Chapter 3
Piper
“Your order will be right out.”
I nodded and waited until the waitress left my table before making my phone screen light up again. On it was a picture of my sister holding Alanna. Alanna’s adorable face was scrunched because the sun was in her eyes, but the camera had caught Lyla mid-laugh.
The screen darkened again, and I looked out the diner window, wondering for the millionth time if I was doing the right thing. I knew Riggs and the Bear Clan would protect Alanna while I went for more help, but I’d just disappeared with a note. I felt terrible leaving them like that.
I couldn’t even think about the fact that Riggs was my mate, so instead I focused on what I could handle.
From day one, he’d protected Alanna and me. And though I’d kept my distance, he’d never stopped working day and night to keep us safe.
But it might not be enough. Not against Barrett.
So I focused on getting more—more protection, more power—and not… anything else.
I’d been too numb to think to plead for the Prime’s help when I’d first come to the Lodge. It took a few days for my fight-or-flight response to settle and for my thoughts to calm. By the time I thought to ask Everly and the Prime for help, they’d already left for Dragonspire.
Which meant I needed to do this.
Hopefully the Prime would send help back with me. Twenty or so bear shifters were powerful protectors, but it might not be enough. I just had this awful feeling we’d need more. Still, leaving Alanna hurt. I hoped she was okay…
I reached for my phone, intending to text one of the bears who’d given me their number for an update, but I pulled my hand back and slumped in my seat instead.
I was so tired. I just wanted all of this to be over. I wanted Barrett behind bars, and I wanted to move forward with my life. I wanted Alanna safe and to be able to mourn my sister. I wanted a home where we didn’t have to constantly look over our shoulders anymore.
I’d been in the military my whole life. I’d joined at eighteen and had intended to stay in until I retired as a little old captain somewhere off the coast of Barbados, where the beaches were white sand and the ocean met the sky in a kaleidoscope of vivid sunset colors.
I’d thought maybe of getting a dog—someone I could go jogging along the beach with.
I’d seen myself alone, enjoying the good life, maybe making the trek to see my sister and niece a few times a year.
But life—and my future—looked very different now.
Now my focus was staying alive so I could figure out what it could be.
Before I could blink, someone slid into the seat opposite me. I reached for my concealed carry before I registered who it was. When I did, I let my hand hover over my gun but didn’t draw it.
“Matteo,” I said, somehow not at all surprised that he’d managed to track me down. He waited for the waitress to deliver my food before snagging a fry off my plate.
“Piper.”
His nod was respectful, and I wanted to roll my eyes. Within seconds of meeting me, all the bears had known that Riggs was my mate, and because he was the alpha, I’d been getting deferential nods of respect ever since.
“You have someone on your tail.”
I scowled and pulled my plate farther away so his long arms couldn’t reach as easily to steal my fries.
“I’m handling it.”
The waitress came by, flirting with the handsome bear as she took his order. He was polite and respectful but didn’t flirt back, and my respect for him went up a notch. When she left, he turned back to me.
His hazel eyes studied me. “I was sent to find him and capture him, but instead I’ve tracked him to you. He’s hanging back in the town we just passed, but he’s sent someone ahead to deal with you.”
A wash of relief flooded through me, and my shoulders loosened.
I reached for a fry, more out of habit than hunger, but grimaced when it was too bland.
I added salt and pepper, then tried another.
Perfect. “I’m not surprised he’s once again not wanting to do his dirty work himself.
” I cut my burger in half and took a bite.
“But if what you say is true, it means my ploy worked.”
“To throw him off Alanna’s trail?”
I nodded.
His food arrived, and we sat in silence for a bit as we ate.
Matteo took a sip of his tea, to which he’d added four packets of honey, and eyed me over the rim of his cup. “May I let the alpha know that you’re okay?”
I wanted to laugh. Was I okay? This was news to me. I felt frazzled and worn thin. But instead of saying that, I just nodded. I wasn’t dealing with the Riggs situation yet. All I could focus on right now was the next part of the plan—keeping my niece and me safe.
At my nod, Matteo pulled out his phone and tapped out a message. It dinged in response, and he nodded respectfully at whatever message was there, even though Riggs was nowhere near us, then slipped it back into his pocket.
“He’s asked me to protect you instead of keeping track of Barrett. I reported Barrett’s location. He’s going to send a few enforcers after him.” He wiped his hands on his napkin and sat back. “I’ll follow you.”
I frowned. “I don’t need a nanny.”
“I know you don’t.” His voice softened. “How about a friend? Someone who has your six?”
Finishing the last bite of my burger, I reluctantly nodded. I could use backup at the very least. “A friend of mine is meeting me at the Portland airport with a helo. It’ll fit three of us just as easily as it would two.” I hesitated, then couldn’t help asking, “Is Alanna doing okay?”
His expression softened. “They’re all adjusting, Alanna included. You know they’ll protect her with their lives.”
More tension bled from my muscles. She was okay. I felt like I could finally take a deep breath.
I nodded my thanks, then pushed to my feet, and we both moved to pay at the register rather than wait for our waitress to return.
The diner was filling up, and she looked busy.
Matteo tried to sneakily cover my tab too, but I managed to give the cashier my cash first. He playfully frowned at me, and I almost smiled.
As we left the diner, he started laughing when he saw the SUV I’d borrowed from the Clan parking lot earlier. It was Riggs’.
I shrugged sheepishly. “I figured he’d be the most forgiving.”
“You weren’t wrong,” he said, still chuckling. He waited with me as I unlocked the vehicle and slid into the seat. “I’ll be right behind you.” He shut my door, then dashed for his own as though he didn’t trust I would wait for him.
I refrained from rolling my eyes. I’d agreed to him coming with me. I wasn’t going to ditch him.
Pulling out with him directly on my tail, I settled into the long drive ahead. The miles passed without incident until, an hour later, I reached the Glen Jackson Bridge and my spidey sense started prickling. It must have for Matteo too, because my phone rang.
I clicked the button on my steering wheel to answer it. “Something’s wrong,” I said, my head on a swivel as I checked my mirrors. In my rearview, another SUV—probably Matteo’s—struggled to get past a sudden roadblock.
“They wanted you on the bridge,” he said grimly.
“They blocked it right after you got on.” Car horns blared through the phone as he maneuvered hard, barely slipping through before the gap closed.
Cars that had been free-flowing onto the bridge were suddenly stopped.
They were letting people off the bridge but not on, and people immediately got out and started shouting—until Barrett’s men started waving guns and everyone hastily got back in.
My last view of the end of the bridge was the emergency vehicle lights in the distance and cars trying to turn around.
It was quickly becoming a madhouse.
No longer able to see the south end of the bridge, I gripped the steering wheel hard. “There are still hundreds of people on this bridge, Matteo. What do we do?”
“We do the best we can to stay alive. They’re going to try to force us off the bridge. Calling 911.” His voice dropped for a minute, then came back. “Cars are coming up on your six and nine.” His voice was urgent, intense.
Adrenaline burned through me as I checked the directions he’d indicated, spotted them, and then sped up. My best bet was to reach a stretch of bridge that was less crowded before they rammed me.
I did my best to weave through traffic without causing an accident, scanning for any opening. I reached one just in time.
“Incoming!”
The hit came hard.
Even braced for it, the impact snapped my head sideways. I swore as I fought the wheel, tires screaming as the SUV skidded toward the rail.
“I’ve got the truck,” Matteo said.
Out of my rearview mirror, I saw Matteo slide into a barely there gap beside the truck behind me, then ram it into the rail.
Metal screamed until he forced it into a post. My last hasty glimpse of them was their airbag exploding, the vehicle lurching up on its front wheels before slamming back against the rail—what I supposed happened when you suddenly hit something going eighty miles an hour.
I couldn’t shake the car that kept trying to force me over the bridge until Matteo was once again behind me.
He was protecting my backside while I gritted my teeth, fighting the car trying to kill me.
My SUV was bigger. I figured if it came down to it, I might win a game of chicken—or at least not die, which was all I was hoping for at the moment.
We were nearing the midpoint of the bridge when the car rammed into me hard, forcing me sideways. I clenched my teeth as Riggs’ SUV scraped against the iron railing protecting the drop-off, the sound sharp and ugly. I fought to pull clear.
“They’re clearing this section,” Matteo said. “Letting cars through ahead and behind, trying to box you in.”
I saw the same thing.
I was running out of time.
“I’m going to brake.”