Montana Wild Bears: Books 1-4 Bundle (BBW Paranormal Werebear Shape Shifter Romance Boxed Set) (19 page)

“He’s not in good shape, Ryder. He needs help. Now, we can be adults about this, and you can get your clan member some help or we can stir up more trouble than we’re already in and then no one will be happy.” Susie squared her jaw. She wanted nothing more than to just slip her hand in Julian’s and disappear into his arms, but she had to stand strong for both of them. She knew that if Ryder smelled fear on her, he’d jump at the opportunity to ruffle their fur a bit. She’d have to rely on the fact that it was against Ryder’s better interest to mess with a prominent member of Bear’s Grove (and with someone who could very well have the vast majority of his dirty money). Susie kept her eyes on Ryder, not letting their eye-contact falter. Ryder was thinking about her words and hopefully coming to the same conclusions. Even if beating up another Arder brother, especially one who was in no state to put up a decent fight, must have been damned tempting for him.

“Troy, help out our friend,” Ryder said finally, relaxing his shoulders. The tall crony strode to Julian and picked Drake off of him as if he was just a sack of potatoes. Julian winced audibly as Drake was lifted from him, drawing a chuckle from Ryder. “What, you don’t have the back for exercise anymore, city boy? Have your billions made you forget about who you were or was that gone long before that?” Ryder teased, showing his white teeth. He looked more like a wolf than a bear like that, full of malice and bad blood. It made Susie’s stomach churn, and she could sense that Julian was already bubbling to a boil. The bond between her and Julian had been cemented by their lovemaking, and she found herself much more in tune with his feelings than she would have thought possible. His rage made her even more eager to get them out of the situation, fast.

“At least I have never tried to take what is not mine,” Julian said, straightening his back. He and Ryder stood almost the same height. If it weren’t for the cuts and bruises littering Julian’s body, Susie was sure that it would have been a hard fight if they decided to go head to head.

“Well, opinions will differ on that,” Ryder said as Drake was set in the bed of the truck with a sickening thud. “I say you’re currently standing on land that is mine. But I think we best get going before I have to show you how to get out in a less than cordial way. I’ll be seeing you around, Susie.” Ryder flashed a grin at Susie and Julian, and she had to suppress the urge to fling herself at him in an attempt to claw his eyes out. Of course, he would probably snap her neck before she ever got anywhere close to his eyes, but it was the thought that counted. Ryder peeled himself off the front of the car, heading for the driver’s seat. He gave Susie’s car a quick glance and looked back, his hand already on the door handle. “You better get that looked at, Susie. Doesn’t look too safe for a pretty girl like you.” Susie grabbed for Julian’s arm before he could lunge towards Ryder, while the other Alpha just laughed, turning on the engine.

“It’s not worth it.” Susie whispered, her fingers squeezing tightly around Julian’s arm. The thought of him getting hurt even worse was unbearable. As much as he wanted to keep her safe, she had all the same feelings towards him. He had become a part of her, the missing half that could not be denied, and she was not about to allow them to be torn apart again. He sighed, and she turned to face him. Susie got up on her tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips, brushing his blonde hair out of his face. Worry danced in her eyes, seeing how tired and worn he was.

This war between the clans will only get worse. You need to be ready now that you’ve chosen your side,
she thought, hugging Julian gently.

“You’re right, Susie. He isn’t. None of them are anymore and that’s a damn shame. We’ve got to go tell Jackson about this.” He paused for a moment, looking into her green eyes. She loved the boyishness of him, the hint of mischief that was under the guise of a successful, powerful man, but right now it was nowhere to be seen. He was serious and composed, despite his ragged state. “Susie, I love you. I think it’s about time I admit that again, don’t you?” he said, his words more of a statement than a question.

Susie burst out laughing, kissing him on the cheek again. Her heart fluttered with warmth, and her knees wanted to buckle under her. She knew before, of course. It was hard not to, seeing as she felt the same and had done so for a long time. But she hadn’t heard those words in ten years from him, and even if his timing was a bit on the problematic side, she couldn’t help but be affected to the core by them.

“I love you too, Julian. Even when we’re surrounded by rabid werebears that want us dead.”

“Good. Through thick and thin already. I like that.” Julian grinned, obviously relieved. “Now, I think you need to drive. I don’t think I’m currently up for it,” he said, pointing at his truck and then to his battered and bloody self.

CHAPTER NINE

“So, I think I’ve started a new Arder clan tradition – showing up on your doorstep, beaten up and dripping with blood. Do you like this look on me, Keely?” Julian asked, peeling himself off the seat. He winced and Susie cringed, running around the front of the car and rushing to him. Keely was already bounding down the steps of her porch, and Derek had taken one look at Julian and Susie and headed back inside. Susie was completely sure that he was going in to call Jackson and that she would get to have a rather uncomfortable conversation in about 10 minutes.

How do you explain how you managed to get Julian Arder to shift and then bloodied up on your first date? I bet Tess is going to love this,
she thought, gnawing on her lower lip as Keely directed them into her living room. Having heard of what had happened to Jackson last time, Susie had to guess that Keely was getting mighty sick of the men of her clan getting into that sort of trouble lately.

“Ow, Keely! Gentle! We haven’t seen each other for ten years but I think Derek would get jealous if he knew you felt so strongly for me,” Julian quipped as Keely went over his cuts and bruises.

“Oh ha-ha, Julian. You think that being a billionaire means you can just wish your cuts away? Boys,” Keely huffed, though a slight smile was planted on her lips. His wounds weren’t too bad, nowhere near as gruesome as Jackson’s had been. The look Derek gave them from across the room as he was rummaging through the cupboards for some bandages, however, told Susie a lot more. Things were taking a turn for the worse. She could feel it in her bones. Werebears could only be toyed with for so long until they couldn’t take the hits to their collective pride anymore, and two attacks on two of the leading bears in the clan was more than they could tolerate in good conscience. For a second, she wondered if fate was being so adamant about getting between her happiness and her for any specific reason. She sighed under her breath.

No place for melodrama. It is what it is. At least you know you’re on the right side. With the right man.

Her expression softened a bit as she leant over and kissed Julian on the forehead. She knew he was in pain and putting up his regular show for the sake of everyone around him. All she wanted to do was to take him back to his lodge and nurse him to health.

“So, you two finally admitted that you were giant idiots and got back together?” Keely asked nonchalantly, drawing a pained chuckle from Julian.

Susie smiled and took a seat on the edge of the couch. Tess had been sitting at the exact spot just a few months ago in a situation not too different from this. But, Susie at least had the comfort of familiarity to keep her from freaking out. She had known these people all her life, and her love had finally made it back to her, even if they had both taken a long and winding path to it. Now, she could be firm in her knowledge that whatever came across her path, she could take it on with a man who she had always loved, and who had loved her just as much. She knew it would be hard and they had a lot of things to work out between them, but they’d wasted too much time without each other. Susie had known Julian was the one when she was still a teenager, and being without him for so long had only cemented her conviction.

“Yes, it seems so. Only took us ten years,” Susie said, running her fingers through Julian’s thick blonde hair.

The sound of car tires screeching and doors banging shook Susie from her revelry. Jackson practically ran the door down as he sprinted inside, Tess right behind him.

“Oh thank god you’re alright!” Tess exclaimed, the dark clouds lifting from her expression. She walked over to Susie and gave her a quick, encouraging hug and then squeezed Julian’s shoulder gently. “When Derek called, we thought we’d find you a mangled mess. What happened?” Tess asked, standing close to Susie. Susie was glad to see Tess there. The foreboding presence of the other werebears was making her feel a bit awkward, and Tess always had a way of brightening up a room. She was such a stark contrast next to the always-serious Jackson that Susie had come to think of them as sort of a duality – the dark and the light.

I wonder if I’m the dark with Julian and I?
The thought made her smirk a bit.

Jackson didn’t look anywhere near as optimistic as Tess did. Susie caught the glance he shared with Derek and then Julian, and she could read the writing on the wall. This had been a rather unwelcome addition to the tensions between the Arders and the Bitterroot clan, and Susie was not looking forward to seeing what kind of scary path it was going to go down next.

“I think I can tell this better,” Susie said, getting a confirmatory nod from Julian, who was in the process of gritting his teeth as Keely stitched up a deeper wound on his neck. He’d been lucky it hadn’t torn through an artery. “I was going to work from Julian’s place at dawn,” Susie started, pausing slightly as she caught Tess and Keely grinning at each other. “And I was halfway down the mountain when a bear jumped out on the road. I swerved and had to break as I was running into a ditch. He slammed into the driver’s side door of my car and smashed the window. Before I could get to the knife in my glove compartment, he’d torn the door open and dragged me out of the car.” Susie showed a few scrapes and bruises she’d got from being dragged across the forest floor. She could see the surprise in Julian’s eyes. He hadn’t seen that she’d got hurt, but it wasn’t bad, so she didn’t want to worry him more than she needed to.

“It’s nothing, really. Anyway, the bear shifted and it was my ex, Drake. I think you all know him,” Susie said, looking around sheepishly. The werebears shared ominous looks between them. It was a most disconcerting trait of theirs. Susie always felt like there was a whole other conversation going on above her head when they did that. She made a mental note to badger Julian about it later. “He started leading me towards the Bitterroot lands, through the forest. He’d seen the helicopter yesterday and heard that I was out with Julian, and I guess that set him off. He was never exactly mild-mannered.” Her nose crinkled in disgust. It was a long way to drop from Julian Arder to Drake, and she knew it was going to leave a bad taste in her mouth for a long time to come. “Anyway, we didn’t get too far before Julian came charging at us from the woods. They argued with Drake a bit. I think I know why Drake was so anxious to get me away from you, by the way.”

“Oh yeah? Because he knows I’m twice the bear he is and handsome as sin?” Julian asked. Keely looked just about ready to smack him, but it was hard to hate on the dashing Arder brother.

“Well, sure, that too honey. But, I think Ryder has been moving money through my company. I caught trail of it a few days ago, but I didn’t know it was him. I just noticed that there were odd discrepancies in my books. I think he’s been using my trucks and my drivers to smuggle logs out of Cabinet and pocketing the money.”

“That’s about what we expected,” Jackson nodded, deep in thought.

“And what happened then?” Tess urged Susie on.

“Well, then… Julian shifted….” The room got so quiet that Susie could have heard a pin drop. “And then he kicked Drake’s ass.” Jackson cracked a grin, and Susie had to take a mental snapshot of it – It was just that rare for him to look even a little bit amused in anyone else’s company than his beloved mate’s. “But Ryder showed up when we got out of the woods, and we handed Drake over to him. He’s not in great shape.”

“So that means war,” Jackson concluded with a sigh.

Tess jumped up and went to his side. Jackson’s arm snaked around her waist and pulled her in close, and Susie had to admire their closeness. They had been together for just a few months but the bond was so strong between them. She knew that she and Julian would quickly be back to where they were once before as well, but it was encouraging to see a human and a werebear doing so well together. And, even more, it was good to see that her clan was led by a strong couple. It surprised her that she had come to think of the Arder’s as
her
clan already, but deep inside she’d always expected it to happen.

“You think so?” Julian asked, pulling down his shirt across his tight abs as Keely finished. They were lucky to have a medic in their midst lately.

“I know so. It was alright for Drake when he attacked me, but to have something that could be construed as a counter attack – he can’t stay quiet about it. But you did the right thing, obviously. This has been itching to escalate for a while now. I just hope Jonah gets here before things get really ugly,” Jackson said.

Susie bit her lower lip again as Julian took her hands in his big palms. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit responsible for it all. Julian leant into her and planted a kiss on her lips, looking her deep in the eyes. She had never been the crying type, preferring to get angry rather than sad, but tears were threatening to well in her eyes now. He pulled her into him and lowered his voice so only she could hear. The others were already deep in animated conversation about how things were going to go next, so they were scarcely paying attention to Julian and Susie.