Chapter Four
She woke in the morning and called her parents’ house from the hotel phone. The message on their machine played over the line.
We’re gone for the month, out to the islands for fishing.
We’ve taken the dogs, but the security is on.
Leave us a message, and we’ll get back to you.
Tonya and Hawk
She hung up the phone and clenched her teeth. Damn. What was she going to do now? She couldn’t afford to stay in the hotel for longer than one more night. Her parents were gone for a month. The thought of breaking into the house had crossed her mind, but her parents had a security system armed. She’d wind up in jail.
For the rest of the morning, she paced around the hotel room with the TV playing low in the background. Andrew slept in his car seat for a long time. She’d have to check out or pay for another night soon.
Deciding to try to find out when her parents would be back, she took Andrew outside. Ella remembered how low her tank was. She’d have to fill it if she wanted to drive at all. The trip down from Fairbanks had taken her last paycheck. Ella was running on fumes in her bank account. She had to find a place for her baby soon or they would be in trouble.
She drove down to the tourist district in town, where the cruise ships docked. Her mother was friends with the woman who sold arts and crafts supplies from a shop on Franklin Street.
Ella parked in one of the big lots near the harbor and strolled her baby over to the craft store. The jovial expressions of the vacationers walking around her made her feel even more isolated and desperate. The cool air nipped at her cheeks. When she walked into the shop full of yarn and scrapbooks, the warm air hit her bare head and hands.
As she began to thaw, the woman at the back of the shop came out to greet her. “Ella May? Is that you?”
“Yes. It’s me,” she said. Her mother’s old friend, Tory Little, would know when her parents would be back. And Ella would have to subject herself to the scrutiny of the woman’s eyes in exchange for the information.
“You’ve got a baby,” Tory said. Ella began to sweat under her warm jacket, nervous about what Tory might say to the rest of her mom’.
“Um, yeah. So?”
“Who’s the dad?”
“Tory, I need to know where my parents are.”
“They’re out on the island at their fishing cabin. Won’t be back for another two weeks.”
“I need to talk to them.”
“No cell reception out there.” Tory bent down and cooed at the baby.
“You know anyone who lives by, maybe has a CB radio?”
“Maybe old Jim? He doesn’t stay out there all year.”
“How can I get a hold of him?”
“I can make a few calls. Don’t know how long it will take. Are you in trouble, Ella?”
“I just want to see my parents. They’ve never met the baby.”
“Uh huh. Okay. Where are you staying?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe the Value Inn?”
“What’s your phone number?”
Ella recited her cellphone number.
“All right, sweetheart. I know Tate Montgomery’s got a new house up on the Montgomery homestead. His cousin Zane helped him build it this last summer. Right near all those greenhouses at the south end of Montgomery Lane, near the highway.”
“Leave a message on my phone if you hear anything from my parents.”
“It might take a few days to get a hold of them, Ella.”
Ella turned the stroller and strode out of the craft store. She didn’t want to hear about Tate’s new house. Everyone seemed to be pushing her back to him. She felt flushed, annoyed and excited at the same time.
Nothing had turned out the way she’d wanted it to after she’d left Juneau and Tate a year and a half ago. She never expected to get pregnant with his child and then end up a single mother, on her own. Coming back hadn’t even been her first choice. She was only here because she was running for her life. It wasn’t like she could say that to Tory, though. It didn’t save her from the judgement in the woman’s eyes.
She pulled out of the parking lot and drove to a convenience store where she knew she could find a phone card and some snacks for her and Andrew. She parked and sat in the front seat for several minutes. She was almost out of money.
She let out a deep sigh and got out of the car, picking up Andrew from the backseat. He whimpered as he grabbed at her hair. Ella quickly went into the convenience store, grabbed her things, and dropped it all on the counter. Fluorescent lights glared overhead and the buzz of beer-filled refrigerators filled the room.
Her stomach dropped when the cashier gave her back the change from her purchase. She hurried outside, shushing Andrew’s crying. She felt bone tired, like she’d never be rested again. When she stepped through the door, she saw the taillights of a motorcycle gang drive up the street and out of sight. She gasped a sharp, cool breath and ran to her car.
She strapped Andrew into his seat in record time and sprinted around to the driver’s seat to get inside. Ella sped out of the parking lot and turned onto the street in the opposite direction. She’d recognized the logos on the gang’s jackets.
It was them.
This was bad.
Really bad.
She had to hide fast. Ella wasn’t sure if they knew what kind of car she drove, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Thoughts sped through her mind as she looked for possible solutions. She sped south down the highway and found herself coming up towards the turnoff to Montgomery Lane.
Damn. Somehow she wound up at the very place she wanted to avoid. She hadn’t expected the Glacier Wolf Pack to find her here, but someone in Fairbanks must’ve tipped them off. Ella flipped on her blinker and turned onto Montgomery Lane. Tori had said Tate’s house was the closest to the highway, near the greenhouses in the flats before the lodge.
She turned off onto the first driveway along Montgomery Lane and came up to a brand-new log home. It must be Tate’s place. His cousin Zane owned the Montgomery Construction Company that built a lot of the log houses around Juneau. She parked the car and waited.
Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to ask Tate for help after what she’d done to him? Fear coursed through her veins. She was more afraid of the motorcycle gang than she was of Tate. She took a deep breath and let it out before cutting the motor and opening her door. Just as she stepped out onto the gravel driveway, the front door of the house swung open.
Tate Montgomery came charging down the front steps towards her as she closed the door of the car. Just as big and sexy as ever, he wore a pair of tan coveralls and a dark hooded sweatshirt. She could feel his presence from across the yard. Dark hair hung over his bright green eyes. Ella could see the tips of his sharp canine teeth behind his full lips.
She was so frightened she almost got back in the car without another word. The look on his face told her leaving fast might be the best idea. She gripped the door handle and was about to open it when he stopped in front of her.
“Ella May? What are you doing here?”
“I shouldn’t have come.” Ella flung open the door and the sound of Andrew’s burbling came from inside the car.
“You have a baby in there?” he asked, his surprised expression taking on an even angrier cast.
“I’ll leave now. Forget I was here.” She tried to sink into the car but he grabbed her arm and made her face him. His eyes bore into her soul, searching for answers. The fraught look on his face almost made her want to cry. Babs Bula’s words flitted across her mind. She could find Tate someone else. Desperation and panic caught up with her and she felt herself ready to break.
“Whose baby is that?”
“He’s my baby. Let go of me.” She yanked her arm out of his grip, but he was blocking her way to the driver’s seat. “Get out of my way. I’m leaving.”
“I’m not letting you go until you tell me whose baby that is,” Tate demanded. His han
dsome face was more determined than she had ever seen. The six foot two, muscled man-bear stood in front of her, staring her down like some kind of prey.
She couldn’t take it anymore. She was frightened, cold, and Andrew had begun to cry. She had to get him inside. She had to keep him safe.
“It’s yours. All right? I never meant to come here. But I need help. Can you just stop looking at me like that and help me?”
“The baby is mine?” He stood in stunned silence, blocking her from the car. She backed away and walked around the car to get the baby out. She bounced him in her arms as she walked back to where Tate still stood.
“How do you know it’s mine?” His words were full of hope mixed with fear.
“Because you are the only one who could be his father.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? Where have you been?”
“Can we go inside, please? He’s cold and hungry. And I’m tired.”
“Come inside.”
Tate took the diaper bag from her shoulder and led her up the front steps of his house. He opened the front door and she stepped in. The warm air hit her cold face as she looked around at the interior. When she left, Tate was still living with his parents, even though he had taken over the greenhouse business by seventeen. This was the house of an adult man. It was tidy, furnished, and decorated.
A nice, comfortable home. She sat on the couch and quickly lifted her shirt to feed the baby. Tate stood above her, looking shocked.
“You aren’t going to do that here are you?”
“He has to eat. You don’t have to watch.” Tate slowly sank into an armchair across from her, staring like she was some kind of dangerous animal.
“What’s its name?” he asked in a low voice.
“His name is Andrew. After my grandfather on my mother’s side.” She looked from Tate and back down to the baby, guilt turning in her chest. She’d known all along that it was wrong to keep Tate from his son. But she just couldn’t face him after how she left.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Ella? I could’ve helped you.”
“I thought you hated me. I didn’t really blame you for hating me.” Ella felt emotions raging in her heart and gut. She couldn’t make out how she felt. It was all too intense and confusing.
“I still don’t understand why you left.”
For the first time, he looked away, his eyes cast to the hardwood floor. She hadn’t wanted to see him look like that. She’d never even told him she was leaving. She just left and never looked back.
“It was complicated.”
“All those years together. All the times you told me how you cared. I never would have expected you to disappear when I told you.”
“Tate…” She knew he was disappointed. But she had feelings too. He’d hurt her when he’d kept the truth from her.
“Help me understand, Ella,” he said. His voice was a mixture of pleading and anger. She could barely look at his face. She’d never seen Tate look this way. He had always been so confident. Just like the rest of the Montgomery clan.
Ella had always known that Tate was a bear shifter. When they had become friends when she first came to town, she thought he was the cutest boy she’d ever seen. Even at seventeen years old, Tate had been six-foot-two and built like a big muscular athlete. All the girls in school thought he was the hottest boy in school. Ella was no exception.
“Everyone’s been telling me what to do my entire life, Tate. Before my parents got sober and got super religious, they used to be drunk assholes who bossed me around. When they joined the church and stopped drinking, they just became religious assholes who bossed me around all the time.
“We weren’t even allowed to date until after I graduated high school. They had my whole life planned out for me. Then you told me that I was your fated mate. I was only eighteen years old and had just had sex for the first time. And then I learned that my first boyfriend would be my last. I just couldn’t do it, Tate. I had to have some independence. I had to make some decisions for myself. Maybe I made the wrong decisions, but at least they were mine.” Mixed feelings surged in her gut. She was still angry he’d lied to her. It was an anger that had carried her all the way to Fairbanks. That anger still remained, unhealed.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the baby?”
“I couldn’t face you. I was confused.”
“That’s not a good reason to keep a father from his child.”
“I didn’t know what else to do, Tate. I know it was wrong, but I’m here now. And I need your help.” Andrew finished eating and she let him crawl around on the fluffy carpet on the floor.
Ella and Tate watched Andrew crawling around and gurgling at their feet. Tate rubbed his forehead and let out a long, ragged breath.
“You need money?” She felt the angry pit in her stomach explode, but she kept it in check. Of course he would think it was about money.
“This isn’t about money. There’s someone after me, someone very dangerous. His gang is already here. I don’t know how they found me. But if I don’t do something fast, the baby and I are in great danger.”
Chapter Five
Tate couldn’t believe what was happening. His bear was on a warpath inside his head. After all this time, Ella was here, sitting in his living room, with a baby. His inner beast had been quiet lately. Now that Ella was back, every ounce of frustration and rage he’d felt over the last year and a half poured from within.
Tate had known Ella was his from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. Tate had kept that fact from her, wishing to be her friend during those tender years. Her parents never wanted her to date, especially a boy so much older than her.
They’d wanted her to go to college and become a lawyer. Ella had always been a daring but sweet girl. She hated to play by anyone else’s rules. That was one of the things he loved about her the most. Little did he know, her fear of rules would apply to him in the end, too.
Tate gazed down at the baby. The child’s bright green eyes looked just like his. It was hard to deny that Andrew could be his child, but he didn’t want to believe it.
At that moment, he didn’t want to have anything to do with her. No matter how much his inner bear roared to claim Ella before she ran away again. Tate had already resigned himself to be alone.
Her arrival threw him off balance. He didn’t know what to think or feel. His angry bear certainly knew what to do. His bear showed him visions of kissing her hard on the lips and running his tongue over her swollen breasts, tasting her. The moment she’d lifted her shirt to feed the baby, he couldn’t stop picturing it.
Her story about the dangerous men just made the already confusing situation even stranger. He knelt down on the rug beside the baby and looked up into Ella’s dark eyes.
“Can I hold him?” he asked.
“Go ahead,” she said, her voice tight with anxiety. Tate wrapped his big hands around the baby’s middle and lifted him into his arms. Tate held the little guy to his chest, caressing his soft head.
“Tell me about these dangerous men, Ella. What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?”
“Do you think it’s somehow my fault?” She stood and reached for the baby as if she was about to leave in anger.
He held the baby closer and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. Just sit down and explain what’s going on.”
She grunted and plopped down on the couch, staring at the flickering fire in the fireplace. “I was living with a friend in Fairbanks. We lived on about an acre with two mobile homes. Not a very good neighborhood. A lot of weird things going on. Drugs. Alcohol. After I found out about Andrew, I just worked and kept to myself. Taking care of the baby on the money I was making as a dishwasher wasn’t easy, but I was getting by.”
“You could’ve just told me, Ella. I would’ve helped you. You didn’t have to do it on your own.”
“What’s done is done, Tate. Can’t do anything about it now.”
“Who’s after you?”
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“The Glacier Pack.
“Why?”
“This one night, a bunch of motorcycles drove up and parked in front of the mobile home across from where I lived with my friend. The gang went inside the other place. I heard a gunshot. When my friend pulled up in the driveway after work, they slapped her across the face and kidnapped her. They came into our mobile home. I hid behind the water heater with the baby. He slept the whole time. If he’d made a peep, we’d most likely be dead or worse. I left as soon as they drove away. They followed me to Juneau. I just saw them driving down the street. If they find me, I have no doubt they’ll kill me.”
“Who are these people?” Tate asked, anger raging in his chest. Even after everything that Ella had done, she was still his mate. He would protect her to the death. His bear roared in agreement, nearly rabid with rage. He would protect his mate and his baby with every last breath in his body. He didn’t care who opposed him.
“They’re big players in the organized crime in northern Alaska. They cook meth. Deal drugs. Any girl who goes missing in that part of the state, you can bet has been kidnapped by those guys. They’ll take a girl and sell her to some psycho who’ll keep her locked in a cabin somewhere. They have no morals. No restraint.”
Tate growled. The fact that they were shifters posed a serious problem. If they had been humans, Tate would have had no problem calling his cousin Shaw, the state trooper, to arrest the men immediately. Since they were shifters, other things had to be taken into consideration. If his clan angered the northern wolf packs, it could create a shifter feud, which was dangerous for everyone involved. The last thing he wanted to do was bring the northern wolf packs down on the Montgomery clan.
“Can you help me?” she asked, her eyes pleading. She picked the baby up and held him close, bouncing him softly as she paced in front of the fire.
“We’ll have to talk to my brother Brock. He’s the new clan leader. We can’t go after a wolf pack without the cooperation of the Shifter Council, and the northern packs and clans. It could bring serious trouble down to all of the shifters in Juneau. That’s not something I’m willing to be responsible for.”