“You lied to me!” Ethan bellowed. “You put Tara in danger and you had my mate lie to me.”
“I was trying to draw Barry out and end this,” Leo snarled. “I was watching Tara the whole time. She was perfectly safe.”
“Safe?” Alex exclaimed incredulously. “She got abducted right under your nose! Anything could have happened.” His arms pulled her in a little tighter again.
Leo looked puzzled. “What? She was fine. A small run-in with an overenthusiastic salesman who grabbed her arm, but she saw him off by herself.”
“You obviously weren’t watching her that closely,” Ethan said, his tone one of disgust. “You let Barry and his brother grab her right off the street.”
Wait… what? “Uh…” she said, wriggling to escape Alex’s hold.
“What?” Leo said, his expression confused. “That didn’t happen.”
“It bloody well did,” Ethan roared. “Right here.”
Leo shook his head. “No, we haven’t been here all day until now. Tara hasn’t been out of my sight and we didn’t see any sign of Barry.”
“There are witnesses who saw Barry snatch Tara,” Ethan pointed out.
Everyone turned to stare at Tara.
“It didn’t happen,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been wandering around all day and haven’t caught a glimpse of Barry.”
“Then… how? What?” Alex stuttered. “What the hell is going on?”
A thought struck her. “Sara,” she said. She pulled away from Alex and brought out her phone. She ignored all the messages… oops… and dialled her sister’s number and waited. No answer. She looked up at Alex. “I can’t get Sara on the phone.”
“You think he took Sara?” Alex asked. “I guess you look a bit similar.” He looked doubtful. He’d never had problems telling them apart, but Tara knew from experience that other people sometimes did. Barry had always struggled.
“Dumb piece of shit never could tell the difference between me and Sara.” Tara shook her head. “He'll have taken Sara, thinking he had me.” She thought for a moment. Oh. She bit her lip. Oh dear. She screwed up her face.
“Don't worry, Tara,” Ethan said soothingly, patting her shoulder. “We'll get your sister back.”
She tried to control it, really she did. It welled up inside, the pressure building. She snorted. Then gasped. Chuckled a little. Caught the looks on everyone's faces and gave up the fight. She clutched at her sides, doubled over, and laughed until the tears rolled down her face.
“What the...?” Dana looked at Ethan, her eyes wide with shock. Tara laughed harder.
“Oh dear,” she gasped, wiping at her eyes. Alex gaped at her, clearly unsure what to do.
“What's so funny?” Ethan demanded. He turned to Dana. “Is she hysterical? I'm a man, I can't tell.” The panicked look on his face had her howling with laughter, her stomach muscles aching.
Dana shrugged. “Tara?” she asked tentatively, her tone of voice one usually reserved for the violently insane.
With a great effort, she controlled herself. “Sorry,” she gasped. “It's just that, well... my sister isn't like me.”
They watched her, waited. She avoided all eye contact, knowing it would set her off again. She took another deep breath and then shrugged.
“Daddy is a polar bear.”
Chapter 18
Alex stared at her. “So, Sara...?”
“Also a polar bear,” she answered. Her grin was beautifully evil. She shrugged. “I told you that although we look alike, we’re not identical twins. I can't believe that nobody knew she was a polar bear. You're a bunch of shifters. What good is that enhanced sense of smell if you never use it?”
She had a point. He had never really paid attention to Sara's scent, always more focussed on his mate. He'd only been around Sara in the presence of her sister or within Tara's house. In both cases, he was surrounded by the scent of Tara and not bothering with other scents. He had just assumed that since they were twins they'd have the same inner animal. He really had to use his nose more. Plus, that did explain the look Sara gave him when he asked if she had a cage like Tara. He nearly choked on the image of a polar bear using a hamster's wheel.
“And your other sister?” Dana asked curiously.
They all looked at Tara as they waited on her answer.
“Ah, Kara is a bit different,” Tara said with a sigh. “She's a hybrid.”
Alex winced. So did everyone else. Hybrids were rare and they were tricky. Normally when shifters had a child, it would take the inner animal of either parent. In rare cases, the child took on aspects of both. Anything could happen.
“What... uh... how does...?” Ethan trailed off, apparently unable to find a polite way of phrasing his question. Was there a polite way to ask what kind of freaky mutant someone's sister was?
“She looks like a mouse, a white one,” Tara said. “Just a very, very large one... with polar bear teeth. I think it's actually kind of cute.” She shrugged.
Alex stared at her.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he murmured. “I guess we’d better start looking for Sara.”
Ethan’s phone rang and he stepped away to answer it.
“Yeah,” Tara said. She bit her lip and looked up at Alex. “I really think we need to find her soon.”
“Of course,” Alex assured her. “We’ll get to her as soon as we can. She should be able to defend herself until then.”
Tara didn’t look any happier. “I’m not really worried about her ability to defend herself,” she said quietly. “I’m more concerned with how she might do it. She has control issues, remember?”
Alex frowned. He’d forgotten about that. “How likely is it to be a problem?”
Tara shrugged. “She’s not in a good place, Alex. Something like this could make her snap. I know Barry has it coming…”
Alex snorted. There wasn’t a shifter court in the land who would punish Sara for taking out Barry.
Tara looked up at him. “But Alex, I’m worried about the effect it’ll have on Sara if she loses control badly enough to kill. We have to get to her before she does anything she won’t be able to live with.”
Alex nodded.
“Boss,” Ethan called as he strode forward. “We’ve been speaking to various celebrants since we know Barry planned to force Tara to marry him.”
Tara snorted. “Deluded.”
“Well, we got lucky,” Ethan continued. “We have a registrar who is supposed to be performing the ceremony today down by the lake in Kenzie Park.”
“Stay here,” Alex said, brushing a kiss across Tara’s forehead.
“Not a chance.” Her expression was mutinous. “You’ll need me to calm down Sara.”
Alex growled and she slapped his chest, startling him into stopping.
“Knock it off, Alex,” Tara said firmly. “I’m coming with you. End of story. You can argue or we can get moving.”
“Fine,” he said. “But you stay with me at all times. I’m not rescuing your sister just to end up with you being abducted for real.”
“Fair enough,” she agreed.
***
The park was quiet and peaceful. Tara looked around, detecting nothing out of the ordinary. She didn’t believe it for a minute.
“This way,” Alex said quietly. Taking her hand, he led her along a path that led to the lake. They’d left everyone else back at the carpark. It was best if there weren’t a lot of witnesses if Sara had truly lost control.
After a while, Tara became aware of a sound. “Is that…?”
“Someone calling for help,” Alex confirmed, squeezing her hand. “So, at least someone is alive.”
“We should hurry,” Tara said, walking faster.
At that, they heard an enraged roar. Exchanging a look, they broke into a run.
“She’s shifted,” Tara panted. Oh, this wasn’t good. Hopefully the park was as quiet as
it seemed. It might be a little tricky having to explain why a polar bear was rampaging through a park in the middle of Scotland.
They ran into a clearing and ground to a halt. Tara couldn’t look away from the scene in front of her. A full grown polar bear was pushing at a tree, scratching the bark, and roaring in rage. Meanwhile, Barry sat high up in the tree, clinging on for life, and yelling for help. His brother was in a different tree nearby.
“Can she actually bring that tree down?” Alex asked, his eyes glued to the scene.
Tara shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a huge, sturdy tree, but she’s very strong and very angry.”
“Any ideas?” he asked her. “We need to end this soon. I can smell blood. Someone is injured.” Tara could smell it too.
“I’ll have to get closer,” Tara said. “I have to try to calm her down.”
Alex looked at her. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous.”
Truth be told, Tara wasn’t exactly confident about facing down her sister in this state, but there was no other way. Another loud roar made her flinch.
“We have to find another way,” Alex insisted. “Maybe some tranquilizers. I have some in the car. I should have brought them, but I didn’t think.”
“You just happen to have tranquilizers in your car?” she asked, turning to stare at him. “Do I even want to know?”
Alex shrugged. “It’s fairly standard for cops who are shifters. I hardly ever use them.”
“Hardly ever?” Another roar sounded. “Nevermind. We don’t have time to go back to the car. We’re out of options, Alex. I have to do this.”
“No. I’ll subdue her,” Alex said, his expression worried. “My bear can take her on.”
Tara looked him over. Shook her head. “No. I appreciate the offer but we both know that even your grizzly isn’t a match for a polar bear. Particularly when she’s this wound up and you’ll be trying not to hurt her.” She laid her hand on Alex’s chest. “Thank you for offering, but you know it has to be me. I’m her sister. She knows me and she loves me. She’s not going to attack.” Hopefully.
Alex still didn’t look convinced. She stood on tiptoe and brushed a kiss across his lips.
“It’ll be fine,” she told him, “but you need to stay back so that you don’t set her off.”
He nodded at her, clearly unhappy, but recognizing that they had no choice. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
Taking a deep breath, she walked forward slowly. Her legs felt like rubber, threatening to give out on her at any time. She wasn’t half as sure of this as she’d led Alex to believe, but she had to help Sara, no matter the risk.
“Tara!” The shriek came from the tree. Barry. “Help me! She’s gone crazy.”
At that, the polar bear’s head swung round to stare at Tara. If the idiot in the tree got her killed, she was so coming back to haunt his stupid ass.
Luckily, the polar bear seemed uninterested in her. Instead, it rose up on its hind legs and pushed against the tree. Barry squealed in terror.
It was now or never.
She took another few steps forward, keeping her movements slow and careful.
“Sara?” she called softly. Nothing. She tried a little louder. “Sara?”
The polar bear dropped its front legs to the ground and turned its head, watching her.
“Sara, sweetie, it’s okay,” Tara crooned. “We’re here now. You don’t have to do this.”
Was it working? She couldn’t be sure. At least the polar bear’s attention was fixed on Tara now. Until…
“Get that crazy bitch away from me!” Barry screamed from his tree.
The polar bear’s head snapped back around and it roared, baring its teeth at Barry who shrank back into the tree, his face deathly white.
“Will you shut up?” Tara hissed at Barry. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll walk away and let her eat you.”
Barry’s eyes grew wide, but at least he stopped speaking.
“Sara,” she called. “Come on, Sara. You don’t want to do this. All the breath mints in the world won’t take away the taste of Barry.”
The roaring stopped. The polar bear watched her, its head tilted slightly. She was getting through to her.
“Change back, Sara,” Tara coaxed her. “Let’s go home and let the police deal with the idiots. They’re not our problem anymore.” The bear continued to watch. “Please, Sara.”
At that, the polar bear lowered its head and began to shift.
“Alex,” Tara called. “Give me your jacket.” She caught it when he threw it to her. Crouching by her now human sister, Tara draped the jacket over her. No doubt her clothes had been shredded by her sudden shift.
“Sara?”
Her sister remained quiet, silent sobs shaking her shoulders. Tara quietly wrapped her arms around her, holding her. She could hear Alex on his phone, calling people to come and deal with Barry and his brother, both of them still in their trees. He was asking for Ethan and Leo. Good, no non-shifters who would need explanations.
Sara slowly lifted her head, her face streaked with blood and her eyes haunted. Tears ran down her face and Tara hugged her closer.
“It’s okay, Sara,” she said.
“No. It isn’t,” her sister sobbed. “I lost control and I could have killed them. Oh God, I wanted to kill them.”
“But you didn’t,” Tara said firmly. “That’s what matters.”
Sara shook her head. “Only because you were here.”
“Then I’ll just have to stay close then, won’t I?” Tara smiled at her. “We’ll work this out, sweetie. I promise. No real damage has been done and I’ll help you with your problem, okay?”
“No real damage?” Sara asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “I mauled Barry and Geoff.”
“Eh.” Tara shrugged. “They don’t count. Besides, they look like they’ll live. You haven’t done anything you can’t come back from. I promise that you don’t have to do this alone.”
Sara nodded, hugging her back.
By now, Ethan and Leo had arrived and were trying to coax Barry and Geoff out of the trees. Tara watched as Barry half fell out of the tree. She was pretty sure that Ethan could have caught him if he’d tried. Her ex was in rough shape, bleeding profusely from several places. He staggered upright, his eyes on Tara and her sister.
“I want her arrested,” Barry shouted, pointing at Sara. “And keep the crazy woman away from me.”
“Excuse me a moment,” Tara murmured to her sister. “I’ll just be right back.”
Leaving Sara, she stood and stalked over to Barry. Satisfaction warmed her as he took a small step back from her. How could she ever have been afraid of this man?
“Are you completely mentally deficient or do you just have a death wish?” she demanded.
Barry’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“You heard,” she said, pointing at him. “Stop provoking her.”
“Provoking her?” Barry spluttered. “She tried to kill me.”
Tara shrugged. “You had it coming.”
“She’s crazy and a menace to society,” Barry said, glaring at her. “She needs locked up, away from decent people.”
Something inside her snapped. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, her fist connected with his face, knocking him off his feet. When she would have launched herself at him to finish the job, strong arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting off her feet and spinning her around. Alex.
“Did you see that?” Barry exclaimed. “That was assault. I want her arrested too.”
“I didn’t see anything,” Ethan’s voice rumbled. “Leo?”
“Nope,” Leo agreed. “Not a thing.”
“You were looking right at her!” Barry insisted.
“Sorry,” Ethan said, not sounding even slightly sorry. “Must have spaced out for a moment.”
“Me too,” Leo added.
“What about the bea
r?” Barry asked. “He grabbed her to get her under control.”
Alex looked at her, winked, and turned around to face Barry. “Me? We’re just cuddling. Aren’t we, baby?”
“Absolutely, pooky bear,” she agreed. Actually, since she’d stopped struggling, they really were just cuddling. Looking around, she saw the paramedics arriving. Shifters, of course, but a few human onlookers had turned up now, gawking at the scene in front of them.
“At least arrest the polar bear!” Barry yelled, heedless of their audience.
Ethan quirked an eyebrow. “You want us to arrest a polar bear?”
“Yes!”
“Do you see a polar bear?” Leo asked, tilting his head. “Oh, is it an invisible polar bear?”
“It’s right there!” Barry exclaimed, pointing at Sara.
Leo nodded. “Ah, so you think that the small woman you abducted is a polar bear?”
“You know she is!”
Ethan nodded solemnly. “Better call the psychiatrist,” he said in an overly loud whisper to one of the paramedics, who simply nodded.
“You know she’s a polar bear!” Barry howled with rage. “The bear saw her.” He pointed at Alex.
“So, the big dude is a polar bear too?” Leo asked innocently.
“No, no!” Barry yelled. “He’s a grizzly.”
“Oh,” Ethan said, nodding. “So, that one is a grizzly bear. Do I get to be a grizzly too?”
“No!” Barry howled. “You’re a wolf.” He pointed at Leo. “He’s a lion.”
“Shut up,” Geoff hissed, his eyes darting to the witnesses. Barry ignored him.
“Tara is a mouse!” Barry was gesticulating wildly with his one good arm. The other hung limply at his side, his sleeve in tatters and caked with blood.
“What on earth did this damage?” one of the paramedics asked, trying to examine Barry.
“Polar bear!” Barry screamed, pointing at Sara again.
The paramedics exchanged a glance and then looked at Ethan.
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