by Olivia Arran
Clucking her tongue, she flashed me a smile. “Honey, he knows better and don’t think he doesn’t know that.” Bustling forward, the older woman tucked her arm through mine, leading me out into the hallway without a second glance at her son. Tall like the rest of her family, with long dark hair twisted up into a bun and strands of silver streaking the sides, she appeared way too young to have five strapping boys in their thirties. Bubbling with energy, I’d learned since arriving a couple of hours ago that she smiled often, laughed even more, and loved with an openness that I both longed for and scared the living crap out of me. Directing me into the kitchen, and what appeared to be the hub of the house, she squeezed my arm. “Make him work for it, honey,” she whispered with a firm nod, her lips twitching and arm firm when I stumbled over my own feet. “My boy is headstrong and confident, giving the impression that nothing can touch him, but he’s got a kind heart and an even stronger sense of loyalty. If you’d let him love you, you wouldn’t regret it.”
She let go of my arm before I had a chance to even try and think up an answer to that, depositing me in a chair and strolling off to stir something on the large stove.
“She’s something else, isn’t she?” the woman in the chair next to me murmured, snagging a spare glass and filling it to the brim with wine. Pushing it toward me, she smiled, picking her own up and taking a sip.
Gina—married to Jack, the doctor. Her bright red hair set her apart from the group, making her easy to remember. I’d seen her around town a couple of times, usually at the small bakery or walking with her handsome husband and their children. “Thanks.” I accepted the glass gratefully, taking a sip. “And thank you for what you did earlier.”
“It’s nothing,” the other woman replied, brushing off my thanks with a wave of her hand.
But, really, it had been way more than nothing. When we’d found Max by the side of the lake he’d been so close to death, I hadn’t thought he stood a chance. I mean, I knew what people looked like when they died, when they hovered on that brink, the doorway between this life and the next. I knew. And Max had been there, his skin pasty and blood soaking the ground. His eyes vacant, he hadn’t responded, hadn’t flinched when Jack had dug into his skin, searching around until he had pulled out the bullet with a grim determination bordering on desperation. Hands had held me back while he worked, the only sound my soft cry as yet again, someone I cared for was taken from me.
But, he hadn’t. Jack had declared him stable and the brothers had scooped him up and carried him home, his father leading the procession with murder in his eyes.
I had thought them delusional. He was dead, they had to see that, but they’d told me to wait and to have faith. Gina had joined Jack once we’d arrived here at the house, standing vigil and seeing to Max’s wound.
“Jeanie, are you okay?” A hand rested on top of mine where it dug into the table.
I looked up into Merrie’s concerned face. Craig, her husband, stood further back, in deep discussion with his brothers, but his eyes kept coming to rest on his wife, as though he couldn’t stand even this small amount of separation. It had been Merrie who’d given me clothes to wear, mine being covered with blood and dirt. Max’s blood. Giving her a small nod, I asked the question that had been at the back of my mind the whole time, “Why was he naked?” I didn’t get it. Did the murderer plan on objectifying Max? Degrading him? Was it a sexual assault? Symbolism? Then why leave him hidden? Did they want his clothes? No, that couldn’t have been it; his clothes had been found meters away at the edge of the lake.
“Uh…” Merrie glanced at Gina, her lips twisting into a frown.
“Yeah, uh…” Gina mumbled, avoiding my eyes.
I might have only just met these woman, but I would have bet my last cup of coffee that they were normally straight talkers. “Guys, whatever it is, you can—”
Amy, Ryan’s wife, interrupted with a smooth smile, “Jeanie, don’t worry. I’ve been promised that they’re going to explain everything to you real soon.” Her smile widened, taking on a slightly feral look as she continued, “And if they don’t … well, let me tell you, there’ll be some very disgruntled guys come morning.”
“Damn straight,” Merrie agreed with a smile of anticipation that I was very glad wasn’t aimed at me. Across the room, Ralph—the only single man in the room, barring Max, and looking pretty damn pleased of that right now—nudged his brothers, who each took one look at their wives and paled dramatically.
“We women have got to stick together,” Amy added, sliding into the chair next to Gina, as Merrie sat down next to me.
“And since you’re going to be mat— with one of the Everson guys, you’re one of us now, Jeanie,” Gina finished with a broad smile.
“Wait! I’m not with Max.” I snuck a glance at the man in question, peeling my eyes away when they threatened to glue themselves to his chiseled back. When had he snuck into the room?
“Sure thing honey.” Gina patted my hand with a very unsympathetic grin, then turned to take the cutest looking baby I’d ever seen off her husband and settled her in to feed. Once the baby was sucking away without a murmur, she turned her attention back to the group of men. “Anytime now, boys,” she called.
Pa strolled over, smoothing a finger down the baby’s cheek, a gentle smile on his rugged face. “We’re going to get started now.” At some kind of silent signal, the men descended on the table, dragging out chairs and sitting themselves down. Amy squealed when Ryan lifted her, depositing her on his lap, Merrie making a similar noise when Craig followed suit. The children, Luke and Lizzie slipped from the room without a murmur, as though they were used to adult only meetings being called and knew the drill.
Max hovered at the head of the table, his intention clear on his face as he stared at me.
My legs tensed, heart fluttering in my chest. What would I do if he manhandled me like that, declaring his intent in front of his whole family? Not that he hadn’t already done so in front of his mom… On the one hand I wanted him to stay way over there, but the thought of him—
Max picked up a chair, holding it high as he made his way to my end of the table.
With a low chuckle, Craig skirted his chair away and with her free hand, Gina grabbed mine and pulled it closer, sending me lurching to the side and bumping against her shoulder. The baby waved its chubby arm in the air, fingers curling and uncurling as it continued to suck.
I barely heard the clatter of the chair legs hitting the floor, my thundering heart drowning it out.
Max slumped into the seat next to me, his thigh pressing against mine with an intentional firmness, but he didn’t make any other move.
Thank God.
I think. I didn’t know. His closeness was messing with my head, my mind filtering out anything that wasn’t him. Only ten minutes ago he’d stood in front of me in his birthday suit, and now we were sitting around a kitchen table with his family. Whose life is this?
At the head of the table Pa cleared his throat, his fingers entwined with his wife’s in an easy gesture. “Max, son, why don’t you tell us what you can remember.”
Next to me, Max leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms across his remarkably unblemished chest. “You’ve mostly all heard the story, I guess. I was swimming and I felt a sharp sting, then some motherfucker shot me. He held me down under the water and that’s pretty much all I can remember.” His voice was low and spiked with fury, his hands curled into large fists and jammed under his arms.
“What about his face?” Ryan asked, “did you get a look?”
Max shook his head slowly. “Brown hair and brown eyes—I think. I was out of it. Whatever drug he pumped me full of had my head spinning, and then I was under the water.”
“Damn.” Ralph’s low curse was echoed around the table, frustration thick in the air.
“I know him, though.”
Max’s quite statement had me turning in my chair. “How do you know that?”
“He spoke to me. He
said you shouldn’t have left the city, Max. I recognized his goddamn voice, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
My hand was covering his before I had time to really think it through. “We’ll find him,” I eventually added, feeling a little lame. What could I do that these men couldn’t? I went to pull my hand away, aware of everyone’s eyes burning into me, but Max stopped me, reversing our hands and covering mine with his, sliding it down his chest and into his lap beneath the table.
Fighting the urge to babble, something I might, or might not do when embarrassed, I picked the top three questions that had been circling in my head since finding out he was really going to be okay. “Max, why would someone want to kill you?” I held up a hand, I needed to get these out there, before I chickened out. “Why don’t you have a wound?” I sped up, firing the last question out there before I managed to convince myself I was loosing my mind and it hadn’t really happened, “And how is it that I’m connected to you; that I was able to find you?”
Max’s mouth dropped open, giving me a good look at a set of very straight, very white teeth. His jaw clamped shut, his gaze turning to his father, then to each of his brothers in turn.
“Don’t look at them, look at me,” I snapped, throwing caution to the wind and going for it. If he got to declare full blown love so soon after meeting, then I got to order him around. It was only fair.
I was pretty sure some other mouths fell open, but I wasn’t looking at them, all my attention focused on the man in front of me. Up until now I had been grateful enough that he was still alive to ignore the weirdness surrounding this whole thing.
Not anymore. Now I needed answers.
Chapter Eleven
Max
I couldn’t blame everyone for falling deathly silent, I was lost for words too. Jeanie was staring at me as though she was daring me to try and make an excuse, her eyes promising retribution for anything less than full disclosure.
She’d reached her limit, that’s for sure. She was digging her heels in and demanding answers.
Fuck, it was hot.
Wait a second… “You found me?”
“With something called a soul bond. Your Pa told me you’d explain everything later. So … I’m listening.”
She tried to pull her hand from mine, but I held it tight, my mind spinning out of control. The soul bond? That’s how they’d tracked me down? A quick glance at my father confirmed it.
He opened his mouth, but I beat him to it. “I wasn’t planning on telling you this way.” I wasn’t actually sure how I’d been planning on breaking the news, but that didn’t matter now. Maybe, with a room full of people, she might not freak out.
Um, yeah, or maybe not quite so much.
My skin itched under her scrutiny; I couldn’t lose her. Why couldn’t I have been born normal? The normal that the world accepted anyway: a human. What I was asking her to accept was so far out of the realm of normal… Who was I kidding? She was going to freak out.
“Jeanie…” I trailed off, debating whether to ask everyone to leave.
“I’m listening,” her voice was clipped, but I could detect an undercurrent of worry threading through it. Forget going to freak out, I was freaking her out but not coming clean. Okay, like a band aid then.
Blocking out everyone else in the room, I focused on her, drinking in her big brown eyes and cute freckles, hating the lines of worry that dug into her skin. I took a deep breath, bracing myself. “I’ll answer your questions in order. One, I don’t know why someone would want to kill me. Two, I’ve healed the wound because I’m a bear shifter. Three, you’re connected to me because you’re my true mate. The bond you felt is the beginning of what could be between us, if we completed the claiming.” It all came out in a rush, leaving a strange empty feeling in my chest, a void waiting to be filled.
Three … two … one …
“What? Max, you— Are you—? Why won’t you tell me the truth?” she spluttered, her face a mask of hurt.
“I’m telling you the truth, I swear it.” Tugging her hand up to my chest, I pressed it against my heart, willing her to feel the steady thump as I plucked it out of my chest and laid it at her feet for all to see. “It’s why I know I love you already. Shifters have one true mate, the person who completes them, who is the other half of their soul. For me; you’re her. I know it’s fast and complicated and strange, but there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”
“But … Max—”
“Hell, I’m saying all this in front of my entire family. That’s got to say something.” I gritted my teeth against a wave of helplessness when she looked away.
“I don’t think she understands—”
“Can it, Ralph,” I snapped out.
But Jeanie frowned, her eyes drilling holes into the table. “He’s right, I don’t understand. What is a shifter? And, what’s a bear got to do with it?”
She was trying. “We turn into bears.”
“What?” Now her face was frozen in horror.
“Smooth, bro,” one of my brothers muttered under his breath.
I scowled. “We’re still us, but in bear form. We share our souls with an animal, it’s kind of hard to explain….”
“Bears?” she echoed weakly.
“Bears,” I confirmed.
“And wolves,” Gina piped up.
I bit back the groan. Fuck, shut up!
Jeanie spun around to face Gina, nearly yanking me off my chair seeing as I still had hold of her hand. “You turn into a wolf?” At least she didn’t cower, or shrink away. She sounded … thoughtful.
“Nah, but my daughter Lizzie does.” Gina smiled like the proud Momma she was, then she pointed down at the baby nestled in her arms, sweet little Mae. “This little one turns into a wolf too.”
Jeanie sat back in her seat and closed her eyes, her chest rising and falling as she sucked in breath after breath, until her shoulders had relaxed and her mouth had unscrunched from the tight frown she’d been sporting since I’d blurted out the big news. Opening her eyes, she looked around the table. “Okay. Hands up if you’re a human, like me.”
Amy and Gina raised their hands, along with Luke who’d popped his head back into the room, a cheeky grin on his face.
“Son, you know better than to eavesdrop,” Ryan reprimanded in a light voice, but it lacked any real bite. Luke disappeared back into the corridor with an apologetic smile and a gleam in his eye. He was growing up fast, and grownup matters held more interest for him than playing with the younger kids.
“Three of you?” You couldn’t miss the incredulity in Jeanie’s voice. “Everyone else turns into an animal?”
“Not me,” Merrie piped up, a smug smile on her face. “I’m a witch,” she added helpfully.
“Oh.”
Not helping… I squeezed Jeanie’s hand.
“Maybe a demonstration is in order?” Ralph jumped up from his chair and untucked his shirt.
“I can—”
“You’ve recently been shot, Max. Let Ralph show the poor girl,” Mom admonished.
That’s what I was worried about.
In three seconds flat Ralph had discarded his shirt, toed off his boots, and was working on his jeans.
Jeanie shuffled in the chair next to me, her eyes widening and mouth falling open.
I had her sat on my lap, my hand in front of her eyes before she had taken her next breath, a low growl rumbling up through my chest.
“Max!” she hissed, but instead of moving, she worked on peeling my fingers apart.
Which was fine, since Ralph had turned around and was part way through the shift, and most likely looking a hell of a lot less … attractive to my mate.
“Wow!” Her exclamation was a breath of air as she leaned back against me, her fingers tightening around mine and digging in.
Ralph had completed the shift, his large, bulky bear form taking up a hell of a lot more space than his human form had. Sitting back on his haunches, he stared at Jeanie, cocking his head
and attempting a wink.
Startled laughter burst out of her, but she still didn’t blink. “Is he still…?”
“Yes, he’s exactly the same now as he was five minutes ago. A surly and argumentative bastard.”
Ralph the bear let out a rumbly cough, but he didn’t make a move. He did flash his impressive set of teeth, though, his bear equivalent of a smirk.
“Okay, then,” Jeanie murmured.
Was that it? Had she accepted it so easily? “Jeanie—”
She leaned around, her ass digging into my groin in a way that was both exquisitely distracting and excruciatingly embarrassing in front of my family.
“I think it’s time we took this conversation private, Max,” she whispered.
I couldn’t agree more. Tucking my arms under her, I lurched to my feet, ignoring the sharp pain in my chest, and was already striding out of the room before anyone could think to object.
Not that they did. The nearest thing was a startled chuckle and a whole lot of knowing looks thrown our way. I didn’t stop until we were back in the bedroom where I had woken up less than a scant hour ago. Letting her slide down out of my arms, I didn’t bother to bite back the groan as her body pressed against and caressed every inch of my front. “Jeanie…” I leaned down, intent on claiming her mouth.
Her hand against my chest had me pausing mid-swoop. “I get it, Max, we’ve both got secrets.” She cleared her throat as if preparing for a big speech.
My heart sank. She knew everything now; it wasn’t meant to end like this. “Sweetheart—” The imploring look in her eyes stopped me cold.
“I need time. You can’t nearly die on me, then reveal this huge secret and expect me to fall into your arms. It doesn’t work like that. Max, you nearly died.” Her fist thudded against my chest, fingers curled into a tight ball and knuckles white. “I can’t survive having someone leave me again. I just can’t.” Her words were barely above a whisper, not meant for my ears.
