Growth of the Bear (Bear Kamp Book 3)

by Rachel Robins

  “She’s doing okay. There’s no internal bleeding, that was our big worry here. She’s got a nasty contusion on her head. Honestly, she’s lucky to be alive, a kick to the head from a horse like that. Say your thanks in your prayers tonight. She’s got a concussion so she needs to be woken up every hour on the hour for the next few days. Some people like to stop after the first night, but don’t. She’s still in unsteady waters with a head injury like that. We’re keeping her here overnight, but she should be able to go home some time tomorrow.”

  “Thank you, doctor. Is she awake now?”

  “Not really. We’ve given her a shot for pain so she’s in and out of it right now. You can visit for a bit if you’d like but please let her rest.”

  “Thank you,” Lucy said again.

  When the doctor walked out of the room, Jerry and Lucy hugged. Then they followed the doctor. Justin wanted to go see Veronica more than anything, but he didn’t want to intrude on her family. His bear tried to overpower him, letting him know he didn’t like the idea of staying away any longer. Just as Justin was about to try and sit down, Jerry popped his head back into the waiting room.

  “Aren’t you coming, Justin?”

  “Oh, I didn’t want to intrude.”

  “Nonsense, come in. I’m sure you’ll want to see for yourself that she’s okay,” he said with a smile.

  Justin jumped up with more enthusiasm than he had meant, and took off hot on Jerry’s heels. A few turns and hallways later he could smell her sweet scent. He took a deep breath and let it comfort him and his bear. He felt his eyes glow with pleasure. Once he got inside of her room he let out a sigh of relief. Even though she looked rough, the steady rise and fall of her chest relaxed him.

  Justin stood off to the side while her parents stood vigilantly at her side, sharing some of their same stories from the waiting room to Veronica’s unconscious form. Justin kept thinking he should probably leave. Her parents weren’t aware of his and Veronica’s connection, so as her boss, standing there for an hour watching her probably seemed creepy. His bear refused to allow him to leave, though. He just stood there, firmly rooted to the floor.

  Dinnertime rolled around and her parents decided to go get food. Justin refused to leave even then. Eating, sleeping or simply leaving the room before Veronica woke up was something he wasn’t prepared to do. Daniel had called to check in. Justin had called him in earlier to go take care of the horses and keep watch in case anything else would happen. Justin still hadn’t heard from Austin, but he knew that when Austin had new information he would call.

  Jerry came back to the room without Lucy.

  “We just spoke to the doctor. She may not wake up fully today between the pain medicine and the trauma. We’re going to go home. Lucy puts up a tough show, but she’s barely holding it together. We need to talk more about what happened, and why there were firecrackers in that stall.”

  “I have people working on it, sir, but I agree we need to talk.”

  “When Veronica’s home, come over. Do I need to hire security for the stable?”

  “I have a guy I trust to bring people over, if that’s okay. I’m hesitant to trust too many.” Justin knew it wouldn’t be hard for his parents to bribe a police officer or some security firm. Austin’s group he used from time to time, though, were the best of the best.

  “That’s fine. Keep me posted. I assume you’re staying here?”

  “Yes, sir. I will.”

  Jerry hesitated before leaving. He walked over to Veronica and placed a kiss on her cheek, and stroked her blonde hair. The love and adoration radiated from Jerry’s gaze. Jerry turned his gaze back to Justin then. His look told him to take care of his daughter or there would be consequences. No words were ever exchanged, but Justin felt the fatherly threat there all the same. His bear grumbled low at the insult, but Justin knew if it were his daughter he would have done the same, probably worse. Justin nodded his acknowledgment, and Jerry was gone.

  Chapter Ten

  Veronica

  Roni blinked several times, trying to decide if she was ready to let the light in or not. She wiggled her fingers slowly, and then her toes. Besides her terrible headache and not knowing if she could fully open her eyes with the bright lights, she seemed fine. Flashes of what had happened flew across her mind’s eye. A deep voice broke through her internal inspection.

  “Veronica? Stay with me. Wake up, beautiful.” The only person who called her Veronica on a regular basis was Justin. His beautiful face filled her mind. Hearing his voice sent warmth racing all through her body.

  “Justin,” she croaked. Her voice was weird sounding. She cleared her throat and tried again.

  “Water.”

  “Oh yeah, yes, let me page the nurse.” Immediately the warmth he brought her left, and she knew he had gone in search of the nurse.

  “Ms. Miller, good to see you awake. Can you open your eyes up so I can do a quick neuro check?” the nurse asked.

  Roni started to nod, and pain exploded in her head.

  “Easy, sweetie. You’ve got an unbelievable goose egg. You’ll have to take things easy.”

  Roni slowly opened her eyes. The floating colors were there, and she had to blink them off several times before the room came into view. The nurse was leaning closer to her face with a small penlight. Roni followed her instructions to complete the exam, but she desperately wanted to see Justin. The nurse agreed to bring her some water and then left the room.

  “Hey,” he said, moving into her view.

  “Hey.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve been better. Do I look terrible?” she asked, imagining how awful she must look with the massive goose egg on her head.

  “You look beautiful as always.”

  “So, firecrackers in the stall, huh?” she asked, remembering the sound.

  “Yeah.” Justin’s eyes immediately darkened, and his jaw clenched tight.

  “I wonder how that happened.”

  “Now’s not the time to talk about it. We’re working on figuring that out.”

  “Those horses mean the world to me. I want to know what’s going on. Besides, I’m the one with the battle wounds, I deserve to know what’s going on.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I do know who was behind what happened.”

  “Okay?” Roni said, trying not to let her irritation show. Justin was beating around the bush and it was making her nervous.

  “It’s my family.”

  “Why on earth would your family be out to harm you or the people you work with?”

  “That’s the part I don’t understand. Since I took off they’ve left me alone. That letter you received the other day, the job offer, that was my family. I don’t know how they found out who you are, but they did. Why it matters is the biggest concern right now. I promise nothing else will happen to you. I’ll protect you.”

  Roni watched as the emotions played out on Justin’s face. To anyone else it was just a man talking, but to her she could see his underlying feelings. There was confidence as much as there was a lack of confidence, hatred as much as love, and bravado as much as fear. She wasn’t sure why she was the important piece of the puzzle, but hearing his devotion to keep her safe made her heart swell.

  “I appreciate that, Justin, and I believe you will. What happened today was an accident. You couldn’t possibly have prevented it; no one could have. I don’t see what I or my job would have to do with your family.”

  “I could have done things differently this morning so that it would be me healing, and not you. You’re my mate. I should have never let you anywhere near that mare in the first place. It’s my job to keep you safe, and I failed.”

  Roni didn’t say anything then. She just stared at Justin, dumbfounded. He had just called her his mate. As little as she knew about shifters, that word was a big one. Before she could begin to cultivate a response, a swarm of doctors, nurses, and her parents came in the room. She gave
Justin what she hoped was an affectionate look as she turned her physical attention to them. Her emotional attention would be with Justin, for what looked to be a long time.

  The doctors poked and prodded. Apparently her accident had happened the day before, and she had been kept unconscious with medicine the better part of twenty-four hours. She was excited to be able to go home. She felt like crap and wasn’t sure she could even stand on her own with the splitting headache she got just from shaking her head, but she knew her parents would have brought hired staff in to help. Growing up rich had some downfalls, but it had a lot of perks as well.

  Roni hated being known as the rich girl. It had made her self-conscious her entire life. When her mom would buy her designer clothes, she would cry. Finally, she begged her mom to take her to American Eagle so she could wear what all the other girls at her public school wore. That had been another fight all on its own. Her parents assumed she would attend private school, but she didn’t like it. Everyone was mean and materialistic. In public school people picked on her for being rich, but at least she had found a small group of friends who were true friends. In private school it was all about social status, and friendships were mostly just social posturing done in hopes of landing their parents a business deal.

  Justin’s eyes started to get that deep glow to them, bringing Roni out of her thoughts. She wished she could go to him, but it was out of the question. His eyes raked over her, and then he pushed off the wall and started towards the door. Everybody else was too engrossed in what the doctor was saying to even pay any notice to Justin. Another man started to enter her room and immediately stopped at the sound of Justin’s growl.

  Everything in the room stopped at Justin’s growl. Everybody turned to see what was happening. Anger radiated off Justin in waves, and Roni noticed his hands were sporting claws. His canines were lengthened and bared as he positioned himself between her and the newcomer.

  “Justin,” her dad said wearily. Roni reached out a hand and laid it on her dad’s arm to keep him from getting involved.

  “He’s got it. He senses something about the man.” She had no idea how she knew that, but she went along with it. One of her marketing classes had taught her that fake confidence sells real confidence that will sell any product. She hoped she was right.

  The newcomer raised his hands in submission, but his eyes were still hard and focused on Justin.

  “Austin sent me. Easy, man,” the guy said in a thick southern drawl.

  She watched as Justin tried to shake the anger off with no luck. A part of her felt an overwhelming urge to go to him. That she could somehow help him. Reluctantly she tried to move a bit, or at least maybe sit completely up. No luck; her head screamed in agony and she had to close her eyes. Her pain brought his attention back to her.

  “What are you doing?” he scolded.

  “Trying to get over there to you before you kill the guy,” she snarked back.

  Justin took two steps and was next to her bed. Roni reached out and touched his hand. The anger dissipated, and Justin took her hand firmly in his and squeezed. For a moment they were both completely unaware of everybody else in the room. Then her dad cleared his throat, causing Justin to snatch his hand away from hers, and go back to the guy trying to get in the room.

  “How many more are there?” Justin asked, dismissing what had just happened without comment.

  “I’m the only one here, and I’ll be driving the parents home. Back at the stables there are two more. One to guard the stables, and another one to be on the main house. We can have more if you think it’s necessary. For now this seems sufficient.”

  Justin nodded but didn’t respond.

  “My name’s Andy, by the way,” the guy said, extending his hand in greeting.

  “Justin. Thanks for coming.” The men shook hands, and then Justin introduced Andy to the rest of them.

  “When can she go home?” Justin asked the doctor.

  “Since she’s only been up for a little while, we’d like to monitor her for a bit before sending her home. I assume you’ll have a nurse on staff, Mr. Miller?” The doctor directed his attention back to Jerry.

  Roni listened as everybody made plans for her as if she wasn’t in the room. It was annoying, but it was how her dad worked. He was used to people listening to him and following his orders. Roni wanted to be like him one day. She didn’t necessarily feel she was in his shadow, but a part of her wondered if she would ever be seen as anything more than just Jerry Miller’s daughter. She looked over at Justin again as he spoke quietly with Andy. He called her Veronica, and for some reason that made her feel like a new person, her own person. To everyone else she was Roni, Jerry Miller’s daughter, but to Justin she was Veronica.

  Chapter Eleven

  Justin

  The doctors finally released Veronica to go home. Her parents were reluctant to let her ride with Justin, but Justin found himself not backing down. There was no question in his mind that he would be the only person driving Veronica. He felt her anxiety ease when he won the argument with her father.

  “So are you going to tell me what your parents have to do with the Little Lambs Helping Hands Organization?”

  “My family runs that organization, and they would never hire outside of their inner circle.”

  “You said earlier that you haven’t even spoken to them in some time. Maybe things change.”

  “Not them. They never change.”

  “Why did you leave?”

  There was the question Justin hadn’t wanted her to ask. He already felt completely beneath her, but to bare the rest of his shortcomings to her felt like torture. She deserved to know, though. As his mate, she deserved to know whom she would be tied to for life.

  “I’m the runt of the litter.”

  “The runt? Like, the smallest? My gosh, if you’re the smallest, I’d hate to imagine the rest of your siblings. They must be gigantic!” Justin felt an old pang of self-doubt, but then as her words sunk in he realized she had meant them as a compliment to him.

  “I’m quite small for a shifter. Surely you noticed at the bar with the other shifters.”

  “You mean The Kamp? Was everybody there a shifter? I had no idea!”

  “Most of them were, but not all.”

  “Justin, I don’t mean to offend you in any way. I don’t understand the shifter culture so I hope I’m not speaking ignorantly, but you’re huge. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever been around somebody as large as you are. Not to mention you kicked that jaguar’s ass that night. It seems like a silly reason to leave your family and never speak to them again.”

  “I had to leave. As the runt, I was an outcast there. Nothing I ever said or did was right. I started lashing out, and rebelling. Things had grown very ugly between me and my family, so it just made sense to leave. The only thing I have fond memories of was working with the horses in the organization’s stables, and my grandpa. He was older so he didn’t get out and around much, but any chance I got to go to him, I did. He never said anything negative to me. He was the only person there that ever loved me. Had it not been for him and the horses I probably would have ended up being put down.”

  “That’s awful. Your family sounds horrible. You’re better off without them. Do you talk to your grandpa at all?”

  “I did for a while, but then his health took a turn. They moved him into an assisted living facility, and put my name on the do-not-answer list. I tried using fake names a few times, but I never got through that way either.”

  “That’s awful! I’m so sorry.”

  She reached over and grabbed his hand. She hadn’t turned her attention fully on him because it hurt to move her head too much, but Justin could feel the love coming through their mate bond. There was no pity or disappointment, just love. Justin didn’t realize how much he craved that unconditional love until now. Feeling it come through their mate bond gave him a newfound strength.

  “Okay, so now that we’ve declared your family
a bunch of assholes, what does that have to do with me?”

  “You’re my mate. For some reason that holds some importance to them. Maybe they’re just wanting to mess with me to flex their muscles. I couldn’t imagine them doing that after all these years, but they’ve done pettier things. Or there’s a reason. Either way we’re going to find out.”

  “Justin, you say I’m your mate like I should know what that is or what I should do. I don’t really understand it.”

  “You’re doing everything like you should. There’s no rush. Right now, the timings not right, anyways.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Veronica

  If Roni could have jumped out of the truck and slammed the door, and then stomped up to the main house and slammed that door, she would have. What the hell did Justin mean ‘right now wasn’t the right time’? She hadn’t asked him about timing. She wanted to know what it meant that they were mates. Roni had spent the rest of the truck ride giving him curt one-word responses. He seemed too obtuse to even notice.

  Once they got to the main house, her medical staff was there to greet them. They helped her out of the truck and into a wheelchair. Luckily a few years back when her mom had to have knee replacement surgery, her father had installed an elevator in the house. Roni couldn’t wait to sleep in her own bed. She also couldn’t wait for Justin to leave. She needed time to think and try to sort out her feelings. Everything seemed to be happening so fast, and now with her injury she felt vulnerable and a little emotional. It was a new feeling for her. Roni had never been a really emotional girl; hell, she couldn’t even remember the last time she had cried.

  They ushered her up to her room and got her settled. As mad as she was at Justin for his stupid comment, she was a bit upset that he didn’t come up to her room. After the initial poking and monitoring, the nurse left her alone. Roni was glad for the peace, but then the silence started to wreak havoc on her emotions. The longer she waited for Justin to check on her, the angrier she became. Then she decided she needed more information. If she was Justin’s mate that must mean something and she wanted to know everything about what being a mate meant.