Bear Lake_Book Five Read online

  “Let her go!” Chance roared out and Rebecca felt the immediate release of the man’s hands on her arms. She stumbled backwards at the sight of Chance as he raced towards them…

  “Calm her down, Chance…” Shane backed off. Fast.

  “Have you seen her?” Rebecca didn’t care if he looked fit to rip her limb from limb, she only cared about Darby.

  Chance ground to a halt. His eyes shot from Shane as the man retreated down to his mate. Her eyes hopeful, pleading…

  “Not yet.” Chance offered her that hope. He wished to hell that he could have delivered Darby right into her arms, she looked like she needed that more than hope, but it was the only thing he had to give her.

  “I- thought- she might- have- come to- you…” Rebecca felt the constriction against her chest. It was getting harder and harder to pull in any kind of a breath. Her mind was spinning again, her head was starting to feel muzzy…

  “Chance, calm your woman…” Jackson growled out from behind them.

  “I don’t know how…” Chance growled at his helplessness.

  “She’s your mate, touch her, sooth her…” Marcus offered. “I’m gonna go right, Shane, you go left, Jackson, you wanna do the alpha thing and watch him?”

  “I got this, find the kid.” Jackson growled out. They didn’t need telling twice. Reece was still within the woods searching. Three bears should have been enough to find one kid, at least, Jackson hoped to hell it was.

  Chance reached out towards Rebecca and she jumped back from him.

  “No!” She shook her head. “I need to find her…”

  Rebecca sidestepped Chance, but he was there in front of her again, blocking the way. When she tried to sidestep him a second time, he wrapped a hand around her waist and pulled her towards him.

  “Calm down and tell me where she might have gone.” Chance growled as she pressed her palms against his chest and tried to push away. She didn’t notice the fact that she was breathing easier again.

  “To see you!” Rebecca bit out. The words sounded like an accusation and Chance scowled down at her.

  “Why?”

  “The pie. To see if you liked the pie. She…” Rebecca shook her head as the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

  Chance was mesmerised by her. He reached up with one large hand and brushed a tear from her cheek with the pad of his thumb, as if he’d never seen a tear before- he twisted his head on his neck and stared at her.

  “I…” Rebecca closed her eyes as she shook her head once more. Things were getting clearer, but still she felt lost…

  “We’re looking in the woods. Is their anywhere else that she might have gone?” Chance could feel the calmness within him. For once his bear was both paying attention and stilled in its desire to take control…

  “I don’t…” Rebecca shook her head. She lifted her hand and rubbed against her forehead, trying to rub away the mayhem and concentrate on what he was asking her.

  Darby… she needed to concentrate for Darby…

  “No.” She was almost certain that Darby would not have left the house for any other reason than to get to the shifters.

  “Do you have this, Chance?” Jackson could see the man; for once his bear wasn’t in the forefront of who he was. This was Chance- his bear was still…

  “Yeah.” Chance bit out. He felt it too. His bear was antsy; wanting to find the child, and yet the need to protect the mate from herself, from the fear of losing her child was paramount.

  Jackson made the decision. He turned on his feet and left for the search. Finding Darby was the most important thing, and four bears were better than three.

  ~^~

  “I want to be out there searching…” Rebecca dug her heels in at the door to her farmhouse. The thought of slinging her over his shoulder and forcibly taking her inside had crossed Chance’s mind, but she was fragile at the moment, not physically, but emotionally.

  “There are four men out there searching…”

  “I’m her mother!” Rebecca tried to sidestep him, but where she thought she was going to go was anyone’s guess.

  Chance was the front door; his shoulders spanned the open space. He didn’t move, just shifted his weight a little to his left side and she was blocked in.

  “Your scent will be a distraction to the others.” Chance was calm, amazingly so considering who he was and how his bear normally reacted around humans.

  “I have to do something.” She bit down on the feeling of inadequacy in not being able to help her own flesh and blood.

  There was a part of her that was so damn grateful to have a pack of bears out searching for Darby in the darkness, and then there was a part of her that feared that reality too.

  Sure, these guys seemed normal at the moment, but what happened if they became their bears? Was Darby in more danger from them than she was from being lost?

  CHAPTER SIX

  “The moment that we find her you will be the first to know.” Chance assured her. He didn’t want to manhandle her inside, and yet he thought it pointless to be standing on the damn doorstep of the house. “Right now, you need to go around the house, especially upstairs, and turn on every light so she can find her way back in the darkness…”

  “That’s…” She frowned hard. “A good idea…”

  Rebecca turned on the balls of her feet and stalked through the house with Chance following on her heels. He opened the curtains and she flicked on every light, every lamp as she went. Then she stopped in the upstairs hallway and wrung her hands, looking lost once more.

  “Now what?” Rebecca asked.

  “Now, we wait.” Chance liked that idea about as much as she did.

  It annoyed him that Darby was out there alone and he wasn’t searching for her, but how could he leave his mate alone? She was irrational, and he got it, but irrational females were trouble and they didn’t need any more of that.

  “I…” She frowned hard as she stared at the floor between them. Chance waited. “Thank you.” Rebecca turned and stalked away.

  ~^~

  “Shouldn’t we be out there looking?” Suzanna grumbled. All the mates were on edge as they waited by the fire pit for news of Darby.

  “Would make sense…” Lucy shrugged. “Especially for me.” She’d been stalking around the area in big wide circles, sniffing the air to see if she could pick up on the child’s scent.

  “And me.” Janice offered. “The child might be injured…”

  “We should all go…” Alex pushed up to her feet without bending at the waist.

  “That’s not going to happen.” Lucy informed her. Her bear nature had turned her into a damn pussy cat with Alex since she’d started to show in her pregnancy. She was probably worse over protecting her than the men were, and they were bad enough.

  “I’m pregnant, Lucy, not on my last bloody legs- soon to go belly up…” Alex grumbled.

  “Like a beached whale.” Suzanna chuckled.

  “Don’t make fun of the belly.” Janice cautioned her with a teasing smile towards Alex.

  “Fine, well you three go then. No sense in us all sitting around here waiting.” Alex tossed up a hand and tried to sit back down again.

  It was a precarious position to be in, her backside hovering over a damn seat that had been carved into a felled log, it wasn’t cushion soft and she couldn’t just drop. Lucy offered a hand and eased her down slowly.

  “I’m the link.” Lucy shrugged. “If Darby shows up I can tell them that she’s here…”

  “And the protection for us helpless human mates, of course.” Janice smiled.

  “Hey, don’t shoot the shifter. It’s not my fault that I was bitten, but I wouldn’t go back and do things differently… well, apart from the whole way it happened and wanting to kill my mate thing…” Lucy scowled.

  “So we wait?” Suzanna asked to grumbles and mutterings from the others.

  “Don’t want to distract the males from what they’re doing, bless them, multitasking
is a bitch.” Lucy smiled.

  “I hope Chance is ok. Handling it.” Alex shrugged at the thought of him being out there with his mate. It irked her that she wasn’t in the thick of it- that she couldn’t help.

  “You have a lot of faith in him, don’t you?” Lucy frowned.

  “I have a lot of faith in all of them.” Alex shrugged again. “And it’s paid off. Look at all of you mated to your men.”

  “But- Chance?” Suzanna scowled.

  “I think Chance just needs to have a little faith in himself.” Alex sighed. The man had always been on the edge, but she believed that anyone could come back from there. Even Chance.

  ~^~

  “You can go too.” Rebecca felt him watching her. She wondered if he was worried that she would break- go nuts- run off into the woods and get lost as her daughter had.

  “I’m good here.” Chance stood by the door to the kitchen. He’d folded his arms across his chest and was watching her, trying to stay detached, and yet knowing that was impossible.

  His bear was antsy again. Not in usual way of wanting to fight, to rip and tear, but whining and protesting the need to be doing something to help their mate.

  “I wished I could be that calm…” Rebecca hated that her insides were practically crawling like she was being eaten alive by maggots or something equally as disgusting. She hated the fact that her whole body itched to be doing something. She hated that her muscles were clenched so tightly that she thought they actually might break…

  Chance grunted at her description of him. Calm- it wasn’t a word that many would have used to describe him over the years, but he liked that was how she saw him now.

  She needed a rock. She needed someone to be there for her, and that was his job. It was what defined him as a mate, and yet he would never be her mate- not in any real sense of the word.

  “Darby isn’t mine.” Chance lied.

  The child felt like his kin- which was alien to him. He’d always been alone- right up until the point when he had met Jackson and they had become like brothers. Now the child was lost and he felt that pain of not knowing what was happening to her.

  “I just need to hold her…” Rebecca turned away from him and placed her palms down onto the cold kitchen counter. She closed her eyes and bit down on the tears that threatened her lashes. Now wasn’t the time to lose it again.

  “You will.” Chance didn’t want to make her a promise that he couldn’t keep, but he knew his clan and they wouldn’t rest until they found the child, because if things had been different and Chance had been… normal, then Darby would already have been part of their clan.

  When this was done and dusted, and when he was gone- the clan would protect Rebecca and Darby for the rest of their lives.

  “I can’t see that. I can’t feel it inside of me…” Rebecca shot him a pitiful look over her shoulder. “You wouldn’t understand, you’re not a father, are you?”

  Chance shook his head. He was a father. In reality he was Darby’s kin now, but she couldn’t hear that from him- she wouldn’t understand. And he might not have a bond, a connection with the child, yet… ever, but he felt a sense of loss.

  “Are you mated? Do you have…?” Rebecca didn’t know why she’d asked. It somehow seemed important. Chance cut her off.

  “No.” Talking about it was the last thing either of them needed. But his denial of his mate made his bear angry. “Not yet.” He soothed the beast within- gave it a semblance of hope.

  “I don’t understand your people…” Rebecca turned away from him again and it felt like a loss. Those dark brown eyes were mesmerising to him, and it made him think of Darby’s eyes, of the child out there alone in the darkness.

  “We have one mate, and we mate for life.” Chance didn’t know why he told her that. It wasn’t important.

  “That’s…” Rebecca frowned as she turned back to look at him. Then she stopped on a small shrug.

  “What?”

  “Kind of sweet.” She frowned harder. The man before her was anything but sweet. He was a damned shifter- he had a bear inside waiting to get out of him… that wasn’t so sweet.

  “Sweet…” It was Chance’s turn to frown, and that turned into a scowl.

  “I wasn’t being sarcastic or anything. It’s nice that you find the one and stick to it. People don’t work at relationship anymore. It’s like our throwaway society has encompassed everything, including marriage and children.” Rebecca turned back to the counter.

  “Why would someone walk away from their child?” Chance could never accept such a thing. His kind protected, nurtured, gave their life for their kin. A child was a blessing. A mate was everything.

  “Don’t get me started.” Rebecca didn’t want to think of Darby’s father. She didn’t want to think of anything but having Darby home.

  “Sorry.” Chance dropped his hands to his sides and growled in annoyance. He hadn’t meant to upset her.

  “No, I just meant that Darby’s father is a waste of space and it annoys me that he could just turn his back on her.”

  “Want me to hit him?” Chance spoke before he put his brain in gear. He winced as she turned her eyes on him again. Then her lips bowed up at sides in the first real smile he’d seen on her, even if it was the smallest of smiles, before she blew out a half chuckle.

  “You’d have to find him first.”

  “I can do that, if you need me too.” Chance could have kicked himself for the second time.

  “I’m sure you have something better to do with your time.”

  “Not really.” Chance mumbled.

  “If he ever makes an appearance, I’ll keep your offer in mind, but you’ll probably have to get in line.” Rebecca turned her eyes to the window. The look of longing on her face made his gut twist.

  “Do you want me to make you tea?” Chance needed to help her, he just didn’t know how.

  “Tea?”

  “Alex says it’s calming.” Chance gave a half shrug. “Or coffee. I prefer Scotch to ease me, but you don’t look like someone who drinks Scotch.”

  “I… I’m good. Thanks… but can I get you…?”

  “No.” For once Chance didn’t feel the need to reach for a bottle when being around a human. That in itself was slightly unnerving.

  “I think…” Rebecca took a step towards the door…

  “Wait…” Chance shook his head.

  “I’m just going to go…”

  “Stop talking…” Chance growled. Her face immediately showed surprise… “They’ve found her scent…”

  “What…? Oh my God.” Now Rebecca moved with a purpose towards the door. Chance was with her step for step.

  “They don’t have her yet, but they can follow her scent right to her.” Chance reached around her and yanked open the back door without her missing a step.

  “What way?” She demanded.

  “No, stay here. They’ll bring her to you or to one of the mates who is a doctor if they need to. You’re better here where your car is…” Chance was trying to do four things at once, keep her calm, think of all the options that they might need, keep tabs on the clan’s conversation in his mind, and keep himself in check.

  It wasn’t easy.

  “Yes, the doctor… good idea.” Rebecca wrapped her arms around herself. The night air was biting, but she didn’t care, she would much rather wrap her arms around herself than go back inside for her jacket.

  Chance could feel the nervousness within his mate. There was a heady mixture of emotions coming from her.

  He shucked off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. It dwarfed her in meters of material, but she gave him a grateful smile as the heat from his body that was still trapped inside the material warmed and comforted her.

  ‘Chance, Darby’s fine. A couple of scratches and maybe a bruise or two. She’s cold, but she’s asking where you are…’

  “She’s fine. Not hurt, just scratches…” Chance offered to Rebecca and she held her breath to be
able to listen to every word. When she let out that breath it was fast and powerful.

  “Oh God, thank you…” her legs felt weak, as if her muscles had just been tight for so long all they wanted to do was relax all at once- she almost collapsed, but Chance acted quickly to wrap an arm around her waist and haul her against the strength and stability of his body.

  “I have you.” He whispered against her hair as she palmed his chest and melted against him, dissolving into silent tears, and finally letting go of the fear that had been haunting her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ‘Bring her home, Jackson…’

  ‘On our way. Janice is coming to you so she can check her out.’

  “They’re bringing her home now. The doctor’s coming to check her over.” Chance offered that comfort. His mate nodded, trying to still the tears, trying to regain her composure.

  “I’m sorry…” Rebecca tried to push away from him but his natural reaction was to keep her close.

  His bear whined from the mixed emotions within him. A part of him knew that he needed to set her back, keep his distance from her, but the mate within him refused to see it.

  “Don’t be. A mother’s love for a child is everything.” Chance reached up and wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumb.

  “You are not what I imaged you to be…” Rebecca’s mind shifted gears. She didn’t know if it was the heightened emotional state that she’d found herself in, but she felt inexplicably close to man…

  “Yes I am.” Chance didn’t want her to be under any illusion about him. She was his mate, it followed that she would be drawn to him, and yet he couldn’t let that happen.

  “If you were then you wouldn’t have done all of this…” Rebecca pinned him to the spot with her brown eyes. “You gave a damn…”

  “I…” Chance wanted to deny it for her sake as much as for his, but he couldn’t seem to get those words out. “You’re seeing what you want to see. Irrational thoughts and feelings, because you’re upset…”