Bear My Soul (Fire Bears Book 1) (7 page)

Leah sang through the door, “I still have to pee.”

Cody grabbed Rory’s hand and led her out of the bathroom. All she could manage was a drunken smile for Leah.

“What happened to you?” Leah asked, wide-eyed.

She’d been kissed too thoroughly, that’s what. Cody looked back at Rory with a wicked grin, then waited for her to climb across the bench seat.

“Where’s Aaron?” she asked, panicking when she looked around and he wasn’t there.

Ma pointed under the table, and Rory ducked under. Aaron, Arie, and Tate were all playing near her feet with chocolate smiles that said they’d already inhaled their breakfasts.

She huffed a sigh of relief and apologized for bolting.

“No worries,” Ma said with a smile as she poured syrup over a pancake so big its edges flopped over the side of the plate. “He’s been playing with his cousins and has been perfectly well-behaved. Besides, I’d never let anything happen to him.”

“It’s true,” Boone said. “Ma is scary protective of her grandbabies. She barely lets us hold them.”

“Oh, shut up,” Ma said with a grin that said she liked being teased.

“Here you go. This is the last of it.” A man wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon donut printed on it set two plates stacked high with pancakes, bacon, and eggs over easy in front of her and Cody.

“Oh man, this is too much,” she murmured.

“You said to get what I’m having,” Cody said with a shrug.

“I didn’t realize you required the food of six people.”

“I’ll finish what you don’t eat.”

Rory stared at the twin stacks of overflowing food. “Seriously?”

“Just wait until Aaron hits his first growth spurt,” Gage said from across the table, his plate stacked as high as Cody’s. “He’ll eat you out of house and home.”

She glanced at the half eaten donut that still sat on Aaron’s plate and shook her head. Getting him to eat had always been a challenge. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Rory asked.

Stomachs full of breakfast, they were in line at the train depot, waiting to take a long track around the countryside. The old-fashioned engine behind them hissed steam around their ankles, and Aaron clapped and cheered with the other waiting passengers. He was sitting on Cody’s shoulders, high above everyone else, sporting a beaming grin.

Cody, on the other hand, looked utterly exhausted. “I have four more days with you guys, and I don’t want to miss anything.”

He pulled her against his side with one arm, holding Aaron’s legs steady with the other. He leaned closer and murmured, “We had a lot of calls come in last night, and I didn’t get any sleep. Usually after the two-day shifts, I go home and sleep the first day away, but I’d rather be with you right now.”

Rory wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his sternum. “You’re a good man, Cody. And a strong one. You aren’t invincible, though.” She looked up at his tired eyes and the two-day blond stubble on his jaw. “I could go for a nap after this, and Aaron will sleep like a log after the morning he’s had.”

“Woman, are you seducing me into a family nap with you.”

“I am. Is it working?”

The smile dipped from his face, and tenderness filled his eyes as he looked down at her. “I like that you worry about me.”

“I like that you forgive easily.”

He frowned. “What do I have to forgive you for?”

“For waiting five years to come back.”

He rolled his eyes and pulled her toward the loading platform with the other passengers in line. “Ma gave me an earful when I tried to complain to her. Said you were just the right kind of woman for being that protective of your cub.” His eyes widened, he looked around, and then lowered his voice. “I mean child. I thought on it, and she’s right. You struggled being a single parent for his safety. You’re a good mother to my boy. What matters is you came back.”

“You aren’t mad you missed his firsts?”

“Not mad, Rory. Sad. There’s no use cryin’ over spilt milk, though. It’s done. I can punish you and me both for what happened, or I can try to enjoy the time we have together. And that’s what I aim to do.” He pressed his lips against her temple, then pulled the train tickets from his back pocket and handed them to the conductor.

Inside, they picked a bench seat in the last car. Cody’s hands never left Aaron’s back as the boy jumped up and down on the seat by the window. Rory could tell he liked his son by the way he looked at him with a soft smile between amused laughs. He didn’t act forced around him or uncomfortable. It was as if he’d been a part of them all along. And it was clear Aaron adored Cody, too. Already, he’d said he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up.

She was digging through her purse, looking for a package of trail mix she’d put in there in case Aaron got hungry, when an older woman with kind eyes patted her hand. “You sure have a good lookin’ family there,” she said.

“Thank you,” Rory said, feeling breathless.

She stopped her snack search to watch Cody point to someone working on an adjacent track and explain what he was doing to Aaron, who was waving frantically. Life felt so normal here. And sure, part of that was the atmosphere. It was because she was finally back in the place she’d adored so much growing up. And some of that was from Cody’s family going out of their way to make her feel so comfortable. But most of it—almost all of it—was from being here with Cody, feeling like a team. Like she wasn’t so alone in every single decision about Aaron’s future anymore.

What Cody was giving her was more precious than he’d ever know.

****

Rory was so damned beautiful in this light, it was hard to look away from her. He had to, though, or he’d wreck his truck, and today he was carrying precious cargo.

Every minute with her was perfect. She had opened up something inside of him he’d been scared of, and Rory didn’t even have a clue she was doing it. This was effortless for her, settling his bear and making the animal inside of him feel manageable for the first time in as long as he could remember.

Lodgepole pines and towering spruces blurred by, creating a green canvas behind her dark red hair and making her smiling eyes look even brighter when she looked at him. He’d only felt this strongly for one other woman, and Sarah hadn’t deserved his devotion. Rory was different, though. She was good and honest. Hardworking and a good mother. She was funny as hell, even when she wasn’t trying to be, and sometimes when she looked up at him, her beauty stunned him. Even exhausted, the hum of excitement in his blood had been constant today.

Six years ago, he’d told himself he’d searched for her to thank her, but that was bullshit. He’d searched for her because he’d been desperate for moments like this.

The road forked, and he explained, “We’re in Blue River now. Ma lives up that road, and that middle one leads to my brothers’ cabins. This one goes to mine.” He took the left vein and turned onto a switchback.

“Aw, it’s like a werebear commune.”

“Bear shifter commune,” he corrected as he pulled in front of his cabin.

“Oh wow,” Rory said, staring out the window. “It’s beautiful.”

Okay, he hadn’t gone for
beautiful
when he’d drawn up the plans and hired a contractor to help him build it. He’d gone for man-cave chic, but he could see the appeal for Rory. Set against a snow-peaked mountain backdrop and out in the middle of nowhere, this place was a safe haven for shifters like him and Aaron.

The cabin had been constructed of logs, and the roof was steep and dove all the way to the ground to ward off massive amounts of snow in the wintertime. He pulled Aaron from his car seat and grabbed the little blue backpack he took with him everywhere he went, then led Rory down the flagstone sidewalk.

For the first time today, nerves kicked in, and he struggled to get the key in the lock. It mattered if she liked his den or not. She was the first person, outside of family, he’d ever invited up here.

Aaron looked around with a sleepy, slow blink as Cody hugged him tighter to his hip and led Rory through the living room. There were only two bedrooms and a kitchen for the main touring rooms, so not five minutes later, he was standing back in the middle of the master bedroom, holding Rory’s hand and imagining her all tangled up in his sheets.

He settled Aaron down against the thick green comforter, and the little boy curled his legs to his chest immediately. Rory pulled a brown fuzzy blanket from the backpack and placed it in Aaron’s arms.

“Cody, meet Bebe—Aaron’s comfort item since birth.”

Canting his head and resting his hands on his hips, he watched Rory slip under the covers with their son. Her auburn hair fanned over the pillowcase as she tucked Aaron up against her and made room for Cody to take the other side.

How had he gotten this lucky?

“You look mushy,” she said with a smile in her voice.

Cody rearranged his face as hard as he could and deepened his frown. “Better?”

“Yes. You look much tougher now.”

He kicked off his shoes and hit the switch for the ceiling fan, then closed the curtains until the room was dark. A trilling noise came from his pocket, and he shimmied his phone out and looked at the screen.

Unknown
, the caller ID read. Shit.

He cast Rory an apologetic glance, then let himself out of the room and shut the door gently behind him.

“Hello?” He bit the word out, already aware of who was on the other end.

“Keller, we need to talk.”

“Why?”

“Can you meet me in an hour?”

“No, Krueger. I’m busy, and I have nothing more to say to you.”

“I need you for another mission.”

With a sigh, he made sure the bedroom door was still closed, then padded across the room to the other bedroom and lowered his voice. “You don’t think I’ve done enough? The answer is no.”

A beat of silence led to a huffed and cruel-sounding laugh. “Fuck being nice about it then. Keller, you’ll do the mission. I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. We have a target, and we know where he’ll be tomorrow night.”

“I’m not your fucking assassin, Krueger. I’m a firefighter.”

“No, you’re a weapon. A weapon we’ve created, and one we’ll destroy if you push our hand. All of the fight training and your time in the field have made you invaluable to me. And your unique abilities and heightened senses, your instincts…well, those are what have made you the perfect assassin.”

“I’m not going to kill for you anymore. I served my time. You said you’d out us and make us register publicly as shifters if I fought my orders, and this is me calling your bluff. Out us, and you’ll have no weapons left.”

“I’d never out you, Keller. But if we have a superior race, a genetically enhanced one, that has suddenly gone rogue and out of control, we won’t hesitate to annihilate your entire species to keep the American public safe.”

Cody’s heart hammered against his sternum. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means you’ll do this mission and every other one we need you for, or I won’t stop until every crew of bear shifters has been eradicated. Don’t test me, Keller. The continuation of your species depends on your pliability.”

Cody stared at the wall, chest heaving as his bear clawed him from the inside to escape.

“Oh, and Keller? I know about Rory Dodson and your cub.”

The line went dead, and Cody barely stifled the urge to throw his phone against the wall just for the satisfaction of watching it splinter into a hundred fractured pieces. He flipped it onto the couch instead and gripped his hair. “Fuck.”

“Cody?” Aaron said from right behind him. “I don’t feel good.”

Cody turned just in time to see the boy’s eyes turn gold. His little body jerked inward, and the sound of snapping bones filled the room.

“No!” Cody gasped, then grabbed him around his middle as fur sprouted from Aaron’s skin. Dodging furniture, he raced out of the house and settled Aaron’s shifting form onto the softest looking patch of grass in the front yard. Pulling frantically at his shirt, Cody undressed and kicked out of his jeans just as Aaron stood fully Changed and swaying on all fours.

The little brown bear cub looked up at him, eyes round and mouth hanging open. He spun and bolted, and Cody cursed as he gave the bear inside of him permission to have his skin. Pain, blinding and bright, made him lose sight of the cub for a moment, but he was thundering after his scent as soon as the Change was through.

Damn, his cub was fast. The tiny pants and snarls of fear that drifted to him on the wind drove Cody to charge after him faster. It wasn’t until he came to a bottleneck between two boulders and a patch of brambles beyond that he caught up to Aaron. The cub was caught in the thorny vines, squalling in pain.

Cody rattled a low, comforting sound from his throat as he pulled the baby bear from the thorns. Aaron struggled against him—not surprising since he’d never been around an adult bear before. Cody hugged him tighter and sat on his haunches as he rocked him gently from side to side. It took a long time, but eventually, Aaron wore himself out fighting, biting, and scratching. And after time, his snarls of terror faded to the baby noises of a cub who was comfortable. He nuzzled against Cody’s chest, snuffing as the humming grew louder in the little cub’s chest. This was as close to purring as bears got.

With a deep sigh of relief, Cody settled Aaron down and turned away immediately, leaving the choice to his cub whether to follow or not. If he could smile in this form, he would’ve when he heard the soft footsteps following right along after him.

Cody showed Aaron his forest. Time was nothing out here in the woods where everything had a smell and a sound. Where he could watch his cub explore the rocks and moss. Where he could witness Aaron scenting a deer trail or raking his tiny claws down a sapling just to feel like a powerful wee bear. He would grow brawny and tall someday, but here in his woods, Cody witnessed a first—Aaron’s first Change out of a cage and in the wild where he belonged.

As the sun began to set behind the trees, Cody called a short bellow for Aaron to leave the shallow creak rapids he’d been chasing minnows in and follow him home.

Rory waited on the porch steps as they cleared the tree line, and Aaron immediately charged. He wasn’t thinking straight in his animal form, and that had to change. Keeping his head while he was a bear would make Aaron’s life easier, safer.

Reaching forward, Cody clipped his tiny legs out from under him with a gentle rake of his giant paw. And when Aaron got up, eyes intent on Rory, Cody pulled him back and slammed his feet on either side of the cub as he let out a deafening roar to break his focus on Rory.

Aaron crouched, ears flattened and eyes startled. Cody looked down at him, blasting breath through his lungs and daring the little beasty to charge again.

Rory was now standing in the yard, still as a stone and pallid as a ghost. Understandable since Cody was twice her height if he stood on his hind legs. He wouldn’t ever hurt her, though.

She didn’t know it yet, but she was his to protect.

Aaron followed slowly, and as Cody approached, Rory put her hands over her face and whispered, “Please don’t hurt me.”