Alpha Bear (12 page)

It was the principle of the thing, more than
anything else. Humans were acceptable as mates. The Baker sisters
were living proof of the concept. Magic users? Not so much.

But John had always believed that rules were
made to be broken. So maybe the rest of the guys wouldn’t follow
his lead anymore. So what? Big deal. They weren’t always the best
at following orders anyway. It would be worth stepping down as
leader of this ragtag Clan to find that most elusive of desires. A
true mate was worth any sacrifice.

If Ursula Ricoletti turned out to be his true
mate, all bets were off. John would move hell and high water to
keep her, regardless of whether she was a witch or not. Nothing
mattered but that deep, true bond that he had seen between his
parents, and even between the three Baker sisters and the sons of
bitches lucky enough to claim them as their mates.

John was happy for those guys, but seeing
their happiness had made him yearn for the same. He honestly hadn’t
thought it would happen for him. At least not right away. Maybe in
a few years, after the town was settled. But it looked like the
Mother of All had different ideas.

Maybe.

This was all speculation on his part. He’d
have to get a lot closer to Ursula to know for sure.

If she was really his mate, then so be
it.

“Thanks for the sandwich,” John said,
finishing the delicious concoction Ursula had placed before him
without asking. “It was really great.”

“No problem. I figured you’d be hungry by
now,” Ursula replied, sounding nonchalant. But John knew better.
She’d been watching him covertly the whole time they’d been
eating.

“I’d like to discuss plans for tomorrow’s
exercise, if you’re still up for it,” John said to her, searching
her eyes for signs of weariness. She still looked really tired.
“But we can do that tonight, if you’d rather rest now.”

Ursula smothered a yawn. “Yeah, I’m sorry,
but I think I’m going to have to go back to sleep for a bit. I’ll
be fine for tomorrow. I just have to recharge. Can you come back
later? How about joining us for dinner? We can talk then.”

John agreed and took his leave without having
another chance to talk to Ursula alone. He left, knowing he had a
lot of work to do before he could keep that dinner appointment.

Might as well get to it.

The very first item on his list was to check
in with his men and get their impressions of the efficacy of
Ursula’s spell. By now his men should have measured the effective
zone and have any number of observations to report. He made his way
down the street to the new town hall they had built and went
directly to the war room they’d put in place for just this kind of
thing.

Ostensibly, it was just a large conference
room, but every one of his ex-soldiers knew this was the place
they’d chosen and set up to be the primary nerve center if there
was a problem in town. There was a secondary and even a tertiary
site available too—the secondary being in John’s home. That had
been their primary meeting place until they’d finished the town
hall. The third choice was now the a/v room in Brody’s house.

All three locations had state-of-the-art
computer systems and satellite link-ups. John and Brody had each
paid for and set up their own equipment. Most of the ex-Spec Ops
guys who had settled here had as much tech in their dens as they
could buy or scrounge. The stuff at the town hall had been a group
initiative, paid for out of Clan funds generated by the various
businesses in the town.

When John arrived at the war room, there was
a sitrep waiting for him, and the news was good. Ursula’s magic
that morning had protected about a third of the cove’s beach. The
men had run tests to see how far the protections extended and had
mapped out where the wards left off on a map of the cove.

John was impressed all over again with what
Ursula had done. And she would do it all again tomorrow, which was
even more amazing. The town would owe her a huge debt of gratitude,
and he hoped that meant the guys would be willing to accept her,
and her sister, among them.

Surely, she’d earned their respect already,
just from the morning’s effort. In time, maybe they’d be willing to
let the two
strega
stay in Grizzly Cove, as a sort of reward
for having been so willing to help protect the place. John could
see that happening, and he’d do all in his power to get the others
to agree. After what he’d learned this morning about her abilities,
Ursula would be a good ally for the Clan.

And personally, he might just have glimpsed
his future. If the lovely—and powerful—Ursula turned out to be his
mate…well…either she would stay here or John would give up on the
Grizzly Cove project entirely. He’d sell his land, which might take
some time, since he was the biggest landowner in the area. But he’d
sell out and leave. Let the others keep the cove running, if they
could. If he had a chance at a mate and the others didn’t accept
her, he’d leave and never look back.

Mates were precious. More important than
social experiments, towns, friends or anything else. They were
hope. They were a reward for faith, and a promise of love.

But all that was for the future. Right now,
they had a sea monster problem on their hands, and John needed all
the data he could gather before tonight so he could help Ursula
plan the most effective attack for tomorrow. His resolve firmly
set, he went to work collating all the reports from his men and
searching for anything that might help them tomorrow.

Back above the bookstore, Urse called Nonna
to talk about the events of the morning and get any advice the
older
strega
might have for the following day. It felt good
to hear Nonna’s voice and even better to receive praise for what
she’d done that morning. Even in San Francisco, Nonna had been able
to feel the power of the ward going up several hundred miles north
on the coast.

Nonna had been looking for it, of course. She
thought perhaps other magic users might have noticed the momentary
surge of magical energy in the Pacific Northwest, but such things
happened from time to time and probably wouldn’t draw too much
attention. Then again, Nonna had warned her that the power surges
that would take place over the next days while Urse worked might
attract attention.

With any luck, it would be benign entities
noticing the surges, but if something evil happened to see it and
want to know what it was that could generate such power, Urse and
Mellie would have to be on guard—and Urse should warn the bears
too, Nonna advised. She also reminded Urse of a few of the
safeguards she had taught her granddaughter that could add a little
protective kick to the spells Urse would weave next.

Taking mental notes, Urse was glad for her
grandmother’s advice and encouragement. Most of all, Nonna reminded
her not to worry too much. Things would happen as they were meant
to unfold. And then, Nonna had done something Urse hadn’t expected.
She’d asked about
her
bear.

Stymied by the very deliberate wording, Urse
had protested. “He’s not
my
bear.”

“Come now,
bella
. Didn’t he add his
power to yours?” Nonna insisted.

“Well…yes. He was inside the circle with me,
and he offered to add the power of his Clan to the spell. That’s
why it was a bit stronger than I expected.”

“Child, that sort of thing doesn’t happen
easily. Tell me, did your energies mesh easily? No effort required
to make them work together?” Nonna sounded a little too smug, but
Urse didn’t really know where she was going with these
questions.

“Well, yeah. I mean, once he started
channeling energy into the circle, it seemed to get along well with
mine. It twined and sort of merged, each part strengthening the
other,” she said, remembering the way the magic had flowed so
easily together. It was actually something really beautiful to
witness, and if she hadn’t been so scared about fighting the
leviathan, she would have enjoyed it a lot more.

Nonna made a
tsking
sound at her
through the phone line. “That doesn’t happen often, or easily. If
your bear’s magic can merge with yours, that means something
significant for you both as individuals. You are compatible.
Very
compatible. Some might say, you are destined to work
together in magic, and perhaps in life.”

“No way.” Urse was nonplussed. Was Nonna
saying John might be her match? Her… What did the shifters call it
again? Her
mate
?

“I cannot say for certain,” Nonna said
quietly, amusement clear in her tone. “Such things are for the Lady
to decide, but do not be surprised if your bear starts making
advances.”

For just a moment, Urse felt like a teenager
caught necking with her high school crush. John had made
advances
, as Nonna put it. Had they been serious? He’d
kissed her.

The question was…had he been thinking about
starting something serious? Or had it just been an impulse of the
moment?

Urse finished the call with her grandmother
shortly after that, returning to bed with the memory of John’s kiss
whirling through her mind until she fell asleep. She dreamed of a
big, soft, ferocious bear who let her rest her head against his
furry chest, protecting her as she slept.

John returned right around dinnertime to find
Ursula much improved. In fact, she was preparing the food right
alongside her sister. If he hadn’t known better, he would never
have guessed she’d been through so much that very morning.

Amelia had let him in and walked with him up
the stairs, chattering all the way. She was still on edge around
him, but he guessed that was to be expected. The younger sister
hadn’t spent much time around him since the big revelation. She
probably thought he was still angry about it.

He’d had a bit of time to think about the
entire situation this afternoon, and he’d come to some startling
realizations. First among them was that he no longer wished for the
strega
sisters to leave Grizzly Cove. He’d fight every last
bear in the town if he had to, but he wanted them to stay.
Especially Ursula.

She felt important to him. He wasn’t one
hundred percent sure what she meant to him yet, but he wanted the
time to find out. Keeping them both here was the only way he would
get it.

So that was one thing. Another thought had
occurred to him as well. With so much shifter magic concentrated in
one town, they’d be foolish not to ally themselves with Others who
had proven trustworthy.

John had already formed an alliance with the
Master vampire of Seattle. Master Hiram was the silent partner
funding the construction of Zak’s restaurant, after all. Hiram had
literally washed up on their beach, wounded gravely, his immortal
existence in peril. He had proven himself to John and his men as a
being of restraint and reason.

John was glad of the connection. Their new
relationship had already proved mutually beneficial. Hiram was an
ancient being of great power, sworn to the side of Light.

Now the Ricoletti sisters had appeared in his
town, out of the blue. Ursula had put herself on the line this
morning, to protect the cove and its inhabitants. She, too, was
proving to be a being who could command immense magical power.

John hadn’t realized it before. Ursula was a
very attractive woman, but she didn’t look on the outside like a
true force to be reckoned with. He’d only seen that side of her
when it was pressed into service this morning, to protect
others.

Her work today had been one of
self-sacrifice, in the goal of defeating evil and protecting the
innocent. That was something John could truly respect. It was,
after all, a creed by which he had lived most of his life.

John had gone into the military for just that
reason. He’d been an idealist, wanting to right wrongs and take
down bad guys. He’d done his fair share of that all over the world,
alongside most of the residents of this new town. This place was
his very own social experiment, and it was time he broadened the
horizons of his dream to include Others he hadn’t expected, but
needed to welcome, in order to make this place as secure as
possible.

Ursula and Amelia could contribute. In fact,
they were all set to contribute their power and skills, not knowing
whether or not they would be welcome to stay. They were willing to
expend their magical energy to protect those who might just as
easily turn around and throw them out of town after they were
done.

That didn’t sit right with John. No way was
he going to let anyone run these girls out of town on a rail. They
were doing their part. Hell, they were doing more than their fair
share.

Ursula was laying permanent wards against
evil all around the cove. That still boggled John’s mind. He hadn’t
known such things could even be done in this day and age, when
there was so little true magic left in the world of man.

She was making the place safe, not just for
her own sake—for her time here—but for all time. That was an
incredibly valuable and selfless gift.

He would see that she was allowed to stay
here and enjoy the benefits of her work. Come hell or high
water.

Then again, if the leviathan had its way,
maybe both would happen. And then, they’d all be sunk.

Urse didn’t know what to think when John
walked into the kitchen. He just stood there for a few minutes,
watching her, as Mellie went down the hall to answer the phone.

Did he now regret what had passed between
them earlier in the day? Or, like her, did he simply not know what
to say?

He managed to answer both of her questions
without uttering a sound. He just walked right up to her, took her
in his arms, and kissed her, right there in the middle of the
kitchen.