by Holley Trent
“Is that your hope?”
“Wasn’t it yours?”
“Fair enough, but you have to understand where your mother and I were coming from. What little girl wouldn’t want to be normal?”
“I was normal, Tată. Look where that got me.”
And she realized then, that there wasn’t anything intrinsically wrong with being a Bear…or being with a Bear. Even one who’d withheld such an important truth from her. Whether she was with Bryan or someone else, she’d always have to be vigilant, and when it came down to it, wouldn’t she rather have children who could fight back versus ones who had to hide?
She’d spent enough time in conflict areas as a child with her father being an ambassador. Her brothers had always looked fear in the face—walked down the war-torn streets with their backs straight, heads held high while Tamara had hidden behind them. All she had was her smart-aleck mouth, which probably got her into as much trouble as out. She understood now that their confidence was from being Bear. They weren’t indestructible, but they were sure as shit hard to scare.
Just like Bryan.
“Tată, are all Bears made to keep the peace? Is that the lore?”
“There always seems to be some overlap with those cultural fables, but that’s a recurring theme from one continent to the next. Our Romanian bunch tends to keep the peace by being intimidating, so interpret that however you see fit.”
“Interesting. Can I ask you another question?”
“As if I’d refuse,” he said, and there was a bit of laughter in his voice.
“When I was in the rehabilitation center, when you and Mama were gone those nights…”
“Full moons. We had to lock down at our safe house in DC. The Bear group there didn’t know what we were.”
Her lungs deflated, posture relaxed. Head hung. They hadn’t abandoned her to her anger after all. Not willingly, anyway.
“Listen, we’re still in the area for obvious reasons. Naturally, we want to check on you, but will you let me speak with Bryan? Is he nearby?”
“Why?”
“I think I know a way to help him with his current problem. Your mother and I need to operate in stealth for political reasons, so we shouldn’t step foot in that area. If I can track them down immediately, I want to send your brothers in. At the very least, they can throw their weight around and add some numbers to the right side of the equation.”
Her brothers? The ones who wouldn’t so much as let her cross a puddle on her own as kid, in her space? Taking over?
Hell no. She was dealing with enough alpha Bear bullshit already.
“Come on, Tamara,” Tată said, his deep voice quietly soothing. “Bryan has opened a can of worms, and I can’t think of anyone better to contain the fallout than Peter and Soren.”
“Why? What makes them so capable?”
Yet another long silence, and then a long, rumbling laugh. “Let’s just say the Shrews aren’t the only ones around who take care of preternatural problems.”
Great. One more thing she had to share with her brothers.
“So…should I track them down? Last I heard, they were cleaning up a Wolf mess in Transylvania. Vampire turf war.”
“Whatever.”
“You’re right. I’m joking. But really, I must speak with Bryan now.”
Tamara slid off the truck tailgate and stomped to the bunker door, grumbling all the way. She stormed past Astrid and passed into Dustin’s open cell, dropping her cell phone into Bryan’s hand.
“Here. Talk to your new friend.”
Turning on her heel, she locked her stare on Paul and said, “Well, what the fuck are you looking at?”
“Nothing. Just… Bear women aren’t usually so scary.”
“Naturally, she’s scary. She’s mine,” Bryan said with a chuckle.
Growling, Tamara strode to the door, calling back to Astrid, “Let’s go check on Drea, shall we?”
His? Not even a little…at least, not at the moment. And maybe never. Never sounded good at the moment.
Her whiny, needy, and horny inner bear could go kick rocks.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
If it weren’t for Dana’s superior organizational skills, the meeting would have devolved into chaos the moment they all pulled out their seats and fell into them.
Shrews, Bears, and a variety of other preternatural creatures all packed into the gathering room of Eric’s inn, which he’d kindly closed for the weekend for this meeting to occur. There simply wasn’t another space large enough to accommodate them all, and provide lodging for the out-of-towners.
Bryan was glad Peter and Soren were on his side, because, although he was confident of his fighting skills, those two men combined could cause him a big headache. Not only were they big like their father, but they’d also been a part of a healthy Bear group with an intact energy link. The two would probably work together seamlessly, picking up each other’s slack without discussion.
Right now, they sat sandwiching their sister—whom hadn’t said a word to him since she’d left the bunker with Astrid—although Peter and Soren had said plenty enough in her stead. Very little of what they’d said had been complimentary, and Bryan now had a very good idea whom Tamara had learned some of her more colorful threats from.
They’d have to get over it, and Bryan suspected they understood that. Tamara wasn’t a little girl. She was a grown woman and she could date whomever she wanted. Mate whomever she wanted. No one would ever truly be good enough in her big brothers’ estimations, but still, they’d have to get out of the way and let her make her own mistakes…not that Bryan planned on being a mistake.
Dana set a stone on each corner of the map smoothed onto the tabletop and cleared her throat, quieting the din. “Here’s the deal. I’m down two Shrews and some muscle right now. Felipe’s in The Triangle with Sarah, and Astrid is out chasing after Fabian. We’ve got Maria posted with those knuckle-heads back at the bunker with a bit of backup from our shapeshifting friend Mr. Tolvaj, so that leaves just me and Tam. Our forte is surveillance. As we’re missing three points of our pentagon, we’re at a disadvantage, especially with an area this size.” She indicated the expanse of Western North Carolina they were in and the Were-creature territories within it.
“That said, we’ve got ears to the ground. People who are sympathetic to what we’re trying to do, and sometimes they pass me or Patrick some information.”
“Right.” Patrick stood, and pinned his dark hair back from his face with his sunglasses. He must have shifted for some reason recently as his eyes hadn’t gone back to their usual pure green. Cats didn’t have the same shifting rules as the Bears. Although Patrick was a made-Cat, he was actually more powerful than some of the born ones in the area. That was one reason he’d been dumped unceremoniously into an Alpha role he hadn’t wanted. He was a pub owner, not a politician.
He reached across the table, grabbed a stack of cups, and turned them over onto their brims on targeted areas on the map. “I did some scouting with some of the other Cats earlier, and we’re finding that in the territories that surround ours, the shifters in those groups are receding for some reason. Basically abandoning their haunts. Checked out all their way stations. You know, the ones they use to change clothes and such at the end of the full moon. Several hadn’t been touched in months. In fact, we had a hard time catching their scents at all. Should be all over the place, especially in the Wolf areas. They piss on everything as if they worry the trees will thirst to death without their assistance.”
“That’s unusual,” Soren said, leaning back in his seat and rubbing his auburn goatee with his palm. “Wolves aren’t so quick to cede their land.”
Bryan nodded. “I can probably shed some light on that. When Jacques and the circus came through the area, the Bears were in close communication with the Wolves and Goats. Gene did in fact insinuate that the Cats were responsible for my and Drea’s disappearances, not realizing it was an unknown entity in play. Even after it was m
ade clear that Jacques was using shapeshifters like Mr. Tolvaj to infiltrate and abduct people like us, the other groups became really wary of the Cats because of the way Billy took off.”
Billy was the former Were-catamount Alpha who’d packed up his family and ran out of town when the situation with the Bears started heating up last year. They still weren’t sure the extent of the trouble Billy had caused, but he’d left a lot of people he’d sworn to protect unguarded.
“They didn’t trust Billy, and they’re still uncertain about Patrick. Many of the shifters are afraid of the Cats, even more so than the Bears, because they’ve aligned themselves with these bloodthirsty Amazons who shoot first and ask questions later.”
Dana rolled her eyes. “As soon as this shit’s over, we need to do some serious public relations cleanup.”
“I gotta admit I thought the same thing about y’all,” Bryan said.
When Tamara narrowed her eyes at him, he put his hands up, palms out, in a soothing gesture. “Calm down, little bear.”
As if she could hear his internal quip, her top lip curled up.
“Cute.”
She canted her head.
Odd.
It really was as if she’d heard him.
“Anyhow, I suspect they’re all pulling back because they know some shit’s about to go down and they don’t want to be pulled into it. The Goats have never taken sides in a battle for obvious reasons, and the Wolves are more likely to watch from the sidelines and swoop in after all the work is done to claim unearned spoils.”
“But aren’t the Wolves your ally?” Dana asked.
Bryan shook his head. “They’re never really anyone’s ally, but they did partner with Gene on certain things. So, if shit happens, assume they’ll fall in line behind him, not me. There’s enough drug activity happening in that group that they wouldn’t want to cut off one of their major trade opportunities. Not many of the wolves can hold down traditional employment because out of all the shifters, they’re the ones whose beasts lead them most. Tend to have anger management problems.”
“Okay. Things are making more sense now.” Patrick moved some cups, posting them into an abstract polygon. “Right now, I have some sympathetic Cats posted in these areas, and know that as of this moment, Gene hasn’t left the territory. Right here…” He pointed to the northernmost point, up near Boone. “Gene was seen this morning, gassing up his SUV. He’s still in the area. I think he was doing business.”
Bryan tapped the cup near Boone. “The guy he calls the quartermaster is up there. Was Gene alone?” With all of Gene’s main lieutenants down for the count, he’d have to recruit new ones, and the learning curve was steep. Bryan was counting on that for when he went in to take the guy out.
“No. Word was that he had a driver and a woman in the backseat.”
“Probably John’s little snitch that you let go,” Tamara said. She drummed her fingers atop the table and locked her stare on his, but he didn’t flinch. He’d have to get used to surfing her mercurial moods, and perhaps once she understood he wouldn’t be easily scared off by a bit of cheek, she’d cut him some slack. He could handle her, but her sunnier moods were just so much more fun.
“Possibly,” Bryan said. “The biggest problem we’re going to have is not knowing how the cards are going to fall when the group splinters. We’ve been very quiet about what’s going on, so not even all the born-Bears are in the loop.”
Drea, who sat at the far end of the table with Eric nursing what looked like a whiskey neat, scoffed.
A chuckle sounded from across the table, and Bryan flicked his gaze to the smiling blond Bear who was casting flirty eyes at Drea she didn’t even see because she was staring at her drink.
Nope. Not gonna happen. Timid Drea? With one of those Romanian mercenaries?
He felt a kick to his shin under the table, and shifted his stare to his mate, whose pink-gloss lips had parted into a smile for the first time in a day. He didn’t need words to know what that look meant. That was the what’s-good-for-the-goose-is-good-for-the-gander look.
“No way,” he thought.
“Yes, way. Maybe it’d be good for her.”
Bryan let his brow furrow. He wasn’t asleep, was he? His pinch to his forearm confirmed he wasn’t. “Are you seriously in my head right now?”
“Apparently.”
“How? You’re not Black Bear, and I’m out of their psychic loop, anyway.”
She shrugged. “Possibly has something to do with all the Bear saliva you introduced into my body combined with the psychic Shrew shit. I’ve got a big furball in my head, rolling around and asking for a play date. And I can see your bear. And Drea’s and these two idiots’ if I concentrate.” She crooked her thumbs toward the big men on either side of her. “Can’t see Patrick, though.”
“Huh.”
He rubbed his chin contemplatively.
Weird.
He didn’t know if what she was seeing was typical of her flavor of Bear, or if it were some sort of Shrew contamination. Was worth testing the bounds of later, though. “Play date, huh?”
“Would you like to let us in on the conversation, or is it private?” Soren asked, looking first at his sister, then cutting a murderous glare to Bryan.
Bryan spread on his most lecherous grin and wriggled his eyebrows.
“Our grandmother couldn’t do the telepathic thing,” Peter said, nudging Tamara’s side. “Our parents can, though.”
“Can you?” she asked.
Peter shrugged. “Don’t know. I haven’t taken a mate.” With that, he looked down to the end of the table, and Drea, who now looked up, burned red with the attention. It was as if she’d missed half the discussion and was coming in too late to glean context clues.
“Oh-kay, then,” Dana said. “We seem to have some private Bear issues muddling this discussion, and I suggest we drop those for the time being and stay focused on the matter at hand. You all can hash it out later, and without my Shrew.” She pounded her hand on the table for emphasis. “I don’t care what’s going on between you and Bryan, Tam. My biggest concern is your safety and your continued engagement with the Shrews.”
“You still want me?”
Dana’s eyes widened, and she gaped. “You think I would work so hard to dig you out of the hole you were in only to let you go at some small hiccup? You’re still a Shrew. You’ve always been Bear. We just didn’t know it. All of our lives have gotten a bit more complicated in the past year. Marriages. A pregnancy. The group of us constantly being in transit between home and here. Things are going to keep changing. For better or worse, I can’t say because I don’t know. If you’re waiting for me to throw you out on your ear, it’s not going to happen. Not over this.”
The tension Tamara had been holding in her shoulders relaxed. Bryan hadn’t known she’d been worried about it. Of course he would never take her from the sisterhood she belonged so intrinsically to. He needed to make sure she understood that.
“So, what’s the plan, Bryan? Tell us and we’ll put bodies where they need to be,” Dana said, pulling out the chair beside Patrick. “Or try to.”
He had to really think about it, and looked down the table at all the faces turned to him, waiting for an answer. He was unused to this sort of delegation, and to working with people who genuinely wanted to help. Being in a team.
But, Tamara managed it. If a firecracker like her could belong to something bigger that was healthy, why couldn’t he?
He cleared his throat and nudged some cups on the map toward Boone. “I want as few casualties as possible. No injuries to bystanders if we can avoid it. I just want Gene. Once we get him, everything else will crumble because none of the Bears he turned will know how to function without his leadership. If, for some reason, an outsider steps in and challenges me, we’ll have a problem.”
“I think you’ll regret that.” Peter’s knuckles popped one at a time as he pressed his fingers toward his palm. “If I were you, I’d clean the s
late. No second chances.”
“I agree,” Soren said.
Bryan tipped his chair onto its back legs and laced his fingers behind his head, studying each brother in turn. “I’m not you. If you want to argue about it, we can debate it later, but I know the pulse in this area. I’m the one who can fix it.”
“Suit yourself,” Soren said. “I do ask if you’re going to set off a chain reaction that you keep Tamara free of it.”
Tamara spat something foreign, and probably vulgar, at her brother.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine. It’s your neck,” he said.
Bryan did agree with Soren to an extent. He would prefer to keep Tamara clear of the mess when it went down, especially since the fact that she was Bear was still mostly a secret. But, he’d already made the mistake of underestimating her too many times already. He had too many things to apologize for. He wouldn’t dare get in her way if she wanted in on the action.
“I need Tamara at my side,” Bryan said, standing. “She’s a far better tactician than I am, and she has a knack for taking people by surprise.”
“I can help,” Drea said from the end of the table.
“That, I forbid. I’m sorry, Drea. You need to stay here. You’ve already been through too much, most of which is probably my fault. If I’m worried about you, I’m going to mess up. Might be a good time to visit Ma and Pop.”
Color rose to her cheeks again, but she didn’t fight back. Didn’t argue. Never did. And that was exactly why she had to stay.
“No. I’ll be fine here,” she said.
“Soren and Peter, you can come. The Bears wouldn’t know your scent so you should be able to move around easily.”
The brothers nodded.
“We can convene at around seven tomorrow morning and take the Ursus’ rental car. Until then, let’s just stay on top of any whispers coming from the Bears.”
They all pushed back from the table, going their separate ways in the inn, but Bryan pulled Tamara by the hand toward the back door.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“It’s time for that play date.”
