Bearly Enough (4 page)

“You aren’t going to hurt her, are you?” he asked
suspiciously. He had considered leaving the tribe a number of times when they
had taken extreme action. But his family was here, and he didn’t have anywhere
else to go, so he always stayed.

“I have no intention of hurting her,” Jeremy said
dismissively. “Axel may have favored crueler measures, but they are not for
me.”

Axel had been the reigning Alpha until two months ago when
he was killed in a scuffle with the Atrocitas tribe, the last of the three bear
clans who remained in the area. Jeremy had succeeded him, and it did seem that
he erred more on the peaceful side.

“Am I wrong in thinking that you want more of a leadership
role in this clan?” Jeremy asked, his dark eyes surveying Stone.

“No. I do,” he said quickly. He had wanted that, especially
when he saw his older brother flourishing in just such a role.

“Good. Then get yourself acquainted with her, and let me
know when you’re able to bring her onto our lands.”

Stone had a million other questions, but he didn’t want to
hang around any longer than he had to, and he figured that Jeremy wouldn’t
answer his questions anyway.

He gathered up the folder and strode out of Jeremy’s house.

Monday morning found Stone in Salem, a bag of books slung
over his shoulder, searching for his first class—Early American History.

What a crock of shit.

He doubted the textbooks would include the werebears who
settled in the west long before any Native Americans, and certainly before the
white man made his way across the country in his rickety covered wagons.

He found the class and plopped himself down in the back.
Once he had an idea where Lucy liked to sit, then he could move closer to her.
After all, they were going to have the next four classes together this morning.

Stone watched student after student enter, but none of them
were Lucy. He thought that he might be in the wrong class, or that Lucy might
not show, but one minute before the class began, Lucy slipped in the door, her
dark hair swinging in front of her face.

As luck would have it, she sat in the row in front him, and
he watched as she crossed her slender legs, clad in tight black jeans. She was
wearing a thick black sweater, to ward off the unseasonably cold day he
assumed, and as she reached into her bag for her notebook, Stone noticed a
phone number scrawled across her hand.

She brushed her hair out of her eyes, took the cap off her
pen and seemed ready to take notes. When Stone pulled his eyes off her and
looked around, he saw that everyone else was doing the same thing.

Damn.

This teacher must make students take notes.

He pulled out a notebook and fished around for a pen.

What the hell?

Did he really forget to put a pen in his bag?

Fuck.

He looked at Lucy who was facing forward, but slouched in
her chair. It seemed this was as good a time as ever to talk to her. He gently
tapped her on the shoulder. Alarmed, she quickly turned around.

Stone gave her his signature sexy smile—it wasn’t hard to
do. He watched Lucy’s hesitant gaze warm up just a bit.

She smiled at him too, the corners of her mouth curling
up—it was unintentionally seductive.

“I’m sorry,” Stone whispered, “but do you have a pen I could
borrow?”

Keeping her big blue eyes on him, she nodded.

“Sure.” She continued to stare at him, and then seemed to
snap out of it as she rifled around in her bag.

She produced a pencil. “Will this work?”

“Perfect.” He took it and smiled again. She really was sexy;
at least he didn’t have to pretend that he found her attractive. “I’m Stone, by
the way.”

“Stone,” she repeated, smiling. “Different. I like it.”

“Ahem,” the professor cleared his throat and Lucy rolled her
eyes at Stone before turning around.

Stone didn’t pay much attention to the class, but instead
thought about ways he could continue speaking to Lucy. When class was over he
was going to ask her where the next room was, and then Lucy should notice that
she was heading to the same class.

“Hey, here’s your pencil,” he said, handing it back to her
after class.

She laughed. “Keep it. You’ll probably need it again.”

“Right.” He rifled in his pocket and pulled out a schedule.
“Hey, do you know where room two-oh-five is?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s actually where I’m headed next.”

“Nice! Would you mind if I walked with you?” He slung his
bag over his shoulder.

“Not at all,” she said quietly, and he followed her out the
door. “So, are you a student?” she asked as they walked down the hall.

Shit. What was this about?

He nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“I’m sorry! I don’t mean to be rude. You just look older
than most of us.”

Shit.

The bear blood made him so muscular.

He tried to play it off. “You mean I’m muscular?” he teased.

Lucy nodded, not embarrassed a bit by his direct question.
“Well, yeah.”

Stone shrugged. “Sue me. I’m a bit of a meat head.”

“And you’re a freshman?” Lucy asked curiously.

What was this, twenty questions?

“Yeah, a bit of a late start but I figured better late than
never.”

That seemed to appease Lucy, and they walked into the class
together. Lucy took a seat and Stone sat next to her. He went to pull his books
out again, and his sleeve pulled up, revealing the tattoo he had on his wrist.

Lucy saw it instantly. “Ooh, nice,” she said appreciatively.
“What is it?”

Hesitantly, Stone slid his sleeve farther up, not sure how
he would explain it. The veins in his lower arm bulged slightly, making the
tribal-looking symbols seem three-dimensional.

“Just some symbols,” he said evasively.

Lucy rolled her eyes again. “Obviously. What do they mean?”

“It’s kind of a family thing. It means that we stick
together.” He left out the part about it serving as a reminder of his little
sister, who had been slaughtered.

Lucy nodded. “Must be nice to have that kind of family,” she
muttered. Stone sensed there was more to her words, but it was too early to ask
such questions.

At that point the class began and they couldn’t talk anymore.
Once the class dismissed, and Lucy realized they had two more classes together,
she seemed to warm up a bit more. After the final class, they walked out to the
parking lot together. Stone’s head was spinning from trying to pay attention to
Intro to Statistics the last period.

“That math class was hard,” he couldn’t help saying.

Lucy gave him a knowing look. “Tell me about it. I was
trying to get my older sister to help me with it the other day.”

Then mention of her older sister got Stone’s attention.

“So you have an older sister?”

“Yep.” Her face clouded over. “I don’t see her much, but she
tries to help whenever she can.”

Stone figured Lucy probably didn’t see her much because she
was living on clan lands now. Once you got onto clan lands, you rarely left.
Including those who had once been active in the regular, human community.

“I’m Lucy, by the way,” she added. “I don’t think I ever
introduced myself.”

Stone nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“So where did you have your tattoo done?” she asked. “I’ve
been wanting to get one since I turned eighteen.”

Fuck.

“You know, I can’t really remember,” he said, waving
dismissively.

Lucy called him out on his bullshit. “Please. No one forgets
where they got a tattoo.”

“Fine. My friend did it. But it’s not really legal, ya’
know?”

Lucy nodded. “Would he do one for me?”

Stone’s eyes hardened. “No.” He didn’t add that his friend
had turned out to be a traitor and had left the clan four years earlier.

“Oh, sorry.”

Stone could sense that he had offended her and she was cooling
toward him. Not good.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “Something happened between us so I
don’t really like to talk about him.”

Lucy had stopped in front of a beat up blue car, and she
opened the passenger side and tossed her books in. “Got it. Don’t worry about
it.”

“Well, thanks for your help today,” Stone said, watching
Lucy as she moved.

“Sure. No problem.” She smiled at him, closing her door.

Stone stood there and watched as she drove away, finding
himself much more attracted to and interested in Lucy than he had intended.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Lucy cursed to herself, as she pulled
out of the parking lot and onto the road.

Shit.

This was not good.

The last thing she needed at school was a distraction.

And that’s exactly what Stone was.

Over six feet of tall, dark, sexy distraction who had
somehow turned up in every damn one of her classes!

It was like the universe was mocking her.

She was trying to get her shit together, and suddenly a
mysterious, sexy guy ends up in her classes.

Just her damn luck.

She sped down the highway thinking of Stone.

Stone.

Seriously?

Even his name was sexy.

And he was just the kind of guy that she fell for. Plus he
had that sexy-as-hell tattoo.

She nearly lost her mind as she thought about his muscular
physique, and his wild, dark hair, even thought it was a tad too long.

And his eyes.

That was the first thing she had noticed.

His eyes were two different colors. One was the warmest
shade of brown she had ever seen; it reminded her of rich, melted chocolate.
But the other eye was completely different—as bright and clear and blue as a
cloudless summer sky.

She groaned to herself. She needed to focus on her classes,
and the last thing she needed was to be worrying about him.

Without even remembering her drive, she found herself
pulling into the Falls Diner. Going to class and then working the tail end of
the lunch shift, and then the dinner shift, always made for a long day. But she
needed the money, and Trish and Jimmy were good people.

“Hi Lucy,” Trish called from the counter. She was perched on
a stool, talking to none other than Quentin.

“Great,” Lucy muttered, pulling her apron out of her bag and
heading into the back to change into her uniform.

“Hi, Lucy,” Quentin said kindly, as she approached the
counter.

“Hi.” She gave him a small smile. He was being nice. She
could at least be kind in return. She stopped next to Trish. “How are you?” she
asked politely.

“Fine, thank you. I heard you were around visiting your
sister the other day. You should have stopped by to say hello.”

Right. And give him the wrong impression,
Lucy
thought to herself. “Well, I was just there to catch up on some school work.”

Quentin nodded thoughtfully. “I guess we’ve all heard the
news by now.”

“What news?” Trish asked, jumping into the conversation. She
wasn’t nosy, just curious.

It took Lucy a moment to remember what Quentin was talking
about.

“Oh, right. Gabby and Zane.” She looked over at Trish.
“Gabby is getting married.”

“Married?” Trish gasped, her brown eyes widening.

Lucy nodded, trying not to make a big deal of it.

“That was quick,” Trish added.

Quentin jumped in before Lucy could fumble for something to
say. “When you know, you know,” he said, smiling warmly at Trish and taking a
final sip of his iced tea. Lucy saw that he had cleared his entire plate—he
must have enjoyed whatever he had ordered.

He stood up, putting a twenty down on the counter. “Thank
you, Trish, for the delicious food.”

Trish beamed, standing up too. “Anytime,” she smiled. “We
love seeing you around here, Quentin.”

He smiled and paused as he passed Lucy. “It was great seeing
you too, Lucy,” he said softly.