Bear Guards: A Paranormal Romance

by J. S. Striker

  “I didn’t realize you were related.”

  Something flickered in his gaze before he looked away. “He was my stepfather,” he said shortly. “He wasn’t blood.”

  “That rogue vampire who attacked him…he was out of line,” she said, keeping her tone soft. “We did what we could to punish him—a life for a life because he had no right to take away Henry’s.”

  “Too late. The old man’s already gone. And outsiders are the last thing we need here.”

  Sympathy bloomed inside her, but she fought it off as best as she could. He stepped back and leaned against a wall, taking his warmth with him, and she turned back to the stove and kept stirring.

  She wanted to tell him that if they didn’t let outsiders in, their sanctuary shouldn’t be called a sanctuary because that wouldn’t be what this place was—a town protecting their kind from outside forces who couldn’t understand them and would try to kill them. She wanted to tell him his anger had no place here, and that was a long time ago—and yes, even vampires were horrified it had happened.

  She wanted to comfort him—to step forward and touch his shoulder, to ease the pain that she had a feeling was there.

  Before any of it could fully form, a subtle sound came, one that had her pausing. The three newbie vampires swooped in the mess hall, Daria in tow as they asked what was cooking.

  They all froze at the sight of Garrett.

  “Play nice,” Angel reminded quietly. “Remember what I told you about the arrangement.”

  They looked like they swallowed something sour—at least, the three male vampires did. But the expression cleared right away, and they all turned to the shifter in unison.

  “Zeke,” the tall one said.

  “Das,” the middle one said.

  “Orion,” the shortest one said.

  Garrett eyed them all like they sprouted multiple heads. Then he nodded. “Garrett.”

  For some reason, it was like a bubble had been popped. The three vampires visibly became less tense—at least, they didn’t look like they were about to attack the shifter at any second. They finally left the mess hall, probably to their designated rooms, with Daria giving Garrett a mumbled greeting before following suit. Her black hair, streaked with purple and pink, flew with her.

  God, the girl was probably terrified.

  Garrett’s intense blue eyes were focused on the girl as expected, and Angel found herself frowning at him as she turned off the stove and reached up for bowls on the top shelf. It was out of her reach, and she had to stand on tiptoe, twice, frustration hitting her when she still couldn’t reach it. The warmth came back behind her, and a hand snatched the bowls before she could. She turned to glare at him—

  Big mistake.

  Huge mistake, because suddenly she was face-to-face with a shifter that was a force to be reckoned with. He was standing so close she could feel his breath on her face, and it didn’t look like he was planning on stepping back anytime soon.

  “I could have handled that,” she said.

  “You’d have needed a stool,” he muttered. “You’re tall, but I’m taller. And it would have been easier if I just reached it for you.”

  “You really should just leave things alone. You’re stirring up trouble.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Are we still talking about the bowls?”

  No.

  “Of course,” she said smoothly. “What else could we be talking about?” She snatched the bowls from his hand and muttered a reluctant thank you, exhaling in relief when he finally took a step back and gave her that personal space she needed. Her skin tingled from the nearness, and the tension on her shoulders didn’t quite disappear as she scooped the mix in the bowls in a steady, precise manner.

  “Is Daria staying here?” he asked.

  “Visiting. She has classes. She’ll stay here during her free days.”

  “She’s a teenager,” he pointed out.

  “Why, yes, Captain Obvious. I know that.”

  “All teenagers are known to be volatile, even more so for our kind.”

  She didn’t miss the our instead of your. “I know. She’ll be fine. She’s level-headed for her age.” She shot him a look. “I can’t say the same about your rookies.”

  He grimaced, not protesting. She knew she touched a nerve and tried not to care.

  “Let’s just hope she does influence your newbies,” he muttered.

  “Our newbies,” she murmured. “Weren’t we supposed to get along and all that?”

  She put the bowls on the table, then stared at him until he stopped folding his arms and finally sat down across her.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “My specialty soup,” she said, taking a small spoonful and controlling her expression. He followed suit. Amusement filled her, petty but worth it, when his face turned red, and his eyes zoned in on her. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of grumbling, instead scooping another spoonful of bitter-tasting liquid.

  Fine, so maybe she doctored her own recipe.

  He didn’t need to know that.

  “What the hell is in this?”

  “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” she murmured.

  His eyes narrowed. She narrowed her eyes back, and they stayed that way for a long time—eating the horrendous food and waiting until one gave up sooner than the other. It was a silent challenge, one no one lost as they both cleared the contents of their bowl. Their mouths, however, might have a different point of view. When he was done, he stood up.

  “Where’s my room?”

  “Third one on the right. You can’t miss it. It’s right in front of this mess hall.”

  Garrett nodded his head and hefted the bag he brought over his shoulder, the movement bunching his arm muscles up. She refused to look.

  “Great soup,” he said feelingly.

  Then he strode out of there and left her stewing at her own failure to get a rise out of him.

  Chapter 5

  Garrett tried to take one day at a time in the bunkhouse that might have been a prison—except it wasn’t as bad, in comparison the prison cells in Orville were small, cramped and pretty much the last place you’d ever want to be stuck in for days in this little town. The vampire bunkhouse, in the meantime, while closed, was huge, with enough space to navigate and even avoid interaction with the others. It was also filled with things that would ease the boredom, like a television and shelves donned with floor-to-ceiling books that Das obviously adored, as Garrett found him in there more often than not. Hell, there was even air-conditioning, something that the police station didn’t have. If he thought long and hard about it, he could pretend he was on vacation.

  The only downside was the lack of sunlight, which he missed thoroughly and it made him get cabin fever in the first few days. Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he took the time to get out at least half an hour a day during noontime, letting the sun warm him up before he had to accompany the three vampires wherever they went during the night. Daria went with them, her wide eyes indicating that she was expecting him to attack her at any time.

  That would be a pretty low thing to do, and he tried not to look too harsh or walk too closely beside her.

  The other downside was the most obvious—the bane of his existence, and one who did her best to make sure his stay in the bunkhouse wasn’t the most comfortable thing in the world.

  The soup had been step one. Pillows that smelled weird were step two, and more subpar meals were step three—meals that he couldn’t exactly refuse because it would be considered an insult and him not making the effort to get along. Angel’s role as a representative didn’t just include babysitting new vampires but also filing most of the paperwork for most of the important events, which meant she was busy as a bee. But she stayed at the bunkhouse the whole time, challenging him every step of the way until he was at his wit's end trying not to lose his temper.

  “I cooked some pizza for everyone. Please help yourself,” she said
sweetly, placing the pizza on the mess hall table where he’d been trying to catch up on his own paperwork.

  He stared at the pizza in distrust, which looked gooey and warm and smelled heavenly. But it was the same type of scenario every single day, and he had a feeling this one was either too salty or too spicy. He sniffed as subtly as he could and finally detected it—peppers that would make any normal man cry with their sheer quantity.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  She frowned. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to starve, you know. I know shifters have an appetite and I want your stay here to be as welcoming as I can afford it.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “I insist.”

  Curse words floated around in his head, and he swallowed them down. He took a slice of pizza and bit it, feeling the peppers slide down his throat and a cough start to rise up. It was willpower alone that had him staying there, chewing as calmly as he could manage without asking for a glass of water.

  “Delicious,” he muttered. He slid the plate in her direction, meeting her smoky gaze. “Eat with me.”

  “I’m not—”

  “I insist.”

  The words had her gulping, the realization showing in her eyes that she couldn’t get away from this. She straightened her shoulders and sat down, eating tiny bites and not making a single sound.

  Slowly sweat began to pour from her forehead, but she didn’t complain. He smiled.

  She forced one back.

  A plan formed in his head, one that had him speaking before he could assess it further. “Angel, are you free for dinner tonight?”

  She looked up with a mouthful of pizza. “Why?”

  Garrett leaned forward. “I’d like to ask you out for dinner.”

  She swallowed, blinking repeatedly to get rid of what might have been tears. Finally, she stood up to get a glass of water, gulping it as slowly as she could—a show of stubbornness before she reluctantly refilled it and slid the glass towards him. He drank slowly, waiting.

  She wasn’t as hard as she pretended to be, after all.

  “Why?”

  Garrett tilted her head. “As a thank you for all the food you’ve cooked for me.”

  “You don’t need to…”

  “I don’t need to, but I want to.” He didn’t say it, but it translated into one thing: that it would be impolite and a point off her if she refused.

  And she knew it.

  Her face turned stormy before it cleared. He braced himself for the refusal.

  Instead, she nodded her head.

  “Fine,” she bit out. “When?”

  “Like I said, tonight. Seven. Wear something nice. I promise you it will be a night you won’t forget.”

  Translation: two could play at this game.

  Silence filled the hall as they finished the pizza out of pride. Then, deciding he had gotten what he wanted, Garrett stood up, exclaimed he was full, and slowly walked away, leaving her to stew.

  *****

  His plan was actually very simple and nothing as complicated as the one she had used on him: kill her with kindness and wait for her to explode and break. It would definitely force her to show her true colors and would guarantee to reveal that she just wasn’t as fit for the council member role as she claimed to be.

  As for the vampires…he couldn’t very well say he felt the same thing about them.

  The three new vampires had proven themselves to be obedient creatures—in fact, they were so obedient that it was bordering on annoying, and he wondered if there was some end game to this all that he had to watch out for. Right now, they were walking around in the general direction of the living room, where Garrett was all dressed up in slacks and a dress shirt, while waiting for Angel to show herself.

  At exactly six-forty, Orbit strolled in as casually as he could, as if he hadn’t been walking in circles just earlier. He had a bag of chips in hand, a sight that was so surprising that Garrett found himself staring. The lanky man ate it in concentration, almost as if he didn’t want to be caught eating.

  “You eat chips now?” Garrett asked.

  Orbit shrugged. “They’re crunchy and ease the boredom.”

  Five minutes later, Das strolled in and sat on the other side of Garrett, a book in hand and his eyes focused on the pages. He stayed there for a few more minutes before Garrett realized the pages weren’t turning, and the title was something about zombie outbreaks and how to survive it.

  “Zombies don’t exist,” Garrett pointed out.

  “Hmm. That’s what you say.”

  “Because it’s true.”

  “I didn’t know witches existed until I came here.”

  Five minutes later, Zeke strolled in, sitting on the couch opposite Garrett and carrying a blood bag with a…straw in the middle. He sipped noisily, something that earned the two vampires’ warning stare before he shrugged and started sipping more quietly.

  They looked like they were waiting for something, and the word nosy was almost at the tip of Garrett’s tongue. He clamped his mouth shut and observed them absorbed in their little things, his annoyance turning to amusement as he realized what was going on.

  “I’m not going to hurt her if that’s what you’re all trying to tell me.”

  “What are you talking about?” Zeke asked, sipping the bottom of the bag. “We didn’t say anything, did we, guys?”

  Das and Orbit shook their heads.

  Garrett leaned forward, considering them. “Where were you before you came here?”

  They all stopped what they were doing and looked at him at once.

  “New York,” Das said.

  “Fresno,” Orbit said.

  “Chicago,” Zeke said.

  Garrett raised a brow, to which Das shrugged. “We all met on the road to Texas. Got attacked by some crazy humans who thought we were trying to attack them when all we wanted was some blood from their farm animals. Hid away when we were declared mass murderers and wanted ads were placed on the news for us. Stumbled upon this place.”

  That explained the hunger and the desperation he felt from them on that first day. Garrett nodded. “Doesn’t give you the right to attack my men.”

  “The boring boy was getting on my nerves, and the other one was waiting for the fight to happen and happily wanted us dead. Correct me if that’s not true.”

  Orbit’s words disturbed him because Garrett couldn’t deny it. Frustration rose as he realized he was starting to understand what they were feeling, but he still refused to budge.

  Before he could think of anything to say, someone else stepped into the living room, catching his attention. He turned his head, along with the three vampires.

  He stared.

  When he asked Angel to dress up, he didn’t mean for her to dress to kill—and that was exactly what she had done, wearing the outfit that she wore now. Dark green dress hugging every curve and covering the front, held by thin straps that looked like they could fall down with a simple swipe of a claw. Creamy skin glistening all over, especially her bare back, and something in her eyes that only made them bigger. Smokier.

  Red lips that looked like she was going to war and he was to be her conquest.

  Those lips turned up into a slow smile.

  And Garrett knew at that moment that he might have bit off more than he could handle.

  Chapter 6

  He took her to an isolated restaurant, one on the outskirts of town and owned by a human who knew all about them but didn’t want to be a permanent resident. It was located by a river in the middle of a garden, filled with plants that sprayed potions guaranteed to turn off any outbreak of violence or the entrance of anyone with bad intentions. Pretty smart move, and Angel had to wonder which of the witches in Orville made the deal with this owner. There were only a few witches in town, some on the outskirts, and most of them were isolated and hated mingling with every bone in their body.

  They sat across each other at a small circular table, candles in th
e middle illuminating them. It certainly illuminated him, and the way he looked in his clothes made her realize that he wasn’t as rough-looking as she had first thought him to be.

  In fact, he cleaned up pretty well and even looked rather…civilized.

  It was the kind of civilized that was still dangerous, she could still feel that energy vibrating inside him. But a plan had already formed in her mind, she understood her previous little game hadn’t worked on him at all.

  It was time for plan two: seduce the hell out of him and watch him get aroused over the creature he hated the most, then hate himself for it.

  Surely that would drive him away.

  They had dinner—the first good food she’d had in a week, sinking into her taste buds like heaven and lightening her mood. They had red wine, and it made the flavors even richer, which she appreciated with all her heart.

  Just because she was a vampire didn’t mean she didn’t appreciate food in all its finest, considering she was human before she had turned into this and had learned to live with it then.

  “When did you become a vampire?” Garrett asked after they had their first few bites. His tone was wary but calm, with no malicious undertones. Her tense shoulders relaxed.

  “Got bit when I was ten years old. I was a spoiled brat and pretended to run away from home by going to the park, all because my parents didn’t buy me the doll I wanted. Vampire snatched me, bit me, and shared his blood. I passed out. When I woke up, the vampire was gone, and a kind stranger took me in and told me that I was different now and could no longer return to my family.”

  “Did you try to return?”

  She nodded. “I did. Got thirsty for blood and almost attacked them. I decided that the kind stranger was the safest bet and stayed with him until he died.”

  She didn’t mention that that stranger was Joan’s father, who also adopted her after finding her left for dead on the streets. They were cousins by document but sisters by heart, and a twinge came now when she remembered how the older woman was murdered right here, in a town that was supposed to be peaceful.