Betray the Bear (Bear Valley Shifters #4)(14)

“So, let me get this straight. You’ll defend a man who is making you risk your life right now? You’ll defend a man who didn’t care enough to feed you. And if, by some slim chance what you say is true, you’re defending a man who threw you away because you couldn’t have a child.”

“Wouldn’t you?” she yelled as tears burned her eyes. “Wouldn’t you throw me away too? He isn’t generally cruel to his mates, Chase, but if I can’t perform my one duty to him, of course he was going to toss me away eventually. Any alpha would do the same. Any man, would do the same.”

He looked disgusted and shook his head slowly. “Your one duty? You have a sad opinion of yourself, lady. No man would do this. Only a coward would. And your mate is the biggest coward I’ve ever seen.”

Her opinion of herself was none of his damned business and contrary to what Chase seemed to believe, he didn’t actually know everything. “Oh, because you’ve actually seen Nathan.”

He rushed her and slammed his hand against the wall beside her face. “I’ve gone to battle with him, woman. I watched Brody beat the shit out of your precious alpha, the one who is supposed to be the strongest alpha in all of Long Claw history. I watched him run away as his troops died for him.”

That was news. His account didn’t match Nathan’s battle story at all. “Well, what kind of coward would sneak onto our land and attack us without warning?”

He huffed a laugh and gave a careful-now look as he backed away from her and crossed his arms. “We attacked because Nathan was harboring and abusing our alpha’s mate. You met her tonight. The one who defended you? She spent three days locked in a cabin, mishandled by one of your people, while your mate tried to figure out how to use her in his war. Joanna saved her, but just barely. Your mate isn’t a man, Anya. He’s a monster. Best you don’t defend monsters to me.”

Horrified, her mouth hung open and twin angry tears streamed down her cheeks. “It isn’t true. Take it back.”

“I have no reason to lie. Ask Hannah tomorrow if you don’t believe me.”

He disappeared into a room down the hall and she sat heavily onto the wooden bench, the stew in her clenched hand nearly forgotten.

Nathan told her Bear Valley had attacked him unprovoked. That they were evil and that’s why he was training his bears for war. He said Bear Valley needed to be snuffed out because they had no moral fiber anymore and were tainting their kind. Nathan’s scars, ones that she had pitied and nursed, weren’t because of something bad done to him. If what Chase said was true, they were from his own horrible decisions.

She felt sick and set the stew beside her with a clunk.

If what Chase said was true, what else had Nathan lied about?





Chapter Four



Chase’s house was all beiges, wood floors, and sparse furniture. He seemed to like simple and clean, or maybe his life required less housework, Anya didn’t know. She didn’t really know anything about him, other than he was very handsome in the light of the bedroom as he helped her put fresh sheets on the guest bed.

She’d expected him to dump the armload of linens onto the springy mattress and leave in a huff, but instead, he nodded his chin to the other side of the bed and together, they adorned the bed in silence.

The man was intimidating, seeming to take up much more space than he actually did. What was his role in this community? He was having dinner with Riker, so he must be important, but he had rinsed her dishes and lugged her suitcase to her room unbidden like some middle-of-the-clan member.

He didn’t act right. None of them did.

Straightening, he nodded toward the hallway. “Bathroom is that way. I have work early, so you’ll need wake up at six.”

The room didn’t have an alarm clock, but she didn’t want to bother him anymore. He looked tired and withdrawn.

“See you in the morning,” he said quietly, then walked out the door.

“Chase?”

He peeked his head around the corner. “Yeah?”

“Why do you live in a house with two bedrooms?”

His gaze dropped to her sneakers, and when he met her eyes again, his face had closed off. “I’m a light sleeper. If you try to leave this house in the night, I’ll hear you.”

With that he left, and the hallway light flickered off. She peeked her head out just as he disappeared into a bedroom at the end of the hallway. Only the bathroom separated them.

She was sleeping in the same house with a man who wasn’t Nathan. Okay, so she’d never actually lived with Nathan, or even slept overnight at his place for that matter. He didn’t like being touched in his sleep so she wasn’t allowed, and she lived with his other mates in a house near his. This was new and scary territory, and the most unsettling thing about it was the zing of adventure that had trilled up her spine as her fear faded away. Oh, Chase would probably maim her when he found out his suspicions about her were warranted, but he wasn’t a cruel man.

A cruel man wouldn’t help her put sheets on the bed.

Since she was going to be here indefinitely, she unpacked her suitcase into a small chest of drawers and lined her sneakers and flip flops against the wall near the door. After stowing her suitcase in the closet, she shut the door and shimmied into her pink and black flannel pajama shorts and a dark T-shirt. With her toiletry bag in hand, she padded down the hall to the bathroom, turned on the light and screamed.