by JL Madore
The room blurred as Bruin threw me over his shoulder and marched toward the bathroom. "I'm going to lather you up, clean you off, then mark every inch of your body myself. For whatever time we have together, you will carry my scent. No other."
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Bruin rolled off and tucked me against his side, his smirk far too cocky. After nipping my jaw, he released a low growl that sounded closer to a purr. "Tell me again how I rock."
I laughed, still struggling to catch my breath. "A woman can't be held accountable for things she says during sex. Besides, the last thing your ego needs is stroking. I can't live with you now."
His chest vibrated against my side as he swept my hair back and nuzzled my neck. "Oh, I can always use more stroking. Or lip service. I love when you give me lip service too."
Warm breath brushed my collarbone as he chucked against my skin. Falling for sexy, playful Bruin would be easy. The intense, controlling bear was who I needed to make peace with. I raked my nails through the light thicket of hair covering his chest and sighed. "Bruin, we need a little brutal honesty."
He rolled to his side and propped himself onto his elbow. And damn him, I felt it tingle right to my toes. "All right, what's on your mind?"
How was a woman supposed to concentrate? I pulled a sheet over his hips and cleared my throat. "I spoke with your father this morning."
"Uh, huh?" His voice was soft and he nipped at my shoulder.
"We came to an agreement."
His brow furrowed, his bangs falling over a hardening gaze.
"Reign agreed to restore my phone function and grant access to my world when it's important—like my meeting this afternoon. I also get full disclosure on issues that directly involve me or Grandfather."
Bruin's lips pushed out as he nodded very slowly. "What concessions did he get?"
"Pretty much the same ones I gave you. I promised that until the moon cycle ended, I'd live in this world and remain as open minded as I can manage. But I need to clarify one point."
Bruin sat up, bent his knee and rested his elbow over it. "Okaaay. Shoot."
I traced the design of the quilt beside me. "You have to be honest with me."
His eyes grew wary, confused. "I have been."
"No. You haven't. What you've said to me may have been true, but you haven't been telling me everything. You keep yourself behind a barrier and I feel the evasions. Trust is my hot-button, Bruin."
His lips narrowed into a grimace. "Mika, I don't—"
"You hide your scars. When your powers were off-line in the cave, I saw them." I rubbed my thumb over his eyebrow and up his forehead. "Here. You had a gash through your brow and the mark of a through-and-through bullet on this shoulder."
"That's not me being dishonest. It's just private. I don't let anyone see them."
"It's all or nothing, non-negotiable." I curled my hair behind my ear and sighed. "My father kept secrets and my mother drank herself stupid imagining the worst. Was it women? Money? Was he just unhappy? It destroyed my family. I don't expect you to gush with every thought running through your head. Honestly, I wouldn't want to hear it, but I want the broad strokes. All the broad strokes. Show me the real you, Bruin. The whole package."
Bruin frowned, but the veil of perfection lifted. One by one, scars, burns and old injuries appeared. There was more damage than I'd noticed at first glance. "Where did you get these?"
He studied the ceiling over the bed and shrugged. "Just a bit of Scourge artwork from the attack. They wanted me to remember them."
When I raised my fingers to touch the marks, he recoiled. I froze, my hand hovering over his ribs. After the tension in his shoulders eased a little, I took a caressing inventory of what had been done to him. If these were from when he was thirteen, the Scourge must have had him quite a while. I swallowed the bile burning the back of my throat.
"All right," he growled, reaching for his t-shirt. "I've shown you mine, so in the spirit of full disclosure, what do you want to tell me?"
I took a deep breath. "Okay, I should tell you that I found your journals in the cave."
Bruin paled and the scar through his brow made his scowl even more intimidating than it had been. "What? You just stumbled upon them?"
"I'm an investigative journalist, Bruin. Always curious."
"Did you read them?" His jaw tightened. "Well, did you?"
"I read a couple of entries, yes." I pulled the quilt up and tucked it under my arms. A flimsy and insubstantial shield against his anger, true, but it was all I had.
"I read what you wrote yesterday about Jade, and worrying about my safety if we shared a bed at night and how your nightmares have returned from when you were young. Then I closed that one and picked up the oldest journal and read two or three passages before I put it back."
He vaulted off the bed and yanked his jeans up those gloriously thick thighs. "Why stop there? You had me by the balls, baby. Why respect my privacy at all?"
"I decided, if you wanted me to be part of your life, you would share your memories with me. I won't steal them."
"Well, you'll be sorry you didn't read more when you had the chance." He shook his head and bent down to scoop his socks off the floor. "I don't talk about what happened. Not to you. Not to anyone. It has nothing to do with you and me."
Flipping back the covers I got out of bed and met him in front of the dresser. "It has everything to do with us. Your fear of loss is tearing at you and I didn't even understand why you were being such a complete asshat. I had to read it in a book hidden in a cave. I get that you need your space, but it makes a difference to me that you locked me away because you are crazed about me being a target and not because you're trying to control me. You've got to tell me what you're feeling or I'll never be able to trust you."
Bruin cursed and tossed his socks on the floor again. "I said I was sorry about the cave. I want you safe. I don't think I'll go so far again, I've just been so. . ."
"Crazy?" I set my hands on his hips and waited until he looked down at me. "I want to know that your bear hates Aust's scent on me. I want to know that you dream of sleeping next to me at night. I want to know everything you're hiding from me, even if you think you're keeping it from me for my own good. Either I'm your partner in this or I'm out."
"I don't know if I can do that."
"You haven't tried."
He strode to the window and crossed his arms, staring out over the grounds. After a long pause, he scrubbed his palm over his face and huffed. "And if I can? What then?"
"Then I'll be more than your partner in the investigation. You'll sleep in my bed, mark me with Eau-de-Grizzly and we'll give dating a real go. No promises. You'll probably want to strangle me by the end, but I'll try. How 'bout it?"
Bruin pulled me against his chest. With his hair falling in front of his half-mast eyes, a surge of hunger rose up between us. In a flash of a movement his jeans hit the floor and he lifted me against his arousal. If you can seal an agreement with a hand shake, Bruin made sure our pact was cemented and reinforced with steel and then encased in marble.
When we finally made it back downstairs, Reign's office had filled to standing room only. The dozen people shifting and milling around hummed with pent up let's-kick-ass energy. It looked like a freaking Goth convention, everyone draped from boots to biceps in black leather. Full and thigh-length slickers did nothing to hide the weapons bulging beneath, guns, knives, and I'd bet whatever head-cracking, ball-busting weapon they could slide in a side pocket.
All this for me?
Standing hand-in-hand, I relished the cool comfort of our joined marks. I was getting used to the incessant burn, but man the reprieve was nice. Palm to palm was so good it was almost orgasmic.
Bruin stiffened beside me, his attention captured by a sleek Asian woman leaning in the corner. She wore a charcoal silk jacket and played with two white chopstick things. Her slate grey eyes locked on Bruin, as she twirled those tiny ivory batons over and under her ha
nds and between her digits. She maneuvered them as if they were extensions of her fingers. When her gaze finally released him and passed right over me, I knew who she was.
"Ex-girlfriend?" I whispered.
Bruin studied his boot laces and squeezed my hand tighter. "No one for you to worry about."
Who said I was?
Reign cleared his throat, went over the travel plans, the back-up contingencies and discussed the possible ways things could go south. When everything was mapped out he came around to the side of his desk. "You all know what's at stake. Make damned sure these two come back happy and healthy. We crystal?"
Everyone nodded.
"Good, then give me a minute with Bruin and his Ursa will you?"
With a low mumble of conversations, the room cleared. Well, almost. A certain busty Asian beauty with slate grey eyes remained. When it was just the four of us, Bruin gave Reign a what-the-fuck glare then threw another one at the woman.
Reign sat on the edge of his desk and shrugged. "It's not ideal, but the only way I approve Mika's excursion through the lion's den is if she has a guard. That's the deal. Take Katsu or sit-yer-ass back down and enjoy the view."
I swear the woman made her breasts perkier for Bruin. Her cleavage was impressive, but the curlicue tattoo disappearing beneath the silk-covered mounds made me grit my teeth.
"Fantastic," I said, "so, I guess you're my new BFF."
"Looks that way, Mundie-girl."
"Why Katsu?" Bruin asked his father. His head swiveled from Reign to his ex. "And why would you agree to this?"
"Where are the choices?" Reign checked his watch. "A female can go places with her a male can't. Jade is still out with the flu and Lexi is watching over her."
Translation: Jade is still getting busy with her Highborne clan and Lexi hates my guts and would likely kill me herself.
Bruin moved half a step in front of me, and growled.
I caught his wrist. "Bruin stop. Reign thinks I need a guard. She is available. End of story. I can live with this."
Bruin scrubbed his fingertips through his shaggy hair and looked to his father. "It's a bad idea—mark my words—but it's Mika's call. I won't argue . . . mostly because she'll kick my ass."
Reign chuckled and focused in on me. "I think you might scare me, little girl."
Bruin sighed, though his smile was tender. "Why couldn't my mate like to bake or something? Why does she have to put herself in the middle of cluster-fucks for a living?"
Reign snorted. "She's your mate, son. A perfect match, heart and soul, to both your bear and the man you are. Would you expect her to be any less of a warrior than you?"
"Aw . . . stop, you're making me blush," I drawled.
With a low growl, Bruin led me by the hand into the hall and the Talon enforcers fell into step. The walk to the Portal Gate was uncomfortably silent, other than the odd snicker from Kobi, Cowboy, or the other warriors at Bruin's expense. I had to admit, I found his discomfort amusing. As we made our way through the Portal Mirror, I didn't miss how Katsu angled herself toward Bruin or how she flipped her hair.
"Your neck all right?" I asked her. "That's a nasty twitch."
She slid me a smile. "Oh yeah, I'm perfect."
I just bet you are.
"So, how'd you kids meet anyway?" she asked, her Geisha Barbie routine so sickly sweet I hoped I didn't barf in my mouth.
Bruin bent over and kissed the top of my head. "Mika and I hit it off at a club. It's been a non-stop adventure ever since."
"Hmm." She reached over and squeezed his upper arm with far too much familiarity. "I know what a whirlwind adventure you can be, Bear. You think she's woman enough for you?"
"She's standing right here," I said.
Katsu looked Bruin almost straight in the eyes and my stomach flipped. Shit, I was vertically challenged even by First Nations standards. What I wouldn't give to have legs like that. Katsu smiled and removed her hand, which was good, because I was contemplating my odds of biting it off. I heard the warning growl rumble softly through the air between us and turned to Bruin. It took a minute, but realized it was coming from me.
Bruin's brow arched as his smile grew. "You okay?"
"Peachy." I snapped. "Just freakin' peachy."
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
"Oh, I've missed you, big guy." I stroked the cool, metal dash of my Humvee as Bruin, Katsu, Cowboy and Rue piled in. I keyed in the code to the truck's gun safe and opened it.
"Everything how you left it?" Bruin slid into the passenger seat, the hollow echo of metal on metal sealing them in as he closed his door.
"Yep." I shut the safe and cleared the screen. Two of the three guns I confiscated from the Jackals lay safely locked away. The third was in my purse. "Any chance I can get my truck to your realm? This garage is nice, but—"
Bruin's deep chuckle filled the truck. "Your truck won't fit through the Gate. The Realm of the Fair is more a motorcycle, ATV or horse type place. Besides, what would we drive when we came to Vancouver?"
I breathed in deep and smiled. Just being back in Vancouver settled my nerves. The turn of the key released the throaty rumble of the engine. Kobi drove past our parking spot in a black Escalade and a second truck stopped, positioned to come in behind me. Assuming I was the monkey-in-the-middle, I followed. "Good point. I guess riding jaguars and Elf-tigers is fun too."
Bruin growled. Damn. It was unnerving how sexy he was when he scowled at me like that . . . like he wanted to pin me down and bite me, mark me as his own . . . again. I shivered.
Bruin's nostrils flared.
Great. Eyes forward, I pressed the gas and assumed my position in the convoy, studiously avoiding my rear-view mirror. Since Bruin could smell my desire, so too could Cowboy.
Stupid Were senses.
Bruin chuckled. "How long will it take us to get to the courthouse, baby?"
"Twenty minutes . . . half an hour if traffic's acting up." I exited the parking garage beneath the North Vancouver Haven Sanctuary and our little band of warriors headed downtown. "Did you get in touch with Detective Delgato?"
"Yeah. He'll call in a favor to review the property seized in the Nimithic case. He's hoping he can get us a list of what they were working on in their lab or, if he can manage it, maybe a sample."
"I'd bet Bree could break down the components and figure out what they're working on."
Bruin tilted his head. "I hadn't thought of that, but yeah. She's taking chemistry or something, isn't she?"
I rolled my eyes. Men. "She's finishing her Bachelors in biochemistry with a minor in neuroscience and is enrolled to start her Masters in September."
Bruin laughed. "How do you know that? I've known Bree more than a decade and I didn't know that."
"It's all about the details, Bear. That's where a good story is always found."
We continued on, the drive remaining uneventful, and by the time I parked under the courthouse, I felt more like myself than I had in ages. It wasn't until we hit the main lobby washroom that my stomach tightened up. What a mess. I knew who I was. After everything being forced on me, it eased me to be back in my element.
In this world—this Mundie life—I belonged.
My eyes lifted to the mirror and slid to meet Katsu's reflection. She stood down the gleaming granite counter, the perfect example of geisha meets ninja. When her gaze met mine she didn't even attempt to veil her lack of enthusiasm. She took a brush out of her Coach purse and ran it through her shimmering black lengths.
"So, how are things going with our bear?"
Our bear? Like I would speak to her about Bruin. Yeah, hold your breath, bitch.
I found my lip gloss in my purse and leaned closer to the mirror. After unscrewing the silver top, I slid the sticky pad across my lips and pushed them out for final inspection.
"I bet it's tough," Katsu said, sweeping back her sleek hair. With an ease of familiarity, she knotted it into a bun and pulled the two ivory chopsticks from the pocket of her silk jac
ket. The slender lengths of bone crisscrossed through the knot in her Japanese-style up-do. When her hair looked salon-styled, she traced her pouty red lips with the pad of her finger and stared back at me. "It's kinda nice though, Bruin being given a chance to breed. He'd given up the idea of having a family of his own years ago. It's just too bad. . ."
Don't do it. I screwed the cap back onto the tube of my Foxy Sand lip gloss and kicked myself for walking into this. "What's too bad?"
"That he didn't get to choose."
I caught myself before I reacted, but she wasn't fooled. "So, what? You think he would have chosen you over me, if given the chance?"
She smiled, throwing a lobby of insults with her exotic almond-shaped eyes. "We'll never know, but how should I put this?" She held up her hand as if scales weighed her explanation. "I'm a sorceress and a Talon enforcer he's known and screwed for more than five years annnd you're a freaked-out Mundie who can't keep her eyes off the door. Who would you choose?"
I tossed the lip gloss into my purse and eyed the ebony slide of the gun Bruin insisted I carry. Tempting. "I suppose that would be filed under none-of-your-damn-business. But really, after five years if he'd found you worth anything more than a fuck buddy, he would have settled down before now, don't you think?"
Katsu tucked her brush into her purse and buckled it shut. "Well, the way I hear it, you might be using the escape clause and waiting things out, anyway."
Does everyone know my business? I zipped shut my purse and pulled it over my shoulder. "Well you can file that one between none-of-your-business and back-the-hell-off. Besides, if I opt out, you can start the line for the rebounders club. I wouldn't expect your pride would get in the way of being sloppy seconds."
Katsu bit her bottom lip and checked the black toggles of her embroidered jacket. "Nah, who wants a toy once it's broken? Sadly, Bruin's not on anyone's wish list anymore."
What did that mean?
Katsu tipped her head back and laughed. "You don't know, do you? Whether or not you reject him, Bruin will never love another woman. Bonding is a one shot deal for a Were. His body will only ever respond to you and by the next full moon, if you haven't accepted him, he'll lose even that."