Bear It All
Rochelle Paige
Copyright
© 2015 Rochelle Paige Popovic
All rights reserved.
Edited by Monica Black
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons or living or dead, events or locals are entirely coincidental.
The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/ Use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owner.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Bear the Burden | Prologue
Other Books By This Author
Acknowledgments
About The Author
Dedication
This book would not have been possible without all the virtual hand-holding Elle Christensen did while I was writing Braden & Tahlia’s story. Thanks for always being there to give me a pat on the back... or a kick in the butt when one is needed.
Prologue
Tahlia
Growing up as the daughter of one of the pride’s few defending lionesses meant you were raised one way and one way only: toughened up to be strong enough to help defend the pride from intruders. My mom wasn’t merely a defender, though. She was the best we had, better even than some of our full grown males, making her the highest ranking lioness in the pride since our prime hadn’t found his mate yet. As her only daughter, the expectations were steep for me. Subsequently, my mom took her dedication to a whole new level.
Weapons training, hand-to-hand combat, survival techniques, defensive driving, surveillance and counter-surveillance—I had been trained in them all. She hired the best from inside and outside the shifter world to come teach me. The last thing my mom wanted was tooth and claw to be the only weapons in my arsenal. In the end, it turned out she had trained me a little too well. There were many different kinds of shifters in the world, each with their own form of leadership, but the shifter council ruled over us all. Those who served on it were the strongest, fiercest, and most cunning of our kind. The last thing most of us wanted was to have their focus aimed our way—and I had caught their attention.
I’d barely turned eighteen when I received an invitation to meet with them. Although I was young, I wasn’t stupid. I knew the invitation was a mere formality. It should have been called a summons instead, because I didn’t have a choice about attending. The last thing I wanted was to bring the wrath of the council down on myself, my mom, or my pride.
I’d been incredibly nervous and uncertain about what they could possibly want from me, but I was surprised to find how quickly the wolf shifter who led the council put me at ease. Then, I was flat-out stunned by what he asked of me. They wanted a female operative and the alpha who represented the lion shifter community had thrown my name out as a good candidate?
“It’s highly unusual for me to make this request of a young shifter, but we have an urgent situation in which you are uniquely suited to provide assistance.”
“You want to send me out on a mission for the council?” I sputtered. In our world, it was common knowledge the council had agents at their disposal, but I’d never actually met one of them or even considered in my wildest dreams they would ask me to work for them. It was virtually impossible to believe they would ever think me capable enough to act on their behalf. The council was run by alpha males—not exactly a species with a reputation for handing responsibility over to women. “You know I’m a girl, right?”
The look he leveled my way reminded me I was being a tad bit disrespectful to a powerful alpha wolf. I quickly lowered my gaze, not wanting to get on the wrong side of the council’s leader. I might have a tendency to be snarky from time to time, but I wasn’t stupid.
“I’ve found that women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare due to their ability to multitask,” he explained. “They’re also better at playing a role because it seems to come more naturally. Plus, in my experience, they’re able to suppress their ego more easily in order to attain a goal.”
I raised my eyes in time to catch the pointed stare he sent my way and knew I’d proven his point. It might have stung my pride a little to show him the respect he deserved, but I had done it anyway without much thought. Had I been one of the guys from my pride, my reaction probably would have been different. “What exactly do you need me to do?”
“I need you to allow yourself to be kidnapped.”
His answer didn’t just shock me—it changed my life. Once he explained the situation involving the disappearance of a dozen young female shifters, I agreed to help and became part of the team they sent in to take care of the situation. The satisfaction I felt in helping to rescue those girls was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Working for the council gave me a purpose beyond protecting our pride, and it wasn’t a feeling I was willing to let go.
Luckily, the council had further use of my skills. Most of my missions during the five years I’d worked for them were short, lasting a week at most—long enough to make a difference, but short enough I didn’t miss my pride. My mom was incredibly proud of the role I played for the council and never hesitated to tell me how I owed it all to her. But if I were gone too long, she also let me know I needed to wrap things up more quickly and get my ass back home.
She wasn’t going to be happy about my newest mission. My orders came down this morning and the situation was more complicated and unusual than any I’d tackled so far. I was going undercover at a club owned by one of the council members, and it was rare for a council member to use an agent for personal business. Typically, they preferred to handle something like this themselves, using their own enforcers or defenders.
When I heard where I was going and what my cover was going to be, I wasn’t sure I wanted to say yes. What they were asking of me was outside my comfort zone, but I had worked with this particular council member before and he’d earned my respect. He’d tried to handle this on his own, but the attempted kidnapping of his grandchild and his daughter-in-law’s injury when she intervened were enough to convince him he needed help. It was also enough for me to go along with the plan. When I accepted this mission, little did I know it would take me away from my pride longer than usual...and lead me straight to my mate.
Chapter 1
Braden
“You sure you can’t join us for dinner?” Finley’s words were softly spoken. I’d worked hard over the last couple months to make up for how I’d treated her when my brother first brought her home with him. When she mated with Alasdair, she didn’t even know about our grudge against her dad for how our sister had been treated while growing up in his pack. The situation had been fucked up, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on her. Luckily, we eventually came to our senses. Now, Camden and I both thought of her as our precious baby sist
er.
Most of the time, she seemed completely comfortable with us. But every now and then, I saw a flash of uncertainty in her eyes and knew we still had more to prove for her to trust us entirely. The hitch in her voice combined with the sight of her hand lightly rubbing her lower stomach where my niece or nephew was nestled inside, had me rethinking my decision.
Alasdair came up behind Finley and rested his hand over hers. “You giving Braden a hard time, my little mate?”
“I’m trying to talk him into coming over for dinner tonight. We’ve barely seen him since he’s been back.” Her voice was steady now that she had my brother at her back. Their beginning might have been rough, but there were no doubts between the mated couple anymore.
Alasdair’s eyes locked with mine and I knew he could see the bone-deep exhaustion I still felt from my last trip with my dad. Hunting down the guy who’d hired a human to kidnap my niece had proven to be even harder than any of us had anticipated. Every damn time we thought we had a good lead, we came up empty handed. It was driving me insane knowing there was someone out there with an ax to grind against our family and I couldn’t find them. I spent my days helping at the club and my nights searching for more information. A good night’s sleep was a thing of the past for me. I figured I could rest once I’d found the guy and put him in the ground, but continuing my search was going to have to wait until after dinner with my brother and his mate.
“I guess I could use a home-cooked meal.”
Finley beamed at my response, but Alasdair frowned while he studied my face. “You look like you need to sleep for a week.”
“He can go hibernate after dinner,” Finley mumbled, elbowing him in the ribs. “Don’t you dare give him a reason to back out after I managed to get him to agree.”
“Just because we’re bear shifters doesn’t mean we hibernate.” Alasdair’s tone was gruff, most likely in an attempt to sound offended, but it was a misguided one. Finley and I both knew how much he enjoyed his sleep. He’d be the first one to hibernate voluntarily if such a thing were a remote possibility—or he would have been before he found her. Now, he wouldn’t want to be apart from his mate for too long. But sleeping for a week did sound pretty damn good.
“How about you volunteer to cover for me tomorrow? Then I can enjoy dinner with you guys tonight and still catch up on my sleep.”
“It sounds like a perfect plan to me,” Finley agreed.
Alasdair glared at me over her shoulder. “How can it be perfect? My plan to spend the day with you is better.”
“I’ll come into the office with you and help,” she offered. “It’s a win-win solution. You get to spend the day with me and your brother gets the sleep you just told him he needed.”
Finley had turned in his arms, and I couldn’t stop the smile that tilted my lips when my brother pulled her closer, until he was able to lean down and rest his forehead against hers. “You need your rest, my little mate.”
“One day in the office isn’t going to hurt me or the baby. Especially not with you here. I’m sure you’ll have me settled on the couch with my feet propped up the whole time anyway,” she teased.
“Nothing will ever hurt you again.” I had no doubt my brother meant those words to the depths of his heart. Growing up without a mom, we hadn’t been an overly emotional bunch. Our dad tried his best, but he had always been a man’s man. And after his fated mate sent him away, choosing to spend her life with another male, he’d closed a part of his heart off. Although we knew he loved us, it wasn’t something we said or even demonstrated often to each other. But watching Alasdair at moments like this with his mate, I couldn’t help but yearn for the day I found the woman fated for me. The woman with whom I’d be able to look at with the same deep, abiding love my brother showed each time he laid eyes on Finley.
****
Even as tired as I was, having dinner with Alasdair and Finley was the right decision. She’d had a roast cooking in the crock-pot all day, which meant we didn’t have to wait long before the meal was ready. It was a damn sight better than anything I would have been able to make myself since my fridge was empty aside from beer and takeout containers that should have been tossed days ago. By the time I made it home, I was beyond exhausted. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light. Unfortunately for me, I was dragged out of a deep sleep only a few hours later by the ringing of my cell phone.
“Pack a bag.” There was no hello. No explanation. Just a barked order in a tone that made it clear my dad expected me to obey without hesitation. “Plan on being gone for at least a few days. I’ll be there in ten minutes to pick you up.”
As I rubbed my bleary eyes, I figured one of two things had happened: either shit had hit the fan at one of our clubs or he had another lead we needed to run down. My dad wasn’t one to call his sons in the middle of the night. He didn’t usually order us around unnecessarily either. And he sure as hell didn’t get a wild hair up his ass to take a road trip in the middle of the night unless there was a damn good reason.
“Where are we going?”
“Claw Ridge.”
I didn’t have a chance to say anything else before I heard the dial tone in my ear. We owned a club in Claw Ridge, but I hadn’t heard about any problems there recently. And I doubted anything business related popped up this quickly that couldn’t be handled in the morning. My dad normally didn’t let business matters yank his chain, which made me think it was another lead on Kyla’s attempted kidnapping. The woman claiming to know who hired the human turned out to be a flake after a reward, and every single damn lead we’d gotten since then had turned up the same exact thing: nothing.
Glancing at the clock, I realized I’d already wasted a few minutes on something I didn’t have the time to try to figure it out right now. Not when I needed to pack and brew some coffee. We had a long trip ahead of us. It was too damn bad I’d never gotten my pilot’s license like I’d wanted to when I was a kid, it sure as shit would have been useful lately.
I was zipping my duffle bag closed when my dad pulled into my driveway. By the time he honked the horn a couple minutes later, I was walking out the door with my bag flung over my shoulder and two travel mugs full of coffee in my hands. He didn’t even wait for me to settle into my seat before he had the truck in reverse and was pulling onto the street.
“What the hell’s going on, Dad?”
“I placed a council agent in one of our clubs a month ago, hoping they’d be able to blend in and get people comfortable enough to talk without fearing word would get back to us, and it looks like my gamble paid off. The message I got tonight is our best bet in a long time to catch the bastard we’ve been looking for.”
I had to have heard him wrong. “You brought an outsider into our family’s problems?”
“There were whispers on the grapevine our guy headed up north. I figured if he was still interested in your sister, then he might use our club as a way to keep tabs on her. But it had to be an outsider. If one of us were up there, we would have spooked him, so I sent one of my agents to the club I would have picked if I wanted information on our family and hoped like hell my guess was right.”
“I hope your agent knows what he’s doing.”
“They’re one of our best. Someone I’ve worked with in the past. I would have never asked for their help if I didn’t trust them.”
I didn’t understand his answering smirk or the way he worded his response at the time, but I certainly learned my lesson about making assumptions later.
Chapter 2
Tahlia
“Water, please.” Sean, the Honey Pot’s bartender, was used to my request before each shift and grabbed a bottle before the words left my mouth.
“You sure you don’t want a shot for courage?” His grin was teasing, but I knew he’d give me one if I said yes. Everyone on staff got a huge kick out of how nervous I always got before I went on stage for the first dance of the night.
“One of these days, I might take you
up on the offer,” I murmured. “But then you’ll be the one stuck explaining to the boss why I puked in some guy’s lap.”
“You’re smoking hot up there, Lia. Trust me when I tell you there’s absolutely nothing for you to be nervous about when you dance.” I knew he meant it as a reassurance, but it didn’t help me feel any better. If the council hadn’t ordered me to take a job as a dancer here, I never would have walked through the front door. I certainly wouldn’t have applied for a job as a stripper, and it had nothing to do with getting naked. I had no problem with that part—I was a shifter, after all—but I had never thought of myself as a woman who inspired sexual fantasies in men and now I was expected to do exactly that while having to deal with the stench of human lust wafting from the men who watched me, which drove me crazy.
I laid all the blame for my current situation on my mom. She’s the one who forced me into dance lessons, which made me perfect for infiltrating the club as a stripper. At least I could take comfort in knowing I finally had a lead for Councilman McMahon and would be done with this assignment soon. As I made my way through the club to the dressing rooms, my gaze scanned the room. I double checked the exits and assessed everyone for possible threats out of habit.
When I spotted the hot-as-fuck guy at the VIP table in the corner, my pulse sped up in an unexpected way, a rush of lust pumped through my system, and I felt the brush of fur against my skin—signaling my cat’s interest in him. The feeling was unwelcome. This was the worst time possible for me to meet someone who could set my body on fire while making my cat purr. I shook my head to clear my thoughts before moving my gaze past the long, tall, dark drink of water and finished my sweep of the room. Luckily, I found Councilman McMahon standing near the door next to the stage marked “Employees Only”. Our eyes locked for a brief moment before he turned away.
I stopped to chat with one of the cocktail waitresses before heading toward the employee exit again. I didn’t want it to look like I needed to speak with Councilman McMahon in case my lead didn’t pan out and I needed to maintain my cover after he left. The last thing I wanted was to give anyone watching a reason to think I was connected to him in any way other than being a dancer in his club. Even with my attention divided, I couldn’t help but notice how many of the girls stopped by the VIP table in such a short amount of time. Waiting a few minutes while I watched them flirt with him was sparking my temper, but there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Finally enough time had passed for me to make my escape. A quick glance up and down the hallway showed the coast was clear and I slipped into the office silently.
Bear It All: McMahon Clan 2 (Fated Mates #5) Page 1