“Well, there’s a face I never expected to see again,” he said. “Let me guess. You’ve spent all of these years looking for the man who ordered you to be turned and then when you did, you convinced him to help you, and now he’s told you where I keep the gun? Am I right?”
“Not even close,” Bastian laughed.
Lewis looked in Bastian’s direction and Rachel realized that had been his intention. She wrenched the desk drawer open, going for the gun. The drawer was empty. She reached for the next one. Lewis laughed behind her.
“Looking for this?” Lewis taunted her.
She turned as Bastian yelled for her to hit the deck. She threw herself to the ground as the gun in Lewis’ hand went off. The bullet missed her, but she heard Lewis recocking the gun. He fired again, but this time, the sound was different. It was more of a clack than a bang.
“Dammit,” Lewis cursed.
Rachel pushed herself to her feet as Lewis started to reload his gun. She knew what she had to do. The thing she had been the most afraid of. She let her bear right in and she made no attempt to swallow it down.
She screamed in pain as she felt her skin splitting and fur bursting through it. Her clothes ripped and fell away from her as she got bigger. Her arms and legs began to bend and snap and she felt her face elongating. She screamed again, sure this had been a mistake.
“The pain will be over in a second, let it come!” Bastian screamed.
Rachel did as he said, letting the pain overtake her senses. Bastian was right. The pain was gone in seconds. Rachel glanced down at her new body—the furry body of a bear. She saw her razor-sharp claws.
She roared, a sound filled with power and fury, and she no longer let her human side hold her bear back at all. She sprang at Lewis. He dropped the gun and started to turn himself, but he was too late. Rachel slammed into him, knocking him to the ground. She swiped her claws across his face and chest, digging deep cuts into him. Lewis screamed and Rachel let herself hear it, let her human side take control again. She slammed a large paw down into Lewis’ face, knocking him unconscious, and then she backed away from him, turning back into a woman.
She panted for breath and then she smiled. She had stayed in control. She hadn’t let herself kill Lewis, as much as she had wanted to. She turned to face Bastian and smiled at him.
“I did it, Bastian. I turned into a bear and kept my humanity,” she said. “I wanted to kill him but I didn’t. And what I did do—well, he deserved that.”
Bastian beamed back at her.
“I’m so proud of you, Rachel,” he said. “Now, get the key and let me out of here before he heals and comes after you again.”
Rachel sprang into action. She knew she had taken Lewis by surprise and been lucky. If he recovered and she had to face him again, she didn’t think she would be so lucky again. She ran to the desk and opened the second drawer. She found a bunch of keys and ran to Bastian’s cage. The third key she tried opened the cage. Bastian stepped out and pulled her into his arms. She was conscious of the fact that she was naked and he wasn’t, but more than anything, she just wanted to be held by him. He kissed the top of her head and then he released her. He pulled his t-shirt off and gave it to her.
“Put that on,” he said. “Go and wait outside in the car while I deal with Lewis.”
“What are you going to do to him?” she asked.
“I’m going to throw him into this cage. And I’m tempted to leave him here to rot for all that he’s done. But I won’t. I’ll follow your example and be humane. I’ll have a couple of pack members come up here and run him out of my district. And I’ll have someone keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn’t go back to his old ways. Go on, now. Go and wait in the car.”
Rachel turned and ran from the room. She glanced back at the door and saw Bastian dragging Lewis across the ground by his ankles. She made her way out of the hotel and got into the car parked out front, the one she assumed was Bastian’s rental car.
She sat in the car and thought about how she had felt in her bear form. Strong. Powerful. More dangerous than she’d ever been. But through it all, she had still been in control of herself. She finally saw for herself what Bastian had tried to explain to her. Her bear was a part of her, and that meant she could choose to use the power it gave her for good or for evil. As long as she chose to stay herself, she would do the right thing. She thought that maybe now, she was ready to embrace who she really was instead of running from it and keeping a part of herself hidden away.
And she thought she knew the perfect place to do it. By Bastian’s side, as part of a family, and maybe even as part of a pack.
16
Bastian made fast work of locking Lewis in the cage. Once he was secure, Bastian moved to the desk and put the keys in the top drawer. Spotting his cell phone in the drawer, he pulled it out and switched it on. He waited for it to power up. He really wanted to kill Lewis for what he had done, but he had told Rachel he wouldn’t do that and
