Brave Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES fur BEARS Book 2) (7 page)

“Hey.” Jax
thumbed away her tears and kissed her. “Baby, everything is
going to be all right.”

She gave a jerky nod. “Thank
you...”

“No. Thank
you
.
You and Ashley, you're my family. You don't know how happy you've
made me, Serena! Stay here in Shadow Point. Say you'll stay and be
with me,” Jax said earnestly.

Serena took a deep breath and
pressed her lips to his. “Yes, Jax. Yes, I'll stay,”
she whispered. “I...I've found my home.”

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Serena was filling out an
online job application when the house phone rang. She saved her
information on the form and hurried to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Um, hello, is this
Ashley's mom?”

Serena recognized the voice
of Ashley's kindergarten teacher at once. “Oh hi, Miss
Renshaw. Yes, I'm Serena.”

“Hi Serena, I...”
Miss Renshaw took a sharp breath. Serena detected the note of worry
and fear in Miss Renshaw's voice and pressed her hand to her chest.
Her chest seemed to constrict, squeezing her heart painfully.

“What is it, Miss
Renshaw? What happened to Ashley?” Serena said, fighting to
keep her voice from trembling.

“I...we can't find
Ashley.”

Serena's blood ran cold.
“W-what do you mean?”

“It was playtime and we
let the kids outdoors. They were playing in the yard for about half
an hour. I was there with the children the whole time! When it was
time to go back indoors, I told the children to form a line and I
went to open the classroom door. I stood inside, holding the door
and counted the children as they filed past me. That was when I
realized I had one kid missing. I called out all the names and
realized that Ashley was missing. I ran outside and searched
immediately, but she was nowhere to be found!” Miss Renshaw
sounded frantic. “I'm calling to see if she might have run out
and gone home, or if you had someone pick her up...”

“No. Ashley didn't
come home,” Serena said faintly. “No one else is
supposed to pick her up. No one...”

“Oh, Serena, I...I'll
go outside and look again. But...”

“I'm coming to the
school now,” Serena said and slammed down the phone.

She grabbed her coat and
rushed out of the house. Everyone was at work. Marcus, Jax and
Joshua were at the work site with their crew, rushing to finish up a
remodeling project. Staci was at the bank, and she'd just assured
Serena this morning that she would ask around to see if there were
any positions open. As a financial consultant, Staci talked to a lot
of people and she was confident that she would be able to find
something for Serena.

Serena ran full tilt down the
road. The kindergarten was just a twenty minute walk from the house,
and Serena would walk Ashley to school every morning. The
schoolhouse was a little brick house, complete with a chimney and
bright curtains in the windows. Ashley had been going to school for
half a month now, and she seemed to have made many new friends. Her
best friend was Jeremy Gray. The play date had been a huge success.
Ashley and Jeremy liked the same games and loved the same flavored
cupcakes and sandwiches. That was the criteria for a best friend, as
far as five-year-olds were concerned.

Serena reached the school in
half the usual time. She was out of breath and she couldn't even
feel her legs but she didn't stop. She ran through the school gate
and hit the buzzer at the side of the door repeatedly.

“Open up!” she
shouted. “Please!”

There was a click and the
door unlocked. The kindergarten doors were locked when the children
were inside. The school took the safety of the children very
seriously. No one could come in and out of the school without the
teachers knowing.

Serena ran in and almost
collided into Miss Renshaw. Miss Renshaw looked pale and stricken.
She was a lively young teacher, and she obviously loved the children.
Ashley gushed about her teacher almost every day and had announced
at the dinner table last night, “I think I'm going to be a
teacher when I grow up!”

“I'm so sorry, Serena.
I...I'll show you the outdoor play area. Maybe you'll be able to see
or find something...” Miss Renshaw said shakily, guiding her
quickly through the classroom. Another teacher was reading a story
to a circle of attentive children. Serena saw Jeremy Gray looking up
at her as she walked in. The little boy jumped up and ran to them.
“I want to find Ashley,” he said unhappily. “I
always find her! She's not
that
good at hide-and-seek.”

Miss Renshaw took the boy to
the side and said softly, “Jeremy, can you tell Ashley's mother
when you last saw Ashley?”

“It was during
playtime. We were outside playing hide-and-seek. It was her turn to
hide. But she was really good this time. I couldn't find her, and
after we came back to class, she didn't come back with the rest of
us. She's still hiding,” Jeremy said.

“Okay, thank you,
Jeremy,” Miss Renshaw said. “We'll find Ashley. You go
back to class now, okay?”

Jeremy stared at them for a
moment, looking both annoyed and anxious. “Okay,” he
mumbled and ran off.

Serena stared towards the
kindergarten class, hoping desperately to spot Ashley among the
children. But she wasn't there.

She felt Miss Renshaw's hand
on her elbow. “I'll show you where Jeremy said he last saw
Ashley,” she said quietly.

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

Miss Renshaw led her out to
the wide outdoor area that had a sandbox, slides, swings and a large
playhouse. Serena had been impressed with the school's spacious
layout on her first visit. The children had plenty of space to run
around and enjoy outdoor play. And Ashley had loved the school and
the teachers immediately. She had tugged insistently at Serena's
hand and declared, “This is
my
school!”

Serena's eyes darted all
round the compound. There was a simple wire fence surrounding the
compound to keep the children in. The fence wasn't very high, but
she knew that there was no way a child could climb the fence
unnoticed. The teachers would be on the kid in a heartbeat. And his
classmates would definitely squeal on him.

Serena whirled round, hoping
that by some miracle, she would spot Ashley. Her wild eyes landed on
the playhouse and she took a step towards it. Ashley had always
admired the beautiful playhouses in the department stores but Serena
could never afford to buy one for her. Ashley had been so excited to
see the large playhouse in the Shadow Point kindergarten.

Serena ran to the playhouse
and knelt down. She peered inside and saw small, colorful pots and
pans sitting on the little stove and plastic food strewn all over the
floor. She swallowed a sudden sob. Ashley wasn't in the playhouse.
Of course she wasn't. The teachers would have looked.

Serena crawled out of the
house and stared at the trees on the other side of the fence. The
trees grew pretty close together, with thick shrubs and bushes at
their feet. The dense foliage was the back of a beautiful park. Jax
had taken Ashley and her to the park, and they had strolled along the
jogging path that bordered a lovely, sparkling lake.

With a painful gasp, Serena
rushed towards the fence and strained to peer behind the playhouse.
The playhouse was positioned at the far end of the compound against
the fence, and Serena had to strain to see the fence behind the
playhouse.

“Oh...” Her
strangled cry made Miss Renshaw scramble frenziedly to her side.

There was a hole at the
bottom of the wire fence. The hole wasn't very big, just big enough
to pull a small child through it.

“Ashley...”
Serena said hoarsely. Ashley had been playing hide-and-seek with
Jeremy. She had probably squeezed herself behind the playhouse and
thought that she had found the perfect hiding spot.

Someone had been there on the
other side of the fence. He had grabbed the little girl through the
hole, silenced her and dragged her away. Serena pressed her hands
and face against the fence, but she couldn't see through the thick,
impenetrable foliage.

“Ashley!” she
screamed. “Ashley!”

Serena spun round and
stumbled past Miss Renshaw. “I'm calling the Sheriff,”
Miss Renshaw stammered. “I...Serena! Wait, where are you
going?”

Serena didn't answer. She
just exploded through the doors and kept running. She couldn't crawl
through that hole in the fence, so she would just race round the
perimeter of the school to get to the park. If she got there in
time, maybe she would find Ashley.

No. Not maybe. She would
find her little girl. No one was taking Ashley away from her.

Serena pumped her legs and
arms hard. Her lungs were bursting and her vision kept clouding
over. Angrily, Serena swiped at her tears and muttered a curse and a
plea.

She was running on pure
adrenalin, instinct and terror. She just knew she had to get to the
park. Something told her that Ashley was there, and she was in
terrible danger. If she couldn't reach her little girl in time…

“Oh God, no…”
Serena sobbed as she neared the quiet park. She thought she could
hear the gentle lapping of the water in the lake.

But at this moment, the sound
of water was the most ominous, terrifying sound she had ever heard.
A sudden, horrible image flashed through her mind and she saw Ashley
sinking to the bottom of the vast lake.

“No...” She
gasped. “No!”

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

Serena lurched into the empty
park and screamed, “Ashley! Baby, please...where are you?
Ashley!” She ran to the lake, but there wasn't even a ripple
on the calm water surface.

She looked around, her eyes
wild with hope and dread. The park was peaceful and deserted at this
time of day. In the evenings, couples and families would stroll
along the jogging track and admire the sunset from the park benches.
But in the day, not many people came to the park. On some
afternoons, there might be someone with an easel and paintbrushes
sitting alone in the corner of the park, capturing the pristine
landscape in watercolor.

At a stumbling run, Serena
began to circle the lake. She turned her head in all directions as
she ran, hoping for a glimpse of her little girl.

“Ashley!” she
yelled.

She spun round at a sound
behind her but it was only an empty paper bag flapping against the
leg of a park bench.

Taking several shuddering
breaths, she turned back round and kept moving towards the other end
of the park. She saw something at last. A small shape at the edge
of the lake.

Balling her shivering, clammy
fists, she took off at a dead run. The shape grew bigger, and she
saw that it was the back of a man. He was crouching on the ground,
his head bent over something.

She ran harder, her wheezing
breaths sounding too loud in the still, portentous silence.

The man stood up and a scream
tore from Serena's throat when she saw what lay at his feet.

Ashley was gagged and bound,
and there was a huge rock tied to her feet. Her eyes were closed and
there was a trickle of blood down the side of her face.

The man turned around at her
scream. Serena almost fell back in shock at the sight of his face.
There was no face. Just two eyes glaring out of a mess of burn scar
tissues and a contorted slash that was the man's mouth.

“Get away from her!”
Serena screeched. “Don't touch her, you…!”

The man's mouth pulled wider
in what she supposed was a leering smile.

“The name's Sal,”
he said in a husky, guttural voice. “We meet again.”

“I have never met...”
Serena began and stopped suddenly. She froze, her eyes widening in
recognition and horror.

“Sal...” She
shook her head slowly. “You...you...”

“Yes, it's me.”
He gave a taunting laugh. “I almost stuck my dick in your
cunt, remember?”

Serena forced herself not to
flinch. This piece of shit had tried to rob her and rape her that
night. If not for Ashley…

Her eyes flew to her little
girl. Ashley's eyelids fluttered but her eyes remained close. She
jerked and made tiny whimpering sounds. Her hands and feet with
tightly bound and a dirty rag had been pushed into her mouth. A
large rock was tied to her ankle and Serena knew at once what Sal was
going to do to Ashley.

Sal chuckled, but it sounded
like a raspy cough. “Yes, take a good look at me. Your
daughter did this to me. She set me on fire and destroyed my wolf.
I have no feeling in my skin now. These are all just dead tissue.
Dead!” He flicked out a pocket knife and pressed the blade to
his face. Dragging the blade down his cheek, he drew a long line of
blood down his face and laughed again.

“See, I don't feel a
thing. I can't feel, and I can't shift. She destroyed my wolf with
her fire. My wolf is gone. Dead and gone...forever. Your demon
girl will pay for this—with her life!”