Scott looked down at her curiously, but she just pulled away from him and walked out the door, dragging her suitcase behind her. Scott’s truck was close by, and he loaded her luggage without a word and helped her into the passenger’s seat.
Ryder came out into the snow in his bare feet, looking more like a desperate beggar than one of the most powerful men in the tech world. His blue eyes bored into hers, begging her not to go.
She turned away as Scott shut the door and refused to look up as they pulled away. She heard an angry roar and looked up to see Ryder had disappeared. Probably back into the cabin. He was good at running.
As they pulled out, she swore she saw the grizzly bear from before running across the white snow and back behind the lodge. It simply confirmed she’d made the right choice.
She leaned her cheek on her hand and rested her head against the frozen window, hoping Scott would just stay silent for the rest of the ride.
14
Ryder ran angrily in his bear form, wondering what he could have done differently while at the same time knowing there was nothing else he could have done.
He couldn’t shift in the room with her. Even if he could get past the fear of telling her what he was, he knew there was a big risk that with his huge bear there, she could get hurt. And he wouldn’t be able to get out the small window once in bear form. Or the bedroom door. And he would have wasted precious time having to lumber around to the back.
No, the best, quickest thing to do, instinctively, was run and change as quickly as possible so he could get the bear away from the window and keep his mate safe.
Damn! He’d been so close. She’d been opening her heart to him, trusting him, and now she thought he was the worst kind of man. Even worse than she probably could have imagined to be fearful of.
He hadn’t thought about how it would look. He’d simply thought about what would be safest for her and done it, hoping he could explain afterward.
Oh, how he’d wanted to kill that stupid bear who dared to threaten her. But he knew it could traumatize her to watch him take it apart. So he’d simply chased it away and then patrolled the cabin until the scent had faded completely and the bear was far gone.
By the time he’d gotten back in, it had been too late. Oh, how the triumph of protecting her had faded when he’d seen the hate in her eyes. How it had stabbed him in the gut to see she’d immediately turned back to the man that hurt her in the beginning.
He’d wanted to charge the car and slash the tires and carry his mate inside and make love to her until she listened. But he couldn’t. It would only hurt things between them more.
She’d said maybe they could talk later. If only he didn’t go mad worrying about her in the meantime.
He wasn’t worried about Scott. Jealous, yes. Angry, yes. But he’d seen nothing about the man that said he was going to take advantage. If anything, he’d seemed a little afraid of Ryder. Understandably. He was coming between him and his mate at a time when Ryder needed to protect her.
And Scott had no chance of it. When he’d smelled him while fresh from his bear form, he’d known. There was no bear in Scott. So what would he and Janna do if the black bear decided to follow them back to town and pay a visit to them there?
He growled and slashed at a tree when he thought of the possibility of Scott not taking her home. Maybe she wouldn’t want to be alone tonight.
But damn it, she had to know better than that, didn’t she? Scott could be nice, he was sure, but in the end, he’d still be the weakling that broke her heart. At least Ryder only broke her heart while trying to protect her life.
Even now, he couldn’t regret what he’d done because he’d rather she was unharmed and angry at him than hurt. Angry, he could fix.
Even if the jealous, possessive animal inside him almost wanted to give up now that it looked like she’d chosen another male. Almost. In reality, every part of him wanted to fight. Fight until she was safe, fight until she was his, and fight until she was back in his arms.
He huffed as he ran down the road where they’d gone, trying to retain his human reasoning. He was Ryder Hart. Shrewd. Powerful. He made grown men tremble in boardrooms. He could control this. He could.
But his bear was still charging down the road, following the scent of the truck his mate had left in, staying just far enough out of sight not to scare her by letting her see him.
What he planned to do when he caught up, he didn’t know. He just knew that every part of him needed to see her safe. A little ways down the road, he stopped.
His head started to clear, and the scent of the truck was fading. When he did see Janna again, he needed to be Ryder, not a bear. A bear would only scare her. And yes, he would have to show her his bear; it was the only way things would make sense and she would know he hadn’t left her. But not yet. First, he needed to know she could give him a chance as a man.