“How much did she know, son?” he asked quietly, gentler than Sam had ever heard him. Sam didn’t want to tell him. They’d all been told that humans weren’t supposed to know about shifters. They hunted enough of their kind regardless and it would just put them in danger. Sam was scared, scared that David would never let him see her again – memories wouldn’t be enough.
“She knew everything,” he said, just as quietly. “Said she’d been looking into the disappearances, found something she didn’t understand… I… It really wasn’t you?”
David shook his head and Sam felt shame flood over him. David had always been a good alpha, a good father to him and Sam had thrown all that back in his face.
“It’s okay, Sam.” Sam’s head jerked up. David was smiling sadly at him. “You’re worried about her, I understand, okay?”
“She’s my mate,” Sam muttered quietly, feeling the truth in the sentence as he said it. “I know she can’t be, not really, but I can feel it when I look at her. And I know she feels-” He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “I know she felt the same.”
“We’ll get her back Sam, I promise you.” Sam looked up, surprised. He’d expected to be scolded like a teenager caught sneaking out, that he’d have to move back into the agency and never be allowed to see Laura again.
“You’re not mad?”
“Not mad, no. I’m upset you didn’t think you could tell me. I know I’ve always been a bit too stern with you boys but I love you all like my own sons. If this girl is your mate and she didn’t care what you were? Who am I to judge?” Tears welled at the corner of Sam’s eyes and he let them fall down his face.
“Now...” David stood up, removing his hand, and walked back to his chair. “The question becomes, what the hell are we going to do about this?”
Sam wiped at his tears. He’d gone through way too many emotions today.
“The ones that attacked her,” he said, remembering what David had said back when this whole thing started. “We figured out that the attacks had something to do with a witch or warlock… Maybe when the first attack on Laura didn’t work they sent someone else to finish the job?”
David nodded, reaching for his phone.
“Stella is the only witch I trust one-hundred percent with this, if anyone knows how to reverse a memory spell, it’s her.”
Sam watched him type a number into his phone and bring it to his ear, relaxing back onto the seat. Whatever happened from now, he knew he had his family to support him.
It was going to be okay.
18
Laura
Laura looked around her at the gothic decor of Stella’s house and wondered, not for the first time, what in the hell was going on. How had she let these people talk her into coming with them? After her neighbor’s weird handcuff prank, Laura had been kinda scared to open her door again, but instead of more strangers with BDSM gear, Laura had met Stella.
“Hi, are you Laura?” the woman asked with a smile. Laura looked her up and down, more in awe of her outfit than anything else. She was wearing what could only be described as a harness with sleeves, draped in black lace and chains. Her boots were at least four inches of platform heel and yet she was still a fair few inches smaller than Laura. She suddenly felt very underdressed in her rabbit-printed pajamas but huffed at the feeling. Any sane person would spend a whole day off in their pjs. Who cared if it was already two-thirty.
“Uh, yeah, I’m Laura.”
“I’m Stella Murphy, I’m a junior officer for SPA – the local police agency, I have reason to believe you’re in danger.”
Laura blinked. In danger? How could she be in danger? She was a graduate student trying to prove the existence of a creature the world was certain wasn’t real. She wasn’t exactly a threat.
“I’ve lived here for two days,” she said dubiously. Stella smiled apologetically and Laura frowned. Why is her face so familiar? “How do I know you’re who you say you are?” She’d never even heard of SPA before and she didn’t know too many police forces that let their officers dress like a modern-day Morticia Addams.
Stella held out her phone immediately and handed it over, casting worried little glances around the garden as she did so.
“Feel free to call my boss. I understand why you might be wary, heard my friend Sam stopped by with a pair of handcuffs,” she said, making a face and shaking her head, “like a psychopath. I swear that man is such an idiot. Still, can’t really blame him. Poor boy has always had terrible social skills…”
Laura paused, phone halfway to her ear.
“You know Sam?” she asked, unsure how to feel when Stella nodded in response. Laura had enough of her own experience with social awkwardness to understand. Just because she hadn’t been in the mood last night didn’t mean she hadn’t found herself oddly endeared by him, just a little. Stella nodded.
“He’s a close friend, I’ll be happy to tell you more but we really need to get you somewhere safe first.” Laura nodded, searching through the contacts until she reached “BOSS MAN” followed by a little black skull and crossbones.
“This is Officer David Wilson?” The man’s voice was low and raspy, but not unpleasant.
“Hello, my name is Laura Ward. I was hoping you could tell me why Stella Murphy is standing on my doorstep telling me I’m in mortal danger?” So far so good, Laura thought, running through the checklist in her mind. Police officers announce themselves immediately and show you their ID cards.
“Miss Ward, I know you’re new to Mystic, you may not have seen the news but there have been a lot of attacks in the local area. We have evidence to suggest that you are their next target. Stella is under instructions to bring you to her house where a few more of my officers will be waiting. They’ll make sure you’re safe until we can make sure you're not in any more danger.” Laura could feel the first stabs of anxiety crawling up her spine. She had read the newspapers, was planning to use them for her research, but the thought that these creatures would target her was something she hadn’t even thought of.
Briefly, she considered not believing them, slamming the door in Stella’s face and going about her day. But there was something about the way she kept glancing around as she waited. She was truly scared…or an amazing actor.
“Laura,” David’s voice in her ear snapped her from her thoughts. “I know it’s a scary situation but you have my word, we’re here to help you.” She took a deep breath and nodded.
“I believe you,” Laura said firmly. She didn’t understand why she trusted these strangers so much, but her gut told her to have faith.
“Okay, thank you.” He sounded relieved. Laura hung up the phone and handed it back to Stella who had an equally thankful smile on her face.
“I have time to change, right?” Laura said, trying to break the absurdity of the situation. It worked and Stella’s smile grew into a grin.
“You have time to change,” she promised.
The other officers consisted of Sam and three others: Axel, William and Even, who all turned out to be really lovely guys, despite having watched her warily when Stella had unlocked her front door and led her inside, like she was three seconds away from a breakdown.
They ordered in for lunch, despite Stella saying she could cook them something.
“Trust me,” Axel said to Laura as they perused a pizza takeout menu, “Stella can’t cook for shit-”
“None of us can,” Even interjected, quick to jump to Stella’s defense.
Axel rolled his eyes and turned back to Laura who was watching the exchange with a small smile. “The last time Even ate her cooking, he couldn’t get out of bed for a solid week.”
Across the room, Stella frowned at him.
“That was when I made lasagna, you said you loved it.”
Even’s eyes widened, obviously caught out and Axel and William fell about laughing. Laura joined in, the weird tension between them all breaking as they finished ordering, all yelling their orders down the phone whil
e poor William tried to give the delivery driver a pick-up point.
As she leaned back in her chair, Laura caught sight of Sam sitting across the room from her, absently pulling at the label on his beer.
He looked miserable and Laura couldn’t put her finger on why that bothered her so much. She didn’t know what to think about him. He was comfortable around Stella and the others, but whenever he caught her gaze, he looked away. There was a sadness that blanketed his features and that made Laura’s heart pang. It somehow wasn’t right, to see him so sad. Which made no sense because Laura didn’t know him at all.
But her eyes were drawn to him anyhow, watching the way his dark hair fell into his eyes, how the muscles in his arms bunched as he raised the beer to his lips. She found herself thinking of those stupid handcuffs, what it would feel like to have a man like that loom over her, to be completely at his mercy…
Sam looked up, met her eyes and Laura looked away quickly, shame filling her. Even if she did want to get to know him better, it was obvious Sam wanted nothing to do with her.
“So, what do you want to drink?” Stella asked as she opened several of the cabinets in the kitchen. Laura sat at the kitchen island. The boys had gone to pick up the food, Stella sending them a pointed stare when they protested that they didn’t need four people to pick up five pizzas. “We have black tea, white tea, oolong, green tea, matcha, chamomile and I’m pretty sure there’s some weird chocolate-flavored stuff somewhere.” She looked over her shoulder expectantly. Laura raised an eyebrow.
“Tea and pizza?” A shrug. “I’ll take oolong I guess?” Something was obviously up, why else would Stella take such steps to talk to her alone? The steaming cup was placed down in front of her and Stella started pottering about, taking down several weird-looking ingredients and setting to work grinding them together.
“I hope they get back soon, I’m starving-”
“Cut the crap, Stella,” Laura interrupted. She liked Stella, but the tension was giving her heart palpitations. Stella faltered for a second and then smiled.
“I can see why he likes you,” she murmured, so quietly Laura wasn’t sure she heard right. Stella dropped a sweet-smelling herb into the mortar and pestle.
“What are you making?” Laura asked, coming to stand beside her. She recognized meadowsweet and dandelion root on the counter beside her.
“It’s a herbal remedy for Even, he gets headaches really easily. I noticed he was rubbing his temple earlier so I figured I’d make him another dose.” She looked up, watching how Laura watched her work. “Would you like to help?”
She nodded eagerly, always excited to learn something new, especially about medicine. She helped grind the remainder of the herbs and then strained the mixture through a muslin cloth while Stella dug around in the cupboards again for a vial to pour the medicine into.
By the time the boys got back with the food, they were done, though Stella immediately started making a second concoction, insisting she didn’t need help with that one. They ate in relative silence in the kitchen, Stella wandering around with a slice of pizza in her mouth as she continued making whatever it was she was making. Laura felt tense, not able to enjoy her Hawaiian at all under the not-so-subtle glances they were all sending her way.
“Okay, I’m sick of this,” she said eventually, closing her takeout box and crossing her arms over her chest. “Enough with the weird looks and the tense silence. Will someone please tell me what’s going on already!”
William was the first to break, walking over to sit next to Laura, who stared up at him warily.
“She’s right,” he said to the room and Laura tried not to bristle at the way he talked about her like she wasn’t there. “We’ve put this off long enough.”
“Put off what?” she demanded. “Stop being so fucking cryptic and tell me!”
“You’ve had your memory wiped,” Stella said simply. Laura stared, waiting for her to break, to crack a smile and laugh, but it didn’t happen. Everyone looked completely serious.
“What?”
“Not the place to start, Stella,” Sam muttered angrily. Stella raised both hands in a sign of surrender.
“Well, where do you guys think we should start then?”
Even pulled a familiar notebook from his coat pocket and laid it down on the table. Laura felt like she was missing something very obvious.
“I hate to be repeating myself so often,” she murmured. “But, what the fuck is going on? What are you guys talking about-”
“Just open it,” Axel said.
Laura closed her mouth with a snap and looked down at her research notebook. It was old and battered from the three years she’d spent furiously scribbling in at every opportunity. She turned the pages, not sure what she was looking for, but she could feel every person’s eyes on her as she read. It was the same notes she always saw when she reviewed her notes; myths, legends, theories, history…Oh. That’s new.
There were several pages of writing she’d never seen before. Laura skimmed over the sentences in confusion. “You can’t make a shifter, they can only be born… Human form and bear form share one mind, one is in charge of the other and vice versa…” She looked back up at the men and woman around her.
“I don’t understand,” she said quietly.
“We know you’re researching shapeshifters. We know that’s why you came to Mystic, to investigate the attacks that have been happening around here,” William said softly.
“But...” Laura’s mind was reeling, this was insane. There’s no way she’d had her memory wiped, there’d be gaps, there’d be… She looked down at the notebook. That was her handwriting. “How do you know?” She looked around at them, imploring someone to answer her. No one met her eyes, and she noticed they kept glancing at Sam who looked like he was about to cry.
Stella was, as usual, the one to break the silence.
“Because you told Sam and he told us.”
“But why would I tell Sam?” She looked at him but he was looking at the floor.
“You and Sam were together,” Stella explained. “You were dating for about a month-and-a-half and then you had no idea who he was.”
Laura’s brain felt like it was going to implode. She didn’t know what to think, someone was targeting her for her amateur detective skills? For an investigation she didn’t even know she’d been a part of? It didn’t make sense. And then, there was Sam… The first time they met flitted across her mind, the way he’d seemed to know her so well and then how he’d looked at her all day – like it hurt to have her this close.
She looked over at Sam, tears welling up in her eyes and he got up, quickly running from the room. She heard a door slam shut and then silence descended.
“I- excuse me.” No one made a move to stop her following him. She didn’t know what she was going to say to him, but he was suffering. And it was because of her.
She found him in one of the spare bedrooms, sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. Laura closed the door gently behind her and stood quietly, not knowing where to start.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said, eventually. Laura took it as a sign to move further into the room and she gingerly sat down beside him, keeping some space between them.
“What do you mean?”
“I know you, even if you don’t know me and I know you feel responsible for this but it’s my fault. I knew how dangerous this would be and I knew what I was getting you into but I didn’t care and now you’ve lost a whole fucking month of your life and you’re still trying to put me before you, you probably think we’re all crazy but you’re such a fucking nice person and I never deserved you.”
“No.” That wasn’t true, she could feel it. “Shift for me,” she asked. Sam looked at her, tears running freely down his face and she reached up to wipe them away with her thumb. She knew what they said was true, saw it with her own eyes, and answers to questions she’d been asking for years. But he needed to know she believed him. “Shift for me
,” she whispered, comfortingly.
Sam stared at her for a moment longer and then nodded, licking his lips nervously. Laura inched back, removing her hands from his face. He took a deep breath and then suddenly Sam was gone and a large black bear was looking down at her with Sam’s bright blue eyes. She felt like she was dreaming. Reaching out a hand, she stroked down his chest gently. The bear shivered and Laura’s own chest tightened.
“You know,” she said, trailing her hand down, feeling the soft fur beneath her fingers, “when I was younger I liked to play in Trinity forest back in Dallas. There was this one summer, I think I spent every day in those woods, and then one day, I saw a little girl turn into a bear.” The bear’s head tilted as Sam listened to her and Laura found it very endearing. “She didn’t see me and I darted behind a tree so she wouldn’t but I could feel how hard my heart was beating. I’d just seen a human being turn into an animal.” She moved closer, watching his face in case he got uncomfortable but Sam was looking down at her. She could imagine him smiling. “I wanted to prove what I’d seen, I’ve spent my whole life trying to, and here I am, with you. And you are magnificent.” Sam blinked at her and then he was human, Laura’s hand now on the soft fabric of his shirt rather than fur. “I know this must be awful for you too, but I believe you and your touch is so familiar, like I’m aching for something I’ve never had.”
“Laura...” He said her name like a whispered prayer and a shiver went up Laura’s spine. She leaned forward and kissed him, the softest brush of lips and it was like everything settling into place. It felt natural and Laura gasped, hands buried in his hair as he dragged her closer.
Hours passed, or maybe minutes and suddenly a knock on the door had them parting, panting and they turned just as Stella pushed open the door, glass bottle held in her hand.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she said with a playful grin. “But I have something for Laura.” Laura eyed the bottle with suspicion.
Bear Next Door (Shifter Protection Agency Book 1) Page 10