Enemies with Bears (Hate to Love Shifters Book 2)

  Enemies with Bears

  Hate to Love Shifters Book 2

  J.L. Wilder

  Copyright © 2021 by J.L. Wilder

  All rights reserved.

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

  Contents

  1. Lacey

  2. Lacey

  3. Xander

  4. Lacey

  5. Xander

  6. Xander

  7. Kane

  8. Kane

  9. Lacey

  10. Lacey

  11. Xander

  12. Lacey

  13. Xander

  14. Kane

  15. Lacey

  16. Xander

  17. Kane

  18. Lacey

  19. Xander

  20. Lacey

  21. Xander

  22. Lacey

  23. Xander

  24. Kane

  25. Kane

  26. Lacey

  27. Xander

  28. Lacey

  29. Xander

  30. Kane

  31. Kane

  32. Kane

  33. Xander

  34. Kane

  35. Kane

  36. Lacey

  37. Xander

  38. Xander

  39. Lacey

  40. Kane

  41. Lacey

  42. Lacey

  43. Lacey

  44. Kane

  45. Lacey

  46. Lacey

  47. Lacey

  48. Kane

  49. Lacey

  50. Lacey

  51. Lacey

  52. Kane

  53. Lacey

  54. Kane

  55. Lacey

  56. Kane

  57. Lacey

  58. Epilogue

  1

  Lacey

  Lacey didn’t even look up as the door opened. She had been trapped in this room for three days now, handcuffed to a brass bedstead, and she had begun to get a feel for the routine that was going to be followed here.

  She couldn’t deny that, in the beginning, she had half-hoped Xander, the alpha and the man she had once considered her mate, would be the one to come to her in her little prison.

  But he never had. It was always one of the others.

  Today it was Derek, Xander’s next older brother. He was carrying the usual food tray, and he approached the bed and set it down beside her. “Don’t kick this one over, okay?” he said. “Xander told us not to bring you replacements anymore if you keep doing that.”

  Lacey curled up on the bed, wishing she could roll away from him. She knew that she wouldn’t kick over her tray of food, as she had the last few that had been brought to her. Though she hated to admit it, she was getting hungry and knew she needed to eat to keep her strength up.

  After all, I have a baby to think of.

  For the first time, she found herself wishing she wasn’t pregnant. She had been so excited when she’d learned that she was carrying her mates’ baby. But what could possibly come of that now?

  Either she would lose the baby because of the way they were mistreating her, or her baby would be born in captivity…she shuddered.

  “You have to unlock my arms,” she said. “If you want me to eat.”

  Derek nodded. “I’m going to unlock one of your arms,” he said.

  “I need both hands.”

  “One. Take it or leave it.”

  She scowled. She wasn’t going to act like he was doing her a favor by releasing one of her arms so she could eat food.

  He approached and carefully undid the handcuffs that bound her to the bedstead, easing one of her wrists free and binding the cuff that had been around it to the bed frame.

  Lacey rolled her wrist in slow circles. In spite of herself, she was enjoying the feeling of freedom.

  Now Derek transferred the tray of food to the bed beside her. She looked down at it. She had been given a cold chicken breast, a few slices of bread, and a cup of water.

  “No vegetables where this came from?” she asked with raised eyebrows.

  “This isn’t a four-star resort,” Derek said.

  “Yeah, you’re telling me.”

  “You’ll take what you’re given—” He hesitated, and Lacey suspected he had been about to call her half-breed. He stopped himself, though, and Lacey was thankful for it. Hearing that vile name from Xander’s brother would have been almost as painful as hearing it from Xander himself.

  Sometimes Lacey still couldn’t believe that Xander had turned into this cruel person. She’d known, from the day he had allowed the other women of their pack to run her out of town, that he had turned on her. She had known that his unexpected alpha status had turned him into the kind of person who prized his own power over the people he supposedly loved.

  She’d known. But she had never expected to come back here and live with it. Given her way, she would have preferred never to see Xander and the rest of the pack that had raised her again.

  She pulled the tray toward herself, picked up the chicken, and began to eat. As much as she would have liked to go on refusing food, she was hungry.

  “You should finish all of that,” Derek said, watching her.

  “What do you care what I do?” Lacey grumbled.

  “We want you healthy,” Derek said.

  “You have never cared about my health,” Lacey said. “I lived as a member of this pack for years—decades—and none of you ever cared about me. You threw me your scraps when you had finished eating. Have you forgotten about those days?”

  “We’re not here to talk about the past,” Derek said.

  “But why are we here?” Lacey pressed. “It’s been three days, and no one has told me anything. If there’s something you want from me, you’re going to have to say it eventually, you know.”

  Derek said nothing.

  “Listen, Derek,” she said, deciding to throw caution to the wind. “I don’t belong with this pack. I never really did. You know that. I’ve found a new life. I’m happy now. And if you let me go, I won’t bother you anymore. I’ll never trouble you, or the pack, or Xander—”

  “Bringing you here was Xander’s idea,” Derek bit out. “And you should be thankful for that.”

  “I should be thankful?” she exclaimed. “I should be thankful for the fact that you kidnapped me away from my life? From my—”

  But she cut herself off. She had been about to mention her mates—the two bears who had imprinted on her, whom she had fallen in love with, and she realized she didn’t want Derek or any of the other members of the pack to know about Bern and Dov.

  My only hope is that they’re coming to save me.

  She hoped for it—and at the same time, she hoped they would stay away. Because if two bears showed up at the pack’s front door, there was no telling what the pack might do. Wolves and bears loathed each other on principle, most of the time, and Lacey had no idea who would win in a fight—her old family or her new lovers.

  She took a bite of bread and chewed it slowly, thoughtfully.

  Derek was watching her rather shrewdly, as though he could tell she had been about to say something significant before cutting herself off.

  “Is there something else you wanted?” she asked him.

  “You should be thankful,” he said, “because Xander only wanted to bring you home.”

  “This isn’t my—”

  “There were others who wanted you killed.”

  Lacey swallowed hard

  They wanted me killed?

  But that meant that Xander had not w
anted her killed. That in spite of everything that had happened between them, he’d wanted to keep her alive.

  Why would he have wanted such a thing? I thought he didn’t give a damn about me anymore.

  Now more than ever, she was anxious to see Xander. Maybe she would actually get some answers.

  2

  Lacey

  Xander came to her room later that very same night.

  But he did not come alone.

  He arrived, instead, surrounded by what looked like about half the male leadership of the pack. Both of his brothers were there—Derek, but also Mitch, the eldest, the one everyone had assumed would rise to the role of alpha until he had lost a fight to Xander in the Alpha Games.

  Lacey took note of the way Mitch was looking at Xander. She had assumed there would be conflict between the two of them now that Xander had taken the role Mitch had assumed would be his, but to his surprise, Mitch seemed—not deferential, exactly, but certainly as if he had respect for Xander. He stood with his back to the wall, facing his younger brother, clearly waiting for Xander to take the lead on whatever would follow.

  And then there was Xander himself.

  If Lacey hadn’t known this was the man she had once considered her true mate, she probably wouldn’t have recognized him. He seemed so much larger than she remembered.

  Had he always been this way? So tall? So muscular? He couldn’t have been.

  She had thought of them as a matched pair—small, together, in the eyes of the pack. Xander had been born a runt, much smaller and weedier looking than either of his brothers, and he’d always been disrespected for that. And then there was Lacey herself, the pack half-breed, daughter of one of their own, yes, but also the daughter of a bear. They had all hated her for what she was.

  She and Xander had come together out of solitude and isolation.

  And now here he was, standing in the middle of the pack and looking masterful and in charge, and everyone else was watching him as if they were ready to follow him into battle.

  “Do you think she’s ready to talk?” he asked, turning his head ever so slightly toward Derek.

  “She’s as softened up as we’re going to get her, I think,” Derek said. “Malnourished. Hasn’t slept. She’s terrified—”

  Lacey spat on the floor at their feet. She would be damned if she was going to let them think she was afraid of them.

  I am afraid of them.

  All right, yes, she was. But she wasn’t going to let them see it. They weren’t going to see anything of the truth about her. She would keep herself secret from them for as long as was humanly possible.

  “All right,” Xander said, completely ignoring her outburst. “Maybe now we can get her to talk.”

  “Talk about what?” she demanded. “I don’t have anything to say to any of you. If that’s what this is about, you might as well let me go right now.”

  “Told you,” Peter, the beta, said, leering at her. “Told you she wouldn’t cooperate. I’d say we should kill her, except we don’t want to get half-breed blood all over the nice floor.”

  “Shut up, Peter,” Xander snapped. “We have a plan of action here, and we’re following through on it. This isn’t up for debate.”

  He turned to Lacey. “Listen,” he said. “You want to answer our questions.”

  “You don’t know anything about what I want,” Lacey said. “You don’t know anything about me, Xander. I don’t think you ever did.”

  He raised his eyebrows, stepping forward slightly. “Really?” he asked. “You don’t think I know anything about you?”

  She couldn’t help it. She gulped. She didn’t want to find him intimidating, but he was so big.

  He didn’t feel this big when I used to hold him in my arms.

  She’d known he was bigger than she was, of course—but it hadn’t felt that way back then. It had felt as if they were the same person, the same size—

  And now he towered over her, glaring down threateningly, making her want to hide.

  I can’t show fear. Bern and Dov would want me to be brave.

  Her mind turned to the protection amulet she wore. Her witch friend Jean had made the amulet, along with another one to enhance her power, and Lacey was deeply grateful that she had been wearing both when she had been taken in the woods.

  The protection amulet burned hot all the time now, and Lacey knew that if Xander ever realized what it was, he would take it away from her.

  She wanted to reach up and wrap her hand around it. She knew that that would make her feel safer. But she didn’t dare call his attention to it.

  Xander was speaking again. “I’ll tell you what I know about you,” he said. “I know that you’ve fallen in with the rejects and the refuse of Shifter Town. I know you’re a part of that community of trash. How do you think we knew where to come and find you?”

  She swallowed. It was clear that they had known where to come and find her. They hadn’t been surprised to run into her in the woods, the way she had been. They had planned to find her.

  They’d been hunting her.

  Now Xander turned to the men standing all around him. “I think we might actually make more progress if I speak to her by myself,” he said. “Everyone out”

  It wasn’t a request. It sounded like there would be serious consequences for anyone who didn’t comply.

  Lacey felt shocked. This was a Xander she had never seen before.

  Mitch was the last one to leave the room, and he lingered for a moment in the doorway. “Be careful,” he said quietly. “You know what she does to you.”

  “I’m not going to let her do anything to me,” Xander said. “She’s just a dirty half-breed.”

  Lacey hated him. She hated him so much more than she had ever loved him.

  Mitch nodded and left the room, and she and Xander were alone together at last.

  3

  Xander

  Lacey cowered on the bed.

  Xander felt himself swell with pride at the power he had over her. Her fear of him was tangible.

  Good. She should be afraid.

  He had wondered whether perhaps she might think they could fall back into the same relationship they had once had. Whether she would expect special treatment from him because they had been lovers once. He was pleased to see that that didn’t seem to be the case.

  No, instead, she was looking at him as though—as though he was a threat to her.

  Which was good.

  Because I am a threat to her.

  He approached the bed slowly, looking down at her. She watched him warily.

  He could hardly believe that this was the same woman who had once wrapped her body around his, bared her teeth, kissed him with ferocity and energy.

  She’s afraid of me now.

  He considered standing over her but eventually decided there was no reason to be more domineering than he was in presence alone. After all, he wanted her to relax a little bit. He wanted her to talk to him. She was here to answer questions.

  He perched at the foot of her bed instead. She drew her legs up to her chin, getting as far away from him as possible.

  “You’re timid,” he said, smiling. “You know how I always liked it when you submitted to me.”

  “I’m not timid,” she spat at him. He was shocked by the venom in her voice. “I just hate you. I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

  “Well, that’s very dramatic of you,” he said. “You hate me? Do you imagine that it matters to me what you think?”

  “You’re going to kidnap me in the middle of the woods and then tell me I’m the one who’s dramatic?”

  “Now, let’s be honest with one another,” he said. “I didn’t kidnap you from the middle of the woods, did I?”

  “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean.”

  He felt a burst of anger—how dare she speak to him this way? But he suppressed it. There was nothing to be gained by losing his temper here. “What I mean,” he said, with forced patienc
e, “is that you were actually on the outskirts of Shifter Town. Because you live there now. Don’t look so surprised,” he added. “You were a part of this pack long enough to understand that my people know almost everything about what goes on in this part of the country.”

  “Your people.”

  “I’m alpha now,” he said. “As you well know. You were there that day.”

  “I was there at the start of that day,” she said. “Didn’t make it to sundown, though, did I?”

  “No,” he said coolly. “You didn’t.”

  “Because you allowed me to be run out of town, like someone who didn’t matter to you at all. I don’t think I ever did matter to you at all. I think I was nothing more than trash to you. Isn’t that right?”

  “What are you asking me? Whether I loved you?”

  “No,” she said. “I know you’d probably love to look at me and tell me that you didn’t, wouldn’t you? You’d love to twist that knife. But the truth is, Xander, I don’t care. I don’t actually give a damn what you felt about me back then.”

  “Then why did you bring it up?”

  “Because you should have to deal with the fact that you gave so much of yourself to someone you didn’t care about at all,” she said. “You thought so little of yourself that you were able to choose me—someone you didn’t love, someone you didn’t even respect—because you thought you deserved no better. It wasn’t until you beat Mitch in a fight that you even managed to believe in yourself—not just as an alpha, but as a human.”

  “That’s not how it was,” Xander snapped. “I did respect myself. You know I did.”

  She shrugged. “What does it matter if I know it or not, Xander? You don’t care what I think, remember?”

  “I didn’t bring you here to rehash the past.”

  “No,” she said, her tone caustic. “I don’t guess you’d want to talk about the day you stood by and let a bunch of women run me out of the pack. You must have been so relieved that someone was stepping up and doing that for you so that you wouldn’t have to deal with the difficult part of being alpha. You never had to confront me. You didn’t even have to end our relationship. You just let them take care of that for you. Big, brave alpha.”