Werebear’s Baby Girl

by T. S. Ryder

  “I don’t know yet. She just said that she lost Ginny. From the smell, she’s seen Meyer . . . ”

  Fredrick growled. “Did he—”

  “I don’t think so. The scent isn’t that strong.” Rex inhaled again, this time smelling Ginny on her as well. His stomach cramped. If Meyer had hurt her . . .

  “I’ve arranged with him to do the handoff in a warehouse on the other side of town tomorrow,” Fredrick said after a minute. “I’ve got enough money to make it look real, but we’ll have to act quickly once we’ve found him. We have no guarantees that he’s going to bring Ginny with him.”

  “I know,” Rex whispered, his voice thick. He looked up at the three men, a lump in his throat. “Thank you. All of you.”

  Mindy stirred, bringing his attention back to her. Her eyes fluttered open, and tears began to course down her face. Rex gently wiped them away as the others slipped out of the room, giving the two of them privacy.

  “Rex,” she whispered. Her hands clutched at his shirt. “Oh, Rex!”

  In a burst, she told him everything. With every word, his heart grew heavier. When she was done, he trembled with fury, shaking from head to foot. His hands, gentle on her back, longed to become claws to tear Meyer apart. Soon enough, he promised his bear as it paced, snarling for blood.

  “I wasn’t strong enough to keep her safe,” Mindy whispered, her face against his shoulder. “I’m never strong enough to save the people I love. My brother and my sister . . . and now Ginny . . . I shouldn’t love people, I always just end up losing them. She’s better off without me. Without this shallow, sorry excuse of a mother that I—”

  “Stop right there.” Rex’s voice remained low but firm. He wasn’t going to have her doubting herself, not now. Not when the grief and pain would tattoo it onto her brain forever. “You love her. She loves you. You are a wonderful mother, and I will get her back. I swear, even if I have to tear apart this entire world. I’ll find her, and I will bring her back to you.”

  “How?”

  Rex ran a hand up and down her back, relieved when Mindy started to relax against him. “We’ve got a meeting set up with Meyer tomorrow. We’ll find out where he took Ginny. I promise.”

  Even as he spoke, the fear that he had felt six years ago when the lone boat had returned from the storm and pulled into the dock. The cramping in the pit of his stomach when his parents and Angela did not get out of that boat. The knowledge that he’d never see them again. Fear clenched his heart, stopping it from beating. His bullet wounds ached—was he strong enough to get her back when he hadn’t been strong enough to protect her in the first place?

  “You shouldn’t love me.” Mindy let out a shudder and drew back. “I hurt everyone I touch. If we had never met, you wouldn’t have this grief and—”

  “And I wouldn’t have you or Ginny. Knowing you has given me a reason to fight harder for my life.”

  Mindy’s lip trembled. “Oh, Rex . . . you don’t know the worst of me. The car crash that killed my siblings? It was my fault.”

  Rex kept his arms around her. “How was it your fault?”

  Mindy shuddered. “My brother was driving. I . . . I egged him on to go faster. I thought it was funny because my sister didn’t like it. So I was laughing at her and telling him to go faster. We hit a patch of ice and . . . ”

  Rex could guess what happened after that. He held her, trying to find a balance between tight and gentle and nuzzled into her hair. How was he meant to reassure her, tell her that it wasn’t her fault? From what she had told him about her mother, it was probably something that she had had to hear ever since it happened, that it was her fault.

  “You’re strong,” he whispered. “I know what it’s like to want to erase that pain. But you’re stronger than that, Mindy. I know you are. I will get Ginny back.”

  Mindy sighed, relaxing into his arms again. Rex kissed the top of her head and got a whiff of Meyer again. His heart clenched as he thought of Mindy alone with him, cameras pointed at her with the expectation that she take off her clothes. His bear snarled as he took a deep breath.

  “Mindy . . . I have to ask. Did he . . . Did he touch you?”

  She shivered but shook her head. “No. But if he would have, instead of taking Ginny—”

  She collapsed into sobs again. Rex held her, reassuring her and trying in vain to comfort her, for a long time before she slowly fell back to sleep. Rex tucked her into bed, hating to leave her. This new information needed to be shared, though. All the money in the world wouldn’t be enough to get Ginny back now. Not if Meyer had already sold her.

  Noel and Fredrick both looked on the verge of murder when Rex told them what he had learned. Jarvis headed for the door, then stopped and turned back.

  “I’m going to look for them. Meyer never met me, so I’ll be less conspicuous. I’ll also talk to my lawyers, in case this couple tries to fight to keep Ginny.”

  Rex nodded his thanks. Jarvis disappeared through the door. Rex wished he could go with him, but his place was here. He needed to be by Mindy’s side when she woke up. And when they went after Meyer, he needed to be there to finish him.

  Noel gave him a look that told Rex that the alpha could see every thought going on in his head. “We can’t kill Meyer. It will stir up too many problems with the humans.”

  A low growl echoed in Rex’s throat. “Are you serious right now? He threatened us all. Are you really such a coward that—”

  Noel snarled at him, stopping him right there. The alpha loomed over him, eyes narrowed, and his lips pulled back, exposing his teeth.

  “What I want doesn’t matter,” Noel hissed at him. “What you want doesn’t matter. Think, Rex. I don’t want my son to grow up without me. The humans don’t care why a man might kill another, they only care that the killer is punished, regardless of the circumstances. Do you want your daughter to have a murderer for a father?”

  The pointed question made Rex flinch. He shook his head, reluctant to admit that Noel was right. It went against his instinct to even think of allowing Meyer to live. Not when he had already caused so many problems. Not when he’d already proven that he’d kill Rex’s mate and child without a second thought.

  “You’re not going to kill him.” Noel pointed a finger at him. “Not unless he gives you no other choice. Understood?”

  “Yeah. I understand.” Rex let out a deep breath. That violent urge was still there, wanting to tear Meyer apart but it was tempered by the fact that it would only cause more problems if he did. Wasn’t following his instincts without stopping to consider the consequences what got him into trouble before? As much as Mindy said that she hurt the people she touched, from what he saw she hurt herself more than anything. He was the one who actually hurt other people.

  Fredrick put a hand on his shoulder, making him jump. He’d forgotten that the other bear was there at all. There was something in his eyes that Rex couldn’t quite decipher. Finally, Fredrick shrugged and looked away.

  “You should go and be with your mate,” he mumbled, almost more to himself than to Rex. “She needs you. You’re lucky to have her.”

  Rex opened his mouth to say that Mindy wasn’t his mate, but he closed it again. Hadn’t he been thinking of her as his mate already? It was something they needed to talk about—once the situation wasn’t so dire, once Meyer’s threat wasn’t looming over them. Once they had Ginny back. In the meantime, though, Fredrick was right. Mindy did need him.

  He nodded at the two bears and turned on his heel, heading back to the room. His bear growled, and his heart hammered, but he kept it under control. Tonight, he would make sure that Mindy was safe. Tomorrow, he would get Ginny back. And he would find a way to ensure that Meyer stayed away. Without killing him if he could but if Meyer wouldn’t back off . . . then protecting his family came first. He would deal with whatever consequences that followed.

  ***

  Why is it always a warehouse? Rex felt as though he was in a movie. He frowned as he, Fredric
k and Noel entered the huge building. He could see why it’d be a good spot to set a trap, or if you were looking for violence but Meyer hadn’t seemed the suicidal type. Did he honestly think that he could meet three bears here and come out as the winner?

  As they entered, Rex’s gaze was drawn straight to the man in question. Hatred roiled in his heart, and he let out a soft growl, starting forward. Noel grabbed his arm and pulled him back, giving him a brief warning look.

  Meyer glanced at them and smirked. “Only three? I expected more than that. Do you have my money?”

  “Do you have my daughter?” Rex stepped forward, casting a quick look around. Meyer had several burly men with him. They were all very muscly, but they would be no good against bears. The only upper hand that Meyer had in a fight—if it came to that—was guns.

  Meyer smirked at him. “Of course I—”

  “Because Mindy told me that you sold her.” Rex glared at the man. His bear was once again telling him to go in for the kill, but he held himself back.

  Meyer didn’t look surprised. If anything, he looked pleased. “Well. Since that’s out of the way. I hope that you have my money because otherwise, you won’t ever get her back.”

  Noel hauled Rex back as he lunged, snarling. Fredrick quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his path.

  “Should have expected such underhanded tricks from a human,” Fredrick muttered, then spoke louder. “We made a deal. Ginny was supposed to be here. We have only your word that she will be returned if we give you the money. And what good is the word of someone who has proven again and again that he—”

  The sound of a revving engine cut him off. Everybody turned to look at the wall it was coming from. There was the crash of metal on metal, and then the wall crumpled inward. A truck crashed through the wall. It jerked from side to side and spluttered to a stop. Mindy leapt from the front seat. Blood dripped from a new wound on her face, and her eyes blazed as she pointed a gun—where had she gotten a gun?—at Meyer.

  “Where is my daughter?” she shrieked.

  Rex didn’t wait. Meyer’s men shifted their jackets, a few starting to draw pistols of their own and he reacted. With a roar that brought half the attention back to him, he charged forward. Noel cursed as Fredrick attempted and failed, to catch him. Then both of them were at his side, plowing into the first row of Meyer’s goons. Guns went off, the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air.

  None of it mattered. Rex punched someone in the face, then elbowed another in the back of the head. His eyes weren’t even on Meyer. Every time he saw a gun, he attacked the person holding it.

  He couldn’t let Mindy get hurt.

  Chapter Nineteen – Mindy

  Mindy wasn’t sure what she had intended to do when she drove through the warehouse wall. The impact of the hit had sent her jerking against her seat belt. When she came to a stop, her body moved without her needing to direct it, lifting herself out of the truck. Her hand grasped the pistol she’d gotten at a costume store, and her mouth moved.

  It was only after Rex roared and charged forward that she realized just how stupid a plan it was—as if a fake gun would scare Meyer into giving her back her daughter.

  Guns went off. Bullets scattered through the warehouse, blowing holes into the walls and the floors. Mindy ducked, shuddering as bullets hit the truck door. Her head spun, and for a second she was tempted to simply drop down and faint from sheer fright. But she gritted her teeth as a roar filled the air, echoed by several cries of fright and surprise.

  When she peered around the door, she saw three giant bears tearing through the men. Her heart leapt, in relief and fear. The guns went silent as the men tried to flee. Meyer shoved one of his men at the honey-gold bear coming at him and leapt over a bit of equipment. Mindy realized he was coming for her and chucked the fake pistol at him. He stumbled slightly, howling, as it hit him in the eye. A gun was in his hand still, and she dove for him.

  “You bitch!” Meyer shouted, punching at her. His knuckles grazed her cheek, but she pulled away at just the right time.

  The force of her impact knocked him to the floor. He kept a steady grip on the gun. Mindy scrambled at it, digging her nails into his wrist. He threw her off, snarling. She lashed out, scratching at his eyes. The gun pressed to her arm, and she jerked away just in time for the bullet to brush her flesh instead of piercing it. She threw all her weight against him again. This time, though, he managed to pull her off-balance.

  As she fell onto the concrete floor, Meyer rolled over her. He grasped her throat with one hand while pressing the gun to her forehead. Her heart lurched, her mouth went dry. Triumph blazed in Meyer’s eyes for one brief second before he was suddenly gone. The gun went off, the bullet impacting right next to her ear, leaving a sharp, high-pitched ring in her brain.

  Meyer screamed, his head in Rex’s mouth. Rex dragged him back, away from her. The gun whipped around, pointed at Mindy once more.

  Rex’s jaws crushed shut, and Meyer went limp.

  Mindy turned, bile rising in her throat. The smell of gunpowder and blood was in the air. Her mind churned as she glanced around to see all of Meyer’s men dead. Fredrick and Noel leaned on each other, bullet wounds seeping blood. Her head spun, and Mindy fell backward into strong, warm arms.

  She pressed her face against his chest, forgetting for a moment what had happened. Something warm and sticky flowed from his shoulder, making her stomach churn. At that moment, though, she didn’t care. All she wanted was to hold him in her arms and make sure he was okay. She shivered so badly that she couldn’t pull herself away to check.

  “I’m sorry,” Rex whispered in her ear. “I’m so sorry.”

  His words brought her back to herself. She pulled back slightly, staring up at him. “Sorry? For what?”

  Regret, shame, and anger all burned in Rex’s eyes. “I killed him.”

  “I . . . I know . . . ” She didn’t look at Meyer’s body. “He would have killed me.”

  “I should have found a different way . . . I don’t know how we’ll find Ginny—”

  His voice broke. Mindy understood. Her heart cracked open, and tears began to pour down her face. This was her fault—if she hadn’t been so stupid, driving in here as though she could make Meyer talk, then it wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Now there were dead men in the warehouse . . . And their only lead to Ginny was gone . . . She clung to Rex, sobbing, unable to make her throat work enough to tell him that it wasn’t his fault at all. It was hers.

  Maybe it would be better for Ginny this way. Maybe she’d have a stable, loving home with a mother who didn’t have Mindy’s problems . . .

  A heavy hand touched her shoulder, making her jump. She looked up to see Noel standing over them. His face was screwed up in pain. Streams of blood ran from his torso. She suddenly remembered that Rex, too, had been shot. With a soft cry, Mindy pulled back to check on him. The shiny scars from his previous wounds gleamed, and two new bullets had been blasted into his shoulders.

  “We need to get out of here,” Noel growled, making Mindy flinch. It was more a pained growl than an angry one, but it still sent shudders down her spine. “It won’t be long before the police are on their way—if we’re still around, it’s going to cause a lot of trouble.”

  Mindy looked once more at the dead men, and her stomach lurched. “But I have proof. I have proof that Meyer has been blackmailing people. And when they hear about why—”

  “These men were killed by animals. That’s what the coroner will say,” Noel interrupted. “If they connect us to the killings, then they’ll start wondering what connection we have with a bunch of bears that maul people. We have to go, now. Before anybody sees us.”

  Right. Mindy blinked and shook her head. Her vision swayed slightly as she got to her feet. The enormity of what had happened crashed down on her, and her knees buckled. Rex caught her. He tried to pick her up but set her back down with a hiss.

  Fredrick joined them. Together, they limped out of the
warehouse. None of the men were in any shape to drive, so Mindy took the wheel. She wasn’t really in any shape to drive, either, with her trembling hands and her brain that kept wanting to just stop functioning altogether.

  Somehow, she managed to get them to the dock, where the bears quickly boarded Rex’s large boat and went below deck to lie down and take care of their wounds. Once more, Mindy found herself having to dig into bleeding flesh to pull out bullets. It was becoming so common that she actually felt experienced as she retrieved a first-aid kit and sterilized a pair of tweezers she found inside.

  For the next hour, she worked, not letting herself think of anything. Not of the dead men, not of her missing daughter, not of the potential fallout this might have. Somehow, she managed to push it all aside and concentrate on her task. She took care of Fredrick’s wounds first, since he was bleeding the most, then she moved to Noel since he’d been shot the most and finally to Rex. All three men growled and hissed as she worked on them, but after they were bandaged up, they all rested quietly.

  Once she was done, though, there was nothing to distract her. Meyer was dead, along with all those other men. Yes, they had been terrible people. Blackmail, extortion, who knew what else they had done. All the women whose pictures Mindy had seen on Meyer’s computer would finally be free of him. She was finally free of him.

  But he was the only one who knew where Ginny was. Now that he was dead . . . how was she going to find her daughter? Did he have a paper trail they could follow? Could they go to the police? Or would the police be more concerned about Meyer’s mysterious death than they would be about the fact that Ginny had been stolen and sold?

  Was the family she was with now a good family? Or were they people like Meyer? Would Ginny have a good life? Or had Meyer been lying this whole time? Was she alone and crying, reaching out for her mother? What if she was and they didn’t find her in time?

  Mindy was just about to break down into tears when there was a loud thud on the deck. She jumped to her feet. When a man came hurtling down, she screamed. Rex roared and leapt to his feet. The man stopped, arching a brow at the two of them. Mindy put a hand to her heart. It was Tyrell Jarvis.