by M. L. Briers
“Can you not?”
Now that Macy wasn’t in the room she took the opportunity to roll her eyes up in her head and stare up at the ceiling as she mentally counted all the ways that she could dispose of the body.
“What, tell the truth?” Jon shot back. The man didn’t feel the need to cherry pick his words or hold his tongue in his own house. “What are you expecting? Handholding and flowers, a long engagement, and a nice church wedding?”
“I just found out about this — I have no idea what I’m expecting,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders to the sound of a low rumble of a growl that emanated from Harvey’s direction. She offered the man sideways glance, questioning him with just a look. “And you can cut that out.”
“No, really, I can’t,” Harvey said to her before turning his attention towards her father. “I’m good enough to work for you but not good enough to be with your daughter, or to be a father to Macy.”
“Father to Macy…” Jordan started, but her father cut her off.
“It’s not personal,” Jon offered back.
“Damn personal to me,” Harvey growled. “I know I’m not the kind of a mate that you expected your daughter…”
“I didn’t expect a mate for my daughter at all,” Jon shot back.
“Yeah, it would be real uncomfortable having a shifter in the family,” Harvey growled.
It was fair to say that his bear wasn’t happy. The beast grumbled and growled within him.
Harvey wasn’t happy either. It had been a while since he’d been called out for being a shifter.
He knew how some humans felt about his kind. Now he knew how his mate’s father felt. It shouldn’t really have bothered him, but it did, right down to his very soul.
“That’s not…” Jordan started again, but again her father spoke over the top of her.
“Don’t lay that shit at my door,” Jon bit back as anger welled up within him.
“I don’t see anyone else here having a problem with it.”
Harvey had the urge to stalk towards the man and plant his fist in his face. But this wasn’t just any man, he was kin, and whether he liked it or not, he always would be, even if Jordan didn’t agree to be his mate.
Right then though, his bear didn’t feel the same way. The beast knew one thing and one thing only; that Jon was the wedge between him and his mate.
“Jordan?” Jon gave his daughter a steely look.
“I just need time to…” Jordan started, but this time it wasn’t her father cutting her off, but Harvey.
“I get the message,” Harvey growled.
He wasn’t about to wait to be dazzled by fairy lights and blinded by excuses. Jordan could make it sound as pretty as she wanted, dress it up in frills, and put a damn hat on it — at the end of the day, he’d still be standing there like a damn fool.
Harvey turned on his heels and stalked back out of the house. The sound of silence was deafening.
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Harvey’s bear had heard the same thing that he had, and yet, his pride kept him walking away when all that his beast wanted to do was burst free of him and go back to their mate.
He’d had problems with some locals, and that was all down to the fact that the local clan were troublemakers and rabble-rousers and they expected the same from him, but he’d never thought of Jon as being bigoted. But then the man had never faced having a shifter in his family before.
Harvey guessed that had to change things considerably when the outside world walked over your doorstep. It was fine saying that you had no problem with people when they weren’t taking a seat at your dinner table.
“And here you are running away with your tail between your legs,” Owen’s disembodied voice came out of nowhere, but it sounded as if it was all around him.
Harvey ground to a halt and made a fast appraisal of the area. No sign of the man. No scent on the breeze. Just like a damn vampire to be so annoyingly stealthy.
“Why don’t you come out here where I can punch you in the face?” Harvey growled.
“Someone has their girlie panties in a twist,” Owen said. His voice still echoed all around Harvey, and man and beast were in agreement of what they wanted to do to the vampire when he stopped acting like a fool.
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about my panties or lack of them,” Harvey growled.
“You’re wearing one of those frilly Willie warmers, aren’t you?”
Owen appeared right in front of him with a smirk on his face and a gleam of mischief in his eyes.
“You got me,” Harvey threw the punch that he’d been waiting to deliver and as his large fist connected with the man’s steel jaw he felt a sense of satisfaction and relief from the tension that was at boiling point within him. “And you’re wearing my fist in your face.”
Owen had expected nothing less. He’d planted his feet and waited for the punch, taking one for the team, and he could only hope that Harvey felt better for it.
“Boy, do you have daddy issues,” Owen said as he reached up, grabbed hold of his chin full of stubble, and realigned his jaw with a click.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I don’t have daddy issues.”
“You have issues with Jon. He is your mate’s daddy. Therefore, you have daddy issues.” The vampire looked pleased with himself. Harvey – not so much.
“That’s funny. Now, go find something to do with your life that doesn’t involve listening into my personal and private conversations,” Harvey grumbled another growl as he went to sidestep his friend, but Owen anticipated it and got in his way.
“And there’s your first problem.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Harvey gave a small shake of his head. He wasn’t in the mood for Owen’s games.
“And yet, it needs to be said. And if not by me, then who?” Owen expanded his hands and gave a small shrug.
“Not you.”
“Yes, me.”
“No.”
“Just in case you forgot — I have a considerably longer lifespan than you do…”
“Define life.”
“Harsh,” Owen folded his arms across his chest and returned his friend’s hard glare.
“Truth hurts.”
“It’s funny you should mention that — because that brings us right back to your mate…”
“No, it doesn’t!” Harvey growled long and hard at the way the conversation was turning again.
“Oh, but it does.” Owen offered him a grin of pure satisfaction and Harvey had the urge to take another swing at him.
“Get over yourself.”
“You first.” Owen tossed back.
“Keep it up, and I will make you say; ouch — a lot.”
“I get that urge just looking at your face.”
“Owen,” Harvey closed his eyes for a second, shook his head, and a warning growl rumbled through his chest like thunder.
“Harvey.” Owen offered the man’s name back to him as if that was all that needed to be said.
Harvey drew in as much air as he could manage into his lungs and took a second before slowly blowing it back out again.
“You are an asshole,” Harvey muttered.
“Well thank you for acknowledging that fact — and moving on…”
“Not to my mate.” Harvey lifted his hand and started to point a finger of warning at the vampire, but in truth, he knew it was of little use.
“Oh yes, to your mate.”
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Macy had heard every word. She might have been sent to her room, and she might have gone, even slamming the door for effect, but unlike her old bedroom door, this one didn’t creak if she opened it really slowly. The staircase didn’t squeak if she stayed to the right-hand side all the way down, and the front door didn’t make a sound if she only opened it wide enough to squeeze through.
She wanted to find Harvey. She wanted to see his bear, but she also want
ed to know if Harvey was going to be her new daddy.
She loved her granddad and she didn’t know why he didn’t like Harvey, but Harvey wanted to be her new daddy, and she liked the idea.
Macy knew where the people with bears inside them lived. They were on the other side of the woods, and even though her mother had told her not to go into the woods alone again, she knew this was different. This was important, and it couldn’t be bad if she had a really good reason to do it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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“What’s got into you?” Jordan asked she narrowed her eyes in disbelief at her father across the kitchen counter that divided them.
Obviously, it wasn’t the only thing that divided them.
“Jordan,” Jon gave a small shake of his head.
He didn’t want to talk about it now. He felt bad, worse than bad, and he bet that Harvey didn’t feel much better about things.
“I’ve never known you be like this,” she said, and he could hear the accusation in her voice. It cut into him like a knife.
“I don’t want to talk about it with you. Not now.” Jon snatched up the bottle of beer from the side and went to turn away from her.
He didn’t want to see that look in her eyes — the accusation — the loss of respect for him. It felt like death by a thousand cuts.
“No? Who are you going to talk to about this? Harvey?”
Jon had turned so far to make his escape, but he got no further. She was right; she deserved to know why he’d acted the way that he had.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen, do you?”
“After the way you just treated him, not really, no.”
“Dammit!” Jon thumped the beer bottle back down onto the counter and looked anywhere but at his daughter.
He put his palms down on the countertop and closed his eyes while he mentally kicked the hell out of his own backside for what he’d done.
“It’s not you, dad. So what’s going on?” Jordan demanded.
“Are you so naive to think that shifters get an easy time of it around here?”
“What’s that got to do with any…?”
“Haven’t you and Macy had a hard enough time of it yourself? Being a mate to a shifter will only put you both in the firing line again.”
Now she understood. It wasn’t Harvey. It wasn’t even really about him being a shifter. He was doing what fathers did best — trying to protect his family.
“You hurt Harvey. I thought he was your friend,” Jordan gave a small shrug of the shoulders.
“Harvey is a man, he’ll get over it, or he won’t — either way, you need to think how your choices are going to affect Macy.”
“You think I don’t do that every day?” Jordan bit back. “Isn’t that why I’m here?”
“Your ex is a piece of…”
“Yeah, I know that, Dad.” Jordan knew it alright. The man was the reason that they left the big city and had gone back to her father’s house with her tail between her legs.
Roger didn’t want to be a family. He didn’t want to be a father to Macy. But he didn’t have a problem with following her around and interfering in her life. Stalking her like that had been the last straw.
“Do you think Harvey is some white knight? That he’s going to ride in on his trusted steed and saved the day?”
“I think Harvey is a man. The difference between us is, dad, that’s all I see when I look at him.”
“Then you’ve got blinkers on, sweetheart,” Jon said with another small shake of his head. “You need to look at the full picture.”
“Is that what you’re going to tell Macy?”
“What do you mean?” Jon eyed his daughter for a long moment. He didn’t get why they needed to tell Macy anything.
“I know what a shifter’s mate is, dad. It’s fate. It’s two people that are meant to be together. If Macy comes to you in ten years time and asks why she didn’t have the family that she was supposed to have, what are you going to say?”
Jordan saw the quick flash of a wince on her father’s face. It was fast, and then it was gone. He looked lost. But more than that, he couldn’t find the words for her.
“I thought so.”
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“Hi,” Macy said as the big man stepped out from behind the equally large tree trunk of the old oak and eyed her with suspicion.
“You’re lost, kid.” He held a rumble of a growl within his throat that made Macy’s heart leap at the knowledge that she was close to finding Harvey.
“I’m right where I need to be,” Macy offered back with a small smile to show him that she was friendly.
“No, I’m telling you, you’re lost, go home.” Zach didn’t have time to deal with some human brat. His brother had a fight tonight, and he needed to make sure that the man knew just how much money he had riding on a win.
“I’d like to see Harvey, please,” Macy knew that being nice was more than likely get her what she wanted, and she wanted Harvey.
Zach, eyed her for a long moment. Maybe all his Christmases had just come at once. Maybe that money was a sure thing now. That might just depend on the brat and what she meant to Harvey.
“You know Harvey?” He asked and watched as the smile widened on her face and her eyes widened with enthusiasm.
“He’s my friend.”
“You sure?” It wouldn’t do anything for his own cause if the kid was lying.
“I’ll, very sure.” Macy gave a small giggle and a nod of her head.
“Okay then, I’ll show you where Harvey lives.” He nodded in the direction that he wanted her to go. But it wasn’t Harvey’s place that he was taking her to.
If the kid wasn’t full of it then he could use her to sweeten the pot. If she was full of it, well, knowing the man that Harvey was, she could still proved to be useful.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
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Jordan had already had one hell of a day of it, and she didn’t need Macy playing her particular brand of hide and seek in an attempt to top it all off.
She’d gone to her bedroom and found it empty. Then she scoured the upstairs of the house, fast and furiously, looking in cupboards until she was satisfied that she wasn’t there.
Now she was racing down the stairs like the hounds of hell were on her heels, and calling out her daughter’s name as she went. Macy wasn’t answering, and that wasn’t like her. She might not normally have spoken, but there was always a childish giggle to follow.
“What’s going on?” Jon demanded as he pushed up from the comfort of his favorite armchair and made his way towards the hallway.
“Macy’s not upstairs,” Jordan rushed out the words, but it was the look on her face that started her father to action.
“Check outside,” he instructed her as he set off on fast feet towards the back of the house.
Jordan has no qualms about doing as she was told. She raced towards the front door and yanked it open, praying that she’d find her daughter standing looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. But there was a whole big wide world outside the front door, and somewhere Macy was in it.
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“Don’t give me that — you don’t give a flying fart about me finding my mate,” Harvey growled at the vampire.
“I’m not sure what gave you that idea…”
“You did.”
“I did. I gave you the impression that I don’t care about you finding your mate?” Owen’s eyebrows arched up towards his hairline as he offered Harvey a look of disbelief.
“Yes.”
“And I gave you the impression that I don’t care that you suddenly became a father to a little person?”
“Yes.”
Harvey tried to rein in his anger and look as bored as possible as he folded his large arms across his chest and his biceps doubled in size. Owen snorted his contempt for the man.
“Okay, I’ll wear it. How — exact
ly — did I do that?” Owen demanded.
“By being…” Harvey bit off his words, cocked his head to the right, and listened hard.
“Being?” Owen urged him to continue.
“Shut up!” Harvey growled.
“By being shut up. I’ve never heard that one before,” Owen said as he rolled his eyes. But then he heard it too — two voices, almost in unison, definitely desperate as they called Macy’s named.
Harvey was already moving off on fast feet back towards his mate’s house. Owen followed on behind him.
“Tell me that you took the child’s scent,” Harvey demanded back over his shoulder as the vampire kept pace with him.
“Riddle me this, bear-man, am I a vampire or am I a vampire?” Owen didn’t need an answer to that question, and Harvey didn’t give him one.
Harvey berated himself for walking away from Jordan’s house. He hadn’t left the property yet, and he hadn’t intended to, but if he’d stayed closer then there might not be a problem.
Jordan was still his mate. Macy was still his family, and whether Jordan or Jon liked it or not, he’d use everything at his disposal to find the child.
“You go left; I’ll go right — find her.”
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Harvey believed that sometimes it was better for everyone if you didn’t advertise what you were doing. Some people didn’t want to be helped, and he doubted if this was one of those times — but he couldn’t take that chance.
He could hear Jordan still calling out for Macy, and his heart went out to her. The fact that he could offer her easy hope didn’t change his mind.
Even if she rejected his offer of help, he would still be doing it. But he had Macy’s scent on the breeze, and the one thing that Harvey knew for sure was that there was barely time to go back and ask for permission — not when the other scent in the air was from the clan.
Harvey could take anything that Jordan and her father threw at him. What he couldn’t take was anything happening to Macy at the hands of the clan.