Authors: Vanessa Devereaux

Mending the Bear (10 page)

BOOK: Mending the Bear

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Chapter
Sixteen

“I thought you two were getting into the
serious phase,” Liam said when they’d finished their run. It had been a month
since he and Eve had broken up.

“We were, but she wants a baby and I’m not
ready.”

“No one’s ever ready. Lucy and I thought
we weren’t quite ready, but we decided, yes, we are and we’re now trying to get
pregnant. Don’t lose a good woman because you feel you’re not ready.”

Ian was about to respond when his cell
phone rang. It was Charlie’s number.

“Hello.”

“Ian, I’m not feeling so good again, I
need you to come help me.”

“Charlie, call an ambulance to get you to
the clinic. I’m out west of town and I might not get there in time.”

“No, it’s got to be you and you have to do
me a favor.”

“Charlie, are you there…”

Ian looked at Liam. “Charlie’s sick and I
have to go.”

He got on his bike and hit the road, going
well over the speed limit, but he didn’t care. He had the strange feeling that
Charlie wanted to say goodbye to him.

****

“Are you okay?”

Chloe’s voice made Eve jump. She’d been
doodling on a notepad for the last ten minutes.

“I’m fine, just feeling sorry for myself.”

Chloe stepped into the office and pulled
up a chair. “You want to talk about it?”

“I thought maybe I could compromise and
tell Ian, I’d wait for as long as he wanted with the whole family thing, but
then I went into Starlight Café for lunch. Hannah’s bump is getting bigger and
then Ally came in with David and I knew I couldn’t. Now I’ve been thinking
maybe I should go ahead and adopt.”

“Or you could use a surrogate mom. I was
one for Sophie.”

Eve had no idea. “So Sophie’s not your
biological child?”

Chloe shook her head. “It’s a long story
how Ash and I got to her adopt her, but I know how you feel about having a
baby. I don’t know what I do without Sophie. However, do you really want to let
a guy like Ian just go just like that?”

That was the problem. She wanted both
things and she couldn’t. Shit, why was everything in life so complicated and
such a compromise?

“Ash is working late so how about you come
over for dinner and keep me and Sophie
company
and
maybe talking some more will help you make a decision?”

****

Charlie had literally crawled to the door
to let Ian inside his house. He lifted him up the best he could and heard him
whizzing.

“Geez Charlie, I’m getting you to the
clinic,” Ian said.

Charlie waved his hand. “My journey is
drawing to a close. It’s my wish to pass in my bear form so I need you to carry
me outside.”

“Charlie, let me get you to the clinic
because they can help you.”

He dug his fingers into Ian’s arm. “You
always were a stubborn little bear, now get me outside.”

Ian put Charlie’s arm around his shoulder
and the two of them made their way outside to the yard. Charlie lay down on the
ground and lifted his hand up to Ian. He took it and squeezed it

“Look after the group, especially your
siblings and remember to bury me close to where we landed that night.”

Tears ran down Ian’s face as Charlie
slowly transformed himself into his bear half. Ian fell to his knees and held
the old bear as he took his last breath.

“No, it can’t be true, you can’t leave us,
you just can’t,” Ian sobbed into Charlie’s thick, black fur.

Chapter
Seventeen

Eve had only met Charlie the once, but
she’d liked him straight away. She was glad that Ian had at least called her
and informed her of his death and suggested she might like to come along to his
burial ceremony. She wiped her eyes as Ian, his two brothers, and two other men
carried the coffin down to the water’s edge and set it next to the hole they’d
dug.

She looked around and it seemed like there
wasn’t a dry eye. Chloe and Ash stood with her. Ash had his head bowed down and
his shoulders moved up and down as he sobbed.

Ian picked up some dirt and threw it on
top of Charlie’s coffin as they slowly lowered it into the ground.

“Goodbye dear Spirit Guardian,” he
shouted.

Eve cried as he fell to his knees and
sobbed like his heart was truly breaking.

****

Ian had waited a week to open the letter
that Charlie had left for him. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to read it.

Rumor has it that
you’ve broken up with your mate … no, not Joanne; I mean your real one.
Remember I told you what a stubborn little bear you’d always been, well no
more. I feel it in my old bear’s bones that the child you and Eve will produce
will one day be the leader of the group. Change is coming, Ian, change and
trouble. I sense it. So you know what you have to do. With much love, Charlie.

****

“Shit,” Eve said. The window wouldn’t shut
and rain was splashing her paperwork again.

“You need some help with that?”

Eve went still. It was Ian’s voice.

She didn’t respond and he didn’t say
anything but simply held her hand as she jumped down from the table. Just like
before, she fell into his chest. Hi arms went around her and he pulled her in
close.

“I was told something today.”

“And what was that?” she asked.

“That the child we’ll have will one day
lead the Kalispell Shifters.”

“You fall off your bike or something?”

He smiled. Shit, how she loved him even
more when he gave her that sexy, boyish grin that made the dimples appear in
seconds. She played with the tiny bear earring, making it swing back and forth.
She still wore his old one even though they’d broken up.

“No, Charlie left me a letter. He said
you’re my mate, but I already knew that. He also said I’m stubborn. And yes, I
did know that, but I never wanted to admit to it.”

“Imagine that.”

“So with the future of the shifters
resting upon us mating, I think it means I have to be ready for a family.”

Eve closed her eyes. Was she dreaming? Was
she going to get it all?

“Yeah,
I’d really like to have some little bears with you,” he said.

“What if they’re all human, no bear traits
at all?”

“Then we’ll have to keep trying to have
babies until we get some that take after me.”

“That sounds like fun. Also sounds like I’m
going to be pregnant a lot,” Eve said.

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“It’s definitely what I want.”

“Is that a yes? You want to be my mate for
all eternity?”

“All eternity, I like the sound of that,” Eve
said.

One of the dogs barked and they both
laughed.

“So I guess this means we need to make an
announcement at the next stargazing ceremony. In fact, we can tell my brother
first because he’s just brought the store in the mall housing Starlight Café. So
why don’t we go there and celebrate?”

****

Cade looked around the store. A big empty
space that was going to be the future motorcycle shop. Charlie had left him, Ian,
and Trey some
money
..
Cade
had gone ahead and purchased the building so he could finally realize his
dream. He looked out of the window and saw the young woman who was opening the
store next to his, getting out of her car.

He whistled. No one had told him she was
that hot. An added bonus. Maybe he’d go next door right now and introduce
himself. After all, they were going to be neighbors.

He went outside, locked the door, and then
walked down to her place. He wasn’t quite sure what she was selling, but as he
stepped inside, the smell of soaps and incense was almost too much for his
senses. He sneezed and then sneezed again. He looked up to see the young woman
standing by the cash register.

“Hi, I’m Cade Mallory. I’ve just purchased
the store next to yours.”

“Yes, I’ve seen you about.” She didn’t seem
that friendly, but maybe she was shy.

“And I didn’t catch your name,” he said.

“Probably because I didn’t tell you.”

Geez, cute but hostile.

“You do know it’s not polite not to
introduce yourself when someone’s told you their name.”

“Is that a rule made by bear shifters?”
she asked.

Cade stood with his mouth open. Who’d been
telling her about him … them being…?

“My other two neighbors are cougar
shifters. The woman who owns the café is pregnant with a half bear shifter.”

Someone had been shooting their mouth off.

“Who told you?”

“I don’t have to be told anything. I know
a shifter when I see one. Know when a human’s carrying a shifter baby.”