by M. L. Briers
“Fat chance – no damn way,” he grumbled, with an eye around the area for his granddaughter, Macy. The little snitch liked to jump out and bust him every time he muttered a bad word, and to the seven-year-old, damn was a bad word.
“Has Macy been trouble?” Jordan asked, passing off a couple of bags to her father.
“Nope, told her to go play while I worked,” Jon gave a small shrug.
“Alone?” Jordan raised her eyebrows and questioned his sanity.
“You used to be out until all hours when you were her age,” Jon eyed the over-protective mama bear and chuckled, she was just like her mother.
“But, yeah, I mean – she’s probably…” Jordan turned a three sixty and eyed the area.
Her heart had already kicked her ribs and it was now racing within her chest. Her mind was racing with all the things that Macy could be doing, all the things that she’d gotten up to as a kid.
“Relax, mama bear,” Jon chuckled as he padded back towards the house. “I’ll put the coffee on.”
“Sure,” Jordan tossed up a shoulder like she was fine, but she wasn’t fine. She didn’t like the thought of Macy out there alone. “Macy!” she called.
“She’s fine,” Jon tossed back over his shoulder.
“I know, but she needs a snack,” Jordan lied.
It didn’t feel like she was fine. It felt like a part of her was missing never to be seen again. It felt like a stone, an ache, and she hated that feeling. She’d been living with it for too many years.
“Macy!” Jordan called louder.
“Stop belly aching like a banshee and go look for the girl,” Jon called as he entered the house. He knew it was what his daughter wanted to do, and no amount of calming words from him was going to ease that.
Jordan didn’t know where to start, but she put one foot in front of the other and went anyway. Anything was better than standing around doing nothing at all.
~
~
~
Harvey stood perfectly still and evened out his breathing as he listened to the lack of sounds all around him. His bear itched within him to burst free, but he wasn’t sure if that was to protect him or to chase off and find the child. Either way, he was holding onto his bear for the moment.
He felt a brush of a breeze on the back of his neck and spun in place, grabbing the hand that was reaching for his shoulder, and trying really hard not to snap the wrist as he came eye to eye with the vampire.
“Damn it, Owen…” Harvey bit out.
“He says bad words,” Macy stepped out from behind the vampire’s legs, and Harvey didn’t know whether to kiss the man or kill him.
“Stealing children?” Harvey growled.
“Just call me the Pied Piper of the northern woods,” Owen yanked his wrist from Harvey’s death grip. “Yours?” He smirked.
“Do me a favor and go…”
“No, bad words are off limits, bad, Harvey,” Owen berated him with a flick of his eyes down to the child.
Harvey followed the vampire’s gaze down as the child stared back up at him with a curious look on her face, as if she was waiting for him to curse, and judging him as a man at the same time.
Harvey had been stared down by many shifters and a few vampires in his time, but those big judgemental eyes of hers were far scarier.
“Just get her out of here,” Harvey grumbled.
“Me?” Owen offered back. A deep frown lodged on his forehead. “Little people? Ha!”
“And what? I’d be so much better, would I?”
“Hmm, let me see how this goes – ah yes, hello Mr and Mrs. Human, my name is Owen and I’m a vamp…”
“Owen!” Harvey growled, flicking his gaze down to Macy.
“Oh, she’s quite smart for a little person, she knows,” Owen offered back. “It could have something to do with the fact that I exited a tree right in front of her,” he shrugged. “My bad.”
“No, he’s bad,” Macy offered back, scowling up at Harvey.
“Why am I bad?” Harvey growled. Most humans would much prefer to be around a shifter than a vampire, what made her different?
“You growl a lot, and you’re moody, and you’re mean,” Macy counted the ways that he fell short on her little person fingers. “You say bad words…”
“Yeah, ok kid. I get it, but thanks,” Harvey growled and then caught himself and bit it off. That didn’t stop his bear from growling inside of him, but he somehow didn’t think his beast was growling at the child.
“I have a name,” she said with a roll of her big blue eyes.
“Oh, you’re old enough to be named?” Harvey shot back and got a scowl for his trouble.
“Like, from birth,” she offered back, and Harvey couldn’t help the grin that tugged at the corners of his lips.
“Smart-a-pants,” Harvey caught himself half way through the curse. “So, what is it, Marmalade?”
“No,” she scowled harder.
“Gertrude.”
“Nope.”
“Henrietta, yeah, you look like a Henrietta,” Harvey eyed her, and she eyed him right back.
“Macy, actually,” she folded her skinny arms across her chest and gave him an old fashioned look.
“Nah, that’s not it,” Harvey said with a shake of his head.
“That’s my name.” Macy frowned.
“Yeah, no,” Harvey shook his head again. When the little madam dropped her arms to her sides, leaned her upper body in and scowled up at him, he knew he was in trouble.
“I should know my own name, and it’s Macy, you big … stupid head,” she poked her tongue out at him, turned on her heels, and stormed off on her short legs.
“You have so much charm, Harvey, it’s actually quite scary,” Owen’s dry tone annoyed him, but then so did the fact that the kid was walking off by herself again.
“Yeah, bite me,” Harvey growled. “Go after her.” He tossed up a hand in her direction.
“That’s never going to happen,” Owen shook his head and folded his arms. “That’s your problem.”
“How is that my problem?” Harvey growled.
“Where was it that you were going when I ran into you?” Owen asked and watched as the shifter’s eyebrows come down like shutters over his eyes and he frowned.
“Walking…”
“I call bullshit, and I smell it in the air.”
“I’m not going after her…”
“Again.”
“Yes, again,” Harvey snapped out and then he groaned inwardly. Busted. Then he let out a long sigh. “Fine, I’ll go after her, but this can only end badly.” He growled, grumbled, and muttered under his breath as he stalked away.
“Not as badly as a vampire being caught with a human child,” Owen reminded him, following on his heels.
“Where are you going?” Harvey snapped out over his left shoulder.
“I have nothing else to do.”
“Then you go get her,” Harvey growled.
“What did I just say about vampires and children?” Owen tossed back.
“Wasn’t listening,” Harvey grumbled.
His long legs were cutting up the distance towards the child, and without warning, she shot a look back over her shoulder, grinned, and then she broke into a run.
“Seriously?” Owen chuckled.
“Damn it,” Harvey started to jog. There was a dense patch of woodland coming up, and he didn’t want to lose sight of her. “Hey kid, get back here!”
“I’m sure that’s going to work,” Owen chuckled, but Harvey didn’t see the funny side of it.
He was in no mood to go chasing all over the woods after the damn precocious child. He wanted to get her, deliver her home, and be done with the whole thing.
“Hey!” He growled out, just as she pushed into the dense foliage and disappeared. “Oh for the…” He growled long and hard and broke into a run.
“So, we’re chasing her now?” Owen asked.
“You do what you want, I’m g
etting that damn kid,” Harvey growled, tossing the vampire a dark glare before he turned back and saw the human woman standing there.
“Stay away from my daughter,” she bit out with so much venom that both men pulled up short.
CHAPTER FOUR
~
Jordan wished that she had something other than her fists to hand, but they were ready and waiting, and if the men didn’t bug out and leave, she’d have no choice, but to do whatever she could to protect Macy and herself.
“Ok,” Harvey held his large hands up to his chest to try to dampen some of the hostility from the female, and to show her that he meant neither her, or Macy any harm. “Now hold on a minute.”
“Turn and leave,” Jordan said.
Her gaze flicked over the area around her and she reached down for a fallen branch. It didn’t feel particularly weighty in her hand, and it might have been in danger of smashing to nothing if she was to hit the big guy with it, but it was still better than her puny fists.
“Ok, will you slow down?” Harvey growled.
“A child?” Jordan’s top lip curled in disgust.
“It’s not like that,” Harvey growled back.
“But, if it were, what could you possibly hope to achieve with that stick? He’s a bear, not a wolf; he doesn’t play fetch,” Owen offered with so much sarcasm in his tone that Harvey felt the urge to turn and put his fist in the vampire’s face.
“Shut up, Owen,” Harvey growled back over his shoulder and saw her eyes flare with fear.
Harvey didn’t like that. His beast didn’t like it either. He stared back at her and watched her bite down on that fear as she tightened her grip on the branch.
The woman was a fighter, and that he liked. She was a mama bear, protecting her young – what mother wasn’t?
But Owen was right; she didn’t stand a chance against them. That annoyed the hell out of him – what if it hadn’t of been him and Owen?
What if she offered that kind of a challenge to another shifter? One of the clan.
Harvey’s bear rose within him at the challenge that wasn’t even there. It needed to protect her, and the kid.
“Mummy! Mummy! He’s the bear!” Macy raced around behind her mother’s back and almost tripped over a clump of weeds that were woven around a tree root that had broken the surface of the ground.
Harvey felt the kick to his stomach as the child pitched headfirst towards the ground. By the time that he’d taken two steps, Jordan had already thrown the branch from her hand and reached out to scoop Macy up.
“Don’t take one more step,” Jordan warned him as she clutched Macy to her.
“Bad bear shifter, trying to save the child,” Owen chuckled to himself.
“Shut up, Owen,” Harvey growled back over his shoulder, but he never took his gaze from Jordan.
There was something about this woman. Something that made him want to kill Owen, eliminate the threat of the vampire being near her.
Harvey could feel that his bear was restless. The beast was prowling within him. He wasn’t sure why. He didn’t sense any immediate danger in the area other than Owen, but maybe that was enough.
His bear had always been overly protective of females, and he was looking at one very fearful woman now. Even if the child appeared to be in good spirits, and mother was not.
Just like Harvey’s bear, Macy’s mother was reacting to a perceived danger. The only trouble was that danger was him. He certainly didn’t like that.
“Mummy! That’s the bear man that I was telling you about,” Macy said, full of wide eyed wonder and childlike fascination.
“From the store?” Jordan asked.
“That’s the swear bear!” Macy giggled.
“Swear bear,” Owen could barely contain the laughter within. The smirk on his face was priceless, but not as priceless as the glare that he received from Harvey.
“Not a word more,” Harvey growled at the vampire.
“Just one?” Owen chuckled.
“No.” The tone of Harvey’s voice warned Owen not to go there, but Owen very rarely listened to reason.
“Looks like the Care Bears have a new recruit,” Owen chuckled harder.
“Do not…” Harvey started, raising one finger and pointing it at the vampire, but the sound of Macy’s chuckles brought his attention back to the mother and child. “It’s not funny.”
Harvey’s gaze flicked from Macy to Jordan the moment that the woman began to snicker. Harvey’s dark eyebrows drew downwards in a scowl as he watched the female trying to fight the urge to laugh.
His bear relaxed, hell, he relaxed.
“You’re a Care Bear?” Macy asked. She seemed even more excited by the prospect and something within Harvey hated to have to stomp all over her expectations.
“No.” Harvey did it anyway. His beast was not a cute, whimsical, cartoon teddy bear, and the child needed to know that.
“Spoilsport,” Owen grumbled, but he was still laughing anyway.
“We weren’t going to hurt Macy,” Harvey started to plead his case now that the woman seemed in a better mood, but the child cut him off.
“They said I had to go home,” Macy turned to look at her mother with a frown. “But grandpa said I could play where I wanted.”
“The woods are no place for a little girl,” Harvey grumbled, he’s frown was still lodged in place and there wasn’t a whole heap of a lot that he could do about it.
“Says a boy!” Macy scowled back.
“Well, that told you,” Owen grinned.
“Didn’t I tell you, not another word?” Harvey growled back over his shoulder at the vampire.
“That was about you being a Care Bear,” Owen tossed back.
“I’m going to…” Harvey growled.
His large hands were fisted at his sides, and he took two long strides towards the vampire before Jordan spoke up.
“Can you not?” The sound of her voice brought Harvey to a standstill. He pivoted around toward her.
“Not what?” Harvey demanded.
“Look, you may not be the big bad wol…bear that’s going to eat Bo Peep…” She motioned towards Macy with her eyes and Harvey shuffled restlessly on his feet. “But physical violence?”
“Says the woman that had the branch,” Owen chuckled.
“Shut up, Owen” Harvey grumbled.
“You’re right,” Owen offered. “ The kid doesn’t need to…”
“Her name is Macy,” Jordan said.
“I know,” Owen said. “She told me.”
“So much for the rule that we don’t talk to strangers,” Jordan offer down to her daughter as Macy turned her face up to look at her mother with contrition.
“Well, maybe if you didn’t let her walk off into the woods alone…” Harvey grumbled.
Jordan felt as if the man had hit her right in the stomach with one of those big fists of his. He was right, of course, he was, Macy shouldn’t play in the woods. But he was also wrong because this wasn’t of her doing.
“Do you have children?” Jordan demanded.
Harvey could see that the woman’s back was up. If she’d been a shifter then her claws would already have been out. He guessed that he’d screwed up, it wasn’t his place to say anything, after all, the child wasn’t his.
So why did he feel a sense of obligation and protectiveness towards them both?
“No,” Harvey admitted.
“Well,” she started, and Harvey could see that she was riled up enough to offer him a mouthful. She was also mindful of Macy’s presence. “When you’ve walked a mile in my shoes…”
“Just to clarify,” Owen grinned. “Would the Care Bear be wearing high heels?”
“Owen…” Harvey growled. He’d had more than enough of the vampire’s sarcasm for one day, but Owen stepped forward and waved Harvey’s protests aside.
“No, really. Because I would pay to see that.”
“Mummy doesn’t have high heels. She said she doesn’t need them anymore
when we came to live…”
“That’s enough Macy,” Jordan said as she started to turn them both away. “We need to be getting back.”
“But what about Harvey and Owen?” Macy asked.
“They need to be getting back to what they were doing to,” Jordan said.
Harvey was used to being dismissed by human females that weren’t shifter groupies. Somehow this felt different.
His beast was antsy again. It felt as if the animal needed another night to roam and hunt. That wasn’t normal. His bear had been let out of its human cage for one full night already, and that should have been enough to sustain its needs for a while.
But there was just something off in the way that the woman was walking away from him. Neither he nor his bear liked it.
“You mean — aside from making sure that your daughter didn’t come to any harm in the woods?” Owen called after her.
Jordan shot a look back over her shoulder that was filled with surprise, and she almost tripped over her own feet while doing it. Harvey had the same urge to rescue her and stop her from falling that he’d had with Macy.
He didn’t act on it.
CHAPTER FIVE
~
“What’s got you thumping around like a bear with a sore head?” Jon asked as he lowered himself onto the high backed kitchen chair with a small huff.
He was starting to feel his age, and he didn’t like. He missed the days when he could roll out of bed before the sun was up, work hard, and go to bed at night like he’d achieved something.
“Bear with a sore head, ha! You hit the nail on the damn head,” Jordan muttered back.
“I take it you’ve met Harvey,” Jon grinned to himself.
The man was a man’s man, at least that’s what they called them back in his day. He was big, gruff, and as straight shooting as they came. Jon quite liked him, but he could see how the man might ruffle Jordan’s feathers.
“That man’s got an attitude problem,” Jordan bit out as she grabbed a spoon from the drawer before she nudged it shut with her hip, using just a little more venom than was necessary and finding the thud of wood on wood satisfying.