Bear Naked (Halle Shifters) (9 page)

“And your crazy family might just keep her stalker from winning.”

Glory groaned. It looked like the Bunsun-Williams clan would be converging on her en masse.

And secretly, part of her loved the thought. Ryan’s family was a blast. An annoying, poking-in-your-life, loud-and-proud blast. And some of the few people who didn’t make Glory feel like a freak of nature.

But instead of letting Ryan know that she actually adored his family, she sniffed. “I guess if we have to.”

Ryan hugged her tighter to his side. “We have to.”

Glory sighed. It was going to be a fun couple of weeks.

Chapter Six

Ryan escorted his mate into Cynful Tattoos, his senses on high alert. He very much doubted her stalker was sitting in Frank’s Diner eating pancakes and eggs. He was willing to bet his right arm the son of a bitch was watching them as they entered Glory’s place of business. He sniffed the air, hoping to catch that elusive scent Gabe had pointed out to him on Glory’s gifts.

Nothing. Not a single scent was out of place. Ryan gritted his teeth. He wanted to know who the son of a bitch was so he could make sure the shifter knew Ryan’s mate was protected. But images tumbled through his mind, each one more horrific than the last. What if he’d gotten close to the girls? If he was hiding in plain sight, it would be easy to figure out Glory’s likes and dislikes. He could be the mailman, the guy who’d installed the security system, even the pizza delivery guy.

Worse, what if he was a client? What if Glory had pierced him, laying her soft hands on his skin? Ryan could understand why one touch from his mate would make someone obsessed. Ryan was dying to feel her caress him, to direct all her passion on him. It would be amazing to feel that focus taking him over.

Ryan’s Bear was beginning to push harder than ever. They needed to claim their mate, make her one with them.

First he had to figure out how to get her to agree to the mating bite, and soon. But the thought of frightening her was abhorrent. He couldn’t force the bite on her, no matter how badly he wanted to. He needed her to accept what was going to happen between them or it would be a violation of everything he believed a mating should be.

“Glory!” Tabby hurled herself into Glory’s arm, nearly knocking his tiny mate onto her ass. “What happened?”

Ryan left the girls to chat, drawing Bunny’s attention. He pulled him into the corner of the shop. “I need you to gather the family.”

Bunny’s eyes glazed over, his Bear peeking out. “Is Tabby in danger?”

Ever since Tabby had gotten pregnant Bunny had been insanely overprotective. But if it got the family out to protect Glory, he’d sacrifice Bunny’s peace of mind in a heartbeat. “I’m praying not.”

That was all it took. Bunny was on his cell phone in an instant, calling in the troops. Knowing how the family reacted to threats, Ryan had no doubt they’d be converging on Halle within a day, even the ones in Oregon.

“Smart move.” Julian peeked out from behind the curtain hiding the employee area. “Your cousins can watch over Glory when you can’t. I mean, you have to sleep some time.”

With any luck, he’d be sleeping in Glory’s bed from now on. He caught Glory’s quick glance before she turned back to her friends. The flush on her cheeks had him wondering what she’d been thinking about. “Who said anything about sleeping?”

“Hey.” Bunny stepped between Julian and Ryan. “Mom and Dad are making arrangements. The family will gather at Ryan’s apartment tomorrow night.”

Since tomorrow was Sunday and they all had it off, it made sense. “Shit. I have to clean.”

“Clean what?” Glory wrapped herself around his arm and he couldn’t have been happier.

“My apartment.”

“Uh. I’m not helping with that.” Bunny held up his hands and backed slowly away. “The last time I did something tried to bite me.”

“It’s not
that
bad.” A few pizza boxes here and there, some dishes in the sink. Nothing to cause Bunny to shudder in horror. Like his cousin had never left a few glasses lying around.

“Oh, it is.” Julian smirked as he leaned against the doorjamb. “Trust me on that one.”

Ryan glared at Julian. “Since when did you become a domestic goddess?”

“Since my mate will skin me if I don’t pick up after myself.” Now it was Julian’s turn to shudder. “She threatens to withhold video games.”

Ryan blinked. God, the man was weird.

Glory glared up at him. “Your apartment is dirty?” She smacked him in the stomach. “And your family is coming?”

Ryan smiled weakly. He was going to kill Julian and Bunny for getting him into trouble with his mate. “Have I mentioned that you’re cute?”

Glory rolled her eyes. “Girls?”

“I’m in.” Cyn grinned as Julian tugged her close. “I have got to see what frightened Bunny.”

“I’m in too.” Tabby literally bounced in place. “I’ve already cleaned our place so many times the polish is going to come off the granite.”

“You’re nesting, Tabby.” Cyn shrugged. “It’s normal.”

“I’m a Wolf. We don’t
nest
.” Tabby sniffed in disgust. “We make a den.”

Bunny snarled and tugged Tabby behind him. “You’re not going anywhere near Ryan’s apartment. It might eat the baby.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “It’s not
that
bad.”

Bunny stared at him. “It’s a petri dish for a mad scientist.”

“Now I’m
definitely
going.” Tabby tickled Bunny’s side, the big man squirming away from her until she was able to maneuver herself in front of him. “When do we start?”

“Tonight after work, if you’re willing.” Ryan was beyond grateful. He hated cleaning. “I’ll pay for pizza, beer and baby-appropriate soda.”

Bunny shook his head. “I’m telling you. You’re all going to get eaten.”

Tabby pouted at him. “You’re going to let me go alone?”

“Uh…” Bunny, his expression panicked, backed up a step.

Tabby batted big, brown eyes at her mate. “You’ll come with me, won’t you?”

Ryan bit back a laugh. Bunny never could resist the Puppy Eyes of Death, and Tabby was a master at them.

Bunny glared at Ryan. “If my baby comes out mutated I’m blaming you.”

“It’s not that bad!” Geez. So maybe he should buy a vacuum on the way home. Maybe then they’d get off his case.

“I’ll go get the hazmat suits.” Bunny was grumbling to himself as he left the shop, sending Julian into a fit of laughter.

“Cyn? Do you know where we can get a blonde wig?”

Ryan turned his attention away from Bunny’s antics and toward his mate. “We’re going to do it now?”

Cyn, who was shooing a still-laughing Julian behind the curtain, paused. “What?”

“Since Hope and I are identical twins, Gabe thought if we slapped a blonde wig on me and took a picture we could send it to area hospitals and police stations.”

“So they’d have an idea of what Hope looks like now.” Cyn smiled approvingly. “Good idea. Let me see what I can dig up.”

“Thanks. I don’t want to use one of those brassy Halloween wigs. I want to get as close to my natural color as possible.”

Tabby settled into one of the turquoise chairs. “Do you even remember what that is? Or do you have to grab a mirror and drop your panties?”

“Aw, Tabby. Would you like some coffee?” Glory smiled sweetly at Tabby as the Wolf gagged. “Extra cream, extra sugar?”

Tabby gagged again. “I hate you so much.”

Glory blew Tabby a kiss. “The feeling is mutual.”

Ryan had to smile. She might have lost her biological family, but his mate had made one hell of a new one in her friends. Even if they were crazy as hell.

“Y’all have
got
to see this.”

Glory followed Cyn into the bathroom. Considering what else they’d found she wouldn’t be surprised to see an alien reading the newspaper. So far she’d found a box with what she thought might be pizza in it. Or a fuzzy new life form. She wasn’t sure. Oh, and the jar of peanut butter that had been sitting in a coat pocket since the dawn of time. The peanut butter was so hard the spoon was permanently cemented into the jar. And did they even make that brand anymore? And why was it in a coat pocket from his high-school days? He had to have packed the coat, moved it to Halle, and then unpacked it, all without removing the jar.

And she didn’t think she’d ever forget what they’d found in the crockpot. Glory shuddered. At least now they knew why it had been duct taped shut. She was pretty sure the fuzzy stuff inside had tried to smack the shit out of her.

The carpet, which they’d thought was a speckled brown and beige, was actually pale beige once they vacuumed it.

And who the fuck didn’t own a vacuum? Seriously? They’d had to pick one up and put it together, sitting on the sofa because none of them wanted to risk the floor. Bunny had actually snarled at Tabby when she started to lower herself onto the carpet.

The kitchen counters were sticky, the sink full of dishes, and worst of all, the entire place smelled like man-socks.

The place was filthy. No wonder Bunny didn’t want Tabby here. The good news was, with a little elbow grease, it would be just fine. Ryan, for the most part, put things back in their places. He just didn’t bother to clean the surfaces.

Glory peered warily into the corner of the tub where she’d put the experiment in creating a new form of life. That crockpot was going straight to the apartment building’s Dumpster. There was no way in hell she was risking unsealing the beast again. And Ryan was the one who was going to carry it there. The Grizzly
might
be safe from the rampaging fungus.

And she was never,
ever
watching John Carpenter’s
Prince of Darkness
ever again. The scene where the cylinder opened and spewed liquid Satan all over the place kept replaying in her mind every time she thought of opening the Crockpot of Hell.

“What is that?” Cyn tapped a sad, brown piece of foliage sitting on Ryan’s toilet tank. It broke apart with an audible crunch, drifting down in a sad, brown powder.

“An air fern, I think.” Tabby swallowed hard.

Glory stared at it in disbelief. “Don’t they live on nothing but air?”

Tabby nodded, obviously too horrified to even speak.

Cyn lifted the toilet seat with the air of someone who was about to find a dead body in their freezer. When it was up they reared back.

“What…what is that?”

“Dear God, please let it be dead.”

Tabby gagged behind her hand.

“I didn’t realize Bears shed so much.” Cyn tilted her head. “Either that or Ryan has a thing for fuzzy toilet seats.”

Tabby was a little green around the gills. “That’s not
Bear
hairs. That’s…” She slapped her hand back over her mouth.

“Ugh.” Cyn stomped out in disgust, muttering profanities in Spanish.

“That’s
revolting
.” Glory took a step back, ready to bolt after Cyn. The man was simply not that cute.

“Not my mate, pregnant, see ya!” Tabby slammed out of the bathroom. “Free! I’m free!”

“Bitches.” Glory stared at the travesty of a bathroom and gritted her teeth. Ryan was
so
dead when he got back.

It took the three of them hours to get the apartment ready for Ryan’s family, but it sparkled when they were done. The rug had to be not only vacuumed but shampooed before Glory was satisfied she’d gotten everything out of it. The toilet, tub and tile in the bathroom gleamed like new, and the kitchen, while dated, was as clean as beige laminate could ever look. Hell, they hadn’t even realized the place had a dishwasher until Tabby went to take care of the dishes Ryan had left in the sink. The leather sofa and recliner no longer stank of Cheetos and feet, and Ryan’s bedroom was neat as a pin, with fresh sheets. By the time they were done, even picky Cyn was satisfied with the place.

Glory sighed as she stared around the apartment, realizing something she should have been willing to acknowledge a long time ago.

It had to be love. No one cleaned a toilet that furry without adoring the man who’d fuzzed it. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to kick his ass when he came home.

It was nearly midnight before the men got back. Alex, Julian and Ryan slipped into the apartment, looking guilty as hell.

Ryan, his expression wary, held out a bag of what smelled like her favorite tacos. “Glory? We’re back. I brought you—”

Glory went on the attack, swinging a roll of paper towels like a ninja sword. She proceeded to beat him to within an inch of his quilted, two-ply life, while Alex and Julian just stood there and laughed.

When she was panting, sweating and ready to collapse, Cyn stepped forward. She held up her own fresh roll of paper towels. “My turn.”

She then proceeded to attack Julian, hitting much harder than Glory could. “Ow! What did I do?”

“You left me. You
left me here.
Do you know what was in that crockpot?
Do you?
” Cyn got in an especially good hit, half of the roll unraveling to pool on the newly cleaned carpet.

Alex was laughing so hard he started crying. Tabby tapped her roll against her palm. “You’re next, sugar.”