To Bite A Bear (10 page)

moment to realize Aden and Rohan stood over his

bed, glaring at him.

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“About time you woke; you were just being

lazy,” Aden scolded, but Harris could see the

relief in Aden’s hard features. Years of exposure to

the stern man had made reading Aden come

down to an art form.

“Sorry,” he replied.

Aden nodded to show Harris was forgiven. “I’ll

leave you here with your mate. You’ve worried

him enough.”

Harris smiled as Aden turned and left the room

without another word.

“He really loves you,” Rohan said as if trying to

explain Aden’s cold behavior.

Harris laughed. “I know.” He examined

Rohan’s expression and saw stress around his eyes

and the scent of worry pouring off of him. “What

happened?” He unconsciously rubbed a sore spot

on his chest.

“Vick shot you,” Rohan explained.

“Oh right.” He didn’t know how to soothe the

pain in Rohan’s voice. Harris didn’t think they

had a greeting card for their situation. “But I’m

fine now, right?”

Rohan nodded. “Yeah, your fine.”

Tears filled the vampire’s eyes. Harris scooted

over on the bed. “Come here.”

Without argument, Rohan crawled up on the

bed beside him. “I thought I’d lost you. I

should’ve snapped the bastard’s neck. I was so

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shocked that I had no clue this entire time. I guess

I’m not as smart as I thought.”

“Hey.” Harris wouldn’t let anyone insult his

mate, even Rohan. “There’s nothing wrong with

trusting the people who are supposed to have

your back.”

Rohan laughed, a sad, forlorn sound.

“Supposed to is the operative phrase. What if he

wasn’t the only one? What if more of my coven is

involved? I never thought Vick would turn on me.

We were together in the coven for six years and

friends for a lot longer.”

The pain in Rohan’s voice tore Harris apart.

“Hey, you have me. Together, we will figure this

thing out. If we have to, we’ll have Aden strap

them all to lie detector tests and force them to

answer.”

Rohan laughed; this time, real amusement filled

the sound. “I never thought a human could be so

intimidating.”

“When I was young, I used to imagine he was

part robot like in those Terminator movies.”

“The last one where the guy looks human?”

Rohan asked.

Harris nodded. “Yeah.”

“I could see that,” Rohan agreed. “I haven’t

been a very good mate.”

Rohan’s voice, low and confiding as if he was

sharing a painful secret, tore away the last of

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Harris’ dream. “You are an excellent mate. It’s not

your fault you didn’t know Vick was a traitor.”

He could smell the guilt and shame pouring off

of Rohan. “Hey.” He cuddled his vampire close

and stroked his hair. It amused him a bit to play

the part of caretaker. Rohan generally wasn’t the

type to want to be coddled. Harris knew he was

one of the privileged few who would ever see the

vampire so vulnerable. “It’ll be all right.”

“It will.” Rohan said, his words gaining some of

their former confidence. “Rumors have spread

over your death. I’m sorry to say, beloved, but you

didn’t survive the bullet.”

“That is sad,” Harris agreed. “I’ll miss me.”

Rohan laughed. “I am going to return to my

coven today and test them to figure out who also

might be responsible. I doubt Vick acted alone. He

wasn’t exactly a mastermind, and even with clear

direction from a sorcerer, he wouldn’t have been

able to pull it off.”

“I see you’ve given this a lot of thought,” Harris

said. His heart sped up as he imagined Rohan

confronting his people.

“Relax, I’ll be fine,” Rohan said. “I can hear

your heart racing, and I know you are worrying. If

I run into any trouble, I’ll call you.”

“But, what if they kill you? How are you going

to call me then? I doubt they’ll have cell phones in

hell!” Harris snapped.

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Rohan smiled. “So certain I’m going to dance

with the devil, my love?”

“Don’t toy with me, Rohan, I don’t like this at

all,” Harris warned.

“Will it make you feel better to know your

scary Aden is wiretapping me and waiting outside

the coven house to intercede if necessary,” Rohan

said.

“Yes. Is he going to do that?” Relief swept

through Harris. Aden wouldn’t let Rohan be

injured. Not that he didn’t think his powerful

vampire couldn’t handle himself, but he would

feel better if Rohan had backup.”

“He mentioned it as a possibility,” Rohan said.

“Take him up on it. I’ll worry a lot less if I know

Aden is there.”

“You trust him that much?”

Harris knew Rohan didn’t understand Harris’

unwavering devotion to Aden. “When I was

younger, I’d been captured by a hunter. He’d

killed my parents, and for his own sick

amusement, he locked me in a cage and kept me

in his backyard. Carey ran across me when he was

vacationing with his father. When Carey realized I

was a shifter, he went and fetched Aden. Aden

killed my captor in front of me so I would never

have to look behind my shoulder for the rest of

my life. Then, he took me home and raised me.

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There’s nothing Aden Gale could ever do that

would shake my faith in him,” Harris vowed.

“I had no idea,” Rohan said. “I must remember

to thank your Aden for killing the man who caged

you.”

“No need,” Harris said. “I said my thanks years

ago. Aden knows I’m grateful.”

Rohan nodded. “I begin to see why you have so

much faith in your friends.”

Harris smiled. “I want to come with you to the

coven. How they react to seeing me alive might be

even more telling. I’ll be able to scent who is

deceptive.”

“You didn’t with Vick,” Rohan pointed out.

“I did, but I figured I just hated him because

he’d been in your bed,” Harris confessed.

“He’s never been in my bed.”

“I know that now. He’d implied it before.”

“Why didn’t you just come ask me?”

“Because, I didn’t want to come off as a needy

idiot who couldn’t cope with his older lover

having sex before him. I was trying to be

sophisticated,” Harris grinned.

Rohan kissed Harris on the cheek. “Next time,

just ask.

Harris nodded. “Will do.”

He’d been foolish by trying to be worldlier. His

mate didn’t care if Harris had a bit of innocence

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around him; anyone would be more naïve than a

centuries-old vampire.

“Let’s get you some food, beloved. After you’ve

eaten, we’ll go see who in my coven needs to be

burned to meet their gods.”

Harris nodded. They were done messing

around. Whoever thought it was a good idea to

mess with the coven leader had just made their

last mistake.

Rohan entered the coven mansion, Harris at his

back. He knew Aden was listening in through the

small microphone mounted on Rohan’s shirt in

place of one of his buttons. He felt like a secret

agent. Unfortunately, he probably resembled one

of those bumbling, clueless spies they had in

comedies instead of James Bond.

Harris squeezed his shoulder, laying his nerves

to rest with one touch. He’d been lucky to find his

bear shifter. When he thought he’d lost Harris, his

grief had almost been unbearable. Rohan knew if

Harris had died, he would’ve happily gone too.

Now, he figured someone else in his coven had

figured out the same thing. Get rid of the

companion and the vampire would follow.

The first person he saw through the doors was

Madeleine. She barely paused in her walk across

the foyer. “There you are.” Her gaze flashed to his

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office and back. He would’ve missed the action if

he hadn’t been looking for it.

“Oh, Maddie,” Rohan said softly. “How could

you?”

Madeleine didn’t even pretend to not

understand. “Because he would make me his wife.

To you, I’ll always only be a soldier.”

She pulled out a pistol.

“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Rohan

objected. “You can still get out of it.”

His lieutenant’s twisted smile told him she had

no intention of doing any such thing. “You always

were blind, Rohan. I just never knew you were

stupid, too.”

She disengaged the safety, pointed it at Rohan,

then fell to the ground—a bullet through her

forehead.

“Nice shot, love,” Rohan said.

“I thought so.”

He’d been shocked when Aden had suggested

they arm Harris, but now, he was glad they did.

No one would suspect Harris of hiding a weapon.

The sweet artist had a more ruthless side Rohan

was just now beginning to appreciate. The man

who comfortably handled a firearm to rescue his

friend turned out to be an expert in most weapons.

“Who do you think is hiding in your office?”

Harris asked.

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“I don’t know, but I don’t like the fact that the

only person we ran across so far is Maddie.” This

time of day, the mansion was usually filled with

people. Humans, vampires, visitors ran in and out

of the mansion to take care of things for most of

the day. To see no one around worried Rohan.

“The hawks are circling outside. We can call

them in if we need to,” Harris reminded him.

Rohan took a deep breath. He didn’t know

what he was up against, but he knew standing

outside the doors wasn’t going to find him the

answer he needed. Had he been fooling himself

this entire time? Did his people not truly respect

him and only followed him until someone better

came along? This newfound insecurity grated at

his nerves.
I’m a good leader, dammit!

Harris squeezed his shoulder. “Let’s go, mate.”

The glow from Harris’ support was only

surpassed by the mate designation. He doubted

Harris even realized what he said, but it still

caused a happy warmth to flow from Rohan’s

chest.

With a nod to his lover, he pushed the den door

and swept it open.

A sorcerer sat in Rohan’s chair behind the large

wooden desk. Two more henchmen sat opposite

him, obviously bodyguards.

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The sorcerer glanced up, and Rohan recognized

him. Theos, the leader of the sorcerer’s, gave him a

smug, slimy smile.

“Oh, you survived, that’s too bad,” Theos said

in a tsk-tsking tone as if Rohan had disappointed

him by his lack of dying.

“I hate disappointing you, but I plan on taking

back my coven,” Rohan said as he tried to figure

out a plan. “Where are they, by the way?”

“Who?” Theos asked. Rohan wasn’t the least bit

fooled by his fake innocence.

“My coven. Where are they?”

“I wouldn’t worry so much about your coven as

I would yourself,” Theo countered. He flipped a

paper over on the desk. “I have a document here I

need you to sign, so I supposed it is good that

you’ve survived. It amazes me that none of your

foolish coven members realized the building and

land revert to the state in case of your death.

Putting your people out in the street, shame on

you.”

Theos shook his head sadly as if he were truly

concerned with the plight of the displaced.

“It’s to discourage people from trying to

assassinate the coven leader,” Rohan explained.

“Finding that effective, are you?” Theos

mocked.

“Not particularly. The way I see it, there are

two of us and three of you. I like those odds,”

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Rohan said. Secretly, he hoped Theos didn’t have

a dozen more henchmen nearby at his beck and

call.

“Kill me and you’ll never find out where I hid

your coven,” Theos warned.

“Who said I wanted them back; they’ve only

caused me trouble,” Rohan bluffed.

Theos grinned. “Nice try, but it took us so long

to infiltrate your coven because most of your

people are ridiculously loyal. Now, if you sign this

paper giving us all rights to your land and

property, I’ll let your people go.”