Hearten (Bayou Bear Chronicles) Read online

  “This has to stop—now!” The Alpha’s voice boomed in my ears, leaving a deafening ring.

  “Alpha. May I speak, please?” Rev’s voice was even and calm. He may have been the only one in the room who would conjure words right at that moment. I certainly couldn’t.

  “Sure. Speak. Tell me, Rev. Tell me how to save my mate.”

  I couldn’t lift my head from my submissive position. He was exerting the power without even trying. Somehow Rev was strong enough to resist it—or at least resist it enough to speak.

  “My mate has a plan. I don’t particularly approve of it, but she has a plan that just may give us the leverage we need.”

  “Speak, Martha.” After he had said the words, my head popped up like a jack from the box. “I have to go on a trip to Houston. I’d planned to act as a decoy in order to lure the Grizzlies away. There are black bears in Texas who have a reputation for taking care of threats quietly. They’re a no bullshit kind of clan, Alpha. It would buy us enough time to get the Grizzlies away from her and eliminate the threat.”

  Hawke looked out of the window like he often did when he was thinking.

  “No bullshit, huh? I suppose we are the ‘puts up with all the bullshit’ clan, right? I guess that makes me the bullshit Alpha.”

  “Beloved Alpha, she didn’t mean…” His hand raised and stopped Rev from continuing.

  “No, she’s right. I’ve put up with bullshit for way too long. Martha, I can’t thank you enough for being willing and cunning enough to take this on. Rev, your mate is truly an asset in this clan. I’m assuming you’re okay with this?”

  Rev ticked his eyes in my direction. “I am not okay with it, Alpha. But it seems my mate has a mind of her own—and a brilliant one at that. If it saves the Coeur, then I have no arguments. I’m assuming we can trust the Texan bears to keep her safe.”

  “I will call them immediately.”

  “Fine.”

  It didn’t escape my notice that he’d used his silent rebellious answer of ‘fine.’ No one else seemed to notice.

  “Dismissed.”

  We filed out and after some departing conversation with Echo, we went home. While Rev had filled in on the security detail earlier in the morning, I had cleaned out one side of the dresser and one—portion—of the closet. I’d put all his things away and even put his clan history book on the chair in my office so that we could work together.

  “Where’s my book? I need to write some things down.”

  “In the office. On your chair.” I blushed embarrassingly as I told him—trying so hard to tell him more than just where his book was.

  “On my chair? When did it become my chair?”

  “Right after your clothes got put into our dresser.”

  “Female, that sounds like letting me in a little bit. You might want to be careful. You might get hurt.”

  “Are you going to hurt me?”

  A smile began to form slowly on his face. “No, but I might just tear the world down if someone else hurts you…death would be welcome on my doorstep if you died. That’s why the Creator made us the way he did. Females are so damned strong, but I couldn’t stand to be in this world one second without you.”

  Reaching up on my tip toes, I kissed my mate long and hard.

  “You won’t have to. We are just beginning.”

  Rev

  “She won’t answer the damned phone. I gave her one task. One. Answer the effing phone when I call.”

  Hawke sat on his couch rubbing the back of the Coeur.

  That wasn’t really going to help me.

  “Did you drop her off at the airport or go in with her?”

  Hawke groaned, issuing my cue to watch my tone. “I went in with her until she got to the security check, and then she waved to me when she got through it.”

  That didn’t help either. Nothing he was doing was helping me.

  Echo spoke up. “What time was she supposed to arrive?”

  “Twenty-seven minutes ago. The flight was on time.”

  “Call the airline and see if she was on the flight.”

  I threw my hands in the air, exasperated with the suggestion. “I did. They won’t give me details unless I am her legal spouse.”

  The Alpha’s voice boomed next above the other two in the room. “Let’s all just keep calm. All of this unnecessary worrying is going to get us nowhere, and it’s upsetting my mate. I won’t stand for it, Rev. Your mate is fine. Give her a few minutes.”

  I flung the door open and paced the porch for ten more minutes before I called again. This time, instead of going to voice mail, it rang. A small spark of relief flooded through me.

  She was fine—in one piece.

  She was coming back to me.

  “Hello, Beta. Sorry for the delay. We had to charge your mate’s phone. Silly women never keeping their damned phones charged. It’s funny. I sent my boys to get the Coeur, but Hawke’s a tricky little Alpha, isn’t he? But that’s okay. I have the Beta female. She’s awfully pretty.”

  Martha—I heard her struggling against something.

  Trembling with anger, I listened to his voice, gauging it and branding it into my mind. I couldn’t hear my mate anymore, but our heartbeat was steady and sluggish.

  “What did you do to her?”

  A low, menacing chuckle was my answer. “Oh, she was a little—upset. We gave her something to calm her down—way down. Now, enough with the questions. There’s only one way to get your mate back…her life for the Alpha’s or your Coeur, whichever one. We’re not really picky at this point.”

  I growled over the phone. Who did these bears think they were?

  “Tell you what. You take some time to think about it and let me know which one you choose. I expect a call in three hours. I’m sure we can find a way to keep your mate entertained in the meantime.”

  Yelling into the phone was futile. He’d already hung up.

  I slid against our home to the ground. My mate had sacrificed herself as a decoy to help our Coeur get to a safer place with the Alpha and now she’d been taken.

  There was only one thing to do.

  I had to go get her myself.

  But I needed help.

  Tanoak wasn’t available. He was at the Alpha’s cabin in the swamp.

  Shit!

  “Tarrow!” I yelled at him with more force than what was needed. I hated to ask him for help. He never took anything seriously and his constant babbling drove me batshit.

  “Yes, Beta.”

  A sinister smile took over his entire face. He’d answered me cocky and annoying.

  I hated that little bastard.

  “Where have you been?”

  “I was out in the woods. I saw a cinnamon bear.”

  Punching the wall next to me, I ground out my command to him. “I don’t care if you saw a circus bear driving a car. My mate has been taken and you’re gonna help me get her back. Not because I like you or think you can actually do something productive, but because I have no other option. You’re the only Beta left around here. Put the other bears on security and get back to my house immediately. I’ve got to trace the call. And call Tanoak immediately. He’s going to play chauffeur.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He ran off. I had no time to worry about the feelings of a sub-par leader.

  Rubbing a circle into my chest, I vowed. “Hold tight, Martha. I’m coming.”

  “Rev, what’s the problem?” Hawke was outside in a second.

  “They’ve got her. The Grizzlies have her.”

  And then the Alpha put his fist through the front door.

  “What did they say?”

  “They want the Coeur or you in exchange for her.”

  “Let’s go beat their asses!” Tarrow interjected.

  “Wait, there has to be a different way to handle this.” Echo was concerned. Her worry was practically pouring off of her—you didn’t have to be her mate to know.

  “There is no other way. We have been
too complacent for too long. Take as many men as we have available and bring the Beta Female back.” Hawke insisted.

  Martha

  I awakened slumped in a chair—a chair that smelled like mustard—mostly vinegar with a hint of gag. A chair that certainly wasn’t mine.

  I didn’t open my eyes right away.

  Someone was snoring in the room. It was a stranger’s snore. Rev’s snore was down deep in his throat while this one was nasally. I dragged one huge breath through my nose to see what else I could decipher from the smells around me. Other than the caustic scent of the animal in the room with me, I smelled bleach and antiseptic.

  Light filtered into the room from my left. Even with my lids closed, I could see it and feel the warmth on my shoulder.

  My feet were bare.

  My lower lip felt like it was twice its normal size, either that or a bowling ball had been inserted underneath the skin.

  I could hear rock music playing somewhere near.

  My wrists felt raw. They were stuck to the arms of the metal chair—no, taped. My wrists were taped down and something felt like it was choking me. I must’ve had a rope around my neck.

  Still hearing the snoring, I opened my eyes and took in the room. The bleach and antiseptic led me to believe that I was in a hospital setting. It was just a dingy motel room with the most sickening orange comforter and lamps I’d ever seen. The walls were paneled in a wood that had certainly been outlawed since the seventies.

  “Ah, the big, bad Beta Female wakes. Sit tight sugar lips. Horace needs a word with you.”

  Sugar Lips?

  I wracked my brain for the name Horace and it didn’t take me long to place it—Echo’s keeper, slave-driver, or rat bastard. Any of the names applied.

  I turned around to the window, and thought them awfully stupid to put me right by the largest window in the place, right by the door.

  Then again, they’d showed how smart they were when they kidnapped me.

  Rev was going to tear their heads off.

  “Well, female. Your mate is on his way. He’s promised to hand over the Alpha of your clan.”

  I cleared my throat and found that whatever was tied around my throat was killing me. The man, I presumed was Horace, was sickly looking in his human form. His skin had a greenish tint to it like he had a layer of green smoothie under his epidermis.

  My breathing was labored and I couldn’t figure out why. My mouth felt like it had a thousand cotton balls tucked into it.

  “If you think he will hand over the Alpha, you’re mistaken.” That was what I said in my head anyway. But the laughter guffawing through the room and the stickiness of my lips told me that I hadn’t said anything at all—or anything comprehensible.

  What had they done to me?

  “Having a little trouble dear? One of the wolves said you were a little mouthy when I told him I’d gotten you as a consolation prize instead of my dear Echo. That’s okay. One trade will certainly lead to another and I will have her back soon. Then she can take care of this wretched body. My mate can’t even stand to look at me.”

  It’s not because of your Slimer showing through your skin, Buddy. It’s because you’re all asshole spread over a big piece of bastard and sprinkled with some douchey jerks.

  “Your mate must be pretty stupid handing over his Alpha. He really thinks that once we have Hawke we’re just going to let you two go?”

  He did not just call my mate stupid.

  Did they really think they could keep me in chains like this?

  Closing my eyes and reaching inside me, I let the beginnings of a shift take over.

  That’s when the searing, stinging pulse of electricity shot through me, starting with my neck.

  Again deafening laughter filled the space, fueling me on.

  For the second time, as skin sprouted fur, the zing of electricity silenced my bear and put a swift halt to my transition.

  “Echo never learned either—stupid black bear. Your kind may be faster in the wild, but it’s clear the Creator was just balancing the scales since you’re so stupid.”

  That was two times he’d called us stupid.

  “She’s a little too feisty, Junior. Put her out again.”

  Junior. As if Horace wasn’t a horrible name already, he’d damned his son to the same fate.

  Junior, as he stood over me, flicking the bubbles from a syringe, took after his father in ugliness too.

  He never stood a chance in life.

  His life would be short anyway—once Rev got a hold of him.

  I kept my gaze locked with his as long as I could stand it. If I was going to go down, I would go down fighting.

  My ass was asleep. I’d been in the same position for so long that my ass was completely numb—like a too long church service in a rock hard pew.

  I hope my mate gave them extra hell for making that happen.

  You can’t shake your ass for your mate to get all jealous if you can’t feel the shit.

  My toes were tingling.

  A snare drumbeat hastened in my chest and I looked down to see if it was beating out of me.

  It wasn’t me.

  It was Rev.

  His heart was out of control, which could mean one of two things.

  One, he was fighting.

  Two, he couldn’t find me.

  I didn’t know which one I wanted.

  If he was fighting, it meant that he was about to get me.

  If he couldn’t find me, it meant that he wasn’t in danger.

  Putting aside the warning from Horace, I attempted to shift again. Shaking through the pain, I damned Horace for this cruel form of punishment and restraint.

  Someone should put this collar on him.

  Frustrated with the state of my situation, I tried time after time after time to shift, until getting stung by that ring around my neck was a comforting reminder that I was still alive and kicking.

  “Stop, Martha. You must stop!”

  The raspy quality to his voice was the first thing I noticed.

  Mostly because I couldn’t see him—so many electric shocks had blurred my vision.

  I didn’t talk. My mouth couldn’t move.

  As his hand touched mine, a wave of serenity filled my veins, crashing against me.

  “Don’t try to shift again. I’ve got you, love.”

  I caught glimpses of my rescue between spells of passing out. Rev cutting the tape from my wrists.

  Sometime later I woke up in the backseat of the Alpha’s SUV. My mate’s smell was all around me this time—and the smell of blood.

  “Pull over now. We’re far enough away.”

  Brakes sliding and skidding in the gravel beneath us as whoever had the wheel took Tarrow’s orders to heart.

  Since when did Tarrow give orders?

  How long had I been gone?

  “We have to get it off her now!”

  An air of exasperation laced Tarrow’s voice when he answered. “I know, Rev. That’s why I grabbed these.”

  A dangling of metal was followed by a slight pressure to my neck—followed by freedom.

  “Are you okay? Martha, talk to me.”

  I nodded. I still couldn’t feel my tongue.

  Rev

  If the Alpha had ever doubted my loyalty—there would be no doubt after what had occurred at that Beaumont motel that night.

  I found her by scent alone.

  The coward, Horace, had given directions to a park he wanted me to meet him at the next day to exchange Martha for the Alpha.

  I had been called a lot of things. I called myself barbaric. The Alpha called me determined and loyal. Echo called me broody.

  My mate, the life in my breath, called me hers—but no one called me stupid.

  The Alpha had given me free reign to make sure the Grizzlies knew who was Alpha.

  No good ever came of giving in to the enemy.

  No good ever came of waiting for the enemy to come to your doorstep.

  Yo
u didn’t wait for them.

  You brought the fight to them.

  And that’s what I had done.

  Tarrow and I had stormed the place while the Grizzlies slumbered.

  The man that the Alpha had sent me with, Tanoak, drove the SUV while Tarrow and I went in. It wasn’t even a fair fight. Grizzlies might be bigger and stronger than black bears, but by the time Horace woke up, all the rest of his makeshift clan was already dead—their throats had been slit by two fast and quiet black bears in the night.

  He’d begged for mercy and I couldn’t understand why. He looked half dead already.

  I had done him a favor.

  He should’ve been grateful that I didn’t string him up by his toes and bleed him out.

  Horace deserved all that pain and more.

  And just in case any more of the Grizzlies wondered what happened, we’d lined their heads up in a row in the closest bit of forest behind the motel.

  If that wasn’t a sign that no one messes with Hawke and his clan, then I didn’t know what was.

  We hadn’t even had to get the black bears of Texas involved in the fight—only in the clean-up.

  With the evidence we left behind and the Texan black bears inevitable gossip about how the Alpha handles disobedience, I doubted there would be any more failings in the ranks.

  Martha hadn’t spoken in the four days since we’d brought her home. She was eating and sleeping. Sometimes she looked like she wanted to tell me something, but then changed her mind at the last minute.

  I didn’t know what was wrong with her.

  Her feelings relayed too many different things to pinpoint just one.

  A knock at the door one afternoon broke me from the silence that now filled our house. I’d begged the Creator for her voice again. I’d begged Him for her healing—longed for the day when she argued with me once again.

  “Come in, Alpha.”

  Hawke and Echo had been arguing on the other side of the door before I’d opened it.

  “Where is she?” Echo seemed inpatient. I’d noticed her absence from our home since Martha had returned, but didn’t read into it.

  “She’s in her bedroom.”

  Echo took the stairs in no time and entered the bedroom without making her presence known.

  “I’m sorry, Rev. Echo said I should apologize.”