“Right,” the man said, the doubt in his voice evident. “I’m sorry, lady, but I’m not in the habit of handing out other people’s cell phone numbers to strangers.”
Rachel felt her hope slipping away, but then she had an idea.
“I understand,” she said. “But it’s really important that I speak to him. If I give you my cell phone number, will you call Bastian and have him call me?”
The man seemed to relax a little and he nodded his head.
“Yeah, sure, I can do that,” he said.
Rachel dug in her handbag and found her little notebook and a pen. She scribbled her name and her number on a sheet of paper and tore it out and gave it to the man. He glanced at it and then tucked it into his shirt pocket.
“Thanks,” Rachel said.
She turned to walk away and the man started to close the door. Suddenly, doubt filled Rachel and she began to question whether the man really would pass on the message. She thought for a second, and then she spoke up.
“Please don’t forget. I couldn’t bear it if Bastian didn’t get my message,” she said.
She put enough emphasis on the word bear to make the man pause. He pulled the door back open and looked at her, his eyes narrowed. She gave a barely perceptible nod of her head, hoping that if the man was a bear as she suspected he might be, he would get the message, and that if she was wrong and he wasn’t, he would barely notice the nod.
“You really do know Bastian, don’t you?” the man said.
Rachel felt relieved, knowing he had understood what she was telling him.
“Yes. I really do,” she smiled. “You will make sure he gets the message, won’t you?”
“I will,” the man said. “But you have to understand that as the alpha of the district, he’s a busy man so it might take a while for him to call you.”
“I can wait,” Rachel smiled, using the smile to hide the horror that now filled her. “Thanks again.”
She turned and walked away, forcing herself to walk at a normal pace until she heard the door close behind her. The second the door closed, Rachel began to run. She didn’t stop running until she was back inside of her house with the door closed and locked behind her.
She knew then that she had been wrong about Bastian. He hadn’t been turned into a bear against his will. And he wasn’t a nice guy. He was a monster, just like she had first thought upon learning he was a bear. She still remembered what Lewis had told her. That the alpha bear of the district was the one who had ordered him to find women and turn them into bears so they could be used as breeding machines to help populate his pack. There was no way in hell Rachel was going to hang around here and wait for Bastian to call. There was no way he was going to take her baby away from her if it turned out to be a girl, and use her to populate his pack.
Rachel lurched up the stairs, fear flooding through her. Thank God I found out the truth about Bastian before I told him I was pregnant, she thought to herself. She was so glad she had risked giving the man a hint about her being a bear. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have found out that Bastian was the one behind her abduction until it was too late.
She grabbed a suitcase and began piling her clothes into it. She threw in her make-up and rushed to the bathroom to collect her toothbrush and toiletries. She was packed within half an hour. There was a lot she would need to leave behind, but she could live with that. She had the essentials and she had enough money saved up to replace the things she left behind.
Her house was a rental and her payments were up to date. When her landlord discovered she was gone, he would be pissed off, but she left had paid a deposit and last month’s rent in advance when she moved in. Rachel hoped that would be enough to appease him a little bit. She didn’t like the idea of leaving him in the lurch, but she wasn’t willing to hang around here and just wait for Bastian to show up. He knew exactly where she lived.
Dammit, Rachel. Why did you have to bring him here? Why didn’t you insist on going to a hotel or something? Or better yet, why didn’t you just leave him in that damned diner?
None of those questions were helping and Rachel knew it. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She knew her savings would only last a couple of months and she would need money to leave the state and find a new apartment. Money for medical bills for the birth of her baby. She had to be sensible about this.
She took another deep breath and then she picked up her suitcase and made her way downstairs as a plan started to form in her mind. Leaving her suitcase in the hallway beside the front door, she moved through to the living room and sat down. She pulled her cell phone out of her handbag and scrolled through her contacts list until she found Dr. Gordon. She hit call.
“Dr. Gordon,” the doctor said as he took her call.
“Hi. It’s Rachel from reception,” Rachel said. “I’m sorry to disturb you out of office hours, but it’s pretty important.”
“Is everything okay, Rachel?” Dr. Gordon asked.
Rachel was relieved to hear the concern in his voice rather than anger.
“Not really,” she admitted. “I have a violent ex-boyfriend who I ran from a year or so back. He’s tracked me down and I have to leave. I know it’s short notice and I understand if you can’t help, but is there any chance I could transfer to another medical center in another state? Any
