Bear to the Bone(62)

He walked over to the first officer who got out, still holding his phone.

“I’m with Bear Claw Security,” Cage said, handing the cop the phone. “We have some info on the Aces you might want. The Aces should be clearing out of the compound tonight. You might want to make sure it’s a clean break.”

The cop stared at him with wide eyes but took the phone and listened as Bronson took over the fact giving.

Cage put his hands in his pockets and looked over at Carrie. He realized he had stuff back at the compound and should probably go back to get it before the whole place was vandalized, but he didn’t care. Nothing there was worth anything compared to spending the next few moments with her.

They’d both had guns aimed at them, their lives threatened, and it had worn on them.

He walked to Carrie and tucked her arm in his elbow. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go home.”#p#分页标题#e#





* * *



“Bear Claw Security, hm?” Carrie teased as Cage looked her over to make sure she wasn’t seriously injured and they walked down the road back toward her place. The street was now a mess of cop cars, and the cops had discovered the disarray Cage had left in Carrie’s bar.

“Yes,” he said. “I thought it was appropriate.”

She nodded and put her arm around his waist as they kept walking.

Pete was dead, Harvey and the other officer nearly so, but he’d let them escape. He couldn’t allow the same for Pete, who had fought like an animal and seemed determined not to stop until Cage was dead.

Cage had stopped only when he’d been sure Harvey and Steve weren’t ever going to try coming after him or Carrie again.

And while he didn’t like having to kill Pete, he knew without him, it would be much more difficult for the club to rebuild again somewhere else. And that was a good thing.

“Sorry, I don’t have my bike here,” he said. “It was faster to go by bear.”

She laughed. “So am I going to see a lot of your bear from here on out?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Depends on what you want. We run our company in New York, a long way from the city so there’s room for all of us to run.”

“Oh, right,” she said. “If I go back with you, I’m going to be meeting your partners.”

“That okay?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. “I’m sure I’ll like them if they’re anything like you.”

Slight jealousy washed through him, but he waved it away. She was with him, her soft hand tucked into his arm. Bronson and Limes would have to find their own.

“So your partners, what are their names?” she asked, seeming like she was trying to keep him talking to distract from everything that had happened.

“Bronson and Limes,” he said. “Both friends I met in the army.”

“Interesting,” she said. “Limes?”

“I can explain it better later.” He leaned down to nuzzle her ear. “Pay attention to only me, now.”

She laughed and pulled away. “Wait until we’re inside.” Luckily, her place wasn’t far away.

They walked surrounded by relative silence as they got farther from the bar.

The wind had picked up and blew leaves across their path.

“So Willow and the kids are okay?” Cage asked.

She nodded. “That’s why I came out and let them find me. I couldn’t wait anymore. I knew you’d be there soon.”

“Yup,” he said. “Can’t let anything happen to my mate.”

“Willow mentioned mates,” Carrie said, stopping a couple houses down from her own. “Explain that more. Was it just fated because I rescued you from that trap?”

“It’s just an animal instinct,” he said. “We’re mostly men, but the animals inside us think differently. Some bear shifters believe in it more than others. Other animals are bigger on the fated mate idea.”

“Which is?”

He sighed. It all sounded so weird to anyone human; he was sure. He’d never realized how insecure he was regarding Carrie until she’d seen him as a bear and Willow had exposed his truth. And then the deep-down fear of her hating what he was had struck him and he’d run.

He could face down killer conditions and lethal enemies to accomplish his missions, but something about looking into her faithful blue eyes and letting her see all of him scared him to the core.#p#分页标题#e#

Would she really still want him? Once they calmed down from the adrenaline and him saving her? Did she want someone with this inside him? Something not human?

“What are you thinking up there?” she asked, looking up at him.