Page 4 of Flare (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters #17)
Act like nothing ’ s wrong , Emily told herself. “ I had that appointment at The Velvet Tier, remember? Because Grandma Katherine said she hates raspberries—”
“ I don ’ t give a fuck about the stupid wedding cake,” he interrupted, shocking her.
His blue eyes suddenly looked… odd, with a golden shine. Was he wearing contacts? “ Why did you download a bunch of confidential files from my computer this afternoon?”
Icy needles of panic pierced her. He knows! I should have left here before he got home!
Trying for calm innocence, s he put down the magazine she ’ d been pretending to read. “ You mean the files for that super-important presentation you left me to finish all by myself?”
She didn ’ t even have to fake the bitterness in her voice.
“ Don ’ t lie to me, Emily. You ’ re really shitty at it.” His expression was stony. “ I got an alert from my security program. You opened a bunch of my confidential files and copied them onto an unauthorized USB drive.”
Shit. Emily froze. How could I have been so stupid?
She knew Andrew was obsessed with security. Of course, he would have a program that logged every keystroke, every inserted USB.
She tried to school her features, but her cheeks burned with a guilty flush. “ It—it was an honest mistake! I thought they were part of the investor materials. There were a lot of spreadsheets, and the filenames—”
“ A mistake, huh? So why did you download them to that USB drive?” Andrew ’ s voice was so harsh it sounded like a growl. Menace radiated from him now.
Emily ’ s thoughts whirled crazily, trying to figure out how to buy herself enough time to get the hell away from him.
If he ’ s angry now, just wait until he finds out that I didn ’ t finish his precious investor presentation!
The meeting was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. tomorrow at the Summit Ridge Equity offices downtown.
“ I—I was just looking for copies of the contractor bids and supplier contracts,” she protested. “ The files…you always have stupid names for them… so I thought—”
“ You thought .” He laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. “ Emily, if you were anyone else, I ’ d have you fired and blacklisted before dinner.”
She swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt as dry as desert sand.
He stalked across the living room until he was looming over her. “ Where ’ s that drive?”
She blinked. “ There isn ’ t any drive!” she blurted and instantly regretted it. Stupid! He knows exactly what you did!
Andrew blew out an angry breath. “ Stop lying to me.”
This close, she could see that his eyes looked more gold than blue now.
“ I—” she croaked.
He slammed his palms against the back of the sofa, on either side of her head, caging her in. The slap of his hands against the smooth leather echoed from the vaulted ceiling. “ Emily. The drive. Now .”
Her mouth dry with terror, her heart drumming in her ears so loudly it deafened her, she reached down and fumbled for her purse. With numb fingers, she fished out the USB stick from its hiding place.
Her hand shook as she handed it to him.
Andrew plucked it from her grasp. Then, still caging her with his body, he looked down at her like a panther sizing up wounded prey. She tried not to shrink back, but couldn ’ t help herself.
“ Listen to me very carefully,” Andrew said, dropping all pretense of civility. “ If you ever tell anyone about these files, I ’ ll know. There is no place you can go that I won ’ t be able to find you. Do you understand?”
She nodded, mute. Please don ’ t let him guess about the cloud backup.
He leaned in, so close she could smell the faint ghost of his aftershave, the scent he only wore when meeting clients. “ You belong to me, Emily,” he grated.
“ No. You don ’ t own me.” It would ’ ve sounded braver if her voice hadn ’ t emerged in a terrified squeak.
For a moment, he didn ’ t speak. He just stared at her, breathing through his nose, jaw clenched. His eyes went totally gold, blazing with eerie rage from his tanned face.
“ You don ’ t get it,” he said. “ You ’ re mine , Emily. My mate. Forever.”
Oh, God. He ’ s going to kill me. Emily shrank into the sofa cushions. “ I—yes, of course. I ’ m so sorry, Andrew. I didn ’ t mean to—”
His face twisted. He turned away from her. For one breathless moment, she thought it was over. “ Mine.” His voice sounded thick, blurred now.
Then she heard the sounds.
At first, just a popping, like the cracking of knuckles.
Then the wet, horrible grind of bone shifting against bone.
Andrew ’ s suit strained, the back tearing as his shoulders swelled beneath the fabric.
The air filled with a smell like musk and earth and something ancient, feral.
His expensive leather shoes split down the middle, feet ballooning, toes flattening into blunt, black claws.
The seams of his clothing ripped, and shirt buttons popped off in all directions.
And just like that, Emily found herself in the middle of a horror movie.
A detached voice in her head wondered if she should scream or try to run away. But all she could do was stare, frozen in disbelief, as Andrew vanished under an avalanche of muscle and fur.
He doubled over, falling to his hands, and then—like a nightmare in fast-forward—he grew . His limbs thickened. His head elongated, ears migrating upward and outward.
Seconds later, a massive grizzly bear filled the space where Andrew had been.
He was enormous, easily twice the size of any bear she ’ d ever seen while growing up in rural Idaho. His fur was light brown, highlighted with gold, like sunlight on whiskey.
Saliva dripped from his jaws as he bared his teeth. A low growl reverberated through her bones.
The bear lumbered forward, claws hooking in the expensive woolen carpet. He stopped inches from her face, breath rank and steaming. His golden eyes burned with inhuman intelligence.
He made a sound, deep and deliberate, that could only have been a warning.
She whimpered in mindless terror and frantically pushed herself up and over the back of the sofa, briefly falling to her knees before scrambling backward until her spine pressed into the living room wall.
This can ’ t be happening! People don ’ t turn into bears! Am I hallucinating? Did he drug me?
But the musky animal smell was real, the wall behind her was real, and her terror was so sharp she tasted blood in her mouth.
The monster bear held her gaze for what felt like forever. Then, in a sickening, fluid motion, it shrank. The fur receded, the snout caved in, the paws twisted back into hands.
Where there had been a monster, Andrew reappeared. He rose to his feet, breathing hard, his tanned skin flushed and slick with sweat. He was naked, his suit lying in shreds over the coffee table and floor.
The only thing remaining of his nightmare transformation was a faint gold shimmer in his eyes.
He stared at her wildly. And she realized it wasn ’ t rage she saw in his expression now. It was fear .
“ Oh, God, Emily. I ’ m sorry!” His voice was a raspy echo of itself. “ I didn ’ t mean for you to find out like this. I was going to tell you when—when we were married!”
Her mind blank with shock, Emily just stared back at him.
She didn ’ t dare move as he ran upstairs to his— their —bedroom.
When he reappeared a few moments later, he was dressed in fresh clothing. He clung to the chrome newel post at the bottom of the stairs, the picture of shame and abject misery.
That unsettled her even more than seeing him turn into a giant bear.
“ Emmie, sweetheart, please know I would never hurt you.” Now he sounded as if he were pleading. “ You ’ re my mate! ” And there was that word again. And then, the biggest shock of all. “ I ’ m so sorry, my love. Forgive me. I ’ ll do anything to make this right.”
Andrew never apologized. Ever.
Then he was gone, leaving the wrecked room and the smell of animal musk behind. She heard the garage door open, and the roar of his BMW as he screeched out of the driveway and tore down the street.
He ’ s gone. Relief flooded her. But for how long?
Feeling numb and floaty like a ghost, Emily stumbled back upstairs.
She pulled out the new suitcases she ’ d bought for her honeymoon and frantically ripped through her closet and dresser drawers, grabbing clothes, toiletries, her mom ’ s jewelry, and a battered manila envelope stuffed with her most important documents.
Before this afternoon, she ’ d have stopped to pack everything neatly, double-checking every item against a packing list, and placing her underwear and clothes into labeled, zippered pouches.
Now, desperate to make her getaway before Andrew returned, she just crammed everything inside the suitcase until the zipper threatened to pop.
She found her envelope of emergency cash and threw it, along with her laptop and charger, into the carry-on tote bag that had come with her suitcase set. Then she dragged the heavy pieces of luggage downstairs.
Panting, Emily stood in the foyer, trying to force her muddled brain to work. She looked around wildly. Did I forget anything? What else do I need to take with me?
Because she sure as hell was never coming back to Andrew ’ s freaking McMansion!
The oversized diamond on her finger caught the light and sparkled.
She hesitated, heart thudding. Until today, she ’ d believed this ring was her ticket to a better life. It symbolized that she mattered to someone, that Andrew loved her and had chosen her.
But it had been a lie. All of it. Andrew and his family were monsters .
She pulled off the ring and plunked it dead center on the living room coffee table, where Andrew couldn ’ t miss it when he returned.
Then she headed for the garage, heaved her luggage in the back of her Subaru wagon, and reversed it out of the driveway.
On her way out of their gated community, she kept glancing in the rearview mirror, half-expecting to see Andrew ’ s BMW headlights barreling down the street to stop her.
Or worse, a giant bear loping behind her.
There is no place you can go that I won ’ t be able to find you.
Emily drove blindly for a few miles until she ’ d put a safe distance between her and Andrew ’ s house.
She pulled into the Cascada Taquería parking lot and killed the engine. Then she let her forehead drop to the steering wheel.
Plan. I need a plan.
What now? She realized she had no idea where to go next. Would Andrew be able to track her if she used her ATM card?
She didn ’ t have any friends close by, at least not the kind you could call to say, “ My fiancé is a monster and I need somewhere to hide.”
Hell, she could barely say the words even to herself.
She fished her phone from the purse sitting next to her on the passenger seat and scrolled through her contacts. A former coworker who ’ d moved away, the Bearpaw Ridge friends she hadn ’ t spoken to since Mom died, the old university roommate who ’ d married and vanished into suburbia.
And then there were the numbers Andrew had blocked, of course. She couldn ’ t believe she ’ d let him get away with it for so long.
I was so busy trying to get Andrew ’ s family to like me, I let him drive all my friends away.
She stared at her reflection in the rearview mirror and tried to remember who she ’ d been before coming to work at Brunborn Holdings & Estates. Before Andrew.
She kept scrolling until she reached “ Maggie Swanson.”
Emily hesitated, her thumb hovering over the number. Andrew ’ s going to be so angry if he finds out I unblocked her.
Then she reminded herself that Andrew ’ s feelings didn ’ t matter anymore. She ’ d left him.
She took a deep breath and hit “ Unblock.”
A fresh set of worries instantly took over.
What if Maggie didn ’ t answer? What if she ’ d taken Andrew ’ s curt brush-off last week to heart? What if she thought Emily had turned into a stuck-up snob?
Bearpaw Ridge. It used to be home.
Emily couldn ’ t chicken out now. She typed a message. She frowned, deleted it, then typed another. Keep it simple, Emily.
Emily: Maggie, I ’ m so sorry about last week. I ’ m in trouble, and I need help. Can I stay with you for a while?
She stared at the words for a long minute, then sent them before she could lose her nerve. The dots popped up almost immediately.
Maggie: Em? Holy crap, yes. Been worried about you. You okay? Where are you? Text me the deets. You come straight to the ranch, got it? I ’ ll get a guest cabin ready. You can stay as long as you need. We ’ ve got your back.
Emily ’ s eyes stung and then tears were streaming hot and sudden down her face.
Emily. Thank you. I ’ m okay, but I need to get away from Spokane. Will tell you everything when I get there.
Feeling dizzy with relief and sudden hope, Emily drove over to the gas station on the other side of Cascada Taquería, topped up her tank, and set her GPS for Bearpaw Ridge.
It would be a six-hour drive, but it felt like the right thing to do.
There is no place you can go that I won ’ t be able to find you.
She didn ’ t know if she ’ d be safe with Maggie ’ s family at the Grizzly Creek Ranch. She didn ’ t know if she ’ d ever be able to trust anyone, or even herself, again.
But at least she had a plan now. And somewhere to go.