Ready to Bear Read online

  “There has to be a new way of doing things. That’s the reason we’re not going to take Lukas’s calls or give him the time of day. He can do what he wants to do. More power to him. But here, in our world, the way he operates doesn’t fit. If he’d just leave us alone, we’d all be fine.”

  Somehow, Thea doubted that would the case, but she didn’t say that to Eric. There was only so much room in the world for so many alphas.

  “Anyway, I got off track there for a minute,” Eric said, shaking his head. “Billy is part of that world. He was part of two different clans before he joined up with the Greyelf Grizzlies. Most shifters are part of the clan they are born into for their whole lives. On a rare occasion, a shifter will part ways with his old clan and join a new one. Usually, it has to do with the ability to find a mate and carry on the lineage.”

  Thea wrinkled her nose. “Now that sounds archaic.”

  Eric shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not going to judge it. It happens. But nonetheless, it is a rare occurrence. To have a shifter break from two clans, though? That is basically unheard of, and so there is a lot more to the story there.”

  The knot of unease in Thea’s stomach had grown considerably larger as Eric’s words sunk in. “So what was the reason that he left those two clans?”

  “Why don’t you ask him?” Eric said. “Since you two are so close now, I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you.”

  Thea opened her mouth to say something else when Alex slid into the room. He wore black from head to toe, and she could see from the bags under his eyes that it had been a restless night for him. Eric had told her that it wasn’t uncommon on the cusp of the shifter transition for the body’s hormones and bio-cycles to go haywire.

  “Hey there, champ!” Eric’s face brightened. “You hungry? I thought we’d grab some breakfast, and we can drop you off at school on our way to the office.”

  “Sure, whatever,” Alex said. His head swung around the kitchen. “Where’s Billy?”

  “Billy had to go,” Thea said. Her face flushed again as she realized that Alex must have known that Billy spent the night. It was the first time she had allowed any man to stay in the apartment when Alex was home. She didn’t know why she was embarrassed, though. They hadn’t done anything inappropriate.

  “Bummer,” Alex said. “When are we leaving?”

  Eric looked pointedly at Thea. “Unless you’re planning to go to work like that, you should probably change. We don’t want to get Alex to school late.”

  She was being dismissed. Thea gave Eric a dirty look and then touched Alex’s arm as she exited the room. Eric had given her too many things to think about, and she wasn’t sure what or who to believe. Her gut told her that Billy was a good guy, but Eric had sowed the seeds of doubt in her mind.

  Happy to have the distraction, Thea started to get ready to go back to work. After a week’s vacation, there was going to be a lot to catch up on.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Billy arrived back at his hotel and went up to his room to change into his running gear. He was wound up tight, and his muscles ached from his less than comfortable position sleeping on Thea’s couch. But he wouldn’t trade the experience of sleeping next to her for anything. His sleep had been deep and restful, despite the awkward position.

  Now he had to calm his bear, who was more than pissed off at Eric’s intrusion and the abruptness of how he had left things with Thea. He kept trying to tell the bear that they’d see her later that night, but the bear was anxious and unruly. That didn’t bode well for anyone.

  Billy left the hotel and headed for the park that was nearby. He was glad that this was the hotel that had been chosen for him. The proximity to the park and the area of town where he figured he was going to be spending a lot of time during his trip was ideal. As Billy picked up the trail and started to run, he felt his bear stretching out in askance, but he had to keep him down. It wasn’t the time or place for a phase, no matter how good it would feel for both of them.

  He was still feeling anxious and on edge. His time spent with Thea had been like a salve on a wound that would just never close. The city always brought this part of him out and to the surface. It was why he fit in so well in Greyelf, and why he wouldn’t consider leaving even if brighter options came his way. He and his bear were meant to be in a remote part of the country, doing good work, but far enough away from the temptations and aggravations that were part of city life.

  Billy had been born in a city not much smaller than Copper City on the eastern seaboard. His earliest memories were of the concrete jungle maze of buildings on top of buildings and people being everywhere all around him at any time of the day or night. It hadn’t bothered him at all until he reached the age of maturity in shifter terms. Then all shit hit the fan, and things were never the same again.

  It had been fourteen years since he had last spoken to his parents. It might as well have been a lifetime. It had been a decision that ripped him apart when his father suggested that he break ties with his original clan, but he knew it had been for the best. He had made the mistake of falling in with the wrong crowd after that and joining another clan in another city. Trouble seemed to follow him everywhere, no matter how hard he tried to shake it.

  Billy pushed his body faster down the path. He needed to wear both his mind and his bear down before he went about his day. He wasn’t sure how much Lukas knew about his past. It was something that Sheriff Monroe had only addressed with him once, on the day that he interviewed for the job with the Greyelf police department.

  After looking through his file for several long moments, Sheriff Monroe had thrown the folder down on the desk and looked him squarely in the eye. “Your resume is impeccable. First in your class at the academy. High marks from all your instructors. Impressive.”

  “Thank you,” Billy said. He sat in his chair and tried to appear as relaxed as possible. The position at Greyelf seemed like the perfect answer to his problems. It was away from everything he’d ever known in a remote area of the country.

  “Damn impressive, and I’d question why a guy of your caliber is applying for a job in this Podunk town when you could probably have your pick of any police force in the country,” Sheriff Monroe said.

  “I think you underestimate the appeal of your town,” Billy replied. He had his response ready to this question. “The proximity to the center of all the political leanings for the shifter community is a big draw. Being this close to the Greyelf alpha and possibly even being on the inside is enough to satisfy almost anyone.”

  “Oh, I don’t doubt that there’s an appeal for someone who’s looking to make a name for himself,” Sheriff Monroe said slowly. “But I’ve spent enough time looking at your file and enough time talking with you now that I think I can say with reasonable confidence that you don’t strike me as the fame chasing kind. In fact, I’d say that you are the type who prefers to fly under the radar whenever possible.”

  The sheriff was astute. Billy had to give him that. It was yet another reason the job in Greyelf appealed to him. Being able to work with men he respected was an important part of the job.

  “I’m not chasing fame in any way, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t mind contributing to the cause,” Billy said. “We each do our part in small ways, right?”

  The sheriff nodded. “I’m the type that likes to do my homework. You’d probably have guessed that. I’ve got some old friends in your current police department. I gave them a ring to ask them what they thought about you.”

  Billy felt his mouth go dry. Of course, it wasn’t a secret with his captain that he had applied for the job in Greyelf. He needed the captain’s signature on his application. But he hadn’t said anything to his partner or anyone else in the department either. He figured they’d be more than happy to see his backside the day that he left.

  “Oh?” Billy left his response noncommittal.

  “They said a lot of the same things that I see noted in your file. You’re good at your job,
hardworking, pick up on the little things that other people might miss. But there’s the other thing that is what gives me pause.”

  “What other thing would that be?” Billy asked. He felt his bear grumbling in his mind. He felt threatened.

  “Interpersonal skills, I guess is the most delicate way to say it,” Sheriff Monroe said. “Seems that you don’t get along all that well with the guys in the squad room.”

  “As far as I know, that isn’t part of the job description,” Billy said stiffly. “I go to work. I do my job. I go home.” What he did after he got off work was the part of his past that he needed to keep buried. It was the reason he didn’t risk any deep relationships in the department either.

  “Yeah, that’s the black and white stuff that makes you look good on paper, as I’ve already mentioned.” The sheriff leaned back in his seat and put his hands behind his head. “Greyelf is a small town, Mr. Miller. The community of grizzlies here is tight. Relationships matter whether they are part of the job description or not. It’s my job to find not only the best police officer for the job, but also one that isn’t going to get the ire up of all the town leaders, not to mention Markus Kasper.”

  Relationships matter. The words rang in Billy’s ears. Of course, relationships mattered. But his relationships never worked out well. That was the reason that he had closed off that part of his life to anyone else years ago. Letting people get too close was dangerous for everyone involved.

  “I don’t let my logic and control get clouded by emotion,” Billy said, attempting to keep the anger out of his voice. Not anymore. “That’s the sign of a good cop, by the way.”

  The sheriff looked him over again and then pointed to the file. “You know that I know there’s stuff that’s not in here that probably is at the root of all of your issues, right? Whatever it is that you’re hiding – and I’m willing to bet my house on the fact that you are hiding something – I’d still consider offering you the job on one condition.”

  Billy felt a wild thrill of happiness. He’d have the chance to start over. He wanted that more than anything. “What condition?”

  “You have a sit down with the town’s psychiatrist. I’d like to have a full evaluation of what we’re getting here in Greyelf.”

  Billy had spent too much time in the company of psychiatrists, and he wasn’t a fan of considering doing so again. He opened his mouth to say so when the sheriff held up his hand.

  “First, you should know my request isn’t optional. If you want a job here, you’ll meet with Dr. Rynsdale before you leave to head back. Second, I have a problem here in the department that I need someone I can trust to help me with. I think you could be my guy. You are right that having some distance between work and your personal life isn’t always a bad thing. But it would involve keeping the fact that you’re a shifter under wraps, so you wouldn’t be able to live out in White Oaks, at least for the time being.” White Oaks was the private grizzly shifter community outside of Greyelf. “I know that sounds like a strange request, but it would be part of the deal if you wanted to take this job.”

  It had turned out that the sheriff thought he had a leak in the police department. Once Billy was done, he had discovered three. It made him look so good that when an opening came up on the grizzly council, the sheriff recommended him for the job even though he himself would have been more qualified for it.

  For five and a half years, Billy kept his true shifter nature under wraps from the people of Greyelf. When Lukas took the alpha claim, it had all been uncovered. There were some people who still were a little short with him about it. For Billy, it had been a unique opportunity to live his life the way any normal human would. It had been what had finally righted everything in his head.

  After his first meeting with Dr. Rynsdale, he had been required to see the good doctor every week for the first year he lived in Greyelf. Those problems that the sheriff had so astutely uncovered needed to be dealt with more than Billy expected. In the end, he got to a place where he thought everything was behind him. He was different than the boy who turned fifteen and completely lost his mind. He found that he had different longings now, mostly for companionship.

  His feet hit the pavement hard, and his breath came in short bursts. He knew that he was running harder and faster than he should be, but he had to do it. He had to exhaust all of the noises in his head. Being back in the city had caused a crack in the cement where he thought he had buried his past. He didn’t want it to split open any further.

  Billy turned his thoughts to the woman who had slept in his arms the evening before. He didn’t know what he was going to do with that situation either. Thea was part of the Carmichael family, which meant that she was practically marked as one of his enemies. He needed to get on Eric’s good side if he thought there was a shred of a possibility of anything happening with her. Was that what he wanted? Maybe it was, but if there could be anything between him and Thea, where did that leave Billy and his career? He had more than one reason to want to stay in Greyelf, and they went far beyond the rugged beauty of the countryside.

  It was because Billy was so deep in his thoughts that he missed the signs of anyone getting close to him. He had just made his first footfalls under a wide pedestrian bridge when a figure detached itself from the shadows and hit him full force. Billy wasn’t prepared for the attack and wound up on his back doing his best to push away the snarling snout of a full-size werewolf. If the wolf bit him, there was the possibility that he could be toast. That was yet another legend of lore that he wasn’t sure if it should be believed or not, but he wasn’t going to find out. That’s why he always used extra precautions with wolves. With the animal snarling and snapping at his face, Billy didn’t feel like he had many options left other than the most obvious one.

  Billy didn’t even think about it any further. He let the bear loose. He managed to keep his arms extended as his snout grew, and then his consciousness tucked itself aside as the bear took over. His sheer size meant that the wolf couldn’t remain astride his chest as Billy twisted to his side. The wolf slammed onto its side hard, and Billy heard the yelp of pain. He’d probably cracked one of its ribs.

  The wolf was spry, though, and was back on its feet a moment later. It began a slow, lazy circle. Billy swatted a clawed paw at it, but it moved out of the wingspan of his arms easily. The wolf let out a low howl, and Billy realized from its call that it wasn’t alone. He cocked his head to the side and let his snout sniff the air. There were more wolves coming. A lot more.

  Billy could stay and try to fight, or he could run. He saw the wolf’s mouth fall into a wide pant that resembled a grin. His bear wanted to stay put. He wanted the challenge of the fight, but Billy knew that even at full strength, he could handle two, maybe three wolves, tops. Any more than that would be able to overcome him in no time. His rapid healing powers wouldn’t be enough if they managed to get him to the ground and overwhelm him. He wouldn’t go down easily, but he would go down.

  He couldn’t risk it. He had to run. He let out a loud howl of frustration and then charged the wolf in front of him. The wolf had set itself so that Billy had to forcibly knock it out of the way. He put his shoulder down and rammed into it as hard as he could. He backed off just as he felt the slight graze in his shoulder of the wolf’s claw before it went flying backward into the air.

  He could hear the frenzied yelps of the wolf’s companions. He had no idea how a wolf pack was managing to materialize almost out of thin air at the crack of dawn in a park that should have been populated by humans. As his bear made its way back up the path, he noted what he had missed earlier. There wasn’t anyone else around at all. That should have been strange enough to give him pause, but he had been so self-absorbed that he missed it entirely.

  As soon as he was over the crest of the hill away from the wolf, he shifted back into his human form and ran as if his life depended on it. He was slightly faster in his bear form, but it was easier to control his thoughts as a man. He didn’t tu
rn around to see if anyone or anything followed him.

  Moments later, he reached the edge of the park and saw the first signs of human life again on the sidewalk. He slowly slightly and shoved himself behind a tree. He was naked in the middle of Copper City Park. He shouldn’t have been surprised when he tried to make a break for the next tree and saw a man in uniform step in front of him.

  “Hold up there, buddy,” the police officer said. He had a slightly bored look in his eyes. “I think we have a problem.”

  An hour later, Billy sat in one of the holding cells of the Copper City fifth precinct. He had his identity verified and had already called Lukas. Lukas warned him that he was going to fly out later that afternoon, but then Maren got on the phone and told him that she was having contractions. The baby was coming. No matter what Lukas said, Billy was going to be on his own.

  Billy didn’t know who else to call. So when the police officer escorted Thea into the room, he looked up with a sheepish smile. That smile promptly fell off his face when Eric stepped into the room behind her with a smirk on his lips.

  “Well, well, this is unexpected,” Eric said.

  “Shut up, Eric,” Thea said.

  Billy stood up and offered Thea his hand. For the moment, he was going to ignore Eric, although he knew that he’d probably have to acknowledge the man before the interview was over. Of the two, the one who had the pull to spring him was more than likely Eric.

  “Thanks for coming so quickly,” he said.

  “Of course,” Thea said. She took his hand and shook it awkwardly. He knew how she felt. He wanted to hug her close and smell her hair. He wasn’t thrilled that their next encounter was taking place inside a jail, especially with him on the wrong side of the bars. “Are you okay?”

  “I think so,” he said. His bear was anxious, and he understood why. One of the police officers raided the lost and found for him, and he was wearing an ill-fitting t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked like a man who was desperately trying to recreate his youth. He pushed up the sleeve of his t-shirt. Although the wolf that attacked him hadn’t gotten full purchase on his bicep, he still had the mark of where its claw grazed him. Considering the attack had happened an hour ago, it should have already healed by now. Instead, it was getting more painful by the minute. That seemed to indicate that Billy’s worst nightmare was probably coming true.