Bearly Enough (15 page)

“He came with Quentin. They are out front. They didn’t want
to come in.” She wrinkled her nose. “The tribes don’t get along at all. This is
a really big deal.” She glanced sideways at Stone. “It’s really nice that he’s
letting us in his house.”

Lucy looked over at Stone. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

He nodded. “I think I’m going to sit out back.” He gave her
a meaningful stare. “No funny business,” he warned.

Lucy rolled her eyes, but she felt Gabby flare up next to
her.

“You can’t just keep my sister here!” she started to yell,
but Lucy reached out and touched her arm. “It’s fine, Gabby. Really.” She
didn’t add that being held prisoner included sexcapades with Stone.

Stone walked past them, his eyes never leaving Lucy; she
could feel her face flush as every nerve ending sprang to life in proximity to
Stone.

Could he read her thoughts?

Gabby didn’t miss a beat, and Lucy felt her eyes boring into
her. As soon as Stone was outside, Gabby turned to her.

“What the hell?” she murmured, her blue eyes flashing.
“Please tell me that I did not just see what I think I saw!”

“What?” Lucy asked defensively. “I don’t know what you saw.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Gabby hissed. “
Please
tell me that there is not something going on between you and the bear that is
holding you captive!”

“Okay, first of all, I didn’t know that he was a bear,” Lucy
huffed. She felt angry and embarrassed for being in the dark for so long. “And
secondly, there was already something
there
before I knew he was trying
to trick me.”

Gabby gave her a dubious look. “So, if he was trying to
trick you, then how could there be something there?”

Lucy’s head ached. She was exhausted. “Please, Gabby.
Everything I’ve ever known to be true is not what it seemed.” She walked over
to a couch and sank down. Gabby was next to her a minute later, wrapping her
arm around her. 

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s a lot to take in. It was a
lot for me, too.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lucy demanded, unable to hide the
pain in her eyes.

“I am, so, so sorry,” Gabby said, and her own eyes filled
with tears. “It killed me not to tell you, but I thought you would think I was
crazy, and I couldn’t risk putting you in harm’s way.” She wrung her hands
together. “It wasn’t my secret to share.”

Lucy could understand where Gabby was coming from, but she
hated it.

Instead, she changed the subject.

“You know that Daddy was not from the tribe that you married
into?”

Gabby nodded, biting her lip.

“And you’re aware that he was,” she took a deep breath,
“killed by someone in your tribe.”

Gabby bit down harder on her lip. “Yes, I know.”

“How? How could you marry into that tribe?” Lucy exploded.
“They took our father from us! Our whole lives could have been different!”

“Please try to understand,” Gabby pleaded. “This tribe is
different now. There’s a new leader. Did you know that?”

Lucy nodded.

“They were so cruel under their last leader. They wanted to
kidnap me, harm me! They wanted to keep me tied up and rape me and just make me
pop out baby after baby!”

Lucy’s stomach rolled at what her sister was describing—that
was no life—that was torture. It was essentially what Karina had told her, but
she didn’t want to believe it.

“And Zane and I just fell for each other,” Gabby added
helplessly, before giving Lucy a pointed look. “It seems you of all people
should understand that!”

“But—but they killed Daddy,” Lucy sputtered, still hung up
on that thought. The father she had never known!

“I know,” Gabby said quietly. She was acting strange. There
was something else she wasn’t telling her.

No.

It couldn’t be.

“Gabby,” Lucy said slowly, “do you know who did it?”

Gabby was never a good liar, and she stared at Lucy before
looking away.

“You do! Who? Who was it?”

“Please, Lucy,” Gabby begged. “I can’t. I can’t say.”

“Gabby, tell me! I’m your sister! He was my father, too!”

Gabby looked up, her big blue eyes round with fear and
sadness.

“Zane,” she whispered.

Oh fuck.

Fuck!

Stone sucked in his breath in shock, not believing what he
just heard Gabby admit to Lucy. Zane, her husband, had been the one who had
killed their father.

Holy shit!

Stone heard the silence in the room and he wanted to run in
there, but he knew that it wasn’t his place. He needed to allow Lucy to deal
with this on her own.

Then he heard it.

“What?” Lucy yelled. “What?”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Gabby cried.

Stone smelled him first, and then he came face-to-face with
Zane, barreling around the side of the house.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Stone growled. As if he
needed more reasons to despise the Virtus.

“I need to go in there. I need to explain things!” Zane
said, moving toward the door.

Stone blocked his way. “I don’t think so.”

The other guy, Quentin, appeared. He quietly stood to the
side.

“Get out of my way,” Zane said, annoyed. “My wife shouldn’t
have to explain this alone.”

“You aren’t going in there,” Stone said slowly. “This is
between the two sisters. They need to work it out themselves.”

Zane shot him a look of contempt. “Who the hell do you think
you are? Get out of my damn way!” He yanked at Stone’s arm, which was blocking
the doorway, and Stone reacted instinctively.

He let out a half-roar, half-yell, and he felt the power of
the bear course through his body. His muscles bulged and grew and he tripled in
size as his bear broke free.

He knew that this was wrong, that he should not be shifting
during what was supposed to be a peaceful meeting.

But Zane had touched him.

And everyone knows that bears shouldn’t fuck with other
bears.

“Damn it!” hissed Quentin.

In the same instant, Zane let out a strangled sound, and his
clothes flew off his body in torn shreds and his limbs morphed and grew into
long brown, furry paws.

Zane snapped at Stone, and infuriated, Stone snapped back.

“Stop it!” Quentin yelled. “You are both ridiculous! Change
back!”

Zane made as if he was going to attack Stone again, and
Stone reared onto his hind legs, prepared to roar, but Zane ran into the open
yard. Stone followed him, growling loudly.

It was easy to compartmentalize when he was a bear, and he
pushed all thoughts of Lucy and Gabby away, though he could easily smell them
inside the house. Gabby had a flowery sweet smell, yet also smelled woodsy.
Stone knew that was from her living with bears.

Lucy’s smell was familiar and intoxicating, which only made
it that much more appealing.

He focused his mind back on Zane and attack.

Zane began to circle him and Stone followed, moving
stealthily while keeping his eyes focused on Zane, and Zane alone. He heard the
other bear, still in human form, run up.

“Stop this!” Quentin yelled at the two of them. “You’re
going to rile up both tribes! Shift back to human form!” But he wasn’t an
alpha, and no one was forced to obey him.

The bears continued to circle one another, and the hair
stood up on the back of Zane’s neck. He wanted nothing more than to rip out
Stone’s throat. Stone seemed to read his mind, growling as he clamped his large
teeth down.

Zane could feel his breath coming in short pants, felt the
huge expansion of his large rib cage as he breathed. There was something so
primitive, so feral about how his bear worked, and he felt every animal urge
pushing his humanity back to the smallest corner of his mind.

This time Stone went to snap at Zane, but Quentin was too
fast, and he jumped between the two bears, looking small and fragile beside the
giant beasts.

“Enough!” he ordered. He wasn’t an alpha, but both bears
stopped for a moment. Stone fleetingly wondered how the hell Quentin was
managing to stay in human form.

Zane growled menacingly, and Stone could tell he wanted
Quentin out of the way; at least they agreed on something.

“You idiots!” Quentin hissed, jumping clear just before the
two bears leapt at one another. Zane leapt high in the air, swiping at Stone’s
head, as Stone went low, sinking his teeth into Zane’s leg.

Stone had more success.

Zane howled in pain and Stone was ready to attack again,
when something caught his eye.

A flash of black was running toward him, yelling, and it
took him a moment to realize that it was Lucy.

“What are you doing?” she screamed, her eyes wild, fearful
and angry. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Zane!” Gabby was shrieking, running after her sister, her
eyes only on her husband.

Lucy was just feet from Stone, and he didn’t want to harm
her, that much he was sure of.

“You can’t be fighting!” Lucy cried, catching herself before
she moved too close. Zane instinctively moved in front of Gabby to protect her.

Zane growled, ignoring Lucy. He could smell the anger
rolling off her.

“Stop!” she cried. “Stop it, now! You two cannot fight!”

The moment she yelled
stop
, Stone felt the command
roll over him. He went to attack Zane again, but he felt like he was in
quicksand. His body and thoughts felt sluggish.

What the hell was going on?

Zane appeared as if he wanted to rip Stone’s head off too,
and yet he wasn’t moving either.

Confused, Stone looked at Lucy, and then he heard Quentin
behind him.

“Oh shit,” he breathed.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Quentin.

“Shift back
now,
” he said to the two bears. Then he
turned and looked at Gabby and Lucy. “Go inside.” They stood still. “
Now!
”
he yelled. “We’ll meet you there momentarily.”

The girls jumped, exchanging worried glances, and hurried
inside.

Stone forced himself to shift back, nearly wincing as his
muscles contracted and condensed as he shrunk into his human form. He felt his
coarse bear hair retract into his body as his snout grew smaller and smaller
until it was a regular human nose. He was naked, of course, having lost his
clothes in the shift.

He looked over and saw Zane that was naked, too.

There wasn’t time to worry about that, though.

“It’s not possible,” Zane said, looking at Quentin.

Had they all felt it?

“I didn’t think so either,” Quentin muttered, “but that’s
exactly how it felt with Gabby. “

“You mean Lucy is…,” Stone trailed off. He couldn’t quite
finish the sentence.

“Yes,” Quentin said firmly. “She is.”

“That’s impossible,” Zane muttered.

“I felt it!” Quentin pointed out. “You
both
felt it!”

Yes, that had been what Stone had felt. It had been like an
alpha order, only weaker. He could have resisted it, but it certainly would
have slowed him down—that was why he felt as if he were moving through
quicksand.

“It’s the same feeling,” Zane agreed.

“Oh fuck,” Stone breathed. He knew what this meant.

Jeremy would want to act quickly.

There was no way he would be able to hide this from him.

If he and Zane had not been fighting, they might never have
made their discovery.

Which reminded Stone
why
he and Zane had been
fighting.

“How could you?” he growled, turning on Zane, his eyes
flashing.

Zane seemed confused at first, and then he understood.

“I was just a young boy. It was the first time I shifted.”
He hung his head with shame, catching Stone off guard; he had not been
expecting sorrow. “I crossed the border and didn’t realize it.”

“But—he was a king!” Stone stuttered, feeling like a
deflated balloon as the air left him.

“I didn’t know! He came at me! He attacked me because I had
crossed the boundary, but I didn’t know, so I acted in self-defense.” He was
quiet for a moment. “Even being a king, he was no match for me. I was late to
shift and had so much pent up energy, anger and power.” He looked up at Stone,
his eyes fierce and unapologetic. “Believe me,” he growled, “I’ve paid my dues,
and no punishment will compare with the guilt I feel.’’

Disgusted, Stone shook his head. How could Gabby even look
at him? Let alone marry him?

How the hell had that happened?

“We can deal with this later,” Quentin snapped, “We need to
go inside and calm down the shit storm that is about to happen.” He looked over
at Stone. “Are you going to let us into your house?” he asked.

Stone was still trying to wrap his head around the entire thing;
he didn’t have time to argue about who he was letting in his house.

“Fine,” he grumbled, leading the way up the yard and into
the house.