Bear's Kiss (Bear Heat Book 2) (7 page)

Terrence prowled sinuously
towards her. He was tall, but not as broad and powerfully built as
Caleb. She stared at his cruel, hard features and wondered how she
had ever found him handsome. She supposed some women would still
find him attractive. But the look in his eyes chilled her to the
bone.

“W-what do you want,
Terrence?” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady.

He wrinkled his nose. “Don't
worry. I don't want you. Not anymore. Not after you're spread your
legs for a beast.” His fact twisted as he hissed through his
teeth, “You reject me, to fuck a monster?”

“Caleb is not a
monster.”

“He's a half man, half
bear! A monstrous freak!”

Prisha kept her face straight
as she slowly lowered her hand to the rock.

“I wanted to take you
back,” Terrence went on. “Really, I did. But that was
before you decided to become a bear's whore. Now, it disgusts me to
touch you. But—I do have another use for you.”

His smile was cold and ugly.
She could tell he was preparing to lunge towards her.

“Stay away from me,”
she warned, snatching up the rock. “Don't come near me! Don't
touch me!”

His laughter stopped
abruptly.

“I won't touch you.
Not in that way.”

His eyes glinted with greed,
not lust.

“You are still worth
something to me.” He smiled. “I know someone who's
offering an indecent amount of money for you. As I said, I see
everything you do, everything that's happened to you. There's a
target on your back now.”

“How…?”

“I can scry your
location.”

She gasped. “You...you
know witchcraft?”

“A branch of it.”
Terrence smirked. “I can even mask my presence and hide my
tracks.”

Prisha felt sick to her
stomach. So that was how he could watch her and stalk her without
being noticed. She should have listened to some of the townsfolk
when they tried to warn her that Terrence dabbled in the dark arts.

“You're a wanted woman,
aren't you, Prisha? Prisha Singh, the good daughter and filial
granddaughter, is wanted by the Mob. What would your family say,
Prisha? Tsk!”

Prisha tried to kick him, but
he slammed his fist into her stomach and she doubled over.

Terrence clucked his tongue
and said coldly, “Don't fight me, Prisha. Think of your
family. How you've shamed them! Your family will thank me, for
getting rid of this smear on the family name.”

Prisha's fingers tightened
around the rock.

With a snarl and a demented
scream, she raised the rock high and rushed at him.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Caleb bolted from his Range
Rover even before Baxter could pull the car fully to a stop. Baxter
had taken one look at him and immediately ousted him from the
driver's seat. “You're in no state to drive. And I'm not
going to be riding shotgun in a car that's about to wrap itself
around a tree. I'll drive, Beta. Come on!”

Caleb ran towards the lake
and turned in agitated circles. “She was here. Her scent, her
footprints...”

Baxter came up to him and
took a whiff of the air. “Another male was here with her.”

Caleb's eyes scanned the
scene, then he backtracked towards the tree house. There were no
signs that she had gone back to the tree house, but he had to be
sure.

He climbed up the ladder and
burst through the door, his eyes darting to every corner. The scent
of their lovemaking still lingered in the air. Baxter followed him
swiftly into the tree house, and the tracker immediately sniffed and
tested the scents in the air.

“No other scent, Beta.
Just yours. And your mate's,” Baxter said quietly, giving him
a sidelong glance. Caleb nodded curtly. Baxter had the most acute
sense of smell in the clan. He would be able to detect subtle scents
and signs that the other bears missed. As such, he was the clan's
lead tracker and investigator. Baxter's interrogation skills were
one of a kind.

“Prisha must have left
the cabin soon after I left. She left and never came back. If
there's any evidence to be found, it would be near the lake,”
Caleb growled.

Caleb raced back down the
ladder and sprinted to the lake.

He sniffed the air, and
rounded on Baxter when the tracker came up behind him. “The
male who took her,” Caleb snarled. “His scent seems
human but...something seems off. What is it? What do you make of
it?”

“Human,” Baxter
confirmed. “He's not a shifter.”

“What else?”
Caleb prompted impatiently.

Baxter jogged towards the
lake, breathing rapidly as he inhaled and tasted the air carefully.
His eyes lingered on a spot at the edge of the lake for a moment
before snapping back to focus.

Baxter turned back to Caleb
and fired off the information quickly, urgently, “Male,
human...with vampiric abilities.”

“Vampire!”

“He's not a vampire,
Beta.”

“You just said...”

“I said he has vampiric
abilities.”

Caleb put up a hand. “Just
what are we dealing with here?”

“I...I'm not sure,
Beta. Physically, this male is not strong. But...his mind.”
Baxter's frown deepened and he shook his head. “There is power
in his mind, unhealthy, twisted power. He left a psychic imprint.”

“So we're dealing with
a psychic psycho,” Caleb intoned. “But I don't really
care what he is. I'll hunt him to the ends of the earth, and when I
find him, no amount of psychic mojo is going to help him.”
After a pause, Caleb exploded, “And what the hell is a psychic
imprint?”

Baxter gave him a level look
and answered, “It's something a person leaves behind, like his
scent or his footprint. It's an echo of a person's presence and
actions, a mass of leftover energy. It can be used to trace and
identify a person. Like a fingerprint.”

“Only this imprint is
on your mind.”

“Yes.”

Caleb realized he was
scowling as he scrubbed a hand down his face. He wasn't a tracker,
but he never dismissed possibilities and openings, and he always
pursued and investigated a lead, no matter how obscure and
improbable. The Black Bears missions had a high success rate, due
largely to their Beta's meticulous research and daring,
unconventional plans.

Caleb mulled over the
information Baxter had just given him but no clear plan presented
itself. He could always think on his feet and he was always thinking
out of the box, imagining all possible and impossible scenarios so as
to stay one step ahead of the enemy.

But—he just couldn't
think straight right now. He was used to taking risks, but this was
Prisha's life he was gambling with.

His phone beeped and he
almost crushed the phone in his grip. He glanced at the screen. It
was an incoming message from one of his team leaders.

“Paige and her team
have the details of the assassination plot,” Caleb said
tightly.

Baxter's eyes rounded. This
was huge. This could change everything. The information was
critical, and the implications were far-reaching.

He had to get back to the
office, but he wanted, needed to find Prisha.

“I can stay here and
see how far I can track your mate,” Baxter said quickly.
“There's not a clear trail to follow, but you never know. I
might be able to pick something out.”

Caleb forced out a ragged
breath. Baxter was the best tracker they had. He had to let Baxter
do his job. His job, as Beta, was to consider all the information
available before deciding on the best course of action.

He would get Prisha back. He
wanted to go get her now, but charging around blindly wasn't the way
to go. In fact, that was the surest and fastest way to get her
killed.

Caleb nodded and clapped
Baxter on his broad shoulder. “Thanks. I...”

“No thanks required,
Beta. I'm just doing my job.” Baxter quirked him a lopsided
smile and shifted to a hulking black bear. Their senses were much
sharper in animal form, and as a bear, Baxter would be able to travel
much faster and farther.

Caleb watched the big black
bear put his nose to the ground and head towards the lake. Baxter
turned to give him a quick nod over his shoulder before veering off
at a tangent and running towards the trees.

Caleb pushed his claws back
under his skin painfully. His bear wanted to join Baxter in the
hunt, but the man was aware of his duties and responsibilities as
Beta. With Ethan away on his honeymoon, he was in charge of the
operations of the Black Bears Group and the welfare and direction of
the clan.

Paige and her team had
returned with urgent, important news, news that could affect the
entire city.

As Caleb ran back to his car,
he had an unshakable feeling that his mate's fate was inextricably
entwined with the Mayor's. He would have to steel his mind and come
up with a fool-proof plan to save both Prisha and the Mayor.
Everything hinged on the Black Bears at this point. He had to thwart
Ray Shapez and save the city.

And Prisha.

Prisha!

Prisha was the key.

The jumbled, whirling pieces
of the jigsaw floating in his brain suddenly clicked into place.
Caleb staggered back as the epiphany struck him with the force of a
physical blow.

Ray Shapez was no fool. He
had a wide reach, and he knew the city like the back of his scheming,
sinewy hand. Ray would definitely know about the Black Bears Group
and their mindset and methods.

The Black Bears knew of his
plans. Ray had to know that. And Ray would know that the Black
Bears would try to stop him.

They were dancing around each
other, playing a deadly game, waiting and watching for the other to
make a fatal mistake.

The Black Bears could stop
him and save the Mayor and the city.

So Ray Shapez had to make
damn sure that the Black Bears couldn't and wouldn't foil his plans.

Prisha was the key. The key
to Ray's success.

Caleb stomped on the
accelerator, his mind working at close to light speed. Gravel and
dirt spewed from his tires as his Ranger Rover lurched forward.

A city mired in fear and
crime. That was what Ray wanted.

Caleb growled as his car
hurtled down the highway at breakneck speed.

The Black Bears Group might
be a commercial outfit, a profitable, lucrative security firm, but
the Black Bears only accepted contracts from legitimate, trustworthy
organizations. They worked with the police and quite a number of
government authorities, as well as reputable private enterprises and
individuals. They helped, not hurt, the populace. The Black Bears
never accepted a job that targeted innocents.

The Black Bears Group took
pride in protecting the city and its citizens. Caleb was proud of
the work they did. They made the city a better, safer place.

The Black Bears wouldn't let
the city down.

Not now, not ever and
definitely not on his watch.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Prisha kept her head bent so
that her hair fell across her face. She was awake, but nobody
needed to know that. Keeping her body limp, she gritted her teeth
and tried to ignore the buzz in her head.

She had first heard the buzz
when she snatched up the rock by the lake and charged at Terrence.
But her movements were too slow and clumsy. It felt as though the
air had thickened to sludge around her, slowing her down and
preventing her from reaching her target.

Terrence had grabbed her
wrist effortlessly. Keeping his eyes on her, he muttered some
strange, unintelligible incantation as he tightened his hold and
forced her to drop the rock.

His words became an
insistent, intolerable buzz, worming into her ears and mind. She had
tried to focus, but her eyes misted over and all she saw was a red
fog. The more frightened she grew, the denser the fog became.

The last thing she heard was
Terrence's triumphant laughter. Then she felt her knees buckle and
she had the sense that she was falling, falling down and down,
spinning round and round.

When she could open her eyes
again, she found herself sitting in a chair under a naked bulb, her
hands tied behind her back and her ankles bound together.

It was unfortunate that the
first thing she heard when she came to was Terrence's grating
laughter, but the good thing was that it jolted her instantly awake
and alert.

She was aware that she was in
a musty, shadowy room. The floor and walls were just bare, cracked
concrete and the place was lit by just two flickering bulbs.

One was swinging just above
her head, and the other bulb was hanging over a plain plastic table.

Someone chuckled, and Prisha
shuddered violently.