by Hazel Gower
Sammy loved Lena instantly. She reminded her of Sandy, not afraid to speak her mind. “What can I do to help? Do you have another chopping board? And I can do a salad. I’ll cut some lettuce, carrots, and tomatoes.”
“Thank you, Sammy, that would be wonderful. I’m Gretel, and this,” Gretel pointed to the dark haired beauty. “Is Lena, my daughter.” Gretel walked around the kitchen and gathered up ingredients, a knife, bowl, and a chopping board. She placed them on a clear part of the kitchen top. “I think we’ll only need one salad. These boys don’t really eat it, and most of the women won’t eat.”
Sammy walked to her station and started cutting her ingredients. It was quiet in the kitchen for a good five or minutes before Lena sighed.
“Okay, I’m dying to know how you met Brock and how on earth a tiny thing like you isn’t terrified of him. I bet even in the heels you’re wearing you only just come to his massive shoulders. Don’t get me wrong. Brock is gorgeous, but in a dangerous ‘I’ll kill you if you step one foot wrong’ kind of way.”
“Lena.” Gretel gasped at her daughter.
“What? I just asked what you were thinking as well, Mum.”
Sammy laughed, enjoying the mother-daughter banter. “It’s fine, Gretel. I’ll answer. I meet Brock through my friend Susie, and one of my best friends, Sandy, just married Brock’s brother.”
“Oh my God, you’re friends with Sandy? I love her. I think she is awesome. She handles two handsome men.”
“So does Susie. It seems to be a thing with the Bear family.”
Lena’s eyes widened. “No way. You are with two?”
“Lena!” This time Gretel shouted.
Sammy thought it safe to tell because they didn’t seem to mind Sandy’s little family. “Yes. I’m with Brock and Slater, who is Brock’s cousin.”
“Wow. They’re not together, are they?”
Sammy chuckled. “No, not at all. It’s like Sandy’s relationship, except I’m not pregnant, engaged, or married. It’s still new. They have been asking me out for almost a year, but I just got out of a bad relationship and needed time to heal.”
She watched both women, and Sammy could tell Gretel already knew most of what she’d just said, but Lena hadn’t.
“I think I need to find myself someone from the Bear family.”
Sammy giggled, surprisingly enjoying herself.
When the salad was finished she helped make some desserts. As she put caramel on the puffs, Brock’s arms circled her waist.
“Did you forget about me, angel?”
He nipped her neck, and she shivered messing up the puff. She turned and looked up at him. Something looked different. Before he’d been on edge and nagging her to find out things she wanted left alone.
“No. I was just enjoying myself with Gretel and Lena.” She searched his eyes and she could see his bear prancing back and forth, but he didn’t seem frustrated, more like impatient. “Are you okay?”
Brock nodded, leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, lingering a moment. “Yes. You almost done? Our afternoon dinner is ready.”
Sammy grinned. “Yeah, be out soon.” She watched as he strolled out. Sammy couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
She turned back to finish the last couple of puffs to see Lena staring at her. “What did you do to him? Usually he only wears black, and he always has a five o’clock shadow. He just turned into—”
“Yeah, I know.” Sammy didn’t need Lena to finish. She knew how good Brock looked.
“No wonder you were late. He cleans up good,” Gretel whispered. “He’s never come to one of my dinners looking like that. If he would have, I would have made Albert invite him around a lot more.”
“Muummm!” Lena yelled.
“I’m old, not dead, sweetheart.”
Sammy felt her cheeks heat, and she laughed so hard she cried. She really liked Gretel and Lena. “Thank you.”
“What are thanking us for?” Lena asked.
“I haven’t felt this light-hearted in months. You remind me of how I used to be with my mother. We bantered back and forth, and I could tell her anything. Thank you for the wonderful time.”
Gretel and Lena came to her and hugged her. Sammy cried hard as she soaked up the love. They patted her on the back.
“We did nothing. You were just so easy to get on with. We will definitely be doing this again. I had fun.”
Gretel chuckled. “See, you just got a massive compliment. Lena had fun with you. She wants to have a play date. She’s really picky with who she likes.”
“Really, Mum.” Lena rolled her eyes heavenward.
Sammy smiled. She knew she’d just found some great new friends.
****
Slater was unsure what to expect after Brock called him and told him what was going down. He was pissed at Brock for using Sammy as bait to help get people to talk.
Walking into the barbeque he was unsure of what to expect. Slater knew most of the people in Brock and Jake’s precinct, but there was a huge number of humans he didn’t know at the party.
Slater couldn’t see Sammy anywhere. He scanned the party until he gave up on finding her outside and thought he’d give inside a go. The lounge room was a no go, but in the kitchen he found his mate hugging two women and crying.
He cleared his throat and took a deep breath that came out on a snarl at the smell of Sammy. That fuckwit. Sammy’s emotions were everywhere, and she wasn’t ready for what Brock was about to do to her.
Pissed off he snapped, “What’s going on?”
Sammy detangled herself from the two women, one he remembered as Brock’s captain’s wife. “Slater, what are you doing here? I thought you had to work as you had two sick chefs.”
He stalked her, his bear going crazy at her sad emotions. “I decided to take it off to make you happy.” Sammy didn’t need to know the real reason right now. He needed to get her out of here before anything happened.
Sammy came to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Thanks.”
She leaned up on her tip toes, and he leaned down letting her press her mouth to his. Slater didn’t touch her back or let himself kiss her. He knew if he did he would leave here right now with her slung over his shoulder. It was probably the safest and nicest idea, but he didn’t want Sammy angry with him for embracing her.
Sammy backed away from him. “What’s up?”
“I’m pissed. We need to get out of here now. Please, you’ll thank me later.”
Sammy studied him before she nodded. “Let me help put this stuff out, and then we’ll leave. Gretel, Lena, this is Slater. Slater, this is Gretel and Lena. Gretel, I don’t mean to be rude, but you don’t mind if we help put this stuff out to the dinner table outside, then leave?”
Slater knew that was probably the best he would get. Sammy wouldn’t just leave without helping and then saying bye. “Nice to meet you.”
Gretel smiled and passed him the potato bake. “That’s fine. You can go. You’ve been here for a while.” Slater narrowed his eyes then. The woman knew something was going on. “Let’s go feed the hordes.”
Slater walked behind Sammy as she grabbed the salad and a large box of plastic knives and forks.
The farther outside they got the shakier Sammy got. Crap! The other precinct was already there. When she placed the stuff she had on the table Slater looked around and saw half the eyes were on Sammy.
“I didn’t say anything. I didn’t say anything,” Sammy whispered over and over.
Slater concentrated on the smells around him using his shifter senses. Fear, anger, astonishment, and hate. He shoved the potato bake down and wrapped his arms around Sammy, who, he could tell, was barely holding it together.
He was going to kill Brock. Slater was glad he had come now, and he wished he’d been here earlier to get Sammy away sooner. He had to get Sammy out now.
“I didn’t tell anyone anything. I haven’t told anyone. I promise.” Sammy voice was getting louder
, and she shook in his hold. “I kept all your secrets.”
He let his bear show through and used all his shifter senses, growling when he heard soft whispers between two men somewhere in the back of the group..
“I thought Greg killed her the last time she went out with her friends.”
“Stupid slut deserved to die. She’s going to expose us all if she doesn’t shut up.”
“Why did he let her live? She knows too much.”
The last whispered comment had his bear ready to kill.
“Why didn’t Michael kill her? We told him she was compromised.”
Slater watched as Brock and his partner and two other shifters went to the two guys who’d spoken. Brock took a hold of one and dragged him to the officials. Brock then went up into the face of a panther shifter and a wolf, who stood to the side of the panther.
“You want to tell me why the hell I’m not challenging you in form to a death match?”
The wolf shrugged and glared at Sammy. “We don’t all have a trust fund, bear. This job doesn’t pay enough. I didn’t know the human was important.”
“If we’d known she was your mate we would have stopped him,” the panther said in a whisper only the shifters in the room could hear, and now Sammy, thanks to them mating her.
Brock snarled. “I, Brock Bear, challenge you both. It shouldn’t matter if she was my mate or not. You don’t treat humans that way. Because of your neglect shifters were killed also.” Brock’s voice got louder so everyone could here. “Breakaway precinct has just sealed its fate.”
Eight officials stepped into the circle that had formed around Sammy. They flashed Internal Affairs badges.
“Thanks, Albert, for helping the investigation along. Detective Bear, we appreciate all your help, but we can take it from here.”
“I’m not done with them.” Brock attacked the two shifters, and all hell broke loose.
Slater placed Sammy behind him, and Sammy screamed and gripped his back. “I didn’t tell.”
The men and women around them from Brock’s precinct came to Brock’s aid, and some helped the Internal Affairs get control of the groups.
Once the scene was contained, Kegon held Brock back, and his captain stood quietly talking to him.
Slater was fuming. How could Brock have put their mate in danger like this? Sammy was trembling as she clung to his back. Brock didn’t deserve Sammy as a mate.
One of the older men from internal affairs came over to him. “Mrs. Gardener, thank you for your cooperation.”
Slater growled at the man. He knew Sammy had been involved in this. She’d had no idea what was going to happen tonight.
Sammy slowly came out from behind him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist as she mumbled. “I didn’t do anything. I haven’t said anything.”
“Yes, you did. Thank you for agreeing to come tonight. We have been working this case for months now and not getting anywhere. Your willingness to help tonight by coming to this party has showed us where to start. I will call you early this coming week as I need statements from you.”
A sob escaped Sammy, and her body shock against him. She nodded to the investigator. “Yes, I’m sure you can get my number.” Sammy turned her back on the man and looked up at him. “I want to leave now.” With that she wiggled out of his arms and fled out of the back yard.
That was it. He couldn’t hold his anger in any longer. Slater stomped to Brock and punched him, felling satisfied as a loud crunch was heard as his nose broke. “You’re a fucking idiot. You couldn’t let it go, and you just lost her. You’re just like your mother, a cold-hearted son of a bitch.” He turned to glare at Brock’s captain. “That was low. You have no idea what you’ve just done. That girl is not only my mate, but she’s Susie’s and Sandy’s best friend. She also looked pretty cozy with your wife and daughter. I can tell you now those Bear men won’t take yours or Brock’s side in this, because they care what their mates think.”
Slater punched Brock again and ran after Sammy, only to stop and turn back to get his car as he saw Sammy in the distance down the street. Getting in his car he drove to Sammy, stopped and got out. As soon as Sammy saw him she came at him attacking him.
“I hate you. How could you do this to me? I trusted you. I hate you.”
Grabbing her hands he held them in hers and pulled her to him for a hug. “I didn’t know Brock was going to do that. I only found out a short time ago, and I left work leaving a junior chef in charge so I got here. I was hoping we could leave before anything happened.” He stroked her hair. “I’m so sorry, beautiful. If I’d know I would have put a stop to it or told you. Brock knew that. Otherwise he would have told me.” He leaned down and kissed her head. “Let’s get you home. I will leave or stay. It’s your choice. I’ll call Susie, Jane, Sandy, and Gwen.”
Slater opened the passenger car door and helped her in before he went around and got in his own seat, did up his seat belt, and drove away.
The drive to the house was quiet, and Slater hoped Brock hadn’t stuffed it up for him, too. Slater couldn’t believe what Brock had done.
****
Sammy couldn’t believe what Brock had done. How could he have put her in that situation? He and Slater both knew how she felt about what happened with Greg, and they knew she hated cops and wasn’t treated right by Breakaway precinct. Sammy wondered why Brock had done that to her. He should have known how she would react.
Slater pulled up to their house, and she got out of the car. She could hear Slater talking to her, but she needed to be somewhere safe.
“Sammy, beautiful, talk to me.” He opened the front door, and she pushed by him and went to their bedroom.
Sammy could feel herself holding on by a thread. She was about to slip into her safe place, and the only person who seemed to be able to talk her out of it was the one who had caused her to start to slip into it.
She got on the bed and curled up. Sammy wanted to be as tiny as possible. It was safer when she became small and invisible. She could feel her body shaking, and her brain went through everything that had just happened. She knew the men who had whispered that she should have been killed. That they thought Greg had killed her the last time he beat her.
The tears ran down her cheek, and Sammy didn’t do anything to wipe them away. Did she deserve to have the slut, as Greg called it, beaten out of her? Were her clothes inviting men to attack her? Was she too friendly? She hadn’t spilled their secrets to anyone. Things that Greg had said to her as his fist and feet hit into her rebounded around her brain.
“Fuck. I swear I’m going to kill him.”
Sammy could vaguely hear Slater, and she didn’t know which “him” Slater was referring to, Brock or Greg. She felt herself be placed on his lap as he sat on the bed.
“Sammy Gardner, you have to stop. Don’t worry. I will make sure you don’t see any of them again.” Slater stroked her back. “Come back now.”
Slater’s hands ran up and down her back in a soothing motion.
“Samantha, you are at home and away from anyone who would hurt you. Come back.”
The use of her full name and knowing she was in Slater’s safe arms brought Sammy back from her hiding place. The door opened, and she let go with big gut wrenching sobs into Slater’s chest.
“Did I do something wrong? Why would Brock put me through that?” Sammy gripped Slater’s shirt. “They wanted me dead. I didn’t tell anyone. I haven’t told anyone anything. I haven’t told you and Brock anything. Well, besides how they treated me and that I was scared of them. It’s been months and months. Did they think Greg had killed me and that’s why I hadn’t reported anything?”
Her heart felt like it was breaking. She’d opened herself up again to people and a relationship, and Brock had crushed her. “Did you know what he was up to?” Sammy stared up at Slater with blurry eyes.
Slater brushed hair that had fallen over her face off. “I promise I had no idea that was what he’d been planning. I knew
something was up with him, but I swear I didn’t think it would be something this big and wrong.” Slater leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “Please don’t hold what Brock did against me. I would never hurt you like that. I love you.”
Wiping the tears from her face she reached up and caressed Slater’s face as he gazed down at her. “I love you, too. I’ve loved you for a while now. I love you both, and it hurts so bad that Brock would betray me like this.” Sammy wanted to feel better. She hated how she felt right now. “Make me forget. Make love to me.”
Slater groaned. “Beautiful, I don’t think that’s such a good idea while you’re in this state and feeling vulnerable.”
Wrapping her arms around Slater’s neck she pulled him closer to her and plastered her mouth to his. Sammy wanted to forget. She wanted to feel good. She let her tongue trace his lips before slipping in and tangling with his own.
Sammy ground her body against Slater. Her usual response to being close to him and touching him made itself known. Tingles flowed through her body from the tip of her toes to the top of her head. She used the tips of her fingers to trail down his neck and under his shirt running her hands up and down his solid chest.
Slater growled and stopped her hands as they came to the button on his pants. “Sammy, I don’t want you to regret this. You’re not in the right state of mind to be doing this. I don’t want you to wake up in the morning or late tonight and realize that what we did was wrong. I don’t want you to think I took advantage of you.”
He had a point, and she loved Slater all the more for thinking of her, and caring about her. “I want you bad. I want to feel better.”
Slater let out a long-suffering sound. “How about we lie snuggling for a while? If you still want to make love after you’ve had time to relax and know you’re safe at home, then I will ravish you. I promise.”
Slater lay back on the bed, and she got comfortable on top of him. He rubbed her back, and she snuggled closer into him. She loved his smell and the way he held her. She realized as she lay there on him, that she was a lot calmer and she felt safe.
While she was in Slater’s arms she remembered that tonight he’d held her tight and hadn’t let anyone touch her at the barbeque. Slater had sheltered her by pushing her behind his back. Sammy had been terrified, but now that she’d calmed down and really thought about it, she knew Slater would never let anything happen to her. She’d thought Brock wouldn’t have either, but now she didn’t know.