Warlock and the Bear

by Mina Carter

  Sliding into her car, she yanked her hat off and ruffled her hair, quickly checking her appearance in the mirror. As usual, her mascara had migrated to become smudges under her lower lashes that made her look like a damn raccoon. She had no idea what he saw in her. She couldn’t even do the makeup thing right, not like Kait, who looked like a model half the time.

  Her lipstick was long gone, and she smiled a little, remembering Morgan kissing it off at lunch when they’d managed a few private minutes behind the cafe. If they hadn’t been out in the open, who knows where that would have ended up.

  Morgan.

  Just the thought of the big, handsome warlock made her smile, warmth spreading through her chest. She couldn’t wait to see him again. Moon, she’d never thought she’d be the kind to hanker after a man but… what she and Morgan had was special. She could feel it. Her bear could feel it.

  Yeah, yeah… she knew the statistics. Relationships between bears and humans didn’t often work. Relationships between bears and magical folk even less. But just this once, she thought it might. She and Morgan were meant to be together. If he’d been a bear, she was sure he’d be her fated mate. He had to be. She’d never felt like this about anyone before. Like ever.

  Putting the car into gear, she pulled off, eager to get back to the lodge and… debrief. Yeah, it was all about the debrief, she told herself. Totally professional. Nothing to do with seeing a certain sexy warlock again.

  Honest.

  Harrison was as boring as fuck.

  Morgan’s heart leaped as he spotted his relief, Jason Abram from the enforcer team, drive past him and park up a little way down the street. He didn’t acknowledge the guy, nor did Jason so much as look Morgan’s way.

  Instead, the big warlock simply put his truck into drive and pulled off. It was heavily disguised, the spell he’d placed on it earlier making the distinctive metallic behemoth look like a little old lady’s battered sedan. He’d even added the little old lady at the wheel, barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel. The plates were obscured, spelled, so that if anyone looked at them they quickly lost interest and started to think of their shopping list instead. All in all, he’d done everything to ensure his stake-out today had gone smoothly.

  He needn’t have bothered, because he’d drawn the short straw and ended up with Brad Harrison. Who was as interesting as watching paint dry. All he’d done all day was work out in his garage, tinker with an old bike that was never going to start, and drink more beers than Morgan could count. Which accounted for all the time he’d spent in the can.

  Morgan had gotten so bored he’d seriously considered wrapping his boots in bubble wrap and trying to kick himself to death.

  Why couldn’t Harrison have done something? Like contact the rogues again. Or something nasty, so he could swoop in and save the day. In a way that would impress Lilly, he realized. More than that, he wanted her to respect him and his abilities— in more than just the bedroom.

  But no, the fucktard hadn’t done anything, so he was forced to return to the lodge empty-handed. He sighed with frustration as he reached the turn for the lodge and headed that way. If Harrison did anything now, it would be Jason who called it in and got all the glory.

  Pulling up at the lodge, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lilly’s little pink SUV already parked where the main lodge met the extension wing. Picking the space next to hers, he spared the little vehicle a glance. He needed to put a call into Thom. Get Lilly’s SUV checked over and tricked out to keep her safe if she had an accident.

  Then he groaned and dropped his forehead against the steering wheel in front of him. Chaos, he was an idiot. Lilly was a bear. She could probably play chicken with a semi and walk away. But even knowing that didn’t stop his need to protect her. The first time he’d felt protective over any woman. Ever. And she could rip his spine out through his ass and beat him with it if he stepped out of line.

  Yeah, he’d always had a thing for strong women.

  Resisting the urge to yank his cell free and call Thom, he got out of his truck to head inside. Before he got halfway a large figure stepped out and blocked his path.

  Instantly, he kicked himself for his mistake—he’d managed to get caught in a bottleneck alone between his and Lilly’s rides and the lodge wall. It was an unforgivable lapse, one that would have earned him endless piss-taking had anyone from his old unit seen it.

  In a heartbeat, he was locked and loaded, and not with anything so mundane as a rifle. He reached for power, the magic that resided in his soul, and the flame of active spells crawled up his arms from his clenched fists. Blue flickered against the wall, the color of his magic, highlighting the features of the bear in front of him.

  Bennett Allan.

  “What do you want, Bennett?” he snapped, taking his power level down a couple of notches. Much as he wanted to fry the fucker’s brains for thinking about Lilly, he couldn’t kill Bennett. If he so much as laid a finger on her though, Morgan wouldn’t be responsible for what happened.

  But he couldn’t kill him for just being an idiot. Because, bear or not, only an idiot would try and face down a warlock. Not without a small army for backup and possibly a few anti-tank weapons in the wings.

  “You need to let her go,” Bennett growled, his eyes darkened with his bear. “You don’t love her. I do. I can make her happy.”

  Guilt washed through him. No, he didn’t love Lilly. He couldn’t risk it. Everyone who loved him left. And he didn’t want her to leave. Not yet.

  “You can’t make her happy because she doesn’t love you,” he told Bennett bluntly. Dean had told both of them they shouldn’t sugar coat the situation if Bennett confronted them. That it was best to be as blunt as possible in the hopes it would snap the younger bear out of it.

  “She’ll never be happy with you,” Bennett snarled, something in his dark gaze making Morgan shiver. He wasn’t looking at the man, or even the bear anymore, he was sure of it. Something older and wiser peered from Bennett’s eyes, weighing and measuring him. Somehow, he knew he’d been found wanting. “She’ll never be happy with you because you can’t let her in.”

  Before Morgan could reply, Bennett growled and turned on his heel to disappear around Morgan’s truck. Flames still at the ready, just in case it was a ruse, Morgan followed him. But there was no ambush, no attack.

  Instead, there was a trail of ruined clothes leading across the parking lot, and the sight of Bennett’s hairy bear rump disappearing into the forest beyond.

  Chapter 8

  “Hey Jones.” Dean looked up as Morgan entered the room, an easy smile on the bear prime’s face. “Good of you to join us.”

  Morgan’s eyebrow winged up. “I didn’t realize there was a scheduled start time for this.”

  “There isn’t.”

  “Then why on my case, itinerary-monkey?”

  “Asshole warlock.” Dean threw back, not at all bothered by Morgan’s quip. They’d been doing this for years, it was practically required.

  “He’s just snarky because he’s been bored all day,” Lilly piped up from the corner. He took a moment to appreciate the sight laid out before him like a fine painting.

  The late afternoon sun caught her hair from the window behind her, rendering her dark hair a halo of fire and turning her eyes to shades of amber. She looked more like one of the fabled phoenix shifters than the bear he knew her to be.

  “Bored? Who says I’ve been bored?” he asked as he dropped into the chair in front of Dean’s desk.

  “This.” She held her cell out, scrolling through her recent messages. There was page after page of memes and funny pictures of cats. He’d been sending them all day, trying to get her to crack and talk to him.

  He shrugged. There was only three of them in the room. They’d agreed that all planning went through the three of them and only the three of them. Not that there was any suspicion that they had a mole in the clan, but it always paid to be security conscious. Especially at times l
ike these.

  “You were just a little later than we expected,” Dean explained. “All good?”

  “Yeah. All good. Just some… non-bear stuff to deal with,” Morgan replied, sweeping his hair off his face with both hands. He didn’t bother to mention the little altercation with Bennett outside. It had nothing to do with the Anderson situation, and it had just been words anyway. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

  “So, anything doing with Harrison?”

  He was suddenly the center of attention for both bears. It was like being stared at by two rattlesnakes, and a hell of a lot more dangerous. He could deal with two snakes. Two bears, both alphas? Yeah, that would take more magic than he wanted to use against anyone he didn’t want to kill.

  “Nope. Didn’t move from his place all day. Boring as watching fucking paint dry.”

  Dean’s brows snapped together. “What are these assholes playing at? It’s like they disappeared off the face of the earth.”

  Morgan caught Lilly’s gaze and she shook her head, hair dancing on her shoulders. She’d had no luck with Anderson either, then.

  “And you’re sure there was nothing different about his routine? He didn’t try and contact anyone?”

  Morgan shrugged. “Not in his pocket, dude, so I wouldn’t know if he’s normally such a boring fuck. But no, he didn’t contact anyone that I saw. Not unless it was by telepathy.”

  Dean arched an eyebrow. “Could he have used the internet?”

  Lilly shook her head. “No cable out that far, and he doesn’t have a PC.”

  Morgan and Dean both turned to look at her.

  “How do you know that?” Morgan demanded. Was there some history between Harrison and Lilly that he didn’t know about? Jealousy flared, white hot, to claw at his guts. He couldn’t see the pair of them together… Harrison was a dick and Lilly was altogether too intelligent. But, could it have been a youthful thing?

  Her lips quirked.

  “I may have done a little scout around his place while he was at the Beast the other night. All in the name of intel…”

  They both continued to look at her. Dean’s reply held the edge of a growl. “Don’t head out alone like that again.”

  “Yeah, what he said,” Morgan added, not liking the idea of her being in Harrison’s place by herself, bear or not.

  She gave them a level look right back. Then she blinked and gave a little mock-start.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, were you both talking to me?” she asked, saccharine-sweet. Her eyes were wide and innocent; Lilly at her most dangerous. “I thought for a moment you were telling the clan’s head enforcer, an alpha bear with a proven track record, not to do her job?”

  Morgan’s expression set. She had them there. He just didn’t like the idea of her going alone into danger. Yeah, sure, he and Dean had often done it back in the day, but this was Lilly… it was different.

  “It’s not your job to put yourself in danger like that,” he told her. “I haven’t spent the last week at your place keeping you safe just for you to go throw yourself under the damn bus like that.”

  “Keeping me safe?” There was a higher edge to her voice as she faced him down. “Is that what you’ve been doing?”

  Danger Morgan Jones... Danger.

  “Of course. Why else would I be sleeping there?”

  She blinked, and the shutters closed in her expression. “Right. Just so we have that cleared up. I’ll make sure that I don’t put myself in danger. If we’re done here?”

  She didn’t look at Morgan, transferring her attention to Dean. He lifted his hands as if in surrender, leaning back in his chair.

  “All done. Let me know where you have everyone assigned tomorrow and keep me updated on progress.”

  “Will do,” she said, her voice clipped. She levered herself up out of the chair and, walking past Morgan without so much as a glance, left the room.

  He watched the door for a couple of moments and then turned back around.

  To find Dean watching him, an amused look on his face.

  “What?” he demanded.

  Dean’s grin broadened. “I’ve seen that look before. Be careful tangling with that one. Bear women are like nothing you’ve ever dealt with before.”

  Morgan raised an eyebrow. “Who says anyone is dealing with anyone?”

  Dean’s bark of laughter was short and sharp. “Really? You expect me to believe that? There’s no way, with the tension between you two, that you’re not tapping that.”

  He leaned forward, his expression suddenly serious. “I’m not pissing about, Morgan. Be very careful with Lilly. She’s an alpha, and a she-bear. If she falls in love with you, bonds with you, then you need to be all in, because that’s it for her.”

  The words stunned Morgan. He’d never considered that Lilly might fall in love… much less bond with him. He laughed to cover the thread of nerves that tried to roll through him.

  “She won’t fall for me, don’t be stupid. She’s a big girl, Dean, one who knows her own mind and what the score is. We’re just scratching an itch while we can, that’s all.”

  Dean folded his arms, eyebrow raised. “Yeah, if you say so.”

  Morgan chuckled. “I mean, come on. Can you see me settling down with any woman, especially a bear woman?”

  The sudden chill in the room made them both freeze, but it was the low and dangerous growl from the other side of the door that made Morgan’s heart sink.

  He closed his eyes at the sound of running feet. He knew who it was.

  “Then you’re a fucking idiot, Morgan.” Dean’s tone revealed he was not amused at all anymore. “Any man would kill to have Lilly. Now go after her, because if you lose me my head enforcer, I’ll gut you myself.”

  “…knows her own mind and what the score is. We’re just scratching an itch while we can, that’s all.”

  The words, followed by Morgan’s rich, deep laugh, froze Lilly in place outside the door to Dean’s office. She’d doubled back to tell him Will Reed wasn’t on duty tomorrow. He had to look after his kid because his mate had a prenatal appointment.

  The clan demanded a lot from its enforcers but the one thing it did not fuck about with was family. Nothing was more important than family.

  But she hadn’t gotten that far. Morgan’s words filtered through the thick wood to her disbelieving ears. She tightened her grip on the handle, intending to shove the door open and inform him that if she hadn’t before, she certainly did know the score now. But his next words delivered the final nail in the coffin of their fledgling relationship.

  “I mean, come on. Can you see me settling down with any woman, especially a bear woman?”

  If she’d frozen before, then she was a living statue now. Agony laced through her chest like a slow-blooming flower, spreading from her heart in lightning bolt fractures.

  Here she was, starting to think about happily ever after and white picket fences, and he wasn’t even serious about her. Had never been serious about her. This was all a game to him.

  Scratching an itch.

  The growl welled up from her very soul, the place where her bear lived, as the creature voiced the betrayal they both felt.

  Snatching her hand back from the door handle like it was acid eating through her skin, she didn’t wait to see what else the asshole warlock said but fled instead.

  She tore through the lodge. The few clan members in residence squawked and almost fell over each other to get out of her way. She barely saw them in her need to get away. To escape. Tears nearly blinded her as she crashed through the main doors and stumbled outside.

  How could she have been so stupid? How could she for one minute have thought that she and Morgan Jones could have a future together? He was a player, nothing more, nothing less. She knew that.

  Look at all the women he’d dated since coming to Beauty… Although dated was stretching it a bit. No, a lot. Party girls and booty-calls, all arm candy with barely two brain cells to knock together, and those two were only conc
erned with clothes and men. Half relied on men like Morgan to get by, and the other half… well, their primary source of income was more the horizontal variety.

  “Hey Lilly. Are you okay?” A soft voice asked in concern and she looked up to find Eliza Watson in front of her, baby Poppy held in her arms.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Lilly croaked, sliding past her quickly and fleeing toward her SUV. Even out here, she couldn’t get away from him— Morgan’s huge black truck corralled her little car.

  “Lilly! Wait!” Morgan called out, crashing through the main doors of the lodge just after her.

  “Go to hell, asshole!” she yelled back, enough of her bear in her voice to make it nearly a roar. Yanking her keys from her pocket, she opened the door and dropped into the driver’s seat with more force than finesse.

  “Wait!!” Morgan reached the passenger door a split second after she triggered the locks. He yanked ineffectually on the handle, hair swinging against his broad shoulders.

  “Lilly, dammit! Let me in!” he demanded, his expression a cross between concern and anger.

  “Go to hell!” she repeated at the top of her lungs and tried to start the car. The problem was, her hands weren’t working right. The keys slipped from her fingers into the footwell.

  “Fuck! Seriously?!” She hissed, dashing at her cheeks to clear the tears. She was angry-crying because there was no way in hell she was crying over asshole Morgan Jones. No way. No how.

  “Come on Lilly,” he cajoled, bending down to look at her through the window. “Let’s talk about this, okay, baby?”

  “Baby? Baby?!” she screeched, leaning down and managing to grab her keys from the floor. They went into the ignition on the second stab. “I’m not your fucking baby!”

  “Of course you are. Come on, Lilly, be reasonable,” he pleaded.