Rebel Bear

by Anna Lowe

  Dell gave the boy a high five, but Hailey’s eyes stayed glued to the page. The pearls were all shapes and sizes, and the one nearest the woman’s pinkie looked like hers — an uneven, oblong shape with a hint of pink.

  “Pearls of desire?” she whispered, reading the swirly script.

  Jenna took the book from Cynthia and put her finger on a spot in the text. Obviously, she’d read the book before. “This is the story of Nanalani, the daughter of the shark king.”

  Hailey’s eyes grew wide. Shark shifters?

  “It’s a Hawaiian legend,” Connor explained.

  “Not just a legend,” Jenna corrected him and started reading.

  “Nanalani could only love from afar for fear of her shark side coming out. Terrified of wreaking death and destruction upon her friends the way her brother had done when he took human form, Nanalani kept herself sequestered in a cave for years. Finally, in her loneliness and sorrow, she called forth the spirit of the sea…” Jenna read faster, and everyone leaned in. “Nanalani put a spell on her pearls — the pearls of desire. Her treasures allowed her to go safely forth as a woman and love a man she had admired from afar. Over the years, Nanalani had many lovers, though she never found her mate.” Jenna looked up at Hailey. “Here it comes. Wait till you hear this.” She grinned and read on. “As time went on and her lovers passed away, Nanalani threw her pearls back into the sea, one by one. ‘Now I am alone again,’ she sighed to the god of the sea. ‘I give you my pearls, not to keep, but to safeguard for another worthy lover who needs their power someday.’” Jenna looked up. “That’s you.”

  Hailey blinked. “Me?”

  “Yep.” Jenna’s eyes danced. “You. A worthy lover who needed the pearl’s power.”

  Hailey looked at Tim. Her cheeks burned, but Jenna pulled out a necklace, making Hailey gape.

  “This is mine.”

  Hailey stared.

  Tim turned the book around. “That one does look like Hailey’s…”

  She lay a hand over the spot on her chest the pearl usually rested over. All those years, she’d been carrying a pearl with mysterious powers?

  “But Jenna’s and Hailey’s pearls look different,” Joey pointed out.

  They did — totally different. But Cynthia just shrugged. “Pearls are formed inside oysters. Remember that book we read? They all come out different.”

  “Like babies?” Joey asked.

  Cynthia broke into a huge smile and ran her fingers through her son’s fine red hair. “All different, like babies.”

  “I thought pearls were round,” Dell said.

  Cynthia shook her head. “Not all. Some come out like that. It’s called a baroque pearl.”

  Hailey smiled. “My grandfather always said it was perfect in its imperfections.”

  He’d said that about her, too, making her feel better about her freckles and everything else she’d obsessed about as a kid.

  “And pink means…?” Jenna asked.

  “Pink in a pearl symbolizes fame, success, and good fortune,” Cynthia said.

  Dell cackled. “That fits.”

  Hailey frowned. “Fame? I could do without, believe me. And as for success and good fortune — I only feel like I’ve found that now.” She leaned against Tim.

  “It doesn’t have to be taken literally,” Jenna pointed out. “Like mine — wealth and prosperity can mean a lot of things.” She wrapped her arm around Connor’s, and her eyes shone with love.

  Hailey thought it over. Fame and success didn’t apply to everyone in her family, but good fortune… She thought of all the times her grandfather had talked about her grandmother as if she were still there. The way he’d recalled the special connection his own parents had once shared.

  Her eyes strayed to Tim’s, and he smiled. “Good fortune. I like that part.”

  She did too.

  “Are yours special too?” she asked Cynthia. Surely a string of pearls that perfect had to outdo hers.

  Cynthia flashed a thin smile and touched her necklace. “Alas, no. Just a pretty piece of jewelry. My mother gave it to me.” Her smile grew bittersweet until she looked around in alarm, like she’d revealed one detail too much.

  Connor, Tim, and the other men exchanged looks, and Hailey made a mental note to ask Tim what that was all about. There certainly was an air of mystery around Cynthia.

  But Cynthia didn’t look happy about sharing anything else, so Hailey motioned back at the illustration. “What about the pearls having power?”

  Jenna tilted her head toward the book. “It doesn’t say so specifically in there, but it seems like the pearls — the genuine pearls of desire — lend the bearer their power. Sometimes, at least. Like mine did when I needed it most.”

  “You need to have it in you, though,” Connor pointed out.

  “Have what?” Hailey asked.

  Tim tapped her hand firmly. “Courage. Determination. The ability to tell right from wrong.”

  She sucked in a slow breath. Did he really mean her?

  Jenna nodded, all matter-of-fact. “The pearl amplifies what you already possess.”

  Hailey turned back to the book, hoping to learn more. “‘And so it was that the pearls of desire — one for every kind of desire known to mankind — were lost, though legend claims they remain slumbering under the surface, waiting to be reawakened to inspire great acts of love again.’” She leaned back. “Every kind of desire?”

  Dell shrugged. “You know. Love, lust, passion. All that.”

  “Greed,” Connor scowled.

  “Commitment,” Jenna said, taking his hand.

  “Yearning,” Tim whispered. He tilted his head toward Chase, who stared off into the distance silently.

  “Undying passion,” Cynthia whispered in a voice laced with sorrow and regret.

  Hailey looked from one to another, trying to puzzle each person out.

  “So, we’re all good,” Dell said, smacking his hands in a single clap. “Can I bring out dessert?”

  Hailey laughed, as did Tim, but Cynthia’s expression was pinched, and the way her eyes darted around suggested encroaching danger of some kind.

  “Not yet,” Cynthia said in a carefully neutral voice. “That’s not all.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Hailey’s heart thumped as she waited for more. Why was Cynthia so grim?

  “You can desire lots of things,” Jenna pointed out.

  “Yeah, like dessert.” Dell sighed.

  Cynthia ignored him and looked at Hailey expectantly.

  Her mind spun. What other kinds of desire were there? A frown dragged her lips downward as she pictured Jonathan and Lamar. “Wealth. Power. Like Connor said — greed.”

  “Exactly,” Cynthia said. “Though it depends on the bearer. A pearl that awakens passion in one person can bring out the greed in another.”

  Hailey shifted in her seat with a growing sense of unease.

  Cynthia took a deep breath then leaned over her son. “Joey, sweetheart. Do you think you can go upstairs and draw me a picture like this?” She pointed to the thick book on the table.

  Joey nodded eagerly and scampered off. Cynthia waited for him to get out of earshot, then leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice. “One pearl awakens.” She pointed to Jenna’s, then Hailey’s. “Soon after, another appears, and destiny brings its bearer here…”

  Tim bristled. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  Cynthia shook her head quickly. “Of course not. Not in and of itself. But there are three other pearls.” She pointed to the book. “When will they awaken, and who else might they bring to our quiet corner of the world?”

  Hailey shivered despite the warm afternoon breeze.

  “Greed. Power. Wealth.” Cynthia ticked each word off her fingers, then stopped and looked around.

  “Moira,” Connor filled in.

  Hailey frowned. Her mind was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t place the name for a moment, though she was sure she knew it. She closed her eyes, thi
nking, as Connor went on.

  “We have no indication—”

  “Shit,” Tim cut in, slapping his forehead. “Lamar mentioned her. Something about a bounty.”

  Cynthia’s face turned red, while her knuckles went white as she gripped the table. “What did he say exactly?”

  Tim frowned. “He said, ‘We’ll get that bounty Moira offered, and the oil field too.’”

  “What bounty?” Connor grunted.

  Tim scowled. “I have no idea.”

  “Moira?” Hailey blurted as it finally dawned on her. “Moira LeGrange?”

  Everyone stared, and even Chase, who’d been quietly pacing, went perfectly still.

  “You know her?” Connor demanded.

  Hailey made a face. “I know of her. She’s the owner of the Elements fragrance line, right?”

  Jenna nodded. “The one my sister posed for.”

  Hailey twisted her napkin in her lap, trying to tie the threads in her mind. “They wanted me to do one of their photo shoots, but I was already contracted to a competitor.”

  “Boundless,” Jenna said immediately. “The campaign that did so well.”

  Connor frowned. “Maybe it did too well. If Moira put a bounty on Hailey’s head…”

  Hailey paled. It hadn’t just been Jonathan and Lamar after her — Moira LeGrange had been involved as well? “But why? How?”

  Connor chewed it over for a moment. “I don’t know. Tell us more.”

  Hailey stared at a spot on her napkin while a tornado of thoughts rushed through her mind. “I know she wasn’t happy about my turning down the offer.” She tapped on the table, trying to remember what she’d heard. “Apparently, she was so mad Boundless did better, she bought the whole company.”

  “So why would she put a bounty on you? That campaign was over a while ago, right?” Jenna asked.

  Dell had been following along incredulously, but he suddenly sat straight. “Holy shit.”

  “What?” Tim and Connor asked at the same time.

  Dell made a sweeping gesture. “What better way to get more mileage out of an old campaign than to create a new round of publicity?”

  “How?” Hailey asked.

  “By bumping off the model,” Dell finished.

  Hailey shrank back, and Tim growled, but Dell went on.

  “Just think about it. Killing Hailey does two things for Moira. First, she gets revenge on the woman who dared turn her down. And second, interest in Boundless soars thanks to the publicity.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Jenna said. “Who would buy perfume because the model was murdered?”

  “Not because — not directly,” Dell said. “But Boundless would be in all the newspapers. That’s free publicity. Believe me, negative publicity works. Not that I’ve ever heard of anyone resorting to murder…”

  “Moira would,” Cynthia said, choking out the name like a poison.

  If Hailey hadn’t had Tim’s hand to hold, she would have been shaking like a leaf. “Is Moira a shifter?”

  Cynthia nodded grimly, but it was Jenna who spoke. “Dragon.”

  Hailey covered her face with her hands. She’d managed to draw the wrath of a dragon?

  “Look,” Cynthia said quickly, trying to reassure her. “Moira has targeted a lot of people in the past.”

  Her voice shook, and Hailey had to wonder what person Cynthia loved had been hurt by Moira.

  “But she’s fickle, like the worst of dragons,” Cynthia went on. “My worry is not that Moira will come after you again — not now that she’s seen what you’re made of. But it won’t be long before Moira catches wind of the pearls and their power. That’s what worries me.”

  “We took out every one of Lamar’s men,” Dell pointed out.

  Connor and Cynthia exchanged dubious looks, and Cynthia replied. “That might well be, but it’s hard to tell. I could feel the pearl’s power from across the island, even though I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. Sooner or later, Moira is bound to hear about the pearls — or sense them.”

  Connor scowled at the book. “We’ve been lucky that the two pearls came to us first. But if another one awakens, and Moira gets to it first…”

  Hailey felt sick, thinking of all the ways a powerful, corrupt dragon could misuse the incredible power she’d felt coursing through her veins. And if Moira had as twisted a definition of desire as Jonathan had…

  “…the repercussions could be disastrous,” Tim murmured, reading her mind.

  “Wait,” Hunter asked quietly. “Why now? The pearls have been lost for generations. Why would they surface now?”

  Everyone scratched their heads, but Cynthia pointed at Jenna, who looked confused.

  “What?” Jenna demanded.

  “I think it could be you,” Cynthia said carefully.

  “Now wait a minute,” Connor said, turning red.

  Jenna put her hand on his arm, calming him down. “Hang on. What do you mean, Cynthia?”

  Cynthia pursed her lips. “I’m not placing any blame. Not in the least. But it could be that your mermaid blood—”

  Mermaid? Hailey stared.

  “—triggered them. At least, it might have called to the first one. And now that one awoke from its slumber, it could be calling to the others.”

  A quiet minute ticked by, and no one said a word until Dell spoke up.

  “So, what do we do? Hunt down the others? Go after Moira?”

  Cynthia shook her head immediately. “There’s no defeating Moira on her home turf.”

  She spoke as if out of bitter experience, making Hailey wonder what had happened.

  Connor frowned. “Moira might not have caught wind of the pearls yet. We’re better off watching. Waiting. Hoping we get to the next pearl first.” Then he sighed, taking Jenna’s hand. “If another one actually turns up. You never know.”

  Hailey closed her hand around her pearl and held it close to her chest.

  “It’s hard to say,” Cynthia admitted. “But it’s possible these two will further stir whatever power it is that fuels the pearls. And that might wake the others.”

  Jenna looked around, aghast. “I’m so sorry. I never thought…”

  Cynthia shook her head immediately. “Nothing to be sorry about. It’s destiny, not you. We just have to be cautious.”

  Connor took Jenna’s hand and caressed it, then looked around to reassure everyone else. “Look, there’s no reason for paranoia, just for caution. So we go on doing what we came here to do. Working. Living. Making a better life.” He smiled at Jenna.

  Hailey squeezed Tim’s hand, thinking of the construction business he’d been busy launching when she’d interfered. The second she could, she would devote herself to helping him the way he’d helped her.

  “I agree,” Cynthia said. “We look forward, not back. But we keep our eyes open.”

  “Aye-aye, captain,” Dell said.

  “Damn,” Hailey muttered just as everyone was brightening again. “Oops. Sorry. I just remembered my mother. My agent.” She hung her head. All the obstacles she still faced before she could throw herself into the kind of life Connor had described.

  Dell laughed. “You faced all those shifters armed with — what? A stick? She can’t possibly be worse.”

  Hailey managed a thin smile. “You don’t know my mother.”

  Tim laced his fingers tightly through hers and kissed her knuckles, promising her she’d have a big, bad bear at her side when the time came.

  “At least you don’t have to worry about Jonathan and Lamar,” Connor pointed out.

  Hailey gulped, but Tim touched her shoulder. “What they did is their own fault, not yours.”

  “I know, but it’s sad anyway. And what if someone traces them to us?” she asked.

  “No one can trace them to us,” Dell said with a dry laugh. “Connor and I took care of that.”

  Cynthia raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know the details?”

  Connor shook his head firmly and reached for a
newspaper. “Let’s just say Jonathan and Lamar took their final private flight. All hands lost when their chopper crashed into the deepest part of the Kaiwi Channel, and no witnesses.”

  He held up a newspaper, and Hailey stared at the headline.

  “Helicopter Crash Claims Oil Magnate’s Life?” Cynthia frowned.

  Hailey stared. How could Connor possibly make the carnage of the shifter fight look like a helicopter crash? Then it hit her. He was a dragon. It wouldn’t have been hard to take Jonathan’s helicopter, dispose of the grisly evidence offshore, and then fly home under his own power.

  She ought to have been angry at Jonathan for causing so much unnecessary suffering, but all she felt was sorrow. For him, and for his family. If Jonathan hadn’t come after her on Maui — or trusted Lamar — he might still be alive. Alive and free to make a move on some other woman he deemed suitable as the future Mrs. Jonathan Owen-Clarke.

  Still, she groaned. “God, the press is going to be all over this. I’m so sorry I ever got you involved in this mess.”

  Tim shook his head firmly. “I’m not sorry.”

  “Neither am I,” Connor added. “Let word get out that the shifters of Koa Point just hired the world’s best security force. Us. Let anyone dare come anywhere near us again.”

  His words were full of force and conviction, and Hailey found herself sitting straighter.

  “Besides, we’re lucky with the timing,” Dell said.

  Tim raised one thick eyebrow. “Lucky? How?”

  Dell grinned, pointing to the newspaper’s back page. “You’re talking about a plain old helicopter crash. What you’ve got here is a juicy celebrity cheating scandal. You know that loud chick from the reality TV show?”

  “They’re all loud,” Chase muttered.

  Dell went on without skipping a beat. “Remember how that NFL star proposed to her at halftime of the Super Bowl? Looks like he just got caught in a hot tub with…” Dell tapped a finger over the blurry picture. “One…two…three cheerleaders, none of them dressed. I’d say the press will be all over that instead of boring old you.”

  “Boring old who?” Tim glared.

  Hailey laughed. “Boring old me. And you.”

  “Mommy, what’s a hot tub?” Joey asked, coming out of nowhere to appear at his mother’s side.