Love (The Allure Chronicles Book 4) (19 page)

T
here's
a new Alpha in town and he just found his mate, she just doesn't know it yet.

Welcome to Crestview, Montana. Population ~1000 and not all of those are human.

After his brother is murdered, Ian must step up to become Alpha of his bear shifter pack. At the same time law student Mara shows up in town, and Ian knows she’s destined to be his mate.

When a rival pack lays claim to Mara, Ian and his brothers will stop at nothing to protect her.

I
n the space
of a few moments I went from kissing Ian to being held in rough arms as I was carried up toward the sky.

Disoriented and petrified, I watched Ian’s ranch disappear below. I tried to scream, but I was breathless from the shock. Instead I held onto the creature carrying me, both hoping he’d release me and terrified he would let go and send me falling to my death.

Less than forty-eight hours before I was a normal law student. Now I was falling for a bear shifter and kidnapped by a guy with wings.

It turned out my summer in small town Montana wasn’t going to be so quiet after all.

N
o one should be laid
to rest alone. Even if you’ve been forced to walk the road of life with no one by your side, you deserve to have someone present at your burial. At least that’s what my grandfather taught me when I was a kid. Somehow even at twenty-three I couldn’t shake the lesson, which is why I was standing in the pouring rain without an umbrella.

The weather report hadn’t called for rain. I’d checked twice before leaving the house dressed in the black cotton dress I saved for these sorts of occasions. The material was too thin for the cool Montana morning, but I didn’t have any other options in my closet.

I’d made the slow drive over to the old cemetery just outside of town for the first time since arriving in Crestview six days before. I’d witnessed far more burials in the same time period when I lived in Philadelphia, but it seemed most people in this small town had someone around to bury them. I hoped people would be able to say the same thing about me when the time came.

The rain had started innocently enough. A few drops landed on my wavy brown hair while I watched the gravedigger work. I ignored the water, watching the surprisingly upscale wooden coffin sit beside the hole in the ground that would become its new home. I’d been to plenty of these burials before, but this one felt different. Usually it was older people who had money but no family. This man was in his thirties. Had the dead man bought himself a high-end coffin before he died? Most thirty-year-olds I knew weren’t preparing for their own death.

The small drops of rain became larger, but I refused to run back to my truck. It couldn’t take that much longer. These burials never did. There was no one around to make speeches or to play music. There was something beautiful about the simplicity even though the reason for it was depressing.

The worker turned the crank and lowered the coffin into the hole. I walked closer, still keeping enough of a distance that he might not notice me. Explaining my presence was the most awkward part of these things.

I looked up at the sky, letting large droplets of rain splash down my face. Was my Grandfather watching me? He’d never told me much about his belief in the afterlife. He’d always been more concerned about his life while on earth.

“Miss?”

I startled at the sound of a voice. The gravedigger paused with the coffin midway into the hole. He was older than I expected. At least seventy something with a weathered face that suggested he spent a lot of his time outside in the sun.

“Yes?” I brushed my wet hair way from my face.

“You should get on out of this rain.” The man squeezed water from his soaking wet t-shirt.

“So should you.”

He frowned. “This is my job.” Then his expression softened. “Unless. Are you a friend of his?” He pointed to the coffin.

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve never met him.” And I’d been unable to find out anything about him. Some might call it stalking, but I called it honoring. I always researched the deceased in an attempt to know them in some small way. Even if you are alone at the end of your life, you still did something, and someone should acknowledge, even if silently, the imprint you left on the world.

“Then why are you here?” He tilted his head slightly.

“Because someone should be.” That’s what my grandfather used to say. Of course it sounded better coming from him. More sage.

“Well, I’m here already, so why don’t you go ahead home.” He gestured with his hand for me to leave as if shooing a fly away.

“Ok.” I accepted his logic half to be polite and half because the rain had picked up even more. “You do an important job.”

His body stiffened. “No one has ever said that to me.”

“Now someone has.”

“Get out of this rain before you catch a cold.” His expression was serious.

“That’s not possible.” I shook my head. “It’s an old wives’ tale.”

“I believe the old wives. There was a reason for every story they told.”

“There’s also a reason for science.” I may not have gone into the sciences, but I had a lot of respect for people who did.

“Is that why you’re here?” His brow furrowed. “Standing in the rain at the burial of a man you never met?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged before walking back toward my truck.

And that’s when I saw him standing underneath the trees only a few feet away from me. Tall, dark, and with intense emerald green eyes so bright they almost gleamed. The intensity of his eyes was only matched by his scowl that seemed born more out of sadness than anger.

I looked away, despite my desire to study his handsome face. Handsome faces brought heartache with them.

I resisted the urge to look back as I made my way across the parking lot to my truck. I’d chosen to park in the furthest spot in the lot. Given the rain, it wasn't my best decision. I manually unlocked the door and stepped up into the Chevy S-10 truck that had been my grandfather’s only months before. It was nice to have my own vehicle, but I’d had far preferred his company. I’d learned to drive in this truck, but somehow now that the title bared my name it felt different, less like mine.

Choosing to spend my summer break working in a small town in Montana probably didn’t help matters, but it sounded good at the time. I needed to get out of the city. There is something soothing and healing about silent, dark nights. They are the kind of nights that only exist in the country, and even though I hadn’t lived in the country since I was eighteen, it still called to me in a way the city never would.

Besides, it gave me the opportunity to spend more time with Connor—also known as Professor Daniels, the one person who knew my Grandfather almost as well as I did. And even if all my law school classmates were convinced I was sleeping with Connor, I didn’t care. I wasn’t, and I had no plans to ever change that.

I pulled out of the freshly paved lot and onto the bumpy road. I was glad I had a truck with good clearance. I’d have bottomed out a regular car at least a dozen times already. I took a quick glance back out toward the rainy cemetery. I was too far away to see the grave, but I assumed it was being covered up. The attractive guy was gone, and a small voice in my head wondered if I’d completely imagined him. It wouldn’t have been the first time.

S
he didn’t look
like a bitch. Nothing about her suggested she’d been involved with Jonovan or his death, but she had to have had something to do with him. Otherwise, why was she even at his burial? No one was even supposed to know about it. Normal people don’t show up at a stranger’s burial—especially not people who looked like her.

I wanted to forget about the way her wet black dress hugged her body. And how her damp hair fell in her face hiding one of her eyes. None of that mattered. What mattered was finding out how involved she was with Jonovan and whether he’d planned to make her his mate.

The old pickup truck didn’t fit her. It was as though she’d borrowed it from her father. Maybe she had. I wasn’t sure when she’d gotten to town, but it had to have been after I left a month before. I’d hoped my brothers would keep things under control while I was away, but as usual as soon as I left everything fell apart.

I walked into the trees and shifted, waiting for the familiar feel of my bear to take over. He was stronger and more instinctual than my human form, and he was the only chance I had of catching up with her truck now that it had already disappeared around the curve of the road. My vision tunneled as I adjusted to my second form.

I didn’t have any time to waste, so I took off through the trees that ran parallel to the worn road that led back into town.

I caught up to the old truck quickly. She was driving slower than people normally would. Either she was being especially careful because of the rain, or she wasn’t used to driving these roads.

I caught a glimpse of her through the window. She’d pulled her long brown hair back into a bun on the top of her head exposing her neck.

My bear growled, and I became even more certain of her significance and her involvement with Jonovan. An image of him touching her came to my mind, and I wasn’t sure if my bear or human side growled louder. It didn’t matter. There would be others. I didn’t have to claim her as mine even if every part of me knew I should.

She pulled into Mrs. Peterson’s long driveway, taking out a row of dark pink hollyhocks with her sharp turn. For someone who drove well under the speed limit she wasn’t cautious with her turns.

She slowed down as if to assess the damage she’d caused before continuing up the driveway and over to the gravel extension that led to the guesthouse. Mrs. Peterson had been renting out the place sporadically for years, but the girl’s presence there could only mean one thing: she wasn’t staying in town long. If she were she’d have rented a place far away from the watchful eyes of Mrs. Peterson. But it also meant something else. Mrs. Peterson would be able to tell me everything about the girl. Starting with her name.

I stayed hidden in the thick woods that ran all around the back and side of the property. She sat in her truck longer than I expected. She could have been waiting on the rain to slow, but she was already soaked. She’d seemed unperturbed by the water at the cemetery. I didn’t imagine a little bit more water would change anything. But what did I know? I was as clueless about women as the next guy.

She opened her door slowly and stepped out. She clutched a cream-colored envelope and held it against her chest as she dashed toward the front door of the small blue cottage.

I couldn’t make out any writing on the envelope, but by the way she clutched it, I could see it was important to her.

She closed the door to the house, cutting out my view. I had no clue who the girl was, but she was someone special. I’d find out who she was and get my answers. After that I’d either never let her go or pretend I didn’t want her. I already knew the latter would be almost impossible to do.

Hunt is available now!