Black Bear Fall: A BWWM Paranormal Romance (Black Bear Saga Book 2) (18 page)

A low rumble echoed from the road up ahead and Grace squinted off into the distance. A cloud of dust was kicked up obscuring the approaching vehicle. I’m caught her panicked mind shouted in shrill voice. She looked around for somewhere to hide, the opposite side of the road gave way to a sharp drop and a rocky plain below. She looked at the dense and thorny bushes crowding her side of the road and her body involuntarily shivered at the thoughts of the thousands of tiny thorns ripping and pulling at her weakened body. She looked around for anything that might do as a weapon. A heavy looking beer bottle stuck out from a patch of grass ahead of her. She kicked it and it rolled rolled in a semi circle coming to a stop by a broken piece of fence. Grace stared ahead frozen to the spot and seemingly unable to decide if she should run or fight. Exhaustion was clouding her thoughts and the idea of running again didn’t seem like much of an option.

The car honked its horn as it turned a bend and the driver saw Grace standing at the side of the road and struggling to stand up straight. The driver waved at Grace as he got closer and began to slow his car. I’m safe, I can’t believe I’m safe she thought as the car pulled to a stop across from her. A man in his sixties dressed in a thick flannel jacket and wearing a dark baseball cap pushed back at an extreme angle smiled warmly towards her. His slate grey eyes emanated a warm friendliness as he looked towards Grace.

“Are you ok Miss?” he asked with real concern in his voice, “If you are looking to get into town its back that way,” he said hitching his thumb in the direction he came from.

“I’m fine,” Grace said trying to hide the shake in her voice, “I got turned around. I think I’m lost. Is it far into town?”

“Walking it will take you all day and the temperatures can drop real low up at the mountain pass. I could drive you there myself if you like,” the man said.

Every fibre in Graces body told her she should get in the car and get off the road as quick as possible, but she couldn’t will her legs to move. She couldn’t trust anyone after what she had been through. “If you don’t mind I think I’ll walk,” Grace said and turned in the direction of town.

“Suit yourself,” the old man said reaching for his keys to start the engine.

The rumble of engines coming from the direction Grace had come made her spin around. It sounded like two or three large vehicles approaching. This could be them she thought as she waved across to the man. “Do you mind if I take you up on your offer?” She said crossing the road to his side.

“Hop in,” he said opening the passenger door for her.

“I’m Bud,” he said offering her his hand.

“Grace,” she said shaking his warm soft hand.

He nodded and smiled and then tilted his cap back further and started the engine. Grace looked in the rear view mirror waiting for the moment when Tulimak and his men turned the corner armed to the teeth and ready to recapture her.

As the car pulled back into the road Bud nodded at Grace and said, “Seatbelt.”

She obliged him and said, “I hope I’m not taking you out of the way?”

Bud clicked his tongue and shook his head, “I was only out for a drive and maybe go for a walk in some of the trails back there. That can all wait. If I’m being honest I would have been worrying all day about you walking the distance into town. Walking can wait for another day, helping another person can’t and shouldn't.”

“I wish more people thought like that,” Grace said. No vehicles were visible in the rear view mirror and the further on they drove Grace could feel a weight lifting off her.

“I know it’s none of my business but what where you doing all the way out there alone?” Bud asked.

“I had a fight with a friend. I told her I couldn’t stand to be around her anymore. So she dumped me on the side of the road and bailed on me,” Grace said looking straight ahead as she lied.

“She doesn’t sound like the kind of friend anyone needs,” Bud said oping the glovebox and taking out his phone.

Grace looked as he dialled a number on the faded keypad. He’s calling Tulimak she thought as she looked on at the slow unfolding terror. Her whole body felt like it was drenched in a cold slimy sweat and Grace put her hand on the door latch and looked out at the steep incline on her side. When he slows at the upcoming corner maybe I can jump out and escape into the woods before he has a chance to chase me. He’s an old man he wont be able to keep up she thought as she tensed every muscle in her body and prepared herself to jump.

Bud looked over at her and winked and said, “I’m calling the wife, let her know I’ll be back early and under her feet,” and he smiled at her.

Grace felt all flight leave her body and she slumped back in the chair. He’s just and old man she thought as she held her shaking hands in her lap.

“It’s me honey. I’m on my way home,” he said and paused, “no, theres no problem. I picked up a hitchhiker and I’m bringing her into town.” He paused and listened and smiled over at Grace and then spoke into the phone, “I should be back in town within the hour. I love you too.” Bud put the phone back in the glovebox and nodded at the road ahead. “My wife, she gets worried about me sometimes when I go off on walks on my own. I think she thinks I’m going to be eaten by a bear,” Bud said slapping his thigh and laughing. “Pretty far fetched don’t you think?” he asked Grace.

If only he knew what was really out there Grace thought to herself and said, “It’s good that she worries, shows that she loves you.”

Bud cracked a smile as he drove and said, “We’ve been together thirty years now, we wouldn’t stay with each other if it wasn’t for love. Do you mind me asking, do you have someone special in your life?”

Grace looked at her reflection in the side window and allowed herself a brief smile and said, “Yes there’s someone in my life. It’s all so new at the moment and,” she paused for a second and then said, “work commitments have kept us apart lately. I hope he’s back by the time I get back home.”

Bud gave her a warm smile and said, “The beginnings are always special that’s were the fire comes to power the rest of the relationship. Where do you and your special someone call home?”

“It’s a small town up north. This is going to sound a little strange, but where are we exactly?” Grace asked.

“Canada. 100 miles or so from the border. The town we are heading to is a place called Blaketon. Do you know it?” Bud asked.

Grace shook her head.

“It’s a beautiful place full of friendly people. Do you plan on sticking around or will you be heading north?” Bud asked.

Grace looked at her tired looking reflection and thought this guy asks so many questions, I know he’s just being friendly but I wish he would let me sit in silence. “I don’t think I’ll be hanging around for long. I want to get back home as soon as possible.”

Bud nodded his head and seemed to be satisfied with her answer. They drove on for a few minutes in silence and Grace stared out the window feeling her self relax with every mile they got further from the compound.

T
ulimak stood
in front of the third floor window that looked over the compound. In the past this building had housed important members of the white bear clan who had been given the privilege to run the cattle farm and abattoir. It was a centre of business for the clan and the cross roads where shifter and human commerce where formed. The running of the compound was only ever awarded by Tulimak's father Tannis to his most trusted of generals. This was all before the assassination of the shifter who had ran the compound for ten years. A rebel faction of white bear clan members had formed believing they had a better way for the clans system of power distribution to be handled. For a whole year they brought terror and uncertainty to the clan as they waged a campaign of war against the senior members. It all culminated in the death of Grayson Kline, a shifter who had been part of Tannis’s inner circle for over a hundred years. Once Tannis rooted out the upstart group his punishment was swift and brutal. The culprits where disposed of in public executions until Tannis felt that the clan had its fill of blood soaked retribution. The last surviving members of the splinter group where never seen again by any other clan members. Since the rebel faction was found and destroyed the once bustling compound now sat idle, used only when Tulimak needed a place away from the prying eyes of the clan.

He stood with his hands behind his back as he looked across the compound. Directly below the window where the empty pens that used to hold thousands of heads of cattle waiting to be processed. The wind licked up eddies of red dust as it blew across the wide open enclosures. At the far side of the cattle pen was a gate leading to a long building painted a deep dark red. The cattle were lead into this building and moved along its length until they turned a corner and passed through a heavy plastic partition. Lying ahead for the cow was death and the processing of its carcass. Tulimak looked across at the building that had once housed the killing floor and the abattoir. The building was the size of an aircraft hanger and at peak efficiency thousands of heads of cattle passed through the front door and then left through the back door packaged and ready for distribution. On the second floor the building housed basic accommodation for the hundreds of migrant workers the compound employed. Men who had come to America for a better life and the hopes of a better future. The men toiled away for low pay and only the unluckiest ones ever stumbled onto the fact that they where working for shifters.

Once the compound had stopped being used as a working cattle ranch and abattoir Tulimak had gained control of the place. He had the inside of the main building stripped down and had built several sound proof rooms where he could continue to conduct his experiments. The end of world war two had also brought an end to easy access to subjects for him and for a couple of decades he had stopped exploring the outer reaches of some of his wilder theories. When the failed coup happened Tulimak say the opportunity to acquire the compound and all its land. It was the perfect location for him to start up experimenting again as it was so remote. More importantly no one in the clan wanted it anymore, what had once been seen as one of the greatest of honours when guardianship of it was granted by Tannis, had quickly become a place that most of the clans generals were not interested in having ties to anymore.

Shifters could be a superstitious bunch sometime and Tulimak knew this, thats what made getting the compound and making it his all the more useful. Once it was in his hands he was able to think about restarting some of his programs that the unfortunate end of the war had brought on. Tulimak thought of the compound and its huge swatch of land as his own oasis away from the eyes of the old guard clan members, the men who had stood with his father side by side for generations. These same members now watched Tulimak take his fathers place as head of the clan,while barely disguising their hostility towards the regime change.

A time will come when I no longer need any of them Tulimak thought as he stared fixedly at the building across from him. He could feel the change coming like the inevitable changing of the seasons. His father had been in control for too long growing complacent with the clans position in the human controlled world. To Tulimak it looked like his father had lost the drive that had brought the white bear clan to such heights as they secretly accrued power hundreds of years ago in both the new and old world. Then something happened to Tannis and his son noticed a change creep over him. No longer did his father speak about conquering the humans, much to Tulimak's disgust his father began to talk about a time in the future when maybe shifters and humans could live side by side. Gone was the talk of subjugating the humans and it was replaced with an idea of harmony, and living side by side with the lesser creatures. Tulimak had been kept out of all discussions between the old guard and his father when a less aggressive stance was first suggested. I could never live side by side with a stinking and grovelling human Tulimak thought, how could I ever treat a base creature on anything like equal footing. Shifter and human kind where never meant to live together, I would rather bring the world to war before I ever allow the great white bear clan to try to integrate with a human run world.

A door on the ground floor of the opposite building opened. Tulimak picked up a pair of binoculars on the sill beside him and focused on the slowly opening door. A face peered out from the gloom and then a woman took a shaky step outside. Her legs seemed to nearly give way beneath her and she leaned back against the wall breathing hard. Tulimak refocused the binoculars and the womans image came into such sharp focus that it looked like she was standing right before him. The womans clothes where streaked in blood and her eyes where wide with fear. “Grace my dark skinned beauty,” Tulimak said in a whisper as he watched her, “your life of horror is only beginning “

The door opened behind Tulimak and he didn’t turn around, he was transfixed as he watched Grace lean against the corner of the building as she looked around for a path to escape. Slattery joined him by the window and looked out across the empty cattle lot.

“How many casualties?” Tulimak asked.

“Four so far. All human. The doctor was one of them” Slattery said.

“Unfortunate, although he is replaceable. And our shifter friend?” Tulimak asked.

“She was injured in the escape. It’s too early to say if it’s fatal,” Slattery said.

“Make sure Anne doesn't leave these grounds. Once we have her, harvest her bile until she's dead,” Tulimak said.

Slattery nodded as he watched Grace.

“There she goes,” Tulimak said with a sly grin turning up the corners of his mouth, “run as fast as your legs can carry you. Run all the way home .” Tulimak laughed a dry self satisfied snort as he watched her. He followed her with the binoculars as she crossed the dusty path that lead to the main road out of the compound. As she ran her feet tangled together and she fell sprawling into the dirt. “Clumsy bitch,” Tulimak said in a cool emotionless voice. Grace scrambled in the dirt getting back on her feet and looked back with wide eyes of fear. A guard came thought the door behind her and dropped to one knee for a steady aim. Grace turned and ran, weaving back and forth as she ran towards the gate.

The guard steadied his gun and was about to fire when a huge paw grabbed him from behind and pulled him back into the shadows. A spray of red blood arced out from the doorway and splattered the dust before it. Grace made it to the gate and hesitated with one hand on it as she looked back towards the abattoir.

“Nothing back there for you anymore,” Tulimak said. Grace turned towards the main house and for a brief second she looked directly at Tulimak. He could see every details in her face and he felt a cold chill run down his spine as she looked in his direction, he knew she couldn’t see him behind the one way glass and the chill intensified as she stood frozen to the spot looking towards him. Grace turned and pushed the gate open and ran along the road until she turned the bend and his view was blocked by the trees.

“Is everything in place?” Tulimak asked Slattery as he turned away from the window.

“The perimeter guards are back on alert now that she is free, our other guests wont be leaving anytime soon,” Slattery said taking his notepad out of his jacket pocket and reading from it, “transport is arranged to pick up Grace further down the road. Our man will get her to the nearest town so as not to raise suspicion. After that, all tails will pull back as per your instructions.”

“And what about our special project? Has the Doctor got him ready for his first outing?” Tulimak asked.

“The Doctor prepped him first thing this morning and she is ready to go. Will I bring her up?” Slattery asked.

“Has the Doctor versed you in how to deal with his special project?” Tulimak asked Slattery.

Slattery nodded his head.

“Good. You will oversee this project from here on out. You two will now be inseparable. I think you now how important this role is. Bring his little pet up here. It’s time for our ex doctor to prove how effective a tracker his special student is,” Tulimak said.

“Right away sir,” Slattery said leaving him alone in his office.

Tulimak returned to the window and looked out across his domain. He felt at peace here, a place where he could conduct his experiments without the prying eyes of the rest of the clan. He had always thought them short sighted in their refusal to try to understand and better the advantage they had been given by becoming shifters. Ancient stories that had become weighed down with superstitious drivel was not the answer to forging a new future for the clan. Tulimak knew that only way for betterment was to understand where their power came from and how to harness it to greater levels. He had spent the last decade exploring many blind alleys, experiments trying to fuse other animals traits into a bear shifter. After countless abominations were birthed at his medical facility he had to start from scratch. He had been focusing on the wrong thing all along, bettering the members of his clan through augmentation was an affront, he saw that now. Tulimak knew he was a perfect specimen of a shifter and no experiments could ever improve on that. The real problem he came to see was the existence of the black bear clan. Their co-existence had always been fraught, with major battles flaring up between them every few hundred years. In a moment of inspiration it hit Tulimak and he knew what he should devote his life on. His father had tried to form an uneasy alliance with the other clan on several occasions. Tulimak always thought he was soft for even considering such an option. We can never take our rightful place at the head of the table if the black bear clan exists. Tulimak knew that the only real future for his clan was the complete eradication of the black bears and he saw the first real opportunity to put his plan in place when the filthy mongrels delivered Grace at his feet. Together we will both bring about the end of the scourge of the black bear clan he thought as he watched the darkening sky.