As I stepped inside my father's house, though, I could see he wasn't happy.
“Where were you?” he asked me.
I shot him an odd look. “Why does it matter?” I ask. “You've never questioned me before.”
“Listen,” he said, rubbing his temples as he spoke, “I talked to Mariana. I know everything. I know about the human.”
I leaned against his kitchen counter and shrugged. “So? We aren't prohibited from being involved with humans. As I seem to recall, you've had more than a few human girlfriends in your time.”
My father slammed his fists against the table. “You're less than six months out from your wedding, Asher,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “You're marrying the future queen of the N'gasso and you can't keep your dick in your pants a little bit longer?”
For my father to talk to me that way – after everything I'd done for the clan, everything I'd sacrificed – made the rage inside of me start to boil. Before I could stop myself, I yelled back at him with absolute fury.
“I've given my entire life to this clan, dad,” I shouted. “Everything I have. I'm even willing to marry a woman I can't stand, for the sake of this clan. But I'm done, dad. I'm just – done. I've got nothing more I can give.”
I turned away from him, trying to calm down and keep myself together.
“I guess you don't have to worry about marrying Mariana anymore,” my father said. “The agreement? Everything we fought so hard for? It's over. Mariana called off the wedding today -- which if you hadn't been so busy screwing your human whore, you might already know.”
“She's not a whore,” I said through clenched teeth. “Don't you dare speak of her that way.”
“Do you love her?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I don't know. I might,” I said.
“You're not allowed to love, son,” he said. “You're next in line to the throne. You need to marry yourself a queen. And since Mariana is apparently now off the table, you're going to marry someone in our clan –”
“No, I'm not,” I countered. “I told you. I'm done.”
“Like hell you are,” he yelled. “You've brought a war to our clan, you're going to fix it. Clean up your mess, Asher. I raised you better than this.”
“The war was started before I ever got involved with Rose,” I shouted. “I know your memory is going, but I think the murders of our people – and theirs – started the ball rolling on this war.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “But you offending Mariana and the N'gasso the way you have, by carrying on with this human – you certainly didn't help matters any. You humiliated Mariana. You exacerbated the tension that already existed. This is now your mess, Asher. I expect you to clean it up.”
He was right. I hadn't started it, but I hadn't helped, either. This was now my mess. But I couldn't deny my feelings for Rose. And I deserved to be happy. I turned and glared at my father, who was staring daggers straight back at me. He was so firm and clear in that moment, it was hard to believe that five minutes from now, he might not even recall having this conversation.
But I would. I'd remember it all. And I'd resent him for it forever.
“The relationship with the human is over,” he said. “From this moment forward, you are not allowed to go anywhere near her. Are we clear?”
He stormed out of the house and went out back to the meeting area. I could hear bears roaring in the distance. My clan was there, and by the sounds of it, they were there in force. My father was whipping them into a frenzy because according to him, we were at war.
And I had no idea what I was going to do about any of it.
~ooo000ooo~
“I need to speak to Cameron,” I said. “It's vitally important, Sheriff.”
“I'm sorry, what did I say the last time?” he said, giving me a condescending smirk. “Oh, that's right. Unless you have information about the crime or are Cameron's attorney, there's no reason for you to be here.”
“Do you want a war in the streets out there, Dean?” I almost shouted. “Because unless you let me talk to him, that's very well what you may have on your hands. I'm trying to head this off, but I need some help.”
Yes, I used his first name, reminded him that I knew him before he was the Sheriff. Before he had a tin badge and a power trip to go along with that chip on his shoulder. He snarled at me when I called him by his first name, blatantly disrespecting him. But I needed to shake him up and get through to him.
“If you don't let me talk to him,” I said, doing my best to regain my composure, “you're going to get a war out there. Right now, there are others out there preparing to fight, and if I can prove that Cameron didn't shoot Clay, I think we can stop this. I think we can settle it all and let the cooler heads prevail here, man. The last thing I want to see is a war in this town. But I need your help.”
“You need my help?” he spat at me. “Do you think I care if a bunch of monsters get themselves killed in some stupid war? Hardly. In fact, I think the town might finally be taking out its own trash. And that ain't a bad thing.”
I sighed and then took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I was trying to be calm and logical about everything, but this asshole was really testing my patience.
“We run the industries around here,” I reminded him. “Most of the jobs in town, come from us. Do you really want all of that to fail just because you're on a power trip? Just because you don't like my kind very much? Are a few child molesters and rapists worth that much to you?”
He didn't answer me. He just smirked at me. The cocky son of a bitch.
“What about the innocent lives that'll be lost out there? Innocents that manage to get caught in the crossfire?” I asked. “Do you really think only the monsters are going to wind up dead in the end?”
The Sheriff nodded. “I do, actually,” he said. “In fact, let me show you something, Asher.”
He reached into a drawer and pulled out a gun. I watched as he unloaded it, sliding the bullets out of the wheel and placing them on the table in front of me.
“Do you know what you're looking at?” he asked.
“Bullets?” I said.
I was confused and didn't know what he was getting at since regular bullets didn't work on us – something he knew quite well already.
“Pick one up – but do it carefully. I'd hate for you to accidentally hurt yourself,” he said.
I reached for the bullet and as soon as my fingers touched it, a searing pain shot through me. I dropped it on the table, cursing under my breath.
“Silver bullets, Asher,” he said. “We are outfitting all of our weapons with silver bullets. So, when this little war of yours breaks out, you monsters will no longer have the upper hand. We'll be coming for you. All of you. And this time, we're not going to stop until every last one of you has been wiped off the face of this planet.”
“You've been preparing for this,” I said. “You've been planning for it.”
“Yep. For some time now, actually,” he said. “I finally found a bullet maker who'd work with us and produce our little bear killers in the volumes I needed, so we're finally good to go. If a war breaks out, we step in and shut that shit down.”
He knew about the conflict that was coming all along. Somehow, he knew this war was brewing long before we did. But how? I stared at him, long and hard, and then it hit me. He hadn't put this all together by himself. Somebody was feeding him.
“You have inside information,” I said. “Maybe, you even someone whose job is to incite conflict between us. Don't you? That's it – you wanted a war between the Q'lapa and N'gasso, and so you went out and started one.”
He shrugged, staring down at his fingernails as if he was bored with this conversation. But I noticed that he had a smug smirk on his face – and that he didn't answer my questions.
My anger bubbled up within me and it was all I could do to keep myself from throttling that prick. I should have seen this coming. I should have seen it coming and done something to
stop it.
But, it was my responsibility to put a stop to it now. To put everything back together again. To save all of us, both clans, and anyone else who might get caught in the middle of it all.
So much for running away from my problems, I thought. If I ran away with Rose, I'd be leaving everyone to die. Everyone of my kind – my family, my friends and yes, even my enemies. No one deserved what the Sheriff had in store for them. No one.
Not even the N'gasso.
My dad was right. I had to fix this.
Chapter Thirteen
As soon as I pulled up into the driveway of Paula's cabin, I sensed something wasn't right. I rushed to the front door and found that it had been bashed in. The frame looked like it had been hit by explosives, and the door was relegated to splinters on the foyer floor. And the moment I stepped inside, I was met with the sight of blood. Too much blood.
“Rose!” I called out, running from room to room.
I found Paula's body near her bed. She was lifeless and her lifeless eyes stared up at the ceiling. It looked as if she'd been trying to make a run for it, but her poor, cancer-ridden body hadn't been able to get very far. Her body was riddled with bullets and she lay in a pool of her own blood. If there was one bright spot, it's that her suffering was finally at an end – not that it was a particularly bright, bright spot.
But my heart hammered my chest from the inside and I was on the verge of panic – there was no sign of Rose.
I left Paula's room, checked in Rose's room. No sign of her.
I called her name again. No answer.
I started to panic, fearing the worst. As I ran down the hallway and stepped into the kitchen, I saw Rose's lifeless body laying on the floor at the head of a long-smeared trail of blood. It looked as if she'd been crawling toward the back door, trying to escape. But she was lying face down in a pool of her blood.
With tears welling in my eyes, I knelt beside her, rolling her over to look into her eyes, hoping against all hope that she was somehow still alive. The amount of blood on the ground though, told me that it wasn't very likely.
“Rose, no,” I said, feeling her neck for a pulse.
But then I felt a spark of hope. There was a pulse. It was faint, but it was still a pulse. She was still with us, but if I didn't do something, she wouldn't be with us for much longer.
“Asher?” she managed to choke out, her voice little more than a wet gurgle as blood dripped from her mouth when she spoke.
She probably only had minutes to live, at most. And she stared up at me with glassy eyes. I could see that she was afraid, but there was also an acceptance of her impending death in her eyes. I shook my head to deny it. Death was not an option. I was not going to just sit back and let her die.
“Don't speak, baby,” I said. “I'll take care of you. I got you. I'm not going to let you give up.”
“Too late,” she choked out, the ghost of a smile touching her lips.
She had a big, gaping gunshot wound in her chest. It hadn't hit the heart – she would have for sure, been dead if it had – but I feared that it was close. And she was bleeding out fast. The shooters probably thought she was dead, or was likely too far gone to be saved, so they'd left her.
For that, at least, I was thankful. They'd left her for dead, but I could do something to save her. I didn't stop to argue with her, instead, I pulled a knife from my pocket and sliced my wrist, squeezing out some of my blood.
“Drink, Rose,” I said. “I know it's gross, but it can save you. Trust me.”
I dripped the blood into her mouth as her eyes fluttered closed. It only takes a little bit for the magic of my people to work. It was hard to tell if she could swallow it though, so I just kept dripping my blood into her mouth and prayed that some of it made it into her body.
She coughed, her body spasming as blood spewed from her mouth and covered me. But I didn't care. All I cared about in that moment was saving her. Slowly, Rose's breathing was becoming a little more regular. I checked her pulse again. It was a little less faint. A little bit stronger.
“Atta girl, Rose,” I said, confident that some of my blood had made it into her body and was working its magic.
She was already improving and my heart did a little flip-flop of joy. Rose looked up at me, her eyes becoming a little clearer, a little more focused. She looked at me and I could tell by the expression on her face that she was remembering everything that had happened. Was recalling the horror of it all.
“Paula?” she asked, still in pain and grimacing as she spoke.
I shook my head and couldn't meet her eyes. “I'm sorry, baby –” I said, gently kissing her hand. “I didn't get to her in time. She was already gone.”
Rose nodded, and I could see she was heartbroken, but was still not completely healed herself. It would take a little time since she was human, but eventually, she would be healed up completely. The bullets in her body would be pushed out as her tissue regenerated and the wounds would heal. It would be as if nothing had ever happened to her in the first place. I'd made it to her in time, and for that, I was thankful.
I pulled her head into my lap and stroked her hair, as I watched her heal before my eyes.
“Had I lost you –” I thought, tears filling my eyes.
“You didn't though,” she said, finally feeling better enough to speak. She reached up and wiped the tears away from my eyes. “I'm here. Because of you, I'm alive.”
“And because of me, you were nearly killed.”
The guilt was overwhelming. I'd screwed up majorly, and I knew it. Too many people were at risk because of me. I needed to clean up this mess, yes, but my first priority was making sure Rose was safe.
Everything else could wait. Everything else would wait.
~ooo000ooo~
“How are you feeling?” I asked, staring down at her as she lay on the couch.
I'd moved her into the living room to let her rest and get comfortable. And I was glad to see that she was healing incredibly fast. It was almost like nothing had even happened.
“It's a miracle,” she said. “I'm still a little sore in spots, but overall, I feel fine. I can't believe it.”
“Good,” I said, kissing her forehead. “I'm just glad I found you in time. You're a strong woman, Rose.”
“I'm glad you found me in time too. I just wish Paula has been able to hang on a little longer,” she said, taking my hand in hers, grief etched upon her delicate features.
“I do too,” I said softly. “I'm so sorry, Rose. So, so sorry.”
“It's not your fault,” she said softly. “You couldn't have known.”
“I feel like I should have.”
She gave my hand a gentle squeeze and offered me a small smile. Logically, I knew it wasn't my fault. I couldn't have known that they'd hit Rose and her aunt. But it still didn't take away the guilt I felt. I felt like yeah, the ball toward everything that was happening had already been rolling, but my actions had made it roll even faster.
“Do you know who was behind this?” she asked.
I flinched at her question.
“Not really,” I said. “But I think I might have an idea now. I think I'm finally starting to put all the pieces together and I'm pretty sure someone came after you because of your connection with me. Somebody knew about us.”
She nodded. “The same thought crossed my mind, but I've never seen these guys in my life.”
“Did you get a look at them? Can you remember what they looked like?”
She stared at me, a scared look on her face. “They looked a lot like you,” she said. “Tall with dark hair and eyes. Big men. Very big men.”
“Do you think they were bears like me?” I asked. “Or were they human?”
“I don't know,” I said. “They didn't turn into bears or give any indication they could shift. And they used guns to attack us, so maybe they were human?”
I needed to figure out who the Sheriff was working with. Who'd been feeding him all of the inform
ation he had. If I could figure that out, I might be able to shut all of this down. I also needed to speak to Mariana and the others in her clan to let them know what was happening and to hopefully keep the peace between the two clans. But I couldn't bear the thought of leaving Rose's side. Not while she was still healing.
My phone rang. I grabbed it and looked at the display. It was Mariana.
Speak of the devil, I thought. I didn't want to talk to her at that moment, but I also knew I couldn't avoid her if I wanted to make things right and avoid a completely unnecessary war between our clans.
As soon as I picked up, I heard genuine fear in her voice. “Asher, why are you doing this?” she cried out. “Why? Do you hate us that much?”
I heard gunshots in the background and the sound of somebody screaming. Adrenaline poured through my body as I listened to the commotion behind her. She was truly scared. And almost instantly, I made the connection in my mind. Whoever had attacked Rose, was now attacking the N'gasso compound. The pattern was the same – they attacked one of ours and then attacked one of theirs to make it look like possible retribution.
Whoever was behind all of this was moving quick and was doing a great job of inflaming the tensions between our clans, not giving us a chance to stop, take a breath, and collect our thoughts.
“Make them stop!” Mariana screamed. “They're killing everyone.”
She was out of breath and I could tell by the way she was speaking that she was running.
“Who's killing everybody, Mariana?” I asked. “Where are you?”
“Your people,” she said. “They came in with guns, Asher. You sent them in with guns and silver bullets. Asher, my entire family is dead. You had my entire family killed.”
Rose could see the look on my face and wincing just a bit, she sat up. “What is it?” she asked.
“Where are you, Mariana?”
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