

Smiling, she gave them one last hug
and left.

Five minutes later, she pulled up to
the barriers blocking the main street of town from unwanted visitors during
their festival week. Jack had two men with him; both of them took hold of an
end of one of the concrete barriers and lifted, taking it out of her path. She
could not help but be impressed at the strength of the Were-males as they did
the job normally accomplished in her world by a forklift.

With her foot on the gas, she drove past
Jack and smiled as he waved good-bye.

His words about his parents haunted
her as she traveled down the highway leaving the county. She wondered if one
day she could have grown to accept the shifter life; unafraid of her own human
weakness in the face of their strength and ability. She doubted it. The big
difference was that Jack’s parents had love to guide them through his mother’s
transition/acceptance. Not the same for her and Theo.
Liar
, her heart
told her.

~YH~

Theo sat in his living room starting
at fire blazing in his hearth. Soon after Riley had left, he’d taken his boys
and returned home. None of the Kodiak males had felt like a concert or log
rolling. The last thing he’d needed was to be around people who looked at him
with pity.

Damn it.
He wanted to tear up something with
his bare hands. He hadn’t put a claim on Riley. There was no need for the
people of Den to look at him as if she’d walked away from his commitment
request. They all had known from the beginning that Riley would leave. Her stay
here was an accident, a temporary situation. Nothing more was expected.

Liar
, his bear taunted.

He chose to ignore the word. Two
good lays and a bite did not make a partner. There was a compatibility and
connection.

His bear reminded him, he
had
connected with Riley. The two mind-links they’d shared. Something that
shouldn’t have happened with him only biting her once. He shook his head not
willing to dissect the reasons behind it happening.

His bear refused to give up, showing
him the image of Riley on the fairgrounds going feral on Gordon when the other
man had dared to put his hands on Bernie and Aubrey. He’d been across the field
when he spotted the interaction. As he’d run toward the small group full tilt,
he’d seen Riley’s gaze turn red and the roaring speech coming from her mouth as
she launched at Gordon making the man stumble. Something not possible for a
human woman.

Theo explained it away thinking
about humans who performed extraordinary feats when someone they loved was in
harm’s way.  Riley had acted like a mama-bear against someone attacking
her
cubs.

However, they weren’t hers, nor did
she want them to be. He shoved up from the seat and went outside to stand on
his front porch. He couldn't believe that a week ago Riley had stumbled onto
his doorstep and ingrained herself into his life.

Into your heart.

“Shit! Fuck it! Let it go,” he
roared at his bear. Just because his bear had claimed Riley, marked her once,
didn’t make her his.

This had to be a sign of insanity.
Maybe he’d experienced more than a normal Were-bear could handle. He’d only
been at odds with his bear one other time. In his youth, when he’d been out on
his own, searching out the world becoming a man, in the end he’d decided to
return to Den and his bear had whined for him not to give up. Keep searching.
Then Theo didn’t know what or who he was supposed to be finding and realized it
was time for him to settle down.

She was it.

Theo drove his fingers through his
hair in frustration. The urge to shift and run ate at him, but he’d already
done his check for the night and he didn’t like to leave the boys for extended
periods.

Go after her.

A part of him wanted to ask how his
bear had determined that Riley was the one he’d been looking for all those
years, but he refused to drag himself through the tortures of assumptions and
hypothesis from his animal side. Most likely to end up with no more answers but
that his bear wanted her to be.

Yes, the sex had been incredible
between them, more profound than he’d ever experienced before, even with Cindy,
but that wasn’t enough. His boys had fallen for her and that still wasn’t
enough. He’d followed his bear’s leading for years and had still come up empty
handed. He would not do that to himself again.

Besides he was a papa of two cubs
that needed him.

Lifting his hand he stroked his
chin, feeling the bristles of his beard, rough against his hand. He’d grown the
beard after Cindy’s death. In some ways he’d used it to hide, not face his loneliness.

Riley had made him feel alive. Being
around her had shown him he’d been attempting to bury himself along with Cindy.
Now it was time for him to start living again, time for a change.

Even without Riley.

His core shook as his bear roared in
sorrow within him.

So, just like before, he’d attend
the festival bear run and would find another mate. It was time for him to get
on with his life. That life didn’t include Riley. Best his bear came to grips
with that.

Chapter
Twelve

“Hi, mom. You mind if I help you all
with breakfast?” Riley came into the kitchen of her parents’ house, the home
she’d been raised in until she left for college. Last night she’d driven to her
brother’s house to stay the night. No sooner had she walked in the house,
interrupting Danny’s family’s dinner, her sister in-law Molly had promptly got
her mother on the phone.

The conversation had not gone well.
Her parents were upset she didn’t let them know she was moving back and even
more hurt she didn’t come home. She’d convinced them that she wanted to spend
time with her nieces and nephew, but would be there first thing in the morning.

That had prompted a family
breakfast, with both her siblings and their families. Only thing that kept the
morning from being jovial was that her mom was still pissed at her, barely
saying a word.

Her mother nodded in the direction
of an empty bowl at the end of the counter surrounded by raw eggs and
vegetables—western style scrambled eggs fixings. Taking her cue, Riley knew
that meant she was assigned the task of chopping and preparing.

“I’m so glad you’re home, Ri.”
Stevie set down her spatula from the pancake station she was manning and
crossed the kitchen to embrace her.

“It’s good to see everyone.” Riley
couldn’t lie that it was good to be in Sans Town, this wasn’t home to her.
Riley hugged her sister, the oldest of all the siblings. They weren’t as close
as she and Danny, but they got along.  

“You here for good?” Molly asked as
she forked bacon around in a cast iron skillet.

Starting right off with the tough
questions. “Um, I’m not making any other plans at the moment. I’ll have to see
how the job situation pans out.”

“Hm.” Her mother, Lacey Gold, a
short woman with medium length hair that was starting to show way more silver
than golden brown, darted a quick look at Riley then back at her task of
cutting out biscuits from the fresh prepared dough.

Riley had gotten her coloring from
her mother’s side of the family. Her sister and brother were more cinnamon
brown complexioned like her father with black hair.

Ignoring the disapproving sound from
her mother for the moment, Riley continued chopping.

“So, whatever happened to the guy
Fred you were living with?” Stevie asked.

“That’s over. He was an a—. Jerk. I
can’t be with someone I can’t trust not to keep things from me.”
That’s why
I had to leave Theo.

However, he wasn’t lying to hurt
you, but protect his people.
Riley
shut off her heart, this wasn’t the time. She’d cried herself to sleep last
night minutes after she’d arrived at her brother’s house, she couldn’t go there
again. No future lay down that path. They were too different.