Bearly Mistaken (Bears in Love Book 3)

by PA Vachon

  “Thanks, Daddy,” I replied.

  I wandered closer to the crib and laid Rory on the pink cotton candy cloud. Sighing, I watched as she slept on.

  I turned towards my dad and we left the bedroom, leaving the door ajar. We walked into the kitchen and sat at the table.

  “Regan, what are you going to do about the Secret Keepers?” My dad asked.

  “I’m taking a leave of absence for now,” I answered, “until I can decide what I want to do.”

  “That’s a good idea, Bug,” my dad said, calling me by my childhood nickname.

  “I am going to lay down for a while,” I told my dad, “I need to nap when Rory does, according to the nurses and Lauren.”

  “Ok, Bug,” Dad replied. “Love you, and I’ll see you when you get up.”

  I went back down the hall and entered my bedroom, checked on Rory, and then crawled into bed. Once I lay down, I was out like a light. Exhaustion had finally caught up with me. I slept until Rory woke, wanting to be changed and fed. We sat in the rocker together while she ate, my foot gently pushing at the floor to keep us in motion. Rory finished feeding, and I raised her to my shoulder to burp her before heading back out to the kitchen. The baby was fed, but now my stomach was growling almost as loud as my bear.

  For the next eighteen months, I raised my little cub, my Rory, as a single mom with help from the clan. Ian and Lauren were quick to include Rory with the twins. It was the cutest thing ever when Liam, Ian’s younger son, would hold Rory’s hand and walk with her around the small grassy area we had gated off for the little ones to play in when they were tired of being cooped up inside. It didn’t matter the weather, these cubs loved to be out in the fresh air. And Trevor was always on hand whenever Rory needed anything too. Things only got better when Trevor met his mate, Rebecca. She is the sweetest, strongest person I had ever met. Well, next to Lauren.

  Ian mated Lauren right after I broke things off with David. Soon after, the twins were on the way, and then my own little cub was born just a few weeks after that happy event.

  “Heartbreak changes people…”

  Chapter Four

  David/Johnny

  I wasn’t the same man I had been. I had begun to fall deeper into the double life I was leading. I wasn’t sure who the real me was anymore. I had a hair trigger temper, and some days, the depression was like a weight on my chest, suffocating me. That’s what happens, you know. Heartbreak changes people, making them sad, mad, depressed, and sometimes, very self destructive. I was a changed man. We had returned to Fall City at Janet’s orders. That psychotic bitch was out to kill the grizzly clan that had finally put an end to Hatchet’s deadly, dangerous reign. She was hell-bent on destroying the one clan I wished she didn’t know about. My Regan was a part of the clan that Janet was gunning after, and even though we hadn’t been together in almost two years, she was still my heart, my soul. I should have listened when she asked me to leave Hatchet’s crazy plans behind, but I was so caught up in the fact that I was a Secret Keeper on a very important mission that I was blinded to what was really the most important thing -- my fated mate, Regan. I missed her every day, but bit by bit, I was learning to live without her. Not living well, but I was alive, with a barely beating heart.

  “David, come here,” I heard Janet yell from the next room.

  “Yo, what?” I answered back.

  “Come here,” Janet yelled again. “We have plans to make, and I have the perfect place for planning.”

  I walked into the other room where more of Janet’s followers were sitting on various pieces of broken furniture. Most of them could do with a bath and a shave. The stench was overpowering and somewhat rancid. One of the men, Jeff, had food from last night’s dinner still stuck in his unkempt scruffy beard, as if he was saving the crumbs for later.

  Janet was standing by the door, holding court like a deranged queen watching over her equally deranged subjects. She looked over the gathering clan with a gleam in her eye, her madness shining through.

  “Let’s go to the bar,” she said. “I feel like a drink.”

  We all filed outside to the waiting cars and climbed in, leaving the house. We pulled up outside of The Roadhouse in Fall City and walked inside. As my eyes adjusted to the interior lights after being in the bright sun, we made our way to a back corner table and sat. I took the chair nearest the back wall so that I could scan the bar occasionally, watching for any signs of trouble. We had been sitting and listening to Janet spew her ideas of revenge for about twenty minutes when the door to the bar opened and one of the waitresses who had helped us before walked in, followed by Trevor Mannus, one of the bears from Marcus’ clan. I reached out to stop Janet from going near him. That’s just what we didn’t need -- a shifter fight in the middle of a small town watering hole. Trevor’s eyes followed the waitress. Rebecca, I thought her name might be. It wasn’t something I paid attention to anymore really, women’s names. I only had one woman’s name on my mind and it didn’t belong to a waitress, albeit a pretty one, but still her name wasn’t at the top of my priority list.

  Janet had been planning to rid the world of the Grizzly clan since Hatchet’s death, and now that Trevor had a girlfriend, she was in danger too. This life was starting to wear on me. Janet outlined her plan to go after Trevor’s new girlfriend, the waitress at the bar. She wanted him to suffer as much or more than she had when Hatchett had finally been taken out. Once she had Trevor neutralized, her plan was to take out Ian and his mate, Lauren, and finally, she was going after Marcus. I had no love for him. I didn’t even know him. My biggest concern was Regan and how she could be caught in the crossfire of this never ending war between the grizzlies and black bears.

  After several more beers all around, Janet decided we should head back to the house and reqroup. We all stood, headed out the door, and got into our vehicles. As luck would have it, Janet ended up with me. Once on the road, I broached the subject again to see if I could change her mind.

  “Janet, I think that we should give up on this plan of yours,” I said.

  “Give up? Give up?! No, absolutely not,” Janet replied with a crazed look in her eye. “I won’t give up until the grizzly clan is dust and ash under my feet.”

  “I just feel...,” I tried again.

  “No, David, the plan continues. Trevor’s new toy is dead, Trevor is dead,” Janet answered, “Ian and his bitch are dead, and then I will rip the meat from Marcus’ bones myself.”

  I stopped trying to reason with her after that. I knew it wouldn’t do any good. We arrived back at the house, and I stepped out of the car and headed inside. Inside my room, I sat on the edge of the bed and tried to decide the best way to stop Janet’s plan. I knew I had to, at the very least, warn Rebecca and Trevor of the looming danger from Janet’s insanity. I began to walk towards the front door when I was stopped by Jeff, the scruffy bearded member of our clan.

  “Where’re you going, pretty boy?” Jeff slurred, already drunk at 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

  “I’m headed out to run some errands, Jeff,” I replied.

  Jeff stumbled to the left, so I went to the right and out the door to my truck. I got in, started the engine, and headed into Fall City to find Trevor and his girl.

  I rolled my window down and let the wind blow into the cab of the truck. The wind brought me back to almost two years before…

  Headed down the same road, Regan had her bare feet up on the dash, singing along to some twangy country song I’d never heard about kicking your ass, smiling and coasting her hand out her open window as we headed for our secret meeting place, the pond just down the road from their clan compound. We arrived at the little dirt road we would park on before heading back into the trees to the pond. Once there, we sat and held hands like teenagers, talking until the stars came out.

  Just after twilight, Regan smiled up at me, tilted her head, and said, ‘Babe, let’s go swimming.’ I laughed, thinking she was kidding, and said, ‘Regan, we don’t have suits.’
She smiled even bigger and started to remove her shoes. ‘Who needs clothes?’ I watched as she got down to her panties and bra, then I watched as she made a run for the cool water of the pond.

  I was mesmerized, entranced. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Long red hair, green eyes and the hottest little smile. She looked like a water nymph and she was it for me. I knew eventually we would be together. I just needed to finish this mission entrenched in the clan with Hatchet. Then we could start our lives.

  I stood up and toed off my boots. Stripping down to my skivvies and jumping in after her, I swam up to her and snagged her waist. Pulling her to me, I smiled and held her tight as I headed for deeper water. Her eyes lit up and her smile got even more mischievous than it already was. She leaned in and kissed me sweetly. I returned her kiss, taking it deeper, drawing a small moan from her throat as she levered herself closer to me. My hands tangled in her hair, taking control and feasting on her lips. I was a starving man, and she was my sustenance.

  She pulled away from me. Raising one hand and wrapping it around my neck, she breathed in and said, ‘I need you, David.’ I hated when she called me that. I struggled with not wincing. My bear was close to the surface and not any happier about her calling me by my undercover identity when we were together intimately. But I knew I couldn’t tell her the truth. She’d never understand.

  I arrived at Rebecca’s moms house almost three hours later. The drive was just what I needed to remember my Regan. Pulling into the driveway, I was pulled from my memories of my time with Regan. I parked in the driveway and walked up to the door. I stopped in front of it and knocked.

  Rebecca’s mom answered, “Yeah, what do you want?”

  “Hi, I’m David,” I answered. “May I come in, ma’am?”

  “I suppose,” she threw over her shoulder as she headed towards the kitchen.

  I followed her in and closed the door. She sat at her dinette table, so I pulled out one of the other chairs to sit and I began,

  “Ma’am, I’m here to warn you about a plan to hurt your daughter.”

  “You may as well call me Lisa,” she said. “Now, who the hell wants to hurt her?”

  “A very crazy lady, Lisa,” I replied. “Her name is Janet, and she is planning to kill your daughter.”

  “Did Alan put you up to this?” she asked in disbelief.

  “I don’t know anyone named Alan,” I answered. “I’m close to Janet and I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  Lisa scoffed at me. I watched in amazement as she shook her head, not taking me seriously. This may have been a bad idea after all. I tried again to get her to listen to my concerns, but it was no use. She was convinced that it was a joke. As I was getting ready to leave, I heard the front door open and then I heard voices in the hall. One of the voices had to be Rebecca, but the other voice, I recognized. It was Trevor. Fuck, I thought.

  I watched as Trevor headed into the kitchen at a fast pace, slamming into me. He took me down to the ground. I could hear Lisa yelling at him but I couldn’t really make out her words as I saw Trevor’s fist hurtling towards my nose. His fist slammed into my face, the sound of cracking cartilage resounding off the walls of the enclosed kitchen. He drew his fist back to strike another blow but he was taken out by a frying pan to the head and he went down hard. He didn’t lose consciousness, but I was sure he was seeing stars. He reared back and let out a growl of frustration and pain. By this time, I’d managed to wiggle out from under his suffocating large frame and was sitting up holding my nose, the blood running in rivulets down my face and onto my t-shirt. I heard Rebecca come into the room, and we both turned to look at her. I waited to hear Trevor tell her to get out of the kitchen for her safety. But instead, I watched as she aimed a double-barrel shotgun at me, and then I heard I her ask,

  “What the fuck is going on?” She seethed in anger. “Why are you guys beating each other up, and who the hell are you?” She pointed the gun directly at me and stared.

  “My name is Johnny Wallace,” I answered nasally. “I’m here trying to stop Janet and the rest of Hatchets clan from doing anymore damage.”

  “Johnny?” Trevor yelled. “Since when is your name Johnny, David?”

  “It’s always been Johnny,” I answered. “I’ve been undercover for the last three years, trying to stop Hatchet and now Janet from exposing us to the world at large.”

  “Well, Johnny, you’re too late,” Trevor growled out. “There is already more damage done.”

  “What the hell are you doing in this house?” Rebecca yelled at me, interrupting Trevor.

  “I’m here trying to warn your mother and you about what Janet has planned,” I began.

  “What the fuck is that psycho bitch planning?” Trevor asked in anger.

  “She is waiting until Rebecca is alone at the bar to take her and use her to trade for you and Ian,” I said, still holding my nose and speaking with a nasally tone. I grimaced at the pain I was in.

  “And what about Regan?” Trevor asked me seriously.

  “That’s none of your business,” I replied testily. “I’m just here to warn you guys to be vigilant in Rebecca’s safety and then I’m gone.”

  “You can’t leave. Regan needs you,” Trevor yelled. “She and Rory are in the hospital.”

  “Rory, who the hell is Rory?” I asked bewildered.

  “Rory is Regan’s daughter,” he answered.

  “Daughter?” I asked distractedly, “When did she have a cub? I mean, a baby?”

  “Almost two years ago,” Trevor replied. “You didn’t know? I know you two were close, so I thought you knew.”

  I closed my eyes in pain. I hadn’t known that Regan was pregnant with my cub when we broke up. If I’d known, I never would have picked my mission over my family.

  Trevor looked at me and said, “You can’t just leave. You need to go and talk with her.”

  I opened my eyes and said on a sigh, “I know.”

  We all sat at the table, Lisa looking confused, Rebecca bouncing her knee in frustration, Trevor looking around and taking in the room, and me looking down at my clasped hands. I wasn’t really paying attention, lost in my thoughts of Regan and my cub. I wondered why she hadn’t told me. It was one of the questions I would need to ask when I finally caught up with her. I was so lost in thought that I almost missed when Trevor started to speak.

  “Johnny, I need to know what the hell Janet is doing,” Trevor said.

  “She plans on taking out Marcus and all the others, including you. But definitely Ian. She hates him for killing Hatchet,” I replied. “We’re holed up in a house off of West River road. I think that some of the guys are getting ideas about why I’m there. Jeff especially watches me too closely.”

  “Alright, this is what we need to do,” Trevor said as he began to outline a plan to stop Janet from hurting his mate or anyone else. “Johnny, you’ll go back and act natural, but keep me informed if Janet’s plans change.”

  “I will,” I said as I got up to leave. “Trevor, where is Regan at right now?”

  “She’s in the hospital,” Trevor replied. “There was an explosion at the compound. Janet and a few others were there including Jeff and James when they escaped, they blew the main meeting building sky high. Regan and Rory were caught in the blast.”

  I panicked, thinking only of getting to my injured mate. I asked in a worried tone, “Which hospital are they in?

  “They’re at Snoqualmie Valley, Room 212,” Trevor answered me lightly.

  “Thanks. I’ll call if anything else comes up,” I said and then headed to the front door.

  “I only miss you when I’m breathing…”

  Chapter Five

  ~ Regan ~

  I watched the twins playing with Rory out in the small playground that we had put together, smiling at their antics. They were both so protective towards her, it always made my heart warm to see. Noah was always keeping his eyes on Liam and Rory both, as he was the ‘older’ brother. Seei
ng Rory everyday was bittersweet for me; she looks so much like David that every once in a while, I can’t catch my breath from missing him so much. I’m still mad at him, don’t get me wrong, but some days, I wished he was here to share in our lives. He is missing so much of Rory’s first years, her first steps, her first words. Those times can’t be relived. I wonder if I should just go out and find him to tell him about my little cub.

  “Kids, let’s go,” I called out. “It’s time for lunch.”

  The twins, Rory, and I all headed towards the cabins. Lauren opened the door to her home and called the boys in. I waved as we headed towards the main meeting building. We were making lunch today for the older members of the clan. Rory loved to sit at the table where we made sandwiches and other snacks for everyone who wanted to join us.

  We entered the building and headed for the kitchen area at the back. Once we got to the fridges, I started to take the makings for ham and cheese sandwiches out. Setting everything on the table, I said to Rory,

  “Well, little cub, are we ready to make lunch for everyone?”

  ‘Yep, mama,” was her enthusiastic reply.

  I laughed at her energy and started putting the sandwiches together. The next thing I remember is waking up in the Snoqualmie Valley hospital hooked up to machines and wondering what the hell had happened.

  “Where’s Rory?” I asked the nurse checking my vitals.

  “She’s with your father,” she kindly replied.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Could you get my dad for me, please?”

  “Of course, I’ll send him right in,” she stated. “He’s been very worried about you.”