The Panther's Rival

by Emilia Hartley

  She smiled back up at him, though it appeared to be marred with a bit of confusion. “Well yeah, of course I do,” she replied. “Don’t you?”

  Dan shrugged. Of course he did, but there was no way he’d be able to explain bear senses to her without breaking some pretty serious rules, so he let that part of the conversation end. “Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, that smell is why I have takeout,” he laughed. “Nick was cooking, and from what Jo said, it didn’t go so well, and there was a fire extinguisher, and…” his voice trailed off as he took in her perplexed expression. With a start, he realized that he’d been so distracted trying to regale Lucy with entertaining tales that he hadn’t checked to make sure everything he was saying made complete sense first. She didn’t know a thing about Nick or Jo and why a story about them burning food was hilarious.

  He cleared his throat awkwardly as they made it to the steps of the cabin’s porch. “Well, here we are,” he smiled, taking the steps two at a time and knocking on the front door. “They’ll be friendly, don’t worry,” he added, though she didn’t really look worried at all. Maybe he was the one who was worried?

  She smiled as if she were the one reassuring him, and she probably was. Dan knew at least one of his pack members was terrible with change, but the poor girl had nowhere to go, and far be it from him to deny her a place to hang out while she got all her ducks in a row. Surely, Tom would understand, right? Probably not, but he had to try. She was putting her faith in him; for once tonight he’d try to not let her down.

  The door opened and Jo stood framed in the doorway. “Dan!” she exclaimed, eyes zeroing in eagerly on the bag of takeout he held in his hand. “Thank heavens you’re here, I’m starving!” She lifted the bag from his hands, and departed into the cabin without a second look his way.

  “Um, Jo?” Dan began tossing an apologetic look back at Lucy.

  Jo turned back to Dan, her eyes widening slightly as she looked at him. “What happened to your face?” she gasped.

  Dan shook his head impatiently. “Nothing, don’t worry about it. That’s not what I meant.” He motioned back to Lucy before any more tangents could be made. “I’d like to introduce you to someone.”

  “Oh?” Jo’s eyes followed Dan’s presenting hand, her gaze confused as it shifted slightly to the left. Clarity brightened her eyes as she took in Lucy for the first time. “Oh! I’m sorry.” She was gracious enough to look embarrassed at her oversight. “I was so distracted, I must’ve looked right over you!”

  Lucy gave Jo a kind smile. “Oh, it’s no big. It’s pretty dark out and I was standing back. Totally understandable.” She took a step forward so that she was bathed in the soft cabin lighting. “I’m Lucille. Call me Lucy.”

  Jo placed the takeout on a nearby table, holding out a hand in greeting as she made her way back to where Dan and Lucy stood. “I’m Jo, nice to meet you.” She smiled. “I didn’t know Dan had friends in town.”

  “Oh, we only just met tonight,” Lucy replied, grasping Jo’s hand with a smile of her own. “He helped me out of a tough situation and offered me dinner to boot!”

  “Hey, uh,” Dan began, looking past Jo as she and Lucy made their way inside. “Is Nick around? I need to talk to him about something.”

  “About what?” came a voice from the nearby tree line behind Dan. He turned to see Nick, Tom, and Savannah all exit the forest, Tom and Savannah chattering idly about something as they came into view on the front lawn.

  All at once, the three bears seemed to lock onto Lucy, and all talk ceased. In the taut silence of the night, Dan awkwardly cleared his throat, eyes passing from one bear to the next in the hope that this wasn’t all about to blow up in his face. “Um. I wanted to introduce you guys to Lucy.”

  They remained mute. Slowly, Lucy raised a single hand, eyes clear and confident as she grinned out at them. “That’s me.” Still no one spoke.

  Dan caught the helpless looks she threw at him before stepping into action. “Her brother kinda dropped her here. She had nowhere left to go,” he babbled, eager to give some kind of explanation before everything exploded right in front of him. “I didn’t think it would be too big a deal to bring her along with me here, just to eat some dinner and figure out what her next step was, you know?”

  “I really don’t mean you guys any trouble,” Lucy added, the first hint of concern tainting her words. “I’ll leave right away, if you wish.”

  “You didn’t cause any trouble at all,” Dan assured her with a light smile. “If anyone screwed up, it’s me.” He tossed a pleading look at Nick, hoping he’d understand or at least say something at all.

  Nick shared a serious look with Dan that promised a talk later, then another with Tom before he turned to Lucy with a kind smile on his face. “Like Dan said, it’s no trouble at all. You’re welcome to stay for dinner,” he welcomed as Tom groaned, his head falling to his hands forlornly.

  “Not again,” the alpha brother moaned. “Why does this keep happening to us?”

  “Tom!” Savannah chided sharply, but Dan could see the amused smile she was trying to hide as she jabbed him in his side. “Don’t be rude.”

  “Why does what keep happening?” Dan and Lucy asked in unison. Their eyes met and Dan could feel a wide grin spread across his face, a mirror image of hers.

  “Hi,” Savannah greeted, breaking away from the other bears and ascending the steps to shake Lucy’s hand. “I’m Savannah. It’s nice to meet you, Lucy.” Dan saw her work to ignore Tom’s dark muttering as he lamented to Nick about how much he hated change.

  Savannah leaned in jokingly. “Don’t mind him,” she said in a mock whisper. “Tom’s just an old stick in the mud who doesn’t do well with flux, especially when it comes to rogue shifters.”

  Dan’s heart lurched as his brain rushed to compute Savannah’s words. Rogue shifter? Lucy? “Hm?” was all he could say, leaning his head forward as if he’d surely just misheard. “Shifter?”

  Savannah’s gaze shifted from Dan to Lucy and back, eyes thoroughly confused. “Yeah?” After a beat of silence, her eyes shot open wide, her face the picture of complete shock. “Wait, you mean you didn’t know?”

  “I… well…” Dan tried to reason, but he could already feel the telltale blush of embarrassment beginning to color his cheeks.

  “Come on, Dan!” Savannah teased. “What good are all those bear senses if you never use them?”

  “Look, this whole day has just been once big exhausting distraction, okay?” Dan retorted limply, trying to hide how foolish he felt. How many more times would he completely fail his innate bear senses before he finally learned to use them properly?

  Lucy’s giggle joined Savannah’s teasing, and he looked over to see her covering her smile with a delicate hand. “You honestly didn’t know?” she asked.

  “Some bear you are,” Nick jabbed lightly, joining everyone on the porch as Tom trailed behind.

  “Not you, too,” Dan groaned. “You know me and my human side don’t really get along.”

  Nick opened his mouth to retort, but Jo made herself known in the doorway. “The food’s getting cold,” she announced firmly. “Can you guys please discuss this inside while we eat?” she looked past Dan to where Savannah and Tom stood. “Snacks are in the fridge if you guys want to sit in with us, but I’ll die before you guys finish teasing poor Dan about his weak nose.” She shot an apologetic but amused smile Dan’s way. Even a human could notice how completely inept Dan had been today. Great.

  “Good idea,” Dan muttered, quickly passing by everyone to stalk inside before they could pelt him with more jokes. He took extra care as he lifted his and Lucy’s food from the bag. He’d already pushed her over, got punched out by her brother, and completely overlooked her bear. The last thing he wanted to do was make an even worse first impression by dumping the food he’d promised her all over the cabin floor.

  Jo took Savannah and Lucy into the kitchen to get dishes, and Dan could already see that Lucy was fitting in nicely wit
h the others.

  And she was a shifter.

  Dan shook his head. Though there was something comforting and peaceful in learning that she was one of them, for the time being it didn’t change things. The pack had much too much to worry about without Dan trying to throw his feelings into the mix. He was much too clumsy to juggle it all, anyway.

  “So,” Tom began, sneaking up on Dan as he let his mind wander. “Are you planning on explaining any of this, or…”

  “At least explain how you walked side by side with a shifter and thought she was human,” Nick added with a wide grin. Dan groaned inwardly, but underneath it all he was just happy that Nick was taking everything so well.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Dan muttered. “I get it. I dropped the ball on that one.” He knew there was no excuse for it, so, he’d just take the jokes and jabs until they found some other blunder of his to pick on.

  Nick shot him a knowing look. “Yeah, I get it, too.”

  Dan scratched the back of his head, giving Nick a confused look. “Huh?”

  Nick grinned. “A beautiful girl with nowhere to go asks for your help, and you’re too busy tripping over your own feet to notice she’s a shifter. That can only mean one thing.”

  “You’ve got it bad, man,” Tom finished with a raised eyebrow.

  Dan let out a long whoosh of breath, his heart beating a little faster at the thought of it. He was never opposed to sharing something between him and Lucy, even when he thought she was human, so he couldn’t help but agree with Nick’s observation. He just shrugged in lieu of a committal answer, slightly averting his gaze.

  “You’re not going to deny it then? You dog!” Nick laughed, slapping Dan on the shoulder before his face grew a little more somber. “Listen, I really don’t mind that she’s here for the night. In fact, I’m happy to see that you’re making friends, but if she’s looking to stay for any longer than tonight, I’m going to need some serious back story before I can even consider it.” He gave Dan a strong look that left no room for debate.

  Tom snorted. “I don’t like it.” He ran a hand over his face, muddying his steely gaze before continuing. “But I’m not going to get in the middle of your love life, or whatever you’re calling this. If Nick gives her the go ahead to stay, what you two do is none of my business until it becomes a liability to the pack.” He shrugged, his gaze trailing back to where his mate was still collecting dishware with Lucy. Dan could tell Tom wasn’t on board with having Lucy anywhere near Savannah, not just yet, and he couldn’t blame the alpha for his wariness. Lucas was due to strike any moment now. Any shifter that wasn’t a part of the pack was seen as a threat.

  Nick rolled his eyes. “I get your sentiment, but you really need to start being more trusting, Tom. Not every bear is out to get us.”

  “I wouldn’t eat a steak from a poisoned cow in hopes that my cut didn’t get tainted, brother,” Tom rebutted quietly as the women exited the kitchen, deep in a conversation of their own. He raised his hand in a limp wave and set off to help Savannah with the stack of plates she held before either of the other men could respond.

  “Thank you, Nick,” Dan murmured apologetically. He hated that his decision had pitted the brothers against one another. “For what it’s worth, I appreciate your trust. I’m sure Lucy does, too.”

  Nick grinned, nonplussed by the words he’d just exchanged with Tom. “No problem at all. I’m just happy to see you putting yourself out there. What’s a little blind trust if it means you’ll find something like what Tom and I have with our women?”

  Dan fought more building embarrassment as he glanced over at Lucy. She didn’t appear to be listening in on the conversation, thank goodness. “I’m not sure it’s anything like that at all. She was in a pretty rough spot and I just wanted to help.” He let a grin spread across his lips. “The fact that she’s drop dead gorgeous is just a bonus,” he added quietly enough that she couldn’t overhear.

  Nick barked a laugh. “Atta boy! Oh, and thanks for the food,” he continued as they made their way to the dining table. “Way to save the day after I nearly burned the place down.”

  Jo rolled her eyes. “Oh, you probably did it on purpose so that I won’t ask you to cook anymore,” she jabbed lightly at her mate.

  Savannah wrinkled her nose. “Did you see that pot he dragged out into the woods? I don’t think even Nick could produce such a deep char on purpose. And the smell...” she shuddered. “It’s still clinging to my nostrils.”

  Lucy laughed at the repartee the pack shared while they ate, and Dan couldn’t help but let his mind wander as to what it could be. He hoped fleetingly that, whatever her reasons for being in Woodhaven, Nick would allow her to stay for at least a little while longer.

  “Oh yeah,” Nick spoke as he sat. “What the hell happened to your face?”

  Dan groaned. “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

  Chapter Seven

  “So, Lucy,” Nick began as everyone finished up their meals. “What do you think of Dan not knowing you were a shifter?”

  She grinned at the question, taking in the groan Dan sighed as he covered his face with his hands. Truth be told, it was quite shocking that he didn’t know. She’d known he was a shifter almost immediately, as most other shifters would, and the fact that he didn’t was baffling to say the least. However, it did explain away her confusion at some of the things he’d said and done earlier in the night. Commenting on her hearing and confronting Dominic the way he had weren’t things that shifters said to other shifters, but Dan had been seeing them as humans the entire time. Still odd, though.

  She turned to Nick. “With all due respect, I reserve judgment. The poor fellow’s been embarrassed more than enough tonight.”

  Laugher rang out across the table as a scarlet hue tinged Dan’s cheeks. There was something in the way that he showed vulnerability that made Lucy feel at home, though she promised not to make a habit of it. Humor at the expense of others was probably not the best crutch to lean on for happiness.

  The laughing died to chuckles and some of the mirth melted from Nick’s eyes. She could tell that he was moving on to a more serious topic of discussion as his pack mates quieted around him. “So how long are you in town for?”

  Lucy’s eyes passed over the other people at the table before settling on Dan. “I’m not really sure. That’s not to say I really knew before all the stuff with my brother, but now I really don’t know.” She shrugged. “It’s not an exaggeration when I say I have nothing to go home to anymore.”

  Nick nodded his understanding, his eyes somber but honest. “You aren’t the first bear here who’s been in that situation, and I sympathize.” He leaned forward against the table from where he sat. “Look, I’m happy to let you stay here as long as you need to get back on your feet, but I hope you understand that I need more from you first. We’re going through some tough times right now and open-armed trust isn’t something I’m willing to risk for strangers these days.”

  Lucy bit her lip, conflicted on how much of her story she could openly share. She wasn’t the type to spill her life’s story at a moment’s notice, but at the same time, she understood this pack’s alpha and his need to exercise discretion.

  She thought loosely of her loyalty to her brother. Sharing much of anything at all would likely put him at risk. Was that something she was willing to do, even after the night they’d had? She fidgeted at the dinner table, painfully aware of all eyes upon her.

  She inhaled deeply and decided to let instinct do the talking for her. “I followed my brother to your territory,” she began, feeling the first stirrings of uncertainty as she thought of the best way to continue as she witnessed the flash of interest sparkling in Nick’s eyes. She glanced worriedly at Dan and he shot her an encouraging smile, urging her to continue. “He was the only home I knew, but he’s never been exactly the easiest to live with. Tonight was just the last straw; I don’t want the darkness in his heart to affect me anymore.” She shook her head for emphasis.


  “I met Dominic,” Dan interjected with a scowl, gesturing meekly to the bruises and swells that colored his face. “Not a particularly nice guy.” Lucy smiled up at him. Not a nice guy was putting it kindly, but she couldn’t agree more.

  She turned back to the others. “Of course, leaving someone who’s not used to being told no isn’t ever easy. Luckily, that’s when Dan stepped in to help out, for which I’ll always be grateful.” Her smile fell, a bit of apprehension returning to her chest as she dipped into the meat of her secrets. “But that definitely won’t be the last I or Dan will see the last of Dominic, unfortunately.”

  She saw Dan start at her declaration, and the importance of her next words became readily apparent. She had to choose her words carefully if she wanted any chance to hide under the safety of this pack.

  Looking Nick directly in his eyes, the nerves churning in her stomach were mere butterflies in comparison to her instinct to remain safe in all things. “I chose to leave Dominic because I was tired of being swept up in his endless cycle of thuggery and violence, but if I’m to remain safe from him for good, I’ll need your pack’s help.”

  Nick’s gaze was unwavering in sharp clarity. “And why do you think we’d help you fight your personal battles, Lucy?”

  Her fist clenched nervously under the table, but she kept her face strong and blank. “Because it’s not just personal. I may be on outs with my brother, but before that happened we got a call from our cousin to help deal with a pack that was causing him trouble. I’m convinced now that the pack he was referring to was yours.” She looked from face to face as understanding slowly dawned in each of their expressions. “My cousin’s name is—”

  “Lucas.”

  ***

  Tom was the first to snap into action, the chair he was sitting on toppled over with the force of how quickly he stood up. “Get the hell out.” His voice was venom as he bared his teeth at Lucy, and she could feel the full weight of his alpha influence. It made her want to run and never look back.