by Leela Ash
“You poor thing. You never meant to get right in the middle of things, did you?”
Janie frowned as the bear shifters went to work, rummaging through Dean’s office. They threw papers on the floor, scouring all of the information they could that might prove useful to their cause.
“Why are you here?” Janie demanded.
“Oh honey, it’s just business, that’s all,” Kiera said. “Now I know you understand the power of the tabloids. It’s unspoken how intrigue and mystery can make one so compelling. And most people say any press is good press, right?”
Janie kept her mouth clamped shut, waiting for Kiera to get to the point.
“Well, that might be true for Dean in this case, right? Everyone will see that he’s got just as much potential to be a pedophile as anyone else.”
“A pedophile?” Janie exclaimed. “Hardly. I’m an adult!”
“For what, six months?” Kiera laughed. “You would be his downfall.”
Kiera pulled a chair across the room and sat down facing Janie.
“Let me tell you a little secret,” Kiera said. “Nobody with half a braincell reads the tabloids because they believe them. They read them because it’s fun to speculate. But…”
Kiera waved her hand and one of the bear shifters immediately placed a yellow envelope into her hands before he continued on in his search.
“Some of the pictures we got here were not just speculation. The picture that was leaked was relatively tame compared to this one.”
Kiera handed Janie the envelope and watched with sadistic mirth as Janie opened it, pulling out a collection of photos of her tryst the night before with Dean.
“This…” Kiera said, tapping the envelope. “This is too good to be true. All I have to do is tell the courts that you’ve been my husband’s mistress all this time. Everyone will believe it. You’re young, you’re decent looking, you’re everything the public would perceive as the mistress of a billionaire. In short, you’re a god-send.”
“What do you want?” Janie asked, doing her best to keep her voice even. “Why are you telling me all of this?”
“Because you can help me,” Kiera said. “All you have to do to keep these pictures from going public is drop the PR campaign. We’re not stupid. We have sources, and we know exactly what you’re trying to do with Dean. It’s not going to work, but on the off-chance that it does? We can’t risk that.”
“So I just have to stop the ad campaign and you’ll get rid of the photos?” Janie asked, furrowing her brow.
“Well…that and maybe stay the hell away from my ex-husband. It’s not very attractive to go eating another girl’s leftovers. They’re still warm, you know? Give him some time. He doesn’t know what the hell he’s thinking right now.”
Kiera smiled brightly at Janie and stood, ready to leave, when suddenly the door slammed open and Dean walked in.
“Get the hell out of my office!” Dean shouted. “Now!”
The last word was more like a growl as he shifted into his wolf form and pounced one of the bear shifters closest to Janie. Kiera laughed at the spectacle as the men began to run at Dean, knocking him down to the ground with a painful thud.
“Dean!”
“Fuck!”
Janie’s eyes widened as one of the bear shifters cursed in pain, gripping a gaping wound on his shoulder. The smile was wiped off of Kiera’s face as Dean quickly tore through the bear shifter men, one by one, until all of them were lying in pools of their own blood. Dean shifted back and stalked toward Kiera.
“You’re fucking trespassing! I could have you arrested!”
“And have the Stonybrooke PD catch you with your pants down with this girl again?” Kiera asked brightly.
Dean snatched the photos away from Kiera and glowered.
“What the hell is this? What were you doing spying on me?”
“It used to be my house too, you know,” Kiera said, her eyes flashing with malice.
“Give me the pictures,” Dean growled. “Give me every single copy of the pictures or I’m going to have you arrested for trespassing. I swear to God.”
Kiera sighed and circled the office, getting her beat up men up off the ground.
“You’re really lucky these guys refuse to shift indoors. It’s some kind of shitty law or something,” Kiera said, glaring at Dean. “I’ll send you your stupid pictures, but that’s not going to be enough to save this place. Soon, I’m going to be the one sitting as head of this office, and when I do, you’re going to regret you ever laid eyes on me.”
“I already do,” Dean said darkly.
Kiera scowled at him and left, and Janie gasped when Dean finally turned to face her and she saw that Dean’s chest was covered in blood.
“Are you all right?” she exclaimed, rushing to his side.
“Of course,” Dean said, waving her away. “I just need to wash this out.”
Before he had a chance, he slumped forward, just barely catching himself on his desk. Janie gasped and ran toward him. She had to help him. It was still too early for most people to be in the office, but fortunately, she had taken a first aid course during college and she knew just what to do.
“Come on,” Janie said, lifting Dean to his feet and helping him to the bathroom in his office. “I’ll clean you up.”
Dean grinned at her, his head lolling forward. “I just get a little dizzy sometimes,” he mumbled. “I don’t like the sight of blood.”
“Really?” Janie asked, skeptical. “You were just fine with my blood.”
Dean shrugged and didn’t argue anymore, knowing that she had caught him. He just didn’t want her to make a fuss over him, but that was just too bad.
“Stay still,” Janie said, filling a glass of water and handing it to Dean. “Drink this while I clean this out. We should probably go to the hospital and stitch you up properly.”
“Pfft,” Dean said. “I’m not leaving my office unattended after that!”
Janie sighed. She wouldn’t be able to make him do anything against his will, so she would just have to try to do her best to help him now.
“I never knew being with somebody could be so dangerous,” Janie sighed.
Dean laughed and winced in pain. “It’s a dream. I’m a dream come true.”
Janie shook her head and they stayed quiet as she finished cleaning out his wound and bandaging it.
“You’re going to need to take it easy for a while,” Janie said. Suddenly, an overwhelming surge of nausea struck her and she backed away from Dean just in time to throw up into the toilet. He chuckled heartily.
“Looks like I’m not the only one who has trouble with the sight of blood.”
Janie froze. She could tell him the truth now. But how would he react? There was no way of telling what might happen if she confessed. Not only would she be in trouble with the other shifters in Stonybrooke, but it would make Kiera’s case against Dean unimaginably more colorful to the tabloids. They could get rid of the photos, but they couldn’t get rid of a child.
“I guess we all have our weaknesses,” Janie said, deciding that there was no way she would be able to admit her pregnancy to Dean. Besides, it wasn’t for sure yet. Although she knew from the signs and symptoms she had read about long ago that she was probably with a child of the shifter variety. The symptoms were going to set on fast after the first week, and before long, she would be delivering a beautiful child.
But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was what the bear shifters might do to her if they knew she was pregnant with a shifter pup, or pups, as it were. There were often more than one child in a litter. There was also the issue of what Kiera might do to Dean’s reputation if Janie gave birth to Dean’s child.
There was no good that might come of her pregnancy. Nothing she did would keep the child or Dean safe except keeping this to herself. She just hoped she would be able to plan a safe escape before it became too obvious that she was hiding something.
“What’s wrong?” Dean aske
d, standing painfully from the counter where he had perched himself so that Janie could work on him.
Janie couldn’t bring herself to answer, and tears welled up in her eyes.
“Hey, don’t you worry about a thing,” Dean said, pulling her close into a warm, comforting hug. She laid her head against Dean’s broad chest, and allowed him to comfort her for what might just be the last time.
She would do anything to protect Dean and make sure she delivered his child safely. But that meant she was going to have to make some hard choices, and fast. If shifter biology had anything to say about it, then she didn’t have much time.
15.
“Thanks,” Dean said, taking the stack of papers that Janie had collected from the floor. The bear shifters had been working extra hard to make a mess as they rummaged through his things. Good thing he never kept anything important at work. They would just have to try harder next time they wanted to keep him down.
“Are you going to be okay? That cut is really deep.”
Janie’s beautiful face was filled with concern, and Dean took it into his hands and kissed her on the forehead. She seemed to be very upset, almost to the point of tears. The whole thing must have been very scary for her, so he couldn’t blame her for feeling a little bit emotional. He might just feel the same way himself if he were in her shoes. Kiera could be a huge bitch when she wanted to be, which was often. Especially concerning the divorce, apparently.
“I’m fine! You really have nothing to worry about. Shifters heal pretty quick. We’re miracles of nature, they say.”
He winked at Janie, but it still didn’t bring the easy smile he loved so much to her lips. He was starting to really miss that smile.
“Seriously, it’s going to be all right. Nothing Kiera said can change the fact that we’re going to get through these obstacles one way or another. It’s going to be just fine, I promise.”
“Yeah, but…”
Janie cut her words off quickly and Dean furrowed his brow in confusion. What was she so upset about?
“Why don’t you take the day off?” Dean said with a heavy sigh. “Everything has been a little bit ridiculous lately, and I know you wanted to come in and be a big help, but look at us. We’re both hurt and tensions are high. Maybe it would do you some good to go home and relax. You can unpack your boxes and get settled in. That might help you start feeling a little better about all of this. It’s always nice to get a fresh start!”
“Maybe,” Janie said, but her tone was doubtful.
Dean watched her walk away, a frown tugging at his lips. Something was going on, but she wasn’t going to talk to him about it. It was probably just a Kiera overload. Lord knew he’d had his fill of her for the next century. And they’d only seen each other two days in a row. He imagined his personal hell might be a crowded hall full of Kieras.
“Well, either way, sleep helps everything. Why don’t you go and get some rest then? It will put things in perspective for you.”
“Yeah…I think perspective is important,” Janie said with a quiet sigh. For some reason, the sentence had a ring of foreboding to it and Dean studied Janie closely. What might she be thinking? It was odd for her to be acting this way. Most of the time, she was the one trying to get him to look on the bright side.
“Good,” Dean said, suddenly feeling a little bit insecure. “I guess that means you will be needing a ride back.”
Dean pulled out his cell phone and started dialing the number for his limo driver, but Janie shook her head.
“I was thinking about taking a walk. Might help to clear my head. But thank you for the offer. I hope you feel better soon. If it gets red and inflamed please go see a real doctor. All I did was patch you up a little. You might need something more.”
“All right,” Dean said. “I promise.”
Janie nodded, and some of the worried tension left her face before she let herself out of the room.
He was worried about Janie, and almost followed her out of the room, but the phone rang suddenly.
“Yeah?”
“Mr. Resner! Do you have any comments about the-”
Dean slammed the phone back on the receiver and cursed. He had lost his temper and brought all of this onto himself. No wonder Janie was feeling upset. Her image was on the cover of every tabloid paper in the city, and everybody in Stonybrooke was quickly going to learn the story that the tabloids were trying to tell. Scandal, treachery, or bravery?
Sure, nobody read the tabloids to get the facts straight, but rumors were always a pleasant way to spend the time. Everyone wanted to get the latest gossip and feel as if they were keeping up with the stories of the people that they had a perverse fixation on.
Dean obviously had more than his fair share of people with a fixation on him. And so, for better or for worse, they wanted to see him at his extremes. See how he reacted to scandal, to failure, and to success. But mostly, people were interested in the failure part.
“Fuck this,” Dean growled. He would almost rather the tabloids dig up his murky past, running around with gangs of human-wolf hybrid kids who didn’t feel like they had a place in the world; vandalizing and terrorizing people because it made him feel important to be able to get a reaction, any reaction, from somebody else. He had been sorely lacking in parental guidance when he was a kid, just like those kids on the team that Janie had attempted to set him up with.
In fact, it was likely that some of those very kids might be offspring of the same thugs he had run with when he was younger and looking for some kind of meaning to his life. Somebody who might recognize him and say that he had power.
It wasn’t until Maurice had taken him aside and told him that he had potential, and that if he wanted to, he could work in the diner, that Dean realized he could be noticed for something a hell of a lot more important than smoking cigarettes in front of a billboard or spray-painting graffiti on the lawn of his principal. He could do something with his life. He could earn money. And, if he wanted, he could play football.
That’s when his life had taken a turn for the better, but not before he had already done a whole variety of things that he regretted. His miserable past was an open book as far as he was concerned, if the tabloids would have just left Janie out of it. She was an innocent in all of this. She hadn’t asked to go on some extravagant date at a restaurant he’d inadvertently shared with his ex-wife. She’d simply wanted to talk to him.
Now look at them. Janie was at home with her tail between her legs, frightened and miserable, and it was all his fault. Why didn’t he ever know how to deal with relationships properly? It was unfair for people to expect him to know how to treat others when he had never been treated with love, kindness, or respect. At least not until he had been drafted. Then he got a whole lot of artificial love, sycophantic kindness, and a tiny iota of respect.
That wasn’t the kind of thing he could live off, though. He was going to have to work harder than he ever had before to bring his company back to the height of its power. He had done everything he could to do things right once he had realized that life was what he made of it and he alone. He wasn’t going to let a crazy bitch like Kiera get in the way. No. He was going to play it exactly as Janie had told him. He was going to succeed, no matter what.
16.
Janie sat quietly on the loveseat in her living room, her shirt pulled up to her breasts. She was looking down at her swollen belly, touching it gingerly and tracing the little purple line that had started to spring from her navel. She was beginning to see another one forming as well, and guessed that soon, her belly button would look much like a ray of sunshine blazing through the soft plains of her stomach.
“Why now?” she asked the little one growing in her belly. “Couldn’t this have waited until we were all ready?”
Her stomach cramped slightly as if in response to the question, and Janie sighed. “I know you would be so much happier here, but it’s dangerous. I don’t think we should stay here any longer. Your daddy and I have
both been hurt. It isn’t safe.”
She expected the baby inside to move or kick at her or something, find some way to protest its confinement to her stomach and dependence on her poor decision making skills, but this time, nothing happened.
Ever since she’d gotten home, Janie had been surfing the internet and reading about all the horrific things that the bear shifters had done during the war. It was a miracle that any of the wolf pups had survived the onslaught, and she had a new appreciation for the settlement of Stonybrooke.
In this town lay the Serah stone, one of the most important shifter artifacts. It was a beautiful stone, safely tucked away and hidden from the rest of the world. Its significance was vague, but rumor had it that the shifters in possession of the stone would one day rule the free world. It was no wonder the bear shifters had been so adamant on destroying the wolf pups.
And, as she was beginning to see, they were still adamant about it. But why would they want to go through Howlers Incorporated? Was it because they were threatened by the message of peace and integration that Dean was trying to bring to the world? If so, that made the bear shifters even more despicable than she had originally thought. If they were so elitist that they thought only bear shifters were worth a damn, then what would happen if they ever got their hands on the Serah stone? The thought was chilling.
A sudden rumble from her stomach broke Janie out of her thoughts and she laughed. “All right, all right. What will we be having this time?”
Janie’s eyes widened as an abrupt craving for steak and broccoli overwhelmed her.
“You’re not going to be a picky child, are you?” she asked down to her belly.
But, of course, there was no answer, and she made her way to the kitchen. If she didn’t get out of Stonybrooke soon, there was a high likelihood that she might not ever get to find out what kind of child she was going to have. Not only would Kiera and the bear shifters take over Dean’s company and whatever resources he commanded, but they would go after any of the pups slated to be born. Especially, she knew, one that belonged to Dean himself.