Brave Bear

by K L King

  “I have barely spoken to you in the past couple of years. I don’t understand why you drove all the way up here to talk with me. And why do you look like that?” Iris asked.

  “Like what?” he asked, frowning.

  “You look like a tourist or something, not your usual business attire,” she countered.

  “Iris, I have to dress a certain way for work, but that’s not who I am. I’m just tired of it all. Sick of all dad’s plans, his schemes,” he said and leaned back in his seat.

  “What plans? What are you talking about?” Iris asked hesitantly.

  “Look, you have no idea what that bastard has been up to. I’ve done as he’s asked without hurting anyone. I’ve downplayed your talents to keep you out of it. I’ve purposely kept away from you to protect you from him. You are too good for him. I wanted to keep you…Well, maybe we should wait for Deacon to get here so I only have to say this all once.” Aiden sighed and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, elbows on the table.

  Iris just sat there, mouth open. She didn’t know what to say. What the hell was he talking about? “I’m going to go get the coffee. I’ll be right back.”

  Iris slowly prepared a tray with a carafe of coffee, pitcher of cream, small bowl with cubes of sugar, three mugs and napkins. She inhaled deeply and walked back out to the dining area. As she approached the table, the headlights of Deacon’s truck shone through the front window of the bakery. She sighed in relief.

  Iris placed the tray on the table just as Deacon swiftly walked through the door and right up to her, quickly glancing at Aiden and then back to her. “Iris, are you OK?”

  She turned as he pulled her into his arms, steering her behind him, so that he now stood between Iris and the table where her brother sat.

  Aiden gave Deacon a weary smile and held out his hands. “Not a threat. Look, I’m not here to drag her back with me. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. I can’t go up against a”—he sniffed the air—“wolf shifter.”

  Both Iris and Deacon froze. She inhaled a deep breath. “You know?” Iris spoke first.

  Aiden nodded and gestured to himself with one hand. “It’s in the genes. I can scent out other shifters. I can tell for instance that you’re a bear shifter, like your mom, and that your intended is indeed a wolf. I already knew you were a bear shifter, though.”

  “How long?” Iris asked, moving next to Deacon and grabbing one hand in hers.

  “How long what? How long have I known you were a shifter? How long have I known your mother was a shifter?”

  Iris sat down at the table, pulling Deacon to sit in the seat next to her. Iris growled, “All of it. How long have you known all of it?”

  He shrugged. “Since forever.” He reached to take a mug. “Is it OK if I pour?”

  Iris nodded as her brother served the three of them coffee. “I have known since my father married your mother that she was a bear shifter. I was ten when he found her. He was looking for a powerful type of shifter to mate with. He wanted to have strong shifter offspring after the disappointment that I was.”

  “But you said—”

  “I said that I can scent other shifters. I, myself, am unable to shift. Dad thought it was because my mother was a human. It made him crazy. He could tell I had shifter abilities but lacked the most important one. I can heal faster than normal humans, and I’m a bit stronger and faster than normal. I get these visions sometimes too; I can’t control them, though. My eyes can do this cool thing.” He stared at them with glowing orange eyes. “I just can’t shift like Dad.”

  Deacon had gone rigid as soon Aiden revealed his shifter eyes.

  “After my mother died, Dad looked everywhere for a shifter woman that he could breed with. Your mom seemed perfect at the time. She was a tough as nails bear shifter. She was a cut-throat lawyer who cost him some land development deal. He was pretty impressed that she beat his lawyers in court. I was only ten when they got married and had you, but I thought she would be able to control him. Make him not such a monster. She was nice to me, too,” Aiden recalled. “He had big plans for you, but when you hit your teenage years and never shifted, those plans went up in dust. It’s funny because I always knew you would be able to shift because I had a vision of it when you were a baby. I never told him, though. I wanted to keep you safe. You were so innocent. Such a sweet, caring kid. I thought that if he didn’t think you could shift, you’d be protected from him. In my mind, the less you knew, the better off you’d be.”

  “My mom was a tough lawyer bear shifter! I never knew any of this. She wasn’t tough. She was always away in rehab for drinking, for drugs. She was—is—a withered shell of a person. This doesn’t make any sense, Aiden. Why didn’t anyone tell me any of this before and why now?”

  “I couldn’t tell you before because of Dad. Your mom is only weak now because of him. He hurt her, wouldn’t let her shift for years. He’s very powerful. There is still a little bit of fight left in her, though. She begged me to come and speak with you while she distracted Dad with another of her quote-unquote relapses. I’m only here now to warn you and your mate.” He gestured to Deacon, who sat glowering. “You both need to get out of Grey Lake. You need to get far away from here and soon.”

  “Why would we need to do that?” Deacon growled the question, leaning forward in his seat.

  Aiden answered, “Because he has something planned involving this town. He has been working to buy up land near the mountain, and it’s been harder than he anticipated. He went nuts when you said you weren’t leaving the area. He ransacked his own office. He hired some people to bring you back home. When that didn’t work, he tried to scare you into coming back on your own.”

  “He hired people to bring me back home? Who?” Iris screeched.

  Aiden shook his head. “I have no idea. I think some shifters in town. He’s been dealing with some of the shifters who live here, paying them pretty well to feed him information, do odd jobs that he needs done. I don’t know who they are, though. I’ve never met them.”

  “What is he planning?” Iris asked.

  Aiden shrugged. “Unfortunately, he has been keeping some things to himself. Because he considers me weak, I’m not privy to certain plans. I wish I knew.”

  “We can’t just leave. I—we—have family here. There are thousands of innocent people living here. We need to know what he has planned. How can you have no idea?” Deacon snarled.

  Aiden downed the last of his coffee and stood. “I told you what I know. I promised Mom I would talk to you and warn you. There’s nothing else I can do. I need to get back. Please be careful if you’re thinking of dealing with Dad. He’s a monster.” He walked over to Iris who stood up and wrapped him in a hug.

  “Aiden, please, can’t you find out anything else?” Iris asked, tears filling her eyes.

  “Oh, no, don’t cry.” He wiped the tears from her eyes. “Shit. I always hated it when you cried, even when you were a baby. Look, I’ll see what I can do. It’s hard. He has people everywhere. If I can find anything out, I’ll call this place”— he gestured to the bakery—”using a burner phone or something.”

  “If you don’t know any of his plans, at least tell me one thing,” Deacon said as he stood and placed one arm around a trembling Iris.

  “If I can,” Aiden answered after a pause.

  “What kind of shifter is your father?”

  “Oh, I thought you’d know by the eyes.” Aiden shrugged. “He’s a phoenix—a big freakin’ flame-spewing firebird. Supposedly the last one in existence.”

  Iris made a strangled noise, but Deacon squeezed her tighter. She got the hint that he didn’t want her to mention Tessa.

  “Tell Mom I miss her, please. Tell her I hope she is proud of me, and if she ever wants to leave, I—we— will come get her.” Tears rolled down Iris’s face. Deacon snarled softly and rubbed her back in soothing motions.

  “I will. I’ll make sure she’s OK.” Turning to Deacon, he said, “Take care of her. She
’s special. I still can’t believe we have the same father.” Aiden shook his head. He gave them both a weak smile and walked out the door into the brisk night air, the door slamming shut behind him.

  They both remained unmoving, stunned. A few moments later, Iris started shaking, turned in Deacon’s arms, and stared up at him in horror. “Both my parents are shifters…and my dad, oh my God!”

  Deacon tucked her head into his chest and continued to rub her shoulders and back as she silently sobbed. “Shh, we’ll figure it out. We’ll talk to Heath, my dad, Tessa. Make a plan. It’ll be OK.” He spoke with such conviction that she drew her head back to stare him in the eyes.

  “How can you be so sure?” Iris asked.

  He ran one hand over her hair while holding her close with the other. “Because we just found each other. I’m planning on living a long time with you here in our home. Planning on a family, a big one. Being happy, content. There’s no way in hell your father, phoenix shifter or not, is going to ruin it.” His eyes gleamed the yellow of his wolf.

  Iris shook her head. “But…”

  He put one finger to her lips. “No buts. We have friends and family here. A pack. They’re strong, brave, and smart. We’ll go to them together. We’ll start with Tessa and then Heath. That fire-breathing buzzard doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.” He grinned a feral smile.

  Chapter 35

  That very evening they went to Tessa’s and relayed all that Aiden had told them. It seemed strange to Deacon that Tessa didn’t appear that surprised to hear there was another phoenix alive. Sure, she was upset about the threat to the people of Grey Lake, but she didn’t seem too shocked about Iris’s dad being one of her kind. Tessa told them that maybe knowing all this would help bring her visions into better focus. She pledged to do whatever was necessary to defend her land and people. The ancient shifter seemed eerily calm as they bid her goodnight and returned home.

  The next morning, after dropping Iris off at work to keep her mind occupied, Deacon called Heath and said he was on his way over with bad news. Apparently, he woke the sheriff out of a sound sleep by the sound of his answering snarl. As Deacon drove, he called Ted and asked him to meet him there since they needed his advice.

  A bleary-eyed, shirtless Heath answered the door for the two men. “This better be good. I just finally got to sleep after my double.”

  Deacon and Ted stepped through the door, pushing past Heath. “Trust me, you’ll want to hear this. We finally heard from Iris’s brother.”

  After the three sat down in Heath’s kitchen, Deacon went on to tell the men everything, from Iris’s unusual shifter heritage to the dire warning that Aiden had given them.

  “So, this Alden Williamson is a phoenix, Iris’s brother is a sort-of-shifter that can’t shift, and Tessa had no idea about any of this? Is Tessa somehow related to Iris?” Ted asked.

  Deacon shrugged. “No idea. She always spoke about how she was the only phoenix left, but she actually didn’t seem that surprised when Iris and I told her,” Deacon said.

  “We need more than this. It’ll be hard to make plans on such little information,” Ted answered from his seat at Heath’s kitchen counter.

  Heath sipped from his coffee, jaw clenched, as he sat facing his father and brother. He put the mug down and answered, “We knew we were going to have trouble based on Tessa’s dreams. Maybe this is the lead we needed. At least we know the who. We just have to figure out the how, the why, and the when.”

  “I wish we could get her dad here so we could feel him out. I don’t think there’s any chance of that, though. He wouldn’t even let Iris speak to her mother when she called,” Deacon said.

  “From what you told us, it seems like this Aiden might be able to gather some information. He, at least, is trying to protect his sister,” Ted said.

  Heath frowned and said, “It would be even better if we had someone we could trust get close to this Williamson. We need to know his strengths. We need to find out if he has the same kind of powers as Tessa, or if it’s even worse. I’ll have to think. I’m too damn tired right now to think straight. We should meet back here tonight at eight. Deacon, bring Iris and May with you. Dad, I’d leave mom…”

  Ted growled. “I’m bringing Annie. If I left her out of this, she’d never forgive me. She’s helped me for years. She’s pretty good at analyzing situations from a non-shifter point of view.” Ted stood up and placed a hand on Heath’s shoulder.

  Heath grumbled, “Fine, I just wanted to keep her safe.”

  “I know, son, but the more she knows, the safer she may be. Trust me on this. When you find your mate, you’ll understand,” Ted said.

  Heath scowled. “Fine. See you two later. Can one of you guys see if Tessa will come, too?”

  Deacon nodded. “Iris and I will handle Tessa. See you later.” He waved over his shoulder as he walked out the front door.

  Chapter 36

  Later that night, Iris found herself sitting on a couch in Heath’s living room between Annie and Deacon. Tessa sat on a loveseat adjacent to the couch with Riley sitting on the hardwood floor at her feet. May and Ted were working at the dining room table that had been moved into the living room near where the women sat. They each had a laptop computer set up in front of them. They were looking for all the information they could find on Alden Williamson and his companies using databases that were helpful when doing police work. May had to keep taking breaks due to headaches. Iris worried about the younger woman. After many discussions with Heath, he had allowed her to come back to work part-time about two weeks after her discharge from the hospital. May had argued that she didn’t need any coddling, but as sheriff and alpha, Heath’s word was law.

  There were other changes Iris noticed as well. May’s personality had changed since her recovery. She was much less outgoing and energetic than usual. Deacon had mentioned such changes were common after head trauma, and they would all just need to support May as best they could. What worried Iris the most about her soon to be sister-in-law, though, was the lost look she frequently saw on May’s face. Iris resolved to keep a close eye on her friend.

  Heath was all business, walking around the living room, peppering Iris with questions about her father and brother. Deacon had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, tight against his side in support.

  Heath was very astute, she thought, staring at her soon to be brother-in-law. He tried to glean any bit of information he could from her, asking questions over and over in slightly different ways, hoping to bring some distant memories to the surface. She wished she could have been more help. She really had turned a blind eye to her family’s business. She relayed all the information she could remember about her father’s employees that she knew about, which was not much. Iris was only aware of a handful of senior level staff that had come to their family home for meetings. She also was unfortunately familiar with a handful of low-level male employees that she had been on disastrous dates with. Deacon expressed his displeasure with a series of growls at being reminded of the shoddy treatment she’d received. Heath seemed mainly interested in the senior members of her father’s staff.

  Annie in her quiet, serene way tried to get Iris to remember anything about her father’s behavior at home that she thought was unusual or mysterious when she was growing up.

  “I tried to stay out of his way for the most part,” Iris said.

  “Do you remember him ever going off by himself on trips? Ones that he would return from refreshed and happy?” Annie asked.

  Iris huffed a laugh. “I don’t think he was ever really happy. He was away pretty frequently on business trips. He took my brother on some, or other men he worked with sometimes as well. I don’t really remember him going off for a vacation, though. It was always related to his work, or at least that’s what I thought.”

  “He never mentioned anything to you about your family being special?” Heath asked.

  “Only in terms of being wealthy. He always acted like he was better tha
n everyone around him, but I just thought it was down to his being arrogant and entitled,” Iris replied, looking down at her lap. Her eyes stung with tears. She was so useless. Why hadn’t she paid attention? She had closed her eyes to her father’s activities, and now there was going to be trouble because of it.

  Deacon tightened the arm he had wrapped around her shoulder. “None of this is your fault.” He lifted her face with his free hand.

  Heath crouched down in front of where she sat on the sofa. “Iris, Deacon’s right. Whatever your father has planned has nothing to do with you. Remember that you’re part of our family now. You’ll have an important part to play in what happens just as we all will.” He stood up and looked around the room at the others. “There isn’t going to be a quick and easy fix. This is going to involve lots of deliberate planning. We don’t want to make any rash decisions.”

  “You’ll want to involve more than the wolf pack as well,” Tessa piped up. “We’ll need to gather representatives of other shifters soon to brief them on what we found out. They might be able to help with planning as well.”

  “I’m sure May knows of a grizzly bear that might be helpful,” Deacon teased.

  May ignored him, but her face turned bright red as she continued typing on her laptop.

  Ted frowned at Deacon, but added, “We should bring in the grizzlies, black bears, and perhaps even some of the avians.”

  “What type of avians?” Iris perked up. She had never seen any avian shifters before. To be able to fly must be incredible.

  “There are some eagle and hawk shifters that live in the forests on the outskirts of Grey Lake. Actually, the doctor who treated May at the hospital is a bald eagle shifter. And no, she is not bald,” Annie said, garnering a chuckle from Iris who was about to ask that very question.

  Heath said, “Those all sound like good ideas. Dad and I will meet tomorrow and make a preliminary list of highly respected shifters that we can invite to our first meeting. I think we’ve done enough for tonight, though. You guys should get going.” Heath gave Iris and Deacon a weak smile. “Don’t you still have a wedding to plan?”