Beary Guarded (Polar Bliss Book 2) by Ruby Shae Read Free Book Online Page B

Ryker said.
    The two men walked in the back door of Polar Bliss and Nate waited as Ryker seemed to make up his mind about something.
    “She’s going to be angry with me,” Ryker said, “but I think you need to know at least a little bit about what happened.
    “About three years ago, Riley started dating this guy, Jack. Right from the start, Ridge and I didn’t like him, but that didn’t matter because Riley did. At first he was civil, though his dislike of us was obvious, but we both agreed that it was great to see her happy again. A couple of years before all this happened, my youngest brother, Reid, had separated himself from us, and we rarely saw him. Reid and Riley are only two years apart, and they’d always been close, but during this time, though he still lived in town, he’d basically cut her off completely.
    “So, when she started dating, Ridge and I stepped back and let her have a bit of freedom. Her happiness didn’t last long, and probably almost from the beginning, she started to drift away from us, too. Still, we were trying to be supportive, not realizing that she’d been...”
    “Been what?” Nate asked. “What did he do?”
    “Verbal abuse for a couple of months, and then he somehow found out about her bear. He’d threatened to kill us, and even though that sounds absurd, she’d believed him. His terror escalated into physical abuse, and then one night she was just gone. Later, we found out he’d been trying to force her to have sex, and she’d been avoiding being alone with him because of it. Eventually, he kidnapped her, took her to a cabin he owned in the woods, tied her up, and…”
    Nate waited patiently for Ryker to regain his composure. It wasn’t often an alpha lost control, but a mate, child, or close family member could cause such a loss. Even though he was her brother, Ryker had basically raised Riley as his own, and their family had a strong bond.
    “Sorry,” Ryker said. “He’d cut her. Once on her face, and once across the stomach. It seemed like he’d been trying to gut her, but maybe the blade wasn’t sharp enough. Later, we found out he’d forced himself on her, too, but he was already gone by then.”
    “What happened?” Nate asked.
    “He was mauled by a bear, and an unknown arson set his cabin on fire.”
    “Just one bear?” Nate questioned, willing the man to trust him. He asked as a wolf shifter, and mate to Riley, not as the sheriff.
    “Two bears,” Ryker admitted.
    Nate nodded.
    Based on the scars, both mental and physical, he’d put most of the puzzle pieces together, but it was nice hearing the truth. He wished Riley would have told him, instead of Ryker, but he knew she never would. She believed his love would somehow wane if he ever learned the truth about her past.
    “I’d put a lot of it together myself, but thank you for trusting me,” Nate said. “She thinks I won’t want her anymore if I know, and I don’t know how to change that, but I’ll keep trying. Where is she?”
    “I think she went to Charity,” Ryker said. “She was gone when I got up this morning, and she left her phone, so I’m not sure, but my brother Reid and his mate, Jillian, are living there until summer. Jillian is Riley’s best friend, and her relationship with Reid is better now, so it makes since. He’s supposed to call me if she shows up, which should be in about an hour or so, if she doesn’t stop anywhere.”
    “That makes sense,” Nate agreed. “I’ll leave now, and you can call me if you hear anything. Warn Reid he’s about to have a wolf at his door, but ask him not to tell Riley. She’ll run if he does.”
    “You’re right,” Ryker said. “She will. Good luck.”
    You’re going to need it.
    Nate was surprised Ryker didn’t say the words, but he might as well have. Riley ran because she wanted to get away, and she wouldn’t be happy when he showed up on her brother’s doorstep.
    Too bad for her, he didn’t care.
    Based on her brutal past,