Jessie was a bear and she was a fox, but in the moment of claiming, there was no difference between them. They were one and the same. A bonded pair. Mates. Forever. Her heart beat and burst as Jessie kissed her and slowly slid away, pulling her onto his chest as he lay down on his back on the mattress. He caressed her head and back, kissing her forehead with his warm full lips. The feel of him, his hard-muscled body under her soft cheek. His strong arms around her, cradling her curves, and protecting her from all the worries of the world, it was too exquisite to bear. But she knew Jessie would always be there for her now. She could feel him deep inside her. He would never let her go.
She felt his heart beat against her cheek and breathed in the deep musk of his skin. He pulled the blanket up over them and they rested there in the light of a single bedside lamp. She wanted to believe that everything would be okay from now on. And deep down she knew that in the end it would. She could count on it. But Dana also knew there was so much unfinished business. Who had killed Chuck Updike? Would the hyena pack come after her?
Chapter 10
The next morning, Dana woke to the smell of coffee and bacon wafting through the bedroom door. She stretched her arms above her head and groaned happily, feeling a sense of security deep in her bones. The smell of breakfast lured her out of bed. She threw on a flannel shirt from the closet and walked out into the hallway and around the corner to the kitchen. She found Jessie in a pair of boxer briefs and an apron that said, "kiss the chef," across the chest. He looked up at her and his eyes widened.
"You look good in that," he said, eyeing her.
His flannel shirt crested her upper thigh just a few inches below her panty line. She bit her lip and slid into a seat at the bar across from the kitchen counter. Jessie pulled a pan from the oven and scooped slices of bacon onto two plates. Next, he dished up the scrambled eggs he'd made that were covered in cheddar cheese. Two pieces of sourdough popped from the toaster and he slathered them with strawberry jelly. He slid the plate across the counter in front of her and handed her a fork.
"How do you take your coffee?" he asked, pulling the pot from the machine.
"Cream and sugar," she said, smiling.
He fixed her cup and set it in front of her before walking around the counter to sit beside her in front of his own breakfast. He gazed down at her crossed legs and then back up into her eyes. Their inner beasts spoke in a language all their own, and she could feel the tingle of his need mixing with her own at the base of her spine. She had to tell her inner fox to settle down. With such a thoughtful and delicious smelling breakfast in front of her, she didn't want it to go to waste.
She took a long sip of coffee and giggled, the reality of her life slowly creeping up in the back of her mind. She knew that this happy moment wouldn't last, as much as she wished it could go on like this forever.
She finished her breakfast, and it sank into her stomach like warm comfort. It was almost like she could feel Jessie's love for her nourishing her every cell. The more she thought about it, the more it made her want to cry. She finished her coffee and leaned over to kiss Jessie on the cheek.
"I'm going to take a shower," she said. "Later we can talk about how we’re going to solve all this mess."
"There's no mess," he said, encircling her waist with his arms. "There's just you and I."
"I know," she said, caressing his shoulder with her thumb as she held him.
She bit her lip and looked down at the letters on the apron across his chest. "Kiss the chef." She looked up at him and pressed her lips to his, sending all her love out to him through the new connection between their hearts and minds. She wanted him to know how much his kindness meant to her. It wasn't just that they were mates, it was that he had believed in her from the very first moment. He’d been on her side. She would do anything to keep what they had.
She pulled away and turned down the hallway, moving into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her and rested her back against the wood. Dana let out a long sigh and covered her face with her hands. This was all too good to be true. She knew her luck was about to run out. Good things like this just didn’t happen to her. At least not for long.
She pulled off Jessie's flannel and turned on the shower. In a few seconds, the water was just right, and she climbed into the tub behind the curtain. Jessie had a simple house but he had a nice showerhead that rained down on her in drops of warm, luxurious water.
When she was done, she wrapped herself in a towel and crossed the hall to her bedroom. She chose a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She put on her tennis shoes over a pair of ankle socks with kittens on them that she'd had since high school, and made her way out of the bedroom. When she made it into the living room, her hair still wet and dripping down her back, she stopped in her tracks and gasped. Rollo Morris, chief of police, and commander of the Bear Patrol, was sitting on the couch in the living room. Rollo stood and approached her. A sense of cool dread ran down her spine.
"Dana Myers," Rollo said. "You are under arrest for the murder of Chuck Updike."
Rollo went on to read her her rights as he slapped metal handcuffs on her wrists behind her back. It all sounded like gibberish being spoken underwater. Jessie shot to his feet beside her, his face a mask of shock and dismay. Dana could hear her heart beating in her ears and everything seemed to be going in slow motion.
"What are you talking about?" Dana demanded, as Rollo held her elbow in his hand.
"Your fingerprints were found on the murder weapon hidden in your bedroom at the Updikes'. The DA believes this is enough evidence for an arrest."
"You don't really believe I did this, do you?"
"Unless we find evidence to the contrary, we have to bring you in."
"You can't do this. There must have been a mistake," Jessie cried.
Of course there had to be a mistake. But there could be no mistaking Dana's terrible luck. Somehow, someone, had gotten her fingerprints on the murder weapon and planted it in her bedroom. It must have been a set-up, that was the only explanation. But who would do this to her? Any number of the hyenas living at the mansion would have reason to want Chuck dead and to frame her for it.
Hyenas were known far and wide for their selfishness and cruelty. Only in the last few decades had they organized themselves into the mob they had become. The hyena packs had instituted a new code of honor which meant they never turned on each other. But if the hyenas hadn't killed him, then who had? The townspeople of Fate Mountain, and the multitudes far and wide, had many reasons to resent the Updikes. But she knew of no one who would want to frame her. Unless someone in her fox pack had a grudge against her for something she didn't know about.
All these thoughts flashed through her mind as Rollo took her out to his police car and put her in the back seat. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Just at the height of her joy, she had come to her lowest point.
She could hear Jessie yelling behind her, begging Rollo to let her go. When that didn't work, he started shouting obscenities and Rollo threatened to take him in as well. His brothers came out of the barns and shops and houses and held him back. She could see it all from the back window as tears seeped out of her eyes. Questions rolled through her mind, over and over. She couldn't imagine what had happened and how someone had gotten her fingerprints on the gun.
None of it made any sense. But it did when it came to her bad luck. Ever since her parents had died, it had been the same story. She couldn't get a break then, and she couldn't get one now either. She sat in the back of the police car as Rollo climbed in the driver's seat. He pulled out of the parking lot of Timber Bear Ranch and headed down the road. She resolved herself to her fate. Maybe she would end up going to jail. Maybe she would never get to be with Jessie at all. She had to come to terms with it now or it would drive her crazy if things got worse.
"This is so typical," Dana muttered.
"Typical?" Commander Morris said.
"Typical of my luck. Somehow someone got my fingerprints and
put them on the gun. And I somehow managed to take the car with Chuck's dead body in the trunk. Now it looks obvious that I was the murderer. It's just typical."
"I see," Rollo said. "You haven't had very good luck in your past have you?"
"No, and of course my past means that I have a motive, right? Like I said: typical."
"You haven't been sentenced yet," Rollo said.
"Yes I have. As soon as my parents died it all changed for me. This has been coming since the day they sent me to live with my uncle and his second wife."
"You think this is fate?" Rollo asked.
"Of course it is! My fate is for my life to suck!"
"Geez."
He went silent in the front seat and Dana looked out the side window. She hoped he felt guilty for ruining her life. He should. She'd been through enough and this just took the cake. She listened to the sound of the police radio as the tires crunched over gravel. They turned onto the highway and drove into Fate Mountain Village.
At the police station, a second officer came out and took her into the police station. She was quickly booked and photographed. It was the most humiliating experience of her life. Well, maybe the second. She had lived with the Updikes for two years while wearing a French maid uniform almost exclusively. Jail couldn't be worse than that. Could it?
They took her to a small cell in the police station and left her there. She lay down on the uncomfortable cot and waited for the inevitable.
Chapter 11
Jessie pushed Buck off him, angry as hell and ready to punch someone.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Jessie demanded.
"You think that I can stop the chief of police from making an arrest?" Buck asked.
"He's your friend," Jessie yelled.
"I'm afraid friendship doesn't have the power to prevent this. Rollo has a job to do. And you heard what he said, the DA wants the arrest. It was out of his hands."
"I know she could never do something like that. Chuck Updike was an asshole of the first degree. I should know better than anyone. But I know my mate didn't kill him. I can feel her in my bones."
"Jessie, the best thing you can do for Dana is to stay calm. You need to keep a level head so you can discover what really happened," Leland said.
"I know it was one of the hyenas. They say hyenas never turn on each other anymore but those beasts can only hold them for so long. Sooner or later somebody's going to get greedy and they're going to go back to their old ways," Jessie grumbled.
"You may be right. But the only way you're going to find out is by thinking straight," Leland said. "Don't you have a meet tonight?"
"How am I supposed to race when my mate is in jail?"
"We'll try to get her bailed out," Leland said. "You know the Updikes as well as anyone. You've raced them for years. Now is your opportunity to bring them down. Focus your anger. But be smart about it."
"Thank you, Leland," Jessie said, clapping his older brother on the shoulder. "I needed that."
Jessie crossed the yard and tore into the machine shop. He climbed on the back of his dirt bike and peeled out of the driveway while his brothers stood with blank expressions. Leland, wearing his cowboy hat, fisted his hips, slowly shaking his head.
Jessie grimaced as he sped up the road toward the forest. He spun onto a narrow gravel trail that led deep into the forest. His bear roared inside his mind. The grizzly clawed and growled, digging at the back of Jessie's eyes. His chest burned with anger and his stomach clenched. Buck's friend had taken Dana and put her into a cell.
Whoever was responsible was going to pay. Jessie intended to find out who it was. There were shop owners in town who had been systematically put out of business by Chuck and Brandon’s father. The sons continued with the same business tactics, only worse. Jessie’s own family had a long-standing beef with the Updikes.
When Leland's mate Sylvia had been kidnapped, two hyenas went to jail for it and never revealed who they took orders from. That was when Brandon and Chuck were pressuring Leland to sell the ranch.
The only way Jessie was going to find out was by getting up close and personal with the hyena pack. But he knew he couldn't go straight through the front door. He had to go around the back, and do a little secret feral snooping. He rode his bike through the forest for miles, intersecting with the backroads that crisscrossed most of Fate Mountain.
There was a section of forest between the nearest backroad and the Updikes’ property. He parked his bike behind a tree. He took off his clothes and tucked them under the seat of his bike and then covered everything with brush.
With a stifled roar, he shifted, his muscles bulging, breaking, and reforming into the massive shape of a grizzly bear. He growled in the heat of the summer morning. He could taste the pungent flavor of the evergreen forests and the many small animals that hid in the cool shade of the underbrush. The buzz of crickets hummed in his ears as he trotted into the forest.
Anger still pushed him on, as did the deep need to prove his mate innocent. He had known Dana for only a day, but in that time, he had gone from being a confirmed playboy bachelor to a loyal and committed mate.
Claiming Dana the night before had been the best experience of his life. All the girls he'd known in the past put together, times a million, couldn't compare to one night in his mate's arms. Their bond was forged in the fires that created the universe. He'd known it from the first time he'd seen her hazel eyes flash in that picture of her on the Internet. But when he met her in person, he'd really been done in. The smell of her skin and the sight of her curves in the morning sunlight, and that was it; it was over. When he saved the day by towing her car, he'd never felt like such a hero, and he’d served in the Great War.
He would give anything to taste her lips again. He would find her justice, and they would be together forever. He had watched each of his brothers find their mate, conceive children, and live happily ever after. Until now, Jessie had never believed he wanted that for himself. But with Dana, he wanted it all.
His grizzly contemplated life in a family as he barreled through the forest. Deep longing erupted from his chest. A flash of a memory of himself as a cub, standing over his mother's broken body, washed through his mind. He growled as he barreled through the forest, the heat of the summer causing him to pant.
He could smell the stench of hyenas on the wind as it blew toward him. He tasted them on his lips. The rancid flavor of it turned his stomach. The hyenas had been a cancer on this town for too long and it was time that they were stopped. Jessie continued around the property, keeping himself downwind from the mansion. He didn't want the hyenas to pick up his grizzly scent. He stepped closer, thick bushes stood between him and a group of hyenas in a gazebo, a hundred yards from the main house. They huddled together, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer.
"Today it's Chuck, tomorrow it's one of us," one of them said.
"The fox went down for it," said another. “Not a hyena.”
"That doesn't matter. Chuck is dead. And we all know who did it."
"You better not let him hear you talking like that," another one said.
Jessie took a short step back and broke a branch under his foot. One of the hyenas jumped from his seat in the gazebo and looked around.
"Did you hear that?"
"It's nothing. You're getting paranoid."
"Whose car did the fox take?"
"All the normal vehicles are here."
"The vehicle that had Chuck’s body in it wasn't one of the normal cars?"
“It was a plant. Maybe he knew she’d try to leave.”
“Don’t be crazy. He can’t think that far ahead.”
The paranoid hyena walked away from the gazebo, throwing his cigarette onto the dried grass. Jessie turned into the forest. He’d stayed long enough. The hyenas suspected one of their own. The car that Dana had taken was new to the mansion. He wondered who it was registered to. Rollo had taken it the morning when they discovered Chuck's body. Jessie suspected that whoever
owned that car knew something about the murder.
He hurried through the forest back to his dirt bike and started off down the gravel road. He had a race that night and he would bet anything that Brandon Updike would be there just to keep him from winning.
Jessie rode home quickly and began working on his racing bike. He wanted it in top condition for the meet. After a few minutes, his brother Buck drove up in a timber harvester and parked outside the machine shop. He got out of the tractor and strode toward Jessie where he was working on his bike in the shop. The summer sun fell on his brother’s shoulders and Jessie frowned.
"What do you want, Buck?" Jessie asked, tightening a nut in his bike.
"I wanted to talk to you about earlier," Buck said, showing his palms.
"There's nothing to talk about," Jessie said, dropping his wrench on the concrete with a bang.
"I've talked to Rollo several times today," Buck said. "The Bear Patrol are gathering further evidence. They've been waiting for a search warrant to search the rest of the Updike mansion. I suspect as soon as they're in, they will find enough evidence to set Dana free. If not, Leland is working on her bail.”
"This ends tonight," Jessie said, revving his bike's engine. "I have to change for the race."
He brushed past his brother, still angry that Dana had been taken. Even through the blinding rage of his grizzly, he knew his brother wasn't at fault for any of this. But he didn't have time to be a gentleman now. He and Buck were very different bears and Jessie wasn't the kind of guy who sat around and waited. If he had to, he would go down to the police station and break her out himself. They’d go on the run like Bonnie and Clyde. At least then they would be together.
He went into his house and changed into his racing gear, grabbing his helmet on the way out. He threw his helmet on the seat of his truck, pulled a ramp up to the tailgate, drove his bike into the bed, and hitched his bike to the truck.