Teddy held up a hand, rising from the couch with purpose. “Hold up now. Obviously this guy is a bad dude. And now he’s seen me. If I didn’t deserve to know why he was after Cormac before, I damn well do now. Now I’m in danger, too. But from what? Somebody better start talking before I take myself back down this mountain and find the local authorities.”
That’s more than fair, man, and you know it.
He opened his mouth for only a moment before Wanda intervened again when she rose and addressed them all with that air of authority she was so good at. “How about we do this instead. It’s painfully obvious we can’t stay here any longer. Andre is wild and free out there and he’s seen both Cormac and Teddy. So let’s go back home, where I know we can keep you safe.”
“You’re from New York,” Teddy said. “I can’t go to New York. I have family who’ll worry. A job. A—”
“A life you hope to keep? A family you don’t want to endanger?” Wanda asked, her eyebrows furrowing on her smooth forehead.
Teddy conceded with a sheepish admission, driving her hands into the pockets of her bloodied vest, “Okay, that’s fair. But New York?”
“Yes, New York. Stop saying it like it’s the Andes, for the love of Pete,” Wanda chided. “We’ll do our best to get this over and done with as soon as possible and you’ll be right back here in Colorado before you can say pic-i-nic basket.”
“If I’m going to New York, I at least deserve to know what the hell is going on!”
Cormac heard the rise of panic in Teddy’s voice, saw the bright patches of crimson on her cheeks, and found he wanted to ease her fear. “I promise I’ll explain everything when we get there, Teddy. But we don’t really have a choice at this point. Please come with us. I couldn’t live with myself if you were hurt again because of me.” There. He’d said it. That was the truth.
Her face went from panicked to pacified in seconds, but she only nodded her agreement.
Wanda’s nod was brisk. “Good enough. Nina, call Archibald—tell him we’re headed to the castle and we need him to meet us there. Then call Darnell and ask him to contact Keegan to arrange the private plane. Tell him we have company. It’s time to end this once and for all.”
Both Teddy and Cormac looked to Wanda and simultaneously muttered with disbelief, “The castle?”
Wanda lifted her chin, her conservative yet chic stud earrings catching the light of the fire. “Are bears prone to hearing issues? I said castle. What about ‘castle’ don’t the two of you understand?”
And a plane. Somebody named Keegan had a private plane?
Cormac couldn’t help himself. He snorted. “Is it like that Castle Wicket you told me about?”
“It’s Beckett, fuckwad,” Nina spat at him just before she headed for the door. “Ease up on the sarcasm or I’ll force-feed you some of that shit with a spoon. Don’t even consider takin’ cheap shots at where we been. Because I will fuck you up.”
Wanda planted her hands on her hips, sizing them all up. “Are we going to put up a fight and ask a ridiculous amount of questions here? Because I’m just going to remind you again how fed up I am at this point when everyone questions my decisions. I’ve led this crew into more than one battle, and I’ve led them successfully. All while they bitch, they moan, they argue. But not this time, ladies and gents. Either you’re in or you’re out, and you’ll decide without a single word of dissent. I’m not discussing it. I’m not fighting with any one of you about it.
“Cormac, you’re not safe here. If you wish to be safe elsewhere, then follow me and I’ll be sure Darnell handles any evidence you were ever anywhere near here. If not, let Andre make your unusually large body resemble a hunk of Swiss cheese. Teddy? I assume, since Cormac is your alleged life mate, you’ll want to go with because as his furever girl, you want nothing but his safety. Now, we all assemble outside in five. If you’re not there when I’m ready to get the hell off this mountain, then God-freakin’-speed!”
Wanda pivoted on her heel then, sauntering to the door and pulling it open as the frigid night air whooshed in and she exited, her head held high.
Nina slapped a stunned Cormac on the back, the scent of Cool Ranch Doritos on her breath. “You heard her, Pooh Bear. If you want to get to the bottom of this shit, bust a move, brother.”
“But all the research I’ve compiled over the years is on my computer,” he muttered under his breath, even though he knew what Wanda was suggesting was the right thing. “We’ll need it.”
Marty squeezed his arm and gave him a small smile. “Darnell will be here any second. He’s hard to explain, but trust me; he’ll make sure everything’s handled. Promise. Now, I think you’ve got like three minutes and twenty-seconds left. Don’t dally,” she said on a chuckle, tucking her chin into her scarf and scooting out behind Nina.
Both he and Teddy looked at each other, their eyes guarded.
He was the first to speak, when he said, “So, life mate, are you in or are you out?”
She raised her chin, the sharp line of her jaw glinting in the light of the roaring fireplace, her hazel eyes glittering. “And miss staying in a castle? My Disney princess dreams just exploded in my head. Oh, believe this. I’m all in, life mate. All in.”
Cormac fought a chuckle as she made her way outside to join the others, keeping his eyes averted to avoid looking at her curvaceous backside.
“One minute and thirty-two, Pooh Bear!” Nina shouted.
He scooped up Lenny and took a long last glance around the place that had been his sanctuary for three years now. The place he’d hated and loved for all manner of reasons. It was sparse, he’d lived with only what he truly needed, making trips into the neighboring town in a disguise to gather supplies only when it was absolutely necessary.
He’d learned far more than he ever thought he’d need about survival. About fear. About loss. He’d licked his wounds here. Raged against the unfair, cruel world here. He’d shifted for the first time here. Dealt with this crazy metamorphosis without anyone to turn to for help.
And he’d survived. He’d thrived. There was a small part of him that would miss the solitude, the beauty of the purple twilight fading into an orange ball of sun when he greeted each new day. The wildflowers in the spring, the rush of the creek, the first fall of snow. The peaceful breeze, the soft scent of pine and lake water tickling his nose while he napped in the hammock he’d made out back.
But it was time to reclaim his life. Maybe not the old one he’d wanted—the one where he and Toni lived in neighboring towns and their children played together on his front lawn, and they celebrated births, graduations, had barbecues, went on vacations with their families together.
But something on par with all those things, all those dreams he’d left behind, would be really damn nice, even if it wasn’t exactly what he’d fashioned in his mind.
And he was ready.
He was goddamned ready.
He’d actually miss this place he’d alternately called his prison and his home. But it was time to go. Cormac sucked in a deep breath of air and tucked Lenny into his down jacket. Focusing his eyes on the purple door he’d painted himself with an old can of paint he’d found in the closet, he opened it and strode outside to meet the others, and didn’t look back.
* * * *
Teddy finally spoke as they sat in Nina’s castle living room, her mouth dry and her mind reeling. “So you’re a demon?”
The enormous round man with high-top sneakers, gold chains and an NFL jersey, who looked more like a teddy bear than a servant of evil, nodded his scruffy dark head. “Yes, ma’am. Flyin’ low under the radar o’ hell like a boss.”
Teddy was still trying to process everything. The castle, the baby vampini, Charlie—who Nina’s husband Greg had whisked off to spend time at Wanda’s house with her husband, Heath. The gentle zombie who went by the name of Carl, and brought her books and a blanket.
The freakin’ hedge maze. She shook her head. A hedge maze. Nina had a hedge maze
.
A demon that didn’t want to eat your soul was almost too much. But a demon that looked like you could rest your head on his shoulder while you cried? Insanity.
“So you’re a good demon?”
How could that be? Who were these people, with their weird cult-like group and a hotline for paranormal crisis called OOPS?
Darnell grinned, his teeth glowing in the dimly lit great room filled with all sorts of medieval paraphernalia and a velvet wall hanging of Barry Manilow back in his Copacabana days.
“Yep. Someday when all this has passed, you an’ me, we’ll sit a spell, maybe on Marty’s big ol’ porch swing, and I’ll explain how that all happened. Right now, we gotta keep you and your mister safe.”
Her mister. Hah. Did he mean the man who’d done nothing but give her the cold shoulder since they’d arrived in a blur of a flight on an amazing private jet with the word Pack on the side of it? That mister?
How did this life mate thing work anyway? Did Cormac feel it, too? Because if he did—if he felt this magnetic pull to her like she did to him—he was going to win an Oscar for hiding it on the outside.
She remembered a bit of the legend her mother had once told her a long time ago, but Masha Gribanov had been gone since she was fourteen…sixteen years now. Not a day went by when she didn’t think about her mother, miss her, need her advice. If there was ever a moment she needed her, now was that time.
How could she possibly ask her brothers Vadim and Viktor about something as sensitive as life mates? They wouldn’t know sensitive from a Costco-sized box of condoms.
Marty came and sat by her on the big red and gold couch made of beautiful brocade fabric, and patted her knee. “Glad you decided to join us.”
“I’m just not sure what I’m joining you for.”
Marty simply grinned, wiggling her fingers at Cormac’s cat, Lenny Kravitz, who jumped into her lap and snuggled down. “But! You’ll wake up tomorrow without a bullet between your eyes, and that’s always a comfort, don’t you think?”
Teddy swallowed hard. There wasn’t much she was afraid of, but the unknown rated pretty high. “About that…”
Why did everyone know what was going on with this guy out in the woods but her?
“Oh, hell no. All answers and back story are up to your life mate to disclose, sister. I’m just here for the cheap thrills and Arch’s weenies in a blanket.”
Speaking of Arch—or Archibald, as he was introduced to her with much flourish—he’d once been a vampire and was now human, too.
Though, she had to admit, he was absolutely precious, from the top of his balding, British-accented head right down to the shoes that shone so bright, she saw her own reflection. His suit, silver ascot, and trousers were equally as immaculate. As Marty told it, he was Wanda and Heath’s manservant, and a surrogate grandfather to the many paranormal children in this group of accidental friends.
Not to mention, he was, according to Nina, an amazing cook. The scents flying from the ultra-modern kitchen, where Nina had told her to make herself at home with anything in the enormous fridge but her chicken wings or she’d lose a kidney, were amazing.
Archibald held a tray of those very weenies in a blanket under her nose, the smell making her mouth water. It had been hours since she’d last eaten, and the grumble of her stomach said as much.
“Surely you’re famished, Mistress Jackson? All that frigid mountain air and the call of the wild makes for a hearty appetite, yes?”
Despite the fact that she had not the first clue what she was doing here or why she’d agreed to come other than the fact that her heart, while still attempting to compartmentalize, told her she should be here, Teddy smiled up at him.
“Thank you, Archibald. This is very kind of you to cook on such short notice. I feel like we’ve been thrust upon you without warning.”
His eyes gleamed down at her when he barked a laugh. “Bah! If you only knew how often the thrust happens, milady. Please, don’t allow yourself to be troubled. There is no putting me out when it comes to a crisis. Everything is better when there are weenies in a blanket, wouldn’t you agree?”
She popped one in her mouth, the flavors exploding on her tongue in a riot of such bliss, all she could do was nod with an emphatic bob of her head.
Arch beamed down at her, the wrinkles melting into the corners of his eyes. “Surely later we’ll sit and chat. As for now, I must get to the kitchen and finish up the mini-quiches. It was all I could scrounge up at such a late hour.”
Grabbing a few more of the delicacies, she dropped them on a napkin, ran her hand down along Lenny’s back, and excused herself from Marty, heading straight for Cormac, who stood by the fireplace, his arm braced on the ornate mantle of Nina’s great room.
He looked completely out of place in the more formal setting of Nina and Greg’s castle and he still smelled dreadful. His faded jeans, torn at the knees, and black work boots had seen better days. The plaid red-and-black flannel shirt he wore beneath a black vest, fraying at the cuffs he’d rolled up to his elbows, was worn from use.
And still he was utterly breathtaking. His rugged good looks, his sinfully hot green eyes, his bulky body rippled with muscle, drew her like a moth to a flame.
Teddy approached with caution, luxuriating in the warmth of the fire.
“Weenie in a blanket for your thoughts?” she asked, keeping her voice light.
When his gaze met hers, Cormac asked a question in a tone that sounded like she owed him money. “Mustard or ketchup on your hot dogs?”
“Um, mustard. Spicy brown. You?”
“Same.”
Her stomach rippled with delight. Aw, how cute. You have something in common. Mustard on your trans-fatty acids.
Then there was more awkward silence.
She inhaled and smiled up at him, hoping to encourage conversation. “Vanilla or chocolate?”
“Neither.”
“You don’t like ice cream? Who doesn’t like ice cream?”
“Strawberry.”
“Oh, phew! I was ready to pitch you to the curb before we got in too deep, life mate.” Then she winced when she saw Cormac’s jaw harden at the words life mate.
“Favorite side of the bed?” he asked, surprising her.
Her cheeks warmed. “Middle. I know. I’m a hog. Anyone I’ve ever slept with says so…” Ugh. Probably not a good idea to bring up past lovers and their sleeping arrangements. She sucked at small talk. “Sorry. That was insensitive.”
He smiled for the first time—that smile that made her heart go pitter-pat. “It’s okay. You’re what, twenty-five? I can’t expect you to have been celibate.”
Now she blushed, sick with delight that he thought she was twenty-five. “Thirty, actually. How old are you?”
“Thirty-nine.”
“So who’s your sleuth?”
Cormac cocked his dark head, confusion in his glittering eyes. “My what?”
“Your sleuth. You know, your clan, your pack, your people?”
“Is that what they call a group of bears? I had no idea.”
Now that was odd. Everyone who was anyone knew what fellow bears called one other. “That’s what we’ve always called them. My sleuth, I mean.”
“Who’s we? Siblings?”
She grinned, thinking about her nitwit brothers. “Two. They’re twins. Vadim and Viktor. Older by five years.”
“Jackson?”
She stiffened, looking down at her napkin of weenies in a blanket. “Hmm?”
“Your last name is Jackson. Vadim and Viktor sound Russian. Are they?”
Oh damn. Why had she lied about her last name? “My mom was from Russia…”
Cormac nodded. “Ahhhh. Interesting. Ever been there?”
“Once when I was just a little kid. Really cool. Lots of ornate churches, borscht and everyone can do a triple axel.”
He chuckled—a deep, resonant sound. “I bet.”
“Your family?”
He paused,
but only for a second. “One sister. Parents are gone now.”
“Mine, too. I miss them.”
“I get it. So you work at a wildlife refuge?”
He appeared to be warming to actually speaking to her, and though the sound of his voice made her utterly giddy, she was trying to keep that on the inside.
“Yeah. I love it. It’s tough work sometimes, but more than worth the gratification it brings. I love animals and I especially love working with them.” She slowed her roll for a moment, so as not to appear rambling. “So what do you do for a living?”
“Did. I was a coder for a big tech corporation in Jersey.”
Teddy cocked her head, sensing his distress the moment he thought he’d said too much. “Did?”
His gaze found hers, searing her to the very spot she stood upon. “I left three years ago.”
Three years? He hadn’t worked in three years? Something, somewhere along the way, had gone very wrong. She absolutely had to talk to Viktor and Vadim.
“To move to the forests of Colorado? Was the reason behind that because of that guy Andre?”
End conversation. Cormac’s yummy lips clamped shut, his thick muscles went rigid.
Teddy sighed, annoyed they kept playing this ridiculous game of I’ve Got A Secret, with no end in sight. “I get it. I went too far. Forgive me for trying to figure out what’s going on when my life’s in danger.” She pivoted on her heel, preparing to go in search of someone who would actually engage in a conversation, when Cormac gripped her arm in a light hold.
The contact of his grip made her pulse race, but she kept her cool.
“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. But the story’s long and complicated and we’ve known each other what, four or five hours? There’s a modicum of trust we have to establish.”
“All bets are off if my life’s in danger, Cormac. I can’t defend myself if I don’t know what’s going on. Screw trust.” She shook him off and moved away from him.
Because you’ve told him everything, Teddy Bear? C’mon. Play fair here, girlie.
Bearly Accidental (Accidentally Paranormal Book 12) Page 6