Mating Dance (8 page)

They discussed the two approaches, and Tom
wasn’t surprised when the better design proved to have come from
Redstone Construction. Those werecougars had a top-notch operation
and a well-earned reputation. If it was solely up to Tom, he’d give
them the contract and be done with it, but John liked to think his
little town was something of a democracy with a benevolent Alpha
running the whole thing. He was putting it up for a vote next week
after the two plans had been discussed and dissected to his
satisfaction.

They were winding down the meeting when
Brody’s radio squawked.

“Sheriff, there’s a situation at the
bakery,” came Zak Flambeau’s disembodied voice over the
walkie-talkie.

Tom stiffened. Ashley was probably off-shift
at this time of day, but it was still her family’s business, and
her sisters were there. If there was a problem, Tom needed to know
what it was, so he could help.

Brody looked upset as he keyed the mic on
the radio. “Sitrep,” he ordered, falling back on their military
training.

“A reporter was just in, asking a whole lot
of questions. Nell called the station, looking for you, but when I
told her you were in a meeting, she hung up. I ran over to the
bakery to find out what was going on, and now, I’m calling
you.”

Tom knew that when Zak said he’d
run
over, he meant it literally. The sheriff’s office was only a few
doors down from the bakery on Main Street.

“Good man,” Brody commented. “Stay there and
keep watch. I’m coming.”

Tom stood as Brody nodded at John. “I’m
going too,” he said to the room at large, nodding as well to the
Alpha.

“Is there something I should know?” John
asked, some of the Alpha tone of command entering his voice.

“Yes,” Tom answered without hesitation. “But
it’s complicated. And it’s not really my secret to tell, though I
don’t think the ladies will mind now that they know about us. But I
will tell you this—Ashley Baker doesn’t know it yet, but she’s my
mate.”

Tom saw the varied reactions of his closest
friends. To a man, they all looked happy for him, and several
undoubtedly would have jumped up to congratulate him if he wasn’t
on his way out the door. As it was, they were all smiling and most
nodded to him, acknowledging the claim.

That was significant. He’d let them know
that Ashley was his. By acknowledging his claim, they were saying
that they wouldn’t interfere. In fact, these men—the closest he had
to brothers in the world—would probably do all they could to help
him along in his pursuit of the lady.

“Understood,” John said, nodding. “And
congratulations.” He didn’t smile. The Alpha was probably more
concerned about what the women—and Tom—could have been hiding.
“I’ll be right behind you. Expect me in a few minutes. I’ll want an
explanation as to why you didn’t give me the full briefing before
we invited them into our midst,” John said with a bit of menace in
his tone as Brody and Tom headed for the door.

Tom didn’t regret exercising his judgment on
what to tell John and everyone else when he’d been tasked to
investigate the Baker sisters’ backgrounds. But he knew he would
have to do some fast talking when John arrived. Tom wasn’t worried
about it, but he knew John could growl with the best of them, and
he wouldn’t let John’s intimidation tactics frighten the
ladies.

Brody and Tom stormed the bakery a few
minutes later, much as they had once stormed enemy strongholds
together in far off lands. Only this was friendly territory, and
nothing more sinister than a few loaves of bread awaited them
inside.

Brody’s deputy, Zak, was waiting for them in
the seating area. He came forward to meet them at the door when
Brody and Tom walked in. Tom kept going, leaving Zak to give Brody
the sitrep, while he went to check on the women. At this hour of
the day, it was the overlap period between the end of Nell’s shift
and the beginning of Tina’s.

Nell was up front with Brody, having gone
straight to him as soon as he walked in. That left the youngest
sister, Tina, in back behind the counter.

“Are you okay?” Tom asked, coming right
around the counter and checking things over to satisfy himself that
everything was secure in the back. “Where’s Ashley?”

“I’m spitting mad, but okay. Ash is
upstairs, hiding,” she answered succinctly.

Seeing that Tina was all right, Tom had to
get to Ashley. He pushed through to the stairs that led up to the
sisters’ apartment and took them two at a time. Ashley pulled open
the door at the top as he neared it, and when he cleared the
threshold, she launched herself into his arms.

He held her, feeling her body tremble with
fear. He didn’t like the sensation, and he vowed again to protect
her from anything that could possibly harm her.

“Ssh, honey. It’ll be all right.” He tried
to soothe her, but she was going from scared to angry and back
again. He could feel the fluctuations in her temper as he held her
securely in his arms.

“How can you say that?” she demanded
angrily. “A
reporter
found me! The bastard was bothering my
sisters, asking about me, asking when I’d be working the counter.
Threatening that he’d stake out the place until he found me and got
his scoop.” She was crying nervous tears by the end of her angry
speech, but Tom held her, rocking her back and forth.

“We can handle one little reporter,
sweetheart. The entire Clan is behind you. They won’t let anything
happen here. More than that,
I
won’t let anything happen.
I’ll tear the reporter apart with my bare hands before I let him
reveal your location to anyone.”

But she wasn’t really listening. “I’ll have
to move again,” she whispered brokenly.

Tom set her away from him and made her meet
his gaze. “Stop right there, Ashley. You’re not going anywhere.
You’re happy here in Grizzly Cove, aren’t you?”

She seemed to come to her senses. “Happier
than I’ve been in a long time,” she admitted, her gaze still
holding echoes of defeat.

“That’s good to hear because you’ve made me
happier than I’ve been in a long time too. I’m not willing to give
that up so easily. Are you?” he challenged.

She shook her head, but her expression
looked agonized. “I just don’t see how this can possibly work out.
I’ve been found. He’ll tell others, and then, we’ll have no peace
here whatsoever. For your people’s protection, I’ll have to leave
and take my troubles with me.”

“Honey, you’re one of us now. You’re part of
our community. We’re not going to let anything bad happen.”

“You keep saying that, but I just don’t see
how.” She shook her head, her expression pitiful.

“For starters, we’re circling the wagons.
Brody and Zak are downstairs, and Big John is on his way here.
We’re going to have to tell him about you, so he understands what
he’s up against. He’s not going to be happy, and he’ll probably
growl a bit, but don’t worry. He’s a good guy under the Alpha
bluster. He’ll do the right thing.”

She cringed, but she was listening. “And
then what?”

“Then I believe I’m going to have a little
chat with the reporter.” Tom was looking forward to it. He’d kill
the man if he refused to leave. Nothing was off limits when it came
to protecting his mate.

“No, Tom! You can’t. It’ll only be worse if
you try to scare him off. He’ll know for sure then that I’m here.
Right now, he’s still wondering. He doesn’t know for sure. We need
to keep it that way as long as we can.”

Tom considered her point. “Okay. So maybe
chat
was the wrong word. What if our reporter friend found
himself confronted by a bear? Or two? Or maybe a whole bunch of
us?” Tom started to grin, imagining the fun of running the reporter
out of town on a rail without ever speaking a word.

“That actually sounds like a really good
idea,” came John’s voice from behind Tom’s back.

Tom had heard the Alpha’s deliberately heavy
tread on the stairs and wasn’t surprised by his presence. Nell and
Brody were right behind him, and they all trooped past Ashely and
Tom into the apartment, moving into the living room.

Ashley stepped back from Tom, leaving his
embrace and wiping at her eyes. She seemed to be in a state of mild
shock, her gaze following the small crowd that had just invaded her
home. She walked toward the living room, but Tom caught her
hand.

“We do this together, Ash,” he whispered.
“Remember, John’s growl is worse than his bite.”

“I heard that,” John groused from the living
room.

“Damn shifter hearing,” Tom joked for
Ashley’s sake.

Together, they walked into the living room,
hand in hand.

Chapter
Eleven

Tom wasn’t exactly happy to have to explain
about Ashley’s problem to John, but though the Alpha growled a
bit—as predicted—it wasn’t really that bad. In fact, as soon as
John became aware of the full extent of the situation, he was as
supportive of Ashley as Tom could have hoped.

“So what can we do to deter this reporter
from asking any more questions?” Brody asked once the facts had
been fully explained. “If it was the old west, we could run him out
of town on a rail, tarred and feathered, but somehow, I don’t think
that would go over too well in this day and age.”

“I liked Tom’s idea,” John said. “We could
go bear on his ass and scare him off. Where’s the guy staying?”

“Zak discovered he was camping on National
Park land, not too far away,” Brody supplied as John grinned.

“That’s just about perfect,” John said,
looking a lot like the cat who swallowed the canary, no matter that
he was a big assed grizzly shifter.

* * *

Ashley sat with her sisters, waiting for
word of the men. Brody, Tom, Big John and a few of the others had
gone off in search of the reporter’s campsite a few hours ago. The
bakery was long since closed, but the girls couldn’t rest until the
guys were back safe and they knew what had happened up in the
woods.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Nell asked
for the twentieth time, pacing and hugging herself as she
worried.

Nobody answered. Nobody
had
an
answer. The sisters were handling their worry in different ways.
Nell was pacing. Ash was curled up on the couch, hugging a pillow.
Tina was by the window, looking out on the quiet street.

Nothing much happened in town at this late
hour. The occasional bear might stroll through the woods or down by
the water, but they mostly kept well out of sight. Tonight, though,
there was a more visible presence as Zak sat in the deputy’s SUV,
just down the street, on a stakeout. He’d been stationed there,
Brody had told Nell, to make sure the town stayed as quiet as it
should be while the other guys held their surprise party in the
woods.

They’d been gone for a few hours when Tina
finally broke her silent vigil. “I see Brody’s truck coming down
the street,” she said, her voice full of intensity.

Ashley jumped off the couch and threw the
pillow aside. She stopped before she hit the window, not wanting to
be visible just in case the reporter or any of his friends were
watching from below. Nell had no such compunction and went right up
to the window and looked out on the street.

“What’s going on?” Ashley asked from behind
her sisters.

“The truck is stopping,” Nell reported.
“Brody’s getting out,” she said, then turned quickly. “I’m going
down to let them in.”

But Ashley was already on her way to the
stairs, heading down into the bakery at a fast clip. She halted at
the bottom, allowing Nell and Tina to go ahead of her, for the same
reasons she’d stayed away from the window. Until she heard how the
guys’ little raid had gone, she wouldn’t take anything for
granted.

Nell raced ahead to open the door for Brody.
He hugged her as he walked in the door, sweeping her in with him as
he stood aside to let the other guys enter. Much to Ashley’s
relief, Tom was right behind him, laughing at something John said
as he brought up the rear.

The men were grinning from ear to ear,
laughing like schoolboys, at times, and Ashley felt relief in her
heart to see them all safe—especially Tom. She walked forward to
meet him and was thrilled when he reached out and swept her into
his arms, twirling her around the room for a breathless moment.

When he put her down, he gave her smacking
kiss as his enthusiasm spilled over, making her laugh. Whatever had
happened, it had left the men in an ebullient mood.

“Ash, you should’ve been there,” Tom
enthused. “We had that city slicker crapping his pants and crying
for his mama before we let him escape.” He made little quotation
marks in the air as he said that final word. “He jumped in his car
so fast he left behind most of his gear.”

“We now know his home address, his name and
social security number,” John confirmed, flipping through a brown
leather wallet that had to be the reporter’s. “With that, we can
wreak havoc on him, the likes of which he can’t even imagine.”
John’s laugh was slightly evil, but in a loveable sort of way.

“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” Ashley
had to ask.

John seemed to consider. “If he comes back,
we can take this one step at a time, but if he insists on screwing
with us, I won’t hesitate to do all in my power to fuck him up in
every way possible.” John’s tone of voice was as serious as Ashley
had ever heard it.

“And when Big John says the reporter is
screwing with
us
, he means all of us, honey. You, me, your
sisters. We’re all family. Clan. We protect each other.” Tom’s arms
came around her from behind, hugging her. “Believe me now?” he
asked in a rumble right next to her ear.

She turned around in his embrace, pulling
him close. She couldn’t speak for a moment, overcome by emotion.
When she had a bit of control again, she turned to face the
others.