Ready to Bear (6 page)

“Shifters can be pretty territorial.” That was really the understatement of the year. “What I represent as a member of Lukas’s clan is a threat to them and what they’ve built here. I don’t mean them any harm, and I’m certainly not trying to stir up any trouble.” Billy didn’t go into the fact that at some point, those intentions might have to change. Lukas wasn’t going to let them go on ignoring him forever. As soon as he was settled in with his family, Billy had a feeling the Greyelf alpha was going to attack his vision with a vengeance, and God help anyone who got in his way.

“When is that going to stop being an excuse?” Thea said.

Billy stopped short and inadvertently caused her to pitch forward when her body continued its forward momentum. Billy caught her easily before she fell. The Lopers, the clan of lion shifters, would probably say that he had the reflexes of a cat. It was something Billy prided himself on. “When is what going to stop being an excuse?”

“I’ve seen your alpha on TV and read his interviews in the paper. He keeps talking about a total integration. How’s that going to work if every time we humans turn around, you keep reminding us of how different you are from us? That hardly seems in the spirit of what he’s trying to do.”

It was an astute question, and not one that Billy wanted to debate. Billy saw the top of Alex’s head stop. He turned back toward them, and Billy saw his arm waving in the air.

“Looks like our ride’s here,” Billy said, neatly sidestepping her question. As they arrived at the busy street curb, Billy saw that Alex had indeed managed to flag down a taxi. He crawled in, and Billy thought for a moment of climbing into the back seat with them, but it would be too tight. He gently helped Thea get inside, and then made his way around to the passenger’s door next to the driver.

As he got inside, he heard the murmur of conversation in the back seat. He turned to look and found Thea with her eyes closed, resting her head against the headrest. Alex stared out the window with an unreadable expression. The driver looked at Billy expectantly.

“So, I don’t know where we’re going,” Billy reminded the two in the backseat.

Thea opened her eyes with a guilty expression, but Alex was already rattling off their address. Billy turned back to the front. As he looked out the windshield at the bright, harsh neon lights that seemed to be everywhere, he realized that for the time being his bear was quiet. That made dealing with the sensory overload of the city somewhat easier to handle, and he gratefully absorbed the silence while it lasted.

Ten minutes later, the taxi pulled up to the curb of a building in what was obviously a very nice part of the city. A doorman hurried up and opened the back door. Alex slid out.

“Hang on a sec,” Billy told the driver. He opened the door and got out realizing that he felt anxious. He knew why. This was the point in the evening where Thea and Alex went up to their apartment, and Billy went back to his hotel. That was what was supposed to happen, but he didn’t want it to.

He stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets as he watched Alex help his sister up the sidewalk. Alex waved off the doorman. As they reached the door, Billy wondered if she was going to leave him without even saying goodbye.

Then she looked back over her shoulder at him. He could see by her face that the wheels were spinning in her mind. Then she sighed and shook her head. “You promised Eric you were going to make sure that we arrived safely home, so I assume that means you’re going to want to see that we are inside the door. Are you coming in or what?”

Billy grinned at her in response and quickly paid the taxi fare. He didn’t want to give her a chance to change her mind.

It had to be the attack that had thrown her so far off balance. She didn’t invite strange, yet thoroughly attractive men into her apartment, especially with Alex there. But Thea didn’t want to be alone just yet, and she could tell by Billy’s stance next to the taxi that he was hunkering for an invitation. It was so strange and surreal, but she was too tired and stressed to question it.

“This is new,” Alex muttered under his breath. Thea knew that he thought she couldn’t hear him, but she didn’t have to be a shifter to hear the mock whisper of sarcasm.

Billy stepped into the lobby with them, and Thea pushed Alex away a couple of inches so that she could walk by herself to the elevator. Both Billy and Alex hovered close by as if they expected her to topple at any moment. She was feeling the effects of the whiskey, and it was just the shot of energy she needed.

As the elevator hummed its way to the top floor, Thea saw Alex giving Billy looks out of the corner of his eye. Billy didn’t move. He seemed to be studying the designs of the wallpaper on the elevator walls. Somehow, she suspected he knew that Alex was watching him. She couldn’t have said why she thought so, but there was something about Billy’s nonchalant stance that told her it was anything but. It was as if there was something coiled up inside of him just waiting for the chance to strike.

Thea shivered at the thought. Immediately, Billy reacted to her movement by putting his hand on her shoulder. “Are you cold?” The sheriff definitely saw and observed everything around him.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. Thea felt as if she was saying the same three words over and over again. As the elevator doors opened, she moved into the foyer and threw her purse onto the side table. Alex was already moving around her and into the kitchen, no doubt intent on an evening snack. The kid was going to eat them out of house and home.

Thea turned and realized that Billy hadn’t moved from the elevator. She turned to see what he was staring at. It was the view of the city lit up at night, a sight that she had come to take for granted.

“Best view in the city,” she said softly.

“I guess,” Billy said with a low whistle. He finally stepped off the elevator and into the foyer. “I keep forgetting that people live like this.”

“Robert did very well for himself,” she said. “Eric did even better.” She left it at that. Thea didn’t like the fact that her every whim was paid for by someone else. The sooner she got the experience she needed by working for Eric, the sooner she could start making a name for herself in her own right.

“Clearly being a small-town sheriff doesn’t come with the same perks,” Billy said. He moved further into the room. It took Thea a moment to realize what he was doing.

“Are you…sniffing?” It was an idea that seemed utterly foreign to her.

“I can smell better in my other form, but I can make do. The only thing I can smell is Alex and you.” He smiled at her with a slightly amused expression. “You smell like coconut and daffodils.”

Thea let out a laugh. “Glad I’m getting what I paid for then. That lotion costs more than some people’s mortgage.” The smile disappeared from his face so quickly that she thought she might have imagined it. Then she pulled on the bridge of her nose. “God, that was a horribly pretentious thing to say, wasn’t it? I’m sorry. I’m just…”

He was beside her a moment later, and he tugged at her elbow to pull her further into the room. He settled her on the couch. Looking out at the skyline usually calmed Thea, but tonight she felt anxious for some reason. It had something to do with the man hovering over her, but it was more a result of the evening’s events finally coming to settle like a black spot on her mind.

“You don’t have to apologize for your family’s success,” Billy said. “Sit here, and let me get you some tea.”

“I don’t even know if we have any left.”

“If not, I’ll find something,” he said. “Just sit back and relax.”

She caught his hand as it brushed the surface of the leather armrest next to her. She wasn’t even sure why she had done that; it had been automatic. She stared up at him mutely, a wave of emotions rolling through her body. He leaned over and touched her hair softly. “You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re safe.”

It was as if he could read her mind. Thea felt as if he had wanted to say something else, but then he moved away from her. She immediately missed him. How could it be that she had just met the man, but she felt as if they were intertwined in some crazy way that she didn’t fully comprehend or understand?

Thea found that she couldn’t sit still. If she sat for too long, she heard the voices of Kurt and Ollie in her head. She didn’t want that. She wasn’t ready to deal with that yet. Thea heard the voices in the kitchen and despite Billy’s recommendation to relax, her feet propelled her toward them.

“No way. The 49ers all the way,” Alex was saying as Thea arrived in the doorway. She pulled off to the side so that they couldn’t see her.

“Are you kidding me? The 49ers have sucked for years,” Billy replied.

“This is their year,” Alex said confidently. His mouth was full, and Thea made a note to talk to him about his table manners later. “Did you see that first round draft pick? Man, he’s going to be awesome.”

“Minnesota has all the right moves this year,” Billy replied. “Just you wait and see.”

She thought that Alex’s sandwich might be bigger than his head. Billy moved expertly around the kitchen following Alex’s directions as her brother told him where to find certain things. The kitchen itself was probably larger than most restaurant kitchens in Copper City. It was more than a little ridiculous with the massive kitchen island topped with the finest granite from some far flung region of the world. The commercial grade appliances shone with shiny metal surfaces that were scrubbed immaculate twice weekly by the cleaning staff. No matter how many times she tried to tell Eric that they could clean up after themselves, he insisted on hiring outside help.

Thea had reluctantly accepted it only because he got her with the logic that she needed to spend as much time as possible focusing on her job if she wanted to start her own business someday. Whatever time and energy she had left should go to Alex, not toward cleaning up the penthouse. Thea had to grudgingly agree with him on that point.

Eric had kept his word so far. Even though she had to do some of the shit work that came along with being his assistant, like picking up his dry cleaning and helping him avoid a million unwanted phone calls, he also was giving her a first rate close-up view of what it was like to run a multi-billion dollar company. He had already hinted at giving her a crack at a position running one of his product divisions if she wanted to, but she didn’t want to build a career inside Eric’s company. Her dream was to found and run her own.

She smiled a little bit to herself and leaned her forehead against the door frame as she watched Billy and Alex interact. It had been too long since Alex had any kind of normal male role model in his life. Their parents were busy spending their retirement traveling all over the world. Eric was far from what Thea would consider suitable role model material outside of the board room. It made her wonder even more about the man who seemed so at ease in her kitchen.

“Why don’t you come in and join us instead of lurking out there?” Billy asked.

Thea was certain that in the entire time she had been standing there, he hadn’t looked in her direction. Yet he knew she was there. She cursed silently. Shifter noses. Got her every time.

She stepped into the room and made her way to the island. She pulled out a stool and settled herself onto it just as Billy pushed a teacup in her direction. Thea gratefully took it and swallowed her first sip. She almost choked.

“Apparently you and Sophie are using the same playbook,” she said as he looked at her in alarm. Then he had the grace to look embarrassed.

“You have a pretty sensitive palate. I didn’t put enough in there that you should even be able to taste it,” Billy said. He held up a bottle of whiskey that Thea hadn’t seen before.

“I’ve been told I have the palate of a world-class sommelier,” Thea said. She didn’t go into why she had developed it that way. “Plus, I don’t drink whiskey that often. Two shots already tonight is too many.”

“Loosen up a little,” Alex said under his breath.

Thea wanted to snap at him, but she realized that would be unfair. His surly tone and teenage attitude weren’t what she was upset about. It had taken her too long to get there, but now she was emotionally unsteady and upset over what happened. Suddenly, she felt the urge to take a shower. She wanted to wash every possible inch of her skin and rub it raw just to erase any memory of Kurt or Ollie’s fingers.

She stood up abruptly. “Excuse me.” She dashed out of the room and made it to her bathroom just in time. She hadn’t eaten dinner, but what remained in her stomach came up just the same. After the heaves finally calmed, she rolled over onto the cool tile floor and stared up at the ceiling as she felt the tears well up again. She brushed them away. She refused to fall apart.

There was a gentle knock on the bathroom door. “Thea?”

“I’m fine,” she said. She barely raised her voice to answer, but it didn’t matter anyway. With his enhanced hearing, he’d be able to hear her just fine.

“Can we stop pretending now that you’re fine?” His question was direct and to the point. Thea also sensed that he wasn’t planning on going away anytime soon no matter what she said. That made her feel glad in a way that she couldn’t even describe while also feeling annoyed and frustrated. Yes, this man was getting under her skin in a bad way.

“The door is unlocked,” Thea said. Even as he opened the door, she was pushing onto her feet and moving to the sink. She needed to brush her teeth. She ignored him as she grated the toothbrush hard against the inside of her mouth and tried to forget the alien tongue that had forced its way inside just an hour ago.

The tremors started then in earnest. She dropped the toothbrush into the sink as she covered her face with her hands. It was as if she was back there again, and nothing she did was protecting her from their onslaught.

She yelled as she felt hands touch her shoulders.

“Thea? Thea, it’s okay. Look at me. Look at me.” The words were said in a commanding tone that she couldn’t ignore. Thea looked up into Billy’s cool blue eyes. She saw the worried concern there. “Listen to me, because this is important for you to hear. Those men will never be able to touch you again.”

“I wasn’t supposed to be there,” Thea whispered. “I didn’t do anything to get away from them because one of them had a knife. I should have fought back. Maybe I could have gotten away.”

“It wasn’t your fault. There was nothing about that situation that was your doing. Those dirtbags are going to get what’s coming to them.”

“I have to press charges,” Thea said. Billy looked away from her then. “What? I am pressing charges. I’m not going to let them get away with what they did to me. I would think that of everyone, you’d support me on that.”

Billy shook his head, and his hands dropped from her shoulders. He rubbed his face, and it took several long moments before his eyes met hers again. “Thea, I’m glad to hear that you would have pressed charges. But those men aren’t going to jail.”

Thea’s jaw went slack. “What are you talking about?”

“You do understand who your brother is, right?” Billy seemed to hesitate with his next words. “We shifters take care of our own, and it doesn’t always involve sticking to the letter of the law.”

“What are you saying, exactly?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about what Billy was implying. Thea wanted the men who had tried to hurt her to pay. It shouldn’t thrill her to think that they might be getting their asses beat, but it did.

“It means that shifter business is dealt with differently in certain circumstances. Those boys made a gross error in judgment when they decided to go after you. Your brother will remedy the situation so that they never make that error again.”

They couldn’t come after her again. Which was a silly, irrational thought because they never knew who she was to begin with. But still, knowing that they had been effectively dealt with would help her rest better at night, although she wasn’t sure how she was going to sleep. The real men might have been removed from her life, but the rank memories of their touch and smell would haunt her dreams.

“I’d like to take a shower,” Thea said slowly.

“Of course,” Billy said. He started to back out of the room.

“Billy?”

He paused and turned back toward her. She bit her lower lip as her eyes fell to her feet. Thea wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to ask without coming across like some weak-minded girl.

“What is it?”

“Do you have to go back to your hotel tonight?”

Something crossed his face then, and Thea thought his eyes deepened in color. “I can stay as long as you’d like me to, Thea. I don’t have any other plans tonight.”

A long breath seemed to drag itself out of her lungs. It didn’t even register with her that she had been holding her breath as she waited for his answer. “Okay, then.”

A shadow of a smile flitted across his face. He looked…pleased. “I’ll make sure that Alex cleans up his mess in the kitchen in the meantime,” he said.