Jessica looked exhausted and had gone from fashionably slim to gaunt since the last time Steffi had seen her. Her blonde hair, which had always been impeccably styled, was a tangled, oily mess, and her clothes were dirty and travel-stained.
She fell into Steffi's arms, hugging her hard enough to leave bruises, then swooped down on the playpen, where Olivia was absorbed in playing with a brightly colored activity cube.
Royce was sprawled on the rug next to the playpen. He lifted his head when Jessica approached, and his tail began to thump rapidly against the floor.
Steffi saw her niece look up and smile at her mother's approach and raise her arms to be picked up.
Jessica snatched up her daughter and hugged her tightly. Then she began to cry, and Patrick took his wife and his daughter in his arms. He turned away from Steffi, but she saw his shoulders shaking.
Tactfully, Steffi turned away and began rummaging in the fridge for containers of leftovers to heat in the microwave as a snack to tide Patrick and Jessica over until dinner.
Jessica held Olivia while she ate ravenously. Patrick wolfed the contents of his plate as if he hadn't eaten for days.
Once they had finished their snack, Jessica called Mom and Dad in the Bay Area to report their safe arrival in Bearpaw Ridge, and Patrick phoned his mother.
Even without shifter super-hearing, Steffi could overhear Margaret's shocked relief.
Upon hearing that Margaret was on her way over and would be arriving within a half-hour, Steffi shooed her sister and brother-in-law into the bathroom to shower.
Evan took charge of the kitchen and began browning ground beef and onions in preparation for making spaghetti Bolognese.
At Evan's request, Steffi dashed downstairs and bought two loaves of French bread from Annabeth's bakery. She paused long enough to pass on the good news to Annabeth and Hannah, then returned to the apartment.
Hannah followed close on her heels, eager to reunite with the brother she'd thought dead.
Once inside the apartment, Hannah waited impatiently for Patrick to finish his shower.
After a few minutes of watching his cousin's nervous jittering, Evan put her to work slicing the loaves lengthwise. As his direction, she deftly applied a thick layer of butter before topping them with minced garlic, salt, grated Parmesan, and paprika.
Once the prepped loaves were sitting on the counter in preparation for being baked into garlic bread, Hannah went back to fidgeting.
Meanwhile, Evan's sauce was simmering on the stovetop, redolent with the rich scents of tomatoes and herbs. Steffi busied herself with setting the table, knowing that her sister and brother-in-law would probably want to eat as soon as possible once they were finished showering.
When Patrick and Jessica finally emerged from the bathroom, they were clean and dressed in borrowed clothes. Dane's clothes fit Patrick, but the top and sweatpants that Steffi had loaned her sister hung loose and baggy on Jessica.
Patrick stopped short when he caught site of his sister. "Hannah!"
She flung herself at her brother, nearly bowling him over as she wrapped her arms around him.
"You jerk!" she said, clinging to him with fierce strength. "Why didn't you let us know you were alive? Mom's been a wreck since Dr. Harmon phoned to tell us your plane had disappeared!"
"We couldn't call anyone for a while," Patrick said, returning her hug.
Steffi heard a knock on the apartment door and hurried to answer it.
A radiant Margaret stood on the landing.
"Patrick! Oh, Patrick!"
Hannah hastily disentangled herself from her brother's embrace as her mother rushed past Steffi and flew into her son's arms.
"Thank God you're alive!" Margaret began to sob, and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so sorry for everything."
He held her for a long time, his cheek resting on her silver-brown hair. When she finally straightened and stepped away from him, wiping furiously at her eyes, he said, "Mom, Hannah, I'd like you meet my mate."
Steffi tensed, wondering how Margaret would react to meeting her Ordinary daughter-in-law for the first time.
Margaret didn't hesitate. She turned to Jessica and gave her a heartfelt hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"My dear, it's so nice to finally meet you. And I'm so very sorry for being a stubborn old bear. There's no excuse for missing your wedding or Olivia's birth, but I hope you'll forgive me and give me another chance at being a good mother-in-law and grandma."
Jessica returned the hug and smiled at her mother-in-law. "I'm happy to meet you, too, Margaret. And you're welcome to visit us in Anchorage anytime you want. I really want Olivia to get to know her grandma."
Hannah hugged Jessica next. "I know we're Facebook friends, but it's really nice to finally meet you in person."
Jessica laughed and looked Hannah up and down. "You're taller than I expected."
As Patrick and Jessica continued to talk to Margaret and Hannah, Evan dished up the spaghetti and sauce, and Steffi hurriedly retrieved the garlic bread from the oven. Then they all sat down together to share dinner.
While they ate, Patrick and Jessica dished up the harrowing tale of their abduction, escape, and cross-country journey to Bearpaw Ridge.
They had been kidnapped as they left their house in Anchorage to catch their flight to the Liscombe dig. With Jessica held at gunpoint, they were forced to board another aircraft, which had flown them south to a private airstrip somewhere in Washington State.
They were told that no one would ever know what happened to them, since their original plane was about to take off and vanish into the Alaskan wilderness.
It rapidly became clear that their abductors were interested in Patrick and Olivia. Jessica had only been brought along to ensure Patrick's cooperation.
Patrick became convinced that their captors would have no further use for his mate once they reached their destination, and he decided that they would try to escape as soon as the plane landed.
Both of them spent the long flight pretending to be meek and terrified victims. The ploy apparently worked, because once they landed, their guard had become careless during the transfer of the prisoners from the plane to an SUV parked near the airstrip.
Using his bare hands and his shifter strength, the normally mild-mannered Patrick had exploded into action. The first man to die was the one who had dared to hold a gun to Jessica's head.
Then Patrick had shifted, and for the next ten minutes, he had raged inside the confined space of the plane, yielding to his bear's desire for revenge on those who had threatened his mate and his child.
He had slaughtered the two remaining armed guards and the pilot as a horrified Jessica pleaded with him to stop. Then he had destroyed the plane's cockpit, ensuring that it would never fly again.
The driver of the waiting SUV had fared no better. When he exited the vehicle, gun in hand, Patrick's bear had charged out of the plane and killed him after the man's panicked shot went wide.
Patrick had then shifted back to human form. He and Jessica had stolen the SUV to make their escape. They had only one goal: to reach Olivia before she was taken too.
They had taken cash and a phone from their dead abductors but hadn't dared to make a call for days for fear that someone might be able to track them.
Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Jessica had phoned Mom and Dad, and from them, had learned about the first unsuccessful abduction attempt and Steffi's subsequent decision to drive to Bearpaw Ridge.
She had begged her parents not to tell anyone by email or phone about what had happened to her until she and Patrick were reunited with Olivia.
"Why didn't you call the police right after you escaped? Or the FBI?" Steffi asked.
Hannah added, "I mean, by now someone has to have found those bodies. It's probably hit the news."
Jessica shook her head. "We can't contact the authorities! How do we explain how a professor and his wife managed to
rip apart five men, four of them armed with guns? They'll know something weird happened. They'll find out that Patrick is a shifter and take him away!"
"That's where Sheriff Jacobsen might be able to help you out," Margaret said. "I've known Bill for years, and he knows the shifters at other law enforcement agencies. He'd be able to work something out for you."
Steffi saw Jessica trade a look with her husband. "Is the sheriff one of you?"
"Wolf shifter," Patrick confirmed.
Steffi blinked at the news. Does that mean Mary Jacobsen is a shifter, too?
She told herself not to be jealous.
Evan added, "And if there's an organization out there that not only knows about shifters but is trying to abduct them, then Bill Jacobsen needs to know. All of the shifter communities need to know."
"Do you have any idea who's behind this?" Steffi asked.
Patrick and Jessica both shook their heads.
Steffi got up and retrieved her phone from her purse. She called up her phone's photo gallery, found the picture she was looking for, and showed it to her sister.
"Last week, this woman tried to abduct Olivia while I was at a park in Cupertino," Steffi said as Jessica took the phone. "Do you recognize her?"
Jessica shook her head.
Patrick craned his neck to see and said with a frown, "Yeah, I've seen her before. She's a lab director at Eucheuma Biosciences. She visits Dr. Harmon in his office on campus pretty regularly. He told me that EB is interested in licensing a new DNA extraction method he developed for getting viable genetic samples from fossilized specimens."
"Dr. Harmon—Marcus Harmon? Your boss?" Jessica asked, with an expression of dawning horror.
Patrick nodded.
"Does Dr. Harmon know you're a shifter?" Steffi asked, accepting her phone back from Jessica.
Patrick's eyes widened. "I didn't think so," he answered soberly. "But this can't really be a coincidence, can it?"
"The Cupertino Police Department has a copy of this photo," Steffi said. "You need to call the officer I spoke with and tell her you can identify the suspect in the attempted abduction of your daughter."
"So the people who tried to abduct you—do you think they might be employees of Eucheuma Biosciences?" Margaret asked, putting down her fork. "What's this woman's name?"
Patrick frowned. "Dr. Elizabeth Pearce…I think."
"Here's a theory," Evan said. "Maybe Dr. Harmon figured out Patrick was a shifter. And passed that information on to Eucheuma Biosciences." He tore off another piece of garlic bread, and Steffi saw that he looked worried.
"But why would they care about shifters?" Margaret asked.
Jessica, Patrick, and Evan all tried to speak at once.
After a few moments of conflicting chatter, Evan managed to take the floor. "Look, I do a lot of work with genetic sampling myself, and I can tell you that a biosciences firm would be very interested in shifter DNA. I mean, think about it—we're human, but we can shapeshift. We're stronger and faster than Ordinary humans, and we heal a lot quicker."
Jessica added, "Having a live shifter to experiment on would be a real bonanza for them." Her gaze slid sideways to her husband. "Especially if that shifter was very young and unable to defend herself the way Patrick was able to defend me."
Patrick growled, a deep rumbling that shook the glassware on the table. "Olivia. That's why they're after her!" He pinned Steffi with hot hazel eyes. "Has she started shifting yet?"
Steffi nodded. "Three or four times in the last week. Shocked the hell out of me the first time it happened."
Jessica gave a short laugh. "I can only imagine. Look, Steffi, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. Patrick didn't think it would happen while she was still so young. And I promised him that I wouldn't tell anyone that he was a shifter."
"Patrick, you have to promise me that you'll go talk to Bill Jacobsen first thing tomorrow morning," Margaret urged. "He can help you, I know he can."
Patrick nodded. "Now that we know Olivia is safe and still in good hands…you bet your ass I'm going to sic law enforcement on these guys. I don't care if they arrest me for killing the people who kidnapped us."
As the afternoon became evening, the homecoming dinner turned into an impromptu party as word spread that Patrick and Jessica were back from the dead.
Swansons began to show up at the apartment to greet Patrick and to meet Jessica.
Elle came, bearing several large bags of chips and containers of dip. So did Dane and Annabeth, with little Matthew in tow and carrying a box filled with all of the bakery's leftover pastries. Mark and Caitlyn turned up shortly after that, lugging a case of beer and more chips.
Ash brought a couple of large pizzas, and Kayla came with several liter-sized bottles of soda and a tall stack of disposable plastic cups.
Jessica and Patrick told their story again and again over the next few hours, urging their listeners to spread the word about Eucheuma Biosciences.
Steffi saw Caitlyn furiously typing on her phone as she took notes, probably for the same article that she'd interviewed Steffi for.
Bottles of beer and wine were opened and poured in celebration of the couple's safe return. The remainder of the huge pot of spaghetti quickly vanished, along with all of the pizza and most of the chips and dip.
Annabeth went downstairs to her bakery and fetched the remainder of the day's unsold loaves, and together, she and Hannah quickly made more garlic bread to serve the gathered crowd of hungry bear shifters.
After a couple of hours, people began drifting away.
Annabeth and Dane were the first to leave, citing the fact that Annabeth had to get up in the middle of the night to begin prepping the day's breads and pastries before Cinnamon + Sugar opened at five a.m.
Their departure signaled the beginning of a slow exodus from the apartment.
Patrick and Jessica were the last to leave. They had accepted Margaret's offer to stay in her guest room at the ranch.
Steffi slipped the Subaru keys into Patrick's pocket as he walked out the door, carrying Olivia and one of the two big bags that Steffi had filled with clean diapers, packages of baby food, clothes, and toys. Jessica followed with the other bag.
After exchanging parting hugs with her sister. Steffi watched them go from the top of the stairs. She felt an odd mixture of relief and melancholy.
Taking care of her nine-month-old niece had been a lot of work, but it had been rewarding too. She was going to miss Olivia's happy smile, bath time, and even the occasional manifestations of bear cub.
Steffi went back inside and found herself alone with Evan at last.
Together, they began gathering up the scattered bowls and glasses and cleaning up the post-party debris.
As she and Evan moved around the apartment, she stole glances at her big, sexy bear, knowing that this might be the last time they worked together in harmony like this.
During the course of the evening, she had realized that she shouldn't linger in Bearpaw Ridge now that Olivia had been safely reunited with her parents.
She didn't want to leave this apartment…and Evan. But she knew she had to. It was the only sensible decision.
Rajesh had been incredibly understanding up to this point, but she owed him and the rest of the Product Marketing team a speedy return to the office, where she could once more give work her full attention.
"So I was thinking," Steffi said, trying her best to sound casual as she loaded the last of the plates in the dishwasher. "Now that Olivia has her mother and father back, and we don't actually need to get married…I should go home." She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "I'll probably go rent a car tomorrow morning and then head out after lunch."
She saw Evan freeze in his tracks and couldn't interpret the expression on his face. Shock? Horror?
Probably relief that he didn't have to go through with the wedding, after all.
Steffi continued awkwardly, "Thank you so much for trying to help me. I don't know what I would h
ave done without you." She slid the pearl engagement ring off her finger and held it out to him.
She couldn't just leave it there, not when he'd cooked for her, saved her life, and given her the best sex she'd ever had.
Her cheeks went hot as she added, "It's been a lot of fun being with you. You're an amazing guy, Evan. I only wish I could stay longer."
He didn't take the ring. He just stood there, looking at her with that strange expression.
"You're leaving? Tomorrow?" His voice sounded odd, as if he were coming down with a cold. She saw him swallow hard. "You can't stay for a few more days? I mean, your sister just came back from the dead…"
"And I want to give her some space to get to know the Swanson side of the family on her own."
Steffi loved her sister, and she was beyond happy to see her alive and uninjured.
Jessica had earned every bit of the attention she was about to receive from her in-laws. It was time to let Jessica shine like she always did…without Steffi lurking in the background like she always did.
She found herself laughing nervously under Evan's suddenly intense hazel stare. "I guess it's a good thing that I didn't get around to calling my boss and telling him I wanted to relocate!"
Chapter 19
She can't leave me! Evan thought.
Panic overwhelmed him as he stood rooted to the floor.
How could things have gone so wrong so quickly? His carefully crafted plan to ensure that his mate stayed in Bearpaw Ridge…with him…had completely fallen apart in less than half a day.
His bear howled in protest and despair. Evan wanted to howl too.
He had to get Steffi to change her mind!
"What's wrong?" she asked, still holding out the ring he'd given her. "I thought you'd be relieved. I mean, I really appreciate the fact that you were willing to marry me for Olivia's sake—"
"It wasn't just for Olivia's sake," he growled, cutting her off.
Her mouth dropped open.
"I want you to stay. With me." He forced the words out. He'd never been in the position of begging a woman to stay before.
She closed her fingers around the ring, and he saw her knuckles go white as she clenched her hand.
Ignite: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 3) Page 18