Ian: McCray Bruin Bear Shifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  Almost as if they’d summoned him, the surgeon walked into the room. He had been told they were headed in and came in to talk to them about what he’d found during surgery. Ian took her hand into his as the doctor spoke. It was just the kind of security she needed right then.

  “The bullet, by how it was in her skull, looked to me like she’d been the victim of a freak accident. We try to get the word out that when firing a gun into the air, the bullet will still have to come back to earth, but I don’t think people think beyond having a little fun. From the trajectory, I’d said that is exactly what happened.” Ian asked about the second wound. “The same thing, I believe. Only it had been slowing down a lot sooner than the one that had embedded itself in Jilly’s head. It doesn’t happen all that much, but as I said, the bullet fired upwards has to come down at some point. Jilly just happened to be there when it came down.”

  Relieved that it wasn’t someone trying to kill her, Lucy hugged her sister. All kinds of things had been racing through her mind about it. Had her uncle tried to kill her? Was someone else out to get them? She was so glad it was just as simple as it sounded. Hugging her again, Lucy told her sisters how much she loved them.

  The food arrived not long after the doctor left. As bags of it were set on the extra rolling table that had been brought in, Lucy wondered who the hell Demi thought she was feeding. It looked to her like she’d ordered all the menu.

  Not only was there so much food, but there were paper plates and napkins—plasticware too. There were bottles of water, along with tea. And a huge thermos of hot water and tea bags so they could enjoy a nice cup of hot tea later. As they were laying it all out, reading the names of each thing as they did, the nurse came in to thank them for the abundance of food for the staff.

  “Demi McCray did all this. I’m sure you all know her.” The nurse said they knew all the McCrays. She’d actually gone to school with Lucian. “I’m just getting to know them all. Ian and I were married earlier today. I love them all. They’ve taken such good care of us all.”

  “They would too. The new wing being put in for burn victims is from their generosity. Then there is the funding drive they had this year for the kids that are having a hospital stay. They go home with a couple of games, as well as several books. It’s been wonderful for a lot of families to have someone think of them. The large basket of food goes a long way when you have sick ones at home.” Lucy glanced at Ian as he passed out food. “You’ve got yourself a good man, Lucy. Ian is the best of the best, I think. He’s come in on his own time and fixed up the computers when they mess up. And he reprograms the smaller readers to suit the age of the child that might be using them. It’s nice to have those to let the kids use as well.”

  The nurse thanked them again and went back to the desk. Ian piled his plate full of a little of this and that. When he sat down, he asked the girls if they liked football. Their response was quite loud and happy. Putting the pregame games on, the four of them watched television until nearly every bit of the food was gone. She’d have to remember that in the future. Ian could eat, and her sisters were a close second in the ability to pack away the food.

  She was nearly asleep on the way home. It was nice having her belly full, being warm, and knowing they were all safe. As they made their way up to the front door, Lucy asked Ian where he was staying. He told her that until they were able to put beds in the bedrooms, he was sleeping at his mom’s.

  Lucy felt guilty about that. It was his home, after all. But he assured her it was fun because he was getting to hang out with his mom during jam making season. Laughing with her, Ian kissed her on the cheek and left her there.

  “I’ll come by in the morning so we can fill out the rest of the rooms. I know Cybill has her things coming, but she might find something she enjoys more. Plus, we get to pick up Jilly. We’ll make it a family day for the four of us.” Waving bye to them both, Ian told Cybill to behave, and then he drove off.

  Lucy stood there for several minutes after he was gone. When she spied the rocker on the front porch, she made her way to it to just enjoy the night sounds. Also, she needed to think. Things weren’t really overwhelming her now. Nor was she upset any longer that she’d married Ian.

  He really was a nice man. Polite and generous. He also had a great sense of humor. When there was a question put to him from her sisters, he answered them without talking down to them. And he was honest to a fault. All his family was. It startled her when Cybill had asked a question, and it was answered so truthfully it even scared Cybill for a moment.

  “Bears are bears. So if you see one of us out, you don’t run, you don’t scream or make any sudden moves. They protect all of us when necessary. When we get Jilly home, we’ll all shift so we can all know your scents. Just be careful around them. They’re dangerous without meaning to be.”

  Of course, Cybill couldn’t wait to meet up with one of them now.

  Chapter 4

  Ian was having the time of his life. Who would have thought that spending the day with three women would have him laughing so hard he hurt from it? Although he was very careful not to let them see him laughing, he did let a little out once in a while that would get him evil looks. But he loved them all.

  “I don’t know why you think this is funny. It’s stressful. You’d think they’d never had a bedroom suit before. It’s just pick one, and we can move on.” He didn’t point out to Lucy that she’d yet to get one for their bedroom. Ian thought he might live a little longer if he didn’t. “I should just make them sleep on the floor and be done with the lot of them.”

  “Have you decided what you want to do with your other home?” She turned and looked at him so quickly he was sure she was going to hurt him. Even his bear curled up. “I was only asking because if they wanted to wait on that stuff, we could just get something small for now.”

  “I don’t have much in my parents’ house. I’d already moved out a few years before.” She looked at the linens on a long tall shelf beside them. “I don’t even know if I’d want anything from the house. Uncle Josh, he’s spoiled it all for me. Maybe I should bring it up to the others.”

  When she walked away, he wandered over to the living room things. He’d been wanting more than just a single couch in the room. The fireplace was an added bonus for him when winter rolled in. Not that he was normally chilled, but it was really nice to have a fire in the thing.

  He was staring at one of the recliners, wondering if it was as uncomfortable as it looked, when someone walked up behind him. They touched him—not hard, but enough for Ian to know that he was there. From the scent of him, he knew he didn’t know him. Ian turned toward him slowly.

  “Hello, Ian. I’ve been looking for you.” Ian only tipped his head at the man but said nothing. “Where is she? I need to talk to her right now.”

  “And who is it you need to speak to? Whoever it is, you should probably understand that approaching any of the women in my family as you just did me will get you killed.” The man asked if he was threatening him. “No. Just a heads up. Who is it you’re looking for?”

  “Demi McCray. She’s been avoiding me. I really have to talk to her.” Reaching out to Demi, he told her what was going on. She, of course, had plenty to say about someone she was avoiding. “I want you to call her. Right now. Before I have to shoot you full of holes right here in front of your family. Nice one, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” He looked to where his wife and her sisters were and wished now that he’d warned Lucy he could talk to her. Telling her by their link to stay back, she gathered up the other two and made their way in the opposite direction from where he and the man were standing. “I don’t know why you’d think I carry Demi around in my pocket, but she’s not here. Nor do I have any idea where she is.”

  “You all are stuck up each other’s ass all the time. Just pull out your phone slowly and call her.”

  Ian saw the g
un then. Well, the man made a big deal of showing it to him. The only problem was, he had it in the top of his pants instead of in his hand. Ian pulled out his phone but didn’t bother calling anyone on it. He handed it to the man. Ian thought he’d have fingerprints on it if the man were to kill him, which was looking more likely every second.

  “You’re to call her. Just fucking do as you’re told.” He saw Lucian as he moved around them to where Lucy had gone. Ian hadn’t seen Demi as yet. He asked her where she was.

  We’re here in the shopping center with you guys. To be honest, we’ve seen you here three times, but have been avoiding you so you could enjoy your shopping trip. I’m here for a baby bed. Don’t even ask about the one we already had. He was going to ask his brother about it later. It was just too good not to know that she’d made him want more information. There you are. Lucian is with Lucy and the girls. Has he told you what he wanted?

  Just you. And he has a gun. So far, all he’s said is that we’re up each other’s ass. Why would someone say that to me? Anyway, I’m all right so long as he keeps the gun in his pants.

  Demi made her way to them, slowly looking around to make sure there wasn’t anyone else close by who might be caught in the crossfire if there was any. Ian turned back to the recliner, hoping to distract the man from looking around and seeing Demi.

  “Do you think this chair is ugly? The reason I ask is, I think the pattern on it is a little sickening. Not to mention, it’s puffy in places I’d think—” The man asked him what the fuck he was talking about. “The chair. Is it ugly? Or would you think it’s one of those pieces that goes with everything? It is colorful, isn’t it?”

  “Are you daft? I told you to get Demi here.” Ian talked more about the chair and the colors on it until the man pulled out his gun and pushed it into his belly. “Do I have your full attention now, fuck tard? Call Demi and get her here, right the fuck now.”

  Ian was never so glad to see someone as he was Demi. Even the fact that she had a gun rammed up against the head of the man in front of him didn’t faze him. When she told him to take the gun, he did so without arguing about how much he hated them.

  “What the hell do you want with me? I’m sick to fucking death of people coming up on my family and trying to get shit from them when the easier route is to contact me. You’d better have a fucking good reason for me not to kill you right where you stand.” The man said he had a deal for her. “Deal? You’re willing to risk your life for a fucking deal? You really are stupid, aren’t you?”

  “It’s a good deal. I’ve been told you were looking for businesses to bring to town. Well, I have the deal of all deals for you.” She told him she wasn’t interested. “But you can make a lot of money off this. We both can.”

  “Nope. Not the least bit interested in anything you have to say to me. For starters, coming up on my family with a gun will get you disqualified right off the bat. Secondly—well, I just don’t fucking like the way you do business.” The man turned, and Demi allowed it. “You’re going to get yourself dead if you don’t get the hell away from me and mine right now.”

  “You’re going to turn down the deal of a lifetime.” She said she had before and it didn’t bother her. “I thought for sure you were going to be willing and able to get this started. Perhaps what I’ve heard is true about you. You got yourself knocked up, and now you don’t have the brains to know anything anymore.”

  Demi looked at Ian. “Do you believe this shit? He’s actually insulting me when he wants to tell me about the deal of the century.” The man said it was a lifetime deal. “Oh, pardon me, the deal of a lifetime. I wonder if he realizes first impressions are what gets you in the door.”

  “It certainly doesn’t look like he knows much of anything.” Ian laughed and asked Demi if she and Lucian wanted to have dinner with them. “My treat. I’m suddenly very happy that you’re related to me. And I’ve only just realized that I want that ugly chair. I think it’s sexy now.”

  “I don’t know if a chair could be considered sexy, Ian. But hey, whatever floats your turds.” She smiled at him. “By the way, I like the chair. It’s ugly in a sort of—”

  “The police are here.” Lucian tapped him on the shoulder as a way of greeting as he continued. “You just had to be here today, didn’t you? I had great plans for today. Dinner with my wife. A nice shopping trip for a new bed.”

  “I thought you had one.” The man was arrested, and Lucian told him about the bed. “You thought you could put a piece of furniture together that you’re going to be putting your infant in without reading the instructions. Remind me again what sort of education you have?”

  “Hey, it was in several languages, and I got caught up in the pictures.” Lucy and the girls joined them. “Your new wife is mean. She told me that if you got hurt while I was with her, she’d castrate me. I don’t believe for a moment she was joking either. Where do we find such violent women?”

  “Lucky, I guess.” Demi walked around with Lucy as he sat in the ugly chair. “I don’t have any idea why, but this chair is sort of growing on me. What happened that brought the two of you into town? I don’t believe for a minute that you messed up a baby bed for your own kid. What’s going on?”

  “The money that was being put into the accounts for Lucy and her sisters is there. Josh isn’t happy. He went to the bank early this morning and found out that it’s all gone. Not just that, but Meadow was able to figure out he had several safety deposit boxes filled with all kinds of jewelry and cash that he must have found around the house.” Ian asked him if that was what brought them to town. “No. He’s out cruising the streets looking for the girls. The welfare department, as well as the attorney’s office that is writing the checks from the estate for the younger sisters, wants to talk to them. Josh, of course, isn’t able to find them.”

  “You said the younger two. What is it that Lucy is supposed to be getting? Not that I care if she gets nothing at all, but I think you worded that the way you did because you know more.” Lucian told him about the house and that it belonged to Lucy. “I don’t think she wants it. At least that’s what she said when we were talking. She thinks Josh being there and what he’s doing to them has soured the house for her.”

  “If that’s the case, then all the money from the sale of the house goes into the estate, and Lucy, if she decides to raise her sisters, gets a larger chunk of the cash. All three of them will share the insurance equally. That’ll be close to three million apiece. Double that if the ruling on their deaths was accidental. Which I really don’t know if a landslide is considered an accident or an act of God.” Ian didn’t know either. “Demi has been working on a couple of other things for them too. I guess there are a lot of things in a safety deposit box that Josh has been trying to get into since the parents died. Since he’s never been put on any of the signature cards, they’re keeping him away. Demi is afraid that if he gets a good attorney or at least a slick one, he’ll get to that as well.”

  “Christ.” Lucian told him that pretty much summed it up. When Jilly came and stood by the two of them, Ian smiled at her. Instead of smiling back, she asked him what was going on. “Nothing.”

  “Bullshit. And yes, I said that. What’s going on? I can tell you’re stressing about something. The little veins in your forehead are monstrous sized right now, and you’re looking all pinched.” He told her it was about her uncle. “What else is new. I also came over here to tell you that we’re going to sell the house. The furniture inside of it, we want to be able to go through and decide on what we want. We’ve all decided we enjoy living with you in the house you have. It’s never been tainted.”

  “If you’d rather have the furniture out of your old rooms, we can arrange that today. To be honest with you, I’m sort of sick of dicking around with Josh. You want it, then I will do everything within my power to get it for you.” She said she did want her bedroom things. “All right. Lucian and
I will figure this out, and you get with your sisters and see when would be a good time for them to go there. Even if we have to have Josh arrested right now, it’s better than cowering in a corner waiting to see what he does next.”

  “Josh isn’t at the house.” Ian asked Lucian if he could arrange to have someone go there and change out the locks. “I can. Anything else? I’m willing and able to help you guys in any way I can. Legally or not.”

  “Nothing illegal right now. But we’ll need someone there to keep an eye on things.” Jilly said there were cars in the garage. “All right. We’ll need a lot of people there to keep an eye on things. Also, we might as well have child services there, as well as an attorney that has had any dealings with the Jacksons.”

  Ian felt like he was finally doing something for his new family. It might all be a bust, and Josh could already be back at the house. But at least he was working to end this. He knew he’d sleep better if he knew all his family was getting their things back, and their uncle was getting what he deserved as well.

  In forty minutes they were leaving the furniture store. Being armed with a list of things the three of them wanted, was making his job much easier. It wasn’t going to be easy, he had no doubt about that. Something else was going to happen. But for now, he knew he was getting Josh out of their lives. At least the house anyway.

  Josh hadn’t shown up by the time they were in the driveway. There was a leap as well as a pack, friends of Demi’s, wandering around the estate. Also, Meadow was there with her supercharged magic. Even his parents were there with several members of their bruin to help carry out things the girls wanted from the house. It couldn’t have been better if he’d had weeks to plan this out.

  The bedrooms were stripped first. Josh had been sleeping in the master bedroom, so no one bothered going in there until Melody suggested tearing the bed down in the event that Josh got in. That way, he’d have no bed unless he was willing to put it back together. Lucy went through her parents’ things and found a lot of their jewelry missing. Cybill found the will that had been doctored.