The Witness and the Bear: (Werebear Shifter Romance) (5 page)

Even the pain in her chest paled in comparison to the warmth he shared. This wasn’t right. She shouldn’t feel so close to a man she just met.
“Can I tell you something?”

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I’m good with secrets.”

She snorted at the words he’d stolen from her and scratched her nails gently down his back.

“You’re the first man to make me…you know.”

He pulled back, a look of pure male triumph written all over his features. “You said you’d been with someone before.”

“He didn’t really cater to my needs.” The blush in her cheeks was probably epic right now.
Thank goodness for the dark veil of night.

He propped up on one elbow, his leg still draped over hers, his erection
firm against her hip. His touch was light as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. “His failure. You’re magnificent.”

She
trailed a light fingertip down the length of his shaft and searched his eyes in silent question.

His teeth grazed her shoulder and he shook his head.
“You don’t have to. Tonight was about you. I didn’t know how to fix your sadness.”

“So you thought cure by orgasm?
”

He snorted and buried his head
against her neck. It sounded like he was inhaling her scent, and when he pulled back, the remnants of a smile still tugged his lips. “Did it work?”

“
I don’t want you to do that to Merit.” The certainty hit her like a sack of stones. “I want that for myself.”

“Hannah,” he warned.

“I know it’s not fair of me, and I’m under no illusions you’ll pick me, but let this be mine.”

“Dammit, Hannah. I don’t have the choice of picking you. Can’t you see that? You won’t stay, you don’t agree with our laws. Once the danger is over for you, you’ll be gone and I’ll be left to pick up the pieces. We mate for life
, woman. It’s ingrained in us. You and I can’t work.”

Jesus, what was wrong with dating for a moment? Everything seemed so serious
and damning around here. “Us, we. What’s so different between you and me? These laws aren’t as important as you think. There are bigger things out there in the real world besides this commune.”

“Commune?” He jerked back. “Is that what you think this is? I’m not like you, Hannah. Neither are the people here. We have to live on the outskirts because it’s safest for everyone that way.”

“So, you’re like, criminals?”

“No! We aren’t criminals. We’re good people who’ve had to adapt to the world and eke out our existence here.
Look, forget it.” His eyes went dead, and she could all but see him close off from her. He stood and pulled a pair of sweats on. “Stay here and I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Riker, wait!” She ran after him but he was already gone, and the front door banging open
splintered the night. She’d pushed too hard, too fast. She’d pressed him right into Merit’s arms and a sick feeling slammed into her gut. She pulled the hem of her oversized shirt down lower and ran outside after him but nothing stirred save the cicadas and bullfrogs. What had she done? Her chest hurt, but not from her injuries. Her heart was shattering at the thought of him in Merit’s arms. He’d choose the other woman, of course he would, but she’d done a bang up job of convincing him Merit could understand him better than she ever could. Her time with him had been shortened to nothing.

A miserable sob bubbled from her throat and she looked around helplessly. “I’m sorry!” she yelled. She was sorrier than she could ever express over a loss she couldn’t understand. She was out of her element here, swimming in rules she didn’t know and that didn’t make sense with the society she’d grown up in. Why had Jeremy brought her here?
He’d made everything worse. Sworn she would be safe here, but he put her heart right in the path of Riker’s destruction.

****

Riker watched her from the trees, his head and heart at war with each other. When she cried out how sorry she was, he leaned heavily against the nearest tree, panting. She’d ruined him. He could’ve bedded Merit and lived a long life leading his people with a loyal mate by his side. But Hannah had come crashing out of the woods like a boulder, trapping him beneath the weight of want. Under the temptation of a future with someone he could actually care about.

He
turned away from her, leaned against the tree and closed his eyes. If he stayed here, watching her torment, he’d fold and run to her to ease her pain. He couldn’t do that and stay away from her like he needed. They’d already bonded too much. From the second he tasted her... “Shit,” he muttered, too low for her to hear. His bear had already chosen, and he’d chosen wrong. He hadn’t even had sex with the woman and she filled his head. This was how it had worked with Jenny and Blaine and he’d felt lucky. Lucky to avoid a love that looked so painful to go through. What an arrogant bastard he’d been. Maybe it was bonding with humans that ruined them.

Everyone expected him to choose Merit. She was the obvious choice. She’d support him, back him in his decisions
, and bear him cubs when the time came. She’d make the perfect alpha’s mate.

Hannah couldn’
t be more different.

Squatting, he scrubbed his hands over his face
. Locking his fingers under his chin, he turned and watched Hannah stumble back into his house. Her sniffles trailed her and he shook his head as his bear fought to go after his mate. He couldn’t Change. The beast inside of him would find her. And even if he meant to protect her, she didn’t know that. She didn’t even know he was a bear shifter. She thought he was head of some commune.

And she still wants you.

Gritting his teeth to control the voice in his head, he stood and jogged through the trees. He’d get away from her, sleep in the wilds and come back when he’d had time to clear his head.

You beat a man in front of her, for reasons she doesn’t understand, and she still wants you.

You’re hard and cold, and she still wants you.

You ran from
her instead of answering her questions. She. Still. Wants. You.

He felt ragged on his edges, open and bleeding, confused for the
first time in years. Since Jeremy had left he’d known the exact path of his life, and now that old bastard had brought him poison.

Coffee was necessary after last night.

Hannah poked another button on Riker’s coffee machine to no better result. The thing looked like it belonged on a spaceship and she was tech challenged. “Come on, you little beast. I’ve had a terrible night and you can’t cut me one tiny little break? Give me coffee!”

“It’s the purple button
near the bottom.” A familiar woman stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

“Jenny?”

“The one and only sister to the alpha.”

“Whatever that means,”
Hannah muttered and jabbed the designated button. Steam rose from the contraption and black nectar dribbled into the coffeepot. “Hey, thanks for shoving me into the ring yesterday. You simplified my life, big time.”

“Eh,” the woman said with a shrug. “You’ll thank me for it later.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Your scar. You’re Riker’s mate. Merit isn’t.”

“More riddles. Fantastic. Well, your plan didn’t work because I pissed your brother off and he ran right into Merit’s arms, so congrats on the new sister-in-law.”

Another irritating shrug. “Even if he sleeps with Merit, it doesn’t mean he chooses her. It just means he’s doing exactly as our laws require him to do. Don’t take it personally.”

“Don’t take it personally? I personally think sex is more than this emotionless, robotic humping of two consenting parties. I personally think the laws that force him to bed two women are bullcaka, and I personally…” Her lip trembled and her voice dipped to a rasp. “I personally hate that I lost him before I even knew him.”

Jenny pulled her into a hug that nearly suffocated her injured lung. “And that, Hannah, is why you’re his mate.”

“I don’t even know what any of this means.” She sniffled pathetically into Jenny’s hair. “And when I asked him, he bolted.”

“Who hurt you, darlin’? You smell like a crime scene.”

She laughed thickly and pulled away, dashing the back of her hand over her tear stained cheeks. “You’re looking at a bonafide mob hit survivor. Daria just came to wrap me up and she put all this chemical smelling stuff on my injuries. It’s making me dizzy.”

“You know what else I smell?”

“Toothpaste?” Hannah asked hopefully.

“Riker. Not as much as I should after last night, but he’s there.”

“I did use his shower,” she said with a suspicious frown as yet another thing didn’t add up. “But I get the feeling that’s not what you mean.”

“I have something to show you,” Jenny said with a sunny grin. “You have questi
ons and they’ll be answered when Riker’s ready. Until then, he’s busy doing alpha stuff and us girls have some time to do some bonding. You up for it?”

She had planned on waiting around all day for Riker
like a pathetic school girl, knowing he had to come home sometime, but Jenny’s offer intrigued her more. It was beautiful out here and the offer to go exploring with her own personal and knowledgeable tour guide was irresistible.

“Okay, as long as you aren’t going to lead me into the woods and haze me or anything.”

“Ha! No hazing, but you do need more durable shoes than flip flops. Do you have any?”

“I have sneakers.”

“Go put them on and meet me on the porch.”

Jenny, bless that woman, held two
disposable cups of coffee when she stepped onto the porch. Fragrant steam drifted from the tiny lid holes and she took hers, grateful for something to warm her hands.

Leading Hannah down a trail behind the house, Jenny asked, “What do you think this place is?”

“A commune.”

Jenny snorted. “Wrong. Wait, what do you define as a commune?”

“I don’t know. Like a group of people who go off the grid and live outside of society for religious reasons?”

“Okay, yes to everything but the religious gloop. We are off the grid, mostly. Look.” She pointed to rows of solar panels set up over a square building with stone trim.
“Our electricity comes from there. Our water comes from the mountains and we grow and raise most of what we need to survive.” She climbed a rough wooden fence and Hannah followed. Leaning into the breeze, Jenny pointed with her chin. “Meat.”

A huge herd of cattle in
every color imaginable milled inside of the giant enclosure.

“How many people live here?”

“A hundred and fourteen. Next week it’ll be a hundred and fifteen. Got a baby on the way for one of our families.” She beamed like she was the one expecting, and Hannah dropped an accidental gaze to her midsection. “Not me, Hannah, but every birth is a big deal for the people here. It’s a promise that we’ll continue.”

“Oh.” Embarrassed, heat flushed her cheeks.

Jenny rested her chin on her arms and watched the bellowing cows. “We’re allowed to leave you know. Some of us even keep jobs in the closest town. It’s not like any of us are trapped here. We’re here because it’s safe. We’re here because we want to be.”

Jenny eventually led her through a wheat field that stretched as far as
Hannah could see. A thin trail wound through the middle, and they walked, brushing the tops of the swaying waves of grass with the palms of their free hands.

“I married someone like you,” Jenny said. “Blaine. We were married two summers ago.”

“Will I meet him?”

“Yes. You can come over for dinner tonight if you want. Riker’s usually busy until sundown, but I’ll ask him as well.”

“I doubt he’ll come. He’s really pissed at me.”

“All be—all boys have tempers. He’ll come around.”

Hannah shook her head and took a sip of coffee, now cool enough to drink without setting her mouth on fire. “Where is everyone?”

“
At their jobs. A lot of them are probably near the corn fields. You want to see them?”

“Sure.”

A mile of beautiful land stretched between the fields and the walk was relaxing. It had been a long time since she got lost in a conversation without looking over her shoulder with the suspicion she was being lured to her death.

Jenny was an easy talker. She spoke of summers growing up out here, of trouble she and Riker found as kids, of her parents and the sadness she and her brother had felt when
they’d moved back to Utah. She talked about her friends in the commune, or whatever it was, and about the ones who stirred trouble for Riker since he’d taken over as alpha. She didn’t talk as if it were gossip and she didn’t seem to need Hannah to react to each person she talked about. She just spoke to her like Hannah should be storing the information away for later.

By the time the tips of the corn stalks came into view, Hannah was laughing at Jenny’s story about how she and Riker
went out hunting frogs one night, only to put them under a childhood bully’s porch. They’d received a dozen lashes on the bum from their dad when the girl freaked out on her way to school the next day, but the way Jenny told it, it was safe to say the woman thought the punishment worth it.

A huge pump to the west of the field sat in a puddle of mud and several men were working on it. Others were spread out in t
he field, placing hoses. As she and Jenny approached the pump, Riker stood up in the group, hands covered in mud and eyes serious as he listened to what one of the others said.

He talked, gesturing before he leaned down again and took a wrench to the machine. Confident moves said he knew his way around machinery, and as he checked and rechecked various knobs and wires, he grimaced with concentration. When the machine sputtered to life, t
hey stood back and one of them clapped Riker on the back. His answering smile was infectious and she felt the same reflected on her lips.

He looked up, his gaze colliding with hers, and the smile dipped from his face. In its place was a
calculating seriousness that brought a shiver to her spine. He dragged his attention away and followed the group of men into the woods without a backward glance.

“Ew darlin’, you did piss him off, didn’t you?” Jenny said.

Hannah’s mood plummeted. Miserable, she shook her head and made a single tick sound behind her teeth. “I think he picked already.”

“Don’t even joke.”

“I’m not. You saw the way he looked at me. He’s still mad.” Staring off in the trees where he’d disappeared, she felt like her heart was shredding to pieces. “This is crazy. I just met the man yesterday. Yesterday! I shouldn’t care like this.”

Jenny slung an arm over her shoulder. “It doesn’t happen like this in
your world. Out here, it’s different though, because we’re different. I knew the second I saw Blaine he was mine. Come on. I’ll show you our cabin so you can find it tonight.”

Casting one more look into the trees, she followed Jenny down a small trail beside the corn field.
“How did you two meet?”

“I worked at a diner in town. We were famous for our pies, and on his
lunch breaks, he’d come in and order whatever pie I recommended. I loved him from moment one, but he was the sheriff and, well, it was too dangerous to start a relationship with him. The man was relentless though,” she said with a conspiratorial smile. “He followed me home one day and that was that. He had to choose whether he was in or out. Like you’re having to do now.”

“He’s a cop?” Panic laced her words. No one could know she was here, especially cops. All it took was him poking around her past to stir up
Stone’s hornets. If they tracked the searches to any town around here, they’d find her for sure and none of them would be safe.

Jenny’s dark eyebrows furrowed and she squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. He’s a good one.”

“You don’t understand.” Hannah lowered her voice. “Cops are the ones giving away where my safe houses are. I was in the witness protection program, but Jeremy brought me here after we almost died. I’m out in the wind, Jenny. No one can even get a clue I’m here or it’ll bring trouble for everyone.”

Jenny stopped and grabbed both of her hands. “Hannah, breathe. Blaine is as good as they get. If he knows how important it is to keep you under the radar, he’ll do it. He keeps lots of secrets.”

Or, Jenny could just not tell him about why she’s here. But maybe that would be worse. He was a cop and they got suspicious over everything. He could look into her past without knowing the danger. She searched Jenny’s dark eyes in panic. What would Jeremy do? What was the right move here?

Large movement moved in the woods behind Jenny and Hannah’s breath caught over what she thought she saw.
Scanning, searching, she tried to make sense of the oversized shape, covered in fur. He stood still, watching her with soulless eyes.

“B-b-bear.”

“What?”

“Jenny,” she breathed. “There’s a bear behind you.”

She turned and huffed a chuckle. A
chuckle
, for crying out loud. This was definitely not funny.

“Oh, he’s al
l right. They live all around here.” Jenny’s hands clamped painfully onto her own. “Unless.”

“Unless what?” Hannah s
queaked, quaking so hard her knees knocked. She couldn’t move. The back of the animal was taller than her, huge. She couldn’t even convince her feet to turn and run.

“Unless that’s Merit’s older brother.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Hannah blurted out.

“Run!” Jenny yanked her arm so hard it rattled her bones, and Hannah’s feet pumped as she dodged trees.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to run from bears,” Hannah cried. “Play dead. We should play dead!”

“That won’t stop these bears.”

“These bears?” Hannah’s breath chugged so hard her lungs hurt and her stitches pulled with every step over the uneven ground.

Crashing branches and trees thundered behind them, gaining ground
with every passing second. He was coming and she was helpless to go faster. Her legs already burned, she barely had time to watch her step and her injured lung ached every time she drew a breath. The bear was so close, Hannah imagined his breath on her neck. After everything, she was going to die in the wilderness from an animal attack. Fuck. Jeremy.

A crash came from the woods in front of them, and Hannah slowed as another bear, darker than the honey colored grizzly behind her, plowed the forest toward them.

If Jenny couldn’t see him, she was legally blind. “Another bear,” Hannah screeched.

“That one’s a good one.”

A good—what the hell was happening? A roar from behind her brushed her skin with the powerful vibrations and spurred her forward. A whimper wrenched from her throat as Jenny dragged her forward.

“Duck,” Jenny yelled, pulling her down behind a huge fern.

The larger grizzly, black as night and scarred on his shoulders and neck, leapt over them like they were daffodils and crashed into the other bear with the force of a mac truck.

“We gotta giv
e them room,” Jenny said, crawling away. “This is going to get ugly.”

Mewling, Hannah cra
wled behind a giant pine and peeked around. They should run away while the beasts were battling. They’d been lucky, too lucky, and it shouldn’t be wasted cheering on a wild bear fight. Jenny, however, was watching it like she wished she had a bucket of buttered popcorn.