“My aunt Mel never leaves the house except to come to our house. She says she’s a hermit crab.” Dan corrected his sister. “I know she’s not a crab—only to Dad, I guess—but that is what she said that I could call it. She said that it was better than me telling people she was a weirdo.”
Gannon couldn’t help it—he burst out laughing. This child was going to love his dad, he thought.
As they pulled up in front of the pizza place, he told them that it was on the company. Demi had made sure that he had a new company credit card for the school project, in the event that the Austin family needed something before they got to the house.
He understood what Dan had been referring to about the heat of the pizza as soon as they started looking at the menu. They didn’t care if the pizza was cooked too hot, but hot as in the spices they could add. Holly and Dan seemed to have the taste buds of someone that would set their mouth on fire if they thought it would taste good. Mary was almost as bad, but Daniel didn’t like heat at all. He ordered his own cheese pizza, with nothing on it, and the salad bar. None of the kids were going to have salad until Daniel told them that they had to eat a balanced meal.
“Okay, I’ll have a salad too, but I don’t have to like it.” Gannon covered his mouth when Holly looked at him. “I think my dad was born an old woman like Aunt Mel says about him all the time. We have to balance our meals, lives, as well as our clothing when he has us.”
“You live with your mom part of the time?” The older two stiffened up and looked around. Mary just shivered, as if she had had a nightmarish thought. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say the wrong thing about that. When you said that you lived with your father, I just assumed.”
“It’s all right, Mr. Gannon. Vicky dropped us off one time and didn’t say anything to anyone when she did it. Then she never came back for us. Or for Dad.” Gannon told Holly that he was sorry for that. “We were too at first. But then Dan and I thought of all the things that she had done to us and said to us about Daddy and Aunt Mel, and we decided that we’re better off without her.”
“Holly, I’m sure that Mr. McCray doesn’t want to hear about our domestic life.” Holly seemed unaffected by her father’s response to what she’d said. Gannon could tell that Daniel was, however. “My ex-wife isn’t in the picture. They were talking about when they stay with my sister. Mel takes them to her apartment, and they have a good time trying to burn the place down with how hot their food is.”
“I like heat too. Not like you three do, but I enjoy some hot when I’m eating.”
When the pies were brought to their table, he noticed that all three of the kids had finished their salad. He supposed that everyone should make sure that their kids ate veggies with their other food. He should have done the same thing and had one himself.
Taking a slice of the meat pizza and putting in on his plate, he heard from Demi. Her trying to be calm voice had his bear feeling a little tight inside of him.
I take it you have the family. He told her that he did and what they were doing. Don’t alarm anyone there, but Vicky, Daniel’s ex-wife, is looking for him. She’s been by their home twice in the last hour. If Mel is there, which I’m guessing she is by the work going on in the backyard, Vicky isn’t going in the barn to check to see if anyone is in there. There isn’t any love lost between the two of them.
I just mentioned her in an off way, and they all looked like they were afraid of her. The kids, especially. Is this something that I need to keep an eye on? Demi said that they’d have a talk about her when they were all together. Will Mel be safe? The kids really love her, and I’d hate to think that anything would happen to her while they’re here.
She’s fine. As I said, working. There are enough pack wolves around to keep Vicky from entering the house or the barn, but I wanted to warn you that we need to keep an eye on them. Not that I think she can find them here right now, but I just want this family to be safe. I like them. Gannon told her that he did as well. Good. Like I said, they have nothing to worry about now. But I don’t want anyone to be surprised when Vicky shows up because I have a feeling that she will now that it’s in the paper that he’s designing the school of the future.
The aunt is to arrive in a couple of days. I don’t know why there’s a delay, but how is she getting here? By your plane, or will she be driving? Demi told him that she had thought Mel would be with them. I guess, from what the kids said, she’s working on some specs. They didn’t know what, and I didn’t ask, but it’s what put her behind.
I bet it was the locking mechanism that I asked her to change. I bet she had to retool the entire line for that. I’ll tell her how sorry I am to have changed it so close to their arrival date. Gannon told her about the kids wanting pizza, and that they liked it hot. Good for you. Someone you can eat with that likes your sort of food. We’re having steaks on the grill tonight. So all of you will be here. Also, before I forget, I hired you a staff. Okay, Gannon. I’ll see you when you get to their house. Lucian and I are there, making sure that things are ready for them.
Gannon didn’t want a staff, but with his house being so huge, he could understand the need for it. Finishing up his meal with the family, he enjoyed being able to just hand over the credit card without looking at the bill. He knew that it was on the company account. But given the fact that he was making good money working with Demi, as well as now working for Meadow, he had had that much more fun in shopping for his furniture that he’d not been able to get at the warehouse.
There had still been a great deal of furniture in the warehouse even after he and the others had taken out what they needed. Gannon was still going to go back to finish up the last bedroom. He’d been wanting the bunk bed set that was there since he’d walked around the first time. He had no idea if he’d have a great deal of use for it, but he had decided that it would be nice to have a set of twin beds in the last bedroom, just in case. He had no idea of what would happen, but he wanted that to be there for whoever needed it.
Taking them to the house, Gannon was glad that they’d loosened up a great deal with him around. Daniel was a good father, keeping his kids in line and them helping each other. But he could see that they would try their best to get away with something while he wasn’t looking.
“I’m exhausted.” Gannon thought maybe that was an understatement for the other man. “I’ve been worried about my sister. Leaving her there alone, I hate doing that to her. She’s a grown woman, I know, but she has so many things going on in her head that I worry for her.”
The kids had scattered once they were in the house. The girls were picking out a bedroom, and he knew the exact moment that they found the gifts that had been purchased for them. The screams were deafening, and they were laughing too. Demi and Meadow had gotten them laptops to use here and to take home with them when they left. Daniel and Lucian talked about the modifications that Mel had been doing as they walked away.
“What?” He asked Demi what she meant. “I don’t know. You look like you’ve taken a tumble down the rabbit hole, and you don’t know which way is up.”
“You’re very strange. Has anyone told you that before?” Demi pretended to consider it. “Never mind. You’re strange—let’s leave it at that. Nothing is wrong. I’m just thinking about what is going to happen with this family when the school is finished up. You said that his name was in the paper. You know that’s just going to be bringing out the worst of the worst. People everywhere will be plotting ideas on how to get inside of it just to prove you wrong.”
“I hope they do. Not prove me wrong, but try and get in. I’d like for someone with a devious mind to try and breach a single school that has this equipment in it.” Gannon watched his brother and the other man. “You like them.”
“Of course I do. What are you trying very hard not to tell me, Demi? It’s not like you to beat around the bush, or even to knock the sucker out of your way when you have some
thing on your mind.” She told him what she’d been thinking about. “I have too. I don’t know what to think if she is my mate. She’s not like you guys, all gung-ho and out there. I’ve never met her, but I have a feeling that she’s tender and terrified of shit.”
“She is afraid. Of what? I don’t know for sure. She’s a recluse, as you might have guessed, and doesn’t like to be touched. I have an idea what happened to her that day, but she’s never said a word to anyone, including the therapist that she sees every other week. Her face was split open from her jawline to her eye. Also, she had numerous slices to her body that no one can explain.” Gannon asked why it mattered. “Because whatever it was that did that to her, it’s what haunts her. Meadow thinks it’s what keeps her hidden away from everyone. She can relate to that more than most, I think. But something happened to Mel, and until she tells someone about it, it’s going to continue to haunt her.”
Gannon didn’t know what to say about that. He’d only heard a little about the shooting. Deciding that he needed to get home and look up what he could, Gannon told the family and Demi and his brother that he’d see them later.
He was nearly home when he thought of Mel being his mate. She was broken, he thought, or was she breaking. There was a difference, he knew. Meadow had been breaking when she’d met his brother. Gannon thought that had she not met him, she would surely have broken to the point where no one could have gotten her to come back.
While he didn’t know this other woman, he thought that if she was one of their mates, then they would need to make sure, and soon, that she knew they were there for her. Gannon also wondered about this Vicky person, and how much she knew about what had happened to Mel at the school. As in, if she had anything to do with it.
Gannon had been thinking things like that since he’d started working for Demi. Thinking like a criminal was the only way to catch one. He had the skills to set up equipment to make sure that they were caught on camera. That was because he could think like they did a little. Demi did as well. It was scary how much Demi thought about it.
Getting home, he was just putting away the things that he’d picked up before going to the airport when Demi called him. Her using the phone scared him more than what she could be calling him about.
“I have the plane ready for you to go. I need for you to go back to Daniel’s home and see to his sister.” He asked her what was going on. “The house and the place where Mel was working are on fire. Daniel is going to go with you to help. Please be careful, Gannon. I don’t know what is going on, but I have a feeling that it’s not going to be good.”
“Is Mel all right?” She said that Mel was the one that had called her. “Okay, I’m leaving right now.”
He got to the airport just as Daniel was getting out of the car. Lucian was with him, and they both looked upset. Whatever was happening, Gannon was sorry for the other man. This couldn’t be just a simple meeting of his potential mate. No, everything had to be topsy-turvy all the time.
Chapter 2
Mel watched the fire department as they tried their best to keep the flames from hitting the houses on either side of Daniel’s home—or what was left of his home. She was glad now that they’d left last night and not this morning. There was no telling what might have happened had they all been home. The fire marshal, a man she knew from high school, came to stand by her as he watched his men.
“You know that it was arson, don’t you?” She nodded at him when he spoke to her. “Mel, honey, are you all right? Did you have someone look at those burns for you?”
“I’m all right. I got the job that I was working on out before the roof fell in on the building. I hadn’t any idea that the house was burning until I heard the sirens from the front yard.” She’d been working on the last piece of the door when her door exploded inward, and she was told to get out. “Your men more than likely saved my life.”
She didn’t say it out loud, but she was thinking that she wished they hadn’t. Today had been a particularly terrible day for her depression. She supposed because she knew that the house was empty of the people that she loved and that she’d be alone, which wasn’t so bad most of the time.
“The house was the one the person was after, I believe. If not, they’ve fooled me on this one. The cigarette—in this case, the incendiary device that we found, thanks to you—was still lying where it was dropped in the yard where you found it. We’ll be able to find something on it to make sure that we find whoever did this.” She didn’t ask him if he had an idea, but he seemed to get it. “Do you have any idea where Vicky Austin is, Mel?”
“Last we ever knew it was Vegas. She was trying to make a name for herself. She could have done this, I suppose. But I really don’t know. She hates me, but surely she doesn’t hate her kids that much.” Mel glanced at Davy Honduras, the fire marshal, someone else that had survived the shooting in high school ten years ago. “Davy, what is it? You know something?”
“I know plenty. Not nearly as much as you do, but I know a great deal. Where are you going to be staying? At your home? I’d rather you didn’t if Vicky knows where you live.” She told him that she’d just sold her home and was living in a smaller apartment now. “Good. People will be there to see you coming and going. Mel, you need to be extra careful now. All right?”
“I’m being as careful as I can.” She looked at the house as another wall fell inside of it. “Everything they own is in that house. The only thing that I was able to get out was the picture albums and Stupid. The dog was in his bed when I dragged him out. I had no idea that he was dead until I was able to look at him. Your men said that they were testing him for drugs.”
“Yes. If that is indeed what he died of, then that will tell us that whoever did this was able to get into the house as well. You didn’t hear a thing?” She said that she’d been using her arc welder. “Yes, I’m sorry about all that equipment of yours too, honey.”
“It was all old, but still in good shape. I worked on it myself when it needed it. So luckily, I didn’t pay all that much with it being second or more hand.” She was crushed about it and what it was going to take for her to replace it all. Neither she nor Daniel had much in the way of cash laying around to buy up stuff like that. “I know that Daniel had insurance on both the house and the business, but I don’t think it’ll cover the cost of new stuff.”
“I’m sorry. Did you get in touch with your brother yet?” Mel told Davy that he was on his way and should be there soon. “Good. Remember what I told you, Mel. Keep an eye out for anyone. But especially Vicky. If she did this, Daniel won’t have to press charges against her. I will.”
“He might this time. Daniel has lost everything. So have his kids. I don’t see Vicky, if this was her, coming out of this unscathed. She burnt him out. Me as well.” She heard a door slam and looked behind her. It wasn’t her brother, so she looked at the fire again. “Mrs. Busybody, I don’t know her real name, has been here twice trying to find out why I burnt down her home. I think she’s off her rocker a little. The only thing she might have lost was a couple of blooms from the late summer flowers.”
“I’ll talk to her.” Nodding to Davy, she turned when another door slammed. This time it was her brother. “He made great time. I guess that happens when you’re riding in a chartered plane. Let me talk to him first.”
She didn’t even go to her brother when he said her name. Mel wasn’t avoiding him, but she was too heartbroken to go to him at the moment. It was all gone. Not just her equipment, which there was a great deal of, but her computer and everything that she had in the way of office supplies that she’d picked up cheap here and there. Even the money that had come from the McCrays had been spent on some of the equipment that had been inside her workshop.
“May I have a look at your hands?” Mel didn’t know the man standing beside her, but when he took her hands into his, she jerked away from him. “I can heal them for you. I kn
ow that it must be painful.”
“By healing them, I’m assuming that you’re some kind of paranormal. Thanks, but no thanks. I have enough shit that I’m dealing with right now.” Mel turned back to the fire. “If you want any questions answered, go ask my brother. He’s better equipped to answer anything than I am.”
“My name is Gannon McCray. I just wanted to help you. May I please have a look at them?” Mel held out both her hands as Gannon continued to speak. “I’m able to just lick them so that they’ll heal. In fact, Ms. Austin, it would be my pleasure. I’ve just realized that you’re my mate.”
Once again, she jerked her hands from him. When she backed away from him, he stood still. She didn’t know where her brother had gone, but it was just her and Gannon standing in the next-door neighbor’s yard with the firetrucks. She asked him where Daniel was.
“By the firetruck on the other side of the yard. I won’t hurt you, Ms. Austin. I promise you that.” She asked him what he was. “Bear. Black bear.”
If he said anything more, she didn’t hear it. Every part of her body shut down. The only thing that she could see before her was the man who had shot her and then shifted to a brown bear. He’d hurt her. Played with her and the others while they bled out. When Gannon took a step towards her, she started screaming and turned to run.
She was in the gym again, standing on the ladder with all the others around her. The big bear came into the room with them; a gun slung over his shoulder like some sort of disturbing artwork. He ran at the people on the floor, smacking a few of them around even as they were dying. Mel hadn’t heard the guns go off as the music was too loud for anyone to hear anything.
Gannon: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance Page 2
