Bearly Christmas

by Becca Fanning

  “Yeah,” Abby chimed in. “We’re not going to back off, so you might as well just do something else. Go sell flowers or something.”

  “Now you’re just being unreasonable,” Slade said. “How hard is it to not break the law? I’d think that’s not exactly the most difficult request.”

  Robin laughed once. “Because moonshiners are known for upholding the law? Right.”

  “Hey.” Another of the men spoke up. This one was dark skinned and had a smooth accent. “We are 100% on the books. We follow the law. Unlike you.”

  “Well, sucks to be you,” Abby said.

  Veronica took in a deep breath. She met Slade’s gaze and he seemed to sense her frustration.

  He stepped closer to her and dropped his voice. “Can I talk to you privately?” he said to Veronica. But he wasn’t quiet enough.

  “You deal with us all,” Christina said. “We’re a clan. Maybe you men don’t get that, but us women stick together.”

  Veronica nodded very slightly. He saw it and nodded back, just as subtly. He put his hands in his pocket.

  “Well, I can see we’re not going to get very far,” he said. “I’d really hoped we could come to an understanding.”

  “Understand this,” Christina said. “We’re not going anywhere. If you can’t handle it, feel free to get out of town anytime.”

  Slade stuck out his hand to shake Veronica’s and palmed her a business card. She stuck her hands in her pocket to hide the card and watched the men turn and walk away.

  Veronica turned back toward the house, brushing hard into Christina as she walked past her. “Meeting. Now.”

  They met inside minutes later, perched on various couches and chairs in the living room. Veronica stood in front of the TV, hands on her hips.

  “That was completely unacceptable,” she said, her gaze hard on Christina. “Do I need to remind you that I am the leader of this clan? Not you. You don’t make decisions or speak for everyone.”

  Christina crossed her arms and glared. “What did I say that you didn’t agree with, leader?”

  “Well, where do we start? How about when you threatened them? Or told them to leave town? We will benefit much more if they think we’re friendly.”

  “How so?” Abby asked.

  “Because then they won’t be watching our every move. Like they surely are now. What do you want to bet they’ll have someone in the woods, watching us?”

  Beth got up and went to the window to watch out. She stayed there. Beth was not one for confrontation. She was the quietest one of the group, and she often kept to herself. This was her way to take herself out of the fight. Fine. One less person to argue with her.

  “We will not step a foot or a paw onto their property again,” Veronica continued. “Do you understand?”

  Christina said nothing, but continued to glare. “You know, Valerie would have been all for this. If she were here, those guys would have already run off in fear.”

  Veronica swallowed hard. Her hands balled and the rage tore through her chest. She stepped toward Christina, putting her face close to hers to hiss her words at her. “Well, I guess being dead and all, there’s not much she can do about it now, can she?”

  How dare she bring up her sister like that? The ache that Veronica tried to suppress flared hot and angry inside her. She missed her sister constantly. It was like losing a limb. She always felt the absence of such an important part of her life. She was no longer whole. No longer able to function properly without Valerie.

  She’d worked very hard not to hold Christina accountable for Valerie’s death. But it had been Christina’s idea to go after the guy who cut them off in traffic. Her idea to terrorize his family when he pulled a gun on them. And when they’d shifted into bears in front of him to scare him and his children, Christina and Valerie had been cracking up at their joke. But the man didn’t think it was funny. He pulled out his gun again—had they thought he wouldn’t? He shot at them both. He missed Christina.

  Christina was right about one thing. Valerie had been much more aggressive and up for a fight, just for fun. It was why her and Christina were best friends. All that had never interested Veronica much. Just like being the leader of the clan hadn’t either. That’s why, though Veronica was twenty-seven minutes older, she gave leadership rights to Valerie. Of course, when Valerie died, Veronica had no choice but to take over for her.

  But so often she loathed this clan. Loathed the whole bear thing. It had gotten her sister killed. And after that, nothing seemed funny anymore. Nothing seemed worthwhile. They’d even moved here to try to get a fresh start. Veronica had wanted to come on her own, but the clan followed her. It was part of their duty to, whether she wanted them or not. They had to stick together. She had wanted a fresh start, but now, almost three years after Valerie’s death, this crap was starting all over again. The violence, the playing games, the pissing people off.

  “We are not going to repeat what we were before,” Veronica said. “And since Christina reminded us, Valerie is no longer with us. She’s dead because of stuff like this. Because she couldn’t let it go when someone pissed her off. I will tell you this”—she made sure to make eye contact with each of them—“I am not going to bail any one of you out if you go after the Walkers. You’re on your own. I am forbidding it, so know that if you choose to take action, you’re on your own.”

  Veronica stormed out of the room, to her bedroom. She glanced at the photo of Valerie on her bedside table. The grief ripped through her, and she fell to the floor on her knees, in tears.

  Maybe she could just leave. Get away from them all. Get out of here. If she left in the night, if she found some water to swim through to hide her scent, maybe they wouldn’t track her. Maybe they’d let her go. Christina could be the new leader.

  She sat on her floor, crying quietly for a while and missing Valerie. Then, she took out her phone and dialed the number on the business card.

  “Slade Walker,” he said.

  “It’s Veronica Harper. Meet me in the back of Michael’s on sixth tomorrow at two.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  She hung up and stared at the card, at his name. She didn’t want to feel anything for him. This was no time to get involved in anything. But the thought of meeting in the back of that dark bar excited her. She pictured his face. That dimple. He was so hot. And it had been so long since she’d spent time with a man. She hadn’t had a boyfriend since before Valerie, and after, she’d been too consumed by grief to feel anything except pain.

  Maybe it had been long enough now. The pain would never leave. But most days, it was manageable. Even now, when missing her hurt so badly she couldn’t breathe, she still felt a stir of excitement at meeting him tomorrow. Maybe that meant something then. Maybe she was ready to be in a relationship again. Maybe. Though the leader of her enemy clan was probably not the one to try with.

  * * *

  Veronica got to Michael’s several minutes late on purpose. She wanted to keep Slade waiting. Wanted to make an entrance. She’d taken much too long to dress and do her makeup. She needed to look hot, but without looking like she was trying to look hot.

  She’d settled on a tight-fitting black tank with a slight shimmer in the fabric. Short denim shorts and wedge sandals. With her makeup and accessories and hair pulled up on top of her head, she thought she’d managed to do what she intended. Drive him a little mad. Hey, it could only help her case, right?

  She pushed opened the glass door of the bar and walked right to the back table, where Slade sat, watching her. She slid into the booth and pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head.

  He looked even hotter than she remembered. He wore a t-shirt, but the sleeves strained around his muscles. She could see the glimmer in his eyes better, and that dimple. In the dim light, it was deeper and even cuter. It somehow added to his mystery. Like that little spot was full of his deepest secrets that his hard expression wouldn’t tell.

  “Does your clan know you
’re here?” she asked.

  “Not yet. Yours?”

  “Hell no.”

  “So.” He crossed his arms and sat back.

  She let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I appreciate what you guys were trying to do. But you gotta understand, my clan is a bit nuts. When they smell blood, there’s no stopping them.”

  “Tell them we’re bears, not sharks. They need to back off. I don’t know what to do, here, Veronica.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You think my guys are fine with all of this? You think they don’t want blood spilled just as much? I’m doing my best to keep everyone calm and happy so this doesn’t break into a fight. But they are not calm and happy. Especially after you were so unreasonable yesterday.”

  “Not me. My clan. Things should have gone very differently yesterday.”

  Slade pressed his palms on the table and leaned forward. “Maybe you chicks don’t understand how the whole bear clan thing works, but there’s one alpha. One leader. And that alpha gets the first and last say and the others have to listen. You clearly need to learn how to manage your clan. They don’t make the decisions, you do.”

  Her cheeks grew hot and she felt the anger building in her. “Shut up. You don’t know what you’re talking about, okay?”

  “Well, why don’t you tell me what you wanted to have happen yesterday, then?”

  “First of all, I couldn’t very well go against my clanmates, could I? All five of you showed up, making the numbers even. If we had shown any sign of weakness or lack of solidarity, what do you think would have happened? You’re telling me the big, beefy blonde would have ignored that?”

  He cocked his head to the side. “He would have done what I told him to.”

  “Whatever. I couldn’t let us look weak, even if I didn’t agree. You know that’s true.”

  “Fine. But you didn’t answer the question.”

  “I don’t want them to attack you. I’ve forbidden them from stepping onto your property. But they often don’t listen to me.”

  He threw his hands into the air. “You’re supposed to take them out if they don’t obey. You know that, right? Honestly, did you skip bear instincts day? Do you not know how all of this works?”

  Veronica looked down at her hand. At the small half of a heart tattoo that no longer had a living match. “You don’t understand. But it doesn’t matter.”

  “It does. If you can’t control your clan members, if you can’t lead them and make them obey, I’ll have no choice. We’ll have to take action.”

  “And that means what, exactly?”

  “My guys will go after them. Or attack if they come on our property again.”

  “What did you want to have happen yesterday?” she asked.

  “I was hoping to come to an agreement. To first of all, agree to keep off each other’s property. Then maybe, I don’t know. I guess I was being too optimistic.”

  “What? What else were you hoping for?”

  “That we could somehow work together instead of against each other?”

  “In what way?”

  He sighed. “I don’t know. In a perfect world? We form a company and all take part. With twice the manpower and resources, we could produce a lot more. Expand our market reach, expand our products. Be one big team instead of fighting for business.”

  She laughed. “My clan would never go for that in a million years. We came here with plans to chase you guys out of town.”

  His eye twitched as he glared. “Yeah, I sort of figured that after yesterday. I don’t know why you think you can just come in here and chase us out. Our roots are much deeper. And in two years, your business is the one suffering, not ours.”

  Veronica hung her head. A lot of that was her fault. She hadn’t been working nearly as hard as she should be working. But she had so little fight left in her. There was too much pain for there to be enough room left for strong motivation and a good business sense. “I know,” she said quietly.

  “Then why let this go on? At least stop trying to chase us out, and focus on your own marketing. That would be much better for business.”

  “They won’t agree to that. They like the fight. They like the challenge.”

  “Veronica. You have to take charge.”

  She shook her head. “This isn’t my clan. That’s what you don’t get. That’s why they don’t listen, and I can’t do anything about it. It was my sister’s clan. She was the alpha. She was also my twin. She was killed three years ago and the clan fell to me. But I never wanted them. She put the clan together, not me. I was happy being on my own, or with just our family. She wanted to expand, she wanted a business group. She brought me in and I joined willingly, but I never would have started a clan with half of these ladies.”

  His mouth parted slightly. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” She looked across the room, staring at the neon beer signs and dingy mirrors high on the wall. They had timed it just right so that the place was pretty dead. The lunch crowd had gone and the after work crowd hadn’t yet arrived. They were nearly alone, and the perceived intimacy had made her say far more than she should have. She forgot, when she looked into his sparkling eyes, that their clans were enemies. Which meant he was technically her enemy, too.

  “I guess I see why that’s hard for you,” he said softly and with compassion.

  “So, I don’t know what to tell you. I’d love to merge, but it’s just not going to happen. Hopefully they’ll stay off your property like I told them to. I’m sorry. They’re just out of hand.”

  He sat quietly for a long while, running one fingertip along the rim of his glass. It looked like he was just drinking a soda, but she didn’t know for sure. Maybe he’d added whiskey or rum. Finally, he looked up at her.

  “I know it must be hard. But even if you didn’t want them to begin with, they’re your clan now. You’re going to have to step up and learn how to lead them properly. Or they’ll just keep walking all over you. Unless you want to step down, you have to step up.”

  She nodded slowly. “I might step down.”

  He looked at her, surprised. “Don’t do that. You’re a natural leader, Veronica. I can feel it. Maybe you don’t see it, but you have what you need to do this well. You’re just too consumed by pain to see what you have to do to change your life. To take a risk on something that might be…” He broke his gaze from hers and looked down at his hands for a minute before meeting her stare again.

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Some risks turn out to be worth it in the end,” he said.

  They shared a long gaze. The feelings she had for him earlier seemed to be growing. He was so calm and cool. Even now, he sat back in the booth, casual and chill, like nothing in the world could shake him. Yesterday, he’d been confident and strong. In charge. And his clan listened to him. They didn’t step out of line. One or two spoke up, but they didn’t overstep. They didn’t make decisions. And it seemed like what they said was in line with what Slade said. He was a real leader. She wasn’t. But she deeply admired him for it.

  “If it means fighting with your clan, it’s not worth it to me,” she said. “I’m happy to make honey and moonshine and any other products we come up with, but that’s it. I can lead in business. I never had trouble with that. Our workers follow my commands with no trouble. But I don’t want to wrangle a bunch of crazed bear women who just want to tear something apart. I’m more interested in building.”

  “I’m not sure where that leaves us,” Slade said. “I feel like we really didn’t accomplish much.”