My Hero Bear (18 page)

“I did what I had to do,” Bishop said. “We can’t all be the big hero like you, Dylan. Things always came easy to you. I had to fight for everything I got.”

“You never fought for shit. You just waited like a snake in the grass, waiting to strike when no one expected it. There’s no honor in that. You’re a coward and a poor excuse for a man.”

“Don’t stand there and lecture me. I know what you did when you went off to war. I know you’re a killer.”

“Yes, I’ve killed people. I was doing what I had to do to survive. I did it to protect all of shifter kind. My sacrifice kept all of us safe. Even people like you.”

“Tell yourself whatever you need to. Whatever helps you sleep at night. But we both know the truth. If I’m a bad man, you’re worse. You really think Rory will be better off with you than she would be with me? We’ve both got blood on our hands.”

“You and I are not the same. You killed because you wanted to. I only killed because I had to.”

“I don’t believe you. I think you like the killing. And I’ll prove it.”

“How?”

Bishop spread his arms wide, opening his body up in a vulnerable position. “With me. You want to kill me right now, don’t you?”

“Absolutely,” Dylan said. “You deserve to die for all the things you’ve done. But that wouldn’t be murder. It would be justice.”

“Perhaps I deserve to die, but that’s not justice. You don’t have to kill me. Take me in. Arrest me and turn me in to the Society. That would be justice. Or you can show me and Rory exactly who you really are by killing me.”

Dylan looked over at Aurora, feeling the weight of Bishop’s accusations. Dylan
did
want to kill the man standing before him. He wanted it as much as he wanted air. But Dylan hated the idea that he was just a killer.

It was an issue he’d wrestled with ever since he’d come back home. That he wasn’t good enough for Aurora. That Hunter had been right to tell him to stay away from her, even if Bishop had somehow been involved in that decision.

Aurora shook her head. “He’s just trying to save his pathetic life,” she said. “He’s a liar and a manipulative bastard. You can’t let anything he says get to you. I say you give him what he wants. Kill the fucker.”

Dylan turned back to Bishop. The man had a triumphant smirk on his face, like no matter what happened next, he won either way. Dylan needed to wipe that smile off his smug face.

Dylan swung his fist into the other man’s head with a loud crack. Bishop crumpled to the dirt like a rag doll. Dylan whipped out a pair of handcuffs and bound Bishop’s hands behind his back.

Aurora came to stand beside Dylan. “Why didn’t you kill him? I hope it wasn’t to spare my feelings. I want you to know that I don’t think of you that way. You’re not a murderer or a killer. You did your duty in battle. There’s no shame in that.”

Dylan looked down into her eyes, a feeling of warmth spreading through him at her words. “I appreciate you saying that. I really do. But I didn’t do it because of that. I know I’m not a killer. It’s something I struggled with for a long time, but Bishop helped put things in perspective. I’m nothing like him, and I never was.”

“No, you are not. You’re a better man than he could ever hope to be.” She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. A warm tingling radiated over his lips where they met hers.

“But if that wasn’t the reason, then why did you let him live?”

“I need him to tell everyone the truth about what he did to your father. So we can clear your name.”

“So you did it to protect me, huh?”

“You know I’ll always protect you.”

“I like the sound of that.”

***

Dylan and Rory dragged Bishop’s unconscious body back to the site of the battle between the Sin Eaters and Bishop’s men. None of Bishop’s crew were still standing. Some of them lay dead in the dirt, while others had been bound and gagged.

Xander and the Sin Eaters were standing in a loose circle around the detained men. Dylan’s brother seemed to be reenacting some particularly interesting part of the battle. He was bobbing and dodging with his fists raised.

“So I asked that asshole, ‘what’s your favorite pastry?’ Then I slashed him across the face, and said ‘Bear claw, bitch!’”

“You didn’t say that,” Gideon, a tall man with shaggy blond hair, said. “You can’t talk in bear form.”

Xander shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Freaking tigers, man. No sense of humor.”

“I have a sense of humor. You’re just not funny.”

Xander grinned and shot Gideon the finger. “What about this? Is this funny?”

Everyone laughed except Gideon.

“What?” Gideon asked. “Why is everyone laughing?”

Dylan dumped Bishop’s body in front of the blond man and clapped him on the shoulder. “Gideon.”

Gideon turned to Dylan and they embraced, slapping each other on the back as they did so.

“It’s good to see you, old friend,” Gideon said.

“I’m glad you all showed up,” Dylan replied.

“I’m glad you called. It’s been too long.”

Dylan nodded. “Sometimes it’s hard to see you all. Too many bad memories.”

“You mean Hunter and Dimitri?” Gideon said.

“Yeah,” Dylan said. He took Rory by the hand and guided her to stand next to him. “Speaking of which, this is Hunter’s sister, Aurora.”

Rory raised her hand in greeting. “Hi everyone.”

The other members of Dylan’s old squad gathered around. Dylan pointed at a wide muscular man with tanned skin. “This is Diego. He’s a jaguar.”

The man nodded.

“That’s Scarlett,” he said, gesturing towards a small, but deadly looking woman with cherry red hair. “She’s a gray wolf.”

“And this is Gideon, a Maltese tiger.”

Gideon smiled wide, showing a lot of teeth. “I can see the family resemblance.”

“Thank you all for helping us,” Rory said. “You saved our lives.”

Gideon waved it away like it was no big deal. “We’d do anything for Dylan, and, of course, for Hunter’s sister.” His face grew serious. “Listen, I need to talk to you about your brother. I need to talk to both of you.”

Rory nodded. Dylan took her hand in his and they followed Gideon around the base of a large tree. Behind the tree stood a huge lion with jet black fur. It was unlike anything Rory had ever seen.

Dylan’s hand tightened around hers. “Holy shit, Dimitri? I thought I saw you during the fight, but I thought I was just seeing ghosts.”

The air shimmered like the air over a hot road. The black lion shifted into a tall, athletic man with hair as black as midnight.

Dylan eyed him warily. “I don’t understand. I thought you were dead. You and Hunter never came back from that last mission.”

The man nodded, his eyes looking haunted. “I almost was dead. They took me prisoner. Held me there for four years.”

Dylan’s eyes tightened. “I should have been there.”

“Better that you weren’t. It was a suicide mission. I don’t know how we survived.”

“We?” Rory asked.

“Your brother was captured with me. He’s still alive.”

“Is he here, too?” Rory asked, looking around as if her brother might pop out of a nearby bush.

“No, but we think we know where he is,” Dimitri said.

“Tell us everything,” Dylan commanded.

Chapter 15

Rory paced nervously back and forth through the halls of her father’s house. It felt weird to be back in the house she’d grown up in now that her father was gone. The place seemed so big and empty. Lonely even.

Despite how difficult it was to return here, Rory felt it was important to come back home to be around the Stone Bear Clan. Her name had been cleared of any wrongdoing. Bishop had confessed to everything he’d done.

It was one last act of decency from a terrible monster. She could never forgive him for what he’d done to her family, but at least she never had to worry about him again. He was in custody with the Society. Society justice was firm and swift. Bishop had already been sentenced to life in prison.

It had only been three weeks since that crazy night in the forest outside of Dylan’s house, but Rory was ready to put that crazy nightmare behind her. What she was thinking about now was the future.

Although, at that very moment, the future was uncertain. Dylan was gone. When Dimitri told him that Hunter was still alive, Dylan had been adamant that he be a part of the rescue mission.

Rory had been torn. On the one hand, there was no one in the world she trusted more to get her brother back. On the other, she never wanted to be apart from Dylan again. It was a sacrifice, but one she was willing to make.

Dylan had explained that regardless of what Bishop had done to instigate a fight between Dylan and Hunter, Dylan still felt responsible for not being there with his fire team the night Dimitri and Hunter had gone missing. Going back to save Hunter was something Dylan needed to do. It would be his final act of redemption.

So there had been no wild night of celebration after their victory over Bishop. No tumbling into each other’s arms like Rory had so desperately needed at that moment. Dylan had gone away that same night, off into a dark forbidding place to save Hunter.

If it would quiet the demons warring in Dylan’s heart, Rory had to accept the risk that Dylan might never come home again. It was all or nothing. Either the mission was a success, and she would have Dylan back along with her brother, or the mission would fail, and she would lose everything. She would be all alone in the world again.

And in this new world, Rory felt more lonely than she ever had in her life. It was something she hadn’t realized until her and Dylan were together again. She had been lonely for a very long time. She didn’t know if she could handle that type of solitude again.

All she could do was cross her fingers and say her prayers to whatever God would listen. Please, she begged. Please let Dylan and Hunter come home safely. It was the same prayer she had whispered all those years ago when they’d left for the military in the first place.

Her prayers had not been answered then. She desperately hoped that this time would be different.

She heard a solid knock on the front door and her heart jolted in her chest. She dashed through the house and yanked the front door open, banging it against the wall.

Standing there in front of her was a face she never thought she’d see again. It was Hunter. He was thinner and a little more haggard than she remembered him, but it was undoubtedly him. Hunter looked at her with an uncertain smile on his face.

But Rory had no reservations about what to do next. She threw her arms around her brother and squeezed him as hard as she could. It was like she needed that reassurance that this was really happening. She needed to feel him to know it wasn’t a dream.

“Hey, little sis,” Hunter said.

“Hey,” she said, barely able to speak from the sobs wracking her body.

“Please don’t cry,” he said.

“It’s not everyday my brother comes back from the dead. I’ll cry if I want to.”

“Fair enough. But there’s someone else here I think who is dying to say hello.”

She unburied her face from her brother’s chest and looked up to see Dylan standing there, his eyes rimmed with unshed tears. Rory flung herself into Dylan’s waiting arms. She inhaled the manly scent of him. It was a comforting smell. It made her feel like she was safe and loved.

“Thank you, Dylan,” she said. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“No need to thank me. This was something that was long overdue.”

Rory squeezed Dylan tighter. “You can play tough guy all you want, but this is the happiest day in my life. I don’t know how I can ever pay you back.”

Dylan extricated himself from Rory’s grip gently. She looked up at him, a little disappointed that he was pushing her away. Was it because Hunter was back? Had they argued again? Did Dylan feel some sort of obligation to distance himself from her again?

“I know exactly how you can pay me back,” Dylan said. He dropped to one knee and pulled a box from his pocket. “Aurora Hendrix, I love you more than anything in the world. I never want to be apart from you ever again. Would you do me the honor of being my mate and my wife?”