Page 42 of Laid Bear

Chapter Thirteen

A month had passed without incident and they’d fallen into a nice routine. Zora helped out in Gavin’s practice two days a week, organizing files, handling billing and confirming appointments. Two days she spent in the store with Logan, doing the bookkeeping and keeping track of the inventory. On her day off, she threw herself into redecorating the house and having lunch with Heath. It was hard to believe she could be happy again after her nana had passed, but now not only was she loved, she was in love. Some people would say her relationship was unconventional, and in the beginning she had doubts herself on how to make it work, but now she’d have it no other way.

With it being her day off, she’d spent the morning looking at paint samples, trying to find the right shade of yellow to paint the kitchen before finally deciding on a soft buttercream. With that decision made, she fixed a special picnic lunch for her and Heath to share in his office. They usually went to a local restaurant, but she figured this would be much more intimate.

Once she finished packing her picnic basket, she showered and prepared herself to leave. Her men had gifted her with a car to get around in. She missed Christine, but Zora got over it the first time she slid behind the wheel of her brand new Mercedes SUV. She buckled up and dug her cell phone out of her purse to call Logan and Gavin to let them know she was on the go. She loved Gavin, Logan and Heath with all her heart, but they drove her mad with their overprotective ways. Because their investigator never found any leads on who the harassing phone calls were from, they were leery of letting her leave the house alone. Zora refused to live her life in fear. She’d run before, she wasn’t going to do it anymore.

After arguing, begging, pleading and even a little seduction, they’d finally relented a little. However, they made her agree to call them whenever she left the house so they’d know where she was going at all times. When she picked up her phone, she noticed several missed calls from a number she didn’t recognize. She went into her voicemail and saw it was empty. She wanted to think it was a wrong number, but a wrong number wouldn’t call so many times, would they? She’d think about it later. In the meantime, she made her calls to Logan and Gavin. Heath already knew she’d be there at noon so she saw no point in calling him.

As she headed toward Heath’s office, she turned on the radio and sang along. She didn’t notice the car following so closely behind until she happened to glance in her rear view mirror. “What the hell?”

There were too many nuts on the road to make a stink about it, so she got over to the right lane to allow the car to pass. But instead of going by, the other driver pulled his vehicle in behind hers. She sped up and so did he. She slowed down and the other driver mimicked. Her heart began to pound a mile a minute. Who was this?

She reached for her phone, wishing she’d taken the time to synch her cell to her car, but instead she took her eyes off the road to press Heath’s number. As she pressed the button to call him, the other driver rammed her from behind.

“Oh shit!” she screamed, dropping the phone in panic and gripping the steering wheel.

She looked around to see if there were witnesses, but she was on a back road that didn’t get much traffic, with a wooded area on either side of her. The other car maneuvered next to hers. She glanced over and was shocked to see who the driver was. Before she could react, he did a pit maneuver, sending her car spinning out of control. She screamed.

~~~

Heath had just come out of a meeting when he felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out of his pocket to see Zora was calling. She was probably calling to let him know she was on the way, but he wasn’t going to pass up on an opportunity to hear her voice.

“Hey, babe,” he answered with a smile on his face, which immediately fell when she didn’t answer right away. “Zora?” He heard muffled sounds that sounded like crying. “Baby?”

A piercing scream greeted his ears before the phone cut off. His heart raced and his bear fought to break free.

He hurried over to his assistant’s desk. “Flo, I’m heading out for the day. Cancel all my afternoon meetings and reschedule. I won’t be answering my phone.”

The older woman frowned in concern. “Is everything okay, boss?”

“A personal matter I need to deal with. Could you please take care of things for me?”

“Sure thing. And I hope everything works out for you.”

He barely managed to nod before turning on his heel and heading out. If anything happened to Zora, someone would pay dearly. With their life.

~~~

Gavin was charting some information for the last patient he’d seen when his personal cell phone rang. He saw who was calling and frowned. His cousins rarely called him at work, and it surprised him Heath would be calling when he was supposed to be with Zora.

“Hey, Heath, what’s—”

“Something happened to Zora.” Heath was usually calm in most instances, but Gavin could hear the panic in his cousin’s voice.

The pen he’d been holding snapped in his hand. His heart dropped to his feet. “What do you mean something happened to her? Wasn’t she supposed to be having lunch with you?”

“She never made it to the office. I received a phone call from her, but she didn’t say anything. The call was muffled and it sounded like she was crying and then she started screaming. I’m assuming she was in her car because I heard music in the background like a car stereo.”

Gavin’s anxiety level rose before the anger kicked in. If anything happened to Zora, he’d ripped whoever was responsible in half. “Okay, I’ll get one of the other doctors to cover my afternoon appointments,” he managed to bite out through gritted teeth. “Did you call the police?” Gavin asked even though he already knew the answer.

“Hell no! We’ll find her and we’ll handle this our way. If someone harms one hair on her head, there won’t be enough left of the person for the police to clean up after. I know the healer in you isn’t crazy about the kill but—”

“This person has fucked with the wrong bear.” Where Zora was concern, reason didn’t figure into it as far as Gavin and his cousins were concerned. “Have you contacted Logan?”

“I’m calling him as soon as I get off the phone with you. I’m going to try to pinpoint her location through the GPS tracking device in her phone.”

“Call me the second you locate her.”

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