Marrying The Bear (Gray Bears 1) (7 page)

Grabbing the big trash bag
from the corner, she hauled it out the back door and staggered to the
dumpster. She took a step forward and froze. There was that
tingling sensation at the back of her neck, and goose pimples raced
down her arms.

She'd felt this eerie chill
before. In her car, just before that vampire tried to make her his
supper.

She swallowed and put her
hand slowly into her pocket.

She was prepared this time.

Whirling round, she came face
to face with that long-haired vampire. Alisa yelled and grabbed the
garlic cloves from her pocket.

“You! Take that, you
sneaky shit!” she screamed, flinging the garlic at him.

The vampire stumbled back in
shock as the cloves of garlic bounced off his head.

To Alisa's dismay, the
vampire didn't collapse or retreat. She'd thought he would be
screaming in agony by now, but obviously the garlic didn't work.
Garlic added a real kick to her food, but it didn't ward off
vampires. Shit.

Alisa spluttered.
“B-but...garlic...you're a vampire! I thought...”

The vampire laughed. “You
believe that myth? We're not afraid of garlic.”

“S-so what are you
afraid of?” Alisa stammered, backing away.

The vampire canted his head
and saw no harm in telling his prey an interesting vampire fact.
“The sun.”

Alisa winced. She didn't
have the sun in her pocket.

“Why me?” she
asked, skirting the dumpster.

“You're human,”
he said simply. “Human blood is delicious. Paranormals taste
funny.”

She glanced behind her. It
was a dead end.

The vampire smiled,
displaying elongated fangs. “And I'm hungry,” was all he
said before he lunged at her.

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

Tristan and Jackson laughed
as Aidan and Mason told them stories about their time with the Black
Bears Group. His brothers injected their stories with their
trademark irreverent humor, but Tristan knew that the Black Bears
Group was a tough, demanding security outfit. Their training must
have been grueling, and those missions that they went on were highly
dangerous. His brothers were adrenalin junkies, and he knew they
could take care of themselves, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't
worry about them while they were in the city.

He was glad they were back,
and he would ask them if they wanted to help him in his construction
business. But the decision was up to them. They would choose their
own paths and careers. Shadow Point wasn't a big, pulsing city, but
there was plenty to do here. Aidan and Mason just had to find their
niche. If they loved security work so much, they could even join the
Sheriff's department.

Tristan was just ordering
another round of beers when he saw Gramma and Ne-ma barreling into
the pub. He blinked at them. He didn't know they frequented The
Thirsty Toadstool as well.

Gramma came right up to him
and tugged him out of his seat.

“Tristan! Put down
those beers and come with us!”

“What's going on?”
he asked immediately. “Is it Alisa?”

“We've talked to
Rosalina,” Ne-ma said breathlessly. “She confirmed that
the vampire who attacked Alisa is one of hers. Nicholas was caught
by her Enforcers attacking another human a few weeks ago. That is a
crime under coven law. Nicholas was locked up but he escaped.
Rosalina said that two human attacks warrant the death sentence. You
can destroy Nicholas and you won't incur Rosalina's wrath. In fact,
she might even bake you a blood cake to thank you.”

Tristan turned to his
brothers, who had filed out of The Thirsty Toadstool with him. “How
would you boys like to go vampire hunting tonight?” Tristan
said.

Aidan and Mason cracked their
knuckles and smirked. Jackson's claws sliced out of his fingertips
and he growled, “Nobody messes with our sister-in-law.”

Tristan jerked suddenly.
“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That scream.”

His brothers stared at him,
confused and concerned.

Tristan realized that he was
the only one who could hear her.
His mate
.

The color drained from his
face. “Alisa!”

Tristan shoved his brothers
aside and tore down the street, hearing his mate's strident screams
in his head. He could feel her pain, her fear and anger, and
then...nothing.

“Alisa!” he
roared. “No!”

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

Tristan skidded into the
alley and lurched to a sudden halt. Alisa was kneeling at the end of
the alley, her fingers closed over the hilt of a knife.

“Alisa!”

At his shout, she looked up
and pushed herself up slowly. There was a body lying at her feet.

Tristan ran to her and saw
Nicholas on the ground. A knife was buried in his chest. His eyes
were open and unseeing, but his fingers continued to spasm and
twitch.

Alisa toed his body gingerly
and whispered, “Is he dead? I mean, dead dead, not you know,
undead.”

Tristan heard his brothers
clattering up behind him.

“Whoa.”

“Is that...”

“Yeah, it is.”

Tristan heard Gramma and
Ne-ma's voices at the mouth of the alley, but he didn't turn around.
He kept staring at Alisa, who was breathing hard and grimacing. She
didn't look like she had been hurt. But she did look mightily pissed
off.

There was blood on her hands,
but he was quite sure it wasn't hers.

Gramma and Ne-ma rushed up
and hugged her.

“Alisa! Are you okay?”

“What happened?”

“What did you do? Oh
sweetheart, come here...”

Alisa swiped her hair out of
her face and scowled. “The sneaky shit took me by surprise the
first time. But I'm not going to let shit sneak up on me a second
time. I sensed him, and I threw some garlic at him. But that didn't
work.” She scrunched up her nose. “Then he told me some
rubbish about the sun.” Alisa rolled her eyes. “He knew
I had no way of conjuring up the sun. But I remembered something
else. You can kill a werewolf with a silver bullet, right? So I
thought, maybe silver can kill a vampire too.”

Alisa smiled and patted her
hip. “I was wearing my knife belt. You made me wear it this
afternoon, remember?” she said to Gramma. “You said it
made me look like a badass chef.”

Gramma pressed her hands
together. “Yes.”

“It's my lucky knife
belt. It saved my life. It was holding my big silver chef knife.
He's not the only one who knows how to be sneaky,” Alisa
sneered, stepping over the body. “When he came at me, I waited
till the last instant before pulling out my knife. He ran straight
into the knife. Technically, I didn't kill him. He killed himself.
He's dead for real, right?”

Tristan pulled Alisa to him
and hugged her tight. “My God, you're amazing! You are the
most amazing, extraordinary, unbelievable woman!”

Ne-ma crouched and wrenched
the knife out of the vampire's chest. She hoisted the knife and said
to Alisa over her shoulder, “Silver is lethal to all
paranormals, except witches. Silver in the heart is excruciating and
he will die eventually, but I don't enjoy prolonging anyone's
suffering. So.”

With a whoosh, she brought
the blade down and separated the vampire's head from his body.

“Decapitation. The
only way to make sure someone is dead dead,” Ne-ma lectured

“Got it. I'll be sure
to remember that,” Alisa answered like a good student.

Tristan saw his brothers pick
their jaws off the floor and stared at the three females in awe.

The females in their family
weren't weak and wilting. They were incredible, spunky and tough as
nails.

Alisa sighed as she stared at
the dripping knife in Ne-ma's hand. “I liked that knife. It
was a good knife, but there's no way I can use that now.” She
wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Tristan put his arm around
her and kissed her temple. “I'll buy you a new one.”

His brothers piped up, “We'll
get you a whole new set of wicked knives, Alisa.”

“Really?” She
beamed at them.

“Yep. That's the
perfect wedding present for a badass chef!”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

The whole town of Shadow
Point was out celebrating in the streets. Gramma and Ne-ma knew
almost everyone in town and they had invited everyone to the wedding.

The wedding was held in the
town square, and the buffet table stretched for miles. Beer flowed
non-stop from giant barrels that the fae owners of The Thirsty
Toadstool had supplied for the event.

Rosalina and her coven were
in attendance as well. Alisa and Tristan had a sunset wedding
ceremony so that the vampires could join in the festivities.

Gramma, Ne-ma and Rosalina
was huddled in a corner, drinking themselves silly and reminiscing
about old times. Alisa danced with Tristan in the moonlight and
laughed as a drunken werewolf attempted to cut in and steal her from
her groom.

She had gotten to know most
of the townsfolk during the wedding preparations. She had made new
friends, and grown close to her neighbors. There were humans, fae,
witches, vampires, shifters living in Shadow Point. As in any
community, there were conflicts and crimes but by and large, Shadow
Point was a small town with a big heart.

Alisa heard Mason's excited
shout and saw him running to three brawny, grinning men. Aidan
hollered a greeting from the other end of the street and leaped over
chairs and tables to get to them.

“Ethan! Caleb! You
made it!”

“Dylan! Man, it's good
to see you!”

Aidan and Mason grabbed the
three newly arrived guests and jumped up and down. They gestured
excitedly to Tristan and Alisa.

“This is my big
brother, Tristan and his bride, Alisa,” Mason gushed. “And
these are our bosses from the Black Bears Group! Ethan is the Black
Bears alpha, Caleb is the beta, and Dylan here is our immediate
boss!”

“Was,” Dylan
corrected, smiling. “I was their team leader when they were
with the Black Bears Group.”

Tristan shook hands with the
three Black Bears and thanked them for coming all the way from the
city to attend his wedding. The three men smiled and managed to hug
Alisa before Aidan and Mason dragged them away, bellowing, “Gramma,
Ne-ma! We want you to meet our big bosses from the city!”

Alisa laughed at their
excitement. She could see the tight bond and camaraderie among the
Black Bears and Alisa was glad that Aidan and Mason had good people
to look out for them when they were living in the city. She had been
all alone in the city, with no family and no true friends. But she
felt she had finally come home. Shadow Point was her home, and she
would live here happily ever after.

Alisa turned around slowly.

She remembered a wish she had
made so long ago.

Gramma and Ne-ma was chatting
with the Black Bears, and they grinned at her when she came up to
them.

“Gramma, Ne-ma,”
Alisa began. “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” they
said together.

She took a deep breath and
said, “When I was in the city, alone, hungry and at a very low
point in my life, I...I made a wish. I wished that I would find my
true love, have a loving family, and live happily ever after.”
She paused and smiled. “My wish came true.”

Tristan was standing behind
her, his arms around her waist. “You had something to do with
this,” he stated, narrowing his eyes at Gramma and Ne-ma.

“Well...”

“We did.”

“But it's a dormant
spell...”

“It's only triggered
when your true mate makes a wish.”

Gramma and Ne-ma stared at
their grandsons defiantly. Ethan, Caleb and Dylan chuckled and
stepped back. This was a family affair for the Gray Bears, and they
knew better than to put their paws in it.

The four Gray brothers closed
in.

“What spell?”
Aidan said.

“What wish?”
Mason demanded.

Gramma tilted up her chin and
said, “A Happily-Ever-After wish. If your true mate makes a
wish to find her true love, meaning you—” She pointed at
Aidan, Mason and Jackson in turn. “She will trigger the
spell.”

“And events will unfold
so that you will find each other,” Ne-ma finished.

Alisa nodded slowly. “Like
my job at Broomstick Inn. As soon as I made the wish, I got the job
and I came here. And found Tristan.” She turned to him and
cupped his jaw tenderly. “My true love,” she whispered,
leaning into his arms.

Aidan, Mason and Jackson were
muttering and grumbling under their breaths. Gramma gave them one
last jab in the chest and folded her arms.