Mine To Bear (A Paranormal Shifter Romance) (Atonement Book 2) Read online

  With the three of them ready again, they continued up the hill, Edward leading the way, his monstrous bear sniffing constantly to detect any future threats. They came across one cleverly hidden bear trap, but his nose easily picked up the metal, and they were able to disable it without harming anyone.

  The path became more worn as they neared the side of the mountain, indicating more traffic. There was still no further sign of wolves, not even once they sighted the opening to the den. Carefully they entered the opening, wary of any traps that may be set. Once they got past the first set of rooms, something came to Edward.

  It was a human female, not a shifter.

  Without thinking he pushed past Derek as he moved deeper inside.

  "Edward, slow down! We don't know what's back there!" His friends scrambled after him, trying to keep pace.

  It was useless, however, for he was on a mission, focused completely on the scent he had picked up. There was something about it, something that spoke to him in a way he hadn't known possible. He bulled through doors, obstacles flying out of the way as he pushed through room after room. The sheer size of the den wouldn't register on him until later, until after he had located the source of the scent.

  He shouldered his way through one last door, before coming up short. Derek nearly bounced off him as he tried to come to a stop. He stood rooted to the spot, staring intensely across the room at the filthy, half-naked, screaming woman locked in a cage. It was almost too painful to look at, now that he had located her, realizing just what had been going on within this room. The other scents in the room told him what they had been doing to her.

  Taking a step forward to open the cage, he froze when she scrambled back against the far side of her prison, desperately clawing at the walls behind her, trying to get free. Then he remembered he was still in his bear form. Without thinking, he shifted right there in front of her.

  "Out of the room," he spoke to his friends, not being rude, simply taking charge of the situation. They exchanged glances and backed out of the room, going off to explore the rest of the cave complex, to ensure no rude surprises awaited them. Philip went to close the door on his way out, but at the look of panic in the woman's eyes, Edward held it open.

  "It's okay. We're not the same men you've had to deal with." He spoke slowly and in soft, comforting tones. It was not a normal method of speech for him, but it felt right for the situation at hand, so he did his best.

  Doing his best to not make any sudden, jarring movements, he shuffled to the side, leaving nothing between her and the open doorway. He could see the almost feral light in her eyes as hope shone for the first time in probably a long time

  "Do you know how long you've been here, or what day it was they took you?"

  She focused on him at the sound of his voice, almost as if she was unused to anyone actually talking to her, asking her opinion. He could not begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for her in here. Instead of prodding for an answer, he simply sat back and waited, keeping his eyes on her, doing his best to look relaxed and non-predatory.

  "February 21. How did you do that?" She finally managed to speak, her voice sounding dry and raspy, not having seen much use lately.

  It took him awhile to stop trying to formulate an answer to her question and realize that it was now the middle of May, which meant she had been here for over three months. His fury threatened to boil over at that, but when she shrunk back in terror, he immediately let it dissipate, trying his best to emulate calm and control again.

  "Sorry for that, it wasn't directed at you, but at those who held you."

  "Who are you? What are you? If you aren't with them, how are you here?" There was a little bit of hope in her voice this time.

  "My name is Edward, and I'm no friend of those who took you. The rest of the answer is a bit more complicated. I'm not sure how much time we have. There may be more of those men coming, and my friends and I are already a little hurt from our first encounter. If more do show up, they'll be better prepared and we may not be able to escape."

  "Let me out then, please let me go." She was pleading now, almost as if she didn't believe that he was going to take her with him.

  "Can I trust you to come with us? You're in the middle of the mountains, with no clear way of escape. We have a jeep nearby, we'll gladly take you to the hospital, but I need to know that you won't fight us on the way there."

  "I promise, I'll be good." She was trying to stand now, but her collar wouldn't let her up, but it didn't stop her from trying to open the door.

  "Where are the keys?"

  "They keep them over there," she said, pointing to a nail hammered into the wall, where a single key on a piece of string hung.

  Fetching it, he moved over to the door, slowly inserting the key. As soon as the lock was undone, she pushed it open and tried to duck past him. Fully expecting it, his arm swooped down and around her waist, picking her up and hugging her tight.

  She kicked and screamed, yelling at him to let her go. He didn't do anything else, simply holding her off the ground and firmly against him.

  "It's okay. We're going to take you home now." He kept repeating those words, over and over again. Eventually, she tired of struggling, at which point her screams slowly turned to sobs. The warm dampness dripped through his shirt as she shuddered against him repeatedly, her noises muffled by his shirt.

  Gently he raised his free hand and stroked her head. At first she flinched away, but before long she rested against him, exhausted. He continued to whisper and talk to her long after she had passed out from exhaustion in his arms. More gently than should have been possible for a man his size, he carried her all the way back to the jeep. The entire time her head was nuzzled against his neck.

  Edward had never been so petrified in his life, for holding her like that felt more natural than anything he had done in a long time. Yet he didn't even know her name.

  She didn't wake the entire time they were in the air. It was only upon their arrival at the hospital she stirred, much to his relief. He had monitored her breathing to ensure she didn't go into shock or worse, but he had begun to worry when even the landing of the plane hadn't woken her.

  They told the nurse a modified version of what had happened, leaving out the part about everyone being shifters. They had simply been in the woods, found a cave of some sort that was on Derek's property and shouldn't have been there, and then men, who had fled as they approached. Upon further inspection, they had found this one locked in a cage.

  The nurses had wanted to call in the police, but with a carefully placed name drop, the staff realized who the three men actually were. That had been enough to calm the issue. Turning to leave, Derek and Philip had headed towards the door. They had done their job, it was time to get some sleep and recover from their wounds.

  "I'm staying," he pronounced, sitting in a chair outside of her room, leaning his head up against the plain white wall.

  Both of his friends stopped and turned back to look at him in surprise.

  "Why?" Philip asked, while Derek remained thoughtfully silent.

  "Not sure, there's just something about her. I need to be here, it feels like the right thing to do. Does that make sense?"

  "No, actually it doesn't Edward," the reply came. Eyeing his friend, he noticed Derek nodding slightly off to the side.

  "You get it, right?"

  "I get it. Call or text us if you need anything, food, clothes, etc, okay?"

  "Clothes would be wonderful," he said wryly, eyeing the ripped clothing that hung off him currently. Changing into a bear was rarely good for clothes. "I'll get some food delivered though, but thank you for offering that one."

  "See you in the morning." Derek gave him a nod, before turning and heading towards the elevator, giving Philip a tug when he didn't immediately follow.

  After he had some food ordered, he told the nurses what he was doing, only raising an eyebrow when they tried to object.

  "I'm going to sit i
n that chair and sleep, eat some food, and occasionally use the washroom. I won't do anything more, which includes bothering any of you for constant updates. In return, when she's awake and able to speak, you ask her if she is willing to talk to me. If she says no, I go. If she says yes, you let me in." He was polite with his words, but made it very clear to them that it wasn't a request. Shrugging in defeat, they left and went about their work, leaving him to do as he promised.

  The delivery guy was awestruck when presented with a huge tip, but by that point Edward was just too tired and hungry to care about waiting for change. He didn't want to deal with any human presence unless it was his mystery girl, whoever she was. Wolfing his mediocre sandwich down, he tossed the remnants away and settled in to wait.

  It wasn't long before sleep claimed him.

  Melissa

  Her eyes slowly opened, burning as they tried to adjust to the bright sunlight pouring in through the open windows. Instinctively she tried to cover her eyes with her hands. When they wouldn't move as she commanded, she looked down in horror to find them strapped to the bedside. Shaking furiously she tried to rip them free, but she wasn't strong enough.

  A nurse rushed into the room, a kindly older lady with an officious look on her face.

  "Now you stop your struggling right there young lady. Those aren't permanent, and as soon as you can prove to us you aren't going to up and run away, I will take them right off."

  Not waiting for a reply, the nurse bustled up to her and started checking various readouts on the machines and untying her. She flinched at the close presence of someone, but didn't try to break free.

  "Hun, there's nothing to be afraid of with little old me. I know you probably don't believe that, and while I can't understand what you've been through, I can understand that it's hard for you to trust what anyone says now."

  "Where am I?" she asked, still trying to come to terms with the fact that she could see sunlight again, and that she wasn't in the dark cave anymore.

  "Parkside Hospital dear, in the finest of care if I do say so myself," she said, giggling at her own joke.

  "What is your name, sweetie? You didn't have any identification on you when they brought you in."

  "Melissa..." she worked her mouth around the syllables, finding it weird to hear her own name after so long. The men who had held her hadn't used names, simply derogatory term's when talking at her. They never talked to her, like this nurse was.

  "Well Melissa, other than being underfed and weak, there's nothing physically wrong with you, my dear. How do you feel?"

  "Weak. In shock. I can't believe I'm actually free. It, it doesn't feel real." That was the honest truth, for she didn't actually believe it. This was more than likely some mean trick, she had dreamt the whole thing. However, even now as she inhaled, she caught a whiff of something familiar, the smell of someone new. She remembered that scent from her dreams, of the strong man who had held her so tenderly. How could that be a dream, she wondered.

  "Oh, it's real enough sweetie. The man who brought you in is still waiting outside. He was really nice, he even slept in the chair outside your room. It was rather annoying to have to show him my nurses badge, but he wasn't going to let anyone in here who was up to no good. Little rough around the edges, but I think he's got a good heart in him. Anyways, listen to me blabber on, let's get you some food!"

  She hustled out of the room, promising to be back in just a minute. Melissa began to settle back into the bed, allowing herself to hope for just a minute that she might actually be free.

  "Hello," the deep, masculine voice came from the doorway, startling her out of her reverie. It was the man from her dreams, she realized with a start. This must be the one the nurse was going on about. He looked terrible, huge bags under his eyes, hair messy and his clothes still torn and stained. Still, it was his eyes themselves that she noticed, the care and tenderness practically bleeding through.

  "Hi." She wasn't sure what else to say at that point, not sure that words alone could truly express how grateful she was to him. Although she was slowly starting to accept the reality of it, she knew her transition back to a normal life would be rough. It would be worth it though, because she now had the chance to do so. Perhaps, she thought, when I'm healed, I'll seek him out and find out how I can repay him.

  "How are they treating you?" It was clear to her he had no idea where to go from here either, but she appreciated the fact that he was trying, that he was talking to her like a real human being. Something that almost felt like it should have been a smile tugged at her cheeks.

  "Well enough. The nurse seems destined to hook you up with somebody, I think she likes your protective side."

  He turned his head away at that, and she immediately regretted the words, although she had no idea why he reacted the way he did.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. Please don't hate me." The words came out in the same voice she had used with her captors, an unintentional habit. Her hands flew to her mouth as she realized what she had done. This man had been nothing but kind to her, rescuing her and bringing her all the way to the hospital, then sleeping outside her door.

  The look of pain and hurt on his face as her tone registered to him was breaking what little emotion she had left in her. He didn't deserve that from her, nor did she deserve his kindness, she thought.

  "I'm sorry."

  "Sorry? Why are you sorry? I should be the one apologizing." He grated his teeth together as he ground out the words, obviously unhappy with himself.

  "We didn't know that they had someone in captivity, or even where their -" he paused as he looked over his shoulder.

  The nurse came pushing politely past him with a breakfast of eggs, toast, and some potato fries. It smelled delicious to her, and his last statement was momentarily forgotten while she dug in.

  "Eat slowly dear, you don't want to upset your stomach."

  With a wry look at the nurse, she slowed herself down, forcing herself to chew thoroughly before taking the next bite. The last thing she wanted to do was unload the contents of her stomach in front of this man.

  Edward

  He had told her his name last night, and it was Edward.

  "I'm Melissa," she told him, meeting his gaze again. He started as she spoke to him, before a small smile spread over his face.

  "Well Melissa, I'm sorry we didn't discover you earlier. While we had an idea that somebody was trespassing, we didn't realize their true nature in time." That must have been a veiled reference to another memory that was coming back to her.

  "Did they know your, um, true nature?" she said, trying to phrase it so the nurse wouldn't understand, but still clearly enough that she didn't confuse him with her words.

  "I'm not sure they thought the course of action through to reach the logical conclusion, no. If any of them try to return to their den, I'm not sure they'll be able to bear the consequences. Once the police find them, that is," he added hastily at the odd look the nurse gave him. She seemed satisfied by that and smiled along with the two of them.

  "I still can't thank you enough for coming in after me. How did you even find them?"

  "It wasn't hard Melissa, they made as much noise as a pack of wolves." He hit her with a powerful stare at those last words, obviously trying to tell her something. Something to do with wolves and the men.

  Then it came to her. He had mentioned their den and making noises like a pack of wolves. Those two tidbits, plus the fact that he had revealed to her that he could change into a bear, told her all she needed to know about her captors. They had been werewolves.

  The incredulity of that sentence threw her mind for a loop, but it made sense. They had always been at each other's throats, except for when the boss was around. They had all bowed down to what he said, practically cowering around him.

  The thought still boggled her mind, that such a thing could still in fact exist. Her eyes had borne proof to it though, when Edward had changed right before her. She might have been
able to push it off as her being delusional at the time, but now, now that she was starting to feel some sort of rationality return, his cryptic words fit all too well.

  "I'll give you two a moment. Just press this button if you need assistance dear." The nurse indicated the big yellow button just out of reach of her left hand.

  "Okay, thank you." With that, the two of them were alone again. She noticed that he didn't come any further into the room, simply leaning on the door frame for comfort, but maintaining his distance. It was nice of him to respect her like that, since they barely knew each other. She was unsure what would happen if he came closer anyways, and the last thing she wanted to do was try and find out.

  "Thank you again, Edward," she rolled the name over her tongue, seeing how it felt. It had been quite some time since she had spoken directly to another human, and she found saying someone's name a different experience.

  "You can stop thanking me, any normal person would have done the same. You don't owe me anything either, so just in case you were going to say something along those lines, just forget it now." He smiled jovially to indicate he was serious but not upset about it, just heading off any later awkwardness.

  "What do I do now Edward? I have no family, I even had very few friends. Obviously not enough if a full-scale search for me wasn't launched." She said the last bitterly, still wondering how that had come to be.

  "I can't claim to be an expert on that Melissa. You seem to be recovering well physically at least." He said it awkwardly, tiptoeing around the subject in the room. She appreciated his attempts but decided to spare him the pain of trying to properly phrase things.

  "My body will recover, but I know my brain is rather messed up right now," she said wryly, doing her best to give him a disarming smile, to let him know she wasn't offended.

  "I have no idea what type of treatment to do for that. I suppose I should ask the nurse if there is somewhere I can go. Hopefully they take welfare cases like me," she chuckled, making light of the fact that she effectively had no money to her name.