Killer Bear Read online

  Killer Bear

  Kym Dillon

  Lovestruck Romance

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  CLAWED (Sneak Peek)

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  WERE-SOLDIER WARRIORS

  1

  If there was ever a time Allie James had felt more humiliated, she couldn’t think of it.

  The wide, wood paneled hallway of the New York law office where she worked—had worked, that is, until today—was like a gauntlet. People were leaning out of their offices, staring, trying not to stare, magnetically drawn to her misfortune. She could feel all of them thinking thank God that didn’t happen to me and how could she have made such a stupid mistake? The box she carried, packed tightly with items from her desk, was like a big neon sign flashing ALLIE JAMES WAS FIRED.

  It was like being in junior high school all over again. In those days, before Allie had grown into herself, before she had acquired the poise and confidence that had made her one of the most promising young lawyers to come to this firm in years, she had been awkward and accident-prone. She would never forget the seventh grade science fair, when the volcano she had so painstakingly constructed had erupted all over her face…although, that had felt slightly less humiliating than this.

  And, that time, at least, it hadn’t been her fault, even though nobody had believed her. Danielle Lawrence had tampered with it. Allie had seen her do it. Dani had been pouring something into the volcano and Allie had rushed over to confront her, just in time to be splattered with a foaming mess of vinegar, baking soda, and bright red food coloring.

  Then, like now, everyone had stared—kids openly laughing, adults averting their eyes. And then, like now, Allie had wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

  But Mark had appeared.

  Even the memory was enough to ease the pain of her present walk of shame. Back then, Mark had stepped between her and all the mocking and pitying stares, wrapped his jacket around her ruined shirt, and with his arm around her shoulder, led her out of the school gym and onto the front lawn. He’d pretended not to notice she was crying. They’d sat on the picnic table until she’d calmed down, Mark holding her close and talking about the school basketball team’s winning season to distract her.

  If only he could do that for her now. He would know just what to say. He would make fun of Allie’s boss, like he’d done with their algebra teacher when she’d mocked Allie in class for struggling with polynomials. Or, he would convince her nobody liked lawyers anyway—that was what he’d done when she hadn’t made the seventh grade cheerleading squad. Don’t become a cheerleader, he’d told her as he’d rubbed her back. You’re way too cool for that.

  She smiled a little at the memory. She had thought, back then, hoped, that she and Mark might become more than friends. She had to admit to a little flutter in her stomach every time they passed in the hall and he said hey, James. She sat behind him in English class and spent an entire semester memorizing the way his hair flowed in waves that made him look like a GQ model. Only, Mark’s had been natural. He’d always been there for her with a sixth sense for when she was in trouble and a penchant for rescuing her. Allie snickered. She could certainly use Mark right now…

  But, around the end of ninth grade, Mark had suddenly cut her off cold.

  And he never spoke to Allie again.

  When you thought about it, it wasn’t unlike this job. Maybe this was going to be the pattern of her life, Allie thought bitterly—getting comfortable with something only to have it snatched out from under her.

  The irony was that she’d been elated about her work just this morning. She had been sitting in court, the lead prosecuting attorney on an important case for her firm, about to deliver closing statements on what she felt had been a highly successful trial. She had been certain the jury would deliver a guilty verdict. After all, the defendant had clearly committed the murders of which he’d been accused. Allie had proved it three different ways. She was already planning the congratulatory steak dinner she would buy herself later.

  And then the defense attorney had asked to approach the bench.

  A moment later, Allie had been called up. With an impossibly smug look on his face, the defense attorney had produced documentation on the medical professional Allie had put on the stand. “So-called, medical professional,” the defense attorney had said, pointing to the paperwork. “He’s not licensed. Not a real doctor.”

  The judge had sighed and turned to Allie. “Ms. James?”

  “I...he said he was…”

  The defense attorney had laughed. “He said he was? Where did you find him? Doctors R Us?”

  “In light of this new information,” said the judge, “I have no choice but to declare a mistrial.”

  Allie had returned to the office, stunned. A mistrial. The defendant was guilty. She knew it, the DA knew it, and, in all likelihood, the judge knew it. But thanks to her sloppy research, he was still a free man. And that meant he was that much less likely to be convicted in the long run. Defendants’ odds of winning their cases went way up after mistrials.

  Allie hadn’t even been surprised when her boss had called her into his office that afternoon. State’s Attorney Isaiah Everard ran the office as a strict meritocracy. He didn’t care who you were or where you came from. A twenty four year old girl from Iowa could become his favorite, most promising attorney in the practice as long as she was doing her job well and winning cases. But let her mess something up in a serious way, even one time…

  He’d sat her down in the chair across from his desk and taken off his glasses. “You’re a good lawyer, Allie.” As soon as he began, she’d known what was coming. “The most promising young lawyer I’ve met in several years, actually. You have a bright future.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “But I’m getting emails already from the taxpayers, and I’m up for reelection in the fall. People wanted to see this guy locked up. Because of your gaffe, they’re worried it might not happen.”

  “I understand.” It had come out a whisper. Allie had been biting the inside of her cheek, desperate not to cry.

  Now, out in her car, she carefully positioned the box in the backseat and climbed into the front, breathing hard, trying to think. The question were flying around in her head. What was her next move? She had a little money saved up, but there were student loans to pay. Would she be able to afford her rent? Allie’s Manhattan apartment was incredibly pricey.

  She would have to get another job. More questions. But where? Would one of the private practices in the city hire her, or would they be scared off by what had happened with this case? And even if she could get a private practice job, did Allie want to work as a criminal defense lawyer? She’d spent her three years of law school focusing on the idea of putting criminals away, not getting them exonerated. Could she really change the whole trajectory of her career in such a fundamental way? She thought about the defendant in today’s case, sitting across the courtroom looking satisfied with himself as they’d waited for court to be called into session. He must have known even then what the DA had been planning, and that Allie’s witness was about to be discredited. His lawyer would have explained what a boon that was for his case, and how, through a technicality of the law that had nothing to do with guilt or innocence, he was now more lik
ely to go free. That was what defense attorneys did—they found the technicalities that got their clients off the hook, regardless of guilt or innocence. How could Allie do something like that, no matter how badly she needed the money?

  She would need some time to think about it, she decided, pulling out of the parking garage and onto the busy downtown streets. Fortunately, her lease was up for renewal next month. She would simply not renew it, pack her things, and go—where?

  There was only one place to go at a time like this. She had known it, felt it tugging at her, from the moment she’d sat down in Isaiah Everard’s office. And as little as she wanted to do it, as much as she would feel like a big, fat failure the moment she stepped off the plane, there was a part of her that was crying out for it, too. It was the same part of her that had trembled and fought tears in Everard’s office, even as she’d been outwardly calm and accepting of her fate. It was the same part of her that had longed for her old friend Mark to appear in the hallway at the office, wrap his arm around her and lead her away and cheer her up with jokes and small talk until she no longer felt humiliated and judged.

  She didn’t want to admit that she’d failed here in New York, but she longed for comfort and ease, for wide, tree-lined streets, big supermarkets, and the boring but pleasant conversation her parents shared over breakfast. Allie made her decision. She would go home to Iowa until she was ready to show her face again in the high-powered legal world of Manhattan.

  2

  “Allie!”

  Arms encircled her from behind, picked her up, and spun her around. Allie laughed and swatted at the figure holding her up. “Liam! Put me down!”

  Her feet found the ground again. She turned and took him in, all six foot four of him. He’d always been tall, but in the time since she’d left Cedar Rapids, he looked like he’d grown another six inches.

  After she found that her now-retired parents were away from home seeing the world on the cruise ship circuit, Liam had been the obvious choice to call for a ride home from the airport, and not just because he lived in her parents’ neighborhood. Throughout high school, he had been the big brother figure to Allie’s group of friends. He was a year older than the rest of them, and it had always been his role to chase away bad boyfriends and ensure they got home safely after parties. Seeing him now was like finding a port in a storm.

  “Thanks for picking me up, Liam.”

  “No problem. When is it your parents are getting back to town again?”

  “Not for another three months.” Allie laughed wryly. “Thank God, or else I’d have to stay with them until I figure out what I’m doing. As it is, I get to use their empty house rent-free.”

  “Kegger?” Liam waggled his brows and grinned teasingly.

  Allie burst out laughing. “It’s really good to see you.”

  They reached his car, a steel-grey SUV, and Liam put Allie’s suitcase in the back. Allie slid into the passenger seat, fastened her seatbelt, and leaned against the door. She felt completely exhausted. How was it that just forty-eight hours ago she’d been a member of the one of the most successful young lawyers in New York City, and now she had been kicked back to Iowa and was riding home in the car of the boy who used to drive her home from keggers? Could her life really be this devoid of progress?

  Her law career wasn’t actually over, she reminded herself. She was still a qualified lawyer. Actually, having passed the bar in both Iowa and New York, she was as qualified here as she had been there. Not that her dream had ever been to find a career as a lawyer in Iowa. What was she going to prosecute here? Corn?

  Liam got into the car and started the engine. “Everyone’s excited to see you.”

  “What do you mean, everyone? Who knows I’m back?” Allie was alarmed. The last thing she wanted was for all her old friends to witness her descent into unemployment humiliation. She liked to imagine that when they thought of her, they saw her in a well-tailored suit, presenting eloquent arguments to a judge and jury and getting criminals off the streets. If they knew the story of her failure, they wouldn’t be impressed. They would pity her.

  Liam seemed to realize he’d upset her. “It’s not a big deal. I’m still friends with Bill and Dani, that’s all, and when you called me to pick you up...well, I let them know.”

  “Oh.” Dani Lawrence, the girl responsible for the junior high volcano incident. They had tacitly become friends a few years later, mostly through their mutual friendship with Liam, and it had, for the most part, worked out. But there had always been an undercurrent of unpleasantness between them, and Allie had no doubt that some part of Dani would have been pleased to know she hadn’t made it in New York.

  Liam, oblivious to all this, said, “You know they’re married now, don’t you?”

  “Dani and Bill? Yeah, I got the invitation last year.”

  “It’s too bad you couldn’t make it to the wedding.”

  “I sent them a blender. Come on, Liam, enough about them. Tell me what you’ve been doing.”

  He smiled. “Remember that bar, O’Hallory’s?”

  “That crappy place in the strip mall?”

  “Not anymore. I bought it and fixed it up.”

  “You bought it?” He had always joked about buying a bar someday, but she had never taken it seriously. “Liam! That’s awesome! I’ll definitely have to go while I’m in town.”

  “First drink is on the house.” He grinned, his pride evident.

  Allie smiled. She’d loved New York—still did—but she couldn’t deny that it had been lonely. She had only been back in Cedar Rapids for fifteen minutes and already old friends wanted to see her, even if one of them was Dani Lawrence, and she had been invited out for a drink. Maybe coming home to regroup wouldn’t be so bad.

  “So what has everyone else been up to?” Allie asked as Liam took the turn into their neighborhood. She knew that many of their old high school friends were still in the area. Allie had been one of the few in her immediate circle to leave the state for college, and thanks to social media, she had kept up in a superficial way with most of her old friends.

  “Well, let’s see, remember David?”

  “David the saxophone guy? He’s not still playing, is he?”

  “No,” Liam laughed. “He finally figured out he was no good at it. But he’s still working at the Ziti Hut, except now he’s the day manager. He gives me free ravioli every time I eat there. I bet he’d do the same for you. And Kara’s still dancing. I mean, she works at the bank now, but she’s a member of the Cedar Rapids Community Dance Company. They’re doing Swan Lake this year.”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. Let’s see, what else? Oliver and Vicki are together now.”

  “Oliver Green and Cheerleader Vicki? I thought he’d never ask her out.”

  “She asked him out!”

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m not. He got into weightlifting in college and now he’s all muscly.”

  “Well, Vicki could do a lot worse.” Allie remembered the string of jocks the girl had dated in high school. Vicki had never been a part of their circle back then—she’d been too cool, too aloof—but Allie supposed it was no surprise that everyone was a little more mature now and the old social barriers were crumbling. “Do you hang out with them?”

  “All the time. Oliver and I are still close, and Vicki’s a lot cooler than I would have expected. Plus, she’s a pastry chef. She always makes awesome cupcakes when we have game night.”

  “Game night?”

  “Every other Thursday. We play charades and stuff.”

  “Wow. Things have really changed if you’re playing charades with Cheerleader Vicki.” Allie made a mental note not to call Vicki that anymore, in case they became friends.

  They turned onto Fountain Court. It was a long, winding street lined with fairly new houses and trees that were just starting to stretch into the twenty-foot range. Despite the fact that Allie’s entire childhood had taken place here, a few years
in New York had made it clear to her what a young neighborhood this really was. The yards were big and tidily kept, giving the street a look of seamless continuity as one patch of green flowed into the next.

  Until, suddenly, the neat lawns were interrupted by a jungle.

  One of the lawns was overgrown with weeds. Even from the car, Allie knew that they would come up past her knees, some of them as high as her waist. If there had ever been a path from the sidewalk to the front door, it was now lost in the overgrowth. The grass, which was bright and evenly cut in front of the two homes on either side, had been choked out by the invading plants and looked dry and brittle. And then Allie looked up at the house and got another shock.

  She knew that house.

  That was Mark’s old house.

  Living near one another was how they’d become close friends in the first place. They’d played together when they were young, and then they’d grown up, become teenagers, started high school, and…it had been clear that Mark had outgrown Allie. She had felt a little stung at first when he’d stopped returning her phone calls, and she would never forget the day she’d asked him for a ride home after school sophomore year. No, he’d said, and stop following me around. Don’t you have any other friends? She had never seen such a cold look in his eyes before. If she was honest with herself, it had scared her a little.

  Allie’s other friends had tried to cheer her up. Dani had been only too happy to bad mouth Mark, and Allie had appreciated her toxic tongue for once as she’d laid into him. By the end of their evening together, it had been clear to Allie that Mark wasn’t worth her time, and she’d left him alone for the rest of high school.