Catching the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 3) (11 page)

Marcus stopped in front of the cage. “You owe my daughter an apology.”

“What?” Bo asked. “An apology for—”

“Bo,” I snapped. “Apologize.”

His mouth hung open while he looked back and forth between me, Marcus, and Mariah. When I raised my brows in warning, he let out a breath and stood tall. “Mariah, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” her father asked.

Bo looked like he was about to argue again so I cleared my throat. This was his only chance to make things right.

“For…for leading you on,” he finally said. “I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea.” Looking at Mariah, he gave her a small smile.

She bit her lips and clenched her jaw. And then she sighed. “Fine.”

“There!” Marcus said when he clapped his hands. “Over.” Jerking his head to the side, Mariah took the signal and left the area, hopefully to put on some clothes. Then he honed his focus in on Bo. “I see that you have a mate now, and that’s good. But I don’t ever want to see you around my daughter again. Is that clear.”

“Perfectly,” Bo said, no doubt feeling the power rolling off of this man.

“Good.” Marcus waved two men over who unlocked the cage and let Bo out.

He immediately wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear. “Did she hurt you?”

I felt his chest shudder and knew that I needed to stay calm so that we didn’t have another episode. “No, I’m fine.”

An older lady shoved a blanket in between our faces and we both pulled back at the same time. It smelled like a wet dog, but Bo said nothing as he wrapped it around his waist and then slung an arm back over my shoulder.

“Marcus,” Bo said. “You know why we’re here, right?”

Marcus sat down on a plastic lawn chair that someone had carried over. They’d grabbed two additional ones for us. “I know why she’s here. You were just an added bonus,” he said through a clenched jaw.

I rested my hand on Bo’s thigh once we sat, a signal that I wanted him to be quiet from now on. “Marcus,” I said, “You know what the ISC has planned?”

“I do.”

“And do you know why they sent me?”

“Because you’re a witch. Like me.”

I swallowed down another lump of fear. Marcus might be a witch but I was nothing like him. “Are you going to support their decision to come out to the humans?”

“No,” he said quickly. Raising his hand to stop my next words, he continued. “No, we will not expose ourselves. But we will not expose the others either.”

“Meaning?” Bo asked. I nudged him again to be quiet.

“Meaning you can bask in the glory of the aftermath while we keep our secrets intact.” Marcus waved his palms at all of the coyotes surrounding us. “What do you think would happen if word gets out that not only are we shifters, but we are magical skin-walkers? Huh? We’ll be prosecuted until there is nothing left. Humans are afraid of what they do not understand. And witches? They will never accept that witches live among them.”

Marcus’ words stung. Not because they were mean, but because they were the truth. Humans had been persecuting witches since the beginning of time. We had no idea how they were going to react to shifters, but we sure as hell knew how they would react to us. History tended to repeat itself.

Watching me process his words, Marcus leaned back in his white plastic chair and crossed his arms. “And what about the vampires and demons? Are they a part of this grand reveal?”

I felt Bo glance at me as I shook my head. “No. They want to stay hidden.”

“And the other skin-walkers?”

I shrugged. “They feel the same way you do.”

Marcus glanced at Bo. “And what about the grizzlies? Aren’t you afraid they will hunt you all down until extinction?” He didn’t give him a chance to answer before continuing. “We have seen our numbers dwindle the last few decades because of what humans are dong to this land. Encroaching on our territory. Diluting our genes. Taking our jobs.” Marcus threw a hand up into the air. “Hell, we had to force ourselves into this town just to survive the winter.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Remembering that wild coyotes would often steal other animal’s homes, I had to stop the smile from forming on my lips. Although I had a feeling Marcus knew what I was thinking.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have your answer. We have too many secrets to be exposed.” He leaned forward, eyes boring into mine. “Just like you.”

I shivered with his statement. I knew I couldn’t tell the world that I was a witch. But I’d accepted that long ago. My role now was to support those who wanted to live free. The shifters of the world who were tired of hiding. And who knows? Maybe in another decade it would be possible for those of us that harbor the magic around us to finally come clean.

“Now,” Marcus said while he stood. “You have your answer.” When Bo pushed to his feet, Marcus pointed a finger at his chest. “We will support you, grizzly. But stay away from my pack.”

Bo nodded and squeezed my hand hard enough to break bone. I winced and he immediately let up.

“Go,” Marcus said with a flick of his hand.

It took a moment for me to realize that he was speaking to us. Not really liking coyote skin-walkers so much, I dragged Bo back to my Jeep. None of the coyotes followed, but I could feel them watching. Like spears in my back, I knew if I turned around I would see four hundred and twenty-four eyes glaring at us.

“I’m sorry about that,” Bo grumbled once he got dressed and started the car. “I really am.”

“For what?” I asked. “I didn’t expect them to be a part of the big reveal.”

“You didn’t?” Bo sounded surprised.

“No. It wouldn’t benefit them.” He turned around and started to drive away before I continued. “They thrive when lost in the shadows. It’s how they survive.”
Just like the witches
, I added in my head. “But they’ll be loyal to those of us who are different. They won’t make it any worse.”

Bo huffed and rubbed his forehead. “Sure they won’t,” he groaned.

“Hey, you were only in a shit storm because of where you put your dick.”

His surprised face snapped in my direction. “Kenzie!”

I giggled and grabbed his hand. “Remember when I said we might have to have the conversation about all of your exes one day?”

“Yes,” he drawled out.

“Yeah, I don’t want to do that anymore.”

With a laugh, he kissed the top of my head and turned back onto the main road. “Fine with me, my tiny witch. Fine with me.”

The next evening, Kenzie and I sat in my family’s house in the sunken grand room where we often gathered for clan meetings. Only this time, there weren’t just grizzlies in the space and I felt a little suffocated by the looks I was getting.

“You slept with the alpha’s daughter?” Brandt, my oldest brother and my alpha, wasn’t amused. “What the fuck were you thinking?” he asked, then quickly turned to his mate, Emma. “Sorry.”

She covered her mouth and tried to hide her snicker with a cough. “Not a problem, love,” she said while rubbing her pregnant belly.

“Bro, is that seriously all you heard out of this whole story?” I asked him. Kenzie sat next to me but kept her distance. Little did she know that everyone in this room could smell that we were mated. But she wanted to tell Major on her own and I respected that request. I just wished I could touch her right now because I felt like I was on the witness stand being grilled by the prosecution team.

“So the coyotes want to remain hidden?” Scarlett asked. She stood next to Brennan, their shoulders touching. As an alpha female in her wolf pack, she was quite a match for my other brother.

“Yes!” I said in exhaustion. “And thank you for actually listening.”

Scarlett smiled and nodded her head while Brandt huffed his rejection of my statement. “I heard you, brother, but I got a little stuck on the fact that the coyotes took you captive.”

“For like five minutes.” I rolled my eyes then sank into the couch when Brandt gave me a glare and forced his alpha vibes into the air.

“So what will the ISC say about this?” Brennan asked Major.

The tiger tore his scowl away from me and looked at my brother. “What can they say? Like Kenzie said, I don’t think they expected them to go along with the plan anyway.”

“Then why send these two?” Derrick asked, jerking his thumb toward me.

“Well, they thought if anyone would have a shot at convincing them, it would be Kenzie.” Major waved his hand at her from across the room and she gave him a slight smirk.

“Because she’s a witch?” Brandt asked.

I didn’t like his tone. “And that’s a problem?” I accused. Kenzie had relayed that little secret during our recap. There really wasn’t a way to leave it out, especially when she needed to explain what a skin-walker was. Everyone in the room had promised to keep that to themselves after tonight, and Kenzie had said she trusted them enough to share her information.

“No, that’s not a problem,” Brandt growled. “Stop being so defensive.”

“He can’t help it,” Emma said with a chuckle.

“He’s protecting his…ow!” Derrick shouted when I elbowed him in the side.

With narrowed eyes, I warned him against talking about Kenzie being my mate. Apparently, Scarlett didn’t get the message though.

“He’s mated to her,” she said to Brandt matter-of-factly. “That’s why he’s taking offense.” Scarlett, in her business voice, had just made all eyes in the room go from glaring at me to staring at Kenzie in surprise.

“You did, didn’t you?” Major growled.

I leaned forward and reached for Kenzie’s hand but thankfully Major stayed on his side of the room. No need to have a brawl in here right now.

“I wanted to tell you later,” Kenzie whispered to him. And although the tension in the room was enough to make all of our hair stand on end, she couldn’t hide her growing smile.

“Is this for real?” Brennan asked.

“Can’t you smell it?” Emma answered quickly. She jumped to her feet, holding her stomach. Even though she was only a few months along, she was pregnant with twins and had a rather large bump to show for it. She reached for Kenzie and pulled her up off the couch. “Congratulations. You have managed to catch the most uncatchable bear in Alaska.”

Kenzie returned her hug with a little laugh. “Thank you?”

“You have done the unimaginable,” Derrick added. Major just kept glowering at me from across the room.

“Is this for real?” Brennan asked again.

I shook my head and gave him a look. “Yes. Is that so unbelievable?”

“Yes,” Brennan, Brandt, and Derrick all said together.

“You guys are assholes,” I mumbled and Kenzie slapped my shoulder.

“Bo has changed my life,” she said to the room. “I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather be mated to.”

Everyone went silent until Brandt spoke. “Well, then. Congratulations and welcome to the family.”

My heart swelled with how happy Kenzie looked in this moment of acceptance. It’d pained me to know how isolated she’d kept herself for so many years. As she got a hug or a kiss from each member of my clan, her happiness filled me up. I was whole now. For the first time ever, I understood what my brothers had said about feeling complete. Kenzie was my mate and I would do everything in my power to protect her forever.

Major was the last to stand and everyone focused on him. “I will talk to the ISC tomorrow and let you know what will happen next.” Turning to Brennan, he said, “Thank you for allowing me to spend some more time in your cabin.” After my brother tilted his chin, Major spun on his heels and looked at me. “I would like a word, please.” His eyes were orange, a sure sign that the tiger has almost taken control.

Derrick and Emma made a noise like I was getting in trouble in school while the rest of the group made facial expressions showing the exact same thing.

“Like I said, you are all assholes,” I mumbled.

“Nice to meet all of you,” Kenzie added, a little more politely.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Emma shouted out behind us as we followed Major through the front door.

He didn’t stop until he reached the area where we parked the cars. Then he snapped his head around and slammed his finger against my chest. “I told you not to touch her!”

“No you didn’t!” I shouted back. “You told me not to let anything happen to her!”

“And you think
mating
with her doesn’t fall under that category?”

“You know I can’t control that—”

“Bull shit!” the tiger yelled, spit flying from his mouth. The air roiled with his impending change, his finger dug into my skin. The bear wanted a fight too.

“Major!” Kenzie stepped between us. “Please don’t do this. I love him, Major. I really do.”

Major stopped shaking long enough to take a breath and drop his hand. “Seriously, Kenzie? Him?”

“Hey!” I shouted but Kenzie wrapped her arm around my back.

“Yes, Major. Him.” She looked up at me with those blue eyes, freckles, and whitest smile. “It would seem that once witches find their soulmate, they know it instantly too.”

“But what about Evan? Wasn’t he your soulmate? Didn’t you tell me as much?”

I wanted to punch him in the face for bringing up a dead boyfriend. Especially a dead boyfriend from seven years ago.

Kenzie dropped her head. “Yes, I thought so at the time. But it never would have worked for us.”

“Why?” Major asked softly.

“Because when I told him what I was, he freaked out and lost control of the car,” she confessed. “I don’t know if he ever would have accepted me.”

“Yes he would have, he just never had the chance.”

“You didn’t see his face, Major. His reaction.” Kenzie sucked in a breath and looked up at me for a moment. “It wouldn’t have worked.”

“But I saw you after the accident. You were devastated.”

“Yeah, for a life that was lost. He didn’t deserve to die because I was a witch.”

Major stepped forward and grabbed Kenzie’s face in his hands. I growled at him but he didn’t care. “He didn’t die because you were a witch, Kenzie.”

She didn’t reply.

Major sighed and kissed her forehead. “Is this really what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

Kenzie giggled. “Yes, Major. I want to be with Bo.”

He stepped back and smiled at her. “Okay then. But may I have a word with Bo before you leave?”

“Are you going to be nice?”

“Of course,” he groaned.

Kenzie jumped forward and kissed him on the cheek. “Be good. And since I’ll be staying here for a while, let’s have dinner sometime.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said as she walked away toward my convertible. Major’s smile quickly faded when she stepped out of earshot. “She’s a human,” he growled.

“She’s a witch,” I clarified.

With eyes still on her, he clenched his fists at his side. “She’s still a human that will not live as long as you.” Turning that orange glare on me, he added, “
If
you live your full life.”

“What are you trying to say, Major?” I sighed, tired of everyone giving me a hard time and ready to show Kenzie my surprise.

“Don’t even think about turning her.”

I jerked back in surprise. “I would never—”

He held up a hand and cut me off.  “You’d be surprised at what lengths you will go to for your mate in a time of need.”

Taken aback again, I tried to process what he’d just said. “First of all, most humans don’t survive a bite. I know that and I won’t risk her life. And second, why are you speaking like you’ve gone through this yourself?” Major was an enigma to me. And to learn that he may have had a human mate that he may have tried to turn…that would be an astounding piece of information to have.

“My sins are mine alone to live with,” he replied. “But if you harm Kenzie in any way, know that I will hunt you down and rip every last vein out of your body.”

“Fine,” I said. “If anything happened to her, I wouldn’t want to live anyway.”

Major glared at me for several seconds before breaking into an unamused chuckle. “Do you always have to be so dramatic?”

I let out a breath and held out my hand. When he accepted it, we shook. “I won’t let anything happen to her,” I promised.

“You better not.”

“So, just ignore what you’re about to see.” With a wink, I dashed over to the car and gave Kenzie a giant hug. She smelled so good that I wanted to take her right there, but I had something I needed to do first. “Okay, close your eyes, tiny witch.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

She complied and I pulled a bandana from my back pocket. Wrapping it lightly around her head, making sure she couldn’t see, I ignored her questions. “I have a surprise for you,” I finally said.

“And is the blindfold a part of it or are you just getting kinky?”

My pants bulged with her suggestion and I had to shift my hips to make it a little more comfortable. “It’s a part of the surprise,” I said, then bent forward and whispered in her ear. “But we can keep the blindfold for later.”

The scent of her arousal almost knocked me to my knees, and I needed to get her out of here before Major stared a hole into my back. I helped her into the car and jogged around to the driver’s side. “You ready?’ I asked with a grin.

She felt across the console until she grabbed my hand. “I’m ready.”

I waved at Major as I sped out of the driveway, Kenzie squealing beside me, happier than I could have ever imagined.