An Unexpected Affair (8 page)

Although there was nothing practical about it all, he knew he wouldn't have been able to resist her much longer if Aidan hadn't turned up. Something told him that she wouldn't have either.

"She's human," Aidan remarked.

"Yeah, I know."

"She's seen us." Aidan paced around the hallway while transforming back into his human self.

Derek followed suit so that they were both back in their human form and naked. Aidan shook his head in disbelief, then walked off towards what used to be his old room towards the back of the farmhouse.

Aidan pulled some jeans and a hooded sweatshirt out of the wardrobe and put them on after drying himself off with a towel. The roads weren't clear enough for a vehicle, so the only way to get to the farm would have been just like how Derek did it hours before: in shifted form, straight through the woods, braving the elements. That explained why Aidan arrived rather damp and riled up.

He threw a similar outfit in Derek's direction, who also got dressed in a rush.

Despite living vastly different lives - Aidan spending all his time away from home and Derek doing a lot more physical labor on the farm, the two brothers looked very much alike. They were both extremely broad and muscular as you'd expect bears to be and had the same shade of shaggy brown hair. It was a blessing in cases like these when either one of them found themselves in need of covering up after an unplanned shift that they wore the same size clothes as well.

"Do I want to know why she was in your bed?" Aidan gave him a suspicious stare.

Always the big brother,
Derek thought,
no matter how little he shows his face around here, or how old we get.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. She's a guest. Her car crashed in the storm, knocked her out, and I brought her back here to keep an eye on her."

"A guest, eh? That's all?"

Derek shrugged, unwilling to go into the details of the matter right this moment. Actually, he wished to cut the entire conversation short so that he could go back into the bedroom to see how Clarice was holding up after the shocking display the two brothers had just given her.

"Well, perhaps if we play dumb we can convince her she was just seeing things. That would be for the best," Aidan speculated.

Derek slowly shook his head, not really in response to his brother, but more to himself. Knowing what he knew now, that Clarice did indeed have some kind of connection with him, he couldn't see how secrecy was an option anymore.

"Anyway, why don't you tell me why you're here?" Derek asked instead.

"Can’t I just visit my little brother anymore?" Aidan responded gruffly.

"The way you came bursting in unannounced suggests something else is going on," Derek said while scrutinizing his brother's face. There was something there, a hint of a frown he tried hard to disguise, but Derek could still see it. Whatever he'd been up to in the nine months since Aidan's last visit, it had taken a toll on him.

"Alright then," Aidan began. "If I'm going to tell you everything, I have one condition. Don't think for a moment I'm buying the 'she's just a guest' crap, okay? I'm not stupid. You'll let me know what's going on with the human, and I'll tell you what's going on with me."

"Fine." Derek sighed. Despite Aidan's abrasive and often bossy nature, it might be useful to get another perspective on Derek's predicament anyway.

"It's a long story," Aidan said.

They walked back down the hall, past the master bedroom where he could still sense Clarice's presence. Her heartbeat had calmed down significantly. Her breathing had slowed. Even without opening the door, Derek knew that she had fallen asleep again, which was just as well.

"What do you say we discuss it over some mulled wine?" Derek didn't wait for Aidan's agreement, but just headed further down the hall anyway until they made it into the dark lounge, and from there into the kitchen, which was invitingly lit up by an oil lamp. He opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of mulled wine mixture he had made earlier, pouring it into a pot to warm it up. Outside, the storm had barely had a chance to calm. The wind was still whistling through the trees and around the farmhouse, and it was still raining as well.

All the while, Aidan paced up and down the room. Whatever was going on with him, it wasn't good. Derek could tell that much.

He picked up two glasses and poured the deep red, fragrant liquid into them, handing one to Aidan. They sat down around the large round wooden table and sipped their wine in silence. Derek waited until Aidan looked a bit more revitalized. If there's one thing that made bears even less chatty than normal, it was cold weather.

"She's my mate, Aidan," Derek broke the silence at last.

His brother looked up from the half empty glass, one eyebrow raised.

"I know it's not ideal, being that she's human, but I know it in my gut, and I can't fight it." Derek averted his gaze downward while continuing to warm his fingers on the mulled wine in his hands.

"I see." Aidan cleared his throat. "What does she know?"

Derek shrugged. "Nothing. I'd been avoiding the issue completely and avoiding her. But when she crashed her car earlier today, I realized I couldn't stand it anymore. I can't let her go, Aidan."

Aidan ran his hands through his still damp hair and let out a chuckle. "Believe it or not, I know how you feel."

Derek looked up. It was his turn to stare at Aidan in surprise. "How so?"

"I've also met someone.
The one.
"

"Is that why you're here?" Derek asked.

"No. Yes. It's complicated."

"Don't tell me she's human as well?"

Aidan took one last gulp before putting the empty glass down on the table and crossing his arms. "No, it's nothing like that. Anyway, your situation requires sorting out first. She doesn't know anything you say, and yet she's just seen the two of us. That's bad. Very bad." Aidan's face took on a thoughtful, more serious expression.

"I suppose, but maybe she'll be okay with it. What do you think?" Derek hoped out loud.

"It's not about whether
she
will be fine with it. What about the Code? This goes beyond just you and your
girlfriend.
The survival of our species relies on complete secrecy, as you well know!"

Of course, Aidan was right, but the tone in which he said it grated at Derek. The last thing he needed right now was a lecture from his big brother.

"Not even you can turn back time on what's already happened." Derek's face darkened as he spoke. Clarice couldn't just un-see them in their bear form, neither could he ignore the immense pull she had on him. It seemed irrational and crazy, but he knew that if he couldn't have her, he wouldn't survive his loss.

His entire situation was so unprecedented that the only comparison he could draw was with bear couples where one partner passes. The other half of the couple often died of a broken heart shortly after. Mated bears literally grew old together, or they didn't grow old at all.

"Pour us another glass. I have something to say," Aidan started.

Derek paused for a moment, tempted to argue, but finally decided to just do as he was told. Moments later, fresh refill in hand, he sat down opposite Aidan again and waited.

"I've never told you what it is I do." Aidan leaned forward and ran his fingertip across the rim of the glass, wiping a droplet of mulled wine off it.

"You've never been home long enough to discuss it. Not that I mind, you know I'm not the social type," Derek remarked.

"Obviously I've been traveling, but I never mentioned my reasons. When Mum and Dad had their accident, I couldn't shake the feeling that something else was going on..."

Derek raised his eyebrow. "You think it wasn't an accident?"

Aidan forced a smile. "You've always been sharp. Yes, that's exactly what I suspected. Of course, I had no proof."

"And you do now?" Derek asked.

"Not yet. That's why I'm here, to look through their things and the old newspaper clippings I'd kept from way back when. But what I'm getting at is, some people approached me a while ago. That's how I met Heidi recently as well."

The way Aidan said her name, Derek knew that Heidi was the woman he'd hinted at before. Aidan's mate. "Right. What people?"

"Have you ever heard of the Sons of Domnall?" Aidan asked.

"Yeah, from the old stories," Derek said.

"It would seem that they don't just exist in stories."

Derek stopped mid-sip and put his glass back down, his gaze now completely fixed on his brother.

"They're a real threat. A group of humans who know our secret and are intent on rooting us out. We're trying to form a counterpart to that. I'm now working with like-minded shifters to protect our secret and keep our own safe against the Sons of Domnall. Our group is called the Alliance."

"And how do Mum and Dad fit into all that? You think their deaths are related to what you've discovered?" Derek ran his hand through his hair, trying to make sense of it all.

"It would explain a lot, wouldn't it? The problem with us bears is, we don't organize ourselves. We tend to keep to ourselves, and when something happens, there's nobody to help out or put two-and-two together. Those who lives in packs, wolves, for example, are miles ahead of us. There have been disappearances across the shifter world. And the evidence links it all back to human interference."

Derek was stunned. Living alone in this remote part of the world, it had become very easy to assume life was quaint everywhere else. The possibility that their parents' death hadn't been an accident like he'd believed all his life was a lot to take in. And to think that their way of life was in danger because of a secret society of human assassins... That was all crazy talk, wasn't it?

"Their activities have escalated over the past few years - or perhaps it's only after the recent truce with the wolves that we've started to share the necessary information across species to find out the full extent of what's been happening. That's why secrecy is so important, now more than ever before. That's why your human poses a huge problem." Aidan pinched the bridge of his nose while looking away at nothing in particular.

"Before you burst in, and I was talking to her, I felt it. Our connection is mutual. I assumed it wouldn't be, because she's human, but..."

"We've got to know for sure. A bear would rather die than to put his mate in harm's way, but who knows how it works for humans? I'm not sure we can trust her."

"I'm sure." Derek looked up from his glass, staring his brother right in the eye. He was sure, because hidden in the dark of the doorway another pair of eyes was staring at Aidan. Clarice had woken up.

When Clarice finally awoke, she was surprised to still find herself in that same bed, in that same room, with the same wooden furniture from her crazy dream earlier. The only difference was the dark corner where Derek had sat was empty now, and the candle on the dresser had burnt up even further.

The welt on her forehead hurt equally, her limbs were stiff as before, and the only thing she could hear was a low howl outside the window. The storm was still going on though its intensity had reduced quite a bit.

Enough was enough. If she stayed in bed, who knows what other crazy hallucinations her mind would come up with. Clarice fought against the residual lethargy in her muscles and rolled over onto her side, ready to get out from underneath the warm covers. Her legs seemed to work just fine, even if the rough wooden floor underneath her feet felt funny, tingly, as if her feet had fallen asleep along with the rest of her.

She got up carefully, swaying slightly as she tried to maintain her balance. Then, putting one foot ahead of the other, she slowly walked around the bed and straight towards the door.
Where was the bathroom?

Clarice turned the handle, then stopped to listen for any sign of another presence inside the house, before heading across the hall to the first other door she could find. She heard nothing but the wind. The house itself was completely quiet.

As luck would have it, the first door Clarice tried was indeed the bathroom. The mirror allowed her a first look at the damage done to her head. It looked pretty bad. Shades of blue and purple colored her skin with a bright red cut in the center. She would have expected more blood, meaning that someone - Derek probably - had cleaned her wound after carrying her here.

That was what had happened, right?
Or had that also been a dream?

Clarice washed her hands, shivering as the icy cold water prickled against her skin. She hoped that the cold water would wake her up, to help her filter through her memories to determine what was real and what had just been fantasy.

"I'm losing it," she said to her reflection, then shook her head and dried her hands on the fluffy towel hanging beside the sink.

Still confused, she left the bathroom again and was greeted by muffled voices coming from the far end of the corridor. Now that she felt a bit more limber, she tiptoed her way down the hall. She'd had no idea where in the house she was before, but as she neared the room at the end, she could see shadowy outlines of two armchairs and a sofa. Further ahead was a doorway with light filtering out of it. The kitchen.