Ours (15 page)

Her father staggered back, and Zack watched as
Sandy
rushed to him. Her
father glared at him and Jake. “Baby girl, I think it’s a little soon to get
married. I just wanted to know what was going on.”

Sandy
hugged her father. “I love them both, Dad, and
they treat me like I’m a princess.”

Her father held her tight and Jake eyed him. They both got
up and Jake said, “We would love to have your blessing.”

Sandy
’s dad hugged her more tightly and studied the
both of them before he nodded. “Okay, I give my blessing. Same rules apply as
before. You hurt her and no one will find your pieces, got it?”

 
They both nodded and
Zack couldn’t help the grin that spread over his face. He was one very lucky
man.

Chapter
Ten

Sandy
came home from having a much needed girl’s
night out. Sammy was feeling good and wanted to go out, so they’d all gone out
dancing. Blake, Brian, and Slater didn’t fool anyone when they all just
happened to turn up at the same places.
Sandy
had been so happy not to see Jake and Zack, especially after the news they’d
confirmed the other day.

She’d needed this girls night away from them to breathe and
sort out how she felt about being pregnant. After talking to Susie and seeing
what her two men were like,
Sandy
had no doubt that her men would support her and help her with anything.

Sandy
loved her men but hadn’t known them long.
Bringing a baby into the world was a huge step.

Sandy
felt good as she parked her car and got out.
The other day she’d even had the chance to talk to Sammy about what she thought
about everything and what she was going to do about the two bears pursuing her.
Sammy eventually admitted they were growing on her, but she wasn’t ready for a
relationship.

Sandy
opened and walked through her front door. She
paused because the house was way too quiet. She looked around and gasped before
backing up as she looked down at the blood. She knew the sight of blood on the
floor thanks to her brothers and their football matches.

She pulled her phone out and dialed triple 0. “Hello, what
department do you want?”

“The police.
There is a lot of blood in my house. I just walked in.”
Sandy
started into her
lounge room and bit her tongue to stop her scream. Jake lay in a pool of his
own blood. She rushed to him to see two bullet holes in his chest. She
hiccupped, trying to hold her sobs in.

Sandy
checked his pulse and let out a breath as she
felt it. She picked the phone back up and whispered, scared now that someone
might still be in the house, “My boyfriend is Officer Jake Bear and he’s been
shot.”
Sandy
repeated her address and the woman told her stay where she was and on the line.

A loud smash startled her and she heard several shots.
“Oh God, shooting.”

A growl was cut off somewhere farther in the house. She had
to check on Zack. Slowly, she walked into her family room and found Zack in his
bear form. His fur was matted with blood, and a pool of the sticky stuff
surrounded his right shoulder. A gun lay on the floor next to him and bullet
holes were everywhere. She gritted her teeth. How dare this person wreck her
house and hurt her men?

Sandy
searched her house and found the dickhead
lighting her house on fire. Her temper was beyond control now. Not caring about
any noise she made, she yanked the lamp out of the wall and grabbed the vase
that sat beside it.

She rushed the dickhead. He turned and lunged for her with
death in his eyes.
Sandy
smashed the lamp over his head, watching as it broke and shards fell around
him. Then she smashed the glass vase over his head and grabbed the largest
shard to defend
herself
.

“Bloody asshole.
You come into my house and try to kill my men.
Not on my watch, buddy.”

The guy looked dazedly up her as she kicked him again. “I
have no idea why men always misjudge me. I may be little, but I’m lethal. Ask
my brothers. They are firefighters, you fuckwit, and they live next door. They’ll
have this fire out within minutes. I know my brother is home tonight, so I
don’t expect too much damage. He should have this out soon. But you…”

He made a grab for her, but
Sandy
sliced at his wrist and stepped out of
the way.
“You idiot.
You will not survive tonight. You
have terrorized my family and put my baby at risk, so you will die.”
Sandy
knew she sounded
insane. Maybe she’d finally cracked.

“I have to say, you’re the dumbest criminal I’ve ever heard
of. Why the hell did you think you could kill me or my men? I was brought up in
a three-male household, no mother, and to top that off, I have been fucking
cursed again with two boyfriends.
Mates.
Whatever.
I need some
females
big
time, but no, I’m surround by men. You just fucked up my night. I had one of
the best girls’ nights I’ve had in a while.”

He growled and lunged at her again. She slashed the insides
of his thighs and anything she could reach. She grabbed his arm and twisted it
behind his back before dragging him to her front door, ranting the whole time.

“I find it odd with all the testosterone around me I’m the
one saving their asses. I tell you, the baby better bloody be a girl.”
Sandy
looked down at the
man who was bleeding everywhere. She groaned. “Stop bleeding. You’re ruining my
floors.”

The guy gurgled, and she let him go. “Now I’m going to open
this door, and if I find that you’ve moved, I will cut your family jewels.” He
moaned, and she opened the door to see her father walking toward her. He rushed
to her, and she saw her brothers fighting the blaze at the side of her house.

“Hey, Dad.
I dragged the man who did this to the door, and I think
it’s the shifter killer Jake’s been looking for. He promised not to move. He’s
just at the door. I might have almost killed him, but he did try to kill my men
and he put my baby in harm’s way.”

Her father’s eyes
widened,
and he
walked to the door to make sure the man hadn’t moved.

Her dad grunted and hugged her tighter. “Oh, baby girl, he
was an idiot for messing with you.”

She snuggled against her dad. “That’s what I told him. How
long until the blaze is under control? Zack and Jake are in pretty bad shape
too.”

Her dad looked around and muttered, “I’m always right. The
house was a good buy near the hydrant. It should be out soon.”
Sandy
could hear sirens getting closer.

The adrenaline started to leave her, and she leaned on her
dad. “Oh, that’s so good because I think I’ve finally gone insane.” Black
filled her vision as her father’s arms tightened around her, and she let
herself go.

****

Sandy
awoke to the sound of beeping and yelling in
the distance. She cracked an eye open to dimmed lights and a white ceiling and
walls. Opening her other eye, she took a better look around. She was in a
hospital bed. A drip was in her arm, and she had clips on her other hand
monitoring her heart rate.

The room was empty. She wondered where Jake and Zack were,
and if they weren’t here, where were her father and brothers? She searched for
the Call button, pressed it, and waited. Seconds later a tall, pretty blonde
walked in. As the door opened, the yelling got louder.

“You have quite the family, Mrs. Bear.”

Sandy
sputtered. “I beg your pardon. Did you just
call me Mrs. Bear?”

The nurse nodded. “Is that not your last name? The woman
who came to check on you first told me you were married to her son.”

 
“And you believed
her.”

“Should we not have? It was Adele Bear. She is on the
committee at the hospital. I think she has a wing named after her.”

“You let her in here?”

The nurse stared down at her. “Yes, she seemed very
concerned for you. Actually, she just came back now as I walked in.”

Crap.
Taking a deep breath,
Sandy
tried to get off the bed. The nursed
rushed over to stop her. “You can’t get out. You have a cuts and smoke
inhalation, and we are trying to keep you from stress. You are very lucky
woman. Your babies are all right.”

Sandy
paused and closed her eyes, the shouting from
outside the room disrupting her train of thought. Abruptly the commotion
outside her room stopped and what the nurse had said clicked. The woman walked
to the door but before she could leave,
Sandy
yelled, “Wait. What do you mean my
babies
are okay? Don’t you mean baby?”

 
The woman turned
back to her and smiled. “No, you’re having twins.”

She took a deep breath and let it out before answering.
“Are there two big men outside?”

The nurse nodded. “Oh, there’s a lot more than two.”

She groaned.
“Send Jake in.
He’s
the one built like a bear with short dark brown hair and the brightest emerald
green eyes you will ever see. And also send in Zack. He’s the tattooed one with
shaggy jet black hair and sapphire blue eyes.”

 
The nursed stared at
her for a moment before nodding and leaving.

Sandy
rested one of her hands over her belly. “Please
be girls. I think I will be committed if you’re boys.” She closed her eyes and
repeated a prayer to herself.

 
When she snapped her
eyes open, two very ragged-looking men stood on either side of her.

“You two are in so much trouble and when I get out of this
friggin
’ hospital bed, I might actually kill you both.”

Both men hung their heads and Jake muttered, “We’re so
sorry. We should have saved you. We know we’re not worthy to be your mates.”

Sandy
had no idea what they were talking about. “What
the hell are you two going on about? I’m talking about killing you two because
I’m pregnant with not one baby but two.
Twins!”

She almost laughed as both of their heads shot up and huge
grins spread over their faces like they’d just accomplished some big feat. One
hand from each went to her stomach with the other going on either side of her
face.

“This is totally not something to be proud off. I’m going
to be bigger than a house. Look how huge you two are. You better pray every
night these are girls.”

Sandy
laughed as both her men paled, dropped their
hands from her stomach like she had the plague, and shook their heads.

“Firebird, how can you wish that upon us?”

She narrowed her eyes on Zack.
“Oh, very
easily.”
Her head started to throb, and she knew she had to ask the
question she didn’t want to ask. “Did I kill him?”

Jake was quick to answer her. “No, Little Red, you didn’t.”

“Is he still alive?”

Jake looked at Zack and they shrugged. “No, he’s dead.”

She nodded. “Who killed him?”

Zack muttered, “I did. I came to in time to see you
collapsed in your father’s arms. I didn’t know if you were still alive. So I
killed him.”

 
She turned
frantically to Jake. “He won’t be in trouble, will he?”

Jake stroked her hair as he murmured, “No, the shifter
community is bigger and more powerful than you could imagine, and the guy was
the shifter killer I’ve been looking for. You saved us from a serial killer.”

She sighed in relief that Zack was going to be all right
and that the killer was dead. “Where am I going to stay while my house gets
fixed?”

Zack lifted her hand and kissed it, careful of the IV
needle. “My flat is too small. So is Jake’s little house, so Susie has offered
us her old place. It’s a little bigger than Jake’s and they haven’t got tenants
yet. Sammy decided to stay with them at their new house. At first I thought the
vineyard house, but it’s a good drive out of the way to our works. Your house
already adds a good fifteen minutes to our morning drive. The other option was
to buy a new house for us, but Jake and I know how much you love the one you
have and wouldn’t want to move.”