The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read online

  The beast squinted into the dark recess between the crates and tucked the phone into his pocket. Leah pulled down the tarp, scooped the sheets to her chest and slid back as far as she could from the front edge.

  The wood crate two feet from her head cracked and popped as if stressed by heavy weight. The edge of the tarp lifted, allowing light to slide under.

  Ivan’s foot twitched against her back. This would not be a good time for him to wake. She sucked in a quiet breath and squeezed her eyes shut. She tried to block the images of what he would do to her. Otso said no one would hurt them, but he couldn’t stop this beast. Through her eyelids, the dark lessened with more light under the covering.

  A high-pitched twerp came from above. After a pause, the tarp fell to the ground. The monster’s voice sounded directly in front of her. “Yes, Commander. On my way, sir.” Another twerp. “Rat bastard…”

  Leah heard a solid object slam against a crate over and over until wood split. He stepped into her line of sight between the boxes and rubbed his bloody fist. Stomping footsteps faded along the catwalk headed to the other side of the boat.

  Air burst from Leah’s throat and immediately sucked back in. Her knuckles hurt from strangling the sheets. She swallowed a huge sob threatening to overtake body. The man was a damn lunatic. It freaked her out more that he willingly gave himself pain. If he enjoyed it that much, she could only imagine what he’d do to her.

  “Hey, what are you doing down there?” Ivan’s toe thumped her back. A slightly hysterical laugh escaped her.

  “Just enjoying the scenery.” The first hints of dawn lit the eastern horizon.

  “What scenery? We’re on a boat in the middle of the ocean.” He rolled over. “When can we go back inside? I’m cold and hungry.”

  Leah realized the second phone call was the commander telling Bald Psycho to go somewhere, maybe they were regrouping for a new strategy. “I think now would be a good time to leave.”

  “Awesome.” Ivan sat up, pushing the tarp aside. They scooted sheets and all into the corner and stood in the shadows. “Where are we going?”

  Leah peeked down the catwalk. “Where they’ll never look for us. Back to the locked storage room.”

  TEN

  Hannes stared out the ship’s library window at the blackness slowly melting into pink and blue. This room filled with books and movies had surprised him when he came upon it on his way to the fitness room. Vessel cruises were actually quite nice. But he’d be glad when the sun and moon once again correlated with his body clock. Eating lunch when the sun came up and breakfast at midnight didn’t help his sour mood.

  The door behind him opened and closed. His lieutenant was the last team member to arrive.

  The commander stood at the front of the room with his men’s undivided attention. “Thank you for your search efforts.” He paced toward the door. “You’ve been briefed with everything I know about the woman and boy, which isn’t a lot. We could’ve had more if Diego were here to tell us.”

  He shot an angry glance toward Korhonen. “Neither guest is a threat.” He stopped directly in front of his second-in-command. “Lieutenant, when you took the woman to the holding room, did you notice if she was frightened or do anything to frighten her more?”

  “Sir, I noticed nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Nothing, sir.”

  Hannes nodded and casually stepped to the side. A strange thing with his second, sometimes he couldn’t scent the man’s lies or emotions. It’s as if at certain times, he became a machine, no feelings, no thoughts. Just a body. Right now, the soldier was barely human.

  He ran a finger along a shelf of books, keeping his face turned away. “I have spoken to the captain. Very few of the deckhands speak English, and they will stay away from her for fear of Ojo Azul. It’s a good idea for you to do the same.”

  Uneasiness settled in Hannes’ stomach, but not about the woman escaping. They were in the middle of the ocean, and he could find them if he followed their scents. He was more afraid of one of the crewmembers coming across them and doing something stupid.

  “We’ll resume the search after we eat. Axel, since the sun is up, make sure to check the top deck.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Lieutenant Korhonen, station a man around the comm room and kitchen.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  From his backpack on a faux leather recliner, he pulled out a folded packet. “Now, to tactics.” The commander laid a map on a table for one of Spain’s largest seaports, Algeciras. His men gathered around the table as he marked the route each would take after docking to ensure a clean wrap for the mission.

  Standing across the table from Hannes, Korhonen shook his head. “Why can’t we just dock in Barcelona? It’s a lot closer to base.”

  Hannes stopped talking and coolly looked at him. “That’s exactly why we’re not going there.”

  “No one is on to us. There’s no good reason we can’t dock in Barcelona.”

  “Have you forgotten Barcelona has five cruise ship terminals, transferring well over two million people each year? That poses a high risk factor for identification and tracking.”

  “But--”

  “Who is the commander here?” Hannes turned away from K.

  K crossed his arms in front of his chest, not replying.

  “I will ask one more time, Korhonen. Who is the commander here?”

  “Sir, you are, sir!”

  “Who makes the tactical decisions?”

  “Sir, you do, sir!” The veins in Korhonen’s neck bulged. His fists clenched, knuckles glowing white.

  “Whose authority do you never question?”

  “The commander’s, sir!”

  “And who is the commander, Korhonen?”

  “You are, sir!”

  Hannes picked up the marker. “Dismissed.”

  A nervous mumble circled the team. Hannes had never tossed one of his men from a tactical meeting, but he wasn’t in a tolerant mood.

  Korhonen remained in place. The machine had returned. Hannes turned to him, studied his blank eyes, then pulled the handcuffs from his jacket pocket and tossed them across the table where they slid to a stop in front of Korhonen. “I said you’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”

  Korhonen about-faced and stormed out the room, slamming the half wood, half glass door hard enough to rattle the pane.

  Hannes frowned. Paska. The men looked uncomfortable and worried. Never before had he felt a need to explain his decisions. He ran fingers through his hair. Maybe he was getting too old for this, too soft.

  “You all understand the importance of following orders without question. I would not give you an order I didn’t think was the best at the time of action. In hostile territory, it is my responsibility to keep you men alive. If I have a plan, and you stop to question me, we could all very easily die in a committee. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  His team spoke as one. “Sir, yes, sir!”

  Exhaustion set into his bones. He laid the marker down. “All right, men. We’ll resume later. Dismissed.”

  “Sir, yes, sir!” They filed out the room, re-tracing Korhonen’s blazed trail. When the last man closed the door, Hannes let out a deep sigh.

  This had been coming for some time. He folded the diagram into a small rectangle. Korhonen had been a good soldier and trusted friend for many years. He didn’t want to lose him, but the subtle insubordinations, independent decision-making, and now lying, disrupted the chain of command. And he noticed Korhonen’s bloody, scratched knuckles--not for the first time.

  He worried about Korhonen’s mental stability. Odd that he acted out in front of the men. In the past, he was able to keep everything low key. What was causing him to lose control now? He wanted to review Korhonen’s background investigation file but, unfortunately, that file sat locked away at his villa in Spain. Years had passed since he last reviewed the information. He thought back to the events that brought a young Korhonen to his atte
ntion.

  During his last year of high school, Korhonen murdered his father after years of physical, mental, and sexual abuse. After the story of the father’s heinous crimes leaked out, the public became outraged when Korhonen received the maximum sentence for saving his family.

  A considerable amount of media coverage and public opposition convinced officials to offer an unprecedented arrangement. Korhonen had the option to join the military for ten years of service in recompense. This appeased the public’s sense of justice.

  According to psychoanalysis, Korhonen’s mind connected his lifetime of pain and suffering with his sister and mother. He took beatings for them, worked long hours in the lumberyards for them, and was punished because of them. Women meant pain. The only way to stop pain was to kill it at the source--take physical control, beat and crush it into the ground.

  The apple never falls far from the tree.

  A few miscellaneous comments were included, but they weren’t important. Since the ship confined everyone to tight quarters, he’d be patient. No need to further stress or embarrass Korhonen in front of the men. Perhaps he would work out his problems before the situation became dangerous.

  If Korhonen must leave, Hannes wanted it on good terms; he had enough enemies to fight already. The best response was to let this ride, for now. When they reached home, he’d sit down with Korhonen and talk things over.

  The sun cast a rectangular patch of light onto the table. His brain grew weary of logistics. Notions of his lady guest crept inside his head. A thought struck him. For understandable reasons, Korhonen didn’t take well to women. One drunken night, he confessed that he blamed his mother for his life in hell. If he ever saw her again, he would tear her to pieces.

  Fortunately, she died not long after Korhonen enlisted in the military. Did his deep-seated hatred for her extend to all women? Was Leah’s continual presence--a forbidden temptation within Korhonen’s reach--why he was losing grip?

  He headed topside for fresh air and a place to relax. Just the thought of her quickened his pulse and riled his inner beast. She was over-confident and too sassy for her own good. She would learn her place, but where did he want her? He grinned. Lying beneath him would be a good start. His animal agreed; there was a first time for everything.

  He leaned against the vessel’s outer railing. The cold breeze coming off the water cleansed his mind of physical desires and negativity. He ran his fingers through his hair. When the ship returned home, he’d visit a friend with benefits for a few days. His surfacing physical requirements had to be from neglect on his part. Only one woman ever set his mind and body on fire, and she had been dead for three years.

  His bear told him he was wrong, but he didn’t care. His heart was off the market, forever. Even if someone like Leah came into his life. He’d made it this long without her. He could continue. His beast said keep dreaming.

  What was he going to do with the woman and child? Both had seen enough of his face to identify him if given a photo. He could hand her over to Roclas to get the whole story. The inner beast would fight him if he tried that. His nails turned to claws as if to prove a point of who was really in charge.

  A muffled twerp chimed from his pocket. He read the text and hurried along the catwalk from the stern to the bow.

  Axel, Korhonen, and a crewmember stood behind a stack of crates. Axel stiffened upon seeing Hannes. “Sir, I found used sheets and a tarp. This deckhand said they always fold this and lay the rope on top of it.” He pointed to the unruly coil on the other side of the boxes.

  Hannes never thought the two would hide topside. And that’s why she did. “Very good. Begin the search where you left off earlier and work your way down. They have to be somewhere.”

  “Yes, sir.” When Axel left, the deckhand followed, leaving the commander and his second alone. The back of Korhonen’s right hand had stopped bleeding, but scratches were open to the air.

  “Lieutenant, go to the medical facility and bandage your hand. I don’t want a flesh-eating bacteria consuming you.”

  “Yes, sir.” Korhonen disappeared around the boxed row. He showed no signs of dissention. Hannes kneeled, picked up a sheet and bunched it into a wad covering his nose and breathed in deeply. A peaceful warmth flowed through him.

  He hoped that someday he would understand the creature inside him. Many thoughts had been relayed to him that he didn’t know how to interpret. He remembered on the docks, when he had her pinned to the light pole, the word mate rolled from his mouth. What did that mean? The new set of instincts remained a mystery, still, after five years.

  Thinking about the torture and pain he was forced to endure instantly brought his beast forward. Fur pushed through his pores, malleable bones sent him to all fours. The need to protect and kill roared within his mind. He would get his revenge. He was so close. All those involved would face their ultimate judgment when he sent them to hell. Only then would he find rest.

  Hannes pulled it all in then stood, put his hands in his pockets and turned his back to the chilled wind. Hopefully she would remain hidden, or at least out of Korhonen’s reach and his own scent range for the duration. A shiver ran down his spine. Paska, it was cold. All that fur under his skin, yet in human form he was subject to the weather. He needed his coat still in the medical facility. If he’d thought about it earlier, he would’ve had Korhonen bring it up.

  ELEVEN

  Leah’s head was ready to split. It hurt to breathe, to think. Fortunately, the only light in the room seeped around the mostly closed restroom door.

  Ivan had pushed two crates against the main door to keep it from popping open if someone accidentally hit it. He sat beside her quietly until she heard his stomach rumble. “I’m hungry.”

  Why didn’t it occur to her before that by escaping they had cut off their food source? But hunger was better than being within reach of the psychotic people onboard. Except for Otso. Just thinking about him made her feel lighthearted—a feeling she rarely knew. He was cute, and filled out his pants in the right places. A tingle ran through her, exploding in her head.

  She ground her teeth together. Medicine. She wanted strong painkillers and didn’t care about the side effects. Two years ago, after downing her first dose, two capsules instead of one, she woke up a day later in a strange place with unfamiliar people. She remembered nothing of the previous day.

  “Ivan, move the crates.” Slowly, she made her way to stand.

  “Why?”

  “I’m going to the medical room to find something that will rip off my head.”

  He jumped to his feet and held her arm. “No, you can’t. What if they see you?”

  “The room is three doors away. What’s the probability of ‘them’ being there the same time as me? Zilch. Let go of my arm…please.”

  Ivan hesitated.

  “I’ll be gone two minutes.”

  The boy schlepped to the boxes and scooted them far enough to open the door. “Hurry up. Bring food if you find any.”

  Leah peeked both directions along the hall, then quickly walked toward the door with the red cross. Once inside, she pilfered the counter top and every drawer. Opening an upper cabinet, she saw small packets on the top-most shelf that could be samples or travel size something. At this point, she didn’t care what it was; if it killed her, she wouldn’t have a migraine anymore.

  With dark spots in her vision, she hoisted herself onto the counter and swung her legs up and to the side, accidentally kicking a tray with gauze pads, cotton balls, and a scalpel to the floor. The crash thundered in the room and scattered items across the tile. In a panic, she grabbed a handful of packets from the cabinet and slid off the counter.

  When reaching for the doorknob, the door swung open, almost hitting her. Korhonen stared at her with surprise on his face that quickly morphed into a sneer with an off-kilter glint in his eye.

  Leah stuffed the pills in her front pocket and lunged behind a bed. Korhonen strolled into the room and shut the door. “
Nice seeing you again, angel. I’ve been worried and can’t stop thinking about you.” He sauntered toward the table beds.

  Leah stepped back, hitting the other empty table and rolling it to the wall. With a flip of his arm, the front bed crashed into portable readout machines next to the cabinets. She saw Otso’s coat slide off the equipment to the floor.

  Innate survival instincts took control, tensing Leah’s muscles for flight. But fight was quickly becoming her only choice. “Leave me alone. What do you want?”

  His next step would bring him close enough… She kept her eyes on his and with a smooth upward swing, her foot made contact with Korhonen’s groin. He bent, but not as much as she hoped. She sprang to the side, bypassing the monster in her path.

  After one step, an intense pain shot across her skull and her weight shifted backward. With a handful of Leah’s hair, Korhonen flung her into the cabinets. Flight kicked in, moving her faster than she could have under her own conscious power.

  Before she turned the knob, her forehead smashed against the wood. Stars filled her vision and her knees gave. The monster dragged her farther into the room then threw her against the metal table. She tumbled to the floor amidst the tray items she knocked off the counter earlier. Her hands groped for any type of weapon.

  Korhonen reached down, wrapped his hand around her throat, lifted, and pinned her body to the wall with his. His other hand brushed along her hair. He smiled, yellowed teeth peeking under his stretched lip. “Did I ever tell you that you look so much like my mother when she was young and pretty?”

  His fingertips trailed down her cheek. “Pretty hair, soft skin…” The hand continued past her collar bone and cupped her breast. “So pretty.” He snorted. “Before she became a fucking whore.” Anger tinged his eyes. “Every day I worked the mill, I had to listen to other men tell me how well she ‘cleaned.’ How her mouth was tighter than her pussy.” His hand squeezed her throat tighter.