Bears' Claim [PUP Squad Alpha 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Abby Blake

  The woman nodded, pushed out of the man’s arms with a self-conscious smile, and led the way to the place where she’d seen two people disappear.

  West had been tapping away on his phone almost since the woman had started talking. His eyes widened slightly at something he read on the screen, before he turned the thing off and put the gadget away. He and Brody made a show of inspecting the area.

  “Ma’am,” West said, sounding very much like a police officer, “the gentleman you referred to as Jed…would that happen to be Jed Mathewson?”

  “Why, yes. Yes it is. Do you know him?”

  West nodded. “He’s actually the reason we stopped by. He’s an old friend of my dad’s. They were magicians together in Vegas for a while.”

  “You know, I think he did mention once or twice that he liked to do magic tricks. Do you think he’s doing a trick now?”

  “That’s my guess.”

  “Oooh,” she growled in irritation, “wait until I catch up with that old grouch. He is going to regret making me look like a fool. Gosh, I even called the sheriff. Heavens.” Her hand fluttered around her throat in a clear sign of agitation. “Excuse me while I go let him know it’s not necessary to come out.” She smiled tremulously at the three of them. “I’m sure glad you boys came along when you did. Reporting two people disappearing into thin air was embarrassing enough. At least now I have an explanation for the crazy talk.” She laughed, the sound filled with relief. “Do me a favor. When you catch up with Jed, tell the old coot he’ll be paying double for his coffee for a whole month.”

  “Will do, ma’am,” West said with a wide grin.

  The woman moved away, laughing as she turned back to the cook and the few friends sitting out front. “Now,” she said on a sigh, “if we can just identify the young girl who ran out the back door when Annie and Jed disappeared. The poor kid must be so frightened.”

  Terror for Hannah froze the air in Eric’s lungs.

  * * * *

  Hannah would have fallen to her knees if Jed Mathewson hadn’t been there to hold her up. He was surprisingly strong for a frail-looking, old man, but she was very grateful for his assistance. Trying to regain her equilibrium, she glanced around the area, surprised to find herself surrounded by forest. There was a small wooden home about a hundred yards in front of them.

  “Quickly,” Jed said as he dragged her toward the home. “It’s far safer inside.”

  After her confrontation with a creature that looked like a seven-year-old child, Hannah wasn’t going to argue. She had no idea how long she might have been able to hold the child away from her, so she was very grateful for Jed’s intervention.

  He practically manhandled her into a small, rough-looking cabin, and pushed her into a chair. She breathed deeply, trying to rationalize the sudden shift in her reality. She’d almost convinced herself none of it had happened when a loud whooping noise suddenly filled the air.

  “Damn it,” Jed said as a vortex-type thing opened in the front yard. He stepped out the front door, ready to confront whoever was attacking them this time. “What now?” he asked over his shoulder as Hannah moved to join him. “How many paranormals did you piss off?”

  Two men stepped through the vortex and moved cautiously, but it was the third one who came at her.

  Chapter Three

  “Hannah,” Eric said as relief ran through him. He moved toward the house, eager to gather her in his arms, immensely grateful to find her in one piece. He fully intended to tell her everything, to explain about them being mates, to hold on and never let her go, so it was a really big shock to find himself flying backward. He landed hard against the ground, his head thumping solidly against something wooden as he went down.

  “Damn, girl, what are you?” the old man said with what sounded like genuine admiration in his voice. Hannah shrugged, or at least Eric thought she did. It might have been his eyes still trying to focus.

  “Hannah Long?” Brody asked as West helped Eric back onto his feet.

  “Who wants to know?” the old man Eric assumed was Jed Mathewson asked belligerently.

  “Brody Carmichael, PUP Squad Alpha.”

  “Show us your badges,” the old man demanded.

  Both Brody and West handed over their IDs. The old man went over them carefully, using what seemed to be some kind of warlock magic to ascertain their genuineness.

  “It’s okay, Annie,” Jed said with heartfelt sigh of relief. “These are the good guys.”

  “The good guys?” she asked, sounding rather shell-shocked. She turned her attention to Eric. “So what does that make you, Doctor Johansen? Assuming of course that it is your name.”

  “It is my name,” he said carefully, “and I am a doctor. I’m still the guy you’ve worked with for the past three years.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said with obvious distrust. “The doctors I know don’t come through…what the hell was that thing anyway?” She turned back to Jed. “It was different to the one that brought us here. Wasn’t it?”

  “It was,” Jed said with a nod. “We came through a bounce tunnel. It’s a much more civilized way to travel. Dragon jump vortex leaves most critters with a thumping headache. Although,” the old man said, sounding completely pissed, “I’d like to know how in blazes a dragon followed my bounce tunnel.”

  “Practice,” Brody said smugly.

  Eric tuned the rest of the conversation out as Jed wrapped an arm around Hannah’s shoulders. It took several moments for the green haze of jealousy to stop clouding his vision before Eric realized the old man was guiding her into the house. Now that he’d gotten over the initial excitement of finding her safe and well, he realized that Hannah was beginning to show signs of shock. When the old man tilted his head in a clear indication that they should follow, Eric didn’t hesitate.

  Just as he stepped into the house, he heard Brody ask West, “What do we know about this guy?”

  * * * *

  “He’s a retired PUP. He led Tango squad for more than seventy years. He’s a warlock, but his service record suggests he isn’t as old as his outward appearance suggests. Would that be a spell or something?”

  “Probably,” Brody said with a nod. “Warlocks are able to live nearly entire lifetimes amongst humans. Their outward appearance ages at the same rate of a human until they decide to rejuvenate.”

  “That would sure make life easier some days. A few years back my cousins had to retire from human law enforcement because they kept getting comments about how good they looked for sixty-year-olds.”

  “Yeah, it’s getting harder to hide in plain sight,” Brody said as they stepped onto the veranda and into the small building. “That’s why I’m so glad we have somewhere like Sugarvale to call home. With Ava’s pregnancy being the first of its kind, we have no idea if it’ll last nine months like a human child or fourteen months like a dragon child or anywhere in between. At least everyone around us is aware of the situation and, if it happens, she won’t need to explain why our baby is five months late.”

  West felt the veil of magic pass over him as they stepped through the door. It may have looked like a rustic old shack on the outside, but inside was far more impressive. Humans, and even most paranormals, would only see what the warlock wanted them to see, so it was good to realize that Jed trusted them enough to invite them into his real home.

  Hannah was pacing back and forth as Eric tried unsuccessfully to explain what was happening.

  “Why the hell would pixies want to assassinate me? I’m no one special,” Hannah spat angrily.

  West saw the pain on Eric’s face that she would talk herself down in that way, but it was his own reaction that surprised him. Despite knowing the woman was his cousin’s mate, he wanted to step in and tell her that she was very special—special to him and special to Eric. Hell, he was tempted to turn her over his knee and spank her ass until she understood that she was very valuable and shouldn’t say something so absurd. Or he could kiss her until she…

&n
bsp; His thoughts trailed off as he finally understood what was going on in his head.

  Shit!

  And to think he’d laughed when his cousin, Brandon, had called to invite them to a wedding with three grooms and one bride. Although, he hadn’t laughed quite so hard when less than a year later the three Brockman brothers had married a famous heiress named Ruby Rickardson. Hell, maybe it ran in the family. Considering that he and Eric had very little in common these days, it was likely to be a steep learning curve. West actually found himself hoping that it was only the two of them. Surely, problems between two men had to be less complicated than problems between three of them.

  “Hannah,” West said, stepping closer and hoping that he didn’t betray all the thoughts running through his head, “you’ve been targeted by assassins because you’re one of the Oracle’s receptacles. We need to get you to a safe house. I’m sorry, babe, but you are special, very special, and we need to find a way to protect you.”

  “I’m a what?”

  Brody ignored what was essentially a rhetorical question and asked one of his own. “Do you know how you managed to knock Eric on his ass outside?”

  “I did that?” she asked as her gaze bounced between the four men in the room.

  “You sure did,” Brody said with a smile. “My wife can’t explain how she does it either.”

  “Your wife?” Hannah said with a hopeful lilt in her voice. “Can I meet her?”

  “Hopefully, very soon,” Brody said carefully. It was obvious that he would protect his wife and child first and foremost. “But right now we need to get you somewhere safe so we can deal with the threat against you.”

  “The good news here,” West said, trying to be positive even though he suddenly found himself near catatonic with fear for his mate, “is that we have a chance to place you in protective custody. The assassin will come again, so we need to make certain she can’t find you.”

  “I believe you,” Hannah said, looking even more confused. “But I’m also pretty sure I’m somewhere having a breakdown and not actually here. I mean I dream of Dr. Hunkalicious all the time, so it makes sense he’d be here.” She glanced around the room. “I’m not sure where I dreamed up you three, but I’ve known for a long time that something was coming for me. I mean, why else would I develop a phobia that was triggered by a seven-year-old girl if I didn’t somehow know something that looked like a child would come after me.” Hannah giggled, but the sound was just a little too hysterical to be humor. “Shit I’ve spent my whole adult life training to be a pediatric nurse, and I’m going to lose it all by having one little breakdown.”

  West could see how much Eric wanted to reassure Hannah about her career, but the simple fact was that her days as a nurse to humans were over. Even if they could craft a new identity for her, going back to nursing was simply too dangerous, especially in a pediatric ward where every second patient could potentially be a pixie assassin. West simply wouldn’t allow his mate to put herself in danger like that. He took one look at the woman’s stubborn expression and decided to keep that thought to himself.

  “Babe,” West said affectionately as he stepped closer, “you’re not having a breakdown. We’ll work this out, I promise you.”

  “Uh-huh,” she said again, clearly unimpressed. “I was attacked by a…what did you call it Mr. Mathewson? A pixie?”

  “That’s correct,” Jed said with a shudder. “Very efficient assassins, the whole lot of them, but they don’t come cheap. Do we know who’s paying them?”

  “Look,” West said, casting an angry scowl in Jed’s direction. “I’m sure you’re very aware of how much of this conversation is classified. Thank you for assisting my mate, but I think it’s time we got her to a safe house.”

  He went to step forward and help Hannah to her feet, but it wasn’t until all eyes turned in his direction that he realized what he’d just said.

  * * * *

  Mate?

  She was West’s mate as well?

  Eric rubbed the headache that wouldn’t quit and wondered what to do now. Hannah didn’t even know West. There was a good chance she was going to explode over being mate to one bear-shifter. Eric couldn’t even imagine how she might react to having two.

  Brody’s grin was so wide Eric imagined he could see every one of the dragon-shifter’s teeth, but instead of commenting the man turned his attention to the warlock.

  “Is Hannah safe here for a short while?”

  “Of course,” Jed said with no small amount of irritation in his voice. “I was a PUP squad leader for longer than you’ve been around, dragon. Go report to your CO. I’ll keep her safe and make sure these two bears don’t tear each other apart.”

  Brody’s only response was to grin wider and then step out the front door. Once he reached the edge of the magical wards protecting Jed’s home, he opened a jump vortex and stepped through.

  “I think I need a time-out,” Hannah said, using the hand signal common to some sports.

  “Of course, honey,” Eric said, taking a seat beside her on the sofa. He leaned over and hugged her awkwardly.

  She sat stiffly in his embrace for several minutes before asking, “Is a mate what I think it is?”

  “Depends what you think it is,” West said, obviously trying to lighten the mood with a smile, “but to put it in human terms it means that both Eric and I are destined to be your husbands.”

  “I’m sorry I left it so long to tell you, honey, but I’m a bear-shifter. West”—he indicated with a tilt of his jaw—“is my cousin and apparently your mate also.”

  “Two husbands? And you’re what? Bear-shifters? What the hell does that mean?” She looked ready to throw more questions at them, but a strange look crossed her face and she tilted her head as if an important thought invaded her mind. She looked confused and maybe a little bit frightened when she asked, “How do I know that what you’re telling me is the truth? I mean, I’ve never even heard of a bear-shifter before now, but somehow I know that you’re capable of healing minor injuries just with your…” She hesitated. “With your gifts from the Great Spirit.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “How would I know that?”

  “Babe,” West said with a pointed look at Jed, “we’ll explain everything we can as soon as we have clearance to do so.”

  “Clearance?” she asked as her voice climbed several octaves. “Why would you need clearance to tell me who I am?”

  “I’m sorry, babe,” West said, “but you’re not the only one the pixies are targeting. When I can tell you more without endangering other lives, I promise you it will all make sense.”

  * * * *

  Three days later and still nothing made sense. She was human but not. Mate to two bear-shifters but not a shifter. Telekinetic but with no understanding on how she could control it. And she had assassins on her tail despite not knowing whatever it was they thought she knew.

  At least one thing was starting to make sense. She wasn’t delusional, because there was no way her imagination could be this overactive.

  “Mornin’, babe,” West said from the doorway of the bedroom. “Did you sleep okay?”

  She nodded and resisted saying her new favorite word—“uh-huh.” It had seemed to slip from her mouth far too often in the past few days. Sleeping “well” was a bit of a relative term. If it wasn’t bad enough that she had all manner of changes going on in her life, she also had to cope with the one thing she’d never expected—Dr. Eric Johansen sleeping in a chair beside her bed.

  “Coffee?” West whispered with a glance at his still-sleeping cousin. Eric looked terribly uncomfortable, and for about the hundredth time in the past three days Hannah considered inviting him onto the bed. The trouble was that she didn’t trust her own libido to behave. She’d fantasized about the man so often in the past that she was having trouble separating it from her current reality. The fact that he claimed to be her future husband, though, managed to drag her back to the here and now.

  She nodded a “yes”
to West on the coffee and then moved very slowly, hoping to be able to get out of bed without waking Eric. She was fairly certain this was the first time the man had slept since the pixie had found her. He hadn’t left her side since she’d accidentally knocked him on his ass in front of Jed’s place.

  But as she crept past the sleeping man, Eric reached for her hand.

  “Everything okay, honey?” He looked so tired that she wanted to curl her arms around him and insist he sleep.

  “Just going to get some coffee,” she said, unable to resist touching the lock of sandy-blond hair that fell over his eyes. “Why don’t you crawl onto the bed and get some proper rest?”

  “Maybe later,” he said, pressing his face to her belly in a sleepy, affectionate move that was over way too soon. He moved away quickly, obviously unsure of her reaction.

  “Why did you wait three years to tell me?”

  Eric gave her that kind smile that always worked wonders on his frightened patients. “Bear-shifters can be…” He hesitated, and then glanced to West for help.

  “Possessive, territorial, growly?” he provided with a wide grin on his face.

  Eric shrugged. “That’s probably pretty accurate. Once bear-shifters claim their mates, we have a tendency to turn into…let’s just say, overbearing buttheads. I just wanted to give you a chance to know your own mind so if I ever do step over that line, you’ll have the confidence enough to smack me upside the head—figuratively speaking.” He glanced at West again. “Of course, I wasn’t expecting to have to compete with another butthead.”

  “Compete?” West asked with far less than his usual cockiness. In fact the man looked downright disturbed. “I…um…Look I’ll just…” He didn’t finish the sentence, just shook his head and turned away.

  “Shit!” Eric said, shocking the hell out of her. In all the time she’d known him she’d never heard him swear. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s not a competition.” He scrubbed a hand down his unshaven face. “I should…” He moved to get out of the chair, but Hannah put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.