Double Bear Chase: Werebear BBW Menage Romance (Hockey Bear Season Book 3)

by Anya Nowlan

  Foster had been even more closed off than Finn these last months, and Finn was starting to think maybe opening up to each other at least would help them move on in some way. The pain they were carrying was shared, yet they avoided talking about it. Finn didn’t know how to bring it up, and even if he did, he had a feeling Foster would just shut down on him.

  “You forget, that’s a double-edged sword, brother,” Foster said, even smiling a little.

  “Then it’s settled?” Hanna asked. “I’ll see you both the day after tomorrow, same time?”

  “Fine by me,” Foster shrugged.

  “What he said,” Finn agreed.

  “Okay,” Hanna smiled, putting her notepad aside.

  She stood, smoothing out her skirt with her palms before interlocking her fingers and letting her hands hang in front of her. The picture of polished elegance, she stood before them. Tiny in comparison to the brothers, she somehow managed to look a lot taller than she was, with her spine straight and her shoulders squared in determination.

  “I’ll walk you out. I’m going that way, anyway,” she said, walking to the door and pulling it open.

  Finn and Foster filed out after her, with Foster looking preoccupied and Finn doing his best not to stare at Hanna’s ass. There were people walking about in the hallways leading to the main reception area. Finn could see his car parked out front through the large glass doors in the foyer, right behind the receptionist’s desk.

  The hallway continued on the other side of the reception area with a row of doors on either side. One of them burst open just as Hanna turned around to say her goodbyes to Finn and Foster, with an obviously upset the man stomping out, followed by a teary-eyed woman.

  The man looked young, probably in his early twenties, and the woman looked like she could be his mom. The way she was rushing after him, pleading in hushed tones, seemed to speak to that. They both had light hair and thin builds, but the woman was significantly shorter.

  The exchange immediately caught Finn’s attention, and he couldn’t help but stare at the unfolding situation. A man in a checkered button-up and thick-rimmed glasses followed the mother and son out in to the lobby, trying to get them both to calm down, but his words seemed to have little effect.

  Finn caught Hanna sharing a look with the man with the glasses, who was probably her fellow counselor. Pursing her lips, she quietly addressed Finn and Foster, pointing her chin toward the way they came.

  “Maybe we should wait in my office until Matt gets this under control,” she suggested, already starting to move back in the direction of the hallway.

  But Finn felt frozen in place, unable to look away from what was unfolding in front of him.

  “Johnny, please. Let’s talk about this,” the mother pleaded, reaching for her son’s arm but pulling away when the man whirled around, red in the face and clearly not having any of it.

  “You tricked me into coming here! I can’t believe this,” Johnny yelled. “I don’t need a fucking shrink, mom!”

  “Let’s all just take a breath and…” Matt tried to intervene, but his voice was drowned out by more yelling from Johnny.

  The man was really getting into his mother’s face, now, the plaid shirt he was wearing almost falling off his bony shoulders. Finn could feel his bear getting riled up inside him as he watched this punk treat his mother with absolutely no goddamn respect.

  Didn’t he know how lucky he was, to have her give enough of a shit about him to even try and get him help?

  “What are you crying about, huh?” he asked, eyeing his mother’s tears with disgust. “You’re a liar and I’m not going to stay here for another second.”

  The mother glanced around the lobby, looking embarrassed and defeated. She reached out again, placing a hand on her son’s forearm, but Johnny violently yanked his arm away, making the woman stumble backward. She was openly sobbing now, with Matt rushing to comfort her.

  Finn, however, had had enough. He could feel that emptiness inside him start to grow again, swallowing up everything until all he had left was his anger. And it was focused, with laser-like precision, right on this pathetic excuse of a son in front of him.

  “Finn,” he heard Hanna say, but her voice barely even registered.

  He was already stomping toward Johnny, shoulders tense and fingers twitching at his sides. The little twerp didn’t even have time to react before Finn was standing by his side, too close for comfort, practically growling at the man.

  “What the hell do…” Johnny started, loud at first, before getting a good look at him. “… you want?” he finished quietly, staring up at him.

  “Finn, stop it!” Hanna called out, more demanding this time.

  But Finn had no intention of stopping. Johnny here needed to learn a lesson about respect, and he was just the guy to teach it to him.

  Eleven

  Hanna

  So this is Finn, angry, Hanna thought, looking on helplessly as Finn towered over what she assumed was Matt’s new patient, a man named Johnny.

  Foster was still standing at her side, his features tense and a low rumble echoing from his chest. But at least he wasn’t joining his brother in scaring the hell out of this kid. Johnny seemed to be somewhat of a jerk, sure, but everyone was a work in progress. There could be some issues at work here that neither she nor the brothers were even aware of.

  “Foster, you have to do something,” she whispered.

  “Why?” he asked. “Only reason I’m still standing around is because Finn beat me to it,” Foster shrugged. “Besides, he’s not going to hurt him. Look at that scrawny guy. It would hardly be a fair fight.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Hanna countered. “Finn doesn’t look like he’s in complete control of himself right now.”

  Foster looked over at his brother for a moment, before uttering a somewhat unconvincing “He’s fine.”

  Hanna wasn’t about to take a chance on Foster’s assessment, however. After all, Finn was here because of his anger issues. And a reel of YouTube clips of him slamming 200-pound shifters to the ground suddenly started playing in her head.

  She noticed her hands were trembling a bit when she marched over to Finn, an involuntary reaction to walking over to an angry shifter rather than getting away from one. In her gut, Hanna knew Finn was nothing like Vince.

  But that didn’t mean unpleasant memories weren’t already crowding in on her mind, making her doubt approaching Finn had been the wisest course of action.

  Sensing Foster following her, she held up a hand behind her, gesturing for him to back off. These brothers fed off each other, and sensing Foster’s anger might only fuel Finn’s. Fortunately Foster got the message and fell back.

  “Is that any way to treat your mother, Johnny?” Finn was snarling as she got to his side, the click of her heels sounding loud on the tiled floor.

  The whole lobby was eerily silent, the few people who had been milling about all looking on, still and quiet. Finn was as tense as she’d ever seen him, glaring at Johnny so fiercely, the man was all but huddled up in a ball in an attempt to get away from the massive shifter.

  But it seemed Johnny still had some pride left, as he straightened himself up a bit and stared back, his throat moving as he swallowed, hard.

  “What business is it of yours?” Johnny countered, his voice coming out weak and scratchy.

  Growling, Finn started to step even closer to Johnny when Hanna quickly placed a hand on her patient’s arm, urging him to stop. Finn seemed to still immediately, his gaze swinging from Johnny to Hanna’s hand. And when he looked down at her face, most of his anger seemed to evaporate.

  The change in his demeanor was so sudden, Hanna didn’t even know how to react.

  “He’s just a kid, Finn. Walk away,” she finally said, after a moment of them staring at each other.

  Johnny was already backing away, slowly but surely heading for the exit. Finn shot one more threatening look at the man before relaxing somewhat. Sighing, he cov
ered her hand with his.

  “I’m sorry. My temper got away from me there for a moment.”

  His skin was warm as his huge palm enveloped her hand, sending a jolt of excitement through her. The touch felt thrilling, like something inside her she hadn’t even known was there was coming alive. Terrified by the intensity of what she was feeling, Hanna quickly pulled her hand back, giving Finn a nervous smile.

  “Still think you don’t need my help?” she arched a brow at him.

  Foster appeared at their side, throwing an arm around his brother’s shoulder.

  “You sure proved to her we don’t need therapy,” he stated, squeezing Finn to his side.

  “Shut up,” Finn muttered.

  “Great comeback,” Foster chuckled.

  The people scared or stunned into immobility were now quickly clearing the lobby, with Johnny already gone. Her mother rushed past them to catch up, with Matt running after her, his business card in his hand. Hanna felt worn down all of the sudden, rubbing a kink in her neck.

  “Alright, you two get out of here before you end up causing more trouble. We will talk about this at our next session,” she said.

  “Doc, I’m…” Finn started to say, but she caught him off.

  “Go,” she restated firmly, pointing at the glass doors.

  “Come on, brother,” Foster said, dragging him along as he walked to the exit.

  Watching them disappear outside, Hanna could feel her whole body sigh when she saw them get in their cars and drive off. These men were many things, but boring definitely wasn’t one of them.

  At least now she knew firsthand what it looked like when one of them lost control, and what triggered it. That gave her some food for thought, and a plan for her next session. Right now, though, she had to wait for Matt to return, so she could make sure the brothers were even still allowed on the premises.

  After the stunt that Finn pulled, Hanna wasn’t 100 percent sure he would even be allowed back. His massive build and shifter strength meant that the people who witnessed his temper might think this place unsafe with him around.

  One thing about the whole situation struck her as especially unexpected though – her reaction. Except for her initial nervousness approaching Finn, she hadn’t felt afraid at all. That had turned out to be a justified feeling in the end, but she couldn’t have known that.

  All she knew at the time was that she had a patient with previous anger issues going off the rails. But not for a moment had she thought Finn would actually harm her in any way. How sure she had been of that seemed foolish in hindsight, but that didn’t change the fact that was how she had felt.

  In a weird way, she felt safer with Finn and Foster around. Which was mind-boggling in itself, seeing as she barely knew them. She could ponder that later, however, as Matt was walking up the steps and approaching the entrance. And Hanna didn’t need to have a degree in psychology to notice he did not look happy.

  Oh boy.

  Twelve

  Foster

  Foster sat in Hanna’s office, with his brother at his side, waiting for Hanna to speak. She was in her armchair, silently staring at them. If it was a new tactic of getting them to talk, it was effective. Finn couldn’t take the awkward silence, fidgeting next to him.

  “I’m sorry about the other day,” Finn blurted out. “But in my defense, that guy was being a real shit.”

  Foster groaned. Finn had a problem with knowing when to keep his mouth shut. And Foster had a feeling Hanna wasn’t interested in excuses.

  “Why did you feel like you had to intervene?” Hanna asked, looking more severe than he had ever seen her.

  “It felt like the right thing to do,” Finn shrugged.

  “Did it? And what about thinking things through? Or did you let your anger control your decision-making progress?” Hanna countered.

  “Finn wouldn’t have hurt him,” Foster chimed in.

  His brother’s actions may have been impulsive, but that didn’t mean Finn was some crazed psycho. To be completely honest, Foster had been seconds away from doing the exact same thing Finn did. But two huge shifters hovering over that scrawny dude disrespecting his mother might have been overkill.

  Thinking back on Johnny’s face, Foster couldn’t help but grin to himself.

  Maybe next time he’ll think twice about being such a brat.

  “You’re missing the point here, boys,” Hanna sighed. “The question here is, are you two in control of your actions? Or are you letting your tempers control you? Clearly there are certain situations in which you let your primal sides do the thinking.”

  “Come on, Hanna,” Finn cajoled. “That guy was out of line.”

  That seemed to be exactly the wrong thing to say. Foster could see Hanna bristle at the comment, looking like now she was the one having trouble controlling her emotions. Her voice was still even when she spoke, but it sounded like that took considerable effort.

  “That young man clearly had some things he needed to work through. But he wasn’t ready for the help we offer here. A lot of people need time after they’ve been confronted with the idea they need help in dealing with their problems.

  “Hell, many people don’t even think there’s anything wrong, even after all their loved ones have told them they need to change. It’s a process. It makes people lash out. That’s perfectly normal,” she said.

  Foster couldn’t help but think her assessment rang true of him and Finn, too. How many times had their teammates or their coach asked if they were doing alright? And how many times had they said they were ‘fine’ and pushed their friends away?

  Now here they were, in mandatory therapy, their careers hanging in the balance.

  Clearly they hadn’t been doing a great job managing their emotions if this was the situation they had ended up in. Yet they both had still tried to convince Hanna there was nothing wrong. Maybe it was time to face the truth – they needed help.

  Hanna continued on, her tone becoming clipped.

  “Johnny wasn’t ready to admit something might be wrong with the way he was going about things. But at some point, he might be. And when he comes to that realization, when he sees his behavior has scared away everyone who loved him… Do you think he’ll come back here? To the place he was intimidated and embarrassed in front of staff and patients?”

  Her question hung in the air, the implication behind it hitting Foster like a ton of bricks. Next to him, Finn looked just as uncomfortable as he felt. Neither of them had thought of it that way.

  Was Hanna right? Had they scared Johnny away from actually getting help and maybe even making things right with his mother?

  “Shit…” Finn mumbled under his breath.

  Hanna took a deep breath, her expression softening somewhat.

  “I’m not saying this to try and make you feel bad. I’m saying you are letting whatever it is that’s hurting you affect the way you interact with the world. Do you want to give your pain that much power over you?” she asked, quiet yet demanding.

  In that moment, Foster knew both he and Finn needed to make a change. Trying to move on, on their own, not letting anyone in, clearly wasn’t working. Right now, he couldn’t even remember why they had thought keeping what happened a secret was a good idea in the first place.

  “No, I don’t” he replied.

  “Foster…” Finn started.

  “Enough’s enough, Finn. She wants to help us. Why not let her?”

  “Because it’s personal,” Finn shot back.

  “Nothing you say here will leave this room,” Hanna rushed to assure them.

  Turning to face Finn, Foster could feel his brother’s reticence. He knew they both had to be on board with telling Hanna if this was going to work.

  “We can’t even play hockey anymore. Our team can’t trust us. I can’t trust myself. Is that how you want things to be?” he asked, staring straight at Finn.

  Jaw clenching, it was clear Finn was having trouble coming to a decision. Foster knew
what his brother was feeling. He wasn’t even sure if they had said the words aloud before. And now they were about to lay it all out there and hope it somehow made things better instead of worse.

  “Alright,” Finn finally said, exhaling.

  Hanna was waiting patiently, watching them work this out. Brow slightly furrowed, she looked concerned and compassionate, a perfect image of someone you’d want to tell your darkest secrets to. She gave him an encouraging nod, but didn’t speak, waiting for Foster to go first. He could feel Finn tensing up beside him the moment he opened his mouth.

  “A little over three months ago, Finn and I were at my place, having some beers after a game. It was just a regular night, nothing out of the ordinary. We were laughing, joking around…” he started, fully aware he was stalling. “That was when my phone rang.

  “It was our dad. I remember I was still laughing at some joke Finn had told when I answered. I don’t think I’d ever even seen or heard my dad cry before… He was sobbing on the other end of the line, almost unintelligible.”

  The memory hit Foster right in the gut, the dread washing over him just as strong as it was that night, hearing his father fight through his tears to tell him what had happened. Finn had turned away, looking at the wall instead of him.

  But Hanna was focused only on him, listening calmly, her face not giving away anything she might be feeling about where his story was going.

  “Mom had driven into town to get some groceries for dinner. The road was icy, and it had started to snow after she got on the road. No one knows what exactly happened, but she must have lost control of the car.

  “My father was calling me from the hospital. She was in surgery. Finn and I rushed to the airport and got there as fast as we could… But we were too late.”

  Hanna’s cool, professional expression was wavering slightly as he geared up to say what he had avoided saying for months, now.

  “She died on the operating table. Our mother is dead.”