Bearly Accidental (Accidentally Paranormal Book 12) (13 page)

Closing her eyes again, she inhaled and said, “I know what this sounds like, Cormac, but I need you to just hear me out. Please. This wasn’t how I meant for you to find out.”

“Aw, c’mon,
Teddy Bear
. You didn’t mean for me to find out at all. Skip the bullshit.”

He’d had a hard enough time trusting Wanda and crew—to ask him to trust her once she told him why she’d really been out in the woods was going to be impossible. But she was going to give it a hella shot anyway.

“Just let me explain. Just hear me out. You can do whatever you want when I’m done.”

That pulse in his jaw ticked; even beneath his beard she could see his fury. “Can’t wait for this explanation. Are they going to be as lame as all the others? You know, like I’m your life mate? Gotta tell ya, I was this close to believing you. You’re really good.”

Jumping up from the couch, Teddy almost tripped over the four-foot tall silver knight in shining armor Nina had next to the fireplace, holding the poker. “That’s not how it was, Cormac. I was telling you the truth when I said you were my life mate.”

God, even to
her
ears that sounded shady.

Oh Lord. How was she ever going to explain this to him? How could she ever make this right, make him understand? She should have said something right from the get-go. The second she realized Cormac wasn’t the bad guy and before they’d come to New York.

Her stomach pitched and rolled, but she forged ahead. “If you’ll just hear me out. Let me tell you what’s really going on; it might not make anything better, but at least you’ll know the truth. I’ll leave if you still want me to when I’m done.”

The thought of leaving wrenched her gut, and this after just two days. It was almost unbelievable, except for the stories her mother had told her about how she’d know. How she’d doubt the validity of her feelings, how she’d have to be patient and allow them to grow, but Masha Gribanov had been firm on one thing—she’d know.

Nina’s dark head popped around the corner just then, her expression irritated. “Dudes? What the fuck is the holdup in here? Are you two already playing kissy-face? Christ, it’s been less than two days. Does anybody bother to get to know each other before they’re skippin’ off to play hide the salami? Jesus and some overactive hormones, you kids these days. You know too much. I blame social media,” she said on a snort.

But no one was laughing.

Cormac began to speak, but Teddy held up her hand. “Nina? Would you ask everyone to come in here, please? I need to talk to you all.”

Nina exhaled with a loud grunt. “We have shit to do, people. Do you know what day it is? It’s fucking Sunday.
The Walking Dead’s
on Sunday. It’s Carl’s favorite show. It’s Nina and Carl time, every week on Sunday. We put Charlie to bed, we roast up some broccoli, and we watch his sorta people eat other people while Rick Grimes cries and I eyeball Daryl and his bow and arrow. I wanna wrap this shit up so I can get my Daryl on in peace without all the whiny, ‘OMG, my life’s in danger’ shit hanging over my head. Also, Facebook never fails to fuck it up for me with spoilers. You’d think it took an act of God to put a spoiler alert in your post. But no, that jackhole friend of my husband’s, Norman, is all up in my feed every GD time. What’s so important that we’re not gettin’ on with this crap already?”

“I lied,” Teddy blurted out, swallowing hard.

Nina’s beautiful eyes narrowed, placing her hands on her slender hips. “About?”

“Pretty much everything,” Cormac said.

“Not everything!” Teddy defended on a shout. Almost everything. There was a difference.

“I knew it!” Nina barked with a clap of her hands. “I fucking knew it. There’s always something. Who says I need my special spidey powers to detect bullshit? Didn’t I say that from the frickin’ start? You got some secret, Teddy Bear, and it’s gonna mess everything up. Then everyone’s gonna be all in an uproar. Pooh Bear over here’s gonna be all mopey and broody. You’re gonna be all drippy snot and tears. Swear to God, I could’ve written down how this was gonna go. Fuck. Fuck.
Fuck
!”

“Nina!” Wanda tapped her friend on the shoulder, her stern teacher’s face in full disapproval mode. “Why are you carrying on? Did we run out of Doritos already?”

Nina threw up her hands and rolled her eyes. “Because we got trouble. Just like we always do. Teddy says she has something to say. You know what that something is, Wanda? It’s some confession that will keep these two knuckleheads from focusing on what’s important. Catching that motherfucker Stas. It’s just like it always is. Sure, the players are different. It’s not a vampire or a genie this time but a damn pair of bears. And no, we didn’t have to go through the whole, ‘I can’t believe I’m paranormal’ bullshit therapy session we usually have to give our moron clients, but it’s all the same in the end.”

Wanda’s gaze turned to them. Gone was the gentle, sympathetic Wanda, replaced by suspicious, tell-me-everything-or-I’ll break-your-legs Wanda. “What’s going on?”

“I’d like everyone here so I only have to say this once,” Teddy said.

“Ass-sniffer? Stop curlin’ your fake eyelashes and get the fuck in here!” Nina crowed toward the kitchen area.

Marty flew around the corner, her boots skidding to a halt when she slammed into Nina and almost dropped Lenny. “What’s wrong?”

“Please sit, Marty,” Teddy requested, keeping her eyes averted from Cormac’s stony gaze.

As they all took their places on the couch—well, except for Cormac, who defiantly stood in the doorway—Teddy fought to keep tears from falling from her eyes.

She didn’t even know these people, and now she was going to tell them something that would make them hate her guts.

Way to make friends, Teddy Bear.

* * * *

“You’re a fucking bounty hunter?” Nina asked, and if Teddy was correct, there was a hint of admiration in her tone. Which was better than her scorn. Nina’s scorn hurt, and she didn’t have a reason why, but it stung like a thousand bees.

However, she didn’t want praise. She wanted them to give her the kind of hell she deserved for keeping this from them, and then she wanted forgiveness.

From a group of people she hardly knew. Why?

When she finally answered, her voice sounded small to her ears. “Not in the conventional sense, I guess. But that’s mostly what we do. We’re usually hired privately, and we always tell our clients they have to agree to meet with law enforcement if the bounty’s caught. There are no exceptions, and we make them sign a contract to that effect. Then we hunt the bounty down and bring them in. We’re really good trackers because we’re bears. It gives us an advantage. Also, I know the forest like my own backyard. So when we have a bounty in Colorado, I almost always take it. Oh, and…on a final note, my last name isn’t Jackson, it’s Gribanov.”

“So the dart gun story was a lie?” Marty inquired, crossing her arms over her chest.

She looked directly into Marty’s eyes and nodded. “I’m sorry. I do use it for my work with the animals at Sanctuary, that’s my day job, but as described by Arty McDaniels, we knew Cormac would be too big to contain without some help.”

Nina beamed from her place on the couch and slapped her thigh. “Hah! You’re a salty bitch, kiddo. I don’t see what the fucking problem is. She did her job. Now she’s telling us about it. What’s the big shit in that?”

“Well, you wouldn’t, ex-bloodsucker, because you’re dead and cold inside. Your heart is black and shriveled,” Marty reminded. “She told Cormac he was her life mate, Nina. You know how serious that is in our circles.”

“Okay, let’s be fair to Cormac. I did lie to him. He has a right to be angry,” Teddy defended, and hoped she didn’t sound like she was sucking up. “But I wasn’t lying about his role in my life. It caught me off guard, too, but Cormac
is
my life mate.”

She just had to wait until he knew it, too. Would he know? Ever? Her mother hadn’t ever told her much about how her father had felt during their courtship. Had he known her mother was the woman for him?

When Cormac finally spoke, it was to condemn her. “Nah. I don’t believe that. I’m just your cash cow.”

Clenching her teeth, Teddy repeated, “I told you, I called the bounty off last night when I realized something wasn’t right. I can’t prove that to you, but it’s the truth. I can prove the return of the money, if you’re interested. I can show you my account at my bank.” She paused and took a deep breath. “Look, you
should
be angry with me. That’s only fair. But as angry as you are, we have a bigger problem. We have targets on our heads right now, Cormac. We don’t have time to argue with each other about what a liar I am.”

“But here’s a question for you,
life mate
. Why should I believe this isn’t some huge ruse? How do I know that ‘attempt’ on your life wasn’t just some show you were putting on?”

Teddy glared at him hard, ignoring his dark beauty, ignoring his anger. “Because you woke up this morning. If I was a part of this, don’t you suppose I would have just killed you in the forest? Or even if I didn’t get a chance to do it then, why wouldn’t I have whacked you in your sleep? You’re not a stupid man, Cormac, but that was a stupid theory.”

He glared back at her, but he kept his gorgeous mouth shut.

“So what you’re telling us is the gentleman who hired you is the man who tried to kill you last night? You’re sure?” Wanda asked, the wheels in her head clearly turning.

Teddy nodded. “I’m as sure as the nose on my face.”

“Which grows longer by the second,” Cormac snarked.

“Oh, shut the fuck up, Lumbersexual, and quit beatin’ the kid down,” Nina ordered, her brow furrowed in a deep frown. “Think about what it was like for your brooding ass to take a chance and trust us—or anyone, for that matter. Teddy Bear didn’t know what the fuck was going on. She didn’t know us. She didn’t know you. So she weighed her options and stayed cool. Not many chicks do that these days. They wring their hands and whine. She came clean two days after meeting us. Not two years, Grudgey. Get over yourself and all your heavy-handed, holier-than-thou crap and give a kid a break. And remind me to tell you about Toni, and how she can tell if you’re a lying sack o’ shit by making your nose grow right on your fucking pouty face.”

Cormac rolled his eyes. “Oh, c’mon, Nina. She
cannot
.”

Nina strolled over, yanked a tuft of his beard and flipped him the bird. “The fuck she can’t. I wish she was here right now. She’d give you hell for being such a dick to someone who’s just trying to help you. Fuck, men are such pissy bitches.”

Marty nodded her head in total agreement with Nina. “She can, Cormac, and she can also breathe fire. Just so’s ya know.”

Wanda hopped up from her place on the couch and warmed her hands by the fire. “Okay, so all this aside. The man who hired you tried to kill you last night. That’s a fact. Which means he used you to find Cormac for him because you’re known for your tracking abilities. How did he know to look in Colorado to begin with, is what I want to know.”

“How did
you
know?” Cormac wondered out loud.

“You’ll never believe us,” Marty said on a grin.

“Let me guess, a crystal ball?” Cormac asked, but his tone suggested he was being a smartass.

“Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding! Winner-winner-chicken-dinner, Grizzly Adams. And don’t start hollering about how we’re crazy. You’re a bear because some Russian dude bit your leg, okay? If you’ve finally swallowed that shit, Roz’s crystal ball in Shamalot shouldn’t be a fucking stretch. So can the disbelief and the implication we’re a bunch of liars, because it damn well pisses me off,” Nina ordered, reaching for a large silver bowl filled with miniature Almond Joys.

Wanda turned to face them, tucking her ivory sweater around her waist. “She’s telling the truth. Take it or leave it, Cormac. I think you know my stance on your disbelief at this point. If not. I’ll tell you. I’m over it. Now, the next question, how is the McDaniels fellow connected to Andre? Is he connected to him at all? Why is everyone suddenly coming out of the woodwork and trying to kill Cormac now—after three years? They have to be working toward the same goal, right?”

That made complete sense to Teddy. Maybe this Arty guy was a part of the mob, too? Or someone they paid to handle their dirty work, like a subcontractor for murder, and Cormac was the final loose end?

Wanda suddenly whipped around, her finger in the air. “Can you describe McDaniels to Cormac, Teddy? Maybe he saw him when Stas and his crew kidnapped him?”

As she created a picture of the man she knew as Arty McDaniels for Cormac, a beefy man with a receding hairline, thick New York accent, and penetrating black eyes, he shook his head. “There wasn’t a soul with a New York accent. Everyone was Russian—or they were really good at making me believe they were Russian, with their accents.”

Wanda began to pace the floor, her low-heeled, chic pumps clacking on the hardwood. “But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved. So who is this man? Why does he want Cormac, and anyone in contact with Cormac, dead? What does he have to do with the murder Toni witnessed?”

“He has to be involved with Stas. I just can’t figure the connection,” Teddy replied.

Cormac shook his head, jamming his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “And so what does this all mean in the end? It still means these mob guys want me dead. Now they want Teddy dead, too. Nothing changes except for how many of them we have to look out for.”

“I hate to even say this out loud, but what we need to do is catch them in the act of attempted murder,” Wanda said in her no-bones-about-it way.

Marty was on her feet now, too, her eyes gleaming. “But we don’t just need to catch this McDaniels. We need to catch Andre, and the root of this mess, which is Stas. Don’t they always say to cut the head off the dragon if you want to end its reign of terror? But how are we going to catch Stas when he sends his goons to do his dirty work? Isn’t that what mob guys do? You know, like Pacino in the
Godfather
. Sort of untouchable, always giving orders, sending horse heads as threats, but never getting his hands dirty? We need to get to him somehow. Find out where he hangs out, who he socializes with,
where
he socializes. Anybody know any good Russian hangouts in Jersey?”