Rachel tried to push herself to run faster, but her calves were burning and her lungs were screaming already. She managed a burst of extra speed as she realized just how close the footsteps behind her were. She tripped as she ran and she felt herself falling toward the ground, her arms pinwheeling wildly around. Before she reached the ground, strong hands grabbed her around the waist and scooped her up, breaking her fall. Instantly, she felt tingles spreading out through her body where those hands—Bastian’s magic hands—touched her.
She shook her head. How can I feel like this about someone so vile? she thought to herself. She got her feet back beneath herself and began to slap at Bastian’s hands. He pulled his hands from her, but before she could flee again, he grabbed her arm above the elbow. She turned and tried to slap him, but he caught her wrist and held it.
“Rachel, stop it. I only want to talk to you,” Bastian said. “You remember me, don’t you?”
“I… yes, of course I remember you,” Rachel said, stunned into honesty as she caught Bastian’s eye once more. “Let go of me.”
“Promise me you won’t run,” Bastian said. “You’re only going to end up falling and hurting yourself.”
Rachel could see the amusement in his eyes when he said it and she felt anger spark within her. She snatched her arm from Bastian’s grip, but she didn’t attempt to run this time.
“What do you want? Why the hell are you here?” she demanded, forgetting her fear for a moment as her anger burned inside of her.
“I want to talk to you about our child. I’ve been looking for you since the moment I learned you were pregnant,” Bastian said.
Rachel felt her heart starting to race, and this time, it had nothing to do with Bastian’s close proximity to her. How did he know about her pregnancy? How had she let her guard down so much that he had actually been able to track her down after so long? They were questions she didn’t think she’d be able to get the answers to anytime soon. And they weren’t the important question. The important question was how the hell she could get rid of Bastian now and disappear again.
“She’s not your child,” Rachel said. “I was already pregnant the night we hooked up.”
“We both know that’s not true, Rachel,” Bastian said with a smile. “Firstly, if you had been pregnant when we met, I would have sensed the life inside of you. It’s a bear thing. And secondly, you can’t get pregnant by a human and the bears in the state are all part of my pack. Do you really think I wouldn’t have found out by now if one of them had fathered a child?”
“You’re wrong,” Rachel insisted.
Even to her own ears, her argument didn’t sound convincing. It wasn’t even an argument. It sounded like something a kindergarten kid would say when they had been caught doing something they shouldn’t be doing.
“I’ve seen the baby, Rachel. I know she’s mine,” Bastian said.
That scared Rachel more than him finding her. How had he already seen Stephanie? What the hell was Lena thinking? Did he know where she lived, go to her door, and get invited in by Lena for a cup of coffee to be introduced to her daughter? Surely not.
She turned and started to run away from Bastian again, already planning her next move. She would have to leave the state, and this time, she couldn’t tell anyone where she was going. She wouldn’t be able to keep her job and transfer branches. She would have to find something else. Maybe she should leave the country.
The thoughts tumbled through her brain in a mishmash of worry. Her main worry right now, though, was more immediate. How the hell could she get away from Bastian? She hoped she had taken Bastian by surprise enough that she could put some distance between them and get back to the crowded park. Surely he wouldn’t try to grab her in front of witnesses. She had barely covered seven steps when Bastian grabbed her again. He spun her around to face him.
“Stop running from me, Rachel,” he said. “Why are you so afraid of me?”
Rachel thought she saw a look of hurt on Bastian’s face as he asked her why she was afraid of him. It softened her slightly, but she reminded herself that he was a monster who used women as breeding machines against their will and any sympathy she felt for him vanished.
He was looking at her, waiting for an answer. Rachel didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t try to deny that she was afraid of him. It was written all over her face and she kept trying to run from Bastian. But she couldn’t tell him what she knew. That would only give him a reason to get rid of her. In the end, she stayed silent and just shook her head.
“Listen to me,” Bastian said. He released her arm and touched her chin, gently pushing her head up and forcing her to look into his face. “You have nothing to fear from me, Rachel. And I have no idea why you suddenly doubt that. But we do need to talk. Have a coffee with me in the café back there.”
Rachel started to shake her head. Bastian held her gaze.
“Please, Rachel. One coffee. Not even half an hour of your time. We’ll talk, and if at the end of that talk, you still don’t want anything to do with me, then I’ll leave and you’ll never have to see me again. I promise.”
“Okay. One coffee,” Rachel said.
She didn’t think she really had a choice, and she reasoned that at least if she went with him to the café,
