Called by the Bear 7-9 (6 page)

T
aylor -
My dreams
called me to the Le Roux, and I was convinced it was to start a family that would carry on the clan name. But I’ve discovered my purpose is something much bigger.

L
ily
- Uncovering Victor’s
evil side changes everything. While I struggle with the truth I’m still destined to save a clan. But which one?

T
aylor

T
iny bits
of broken glass shimmer in the brightly lit kitchen. The metal chandelier lies on the tile floor next to Keith, and I survey the scene to make sure it’s believable. The old man who seems to reside in my brain laughs, and it sends an involuntary shiver down my spine. My mate groans, so I kneel down to stroke his cheek. “Baby, are you okay?”

He blinks in confusion before he reaches up to touch his forehead. He winces at the contact and whispers, “You hit me.”

“What? No. You’re confused. The light fell and hit you in the head.”

“Taylor, I know what took place.” He sits up and notices the shattered light bulbs on the floor. His brow furrows in confusion. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know. It was the craziest thing. We were talking about tea, and the next thing I know, the chandelier crashed down on to you.”

“Right. The tea.” Keith winces as he stands. “Where is that tin? The one you dug out of the garbage.”

Keith caught me digging through trash searching for tea that was supposedly poisoning me. But I know better. “I didn’t dig any tea out of the garbage.” I rise to my feet and put my hands on my hips. “I was searching for my lost earring.”

“Oh really?” Keith snatches a container off the counter. “Then what’s this?”

“Chamomile. Seriously, Keith, I know I was stupid to drink the fertility blend. And I’m really sorry that I didn’t talk to you about it first. But give me a little credit. I’m not an idiot.”

He sniffs the crushed leaves and shakes his head. “Oh.”

I walk over to him with concern on my face. “Babe, you must have a concussion.” I gaze back and forth between his eyes. They’re normal, but I have to continue the ruse. “One pupil is larger than the other. Sit.”

Keith slumps down in the kitchen chair and drops his elbows onto the table with a thud before he holds his head. “I’m sorry, babe. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Maybe I dreamt it.” He lifts his face to me and offers a weak smile. “Are you sure you didn’t hit me?”

I grin at him. “If I did you’d be more than knocked out.” I’m trained in Krav Maga, a street-fighting form of martial arts. I also happen to be the lead trainer for the Le Roux werebear clan warriors.

“That’s true.” He closes his eyes and lowers his head back into his hands.

“Let me get you some ibuprofen.” I open the cabinet, and metal scrapes on wood as I place the unlabeled tin of tea back on the shelf behind one marked chamomile. It’s full of the fertility blend I must keep drinking if I want to get pregnant next spring. I toss the bottle of aspirin to Keith before grabbing a cup. Water rushes into a glass as I hold it under the tap.

Bits of light bulb crunch under my boots as I walk across the kitchen to hand it to Keith. “You sit while I sweep up this mess. You didn’t step on any of it, did you?”

“No. I’m fine.” His brow is knit in concentration, and I’m afraid he’s thinking about what really happened.

“You know, I never really liked that chandelier. It must have been fate that it fell.” The old Native American man that is helping me fulfill my destiny to bear Le Roux children comes to mind. “Now we get to pick out one we both like.”

“It’s so strange that it broke.”

Keith reaches for the metal fixture, and I fear he’s going to inspect it. I grab it first. “I’ve got this. You sit tight before you cut yourself.” While I tried to slice the wire in a way that it appears frayed, I’m not sure my husband won’t figure out it’s been tampered with.

“Taylor, give me that, please.”

Damn it
. I place the heavy metal on the table with a thud. “Do you think maybe it wasn’t installed correctly?”

Keith shakes his head. “No. I hung it.” He’s rolling the cord around in his hand. “This looks like someone deliberately hacked away at it.” His eyes are big when he glances up at me. “I think this was meant for you.”

Whew. The Veilleux clan is the Le Rouxs’ enemy, and my husband thinks Victor Veilleux is behind the poison they found in my tea. I widen my eyes back at him. I’m tempted to cover my mouth with my hand, but that’s probably going too far, so I say, “Oh my God, do you think it’s Victor?”

My mate nods. “I do.” His fists clench, and his face indicates he’s speaking telepathically. I assume it’s Brady he’s talking to and continue cleaning up the mess. Shards of glass clink when I sweep the pile into a dust pan.

Dawn’s salmon-colored light shines outside, and I realize it’s going to be a long day as I pretend I’m worried about Victor’s evil. I’m also betting Keith won’t let me return to work as planned.
Oh crap!
We have a morning breakfast meeting at the Le Roux house today, and I’m going to have to continue to lie. Great. Well, at least my worry will be real, because I can’t get caught in my deception.

I glance over at my travel mug with my next dose of tea. “Hey, should I make some coffee since we’re both up for the day?”

“That would be great. I’m going to go take a shower.”

Keith leaves the room, and I listen for the water to run before I grab my mug of tea and guzzle it down. I shudder at the disgusting taste and move to the sink to rinse my cup. When I get there, a wave of dizziness makes me grab onto the cool granite countertop. I close my eyes, and a vision appears.

I’m in a park and walking behind a tall thin woman with her dark hair blowing in the breeze. As I get closer, I notice she’s pushing a stroller, and I know it’s carrying my children. I call out for her to wait. She must not hear me over the wind that is now howling. I begin to run, but she’s still out of reach, and I push myself to go as fast as I can. It’s no use; the lady manages to stay too far ahead for me to catch up. Despair sinks into me like the cold, and I fall to my knees with the pain of losing my babies.

Suddenly it’s quiet, and only the slightest breeze blows. I lift my face to the voice of the Native American man I’ve been seeing in my visions. He stands right in front of me along with the woman and says, “You know what to do.”

I focus my attention on the woman. Her face is older than I expected, but I know it well because I’ve carried it in my heart all my life. She fades away like a ghost, and a shiver runs through me.

Whoa. I shake my head and refocus on rinsing out my travel mug. The water from Keith’s shower stops, and I realize I haven’t started the coffee. I scurry to get the task done, and brown liquid begins to drip when my husband returns to the kitchen.

He tilts his head at the pot and frowns. “What were you doing?”

I smile and walk over to him. “Daydreaming.” I point out the window at the yard. “I think a swing set over there would be nice. That way I can watch our kids play while I make dinner.”

Keith comes to stand next to me with two steaming mugs of coffee. He hands me one, and it’s hot against my palm. I wrap an arm around his waist, and the flannel of his shirt is soft on my cheek when I lean against his chest.

“You’re really anxious to have a family, aren’t you?”

A bird feeder is set up in the snow-covered garden, and I watch chickadees take their turn getting breakfast. “I am. I know it’s what I’m here for, and I’ve never been patient when it comes to getting things done.”

Keith kisses the top of my head. “I’ve noticed.”

I step away from him and gaze into his eyes. “Aren’t you excited, too?”

He waggles his eyebrows at me. “About getting you pregnant?”

I grin. “About our future. I know great things are going to happen. You’ll see.”

S
ierra

T
he weekly breakfast
meetings at the Le Roux house have changed dramatically now that six infants are in attendance. It takes longer to get business accomplished, and I suspect Donna doesn’t appreciate the divided attention when she speaks. I won’t be surprised when she suggests we consider babysitters.

My spoon clinks as I stir cream into my coffee. I’m nervous about what I’m about to propose. Ashton and I decided it’s for the best to be proactive about Victor’s paternity threat. I slide a bite of sugary waffle goodness into my mouth to find it tastes like sawdust. I glance at my husband, and he winks at me. I swallow down the lump of food, but before I can speak my mind, Donna clears her throat.

Annie is bouncing Audrey on her lap, and when she glimpses her mother’s face, her movement stops. “We have something of grave concern to discuss,” Donna says. “Victor has made another move on Taylor. This morning, a chandelier fell on Keith, and upon inspection, it’s clear it was tampered with.”

Annie asks, “Keith? Are you all right?”

He nods. “Yeah. I might have gotten a slight concussion, but I’m fine.”

Taylor puts her hand on his arm as she says, “He most definitely got a concussion, but I’ll make sure he takes it easy.” Keith smiles at her, but something’s off. I wonder if they had a fight over the situation.

“I already have a team checking out their house, and we’ll get to the bottom of this,” says Brady.

Carly says, “Taylor, I know you can protect yourself, but I would like some guards to monitor your home. The Veilleux had to have gotten in there at some point, and we would be fools to not ensure it can’t happen again.”

Taylor shoots a startled look at Keith, and he frowns at her in reply. She takes a deep breath and speaks. “I know you’re right. As much as I hate losing my privacy, it needs to be done.”

Donna says, “Good, it’s settled.” She lifts her teacup and turns to me. “I have more business to cover. But first, what do you have for us, Sierra?”

“How did you know I wanted to say something?”

She swallows her tea and says, “Oh please, you’ve been jiggling your foot since you sat down. Out with it.”

I push my knife in a circle on the table as I muster up my courage to face the inevitable. “Ashton and I think we need to prepare ourselves for a custody battle with Victor. He made it quite clear when he gave me the baby rattle engraved with a V at our wedding, and now that the babies have been born, I expect he’ll do something to get them.”

Annie hands Audrey a spoon to grasp and says, “You do know we don’t do things like humans, right? This is a matter the prime and prima usually decide.”

I nod. “I know this is something that has never come up between clans because nobody ever gets divorced.”

Donna says, “I wouldn’t say never. I’ve seen it when a true mate comes along.” Audrey begins to bang the spoon on the table, and Donna glances quickly at Annie. So she stands up to pace with the baby instead. “Custody is usually awarded to the injured party in the relationship because they aren’t abandoning the family they had,” says the older woman.

“And because if an interclan relationship becomes a marriage, the couple pledges their allegiance to one clan, and our current situation has probably never been an issue, right?” I ask.

“Correct.”

“That’s why Ash and I want us to figure out a plan, because I don’t think Brady and Carly are going to be able to work things out with Victor.”

Brady thumps his fist on the table, and plates rattle. He says, “As much as I hate to admit this, the Veilleux do have a claim on your children, because one of them is their next alpha.”

The tiny seed of fear in my belly blossoms into panic. I don’t want Victor anywhere near my children. “No!” I stand up, and my chair scrapes across the floor. “That man cannot touch my babies.”

Carly gets up and comes to me. She takes hold of my arms. “Hey. We won’t let him hurt your kids, okay?”

Donna pipes in. “Victor is a lot of things, but he isn’t stupid. He’s not going to harm a potential heir and alpha to his clan. Brady’s right; he does have a claim to your children.”

A wave of nausea passes through me.
Oh my God.
“Ash?” Victor’s face flashes in my mind, and his teeth gleam in the memory.

I turn from Carly to my mate’s strong arms, and he pulls me against his chest. He says, “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

I breathe in the scent of my husband and let it calm me. Ashton does make me feel safe, and I know he won’t let anything bad happen to our family.

“There may be something we can do,” says Donna. “Give me a few days, and I’ll let you know what I find out.”

Carly asks, “Kimi?”

Kimi is our medicine woman and the one that set the call in motion to get fertile werebear descendants here.

“Yes. It’s about time we utilized her against the Veilleux.” She glares at Taylor. “It seems they have no trouble with that tactic, so why should we?”

Taylor flinches, and a flush rises to her cheeks. A strong warrior like her must be embarrassed that she was unknowingly drugged and made a victim. I reach over to her. “Hey. Any one of us would have done the same thing. Please don’t blame yourself.”

“Thanks.” Her expression relaxes into a smile.

I’m not sure why, though, because as much as I’d like to think I can comfort with just words, I doubt it’s true. Unease niggles at me, and I communicate with Carly.
“Does Taylor’s behavior today seem strange to you?”

“It’s probably the lingering effects of the poison.”
Carly frowns for a second and then masks her concern with a serious voice as she asks Taylor, “How’s the training with Luke and Lucy going?”

“Good. Ian told me Luke is quite skilled. Lucy will get there once she gets in shape.”

I’m reminded of the drawings Lucy showed me a few weeks ago. She’s got talent but not the confidence to believe in herself. If she doesn’t share her portfolio with Carly soon, I might have to intervene. A smile creeps across my face as I recall how my best friend mentored me as a tattoo artist. I think it would be a great way for the sisters to bond.

Carly says, “See that she does. I don’t want her to hide behind her brother on this.”

While the alpha tone is present, I know my friend well enough that her words tell me she senses Lucy’s low self-esteem, too. Yup, it’s time to bring another female artist into the world of tattoos. Besides, that will give me a purpose other than worrying about my babies.

Donna clears her throat loudly to command attention. Once all eyes are on her, she says, “There’s one more thing to tell you. Years ago, when we first discovered our inability to create a future generation, we contacted a clan in the Arctic for help.” She takes a bite of bacon to draw out the announcement that is about to come. “They denied us at the time, but I just got word they’re reconsidering. It seems they’re having trouble of their own and want to make a deal.” She takes a bite of eggs and scans the table full of people to make sure the weight of her words settles in.

Brady’s jaw is working, and I think this might be news to him, too. When Carly places her hand on his arm, I’m sure of it. One glance at Donna tells me she’s enjoying her moment of power, and if I didn’t feel sorry for her now that she’s usually the least important person in the room, I would make a snide remark. Instead I watch the drama unfold.

Annie jumps in to keep Brady from exploding. “I’m sure you plan to put them in contact with Brady and Carly now.”

“Oh. Yes. That’s why I’m telling you this morning. Tristan and Isabelle De Rozier should be here next week.”

Brady clenches his fists and restrains himself as he thumps the table instead of pulverizing it before he says, “The De Rozier alpha and his sister are already on their way here and you didn’t think I might want to know?”

Carly adds in her alpha voice, “Donna. We’ll discuss this in depth later.”

Donna nods and offers a smile that reminds me of a child that has no remorse for eating all the ice cream. I hold back a giggle as she says, “Yes, of course, dear.”

Annie glares at her. “Mother, come help me with the babies before you get yourself into more trouble.”

When Donna stands to leave, she gives me a wink, and I can’t help but grin at her. She had to give up her prima status to Carly and is now watching the control she has over this family slip from her fingers. But Donna has no intention of being silenced. And she shouldn’t be. Her wisdom is a guiding force in this family, and while her approach tests Brady’s patience, this clan would be lost without her.

I get up from the table to help with the babies, too. I plan to use Donna’s rebellious streak to my benefit, because I’m dying to know more about Kimi and what hope lies ahead for keeping my children safe from Victor Veilleux.