The Bear Shifter's Second Chance Read online

  Jasmine let out a stifled sigh, her shoulders relaxing. "Do you want me to tell Marcus?"

  Adela knew she should have already told him, but she'd been too afraid. Afraid that he wouldn't believe her when she said she wasn't raped. Afraid he'd insist on going to the hospital, as proof. After what happened with the kidnapping and now this… She needed him to believe the truth when she told him. They hadn't raped her. Right now it was what she was clinging to and she couldn’t have Marcus casting down on that.

  Why had that woman targeted her? First her parents murdered, then the kidnapping, now this? Does God hate me? Is this my punishment for not telling Marcus he is Luci's father?

  But her parents died long before she ever met Marcus.

  By the time she was done showering, Dr. Alava had arrived. Jasmine entertained his two children in another room. He stitched up and bandaged her injuries, then insisted taking her to his clinic for an ultrasound to ensure that she didn't have any internal bleeding. There, he made Jasmine, Marcus and the children wait outside while he completed his examination. Marcus cradled a sleepy Luci.

  "It doesn't look like you were too badly injured. Nothing life-threatening. But you should go to a hospital."

  "No." She shivered. "Hospitals mean police involvement. She said she'd hurt Luci if I got the police involved." Alarm rang through her and she grabbed Alava's arm. "Don't tell Marcus. He'll go after her and he'll get himself killed."

  Alava looked troubled but nodded. "I won't tell him. She... Lexa Holmes?"

  Adela said nothing.

  "Well I think you're okay to go home, I'm going to have them keep you under observation for a few days. And I'll give you a list of symptoms to look out for. I also know a good therapist—"

  "I don't need a therapist. I wasn't raped."

  "I know. But you still went through something very traumatic and it's not the first time. I can only treat bodily injuries. The mind can be injured just as much, there is nothing wrong with seeing someone to help it heal." Alava's gaze was full of compassion.

  Adela accepted the number. They went out to the others and Luci whimpered, burying her face into Marcus' shoulder. Alava quietly gave them the symptoms to look for and told them to call him if anything changed before they left again. Adela settled in the back near Luci's car seat, though she was unsure of what to do or say now.

  "We can go to my home," Jasmine offered. "It's a small place but it'll work for the three of us… or four of us."

  "I want to go home," Adela whispered. "Not the place I'm renting. Home."

  ***

  The security systems in the Durant mansion were more than sufficient against a petty drug lord, especially after everything Isaias had done to upgrade them. Marcus was silent as he drove them there. Luci whimpered from time to time and Adela's heart ached. She was so young, she didn't understand why her mother was in this state…

  Walking through the front doors was like coming home. The stress from the night started to melt away, leaving her shaking. Jasmine took Luci to her room, which Adela pointed out. Her nerves were still on fire, so she went to the kitchen and made herself some tea while Marcus followed her silently, as though he wanted to protect her but was uncertain what exactly he needed to be doing.

  Eventually, the silence got to her and she told Jasmine she was going to bed, and that Marcus would watch her at first. She took his hand and pulled him to her room, then tugged him down to lay on the bed with her. His arms banded around her, a little too tight, and his mouth brushed over hers.

  "I was so scared," he whispered. "I thought something horrible had happened. And it did. I swear, I'll hunt them down and—"

  "No." She was surprised by how soft her own voice was. Her fingers brushed over his lips. "No, you aren't. You are going to forget about them and Lexa and you're going to stay with me. They won't come after me again while you're here. But you're holding me too tight. My ribs aren't broken but they are bruised."

  "Sorry." He loosened his grip and kissed her again. "I'm so sorry. You should never have been brought into this. I can't believe… she won't get anywhere near you again. I promise. I won't let her come anywhere near you."

  She shivered, bile creeping up her throat. "What did she want with you anyway?"

  Marcus let out a hot breath that wafted over her face. He must have had garlic with supper, because that's what it smelled like. It felt comforting, though. Back when they were together she was always complaining about his garlic habits. Now even though the smell made her gag it was familiar. Right now she needed familiarity.

  "You don't have to worry about that," he said. "It's taken care of and I'll handle it."

  "Marcus, you did something that got me beaten."

  He flinched.

  Adela chewed her lip. She didn't want to be cruel, but it was the truth. Lexa had received a phone call about something and then she had had her men beat Adela and said it was because he took something. In the grand scheme of things, she deserved to know what he had done that had gotten her bruised and bleeding like this. Why she had been targeted in the first place.

  She closed her eyes. "Do you think that there is a real and true future between us?"

  "Yes. Without a doubt, with all my heart. I belong to you, Adela. And I will do everything I can to—"

  "If there is a future for us—" Her voice trembled. There wasn't. She took a deep breath to steady herself. "If there is a future for us, you have to be honest with me. What did she want and what did you do?"

  Marcus was silent for a moment. His eyes glittered in the darkness and if she wasn't so sore she would have told him to forget it and make love to her until she forgot everything that had happened to her that night. But when every breath hurt, how could she withstand the passionate sex that was their norm?

  "She had me deliver some cocaine to a high school. I'm thinking now that it was a dry run. Just to see if I would follow instruction. I took a little bit of it. That's why she had you beaten."

  He took cocaine? Her stomach churned. "Are you going to use it?"

  "What? No! I don't do drugs, you know I don't. I took it so I could have it used for evidence. Take it to the matriarch or somebody, get her shut down. She's involving the children in it somehow and everything I do I do for our future. I'm not going to let her destroy that before they're even grown. I'm tired of seeing her go unchecked."

  Children. Tears flooded her eyes and she turned around. Then, realizing that he would find her actions suspicious, she moved so her back was against his chest. "Why not just go to the police?"

  "Police." Marcus snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure they'd do a lot of good. All the locals are in her pocket, and if I went any higher? They'd take one look at my record and lock me up again for possession. The police are useless."

  She couldn’t stop herself from crying. It was more or less true. There was no help for them. She buried her face in her pillow as she started to sob. Marcus stroked her hair, whispering soothing words, but none of them helped. Because he didn't know what was making her break down. He couldn’t know, because then they'd all be in danger.

  "Be a good girl and take good care of this," Lexa said as she slipped a phone into Adela's hand. "Now after this little display I hope that Marcus will be able to keep his head out of his butt and let me do my business, but let's face it. If threats aren't enough to stop him from stealing from me, then nothing is. So keep me up to date with what he's doing, or I will take away that precious little girl of yours."

  Chapter Ten

  A screeching alarm woke him. Marcus jumped out of bed, snarling as he turned in confused circles. It took him a moment to remember where he was. When he did, Adela had already grabbed his arm and was pulling him out of the bedroom. Jasmine emerged from a nearby room, looking as startled and confused as he was. Adela dashed into Luci's bedroom and scooped the toddler from her bed. She was crying, and clung to her mother.

  "Panic room," Adela said, bolting passed them. "Now!"

  Marcus waited f
or Jasmine to pass him and took up his place behind them. The alarms cut out, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Adela led them to a room that was just big enough for them all and closed the door. She passed Luci to Jasmine and ran to the computer screens on the other side.

  "A panic room?" Marcus' lip started to rise in a sneer.

  "New and improved. Since the house was almost blown up with that Sawyers mess, it's completely self-contained and can withstand being in explosions, fires, floods… it reacts to what's around it."

  The rising disgust that a bear would resort to a panic room fled at once. Marcus cleared his throat, disgusted at himself now. Of course Isaias would have a room where the humans he cared about would be safe from incoming threats, especially after what had happened. The computers flickered on, showing images around the property.

  "There was a breech in the south gate, near the forest," Adela said. "Let me pull up…"

  The images on the screen changed to show four men standing at the edge of the pool, utterly naked. Marcus leaned in and let out a curse.

  "Language!" Adela snapped, then winced. "Do you know them?"

  "Yeah. They're some boys from the club. I'll go talk to them."

  "The police will have been automatically notified as soon as they broke through the gate."

  Marcus turned to her. "You can call them off."

  She chewed her lip but nodded. Luci continued to scream, reaching for Adela. As Marcus left the room, they sealed it up again and the sounds were cut off entirely. He rolled his shoulders, loosening them, as he made his way outside.

  "What are you losers doing here?" he greeted as he walked outside.

  "Living in a mansion?" one of them, David, rose a brow at him. "What kind of limp noodle are you now?"

  Marcus snorted. "Limp noodle?"

  David grimaced. "My mate is expecting a child and she's forbidden me from using any curse words. The question still stands. What are you doing here, Haught? I know that you were getting yourself some human action but—"

  "Watch your mouth," he snapped. "The human is my mate."

  They'd been living at the Durant mansion for a few days now. He'd even delivered the cocaine he had taken from Lexa to the matriarch. She had refused to see him, as expected, but he had left the product with her. If she wasn't going to do something about Lexa, she didn't deserve her position.

  Lexa was still a threat, though. In the mansion they were safe from her retribution and so that was where they stayed.

  David peered at him. "Your mate, huh? Is that why we haven't seen you around lately? 'Cause Dr. Alava won't stop whining about being worried so we decided to stop by and make sure it was all good."

  Right. Like they would have come out here for Alava; they had been in contact with him this whole time. Marcus couldn't help but grin, but repressed the desire to tease his friends about being worried about him. "Well, you can tell him that I'm just fine."

  "Good. Maybe he'll shut up now…" David still didn't walk away. "You know if you need anything you can come to us, right? Anything you need."

  "Yeah, yeah. I'll be back before you know it. I'm just waiting on the matriarch to get back to me on some things."

  "The matriarch?" David's brow furrowed. "Come on, seriously? We were all kicked out of the clan. What do you want with the matriarch?"

  "I don't care what she says." Marcus tried to pull back the growl in his voice. "That bitter old hag can shrivel up, but there are things that I've found that she needs to know about."

  "Found out what?"

  Marcus was silent for a moment. The punks that had taken to serving Lexa had been kicked out of the club, but there could be others. He didn't want them to find out what was happening until he was good and ready. "Just some things. If she doesn’t start taking action I might have to take things into my own hands, though. And if it comes to that, can I count on your support?"

  David studied him for a minute. "Sounds like something dangerous."

  "Possibly fatal."

  "Well." David slugged his shoulder. "Then of course you can count us in. Right boys?"

  The others muttered and nodded. Marcus grinned his thanks and they took their leave. They jogged into the forest, shifted into their bear forms, and disappeared into the foliage. Marcus checked the gate, finding that it was undamaged and that the deadbolt had been picked, before he swung it back and locked up again. Returning inside, he made his way to the panic room.

  Luci was still crying in Adela's arms, but Jasmine passed him on the stairs. Marcus sat with the two of them, keeping an arm around Adela's waist as she leaned against him. She shivered constantly.

  "You're safe," he told her. "Nobody is going to hurt you."

  She shuddered hard, then pulled in a deep breath and smiled at him. "I know. Thank you. I just didn't expect them to come here…"

  He noted how tightly she was squeezing the baby and gently loosened her grasp. He took Luci and rubbed her back, hugging her and whispering soothing things in her ear. At one point he stood, but Adela gripped his wrist and pulled him back down. Her amber tones were almost white and she chewed on her lip while her eyes filled with tears.

  "We need to talk."

  The dreaded words. Marcus nodded, trying to keep his expression blank.

  Adela didn't speak, though. She just sat there, twisting her hands. Eventually she got up and paced from one end of the room to the other, running her hands through her hair while her lips moved soundlessly. The sight was familiar. She always did it when there was something especially bothersome happening to her, and in this case, he could tell it was big.

  He waited for a moment longer, until Luci's cries had subsided, and kept her cuddled in the crook of his arm. Adela's obvious stress was clearly affecting her, though, so he quietly slipped from the room and found Jasmine. The nanny took Luci, though the baby started crying again, and Marcus went back to Adela. She sat on the bed in the panic room at this point, her shoulders slumped.

  "Okay. Now you can tell me what is going on," he said, sitting beside her.

  "I don't know if…"

  He began to rub her shoulders. Whatever was bothering her it was clearly distressing her and she needed time to get it out. Did it have to do with Lexa? Marcus’ muscles started to tense as he considered it. Could she have been lying to him about the events of that night? If Lexa had hurt Adela more than she let on, he would hunt the woman down and kill her.

  "I should have told you this a long time ago, but I was just too angry with you."

  Marcus took a deep breath. "Whatever Lexa did—"

  "This isn't about Lexa. It's about trying to…" She shook her head as her eyes filled with tears. "Maybe it is about Lexa. Maybe it's because this whole situation has got me freaked out and I want you to know that, whatever happens in the future, that I love you. And I have loved you for three years, and it's been ripping out my heart that whole time."

  Though his heart warmed to hear her say that she loved him, he still didn't want her to continue. It had taken him this long to get over what she did, and dragging it back when emotions were so volatile and the situation so severe wasn't going to help.

  "Adela—"

  "No. You are going to listen to me." She squeezed her hands so tight that her knuckles went white. "I should have told you. I just was so mad that you would just assume that I slept with Isaias. I told you again and again and again that he was like a brother to me, and you never listened. I didn't think you'd listen if I told you that I didn't sleep with him."

  He had been an idiot about that. He held his breath for a moment before letting it out slowly. What could he say to justify himself? He had been jealous and insecure. And yes, he didn't trust her. Because in the pit of his stomach, he knew that he wasn't worthy of her. That someone as smart and beautiful as her could only be playing with him.

  In short, he'd screwed up by not having enough confidence.

  "Do you?" Her eyes landed on his.

  "Do I�
�?"

  "Do you believe me when I tell you I didn't sleep with Isaias? That I never would. That there was never anybody else and there will never be anybody else."

  Years of believing that she had betrayed him couldn't just fade away. Could they?

  Yes, yes they could. His shoulders slumped as he stared his mate in the face. It was the truth. He had always known it on some level, but he was too much of a coward, too much of a self-loathing idiot. "I should never have doubted you."

  "Because I didn't sleep with him. Or anybody else."

  He understood what she was saying. "Luci is my daughter."

  Adela nodded, a tear tracking down her face. "I should have told you three years ago."

  "I don't think I would have believed you then." It hurt to admit, but the truth was the truth and there was no point in denying that. "I'm so sorry, Adela. I wish I could go back and change who I was back then. Maybe then all of this drama wouldn't have happened."

  Her lip wobbled and she clamped her teeth down on it as though afraid of losing control. Marcus pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do right now. Three years. Three years wasted because for some unfathomable reason he couldn’t trust her to tell him the truth. He didn't need explanations about how she had gotten pregnant when they were so careful–he knew more about the mechanics of sex and pregnancy now than he had back then.

  "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

  "I'm sorry. And I promise, I will always trust you. From this day until forever."

  He cupped her face in his hands and pressed a slow, intimate kiss to her mouth. Her eyes fluttered as she leaned in closer, her fingers curling into his shirt.

  Chapter Eleven

  Why couldn’t he be angry with her? Adela clung to Marcus like she was a child. She knew she ought to be pushing him away, to keep accusing him of not listening and not caring, but she couldn't. She needed him. It was a horrible, selfish thing for her to do, but she needed him. For him to hold her, assure her that everything was going to be fine even if there wasn't a chance for that.