Jane: Big Easy Bears III

by Becca Fanning

  “Car trouble,” Philippe said. “Should be repaired in a week. Otherwise, I’m good. Patrick’s alpha wanted me to mention that they’ve heard some whispering about The Human Order again. If they get anything concrete, they’ll pass it on to the cops and let you know about it.”

  Remy nodded. “Jules? Jane?”

  “Jane made a friend,” Jules quickly said.

  Suddenly she had four men very interested in her. Jane shrugged. “Just been spending some time with a co-worker, casual you know. I helped him with some renos. We’ve been swapping recipes.”

  “Is this a romantic relationship?” Remy asked.

  “Honestly, I’m not sure yet. We’re just seeing where it goes.” It was always better to be honest with Remy. Lies and half-truths had a way of coming back to make trouble when he was around. Still, she wasn’t quite ready to admit that the making out and the regular lunch and dinner outings were anything romantic, especially not in front of Jules.

  Remy nodded.

  “My life is peachy keen,” Jules said. “Just took me a little longer to get away from Kaylee and my mom this evening.”

  “They won’t leave you alone until you propose,” Brock said.

  “They won’t leave me alone even then,” Jules replied. “It’ll be ‘what do you think of this dress?’ and ‘which cake topper do you like?’ and ‘do we want the mauve napkins of the taupe?’” He grinned. “Don’t say a word to anyone but I am working on it. The raise and Kaylee’s income are covering the rent on the new place, so we’re not in any kind of financial trouble, but it’s still taking me a while to save up for the ring.”

  “Our lips are sealed,” Remy said. “There is a clan meeting in two weeks. Is there any other business we need to address today? No? Then let us shift before the moon.”

  Chapter 7

  By Thursday morning she was beginning to feel like her old self again. The full moon always threw her sleep schedule out of whack. If it had been Tuesday morning, the morning after the full moon, she probably would have passed the whole situation off as lack of sleep, but today the figure on the street corner outside the care home made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end and the bear flair to attentiveness. She paused at the car, pretending to fuss with something inside it, and stole a few glances in the stranger’s direction. He was certainly waiting for something since he missed four opportunities to cross the street in either direction.

  Maybe he’s coming to visit someone inside and is just waiting for another family member to join him. She took a deep breath and forced the bear to relax. It had been years. Her past was behind her, safely and forever. And besides, if Laurent wants to see me there are official channels for him to follow. Kidnapping me now would certainly bring Remy down on him.

  She assisted with baths all morning which meant not seeing much of Bryce or Carter. While it was always a good day when she could avoid her boss, she found herself missing Bryce’s cheeriness. Their lunch breaks lined-up today, so when Bryce suggested they take their sandwiches with them and walk down to the corner to grab a slushee, she agreed.

  As they stepped out of the building into the bright afternoon sunlight, her gaze was automatically drawn to the street corner, but the stranger, whomever he was, was gone. They took the walkway to the sidewalk and headed for the convenience store at the corner.

  They were halfway down the block when Jane suddenly felt like there was a finger poking her in the middle of her back. She rolled her shoulders, trying to shake the feeling, but it wasn’t so much a feeling of physical contact as a sense of something. She took a deep breath as her heart rate began to increase. She knew the feeling and she didn’t like it. Someone was watching her.

  Just someone across the street staring, maybe someone walking nearby, headed the same way. When they got to the corner, she looked around under the pretense of looking for cars but she saw no one except a teen on a bike across the street. He was going in the other direction and paying them no attention.

  The feeling of being watched eased when they went into the store but now the bear felt trapped. If someone was after them, they could easily block the door.

  I can get out past any aggressor without having to shift. I’m fine. There’s no threat here. Still, she kept glancing about, trying to see past the posters in the windows to see more of the sidewalk.

  Bryce leaned in close to her. “Everything okay? You were distracted on the way over here and now you look downright jumpy.”

  “No, nothing, it’s just feel like someone is watching me. It’s probably nothing, just a weird feeling.” She smiled at him. “So, pink slushee?”

  He shrugged. “I like the strawberry. Doesn’t surprise me that you got the cola one though.”

  “Because it’s plain?”

  “You don’t strike me as an odd flavor and bright color kind of person, no.”

  “You’d be right on that one.”

  They paid and left the air conditioning of the store behind. It was hot but the humidity was down for a change, so it didn’t feel so stifling today. The door closed behind them with a faint jingle. By the time they made it to the sidewalk, the feeling was back. Her whole body tensed as she fought the urge to look over her shoulder.

  “Hold on, I think I forgot my wallet,” Bryce said, spinning around even before all the words were out of his mouth. He jogged back to the store and came back out a second later.

  “Find it?” she said.

  “Of course, it’s in my pocket,” he answered. “And there’s no one behind us.”

  She smiled. “Thanks. I’m not sure why it’s acting up today. I used to get this a lot.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll watch your back.”

  She hooked her arm around his and gave it a squeeze. “Thanks.”

  “What’s this? A spontaneous show of affection?”

  She shoved him, laughing. “You wonder why you’re single.”

  They dropped the empty slushee cups in the trash outside the care home and Jane took one last look around. Off to one side, she thought she saw someone duck behind the corner of the neighboring building. She stared for a moment but no one reappeared. She gave her head a shake. “Come on, before Carter has reason to holler at us.”

  They worked together on the floors for the rest of the afternoon, laughing and joking and trying to keep the swearing to a minimum so their esteemed boss wouldn’t come looking for them. Any time they were near the windows, she found herself glancing out, looking for the shadowing figure from that morning. At the end of the day, she said good-bye to Bryce and headed for home. She needed a jog and a shower and a quiet dinner at home tonight. She was enjoying spending time with Bryce, but after the tension of the day, she just wanted to be alone.

  She parked the car in her assigned spot in front of her building and jogged up to her apartment to change. She was physically tired but feeling restless too. The feeling that she was being watched hadn’t gone away even after she’d just driven a dozen blocks. If anyone had been lurking outside the care home, she’d lost them already. She threw the scrubs in the hamper, tossed on something comfortable, and pulled on her running shoes. She locked up the apartment and headed back out.

  Jogging didn’t make her nervous, not even in the evening. It was a decent neighborhood and she could deal with anyone who wanted to give her trouble in such a way that they wouldn’t feel like giving anyone trouble for quite a while. There was a park at the corner with a nice path through the trees. There was a play structure off to one side and there were a handful of teens sitting up on the monkey bars laughing and swinging their legs. They didn’t even look her way as she jogged by.

  She did the loop around the park twice, then headed for home. Whoever had been watching her, or whatever had been hovering in the back of her mind, hadn’t followed her to the park. She slowed down a little on the sidewalk so she could dodge the other pedestrians without seeming rude. She felt relaxed and loose.

  That didn’t stop her from n
oticing the man on the corner or the way he hid his face as she passed. Instantly she could feel eyes on her back again. She tensed but kept her pace leisurely. Should have gone out the other side of the park and gone the long way home. Too late now. Just get home. Whoever it is can’t get into the building.

  Traffic was steady on the road beside her, a regular soundtrack of tires on pavement, bass turned up too loud, and brakes protesting sudden stops. At least here honking horns were rare. She went in the first set of doors and stopped to fish her key out of her pocket.

  The door to the outside opened and a second body stepped into the cramped space. She looked up out of habit, ready to greet a neighbor or offer someone’s visitor a polite smile, even though her heart was hammering. She soon realized it was the man from the street corner; she recognized his jacket.

  She moved on instinct, driven by the bear’s need for survival. Even as the door swung gently shut behind him, she had him back into the corner with her arm against his throat.

  “You’d better tell me why the fuck you are following me around or I’ll …”

  The hat tipped back revealing a familiar face, one Jane hadn’t seen in years. The hair was the same, even if it was styled differently, his shoulders were wider, a lot wider, and there was a hint of stubble on his chin. Even though he was no longer a fresh-faced gangly eighteen year old, there was no mistaking who he was. He had been her best friend, her confidant, her first kiss.

  “Hey, is that any way to treat an old friend?” he said even as she recognized him. He had the sense at least to keep his hands up where she could see them.

  She stumbled back. “Etienne? What...?”

  “Look, can we go to your apartment? I don’t think we should have this conversation in the doorway of your building.” He tugged his sweater straight.

  She nodded and swallowed. “Yeah, sure, okay.” She pulled out her key and watched it shake as she tried to get the key in the lock. She took a deep breath, focused, and got the door open. “Third floor.”

  He headed for the elevator but she headed for the stairs. Moving helped her stay relaxed and she didn’t like the idea of being trapped in an elevator with him, not even for the minute it would take them to get to her floor. There was no mistaking him for anyone else, the face was the same, and the voice, and the way he smelled, but the rest of him had changed a lot. He had been growing a lot when she’d left but he’d put on at least six inches since she last saw him. Six inches and nearly a hundred pounds of muscle. She was exaggerating. He wasn’t quite as big as Philippe but he was easily as big as Brock and as broad as Remy, though not quite as tall.

  Like Jules, she thought. But there’s something about the way Jules carries himself that makes him look smaller, less threatening.

  Etienne changed direction and followed her. She took the stairs two at a time at a steady jog and didn’t look back. She didn’t need to see him to know he was still following her. And following was fine by him, especially at this angle.

  She let them into her apartment and went straight to the sink for a glass of water while he took off his coat and shoes. “You’ve been following me all day?” she asked.

  “Yeah. Sorry about that. I couldn’t call ahead and I wasn’t sure when to spring this on you. I wasn’t even sure the Jane I’d found in the phone book was you.”

  “Showing up at the care home would have been a bad idea, yeah. Why are you here? I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

  “Why not? We were best friends. For a while I thought we could be more than that.”

  “You know what Laurent wanted, why I had to leave.”

  “Would it have been so bad?”

  How to answer that? Best not to. “Would you like something to drink? Or eat?”

  “Yeah, some supper would be nice. Just whatever though, don’t do something fancy just for me.”

  “Good, because I don’t do fancy.” Her mind flitted to the salmon she’d cooked just a week earlier, one of Laurent’s recipes, one of the few things she’d learned from her step-father that she actually enjoyed. She didn’t have the ingredients in the house, but even if she did she didn’t think she’d bring them out for Etienne.

  Etienne hadn’t seen Jane in five years but even back then, growing up together, she had hated surprises so her reaction to his sudden appearance was understandable. Considering what she believed happened to her parents, it was understandable that she hadn’t liked him watching her and following her all day either.

  Her apartment was not what he expected, not when he was used to seeing her room plastered with posters and pictures she had drawn. The empty walls and empty shelves were shocking. As was the exercise equipment everywhere. She was a werebear, she didn’t need to work out, though he had to admit she looked pretty good, better than he remembered her. She’d cut her nearly black hair, probably the first thing she’d done when she arrived in New Orleans. Laurent had never allowed her to cut it. She’d been wearing scrubs earlier and was wearing workout clothes now. He mentally pictured her in nicer clothes and smiled. He was certain she’d clean up well. He stopped himself from imagining anything else. There would be time for that later, perhaps even time for more than imagining.

  She wasn’t lying about not doing fancy food. She opened up a can of flaked tuna and spread it on bread with some lettuce and cheese and put the resulting sandwiches on a couple of plates. These went on the island counter that doubled as her table along with two cans of beer from the fridge.

  “Eat up,” she said. There were no chairs.

  “That’s it?”

  “I had a big lunch. You’re welcome to go find food elsewhere.” She cracked the first can of beer. She was lying about lunch and knew she’d be hungry later, but she was still bristling at his sudden appearance and wasn’t in the mood to cater to him.

  “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, as a shifter, don’t you need more food than that?”

  “Told you, big lunch. What are you doing here?”

  It was his turn to avoid the question. He reached for the second can, opened it, and took a long sip. “I still prefer wine,” he said. “So, you work at a care home?”

  She nodded. “Orderly. I lift things all day, fold laundry, that sort of thing. It pays the bills.”

  “You haven’t thought of doing something else?”

  “What else is there? The job market sucks here, just like everywhere else. My clan is here and I don’t feel like going through the process of changing clans again, and I can’t leave the country for another two years.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Naturalization process. If I leave for more than six months at any one time in the next two years, I’ll lose my chance at being a U.S. citizen.” She shrugged. “I don’t have money to travel for fun and there’s nowhere I really want to go.”

  “That’s why you haven’t been back to visit?”

  “I didn’t come back because I didn’t want to deal with Laurent. I did lie to get out of there. I don’t think he was happy about that and he doesn’t forgive easily.”

  “No, he doesn’t, which is why it’s important he never knows that I’m here.”

  She put the can down hard on the counter. “Your Clan Chief doesn’t know where you are?”

  He shook his head.

  “Does my Clan Chief know you’re here?”

  “Not yet, no. Can we keep it that way for a little while?”

  She scrubbed her hands over her face. “There are rules, Etienne.”

  “You were never a stickler for rules before.”

  “I didn’t like Laurent, nor did I want to respect his authority.”

  “But you like this Remy?”

  “Yes.”

  The answer was firm, without hesitation. That surprised Etienne and he leaned back against the fridge, sandwich in hand. “Never thought I’d see you start walking the straight and narrow. Ah shit.” Some tuna salad dripped out of his sandwich and hit the floor. He quickly returned the sand
wich to the plate.

  She just watched as he grabbed the cloth from the sink and cleaned up the mess, all the while casually chewing on her own dinner.

  “Sorry about that.”

  She shrugged. “As long as it’s clean.”

  “Tell me about you. What have you been doing? I’ve missed you.”

  She washed the next bite down with some beer. “Working. Working out. Not making waves.”

  “Doesn’t sound like fun.”

  “What about you?”

  “I went to school, got a diploma in small business accounting. I’ve been talking to Darryl about taking over the clan finances when he retires.”

  “Right, because accounting is so much more exciting.”

  He laughed. “Not a bit, no, but I had some fun at school. I studied in Manitoba.”

  “How did that work? With the clans?”

  “I boarded with someone in the clan in the city where I attended school, I went with them every full moon, and when I was done I went home. The Council of Chiefs has it all worked out, you know.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. I never went through them.”

  “And Laurent was not happy about that. You made him look the fool in front of them.”

  “Poor Laurent.” She focused on her dinner, finishing off the sandwich before talking again. “How’s … how is the rest of the clan doing?”

  “A few people left, older couples mostly. They had to be moved. The Human Order was targeting them. Of course, in this day in age, it’s almost impossible to hide. I’m not sure moving to a new city would really solve their problem. The Human Order is everywhere.”

  “Yeah, we’ve already had a run in with them here. It got pretty serious.”

  “We heard a little bit about that but Laurent wouldn’t talk about it and we don’t have a lot of contact with the other clans. What happened?”

  She shrugged. “They were after Brock, our second, I guess. He got elected as the Mayor of New Orleans, even after his ex-girlfriend made his shifter-status public. Guess that pissed some people off, a lot. There was a shooting at City Hall, one of our bears and a local werewolf got attacked, and they managed to ID and find every member of our clan.”