Goldie and Her Bears

by Honor James

  “You bet your sweet ass I can.” She moved to the door and opened it. When he walked out in front of her, she couldn’t stop herself from swatting his too delicious ass. When he looked back at her, she grinned, “Hey, I was only showing you how much I love it.”

  “Uh-huh,” he chuckled. Shaking his head, he kept moving another two steps and then stopped dead. The tub fell with a crash as he staggered. The next moment he dropped to his knees, his breath whooshing out. Torben was yelling at her to get down, Mahon had Josie in his arms and was rushing the women behind one of the sheds. The men were all racing for cover, and Torben was coming right for her.

  Goldie couldn’t believe what was happening. Hell, she didn’t know what was happening. All she knew was Arkadios dropped to the ground like a dead weight and there seemed to be chaos surrounding them. When Torben wrapped his arms around her and tumbled them into the house, she wiggled, “Ark, we have to get to him!” A second later she added, “What the hell is happening?!”

  “He’s been shot,” Torben said, rolling her out of the line of the windows. “No!” he grabbed her when she tried to break free. “I’ll get him but you need to stay here, stay safe, Goldie. If anything happens to you, we’ll lose him for sure. Stay put!” A definite order and one, the look on his face said, he would enforce by whatever means necessary.

  Goldie nodded with tears streaming down her face she whispered, “Please. Please go and get him. Save him for us please?” she asked with a sob. She moved back to the wall and watched Torben going for Arkadios. When he was close to her, she reached out and grabbed one of the dishtowels to press it against his wound. “Why isn’t he healing?” she demanded.

  “Because the bullet is still in his chest,” Torben said. “Fuck, we need Laurie in here. She’s a doctor. She can get it out and then he can start to heal. Touch him, talk to him. Keep him grounded with us, Goldie. I need to find his sister, and then I need to figure out who the hell was shooting at us.”

  Goldie nodded and leaned over Arkadios. “Ark, come on, baby, open your eyes. Look at me, honey. You’ve been hurt, and we are trying to figure out how to get Laurie in here so she can pull the bullet from your chest. Don’t move. I mean it. Don’t move an inch until she gets it out and you can shift to heal. Okay?”

  Torben was peering around the wall, “I see Laurie. Stay where you are, Goldie. I hopefully won’t be long.” Smiling at her, he raced out in the yard before she could say anything. What felt like an hour later, but was likely only minutes, he was back with Laurie in tow. “Deal with your brother, I’ll get the others,” he said to the woman before he disappeared again.

  Goldie looked up at Laurie, “What do you need me to do? I put pressure on the wound, it's honestly the only I knew to do. I didn’t want to have him losing more blood than he should, or had already, or whatever. Please save him,” she begged.

  “I fully plan to, no way is he getting out of watching his niece for a week,” she said. The words were light but the terror was stark on her face. She was scared too. “Alright, alright,” she looked around before walking in a crouch to the island. She grabbed one of the knives from the block, and then came back. “I need to get the bullet out so he can shift and heal. Until it’s out, he’ll resist shifting, but it will get harder with each moment we wait. Reach into the fridge and get some water. Wash off as much blood from his chest as you can. I need to see what I’m doing.”

  Goldie nodded and moved to do Laurie’s bidding. Cleaning off his chest as best she could, she grabbed a couple more hand towels from the drawer and nodded. “Okay, you tell me what you need me to do and I will do it. I have two more bottles of water and some clean towels. Let’s get it out of him so he can shift and heal.”

  “We will,” she was looking around again. “I need tweezers or something. Hell, tongs would do about now,” she muttered. “In the drawer there,” she pointed over Goldie’s shoulder. “Pull it out and we will dig through. Hopefully they have something that will work. I’d really rather not use my bare fingers, but if I have to, I will.”

  Goldie reached over her head and dug through the drawer to find tongs. “Where is everyone else?” she muttered and passed them off. “Josie, she’s okay, right?” she asked with horror dripping from her voice. “I saw Mahon had her, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, but why are they not in the house yet? Who the hell is shooting at us?”

  “Jos is fine, Mahon will look after her. They are likely coming in through the basement. Given where most of them headed for cover, it’s the most logical place to enter the house. Plus, it’s more secure down there. As to the rest, I have no idea,” she whispered. Placing her hand on her brother’s chest, Laurie took a slow breath. “I’m going to make an incision to enlarge the hole, and hopefully find the bullet right off. If not, this is going to get messy fast. When I make the cut, I need you to press down and push out with your hands, make the opening as big as you can, but keep your fingers out of my way.”

  “Can do,” Goldie said and looked down at Ark’s pale face. “Just do this quickly so he can shift, and hopefully heal far faster than he would as a human. This is killing me.” Seeing Arkadios down like that was tearing her apart. He was larger than life, and he was her love. She loved Torben and Mahon as well, but Ark was special.

  Nodding, Laurie flexed her fingers, lifted the knife, and let out a breath. “Here we go.” She sliced quickly, and laid the blade down on Arkadios’s stomach. Goldie put her hands in place and did as she’d been told. Laurie grabbed a bottle of water and poured it into the wound. “Shit,” she muttered, not even reaching for the tongs. Reaching into the wound with her fingers, she made a face of concentration. It was long, tense moments before she pulled her hand out with a bullet in her fingers. Dumping the rest of the water into the wound, Laurie pushed her hands away. Leaning over her brother, she slapped his cheek, “Shift, Ark, let the bear out and heal.”

  Goldie cupped Ark’s face, “Shift for me, Ark. Come on. Let my bear out so you can heal. I need you to shift, babe. Please, for me,” she all but begged him. “Come on, shift, Ark.”

  His lashes fluttered and then his lids opened slowly. “Goldie,” his voice was so soft she had to strain to hear the single word. “Love you,” he murmured. A second later, he began to shift, his face twisting in pain, and Laurie was pulling her back out of the way.

  Goldie held Arkadios’s head, and when a bear head was in her lap she stroked her bloody hands over his fur. “I love you too, Arkadios.” To Laurie she asked, “What’s happening? Did they get everyone inside? Or stop the shooter? Anything?”

  “I don’t know,” Laurie said quietly. Moving toward the doors carefully, she looked out and shook her head. “I can’t see anyone, so I’m guessing they’re inside. I’d go look, but there’s too many damned windows. This is one of the few rooms with walls to keep us hidden.”

  “Then stay here. Mahon and Torben will come to us when it’s safe,” Goldie said with utmost confidence and stroked her hands over her bear’s fur. “Don’t move, Ark. You are hurt and there are bad people out there,” she told the massive bear, hoping he would understand. “He does understand me in this form, right?”

  “He does, though he’s likely unconscious. At least that’s my guess given how deep his breathing is. But yes, they will always be able to hear you, and understand you in their bear forms unless they are in full rage that is. In other words,” Laurie shuffled back over and sat next to her brother, “if someone tries to harm you, and my brothers lose it enough to shift forms, they will be in a killing rage and not much you say will get through to them then.”

  “They would never hurt me,” Goldie said without hesitation or fear. “No matter what else happened in the world, I know those men would never hurt me. They would move mountains for me, and I for them.” She stroked her hands over Ark’s fur and simply kept trying to assure herself that he really was okay, he really was going to be fine.

  “Yeah, but trust me, first time it happens, you’l
l wet yourself a little.” Laurie shook her head and chewed on her lip. “I have my own protective streak. I’m a mother after all. But the males of the species seem to take it to a whole new level. You seem to have them all handled rather well if I do have to say, and so quickly too.”

  “It’s because I’ve needed them all my life, and they me. We understand each other very well. We all know without the four of us there is loneliness and sadness and that’s simply unacceptable. I love these men with all that I am.”

  “That’s good,” she nodded. “It's very good because the first time you want to murder them, and trust me, you will, the love you feel is the only thing to keep you from belting them, hard. It won’t happen often, but every now and again they seem to revert to some prehistoric point in their evolution and get these hair-brained ideas.”

  “Right, I will keep it in mind. No hitting them because they likely would break my fist with their too hard heads,” she muttered. “And yes, I already have that figured out. These men are bull-headed to the nth degree.” She looked around anxiously. “Mahon had Josie. She’s all right. She must be with your husband as well, or I have a feeling she would be screaming bloody murder.”

  “She’s fine. They’ll keep her occupied and safe.” Laurie fisted a handful of Arkadios’s fur. “I just want to hold her though. Protect my baby myself. Sometimes being a mother seriously sucks. Moments like this are the worst. Everything else, the two a.m. feedings, the poop that goes everywhere, the colic, the teething, all of it is nothing compared to knowing there is danger and you are unable to hold your child.”

  “I can’t even imagine how hard it is right now for you,” Goldie whispered softly. Reaching out, she grabbed the woman and gave her a hug. “As soon as they have the bastards dead who dared shoot at us, you can hug the amazing child all you want to. I hope one day to have babies just like her.”

  “With those three you’ll likely be pregnant each and every year,” Laurie said. Pulling back, she rubbed her hands on her thighs. “Personally, I can’t wait to see Arkadios with a baby in hand. He’s amazing with Josie. Always has been. Never once shied from doing diapers and such, no matter how nasty they were. Mahon though, watch out for him. He has one hell of a sensitive gag reflex. Torben’s pretty good unless it’s a really liquidize poopy diaper, then he starts making some interesting noises. Always have a bit of air freshener lying around, they’ll need it.”

  That had Goldie smiling, and she petted Arkadios. “I would love to have a baby, his baby.” She leaned in closer and rubbed her cheek to Ark’s furry face. “I love this man like crazy,” she whispered honestly. “We want children, just not right at the moment. Right now we are having fun just being together.”

  “Which is totally understandable,” Laurie nodded. “Martin and I waited for five years before we had Josie. With us, it was the fact we’d met and mated young. I’m younger than Ark by six years, so,” she grinned, “gives you a bit of perspective. I was just going into med school. Martin was just starting his business. We knew we had to wait, at least for a time, but eventually, my maternal needs kicked into gear and I told Martin to get busy. The timing wasn’t perfect, but it felt right. Martin was well set in his business, so he took paternal leave to stay with her as much as he could while I finished medical school. Then I took some time off to do the mommy bonding. From there, it’s all history. We made it work for us. It wasn’t conventional by any means, but it worked.”

  “That’s all that matters.” Looking up, she looked around as well. “What the ever loving hell is happening? I hate just sitting here. It’s driving me to complete and utter distraction. I need to know what’s happening, because this is utter and complete bullshit.”

  “I don’t know,” Laurie said, wiping her hands on her pant legs again. Her eyes went wide and she fumbled in her back pocket. Pulling out her cell, she frowned and put it to her ear. “Hello?” she sounded confused. “Torben! Jesus, what the hell is going on?” Laurie made some uh-huh sounds, clicked her tongue a few times, and then let out a breath. Hanging up, she looked at Goldie, “They’ve cleared the area. No one’s out there. They found the spot where the shot was taken, actually all four shots, but the shooter was long gone. They tracked him for a while, but he must have had a car and they lost the scent. Bad news though, Torben’s pretty sure it was your old boss.”

  “That slimy son of a bitch. I will kill him myself!” Goldie grumbled. “I swear to God I will kill him.” She stood and moved to the door, “Why haven’t they come back? Why aren’t they back in the house? Where is Josie?” She was worried for the child as well as Mahon and Torben.

  “They were up at the road where the car likely was. They’re heading back now,” Laurie got to her feet. “I’m going to let the others know it’s all clear. You okay to stay with Arkadios?” she asked even as she was inching toward the doorway.

  “I’m good. Go and do what you need to do and bring them in safely. And Laurie?” She waited for the woman to turn, “Thank you for saving him. I would be lost without him.”

  “He’s my brother, my blood, of course I’d save him. Besides, I’d do the same for anyone else. It’s part of who I am, and goes with the medical license.” Smiling, Laurie ran out of the room, her footsteps could be heard in the hall and then down the stairs.

  Arkadios moved his head slightly, his nose brushing the inside of her arm as he let out a heavy breath.

  Goldie let her fingers move through his fur, “Hey, honey. You've been shot. Try to stay as still as possible. You are going to hurt like crazy, I’m sure, but you need to stay in your bear form for as long as possible, ‘kay?”

  He let out a low growl and then licked his lips, and her arm in the process.

  “How’s he doing?” Mahon’s voice reached her, then he appeared around the island and crouched down by her side. “Laurie gave me a run down, but is he conscious?” he asked, touching her hair lightly.

  “I think so. He’s growling and licking me, so I’m assuming he’s conscious.” She continued to pet Arkadios. “I have no idea how long he should stay shifted, so I told him to stay that way. I figured you guys would be the ones to ask on this whole healing thing and all that.”

  “It’s best he stay in this form for at least a few hours. I’ll check with Laurie later to see how long she figures. She was just sort of shouting out things as she ran past to smother Josie, but he’ll heal about ten times faster in this form than if he was in his normal form. We still heal faster than a human does, about five times faster. Depending on the depth of the wound, where it hit, what it hit, and all that, probably about four or five hours.”

  “The bullet thankfully wasn’t that far in his chest. She was able to grab it with her fingers, so was a good thing, right?” She smiled and added, “I’m sure she was anxious to get to Josie.” Goldie leaned her head down and felt the need to cry pressing in on her. She hiccupped once and whispered, “This is my fault. I brought this to your family. I should leave.” Tears traced down her cheeks, but she knew it was what was needed. She brought their families’ into danger, and it was simply not fair to any of them.

  The growl from the bear was clearly heard and held a warning. “Make it two votes for not ever fucking happening,” Mahon said. His arm snaked around her shoulders and held her, “You’re not going anywhere, Goldie. Nothing about this is your fault love. You didn’t make him go off his rocker, get a gun, and come after you with it. And he was aiming at you. All four shots. Ark got in front of the one; you managed to duck the second without even realizing when you reached for Arkadios. And Torben tackled and rolled you beyond the other two shots.”

  “Oh God.” Her mouth went totally dry. “He has lost his ever loving mind. How can we stop him? Is there a way we can prove it was him and have him arrested? What do we do in cases like this?” she was rambling, and holding onto both Arkadios and Mahon.

  “Unfortunately, we can’t prove he was here. We only know he was because Torben caught his scent and tracked him. No
one saw him here shooting at you. Plus we won’t have a bullet wound soon to show proof of intent. But we’re not going to let him get away with it. We’re just going to have to find a way to prove his intent, his motive, and the fact he bought a long range weapon.”

  “Well we will do whatever it is we have to do in order to ensure justice is served. He deserves to be strung up and castrated for hurting my Ark, and worse for scaring Josie. I hate to sound bloodthirsty, but there it is. I am just that. I’m so angry right now I could spit nails.”

  “Well, no spitting nails, it sounds unhealthy.” Mahon touched her hair gently. “It will be okay, Goldie. We know who it is. Now we just have to prove means, opportunity and motive, and then the police can have him on a silver platter. I do need to call the cops. I’m going to do that, then we’re going to move you and Ark upstairs. You are going to shower off the blood while I clean up down here. Then, we all need to get our stories straight for the cops so we can avoid the whole part about Arkadios being shot.”

  "Oh crap. I am a terrible liar," her confession shocked him. "It’s part of why clients adore me. I can’t lie to save my ass, so we need to think of something so I don’t get all frustrated and stuff okay?"

  “We will, promise,” he smiled at her. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he hugged her tight. “Go up and have a shower. Leave your clothes in the sink. I’ll grab them when you’re done. Laurie will be doing the same once she’s smothered Josie for a while. I’ll grab the guys and we’ll get Arkadios up to the bedroom so he can sleep. Go, love, you can cuddle with him after your shower.”

  “Thank you.” Goldie gave him a quick kiss and then headed off for the stairs, trusting them to get the big sleeping bear up to the bedroom. How she had no idea, but if anyone could, her men could get it done.

  Chapter Ten

  Four hours later, the police left. She never even had to see them. Arkadios had shifted back to his human form. His wound was pink healed over and still healing. He was covered in blood all over his chest but hadn't yet had the energy to go and shower. He was just lying there holding her hand, dozing on and off.