Bears On Bikes - The Complete Series (Shifter Romance Box Set) Page 12

  When her hands were finally free, she rubbed her aching wrists and bent down to work at the knots by her ankle. Her whole body was shaking from what had happened with the Huntress, and what had nearly happened with Abernathy, and she couldn’t make her fingers do what she wanted. The edges of the rope kept slipping from her hand, and she couldn’t even free herself from the bottom of the chair.

  “Here, let me,” said Craig, returning with a wickedly sharp looking knife. He’d found his jeans and slipped them on before coming back to her.

  The ropes loosened and fell away as he sliced through them in a few deft motions, and Craig handed Allison his shirt. She pulled it over her head, feeling suddenly quite modest among all these bikers even though she’d seen them all naked at some point during their transformations.

  “Are you okay?” asked Craig.

  “Better now.” Here eyes darted around the room nervously. “Where did Abernathy go?”

  “We’ve got him now.” Craig’s eyes narrowed. “When I came in here, it looked like he was about to…”

  “Nothing happened,” said Allison. Thinking about it now that she was safe was too much for her, and she broke with a choking sob. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands, trying to come to terms with the fact that she’d actually escaped such an awful thing.

  “It’s okay,” said Craig, wrapping an arm around her and holding her close. “The Huntress is gone for now, and Abernathy won’t bother you again.”

  “Then I need to go fix this,” said Allison, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She tried to stand up, but her legs buckled and Craig had to catch her before she hit the ground.

  “What on earth is wrong with you?” growled Craig. “What makes you think you need to fix everything?”

  “It’s my fault,” said Allison. “If not for me, then the Huntress wouldn’t be after you guys. She used me to get to you, and I just gave in to everything she wanted.”

  “Allison, she tortured you. You can’t blame yourself for that.”

  “You don’t understand,” shouted Allison. “I fucked her, okay? Before you came back, before I called you. She was here, and I was drunk. I don’t even know what I was thinking, but I took her up to my room and fucked her before she tied me down and tortured me to get information. I’m so weak, it’s pathetic.”

  “You’re not weak or pathetic.” Craig kneeled in front of her and took her small hands in his big ones. “You take on too much responsibility for everyone around you, but you don’t always have to go it alone, you know? It’s okay to ask for help once in a while. Fuck, that’s what being human is all about.”

  “What about you?” she asked. “You’re half bear.”

  “Same thing,” he replied. “Maybe more so. We have to risk our lives when we ask people like you and Walt to trust us.”

  “I never thought about it that way.”

  One of the Hellclaws approached them and hovered at the edge of their view. It was clear that he wanted to give them some space, but Allison couldn’t blame him for wanting to deal with the bigger issue at hand.

  “What’s up, Louie?” asked Craig.

  “Nobody’s seen big Mike in a while, and we’re worried that she-bitch of a bear is going after him.”

  “Abernathy knows where Mike is,” said Allison. “That pervy shit was her little helper. He said he ditched Mike on the edge of town somewhere.”

  “Bring him up here,” said Craig.

  Louie left them and returned a few minutes later with Abernathy in tow. The state ranger had several fresh bruises on his face, and Allison didn’t feel remotely bad for whatever the Hellclaws might have done to him.

  “Where’s Mike American?” asked Craig in a low calm voice.

  “Where’s who?” asked Abernathy in a daze. He saw Allison glaring at him and he smiled a sick lusty smile.

  “Your mistress had you take one of the bikers out to the edge of town after you shot him with a tranquilizer gun,” said Allison, rising and walking over to him. The Hellclaws holding pushed him to his knees in front of her. “Where did you take him?”

  “I don’t rememb—”

  His reply was cut off with a choking gasp as Allison pinched his windpipe between thumb and fingers. She squeezed hard, knowing how fragile it was, and how easy she could crush it and possibly end his life for what he’d tried to do to her.

  “I am not messing around,” she said. “I will happily watch you die wriggling around on the ground like the pathetic worm you are.”

  “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you!” he squeaked.

  Allison let go of him then reared back and kicked him in between the legs as hard as she could. This had the unfortunate side effect of making Abernathy double over and vomit all over the floor, but Allison was quick and able to sidestep the disgusting mess.

  “Why did you do that?” whimpered the ranger.

  “You know what you did to deserve it,” said Allison in his ear. “You’re lucky that’s all you’re going to get.”

  “I’m sorry, really I am.” He mewled like a sad little puppy. “It’s the mistress. She has power over me, and she makes me do things. I never wanted to hurt you. I thought we were all going to have fun together.”

  Allison took a few steps away to calm down. She ran a hand through her hair and remembered that she still wasn’t wearing any pants. Happy to find her clothes where she’d left them, she quickly pulled her panties and jeans back on, then kept her back to everyone so she could slip off Craig’s shirt and put her bra and her own shirt back on. When she’d finished lacing up her boots, she went back to where Abernathy was explaining exactly where he’d left Mike American lying in a ditch.

  “That tranquillizer gun you used to shoot the biker,” she said, cupping Abernathy’s chin and lifting his face up to meet her glare, “you have more of them? More tranquillizer darts?”

  “In my truck,” said Abernathy. “Three more guns and a whole case of darts. You can have them! I feel really bad about what I did for her and I want to help you. Really, I do. The truck is just outside. Take what you want!”

  “Where are the keys to your truck?” asked Craig.

  “In my pocket.” The ranger shifted to one side, thrusting his hip out.

  Allison was thankful when Craig reached down to fish the keys out of Abernathy’s pocket. She let go of the man’s wretched face and took the keys from Craig once he’d retrieved them.

  “We’re going out to your truck right now, and if we don’t find what we’re looking for, then I guess we don’t have any use for you, do we?”

  “You’ll find the guns. You can trust me.”

  Pivoting on a heel and marching away from the ranger and the two bikers holding him down, Allison stepped over the debris of what had once been the Oakwood tavern’s front door and went looking for the ranger’s truck. It was parked off in the back corner of the parking lot, almost tucked away against some thick bushes, but it was the only vehicle in the lot and Allison and Craig were able to find it right away.

  “Careful,” said Craig, laying a hand on Allison’s just before she pulled the driver’s side door open. “That guy is bat shit insane. He might have rigged the truck somehow.”

  Craig pulled on the door latch and slowly opened it just a crack. Grunting at something he didn’t like, he pulled his knife from his pocket and slipped it into the opening, pulling upwards until the pop of a tranquillizer gun hissed out of the cab.

  “What was that?” asked Allison.

  Pulling the door open all the way, Craig pointed to the gun that had been mounted in such a way that it was pointed at whoever opened the truck’s door too quickly. A long piece of thin cord was tied to the door handle and run back in such a way that it would pull on the trigger of the gun. A single tranquillizer dart was embedded deep into the side panel of the truck’s door.

  “That little fucker,” said Allison, hoping there were no more hidden surprises waiting for them.

  Craig
climbed inside and retrieved the tranquillizer guns, including the one that had been set up as a trap. He then passed out two large cases, one full of darts, and one marked CO2.

  “Compressed air cartridges,” explained Craig, jumping out and slamming the door shut. “To fire the darts. We should load them all up here in case the Huntress is waiting around the corner.”

  “Do you think she’s still in the area?”

  “Not really, but it’s better to play it safe right now.”

  They inserted the small metal cartridges into the guns and loaded a tranquillizer dart into each of the guns. There were enough darts to have one extra for each gun, but the process of ejecting the old cartridge and racking the new one was somewhat awkward and wouldn’t be easy with a giant bear chasing them down.

  Once loaded and ready, they shouldered the guns and brought everything back to the tavern. The bikers had tied Abernathy to a chair, and Allison was happy to see that someone had thought to stuff a gag into his mouth.

  “Guess you forgot to warn us about the little trap you left in your truck, huh?” she said, standing over him with the muzzle of her tranquillizer gun pointed at his face.

  Abernathy’s eyes went wide in their sockets and he shook his head furiously. He was mumbling something through the rack, and Allison was surprised to find herself thinking that he might not have intended for them to come across the rigged gun. She yanked the cloth out of his mouth.

  “I didn’t mean it, I swear! It’s to protect my guns.” Spit flew from Abernathy’s mouth as he rattled off his explanation. “I’m not supposed to do it, but there’s loads of crazies out there who’d try to get me. I’m sorry I didn’t warn you. Dumb Abernathy. I should have told you about the trap.”

  Allison stuffed the rag back in his mouth and decided to leave him to his own private misery. The man was obviously deranged, and his time with the Huntress seemed to be pushing him farther from the edge of sanity. Seeing her turn into a giant bear had broken something in the ranger, and she was almost able to pity him for his suffering. Almost.

  “What now?” asked Craig. “I sent some boys off to find Mike, but the Huntress is out there somewhere, and I don’t like the idea of letting her get away.”

  “I’ve got a plan for that, but first we need to go find her. It’ll be easiest if it’s just you and I. Can we take your bike?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” said Craig with a big grin on his face.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Straddling the big motorcycle just behind Craig, Allison looked around and wondered if maybe she shouldn’t have a helmet. She found what she was pretty sure was the right place to put her feet, and held on to the big man in front of her, gritting her teeth at the vibration and roar that seemed to well up from within her when he started the engine. She’d been on the back of a scooter once before, but this was no scooter. His bike was large and loud, and if it hadn’t been for the small padded backrest behind her, she’d have worried that she might slide off the back of it when Craig hit the throttle and peeled out of the parking lot.

  “Any ideas where to look?” yelled Craig, his words whipping off into the wind.

  “Not a clue,” she shouted back.

  Allison walked herself back through everything she remembered from the scene at the tavern. The Huntress had flown into a terrible rage upon transforming into the bear, but none if it had been quite normal. The woman that had seduced and then tortured Allison was too calm and cunning for that kind of wild brawling, and her actions as a bear didn’t match how she’d been in her human form.

  “She’s not used to being in bear form,” said Allison. “If she hasn’t transformed back into human, then she’s probably rampaging around town somewhere. She was angry, and it’s not in her to run away.”

  Craig nodded and gunned his engine. The Oakwood was on the outskirts of town, but it took them no time at all to barrel through the University streets to get to the normally cute and quiet section of historic downtown. They only had to drive a few blocks before the saw the path of destruction the Huntress had caused. Cars had been flipped on their sides, shop windows were smashed to pieces, even a fire hydrant had somehow been knocked out of the pavement and a huge jet of water was now spraying into the sky.

  “She’s around here somewhere,” said Craig, slowing to a speed where he could safely thread his bike through the debris that littered the road.

  “There.” Allison pointed ahead of them to where a woman was fleeing, her young child in her arms. There was a look of horror on the woman’s face, and Allison knew it had only come from seeing one thing.

  Craig rolled to a stop and twisted to face Allison. “Wanna tell me about this plan of yours? The state she’s in, I don’t think these tranquillizer guns are going to do anything to her. We could hit her with every dart we have and she’ll still be able to stomp us into the ground without a second thought.”

  Dismounting the motorcycle in a less than graceful manner, Allison checked her gun to make sure it was loaded and ready, and looked at Craig. “I want you to ride back the way we came. Go all the way around a few blocks, and wait on the other side of her until it’s time to come in. You’ll probably have to walk the bike in so she doesn’t hear you, but when it’s time, I want you to ride in hard and hit her with one of those darts, okay?”

  “How will I know it’s time?” he asked.

  “Oh, trust me, you’ll know.” Allison grinned and tried to convince herself that she could handle facing off with the Huntress again.

  “I don’t like letting you go into this on your own.”

  “I’m not on my own,” she said, laying her hand on the rough stubble of Craig’s cheek. “I’ve got you to back me up, right?”

  Craig grabbed her by the waist and pulled her in for a long hard kiss. When they finally broke apart, he looked at her as though he wanted to say something about what she intended, but in the end he nodded silently and roared off back the way they’d come into town.

  Left alone, Allison honed in on what seemed to be the epicenter of the chaos, and she started walking in that direction. She knew what she needed to do, she just hadn’t figured out quite how she was going to manage it. The Huntress had been able to take on several Hellclaw bears at once, so there was no way Allison could use physical strength to beat the massive beast. She was going to have to rely on her wits, and she just hoped that she was more clever than the evil woman with the power to transform into another person or a bear.

  As she approached the butcher shop where the Huntress seemed to be hiding out, she scanned the scene and realized that she’d have to lure the bear outside in order for her plan to work. The front windows were all smashed in, and using a car for cover, Allison was able to peek inside to see the Huntress chomping on handfuls of raw meat. It wasn’t a good sign, thought Allison. Bears didn’t typically eat meat, preferring berries and plants instead. The Huntress was clearly no ordinary bear and Allison was beginning to second-guess her ability to face the creature. She’d have to figure out what would trigger the Huntress to anger before taking a giant bear paw across the side of her head.

  Allison stepped out and stood directly in line of sight with the bear. She brought the tranquillizer gun up to her shoulder, flicked the safety off, and sighted the bear into the small scope. Aiming for the chest where she figured the heart to be, Allison squeezed the trigger and felt the gentle recoil as the dart shot out of the barrel to thump into the bear’s thick furry hide. The Huntress roared and swatted the tiny projectile away like a person might swat at a mosquito. The drugs inside the dart didn’t seem to have any effect on the big creature, but Allison had guessed as much and had only been using it as a way of getting the bear’s attention.

  “You remember me, you big dumb furry bitch?” shouted Allison.

  The bear growled and smashed a section of the serving counter, but still it sat there tearing chunks of meat off the huge side of beef it had in its paws. Allison figured that maintaining such a powerful
spell must take a lot of energy for the Huntress, and that’s what would be driving her desire to consume food the way she was.

  “Come on out and play with me,” said Allison. She loaded another tranquillizer dart into the gun and took aim at the bear’s head. It was her last dart, so she took her time aiming.

  This time she loosed a shot directly at the bear’s head. The Huntress tucked her chin down at the last second and the dart penetrated the softer flesh of the animal’s cheek. Roaring with anger, the big bear swiped the tranquillizer dart out of it’s skin. Rocking forward onto all fours, the Huntress lumbered forward towards Allison, its giant nostrils flaring as it snorted angry breaths.

  “That’s right,” muttered Allison, more to herself than anyone else. She wasn’t even sure if the Huntress could understand human words while in her bear form. “Come on out to play.”