The Bear King's Captive: Curvy Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance Read Online Free PDF

were you at the train station?”
    The boy stared at the ceiling. “I’m not really sure.”
    “How can you not know?”
    “Mom got a phone call then suddenly we were on the way to the train station.”
    “She didn’t tell you why?”
    The boy raised onto an elbow. “That’s the weird part. She bought me the video game to bribe me for something. She told me to stay in the hotel room and play the game until she got back. She’s never done that before.”
    Leah chewed on lip. “Where do you think she went?”
    “I don’t know, but when she got back, I could tell she’d been crying. Her face looked all puffy like when Dad died.” He laid back on the hard bed.
    Leah didn’t know what to say. She knew how he felt, living without a parent, living without both parents. “Why did she take you along only to stay in the hotel?”
    “I’m sure Mom didn’t want me hanging out with my new friends, so I had to go with her.”             
    Leah raised her brow. “What’s wrong with your new friends?” She scanned his gothic outfit down to red sneakers with untied shoestrings.
    “After Dad died, me, Mom and my little sister moved in with our grandparents, outside of Cincy. My new friends were the only ones who’d talk to me at first at the new school. She doesn’t like them, I think.”
    She studied his pierced eyebrow and lip. “Do they dress like you?”
    His face lit up. “They showed me all this cool stuff I had to buy to be in the group. We even went to a tattoo shop for my piercings.” He lifted his hair away from his ears. “Do you like them? Pretty cool, huh?”
    She stared at the kid. His laid-back demeanor and bubbly personality conflicted with the menacing message his swastika-covered shirt and ripped pants sent. “You’ve been ‘hanging out’ with these friends how long?”
    “Since I enrolled in school a few weeks ago, not even that long.”
    That explained the mixed signals. His need to be accepted by others could be from low self-esteem. She knew how lonely and awkward it felt with no friends; how embarrassing it was to walk into class as everyone stared at the “new kid.” The loss of his father hurt more than he let on. She knew that ploy well.
    Ivan sat up and swung his feet off the table. “Who’s the guy that bandaged my arm?”
    “No clue. Somebody who works on the boat.” But how many deckhands worked with the skill and precision of a surgeon? Her stomach anxiously churned and her legs felt antsy.
    Ivan dropped off the bed and onto his uninjured foot. “Let’s get out of here.”
              That’s all Leah needed to hear. She’d sneak him into the train parking lot, then disappear. She grabbed her coat and looked for her backpack. Oh, shit! It was on the dock. If anyone got a hold of her laptop…
    Ivan stepped forward and dragged his heavy foot. Leah kicked the stool toward him. “Put your leg on the stool and push with the other.” She opened the door and peeked out. Behind her, the boy rolled into her leg. She looked at him and grimaced.
    “Sorry, haven’t figured out the brakes yet.”
    Hurrying down the corridor, Leah racked her brain for the pathway out. Everything looked the same: white walls, white pipes, gray floors. Corner after corner led to heavy metal doors heading every way but out. After passing the laundry room twice, Leah leaned against the wall and hung her head. “I don’t know how to get out of here.”
    A deep vibration passed through her body, throwing her heart into her stomach. Enveloping her, a bone-chilling groan of bending metal filled her head. Gravity pulled her body away from the wall.
    Ivan let out a squeal and rolled into the wall. With a terrified face, he looked at Leah. “We’re undocking."

 
     
    FIVE
     
    Leah was living a nightmare: running through an ethereal corridor, seeing only a labyrinth of bright passageways before her. No sign of life—no way out. Ivan’s shouts faded with every