The mental voice of her Pack Alpha was strong and sure. Tabby buried her face in her hands and cried.
She’d gone from unwanted and unneeded to fought over and loved. The only thing that could have made her happier was if Alex were there with her.
“When do we get to meet the grizzlies?” Belle practically bounced in her seat. “I’ve always wanted to meet Bears.”
Tabby laughed through her tears. “Wait until you get a load of Julian.” The Luna was going to love her friend. She had the feeling they were two of a kind.
“How are you feeling?”
Tabby watched Julian shuffle around his tiny bedroom. He still wasn’t fully recovered from the fight with Gary, or his healing of Chloe. She followed him in, pausing in the doorway. “I’ve been better.” He settled on the edge of the bed with a wince.
From the amount of white in his hair, she should have known not to ask. Luckily, he was now working for Jamie Howard in his private practice. The man had taken one look at the nearly white hair and pale gray eyes, and put him on bed rest for the next two weeks. For once Julian hadn’t argued. That let her know more than anything how poorly he was feeling. “We’re going to take care of you.”
“It’s the least we can do.” Alex strode into the room carrying a mug of Julian’s favorite tea. Two days had passed since the incident in the woods and he still hadn’t left her side for more than a few minutes. It was cute, in an overprotective, caveman sort of way, but she knew it was going to get old real fast. “Besides, you’re family. Remember?”
Julian flopped back against the pillows with a weary groan. “Your aunts and mother are driving me insane.”
“Aunts?” Alex put the mug next to Julian on the nightstand and stood back. “Aunt Stacey is here?”
Tabby settled on the bed next to Julian. From the amused look on Alex’s face, he knew this was something the two had done more than once. Alex had nothing to worry about, and apparently he knew it. She’d fallen asleep in Julian’s bed once, and he’d never touched her. He’d moved into the living room and slept on the couch, leaving her the queen-size bed. Of course, he’d forced her to cook breakfast by claiming a sore back. He’d been so pathetic, she’d agreed and made him pancakes.
Damn that boy could put it away. She’d wound up making three batches. She’d gotten two whole pancakes out of them. She felt lucky she still had all her fingers.
At least she’d gotten her fair share of the bacon. Sometimes it paid to cook.
Julian nodded and flung his arm over his eyes. “I swear, if I get one more bowl of chicken soup, I’m going to scream.”
“Chicken soup?”
Julian lifted his arm long enough to glare at her. “For breakfast.” The arm flopped back down when she began to giggle.
“I’ll go get you pastries, maybe a burger from Frank’s.” She patted his knee, trying to soothe the poor, wounded baby.
“If Aunt Stacey is here then the cousins are all here, too.”
“Cousins?” Julian moaned.
“Heather, Keith, and Tiffany.” Alex clucked his teeth in mock sympathy. “You’re gonna get so sick of chicken.”
“Shit.” Julian struggled out of bed. “I just remembered I have to go to Alaska for about sixty years.”
“Cyn wouldn’t like that.”
Julian frowned. “Where is Cyn, by the way?”
“The shop’s finally open again. We’re getting wooden counters installed with glass on top and only part of the way down the sides. The carpenter’s been there for the last two days.” She didn’t say anything, but she thought the carpenter had a thing for Cyn. Julian could deal with that when he was feeling better.
“And Chloe?” Julian turned to Alex. “I know she’s feeling a little better but she seems…fuzzy.”
Alex blinked. “She’s having some trouble keeping things straight. The doc says it should wear off over time.”
“Is she having problems with one of her hands?” Julian clenched his left one into a fist.
“Yeah. Shit. How tightly are you two tied together?”
“I know how she feels, and I think I can talk to her.” He frowned. “She’s not a very sympathetic person, is she?”
Alex shrugged. “She can be. It depends. Why do you ask?”
“I mentioned chicken soup and she started giggling.”
Alex just smiled, but the expression was weary. Not all was right in his cousin’s world, and the strain was showing in the whole family. “Jim finally got here. He’s been to see her twice so far.”
“I know.” Julian grimaced. “He told her again that she’s too young for him. Just what she needed to hear when she’s got a long recovery ahead of her.”
“Fuck.” Alex ran his hand over his shaved head. Tabby had taken care of the stubble for him that morning. “No wonder she seemed a little depressed this morning.”
“She’ll figure something out. And if she doesn’t, well.” Tabby allowed her fangs to show. “That’s what family is for.”
The evil grin the three of them shared did not bode well for Chloe’s reluctant mate.
“There’s something you two need to tell Max for me.”
“What?” Alex finally took the one chair Julian had.
“Something is still wrong. It’s tied into what happened with Gary, and he’s only the beginning. I think there will be trouble with the Poconos Pack as well.”
“Trouble from them, or they’re going to have similar problems?” Tabby rolled over and settled her head on her hand.
“They’re tied to the Halle Pumas. The problems of one will become the problems of the other.” Julian frowned and looked confused. “I think.”
“Shit, I hate that cryptic crap.” Alex rubbed his eyes. “What the hell does that mean, you think?”
Julian opened his mouth to reply when Alex’s phone rang.
“Hold that thought.” He flipped open his phone. “Bunny here.”
Tabby watched the play of emotion crossing Alex’s face. She could tell it was Gabe on the phone, but couldn’t quite hear what he was saying. When he hung up, he looked dazed. “Well, I think I know one of the answers. Gary was definitely working for someone out in the Midwest. Turns out he and his friends were hired to come here. Their records were doctored so they’d be listed in the university computers as new transfers.”
“What were they doing here?”
Tabby pulled on Julian’s arm when he tried to sit up, but he ignored her. “More importantly, did Gary say who sent them?”
Alex shook his head. “He’s refusing to tell them anything more. All Gabe knows is that they were here to observe, but they wouldn’t say why. Gabe’s hoping that the Tribunal will get more out of them.” If anyone was capable of finding out the truth, it would be the men and women who made up the Tribunal.
“Whoever it is must have a lot of money and connections if they can pull off getting them into the college system.” Julian looked ready to start pacing. Tabby would sit on him if he tried.
“Wait.” Tabby sat up. “Does Gabe know yet if Gary was the one who attacked Chloe?”
Alex’s eyes went wide and he whipped his phone out. “I don’t know. Let me call him back and ask.” He dialed the phone again, asking the question they all needed answered. “He says he’ll call back once he knows. They’re going to run the DNA, but we might not have the results for weeks.”
Julian settled back down. “Now what?”
“Now I order in pizza for lunch before I take my mate house hunting.”
House hunting? Alex hadn’t mentioned anything about house hunting. She was supposed to be at work by four, so they had some time if they hurried.
“You, sir, are a God. And please get me the Hawaiian, I’m in the mood for pineapple.”
“Done.” Alex headed into kitchen and bellowed, “Menus?”
“Third drawer on the left!” Julian grinned up at Tabby. “Are we having fun yet?”
“Hey, there’s not a chicken in sight.”
/>
“Then I’d say yes.” They heard Alex order the pizzas. One meat lover’s, double bacon, one Hawaiian, and one spinach, tomato and garlic. “Well. Glad it’s not my mate eating the garlic.”
Tabby made a face and lay back down. “Cyn would rather eat Gary.”
Julian growled.
“Not like that, you perv! Geez. She’s been muttering about finding him and kicking his ass until he whines like a little baby.”
“I’ll leave that to Bunny. Speaking of which, why was any part of Gary’s ass alive to be hauled off to jail? I’m surprised Bunny didn’t just kill the fucker and be done with it.”
“We needed answers that only Gary had. Besides, he’d shifted. We would have had a body to hide and that’s just not as easy as it sounds.”
Julian tilted his head. He looked like he was listening to something only he could hear. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Tabby felt a chill. “Dude. I personally have never hidden a body. I swear.”
“Not you. And not Bunny, either. Bunny prefers to maim rather than kill.” Tabby grimaced. She was still getting used to the fact that the Alex she knew was the same man other grizzlies backed away from in fear. “No, the Pumas have done it before. Not sure how, or who, though.”
“Well, Mr. I’m-A-Hunter said we needed him alive, so Alex let him live.”
“Is it true the guy who tried to rip out my throat pissed himself?”
“Yup.”
A serene smile crossed Julian’s lips. “Cool.”
“Okay, pizzas are ordered.” Alex flopped into the middle of the bed, wriggling until he was between Tabby and Julian. He turned onto his back, causing the bed to dip and sway. Tabby held on for dear life. “What were we talking about?”
“You not turning Gary into a grizzly bear Happy Meal.”
“Oh. Nah. I’d never wash the taste out.” He turned to Tabby with a grin. Only she could see how the smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Would you really want to kiss me if I had Gary breath?”
“Ugh.” She exaggerated her shudder and made a face. “Thanks for that thought. Now I’m not hungry anymore.”
The tension in Alex eased. “More for me, then.” He took her hand in his. “Not sorry I didn’t tear him apart then?”
“Nope. Let him face justice. From what I heard, Gabe says they’re going to make him wish he’d died on your claws.” She curled her fingers around his, contentment flowing through her. He was there beside her, and right then that was all she needed. “Any idea when we’ll hear from Gabe?”
“Depends on how long it takes for him to crack Gary. It could be minutes to days.”
“Fuck.”
“There’s another way.”
Tabby blinked at the thoughtful tone of Julian’s voice. “What now?”
“I could enter Chloe’s dreamscape again, see if I can find something. It’s possible she remembers her attacker somewhere deep in her subconscious.”
“Hell to the no.” Bunny nearly shoved Julian off the bed. “Do it and I’ll not only call the aunts, I’ll call in the cousins. All the cousins.”
“Shit. No need to be mean.” Julian shoved back. Alex barely moved. “Fine. Maybe I can call in someone else who can help.”
“Another Kermode?”
“No, Tabby. I’ll dial one-eight-hundred-I-Need-A-Psychic.”
Tabby rolled her eyes and climbed out of bed. “We can let him out of bed now. He’s just fine.”
Alex snorted a laugh just as the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it. God, it’s like I have a brother-in-law now. A pain in the ass, sarcastic, know-it-all brother-in-law.”
“Is there any other kind?” Julian yelled after him. He put his arms under his head. “I like this town.” He started to snicker. “Hey, Bunny? If I’ve been adopted by your aunt and I’ve already adopted Tabby as my sister, does that mean your mating is illegal? Because first cousins really shouldn’t marry you know.”
This time it was Tabby who almost pushed him off the bed.
Alex stared at the door to Living Art. He could see two of the women laughing and talking through the plate glass window. Cyn especially looked relaxed as she tried to coax Glory into doing God knew what. There was no sign of Tabby.
Inside, he was chilled to the bone. “So what you’re saying is Gary isn’t the one who went after Chloe.”
“Nope.” The sound of Gabe’s sigh was tinny through the earpiece. “He knew who Chloe was, though. She was one of the people he was sent to Halle to keep an eye on. And get this. Hunters in other parts of the country have found three bodies with similar MOs. All of them were half-breeds.”
“Half-breeds?” Now there was a term he hadn’t heard since the last time someone had called one of his cousins that. But hey, Harry said Barney’s arm had healed.
Mostly.
“Like Chloe. She’s half Fox, half Bear.”
“No shit.” He took a deep breath, mentally reciting a mantra to calm down. “Have they gone after children?”
Silence. Fuck. “Good question. If they have, they’ve managed to make it look like accidents.”
“Why?” Alex wanted to punch something badly. It had been six weeks since Chloe’s attack. The annual Halle Halloween masquerade was in two days, and they were going. He and Tabby were closing on a house just three blocks from Simon and Becky Holt’s place the day after. She’d taken one look at the For Sale sign on the little red brick house and squealed in glee. How could he not buy it for her?
And this morning Tabby had told him she thought she was pregnant. Julian had met them for breakfast, taken one look at Tabby and ordered her a large glass of milk and a doctor’s appointment. She hadn’t been amused, but she’d drunk the milk and made the appointment with the doctor Julian recommended. She’d been saving the pregnancy for a surprise, not knowing Alex would more than likely have noticed within a day or two anyway. There was nothing about her body he didn’t keep an eye on. The thought of his cub growing under her heart made his nearly skip a beat. The fear that someone was going after half-breeds, endangering his child and his mate, made him see red.
“No clue, but I’m going to find out, starting with the anonymous phone call to 9-1-1. Someone saw something that night and called it in or Chloe would have been dead before the ambulance got there. I’m going to find out who and what they know if I have to shake this whole damn town loose to do it.” And as a Hunter, Gabe was more than capable of doing just that.
“My family is moving into the area. We’re at your disposal.” Once his father knew the family was in danger, they’d be more than at the Hunter’s disposal. They’d be his fucking shadows. “Is Chloe still in danger?”
“I’d say so. She survived and, as time goes on, she might remember more about her attackers.”
“Then we’re definitely moving to Halle. All of us.” His father had been formalizing plans to open a Pennsylvania branch of Bunsun Exteriors. This would give him the perfect excuse to get the family here and keep them together, all under circumstances no one would call suspicious.
“Shit. Let me know when so I can prepare Max and Emma, okay?”
Alex grinned. “Hey, this is what family does, right? We take care of our own.”
Gabe groaned. He’d made the comment more than once that he considered Chloe a little sister. His Aunt Laura had decided that was enough to declare him de facto family.
“I think you should know Tabby’s pregnant.” And if anyone went after her or his cubs, he’d do what he needed to do. If he’d learned nothing else since coming to Halle, Tabby was the only real necessity in his life. He’d do anything to keep her safe. Even let the beast he struggled so hard to contain go.
Gabe blew out a breath. “Got it.” And he knew the Hunter did. Gabe understood what it was to protect and serve those he loved. “Keep an eye on your mate. Do what you have to.”
“And what will you be doing?” He watched Julian enter the tattoo parlor and wondered what the Kermode was up to. Cyn was still
giving him a hard time, but she wasn’t nearly as bad as she had been. He hoped his friend would be able to claim his mate soon. The Bear deserved some happiness.
“What I have to.” The phone clicked, disconnecting him from Gabe.
“Goodbye to you too.” Bunny pocketed the cell and crossed the street, following Julian into Living Art. “Tabby?”
Her green hair appeared before she did. A big smile graced those full, pouty lips. “Hey, sugar.”
Cyn poked her finger into Julian’s chest with a growl. “Goddamn it, Julian! For the last time, I am not going to tattoo “Property of Cyn” on your ass!”
Tabby began to laugh, and just like that his day was looking a whole lot brighter. He would protect this, what he’d found here, with every fiber of his being. God have mercy on anyone who tried to take this away from him. Because this?
This was home.
About the Author
Dana Marie Bell wrote her first short story when she was thirteen-years-old. She attended the High School for Creative and Performing Arts for creative writing, where freedom of expression was the order of the day. When her parents moved out of the city and placed her in a Catholic high school for her senior year, she tried desperately to get away, but the nuns held fast, and she graduated with honors despite herself.
Dana has lived primarily in the Northeast (Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, to be precise), with a brief stint on the US Virgin Island of St. Croix. She lives with her soul mate and husband Dusty, their two maniacal children, an evil, ice-cream stealing cat and a bull terrier that thinks it’s a Pekinese.
You can learn more about Dana at: www.danamariebell.com
Look for these titles by Dana Marie Bell
Now Available:
Halle Pumas
The Wallflower
Sweet Dreams
Cat of a Different Color
Steel Beauty
Only In My Dreams
The Gray Court
Dare to Believe
True Destiny
Very Much Alive
Coming Soon:
Bear Necessities Page 23