“Get kids out. Don’t see this.”
“Shit,” she muttered. “Cora, take them to the bedroom. Lock the door. Only open it for Mom or me. Go. NOW!”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the scramble of bodies. “Go too,” he managed, and then he dropped to the floor with a groan.
Kaylee’s father stood and sneered. “Not much of a fighter, your boyfriend.” He kicked Jules in the ribs and Kaylee gasped. “Oh, you don’t like that?” He kicked Jules again. Jules didn’t get up. Sneering, he stepped around the larger man. Kaylee took a step back, into the kitchen.
The knife block. Just let him back you up until you hit the counter. You know where they are. I hope they’re washed and put away!
“You little stuck up bitch. I’ll teach you to respect your father.” When her back hit the counter, he grinned. “Nowhere left to run.”
She half turned and grabbed the butcher knife from the block, brandishing it in front of her. “Get away from me.”
He put both hands up, leaning back, away from the blade. “Whoa now, you really don’t want to do that.” He moved without warning and grabbed her arm.
Through the haze, Jules saw Kaylee and her father struggling. Light glinted off the blade. He stopped fighting the bear. Help me, he said to the beast. We have to save her. The bear ripped free and Jules screamed in pain.
The sudden sound startled both Kaylee and her father and they paused, his hand still gripped tight around her wrist, to look. The change was fast, and if the sounds coming from Jules were any indication, very painful.
“What the fuck?” he breathed.
“I warned you,” Kaylee said.
Jules stood, fully bear, for the first time ever in full unity with his beast, and confonted the hard-faced man who dared to threaten his Kaylee.
Kaylee’s father yanked the knife free and reached for Kaylee, but she ducked out of his arms. He had no choice but to turn and face the bear without a hostage. The knife had looked huge when Kaylee had been waving it under his nose, but in the face of a bear it was nothing.
He lunged, but Jules-the-bear swatted him aside and sent him flying. He staggered to his feet and charged again. Jules batted him aside again and again. At some point, the knife went skittering across the floor. The man screamed and charged in. This time Jules-the-bear let him get in close.
He pinned the man to the floor and bellowed in his face until he stopped struggling. Kaylee came over. She could see her father was crying.
“Go away,” she said. “We don’t want you here. We won’t give you money. We won’t give you a place to sleep. You aren’t part of this family anymore. We don’t need you. We don’t want you. And it doesn’t matter what you do to hide. If you set foot in this yard again Jules will find you. Do you understand?”
He nodded. There was snot dribbling out of his nose.
Kaylee reached out and touched Jules-the-bear just behind the ear in that sweet spot where he like to be scratched. “It’s okay now, let him up. He won’t bother us again.”
Jules-the-bear bared his teeth and the man sobbed. He lifted his great paw and the man scrambled out of the house. He tripped over Kaylee’s purse and hit the ground. He scrambled up again and disappeared.
Frannie groaned and sat up. Jules-the-bear tensed and glared at her.
“Hey, now,” Kaylee said.
Frannie’s eyes went wide. She sucked in a breath, ready to scream.
“Mom, don’t do that,” Kaylee said. “Just stay still and quiet for a moment. Please.”
Frannie’s mouth clamped shut and she nodded.
“Jules, you know Mom. You know Frannie. She’s safe. We’re all safe now. You can relax.”
“That’s Jules?” Frannie said.
Jules made a huffling whine and lay down.
“I think he’s trying to look small,” Kaylee said with a giggle. “Sorry. Jules, I’m going to help Mom up, okay?”
“That’s really Jules?” Frannie said again.
Kaylee nodded.
“What’s he doing here? Looking like that?”
“Not sure why he showed up, but he scared Dad off. I don’t think he’ll come back to knock us around again.”
“Look at him,” Frannie said. “Just look at him. I grew up here in the heart of the city. I’ve never seen a live bear before. I didn’t realize they were so big.”
“Hello?” The voice drifted from down the hallway and it sounded shaky.
Kaylee looked up. “Oh, Cora and the kids. I’ll go get them.”
“No,” Frannie said sharply. “No, ah, why don’t you stay here and I’ll go talk to the kids. Okay?”
“Okay, Mom.” Kaylee looked down at Jules. “That was impressive—a lot more impressive than last time.” She scratched his ear. “I guess you’re right about being a wild animal.”
“No, Tony. Tony! Don’t run!”
Tony skidded to a halt in the doorway and his jaw dropped open. “Holy shit, he really is a bear.”
“Watch your mouth,” Frannie said.
“Kaylee was swearing at Dad.”
“I’m an adult,” Kaylee said.
“Why doesn’t he change back?” Frannie said.
Jules huffed and nudged his nose towards a pile on the floor.
“I don’t think he can Mom. Usually they take their clothes off before they shift but he changed fast to stop Dad from hurting me. I think his clothes ripped.”
“And he’s so big. I don’t know if I have anything that would fit him,” Frannie said.
“Jules, did you drive over?”
The bear nodded.
“Okay. Mom is going to take the kids to the bedroom and you’re going to shift. Once you’re human, you can hang out in the bathroom until I get back, okay? I’ll grab your car and fetch clothes from the apartment.”
He just stared at her with big black soulful eyes.
“I’m safe now, thanks to you.” She bent down and kissed his nose.
“Come on kids,” Frannie said, trying to round them up.
Tony slipped past her and dropped to his knees beside Kaylee. He wrapped his arms as far around the bear’s neck as he could and said, “You’re my hero.”
Jules stepped out of Kaylee’s bathroom dressed in the clothes Kaylee had fetched from his apartment for him. Just down the hall, he could see Kaylee and her family setting the table for dinner. He took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen.
“I’m sorry for scaring you, Frannie. And I’m sorry for exposing your children to that.”
Frannie drew herself up to her full height, which was still a good inch shorter than her eldest daughter and more than a foot shorter than Jules. “You saved us all a world of hurt. That man is nothing but trouble. Too many times he came back just to steal money and crash in my bed, often with unwanted company. To be honest, when your name came out in that news story I was worried about my daughter’s safety. Now I know she’s safer with you than with anyone else. Werebears aren’t the bad guys in this world. It’s men like her father that I should fear.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Tony walked up to him, studying him. “You know, you sort of look like a bear.”
Jules smiled. “You’re not the first person to say that to me.” He glanced at Kaylee. She was smiling too.
“Would you do that again sometime?”
“Where you can see? Maybe. I’ll need your mom’s permission, and I’ll need my clan chief there, for safety.”
“Ah, you won’t hurt me,” Tony said. “You’re a hero.”
“While I appreciate your timing,” Frannie said. “I’m sure you didn’t come here intending to scare my ex away.”
“No,” he said. “I actually came to talk to Kaylee.”
“Go on,” she said. “You can eat later.”
They went out to the porch. Next door, an older lady was watering the flowers on her porch. “’Afternoon, Kaylee,” she said.
“Hello, Mrs. Jones.”
“Is
everything all right dear? I thought I heard screaming next door.”
“Everything is fine. Thank you. Just a run in with my father again.”
“I’m sorry, dear. You try to have a good evening.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Jones. You too.”
Mrs. Jones disappeared inside and they settled on the porch steps. He wanted to put an arm around her, but he put his hands in his lap and picked at the corner of his fingernail.
“Well, this isn’t how I pictured this conversation starting,” Jules said.
“Things always get ugly when he comes around, but that was the worst it’s ever been. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“I’m not. Kaylee, you were backed into that corner, and for the first time ever the bear and I agreed on things. It was always like The Hulk. I’d get angry or scared and this beast would explode out of me and I couldn’t control it. This time I asked it to come and he did. And he left again when you were safe.”
“Why did you come?”
“My father left today.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“I’m not.”
That gave her pause. She looked at him. He was staring down at his hands and refused to look at her. His shoulders slumped. He looked like he was trying to curl in on himself.
He took a deep breath. “You were right, Kaylee. You were right about my dad. Last night he challenged Remy for the leadership of the clan.”
“Did Remy win?”
“Remy didn’t fight him. My father isn’t allowed to challenge someone in this clan without the support of someone already in this clan.”
“Oh God, he wanted your support.”
Jules nodded.
“What happened?”
“If I had supported my father, I’d have been put on a plane this morning too.”
“Oh. But you would have been with your dad. You could have been a family.”
“This is my home. The clan is my family. I couldn’t betray Remy, not after he got me through school and stood up for me in the clan and stood in as an older brother whenever my father was being an asshole. And I couldn’t just walk away from you.”
That last bit left Kaylee feeling warm and tingly. He had chosen her over his father. “So, that’s that.”
“Not quite.”
“Why, what else is there? What happened?”
“He attacked Remy. Waited for his back to be turned.”
“Ah, shit. Is Remy okay?”
Jules nodded. “I got in the way.”
“You? Two fights in two days, huh?”
He nodded again, still staring down at his hands.
She touched his cheek. “Are you all right?”
“I think so. I feel level now, like all the pieces are finally in place.”
“I’m sorry that I was right about him. I didn’t want to say anything. I really wanted to believe that he had changed. I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“I know. God, how could I have been so blind?” he said, running his hands over his face.
“You wanted to believe it too. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“I’ve missed you, Kaylee.” When she slid closer to him, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close.
She sighed and relaxed against him. “I almost called you a few times, you know.”
“I wish you would have. I missed the sound of your voice.”
“I didn’t want to fight again.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t quite ready to listen to you. You know, we’ll probably fight about something again, at some point.”
“I know.”
“Fighting could be fun,” he said. “When you fight, you get to make up afterward.” He gave her a little squeeze.
“Why don’t you come in for dinner, and then we can go back to your place and finish making up?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Deal.”
Sex that evening was physically gentle and slow, but there was an intensity about it that was new to Jules. Even without the fast, hot passion of other nights it was somehow more than it had been before. They lay in bed together afterwards, sweaty and satisfied. He marveled at the way she fit so perfectly against his side, her head on his shoulder, his arm secure around her. Her fingers trailed idly over his chest, and he closed his eyes, totally relaxed.
“We’ve been so caught up with your dad that I never asked—did the media attention ever go away?”
“I work in a big enough office now that it’s almost impossible for the media to get through the layers of the company to get to me. They’ve stopped leaving messages on my phone for the most part. I had over a hundred friend requests on the computer that I declined.”
“You don’t want fans?”
“No. I like my privacy. It’s slowing down now. They’ll forget all about me in a while.”
“So, no groupies?”
“Are you jealous?”
“Only if you’re flirting with them.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’m not.”
“I could use a shower. I put this new hair stuff in this morning and now my hair feels like straw.”
“Want some company?”
She snuggled closer to him. “That would be nice. Sure.”
Sharing a shower was supposed to be romantic, but it turned into an exercise in patience since it was a tiny apartment shower and Jules was very large. She ended up stepping out to towel her hair dry while he finished rinsing off.
“I could get used to this,” she said over the noise of the water and the fan.
He chuckled. “You’re welcome to come over anytime you know.”
“You know, my sisters have been complaining about having to share a room. Cora’s seventeen, and I think she really wants some privacy.”
“What are you hinting at?” He turned off the water. “Hand me a towel.”
“Maybe I won’t,” she said, letting her eyes roam over his naked dripping body.
“It’s cold, come on Kaylee.”
“Okay,” she said, laughing. She handed him the second towel. “It’s just that… I love you.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“And you love me.”
“Yes, I do.”
“And I love your cooking.”
“We’ve already had dinner today.”
“And we were meeting up almost every evening after supper before we had that fight.”
Kenny (Shifter Football League Book 2) Page 56
