The Bear's Hired Mate: A Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (13 page)

“Vincent, I just wasn’t expecting this. It’s beautiful. Really, it’s everything a girl could want...but this is coming out of left field for me.”

Vincent’s face grew hard. “What did you think being somebody’s mate meant, Jane? It means marriage; it means forever.”

Jane searched for the words to explain herself, squeezing Vincent’s hands she tried, “I know, I know it does and I do want to marry you, Vincent.” At this, Vincent’s face brightened and Jane’s gut clenched as she had to continue, “But I thought we had a little more time. I don’t want to rush into this. I wanted to enjoy dating you, and picking out a ring, and planning a wedding.” Jane sighed as Vincent’s face fell. “I just thought we could enjoy each step. I still feel like a high school student prepping for life as your mate. I don’t know that I’m ready to plan a wedding too. I’m not ready yet.”

Vincent’s face was devoid of all emotion. “Is that a no, then?”

Jane searched his eyes, but she wasn’t sure what she was looking for there now, love? Understanding? Did she really want him to take it back? No. No, she didn’t. “No Vincent, it’s a yes, of course, it’s a yes!”

Vincent felt his whole body melt with the relief of her answer. Jane jumped into his arms, tears falling down her cheeks.  He only wished he was sure that the waterworks were due to happiness...

*

Jane sat in the waiting room at Midnight Ink, twisting the large diamond around and around. Her thumb reached over and pulled at the platinum band until the pad of the finger could grip the rough edges of the setting. Then, smoothing over the vast expanse of the oval-shaped stone, she pushed it under her finger, finally using her pinkie and ring finger, she wiggled the stone back in place. Then the process began again. The whole time she was trying very hard not to focus on the rushed feeling of the engagement. Jane was trying very, very hard not to see the entire event as an ultimatum.

She stopped worrying the ring long enough to check the time on her phone. She was still about five minutes early. Part of Jane’s soft induction to the Clan had been to join a few of the women’s groups.

So far, she was enjoying the dinners she’d had with the other board member’s wives and she really felt accomplishment after she’d worked with the aid society. With them, she’d spent the day putting together boxed meals for some of the less fortunate clan members. The food was distributed in private, but Jane was surprised to see how much they were preparing. It made her realize that even within the smaller society of the Mezzanotte Clan there was still a need for the basic necessities like food.

Tonight, Jane was waiting for Carrie to attend the group that she liked least out of all those she’d tried. It had actually sounded like the most promising of them all - A Young Were’s Society - where other younger female weres met up to gossip, chat, and ostensibly work on philanthropy.

But most of the energy was used for mean-girl-esque talk. Jane was already walking in at a disadvantage because she was human and always putting her foot in her mouth because she didn’t know the proper were etiquette. Jane figured that she didn’t need the history of the Werebear Clan, she needed Emily Post.

Carrie was absolutely no help, either. Not only did she not care to impress the women, but as a survivor of the death of her mate, Carrie was looked at with various gazes of pity or suspicion in turn. But she was Jane’s best friend and Jane couldn’t imagine walking into the meeting without her.

Jane stood up as she heard Carrie’s boots tapping down the hallway toward her. Carrie appeared with a large man who was nursing his bandaged arm as if it was going to fall off if he wasn’t careful. Jane listened as Carrie detailed post-tattoo care and gave him a little kit full of the supplies he’d need to keep the artwork healthy and moisturized during the healing process. After the man walked out the door, Carrie’s smile dropped from her face and she turned to Jane. “Well, let's go fend off the bitches.”

Jane’s eyes widened before she let out a burst of laughter. “Oh God, you’re right! That is totally what the Young Weres Society Meeting is like. It’s like fending off a bunch of women with a stick!”

“Yup. I do this for you, my friend.”

Jane sighed and twisted the ring around her finger faster behind her back. It was like ripping a band-aid, she thought, and presented her hand to Carrie, “It’s going to be even harder tonight...surprise!”

This time it was Carrie’s eyes that widened. “Oh, my, God,” she said moving toward Jane like a moth to a flame. “Is that what I think it is?”

Jane caught Carrie’s eyes with her own. “Yes,” she gushed - surprised by her own excitement. “Vincent asked me last night at sunset - it was a total shock.”

Carrie inspected the ring and made “ooh-ing” and “ahh-ing” sounds that a ring of this magnitude deserved. Jane watched as the leather and stud clad bad-girl dissolved into the chattering excitement of a girly-girl. It showed Jane that Carrie hadn’t always been as hard as she appeared.

“So you’re happy about it all? I thought we were just talking about how you wanted to take everything a little slower,” Carrie’s eyes searched Jane’s and seemed to find the chink in her armor.

Jane’s own eyes dropped to the beautiful stone. “I’ll admit that it’s not happening exactly as I’d expected it to. But like everything else in this relationship, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good thing.”

Carrie’s brows furrowed, searching Jane’s downturned face. She must have seen what she wanted because she drew Jane in for a big bouncing hug. “Oh, I’m so happy for you guys! I love you both and I love that rock. The stone sitting on your hand is big enough to worship on its own,” she finished, pulling back with a wink. Giving Jane one final squeeze of happiness, Carrie gathered her purse and headed out the front doors onto the Casino floor. Turning back she called Jane to her, “Now let's go flash that thing around the were bitch meeting. I want a good seat tonight to better enjoy the view!”

Jane groaned at the prospect of the night to come, but already she could feel her heart lighten. This engagement was going to be a good thing - she could feel it. She just needed to brush her stress and worries aside. Like Vincent said, being mated was for life. She’d accepted that the ring was only the physical manifestation of what she’d been working toward. They could relax and enjoy a nice long engagement now that she had said yes.

---   ---   ---Tonight’s Young Were’s Society meeting was being held at the Paris Hotel and Casino. They were going to have their meeting followed by cocktails at the dueling piano bar in the hotel. Walking into the red and blue clad space Jane was overtaken by the timeless quality most casinos seemed to have. The Mezzanotte Hotel and Casino seemed to always indicate that it was late afternoon, but the Paris Hotel always seemed a little darker, taking them from the bright sun of 5 pm into murky twilight.

The ballroom the Were Society had been placed in was outfitted like a Parisian garden. There were live rose trellises on the periphery of the room and the colors were a sophisticated gold, pink, and green. The room was filled with other young were women in cocktail attire. Strappy shoes, short skirts, and white flashing teeth abounded. Carrie stuck to her guns and always showed up outfitted in her cool-girl attire of tight jeans and leather, but Jane did her best to acclimate to the dress code and currently wore a short pink dress with a skater-style skirt and patterned wedges that laced up her ankles. She’d been happy with the look when she’d left the suite, but now in the face of one too many Herve Leger bandage dresses she was feeling a little gauche.

Jane and Carrie circulated, nodding hello as they worked their way to a front table. As future mate of the future leader, she was given a position front and center. The president of the society approached Jane as she chose a seat. The woman was always trying to take Jane under her wing, but Jane couldn’t help but feel the woman had ulterior motives. “Welcome Jane! I’m so happy you’re able to join us this month. It’s so much fun when these things end with a social event, don’t you think?”

Jane would have rather stayed at home and been social with Vincent if it had been her choice, but she had to stay strong in the face of the President of the Mean Girls Club.  “I do love dueling pianos. Though, I haven’t heard them here yet.”

Next to Jane, Carrie rolled her eyes. The President seemed to ignore Carrie’s insult and continued to smile blithely at Jane. “Oh, they’re the best. It’s why we’re here. We’ll just get the official business over and grab a few cocktails with friends.” As if she’d orchestrated it, the woman turned to a passing waiter and grabbed two champagne cocktails off a tray for Carrie and Jane turning to hand them the libation.

As Jane reached up for the drink, her ring finally caught the ambient light in the annoyingly low-lit room. The President’s eyes opened so wide Jane thought they were in danger of falling out of her head. The woman reached for Jane’s hand and managed to re-form her face into a look of congratulations, but not before Jane noted the not so subtle look of complete and utter shock. So, for all of the woman’s well-wishing, she hadn’t really expected Jane to stick around.

Slowly the women around the trio of Jane, Carrie, and the President grew quiet, either their super were senses noticing the sparkle and shine, or their sharp instinct for gossip was tipped off. From the silence, whispered chatter began to hum.

The news of the ring spreading like wildfire through the ranks. The President stood back up with a real congratulation, which may have been the first sincere word she had ever said to Jane. Taking Jane’s hand, she led her to the front of the room and spoke into Jane’s ear quietly, “I had no idea things had reached this level. I hate to rush you into an official announcement, but it needs to be done before gossip spreads stories faster than you can hush them up. Better to lead with the truth than leave it to the bears.”

Jane nodded her assent, but internally, she was shaking, these women had never been the nicest to her and she hadn’t thought through the ramifications of showing up tonight with the ring. Jane smoothed out her hair as the President gathered the women’s attention.

“Ladies! Ladies, can I have your attention?” Heads whipped toward the front of the room and the hush was almost instant as the women awaited confirmation of the words being passed around. “Our first order of the night is to officially congratulate Jane on her engagement to First Son, Vincent! I’m sure we all wish them a lifetime of love and happiness.”

The woman turned to Jane and her blood went cold at the thought that she would pass the

speech off to Jane - who had no idea what to say! But instead, the woman only gave her a society hug and air kisses before turning Jane once more to face the crowd, “Let's remember to dedicate some special dueling piano songs later to the happy couple, but first let's work our way through this agenda before we start the fun!”

Jane was gently pushed back to her seat and the rest of the crowd was forced to sit quietly through the rest of the official meeting. As they worked through calls for fundraising efforts and newsletter submissions, Jane was more and more impressed with the work of the Society’s leader. She’d single-handedly told everyone the pertinent information and then taken the pressure off Jane by keeping everyone quiet and in their seats till Jane was comfortable again. Maybe the feelings of all of the were women were based on the fact that they didn’t think Jane was serious about becoming Vincent’s mate.

When they broke for dinner and cocktail refills, the women sitting around Jane began to buzz with congratulations and questions. Jane’s hand was passed around like an hors d' oeuvre, each woman wanting their turn to ogle the beauty of the stone. Jane, and even Carrie, seemed surprised to see a shift in the women’s attitudes.

Everyone was very understanding when Jane said she wanted a long engagement and many jumped in with admissions that in their own mating process, they felt like things moved too fast for them. A resounding sentiment was that just because you knew you were fated to be with someone, didn’t mean you automatically knew that person! Everyone seemed to agree that you needed time to really get to know your mate before you were ready to take the official steps to marriage and matehood.

By the time the women were dismissed into the dueling piano bar, Jane was feeling pretty good about herself. The space they walked into was packed with people and sound. Two grand pianos sat on pedestals in the center of the bar with one man on each trading off songs and occasionally stealing a song from each other when the mood struck them. Like the rest of the hotel, the room was done in various shades of red, blue, and gold. This space had bright pops of accents amid a crisp black and white base. The result was a fun and energetic room in which no one could hear themselves think. Jane thought it was stupendous after the meeting and the past few days she’d had. A few hours of awesome music, drinks, and dancing would be a relief to the war of emotions going on inside her head.