Chapter Four

Noel just stared at Jake, unsure of what to say or do. His presence explained the black bear in the woods yesterday, she realized. She knew this day would come eventually, no matter how hard she tried to shove it out of her mind and avoid it. She only hoped that it would be further down the road and not now, that this encounter would come under her control and not as a surprise.

“Your fiancé?” Wes looked at her, his face a mask of confusion and hurt, which twisted her heart. “You never said… Why didn’t you… What the hell, Noel? Now I know why you never wanted to be marked.”

“Marked?” Jake repeated. “You would really mate with another? You know what the mating call means. I explained the importance to you.”

With wide eyes, Wes turned his attention to Jake, and Noel wished she had told Wes more. “Mate? You’re a shifter?” Wes asked Jake, taking a couple of steps toward him.

Jake nodded, his eyes still focused on Noel. “A bear, and Noel grew scared of what might happen when I marked her, so she disappeared the day before we were to get married.”

“That’s not the whole story, and you know it,” Noel said, her arms limp at her sides.

Wes turned back to her, and Noel prayed he wouldn’t ask any more questions. She knew he deserved the answers, but she wanted to do it in her time, her way, and without an audience. However, the time for answers had arrived, and it threatened to undo her. “Someone else wanted to mate with you? You were engaged? This is how you knew about Bull creek, isn’t it? I always wondered how someone not of the paranormal world had heard about our haven. You told me it was a betrayal that led you here.”

“It was. I never lied to you,” Noel said, her heart breaking with the pain on his face.

“I told her all about shifters,” Jake said. “I never thought she’d actually come here to hide herself, though. Silly of me, I know. Where else do people come to escape something they don’t want to face?”

Wes snapped his attention back to Jake. “I’d watch how you talk about Bull Creek. There are some pretty great people here.”

Jake held a hand up, warding off anymore of Wes’ words. “My apologies. I meant no offense. I’ve heard great things about Bull Creek.” He turned his gaze back to Noel, and she felt the twisting in her gut. “I just never thought my fiancé would run away here to avoid marrying me. Why, Noel? Why couldn’t you talk to me?”

She bounced her gaze back and forth between the two men in front of her, unsure of what to say. She could feel the emotions gurgling up inside of her, ready to spill out at any moment. She tried to take deep breaths, tried to get it under control. Settling her gaze on Wes, she hoped for some form of understanding, of patience for something he didn’t even comprehend yet. Instead, all she saw was pain, pain she had caused, and which she couldn’t take away.

“You know what?” Wes said, moving toward the bar. “I think I’ll leave you two to figure out whatever it is you need to figure out. Just lock up when you’re done.”

She stood there, watching, as he grabbed his keys from where he kept them under the bar and headed to the front door, his usually broad shoulders now slumped with sorrow. She wanted to cry out to him, to tell him to wait, to let her explain, but the words stuck in her throat, refusing to come out. Instead, she could just stand there, numb, and watch as he disappeared out the door and into the night, leaving her alone with Jake, who just stared at her.

Taking a deep breath, she decided she needed a drink, and moved over to the bar. “Would you like a drink?” she asked. “I know I need one.” She stepped around the bar and turned over two highball glasses, filled them with ice, and then reached for the top-shelf whiskey. This was no time to go for the cheap stuff. After filling both glasses, she slid one to the edge of the bar for Jake and then downed hers, draining the glass. Filling it again, she held the glass in front of her and stared at Jake. “How did you find me?” Then, she sighed. “For that matter, why did you find me?”

Jake stared back at her for a moment, silent, and then moved to where the glass set on the bar. Without looking at her, he reached for the whiskey and took a large swallow, pressing his lips together when he finished. Noel forced her eyes off his mouth, remembering well how those lips had pleased her so many nights, his tongue darting between her wet lips as he gripped her ass, his face… She took another swallow of her whiskey, trying to drown the images from her mind. She didn’t need distractions tonight. The time for distractions had definitely ended.

As Jake pulled the glass away from his mouth, he slipped onto a barstool, placing his forearms on the wooden top as he leaned over the bar. “As for why I found you, I love you, and thought I deserved answers. As to the how…” He shrugged. “I actually wasn’t looking for you here. I came to Bull Creek because I needed a break from everyone back home asking me what happened and where you were. Imagine my surprise when I spotted you in the woods yesterday with another bear. You didn’t look scared anymore.” He shrugged. “I asked around about a sexy blond who hangs out with a bear shifter, and people beamed as they spoke of the couple at Everglades. A couple!” He swirled the whiskey in his glass, his head tilted to the side. Noel felt the twist in her heart at how his dark brown eyes seemed to dim as he stared at the amber liquid. When he glanced up at her, the sadness she saw tightened the knot. “As if what I witnessed in the woods wasn’t painful enough, I come in here to find you standing there, intimately dancing with another man.” He rubbed his lips against each other. “Did you leave me for him?”

“No. I didn’t leave you for another man, period.” She took another, much smaller, sip of her whiskey, the alcohol burning its way down her throat and warming her stomach. “I left because I was scared. Confused even. Three days before our wedding, you tell me you’re a shifter, something I had never heard of before, and that you’re a bear at that. Then you tell me that your bear’s the reason you want to marry me, that he scented me as his mate. Not as romantic to someone who knew nothing about shifters as you may think. We even dated for a year before you dropped that bombshell. A whole fucking year! And you never thought to mention your little dual personality? That didn’t seem like a topic to discuss, oh I don’t know, before proposing, maybe?”

His gaze downcast, Jake stared at his drink again, nodding, his lips pressed into a thin line. “You’re right. I should have mentioned it sooner, but I also knew how scary that information can be for someone who doesn’t have a clue about the paranormal world.” He then glanced around the bar. “Although, if you’re in Bull Creek, you must have overcome that fear.” He turned his attention back to her. “How did you even find this place?”

She took another swallow of her drink while he spoke, pulling the glass from her mouth as he finished. She shrugged. “The Internet is great. Even though everything about this place is hidden among all the fantasy games and supernatural shows and movies, if you dig around enough, you can find all kinds of things. I found Bull Creek and Everglades. I came here to escape, took a job with Wes, and, well, just started getting to know what your world is all about.”

“And you didn’t think to call and tell me what you were doing? Or even that you were alive and all right? Hell, you didn’t even tell your family. Do you know how distraught your mother’s been?”

She arched an eyebrow at him, her knot turning to annoyance at his tone. “You’re getting snippy with me? You’re the one who kept your precious little secret for a year, too chicken to spill it about your animal. I had every right to walk away. I didn’t owe you anything at that point. And I talk to my mother, thank you. She doesn’t know where I am, but she knows I’m all right.”

“Noel, we could have worked it out, talked about it, and found an answer. However, we couldn’t do that with you gone.” She watched as his shoulders rose and fell with his deep breath. “Although, I’m assuming you’re no longer interested in me from what I saw when I entered the bar.”

Noel stared at him for a moment and then turned her gaze to the dance floor. The truth of the matter was that she had no idea what she wanted, which was one reason she never allowed Wes to mark her. The whole mating thing still confused her, and to find out that two men said their animals wanted to make her their mate baffled her even more. Wasn’t it supposed to be a one and done type of thing? How could two animals, both bears at that, expect her to mate with each of them? She didn’t mean to fall for Wes when she first arrived, and she had to admit, part of her still loved Jake, but who did she love more, and was she ready to mate to either one of them? When Eve Hartlow mated with Arlin Landry, Eve shifted into a tiger, no longer a simple human. Was Noel ready for something like that to happen to her?

She turned her gaze back to Jake, his eyes soft, glistening with what looked like unshed tears he kept at bay, and her heart ached. However, she needed to stay true to her heart. “I’m sorry, Jake. There’s no simple answer to that. The truth is, I don’t know what I want anymore. I love this community. The people here took me in and made me one of their own. Wes offered me a job as well as helped me understand everything about being a shifter. He gave me all the answers you kept hidden for so long. I can’t just walk away from that, from him, no matter how much I love you.”

He tilted his head to the side, studying her. “So, you do still love me? There’s a chance for us?” There was a hope in his eyes that pulled at her heart.

She gave him a weak smile. “To be honest, I don’t know what there’s a chance of anymore. I do still love you, but I also love Wes. He’s never lied about who he is.”

Jake nodded. “I deserved that, I guess.” He downed his whiskey, setting the glass down on the bar with a loud thud. “Well, I’m staying until you can make a decision one way or another.” He pushed himself away from the bar. “I can’t just walk away, Noel. Once my bear decided you were his, you’ve consumed my heart and mind. I need to know for sure there’s not a future for us before I go through the agony of walking away.” He smiled, ducking his head in a short nod. “I’ll be around. I hope we can talk more.” He then turned and walked out without looking back, his shoulders just as slumped as Wes’ had been when he left.

Noel stared at Jake’s back as he walked out the front door, the knot in her stomach threatening to snap. She gripped her glass and finished its contents in one swallow and then poured another glass. She sighed as she stared down at the amber liquid. Now what are you going to do, Noel? I can’t be mated to two men, no matter how much I may want to be taken by both of them. That thought alone transformed the knot in her stomach into a pool of heat between her legs. Can I be mated to two men?