Page 4 of Bear It All (Bears in Love Duet Book 2)

Mallory clenched the steering wheel, staring straight ahead as she drove over the bridge that intersected a narrow part of the lake. They were heading back to Duluth, mostly because it was the closest human-populated area where they could feel reasonably safe until they figured out what the hell to do.

Alaina killed the pack leader’s brother.

Deke. His name was Deke. Even in her head, Mallory hadn’t liked to refer to him by name. It humanized him, and he didn’t deserve anything but her deep-seated hatred.

Remy was half turned around in his seat. “Why?” he demanded, but Mallory knew. And honestly, so did Remy, but unlike her, he probably needed to hear it out loud.

The justification.

Did that make them bad people, that they were seeking justification for murder?

Through the rearview mirror, Mallory watched as Alaina swallowed thickly and licked her lips, her gaze landing anywhere but on the other two individuals in the vehicle with her.

“He…did things,” she forced out. “Tried. With my best friend.”

Oh God. How many years had it been since he did the same thing to Mallory?

“She was afraid to tell the pack leader, since it’s his brother and all. Plus, the pack leader is kind of a dick.” She thrust her chin, like she was challenging them to say otherwise.

No worries there.

“She didn’t want to tell her parents either and possibly get them in trouble. So we came up with a plan.”

Two teenage girls, thinking they needed to solve this astronomical problem all on their own. Mallory was afraid her molars were going to crack she was clenching them so tightly.

“I spent the night with her last night, and we were walking back to my house this morning when he just popped up on the road next to us, walking along like he was our buddy or something.”

She shuddered.

“He wouldn’t leave, and we didn’t know what to do. We’d come up with a plan, but we hadn’t expected it to happen right then. But then I looked at Gina, and she nodded and…”

Mallory and Remy both remained silent, allowing her to collect her thoughts.

“We headed straight to my house. My parents are in Florida, so it would be just the two of us. Well, three of us, because he walked right in behind us, like he had every right to be there.”

“What was your plan?” Remy asked quietly.

“We were going to lure him over to my house, and we were going to scare him. There’s this big-ass butcher knife in the block in the kitchen. I was going to pull it out, wave it around, warn him to leave us both alone. That’s it. That’s all we were going to do.” Her voice cracked.

“So you decided to enact that plan this morning, since he showed up out of the blue?” Mallory guessed.

She nodded.

“But that isn’t what ultimately happened,” Remy murmured.

Alaina shook her head. “Gina got scared. She panicked. Took off running. Instead of chasing her, Deke turned to me, and the look in his eye…”

She closed her own eyes. “We were standing in the kitchen. The knife block was right there. I thought about how scared Gina was, how she felt like she had nowhere to go to feel safe. And then he smiled, but it wasn’t a happy, cheery smile, y’know?”

“Yeah,” Mallory said. “I know.”

“I just grabbed the butcher knife. The biggest one in the block. I think…I think at that point I was still hoping I could scare him off. But the second he saw that knife in my hand, he came at me, and I…”

She blew out a deep, shuddering breath. “I stabbed him. Again and again, I just kept stabbing him. Until he fell to the floor. Until he stopped moving.”

“And you’re sure he’s dead?” Remy asked, not sounding at all shocked or appalled by her story.

Alaina blinked her eyes open and stared at him. “I stabbed him so many times, I lost count.”

Remy nodded and turned back around to face the front. “I’d say he’s likely dead.”

“Did anyone see you? Were you being followed?” Mallory asked while she forced herself not to press any harder on the gas pedal. Now was not the time to get pulled over for speeding.

“No. I dropped the knife, cleaned off the blood that had gotten on my hands and face, and then I shifted and ran. But they’ll figure it out. He’s lying in a pool of his own blood in my parents’ kitchen right now. The knife is still there. And my clothes, which are covered in blood.”

“Your parents are in Florida?” Remy prompted.

She nodded. “My grandparents—they live in one of those senior packs down there. My grandpa fell, hurt his hip. They went to make sure everything is okay. I didn’t want to miss school, so I stayed home.”

Alaina paused.

“I can’t go back. I don’t know what to do.” She blinked rapidly and swiped at the tears that trailed down her cheeks. “I want my parents,” she said, sounding like a frightened child.

Wordlessly, Remy pulled a napkin out of the center console and offered it to Alaina, who used it to wipe her eyes.

Mallory’s mind whirled, processing the information Alaina had just told them, combining it with what had happened to her when she was Alaina’s age—and then fifteen years later. Her mind added a dash of who else has he done this to?

She had a recipe for I’m glad he’s dead.

Right or wrong, she couldn’t get that thought out of her head.

She didn’t want that thought out of her head.

Through the rearview mirror, she watched Alaina sniffle and stare out the side window. Remy was watching Mallory intently.

“What?” she finally asked, glancing over at him. They’d reached the city center of Duluth. She merged onto US53 South. Remy barely flicked a glance at the road sign.

“I’m just waiting for you to say it out loud,” he replied.

“Say what?”

“That we’re going to help her.”

She stole another look in the rearview mirror. “I don’t expect anything from you. I’ll drop you wherever you want me to. But yes, I’m going to help her.”

She said the wrong thing. She could tell by the way his mouth pinched, the tension in his shoulders. She wanted to ask but was conscious of their audience in the backseat. Besides, what the hell had she said? This wasn’t his battle. He had no ties to her pack, and she had no expectations of him.

They’d shared a harrowing experience followed by a remarkable afternoon in bed four years ago. And while she’d thought a thousand times since that she’d like to reach out to him, none of that added up to her having expectations of him.

He’d told her himself that he was a lone wolf; he hadn’t been part of a pack since his teens, and he was perfectly okay with that lifestyle. Didn’t sound like there was room in his life for whatever she may or may not have fantasized about a time or two or a hundred.

And then there was her. She was a mess. She knew it, she knew she needed to fix herself; she just hadn’t figured out how yet. Not wanting to burden him with her own issues was also a large part of the reason she’d stayed away for the past four years. Someone who was a self-proclaimed lone wolf would certainly have no interest in striking up a relationship with someone who had the amount of baggage she had.

Clutching the steering wheel and staring straight ahead, she asked, “What do you want me to do?”

She could practically hear the arching of his brows in his tone as he said, “That’s a loaded question.”

She gritted her teeth. “Where do you want me to take you? Were you staying somewhere nearby? Can I drop you at a hotel?”

“Yes, I was staying nearby, and no, you cannot drop me at a hotel. Although if you want to swing by and pick up my stuff, that’d be okay. And then I suggest we keep driving. At least until Indianapolis, I’d say. That’s probably far enough away to stop for the night. And when we do stop, we need to make sure we are in the middle of a metropolitan area. The more humans around, the better. In case they figure out our plan and catch up to us. They are less likely to attack with human witnesses.”

Mallory blinked rapidly, staring straight ahead, afraid to glance at him. “Are you…are you making a plan to go with us?”

Finally, she looked over, and noted the tension in his jaw. His words were almost a growl as he snapped out, “Yes, Mallory, I am going with you to Florida.”