“They’re already here,” she said, her voice desperate.
“We’ll talk to Brock now. We’ll figure this out.”
They drove over to his brother Brock’s house and knocked on the front door. Tate didn’t know if his brother would be at home or if he would be out on one of his wilderness treks into the backcountry.
The door flung open and Tate’s sister-in-law Ginger stood before him, her belly ripening like a melon.
The freckly redheaded woman looked from Tate to Ella and the baby in her arms. Ginger’s eyes widened. Tate was sure that Ginger had heard the stories about his runaway mate. Tate’s face burned and he frowned. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the gossip drama now.
“What’s up Tate? Who’s your friend?” Ginger stood back from the door, allowing them to enter. Tate and Ella walked inside. Brock’s house was as warm and comfortable as his own, having been constructed by their cousin Zane’s construction company. Ella sat down on the couch with the baby and Tate turned to Ginger as she closed the door. “Is Brock here?” he asked.
“He’s due back any minute. What’s going on?”
“Ginger, this is Ella…”
Ginger walked into the living room and sat across from Ella. “He’s so cute. What’s his name?”
“Andrew,” Ella whispered.
“Oh my gosh. He’s got the Montgomery green eyes,” Ginger gushed. “What a cutie.”
“When are you due?” Ella said, changing the subject.
“In the spring.” Ginger looked up at Tate, then back at the baby, a sly smile spreading over her lips. “How old is Andrew?”
“He’s six months,” Ella said. Ginger opened her mouth, but Ella cut her off. “Yes, he’s Tate’s.”
At that, Ginger’s mouth dropped. She smiled and nodded. “I knew there was a resemblance. Why didn’t I hear anything about the baby before?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Tate for an answer.
Tate growled. The door swung open and Brock strode inside, saving Tate from having to discuss the subject any further. Brock looked at his brother, then saw the women sitting in the living room. Everyone in the Montgomery clan knew about Ella. They’d all met her at clan gatherings. Everyone knew she’d left.
“Hey, Tate. Ella May? Is that you?” Brock said, taking off his jacket and putting it in the hall closet. He came into the living room and sat with the women. Tate stood in the corner, scowling with his arms crossed tightly.
“Brock, we need your help. Ella’s in serious trouble with the Glacier Wolf Pack.”
Brock was distracted by the baby, making cooing noises at the child as if that’s all that mattered. Finally, he looked up at Tate.
“What now?” Brock asked. Ella and Tate explained to Brock and Ginger what was going on for the next several moments. When they were done with their story, Brock had a strained expression on his face.
“You were right to bring this to me before you did anything else. This is a touchy situation. We wouldn’t want the northern wolf packs to think the Montgomery clan was jumping to conclusions or trying to manipulate the situation to our own advantage. We can’t just deal with this through human law. We’ll have to bring this to the Shifter Council.”
“How long is that going to take?” Ella asked. “They’re already here. If they find me, they’ll kill me or kidnap me.”
“We’ll have to find evidence that the murder and kidnappings you described actually took place. We can’t make any arrests until we have hard evidence. We shouldn’t even call the police in on this until then. The northern packs can be touchy. They could think that we’re using this as an excuse to move in on their territory. The last thing anybody wants is a shifter war.”
“What can I do until then?” Ella asked.
“You need to get out of town. Hide somewhere out of sight,” Brock said.
“You can use my dad’s cabin,” Ginger said.
“That’s a rough track up the mountain. Snow’s deep up there. Not a good option for them with the baby.”
“Them?” Ella asked.
“I’m sure Tate’s going to want to go with you and protect you. And if he doesn’t, I’m telling him now that he will.”
“I never said I wasn’t going to protect her,” Tate said. The fact that his brother had to make a big deal out of it made him angry. He wanted to punch something. Ever since Ella had left, he had gotten a reputation for being moody and overemotional among his brothers and cousins. It was a reputation he was damn tired of. Even as the youngest Montgomery man, he was the first to have a child. He was a father now, and he was going to act like one.
“I’m sure we’ll be all right alone. We just need to find somewhere safe,” Ella said.
“No way. I’m coming with you. I’m going to protect you. Andrew is a Montgomery, and Montgomerys look out for each other.”
“Take her out to the fishing cabin out on the island. That should keep you both out of sight until we can sort this all out. There are supplies out there, plenty of firewood. You should move before the storm rolls in.”
“There’s a storm coming?” Ginger asked.
“Yes, it’s going to dump a couple inches of snow even down at the lower elevations along the coast. You don’t want to be on the water when it comes in.”
“All right, we’ll take the fishing boat out to the fishing cabin. We’ll leave now.”
“I’ll let you know when it’s safe to come back over CB radio. You two should go now. It’s going to be dark in a few hours.”
Tate drove Ella back to his house and they packed up additional supplies before driving out to the dock where the Montgomery fishing boat was moored. They quickly moved everything onto the boat and were preparing to shove off when Ella gasped loudly behind him. He turned to her and her face was a mask of terror.
“What is it?”
She pointed out across the parking lot towards the street. Tate saw a group of motorcyclists motoring through town. “Is that them?”
All she did was nod her head. Tate unwound the rope that held the boat to the dock and went to the helm. He turned on the motor and pulled the boat out of the harbor and into the bay.
After what those men had done, it didn’t seem fair that it was Ella who had to run. But shifter law was pretty clear about these kinds of things. In order to keep the packs and clans from fighting each other, it was standard practice to have irrefutable evidence before accusing other shifters of crimes through human law enforcement. Even in case of murder and kidnapping, the Montgomery clan had to abide by the Shifter Council’s expectations. Accusing these men of crimes without evidence could put everyone in danger. Now, the most important thing was that he protect Ella and the baby from these dangerous, murderous men. His angry bear growled in agreement.
Chapter Six
Ella sat with Andrew inside the small cabin below deck. It was a good little ship, but not something you’d want to be stuck in a storm in, especially with a baby.
Even with the heat cranked up, Ella could feel the cold closing in. She shivered and rocked the baby’s car seat on the bed. She was worried. More worried than she’d ever been. At least now she had help. Even if it was from the man she’d been running from for almost two years.
The truth was, she missed him. In all the years they’ve been together, turning from friends into something more, she’d loved him a great deal.
She’d known that shifters had fated mates. Since the shifters had come out to the public in the nineteen fifties, most people knew a little bit about their culture. She’d know Tate for four years and loved him like a first love. When he told her that she was his fated mate, she’d felt betrayed. In all those years, he had never told her. Then all of the sudden, he just expected her to marry him.
Sitting in the boat now, she realized she should have known all along. After they first met, Tate had only tried to be her friend. He was older than her and their age difference had been inappropriate. But they had both played baseball at school and their friend
ship had blossomed out of that.
Ella just couldn’t take the pressure from every side. Her parents wanted her to be a lawyer, just because it was a good paying job. With her parents on one side and Tate on the other, all Ella wanted to do was run.
She had to find her own little place in the world, and make a life for herself. She needed to make her own decisions and stop letting other people tell her what to do.
As she sat looking at her baby, she wondered if her rebellion had been worth it. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter what anybody else thought. She’d been taking care of herself and her baby all this time. She’d proven to herself that she could do it, even if it was hard.
After about an hour, the boat began to slow and turned until it stopped. Ella picked up Andrew and climbed out of the cabin. On the deck, Tate was throwing the line over onto a wooden pier. He jumped off the boat and attached the line to the mooring. He stood and helped Ella climb out. They walked down the pier through the marshy beach. Ella looked around to see they’d docked in an inlet on an island out at sea.
There was a small rustic cabin tucked below the hillside. She cringed and held the baby tighter. This place was going to be cold. Tate opened the door of the cabin and flicked on a flashlight as they came inside. She breathed the musty, stale air, damp with the cold and the sea. Tate lit a kerosene lamp and began to build a fire in the fireplace and the wood-burning stove. It was a one room cabin with a big double bed, a table and chairs, a sink with a standpipe, and two windows that looked out the front of the house.
“I guess this can work,” she said, shivering even in her parka.
Tate just grumbled and continued building the fire. Ella sat on the bed and pulled a jar of applesauce from her diaper bag.
She held Andrew on her lap and fed him with a little rubber spoon. Tate looked up at her and smiled for the first time since they’d arrived at the cabin.
“This might not be that comfortable,” he said in a growly voice.
“At least we’re safe,” she said with a deep exhale. “I’m so tired of running. I just want to sleep.”
After she finished feeding Andrew, she pulled the blankets back on the bed. It wasn’t too dusty or damp. She crawled under the covers with the baby and rested her head against the stiff pillow.
She was bone tired and had been running on terror for days. For the first time since she’d left Fairbanks, she felt safe enough to close her eyes.
The feeling of security was definitely because of Tate. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but having him near made her feel like a huge weight was lifted from her shoulders. It wasn’t just because of the Glacier Wolf Pack either.
The whole time she’d been alone in Fairbanks, working to take care of her kid, she’d been right at the edge of her ability to keep her shit together.
She’d done it. She’d proved to herself she could. That didn’t change the fact that she felt like she was about to break down into a puddle of overwhelmed sludge every single day of her life.
Ella had resisted telling Tate about the baby for a long time. She didn’t want to be obligated to him, to have to become his wife, with no choice of her own. Having him near made her reconsider everything she’d been telling herself all this time.
Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to have someone to depend on. Tate had taken control and had found a solution by the end of the day.
They were still on the run, but now she had some hope that she and Andrew would be safe.
“Are you going to sleep?” Tate grumbled from above her.
“I can’t keep my eyes open. I’m so tired. So is the baby.”
“There’s only one bed,” he said. “I’ll spread out on the floor or find a place to bed down in the woods.”
“Oh. I didn’t even think about that,” she said, yawning. “You’ve already helped me so much, I don’t want to put you out.”
“Believe me. You aren’t.” His words sounded stiff and cold. Ella glanced up at his face. His expression was tight and unreadable.
She’d dropped into his life with his baby, forced him out of his warm home, and out into a remote cabin right before a snow storm.
Ella took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She couldn’t think about it now. Tate would have to make sense of things on his own. She could barely keep herself from losing it as it was.
“I’m going out to get the rest of the supplies from the boat. I even nabbed a box of diapers from the lodge. He’s six months, right?”
“Yeah,” she said, her mind moving quickly toward sleep. Diapers. One less thing to worry about.
She heard the door close behind him, and her eyes fluttered shut, Andrew tucked safely between two pillows.
Chapter Seven
Tate hurried to the boat to grab the rest of the supplies. It was already pitch black outside. He could feel the wind bringing in the harsh cold from the north.
When he set the last of the things on the table, he caught a glimpse of Ella and the baby out of the corner of his eye. He turned to them, staring.
He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life. They both slept soundly on the bed. Ella’s pretty face peeked out from under the blankets. She was as lovely as ever. Her tawny brown cheek and slick black hair rested on the white pillowcase.
His inner bear stirred, rumbling with anger and anticipation. He wanted to claim her now. The frenzy in his brain deafened him to his external senses.
Tate squeezed his eyes closed and put his palm to his forehead, trying to make his bear quiet. It was no use. The beast had woken from the stupor Tate had forced his animal into over the last year and a half.
His bear wouldn’t be silenced now. He backed up, his bear clawing at the backs of his eyes.
The images of pressing his lips to Ella’s filled his mind. He could see himself caressing her cheek, running his hand down her body and cupping her sex in his hand.
Without thought of propriety or what was normal for humans, he saw himself climb on top of her and take her. The image of sinking his teeth into her neck to claim her as his, forever, sent such a fever through him, he could barely keep himself from doing what the vision compelled him to do.
“No,” he growled.
Ella groaned and turned on her back. The blankets fell away and her breasts rose in soft mounds under the tight fitting sweater she wore.
He swore and turned to the door. He couldn’t just sit here and be tortured by the sight of her. The sweet smell of her.
He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Snow fell in big white clumps. The wind began to howl over the water. This storm would be bad, but not as bad as the storm raging inside Tate.
If he stayed here, he was afraid of what he might do. He gritted his teeth and pulled off his clothes. He was a bear, he could weather the storm. Shivering from the bitter cold, he charged into the piling snow. Jumping into the air, he shifted into his bear form and fell on his four wide feet into the snow.
He growled, his breath as foggy white as the falling snow. He could see better in the dark in this form. There were forests beyond the cabin and a cave where he knew he could bed down for the night.
The bear charged into the pine forests, smelling the snow and the crush of needles. The salt water of the ocean was not far off.
He cantered up a small rocky rise where he could see a view of the mainland on a clear day. The cave was just down in the ridge from there.
The wind blew harder, turning into a powerful force. This storm was worse than he’d expected. The boat crossed his mind. The animal resisted any thoughts except going back to the woman and shoving his throbbing cock inside her wet pussy.
The boat would have to make it through the storm on its own. Being even that close to Ella could be a mistake right now.
The beast was in control. The little part of Tate’s human mind that still had control, had to keep the bear as far away from Ella as possible. He carefully padded down the ridge, the snow cold and slippery over the roc
ks. He made it to the base of the cave, huffing and puffing as the snow blocked his vision.
It piled up quickly, even as he made his way inside the cave. At the very back, he could keep himself warm from the storm. Ella would have to make it through tonight on her own. It was better for both of them if she did. He curled up into a ball in the corner and closed his eyes to sleep.
When he woke, the world was still and dark. His inner clock knew it was morning. He roused and stood, stretching.
At the end of the cave, he could see the snow had piled outside the door, blocking out the light. Not good.
He growled and charged through the snow. Seven hundred pounds of grizzly bear burst through the avalanche that had covered the exit and came out the other side. He shook his fur, sending a splay of ice all around.
The world had turned white. The trees and ground were covered in a thick layer of snow. His human mind worried for Ella’s safety, and so did the bear.
He charged up the ridge. From the rise, he could see the cabin, piled with snow. Out at the end of the dock, the boat had tipped and now lay in the shallow water on its size.
Tate roared and ran down the hill to the door of the cabin. He had to make a decision. He shook his head and shifted. There was no time to be bashful, he had to know she was okay.
He burst through the door. Ella jumped and screeched, her breasts exposed as she sat beside the fire with the baby.
His eyes grew as wide as hers. She pulled her shirt down over her nakedness and brought the baby away from her breast.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, standing from the chair. She turned away, not wanting to look at him. “Where were you?”
He grabbed his clothes and began to pull them on.
“I had to get out of here last night,” he said, buttoning his flannel shirt.
“Why?” she said, turning back to face him.
“I couldn’t stay here with you.” Her face fell and she held Andrew away, defensively.