Red And The Bear (Grimm Bears 1) (4 page)

As Nan walked past, she
mouthed to Jack,
You coming?

Jack gave a quick nod and Nan
grinned. Rose held his gaze for a beat then turned away with an
unreadable expression. She got in the driver's seat and started the
engine.

The little pickup truck
pulled away and Jack followed them at a safe distance. Rose drove
carefully down the quiet street and Jack saw that there were hardly
any shops and businesses open at night in this small town. Perhaps a
pub or two remained open but that was it.

Jack narrowed his eyes as he
realized that Rose and Nan drove down this badly lit, terribly
deserted road every day after the close of business. It was full
dark by the time they cleaned up the place and locked up. It was
dangerous for the two women to be driving alone like this.

He needed to protect them,
but—how long could he stay in Redcape Grove?

Forever
, his bear
growled.

Rose turned into a small
lane, and drove up a badly paved driveway. She killed the engine and
cut the headlights.

Jack got out of the car and
went to help Nan with the heavy pot.

It was filled with soup.

“Thank you, dear,”
she smiled. “Now let's go in and have some supper. I brought
the leftover soup. It's good stuff.”

“It sure is,”
Jack agreed. “But I think I'll just help you in and I'll
leave….”

“Nonsense! You come in
and you stay,” Nan snapped. She looked around furtively and
whispered, “What if that big bad wolf comes back?”

With that, Nan won the
argument.

CHAPTER
NINE

“Put the pot on the
stove,” Nan instructed Jack. “I'll warm it up and we can
all sit down and have supper.”

As Jack came out of the
kitchen, he heard Rose mutter, “I'll just go and have a quick
shower before supper.” He watched her dart into her room and
close the door.

“Don't just stand
there,” Nan tut-tutted. “Sit with me.” She patted
the chair beside her at the dining table.

“There aren't many
other houses around here,” Jack observed. “Your nearest
neighbor is a mile down the road.”

Nan nodded. “This used
to be all forest.”

When his eyes widened, she
chuckled and went on, “Yep, my husband built our house at the
edge of the forest. It was quiet and peaceful, and being near nature
is always good for the soul. Well, the forest is gone now, but I'm
still here.”

She glanced towards Rose's
bedroom door and said quietly, “Do you know the story of Little
Red Riding Hood?”

“Yes,” Jack said,
surprised. “I used to read it to my son.”

“Ah. You would have
read him the fairytale version, the one where Red was untouched by
the wolf, and the grandmother was rescued from the belly of the beast
by a valiant woodcutter.”

Jack stared at Nan, his eyes
slowly narrowing. “You said this is the fairytale version. I
take it that you know another version of the story?”

“I know the true
story,” Nan answered.

Jack studied her intently.
“Little Red Riding Hood...”

“...was my
granddaughter. I am the grandmother in the story,” Nan said.

Jack read the swirling
emotions in Nan's deep, gray eyes. “So Rose is...”

“Yes, Rose is the
daughter of Little Red Riding Hood.”

Jack understood at once.
“Rose is half wolf.”

“You catch on fast,”
Nan said. She sighed deeply and went on, “Rhonda was Rose's
mother, and she did meet a wolf. And she did come to me, her
grandmother. But things didn't happen like they did in the story.”

Nan leaned back and began,
“Let me tell you a story, Jack. Once upon a time, there lived
a beautiful, red-haired girl named Rhonda Redwood. She was sweet,
kind and vivacious, and she would always stop to help anyone in need.
One day, she stopped to help a wolf shifter. And he repaid her by
attacking her and raping her.”

Nan stopped and closed her
eyes to compose herself. “Rhonda was only eighteen and she
found herself pregnant. She was scared and ashamed and she didn't
know what to do. Her parents turned their backs on her when they
found out that she was carrying a half-wolf abomination.”

Nan gritted her teeth and
spat, “My husband was a good man, but too bad my son doesn't
have the same courage and strength. He listened to his silly,
narrow-minded wife and cast his own daughter out of his house.
Rhonda had nowhere else to go. She came to me. I took her in and
she gave birth to Rose in this house. Rose never knew her mother.
Rhonda used her last breath to give Rose her name.”

Nan blinked away her tears
and gestured around the house. “This is the house in the fairy
tale, but Red didn't come here with a basket full of treats. She
came to me with a belly full of arms and legs, and a heart that was
filled with pain and sorrow. I wished that the wolf had come for me
instead. If only the wolf had devoured me and left my granddaughter
alone,” Nan said bitterly.

Jack reached out to hold
Nan's shaking hand. “You did your best by your granddaughter
and your great-granddaughter. Does Rose know…?””

“I've never hidden the
truth from Rose. She knows everything,” Nan said, dabbing at
her eyes.

“She is strong, like
you.”

Nan shook her head and
laughed softly. “She is headstrong and stubborn. And she has
built a wall around her heart. She doesn't trust easily, but I can
tell that she trusts you.”

“I will never hurt
her,” Jack promised.

“I know. You stayed in
the restaurant to protect her. You're a good man, Jack. And I know
a good man when I see one,” Nan said firmly even before he
could open his mouth. “I saw the way you looked at Rose. It's
the same way my old man used to look at me. Like I was the most
beautiful, precious thing in the whole, wide world.”

“You
are
beautiful,” Jack said sincerely.

Nan rapped his knuckles
sharply as she got up to check on the soup. “Don't be glib,”
she scolded.

Jack put up his hands in
surrender when Nan whirled round and warned, “And don't try to
flirt with me, young man.”

With a loud huff, she ambled
off. But just before she went into the kitchen, Nan stopped and said
quietly over her shoulder, “You lost your son, didn't you?”

When Jack nodded, Nan said,
“Losing a child is painful. You feel as though a part of you
has died as well. But it is only by living and loving fully that you
keep the memory of your loved ones alive. Remember, Jack, love never
dies. Never.”

CHAPTER
TEN

Rose eased back from her
bedroom door. She'd overheard the entire conversation between Nan
and Jack.

Swallowing hard, Rose put a
trembling hand on the door knob. She felt both apprehensive and
relieved. She was relieved that Jack knew the truth, but at the same
time, she wondered what he was thinking right now.

Squaring her shoulders, Rose
took a deep breath and opened the door.

Jack was sitting alone at the
dining table, deep in thought. He turned at her step and jumped up.

“Hi,” Rose said,
suddenly feeling very self-conscious. Her hair was damp from her
shower and she was wearing a loose, red nightdress.

“Hey,” Jack said
gently. “Nan said she's going to have her soup in front of the
TV in her room. She said for us to finish everything in the pot.”

“Oh. Okay. I...I'll
go get the bowls.”

“I'll help you.”

Jack followed her to the
kitchen, and Rose almost dropped the bowl when Jack's hand brushed
against hers. “Here, I'll do it,” Jack said. “Let
me serve you. You've been serving me in the restaurant the whole
day. I'm a very good waiter. Don't look so skeptical. I used to
wait tables when I was younger.”

He took the ladle from her
and nudged her away.

Rose went to the dining table
and smiled when Jack came out with a tray held high above his
shoulder. He set the steaming bowl down in front of her and bowed,
“Enjoy your meal, M'am.”

“Would you care to join
me, kind sir?” she asked coquettishly.

“It'd be my pleasure.”

They ate in silence for a
while. Finally, Rose looked up and said, “Why did you come to
Redcape Grove, Jack?”

“I didn't intend to
come here,” he answered. “It just happened. It's true I
guess. Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other
plans.”

“What plans were you
making?”

Jack put down his spoon and
sighed. “I was planning to leave everything behind. My old
life, my memories, my pain.” He paused and said, “My
son, Alex, died six months ago. It was an accident, but I blamed
myself. He was my world, my darling little boy. I didn't take time
to mourn and grieve properly, because grieving would mean
acknowledging that my boy was really gone forever. So I just drifted
through the days in a state of denial and suppressed anger. I was
uncommunicative, and I lashed out at my brothers and my staff. I
tried to drown myself in work and drink, and I began to despise and
hate myself. I woke up one morning and I knew that Alex would be so
ashamed of me if he saw me like this. I had become a stranger to
myself and to everyone around me. I needed a break. So I left. I
promised my brothers I wouldn't disappear, and I would return when I
was ready.”

Rose nodded and said, “You
need time to heal. And time is a great healer.”

Jack touched her chin with a
finger and smiled. “How did you get to be so wise?”

“I have Nan,” she
answered immediately.

“Yes you do. And she
is an amazing woman.”

Rose bit her lip and said,
“You...know about...the fairy tale, right?”

“Yes,” Jack
replied grimly. “But it's not a fairy tale, is it?”

“So you know I'm...”

“Half wolf,” he
finished for her.

Rose winced. “I don't
want to be like...
that wolf
.” She couldn't even bring
herself to say,
my father
. “He's a vile, base, cruel
animal!”

Jack paused before saying, “I
am a bear shifter, Rose.”

When her eyes rounded, he
went on calmly, “I have an animal in me, but that doesn't make
me an animal. I control my bear, and I control my urges. I will
never use the strength and power of my beast to make anyone do
anything against his or her will. I will never lose control of my
beast and hurt someone.”

Rose stared at him, then
hunched her shoulders to curl in on herself. “I think I might
be losing control,” she whispered at last. “Of whatever
is inside me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I...I have never been
with a man before, but lately, I've been having dreams...about a man.
I can't see his face in my dream, but I can see him doing things to
my body. And...I liked it.” She buried her face in her hands.
“I'm not a slut, Jack. Yet, this urge...is getting stronger.
I'm scared...”

“Don't be scared. What
you're going through is natural,” Jack said.

“Natural?” she
sputtered. “How can it be natural?”

He frowned a little, as if
considering how best to explain it to her. “What you're
experiencing is your first mating heat,” he said at last.
“Every shifter, and half shifter, goes through this. The first
time is the most intense. It will pass. What you have to remember
is that you are in control, Rose. Other shifter males will scent
that you are in heat but no one can force you to do anything you
don't want to do,” Jack said vehemently. “You can say
no.”

Rose gulped, feeling her skin
heat up. She could feel that tormenting ache between her legs again.
She finally understood that this mating heat, this maddening urge
was a bodily need, a hunger she needed to satisfy. She didn't want
to wake up writhing and panting every night, with every inch of her
sweat-drenched body throbbing and thrumming with unsated desire. It
was sheer, crippling torture.

Nan had always told her,
“When you are hungry, eat. When you are tired, sleep.”
It was the secret to a happy, healthy life, only it was no secret at
all. It was plain common sense.

If her body was crying out
for something, she had to satisfy it. It was stupid to prolong her
agony when it was in her power to do something about it.

No point denying what she was
and depriving herself of what she so obviously needed and wanted.

Rose jerked her face up and
said, “But I don't want to say no. I don't want to deny
myself.”

Jack inhaled sharply. “Rose,
do you know what you're saying?” he growled.

“Yes. I want to do it,
Jack,” she whispered. “I want to experience what I've
only experienced in my dreams. And I want to experience it with
you.”

CHAPTER
ELEVEN