“Should I apologize for something I believe to be true?”
“If Belle proved to her Alphas beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was innocent, shouldn’t you grant her the courtesy of belief?”
Marie took a deep breath, then let it out in a rush. “I’ll give it some thought.”
“I hate to say it, but I think the healing needs to come from you, and all the ones who feel the way you do. I think you’re the only ones who can end it.”
Marie nodded slowly, but it was obvious she was unhappy about it. “I’ll talk to them. Thanks, Cyn.” She smiled softly. “I think we’re going to be good friends.” Marie suddenly grinned. “Now, on to more important things.” She leaned forward, her gaze darting to Cyn’s neck. “When is that hunka hunka going to mark you?” She waggled her brows with a lecherous grin.
Cyn snorted, amused. “Please. He hasn’t been properly trained yet.”
Marie laughed. “Call me if you need any pointers. Those men of ours need to be reminded who really rules the roost. Oh!” She started digging through her purse. “I have the cutest little safari hat you can borrow.
Cyn giggled as Marie shoved a cell phone in her hand. On it was a picture of Marie, safari hat perched on her head, her mate at her side. “Are those bear ears?”
“Yup. I totally made him dance too.”
“You’re nuts.” But she was Cyn’s kind of nuts. Marie was right; they were going to be good friends.
Satisfied that her Dr. Phil moment was over for the week, she polished off her lasagna and wondered what Julian would have to say about all of this.
She pushed thoughts of Julian aside for later. Right now, she had tiramisu to conquer.
Chapter Ten
“I’m glad you didn’t have any trouble while you were out last night.” Gabe Anderson snatched the tapping pencil out of Tabby’s fingers. “I still think it was reckless, though.”
“That’s not what Glory told me you said.” Cyn rolled her eyes and thought about how insane her friend was being. “I hate to say this, I mean I really hate to say this, but I think somebody should just bite her ass.” Maybe then she’d get over the massive cranky fit she was having.
“You’re just saying that because I’ve been singing Weird Al Yankovic all morning.” Glory smirked at them as she worked on the belly button ring display.
Cyn turned and glared at her. “This is revenge for the Super Grover comment.”
Glory’s baby blues went wide with fake innocence. “Can I help it if I love ‘Perform This Way’?”
Gabe cleared his throat, gaining their attention once more. “I’ll be checking in regularly with you ladies, but just in case here’s my cell number. Call me if anything seems to be even remotely off. Until we find out what these guys are after I’m not going to risk your safety.” Gabe tossed the pencil back to Tabby and sauntered out of the shop.
Glory set the display back in the case and dusted off her hands. “Be right back. Feel free to talk about me while I’m gone.”
“What the hell is up with her?” Tabby’s accent had thickened into a deep Georgia drawl, an indication of exactly how upset she was. “She’s acting like a total brat.”
“It’s that whole don’t tie-me-down thing that’s tripping her up.”
“Maybe I should change her.” Rat-a-tat-tat went Tabby’s pencil. “Maybe then she’ll understand why Ryan’s close to losing it.”
“Might not be a bad idea. If she feels that mate pull you guys talk about she’ll stop fighting it so hard.”
“At least you’ve stopped fighting it.”
Cyn shrugged. She couldn’t say she’d completely stopped fighting it, but it was more girl slap now than Gears of War. Julian was proving he was nothing like her father, and she was proving to herself she was nothing like her mother. Now if only she could get over the fear that he’d do a complete one-eighty once he bit her they’d be golden.
“Did I tell you, Micah called me again?” Tabby’s tapping pencil picked up speed.
The new Alpha of Tabby’s old Pack had been relentless in his attempts to try and speak with her. “Did you pick up the phone this time?”
“Hell, no. Alex still wants to go down there and find Dennis Boyd and rip him a new one. You think I’m really going to open up that can of whoop-ass on the Marietta Pack?”
Cyn shrugged. “What about your parents, have they called too?”
Tabby snorted. “Please. They tossed me away like last week’s garbage. Even if they wanted to speak to me, I don’t want to speak to them.” She wrinkled her nose as if smelling the garbage she spoke of. “Besides, my pack and my family are here.”
As long as Tabby was happy, Cyn didn’t give a rat’s ass if her friend never spoke to her biological family again. “In that case the next time he calls, tell him to fuck off.”
“Genteelly, of course.” She picked up the pencil and stared at it cross eyed.
“Uh-huh.” What the hell was Tabby doing?
“Because I’m a lady.” She sniffed along the pencil, starting when she poked her nose with the tip.
“More like a puppy. Don’t eat that, you don’t know where it’s been.”
Cyn ducked as Tabby threw the pencil at her head. She sniffed the air in short staccato bursts, then snorted much like a dog would. “What is that funky smell?”
The sound of a toilet flushing made Cyn giggle.
“Not that!” Tabby’s nose scrunched up. “Although that’s pretty ripe too.”
Glory stepped out from behind the employees’ only curtain and eyed Cyn, who was still giggling like a loon. “What the hell is wrong with her?”
“Do you smell something funky?”
Glory blushed and dug her toe into the worn linoleum. “Um, yeah, I’m sorry about that. See, I had cheese with lunch, and—”
“No! It doesn’t smell…biological.”
Cyn took a deep breath, but all she could smell was the shop itself. It was a combination of ink and paper and dust and glass cleaner, just like always. “I don’t smell anything.”
Tabby’s nose wrinkled. “You can’t smell that? It’s like, kind of, ick.” She was practically gagging. She pulled the edge of her shirt away from her neck and pulled it up to her nose, sniffing cautiously.
“Are you smelling coffee again?” Recently the smell of coffee made Tabby nauseous. Thank God she wasn’t living in the apartment anymore. Glory would’ve had to kill her. Glory without her morning coffee was like the Terminator without John Connor—bat-shit insane and absolutely lethal.
Tabby wrinkled her nose in disgust. “No, it’s not coffee. I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything quite like it before.”
Cyn looked over at Glory who shook her head. “I can’t smell a thing.”
Cyn bit her lip, but it really wasn’t that hard a decision to make. “I think this qualifies as anything weird. Call Gabe.”
“On it.” Glory pulled out her cell phone. She must have put the sheriff on speed dial, because within two seconds she was talking to him.
“I’m going to find where the hell that’s coming from.” Tabby stalked out from behind the counter and headed toward the back, into the employee–only area. “What is it?” She was muttering to herself as she followed the scent to the back door.
Cyn stuck to her like glue. No way was she letting Tabby go out there by herself. She grabbed hold of Tabby’s arm. “Let’s wait for Gabe.”
Tabby’s eyes had turned golden brown, her Wolf’s eyes. “I have a really bad feeling about this.”
She trusted Tabby’s instincts. They’d sharpened since her friend had gotten pregnant. Cyn pulled Tabby back and away from the door. “Let’s get out of here.”
Glory was already out front, waiting for them. “I was just about to go in to pull you guys out. Gabe wants us to wait out here for him. He also wants to know what it smelled like.”
“It was plastic and metal and…motor oil? Maybe? And something I can’t even describe.”
Gabe pulled up to the curb, lights flashing but sirens silent. He got out of his cruiser and sprinted toward the girls. “All right, Tabby, come with me.” He pulled Tabby off to the side and whispered in her ear. Tabby in turn whispered back.
Gabe paled and pushed Tabby toward the street. “You three, get across the street now.” He then sprinted for the back of the shop at breakneck speed.
Cyn didn’t need to be told twice. She ran across the street and into the dry cleaners. “What the fuck is going on?”
Gabe came running back from around the corner of the building, his expression grim. He leaned into the cruiser, but Cyn couldn’t see what he was doing.
Before too long he was jogging across the street. “Follow me.”
Cyn, Tabby and Glory followed him to the corner. “Listen carefully.” He was talking so softly Cyn could barely hear him. “I think there’s a pipe bomb at your back door.”
“A what?” Cold fury rushed through her. Whoever was after them had gone too far. A pipe bomb wouldn’t just do property damage. The damn things were meant to kill people.
“I’ve already sent for the bomb squad. I want you girls to wait here until I tell you otherwise.”
Cyn clenched her fists. “Tabby, did you scent Cheetah again?”
“No. It was…strange. Not human, I know that.” She rubbed her nose. “It’s really weird. I’d swear I smelled deer.”
Cyn’s brows rose in surprise. “There are deer shifters?”
“No. That’s what’s so strange about it. I could scent deer and charcoal and wool, but nothing else.”
“Was that the scent that you couldn’t describe?” Glory was playing with her hair, twisting the curls around her fingers over and over again. She was scared, and desperately trying not to show it.
“No. Maybe it was the explosive I smelled.” Tabby groaned as a familiar motorcycle pulled up in front of them. “I didn’t do anything.”
The smile in Alex’s face was easy-going, but his dark brown bear’s eyes betrayed his uneasiness. “Tell me my mate wasn’t threatened again.”
Gabe sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It’s going to be a long day, isn’t it?”
Alex spun on his heel and marched toward the tattoo shop. Tabby raced after him and latched onto his arm. “No, Alex!”
“Come back here so I can explain everything to you.” Gabe grabbed hold of Alex’s other arm. “Look over there. My deputies are starting to clear out the businesses around the tattoo shop. You can’t go over there right now.”
Alex growled but allowed himself to be led away. By the time they were done telling him everything that had happened Alex was sitting on the seat of his motorcycle, Tabby firmly on his lap. Dark five-inch claws had sprouted from his fingertips and drummed restlessly over her stomach. Tabby had her hands over his, trying to hide them as the sidewalk filled with humans. “This is getting ridiculous.”
“I agree. But hopefully this time they royally screwed up.” Gabe nodded toward the street. “Here comes the bomb squad. Maybe now we’ll have some answers.”
Cyn was shaking by the time the heavily padded men came back from around the shop. Between them was a black box, one she assumed held the pipe bomb.
“With any luck those idiots left fingerprints behind.” Gabe’s grin was feral; the Hunter in him had come to the fore. “I’ll call you as soon as I have some news.”
“Since when does Halle have a bomb squad?” Glory tugged hard enough on her curls to wince. “Now what?”
Cyn started across the street. “Now we go back to work.” She ignored Glory’s grumbling. How long would it be before whoever was after them decided to go to their homes? So far they only targeted the shop, but Cyn knew that couldn’t last. At some point or another the bad guys would figure out that the three of them were too well guarded there.
It was time to try and lure them into the open. But how? She couldn’t endanger Tabby or Glory, and if Julian found out she’d turned herself into bait he’d have a cow. Against a human attacker she had every confidence in herself, but she was facing shifters.
She paused, her hand on the knob, the door halfway open. The sound of the bell was still ringing in her ears.
Perhaps it was time she really went out for a bite.
“Bite me.”
Julian stared at his mate and tried to hold back his frustrated groan. He should have guessed the moment she pulled him into the back room that she’d be demanding he change her. He’d seen how pale she was the moment he’d stepped through the door. When he’d gotten news of the pipe bomb he’d raced out of work like his ass was on fire. But instead of trembling and allowing Ryan to calm her like Glory or cuddling with her mate like Tabby, she’d demanded he mate her.
This was not the way he’d wanted to mark her. He’d planned on candlelight, decadent food and a full-on seduction. Instead he was in a dusty back room full of tattoo ink and needles, with nary a soft surface in sight so he could sink into her properly.
She snapped her fingers in his face. “Now, Julian. Let’s get this over with. I have work to do.”
She had to be shitting him. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Make with the fang.” She pointed at her neck. “Do I need to mark the spot or something?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and prepared himself for a battle. “No.”
She echoed his movement and almost distracted him. He couldn’t help it if his eyes were drawn to the bounty her arms now hid. “What happened to wanting a taste?”
He hoped his expression told her exactly how he felt about her request, because if he opened his mouth right then he’d say something he’d regret. He had a pretty good idea why she was doing this, which was not a mark in her favor.
Cyn sighed wearily. “I’m not saying we’re going to stop dating. I’m asking for safety.” She waved her arms toward the curtains that hid them from the rest of the shop. “Tabby’s pregnant and Glory is…Glory.” Her eyes pled with him. “Please, Julian. Give me what I need to take care of them.”
Fuck. She was pulling out the big guns. That stubborn determination to protect what was hers was part of her appeal, but it could get her seriously hurt if he didn’t rein her in. “I can’t.” He held up his hand to stifle her immediate protest. “Look, there are things I haven’t told you yet. Becoming like me is different from becoming a Wolf or a Puma, or even another Bear. It isn’t just a bite.”
“Let me guess. It’s a Kermode thing and I wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, you’ll understand. Trust me. But if I’m going to bite you, it has to be done correctly.” Not in a dusty back room. Not when she was this angry and afraid. If she thought she was hiding her fear from him, she was sadly mistaken. He could smell it pouring from her skin.
“Fine. What do we need to do?”
“I’ll come to your place tonight. I give you my word I’ll explain everything then.” He stroked her cheek, unable to stop himself from touching her. He was tired of seeing her hurt; it had been bad enough when one of Gary’s goons had clocked her, but seeing her broken jaw had driven home how much worse it could have been if Tabby hadn’t been there. “Trust me.”
“You say that a lot.” But she pressed her cheek into his palm, reassuring him he was doing the right thing. Throwing her to Bear without some preparation would earn him a lot more grief than asking her to wait a few hours. “Fine. But I expect to be fuzzy by morning, got it?”
“It doesn’t work quite that way. It will be a few days before your first shift.”
She eyed him dubiously. “Will I sprout fur in the middle of the Save-A-Lot?”
“You could.” He shrugged. “I was born this way, so I’m not sure. My parents knew it was coming and kept me isolated until after the change struck. I do remember it was sudden. Nothing like watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island and popping fur in the middle of one of Ginger’s scenes.”
From the look on her face she wasn’t touching that statement with a ten-foot pole.
Darn it. “Then maybe I’ll pay Emma a visit. Max changed her, so she might have a better idea of what to expect.”
“Not a bad idea. While you’re at it you can tell the Pride that there’s going to be a new Bear in town.”
Her brows rose. “Me?”
“Me. I’m applying for citizenship as soon as I’m allowed to.” It would be two long years before he could apply for a green card, but it would be worth it.
The quickly hidden pleasure made the wait worthwhile. “You’re staying?”
“Aren’t you?”
That earned him a smile, and a proud lift of that stubborn chin. “Good.” She took hold of his shoulders and turned him around. “If I’m not getting what I want then you need to get going.”
He sighed dramatically, though inside he was ecstatic. She’d accepted his terms, and they’d both get what they wanted. “You only want me for my fangs.”
“Yup. I harbor a secret vampire fetish. Didn’t I tell you?”
“Vampires aren’t real,” he scoffed.
“Neither are shifters.” With that she pushed him the rest of the way out of the back room. “Go rest!”
Rest. Right. Not happening, not if he was introducing his mate to Bear that night. Julian nodded to Alex and waited for the Grizzly to say his good-byes to Tabby. On the way out the door he whispered, “White or dark?”
“Hmm?”
“Chocolate.”
Tabby grinned. “Dark. As dark as they make and still call it sweet.”
“Cool.”
“But Cyn prefers milk.”
Was it just him or did all the women at Living Art Tattoos have the same evil grin?
He followed Alex out of the tattoo parlor and headed for the Harley Alex babied almost as much as he babied Tabby. “I’m marking her tonight.”
Alex stumbled. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Is she ready for that?”
Julian put the helmet on and shrugged. “Nope.”
“In that case I have two words for you. Protective gear.”
Julian had to concede the man had a point.
The bell jingled, announcing Cyn to the occupants of Wallflowers. She took a look around and tried to evaluate the place from a shopkeeper’s perspective.
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