Bearly A Squeak (18 page)

Was it working? She couldn’t be sure. At least the polar bear’s attention was fixed on Tara now. Until…

“Get that crazy bitch away from me!” Barry screamed from his tree.

The polar bear’s head snapped back around and it roared, baring its teeth at Barry who shrank back into the tree, his face deathly white.

“Will you shut up?” Tara hissed at Barry. “Keep your mouth shut, or I’ll walk away and let her eat you.”

Barry’s eyes grew wide, but at least he stopped speaking.

“Sara,” she called. “Come on, Sara. You don’t want to do this. All the breath mints in the world won’t take away the taste of Barry.”

The roaring stopped. The polar bear watched her, its head tilted slightly. She was getting through to her.

“Change back, Sara,” Tara coaxed her. “Let’s go home and let the police deal with the idiots. They’re not our problem anymore.” The bear continued to watch. “Please, Sara.”

At that, the polar bear lowered its head and began to shift.

“Alex,” Tara called. “Give me your jacket.” She caught it when he threw it to her. Crouching by her now human sister, Tara draped the jacket over her. No doubt her clothes had been shredded by her sudden shift.

“Sara?”

Her sister remained quiet, silent sobs shaking her shoulders. Tara quietly wrapped her arms around her, holding her. She could hear Alex on his phone, calling people to come and deal with Barry and his brother, both of them still in their trees. He was asking for Ethan and Leo. Good, no non-shifters who would need explanations.

Sara slowly lifted her head, her face streaked with blood and her eyes haunted. Tears ran down her face and Tara hugged her closer.

“It’s okay, Sara,” she said.

“No. It isn’t,” her sister sobbed. “I lost control and I could have killed them. Oh God, I wanted to kill them.”

“But you didn’t,” Tara said firmly. “That’s what matters.”

Sara shook her head. “Only because you were here.”

“Then I’ll just have to stay close then, won’t I?” Tara smiled at her. “We’ll work this out, sweetie. I promise. No real damage has been done and I’ll help you with your problem, okay?”

“No real damage?” Sara asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “I mauled Barry and Geoff.”

“Eh.” Tara shrugged. “They don’t count. Besides, they look like they’ll live. You haven’t done anything you can’t come back from. I promise that you don’t have to do this alone.”

Sara nodded, hugging her back.

By now, Ethan and Leo had arrived and were trying to coax Barry and Geoff out of the trees. Tara watched as Barry half fell out of the tree. She was pretty sure that Ethan could have caught him if he’d tried. Her ex was in rough shape, bleeding profusely from several places. He staggered upright, his eyes on Tara and her sister.

“I want her arrested,” Barry shouted, pointing at Sara. “And keep the crazy woman away from me.”

“Excuse me a moment,” Tara murmured to her sister. “I’ll just be right back.”

Leaving Sara, she stood and stalked over to Barry. Satisfaction warmed her as he took a small step back from her. How could she ever have been afraid of this man?

“Are you completely mentally deficient or do you just have a death wish?” she demanded.

Barry’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“You heard,” she said, pointing at him. “Stop provoking her.”

“Provoking her?” Barry spluttered. “She tried to kill me.”

Tara shrugged. “You had it coming.”

“She’s crazy and a menace to society,” Barry said, glaring at her. “She needs locked up, away from decent people.”

Something inside her snapped. Before she was even aware of what she was doing, her fist connected with his face, knocking him off his feet. When she would have launched herself at him to finish the job, strong arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting off her feet and spinning her around. Alex.

“Did you see that?” Barry exclaimed. “That was assault. I want her arrested too.”

“I didn’t see anything,” Ethan’s voice rumbled. “Leo?”

“Nope,” Leo agreed. “Not a thing.”

“You were looking right at her!” Barry insisted.

“Sorry,” Ethan said, not sounding even slightly sorry. “Must have spaced out for a moment.”

“Me too,” Leo added.

“What about the bear?” Barry asked. “He grabbed her to get her under control.”

Alex looked at her, winked, and turned around to face Barry. “Me? We’re just cuddling. Aren’t we, baby?”

“Absolutely, pooky bear,” she agreed. Actually, since she’d stopped struggling, they really were just cuddling. Looking around, she saw the paramedics arriving. Shifters, of course, but a few human onlookers had turned up now, gawking at the scene in front of them.

“At least arrest the polar bear!” Barry yelled, heedless of their audience.

Ethan quirked an eyebrow. “You want us to arrest a polar bear?”

“Yes!”

“Do you see a polar bear?” Leo asked, tilting his head. “Oh, is it an invisible polar bear?”

“It’s right there!” Barry exclaimed, pointing at Sara.

Leo nodded. “Ah, so you think that the small woman you abducted is a polar bear?”

“You know she is!”

Ethan nodded solemnly. “Better call the psychiatrist,” he said in an overly loud whisper to one of the paramedics, who simply nodded.

“You know she’s a polar bear!” Barry howled with rage. “The bear saw her.” He pointed at Alex.

“So, the big dude is a polar bear too?” Leo asked innocently.

“No, no!” Barry yelled. “He’s a grizzly.”

“Oh,” Ethan said, nodding. “So, that one is a
grizzly
bear. Do I get to be a grizzly too?”

“No!” Barry howled. “You’re a wolf.” He pointed at Leo. “He’s a lion.”

“Shut up,” Geoff hissed, his eyes darting to the witnesses. Barry ignored him.

“Tara is a mouse!” Barry was gesticulating wildly with his one good arm. The other hung limply at his side, his sleeve in tatters and caked with blood.

“What on earth did this damage?” one of the paramedics asked, trying to examine Barry.

“Polar bear!” Barry screamed, pointing at Sara again.

The paramedics exchanged a glance and then looked at Ethan.

“Some sort of psychotic break,” Ethan said none too quietly, making sure his voice carried to the spectators. Tara could see them nodding in sympathy.

“I am not crazy,” Barry shouted. A paramedic promptly injected him with something, catching him as he slumped.

“Sedative,” the paramedic explained. “We’ll patch him up and then have a psychiatrist evaluate him.”

“Probably for the best,” Leo agreed. “The other one is more lucid, but there’s still the matter of the abduction. We’ll have to keep an officer on him at all times.”

Tara watched as the paramedics got Barry onto a stretcher and carried him away. She should probably feel guilty about setting him up as mentally ill. She should, but she really didn’t. It was Barry, after all. The man was a nightmare and it just wasn’t possible to feel sorry for him. Besides, what else could they do once he began to rant about their animals in front of human witnesses? Geoff, whose injuries were less severe, was led away by a police officer. No doubt he’d be taken to hospital before ending up in police custody.

Tara pushed away from Alex and went back to Sara. She was still sitting on the ground, huddled in a little ball, with Alex’s jacket around her. She’d waved off the paramedics and now sat alone, a little apart from everyone else.

“Hey,” Tara said quietly. “It’s over now.”

Her sister looked up at her and nodded. “Yeah, it’s over.”

Except…

“Alex!” Tara exclaimed, looking over her shoulder at her mate. “We forgot about the hitman.”

Okay, in Alex’s defence, it had been one hell of a day. Still, a hitman trying to kill you was a detail that really shouldn’t be overlooked. Especially when the one person who could identify the hitman was currently unconscious and on his way to a secure facility.

He could see the moment that the same thought occurred to Ethan and Leo.

“Shit,” Ethan said, rubbing at his face.

“Yeah,” Leo agreed.

“Now what?” Tara demanded.

“Relax, sweetheart,” Alex said. “It’s possible that Geoff knows. Or that Ethan’s cousin has tracked down the hitman. We have other lines of investigation, and if they don’t work out, we’ll talk to Barry.” He was sure that they could find the hitman without Barry. All he had to do was survive until then. He looked around at the trees, wondering if a shot would come now. He mentally shrugged. If the assassin was here, he’d probably have taken a shot by now. He turned back to his mate. “It’ll be fine.”

Tara nodded but she didn’t look convinced. She looked back at her sister. “We should get Sara home.” She helped her sister to her feet, keeping an arm around her as they walked. In the car, Tara took the back seat alongside her sister, maintaining contact the whole trip home. Nobody spoke. Alex wasn’t sure what there was to say.

They arrived at Tara’s house and her sister went off to shower and change, leaving them alone.

“Alex…” Tara began.

He sighed. “I’m still annoyed at you.”

“At me?”

He fixed her with a serious look. “Yeah. You knew I wouldn’t like Leo’s crazy plan and you went ahead with it anyway. You put yourself in danger and I didn’t even know.”

Now it was her turn to sigh. “I did it for you.” She held up her hand when he would have interrupted. “I knew you wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t like you being in danger either. I did what I thought was for the best, but I’m sorry I worried you.”

“Worried me?” he asked. “You
terrified
me. I didn’t know where you were and I couldn’t reach you on the phone…”

“I put it on silent,” she admitted sheepishly.

“You do realize that they could just as easily have grabbed you today instead of Sara?” he asked her. He clenched his fists, suppressing the urge to grab her shoulders and shake her until she saw the error of her ways. His mother had taught him better than that, so he resisted, forcing himself to breathe slowly and count to ten.

Tara seemed to realize his struggle. She walked over to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head on his chest. His bear subsided a little at having her close to him.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Honestly. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted it all to be over. No more hitmen or Barry, just us.” As she spoke, she stroked his chest, calming his bear and getting him to relax. He shuddered a little and pulled her in closer.

“Well, we have Barry now,” Alex said, rubbing his cheek on the top of her head, breathing in her delicious scent. “Just the hitman to deal with and then we can get on with the rest of our lives.”

She lifted her head and smiled at him. “Promise you’ll be careful.”

“I promise,” he said, lowering his head to kiss her.

His phone rang and they both jumped. Chuckling ruefully, he pulled his phone out and looked at it.

“It’s work,” he said. Tara nodded. “Russell,” he barked into the phone.

“Boss,” Ethan said. “We have a situation.”

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “They decided Barry isn’t insane?”

“No, no,” Ethan answered. “As far as I know, he hasn’t regained consciousness yet. His brother, Geoff, is at the station and has confessed to his part in everything.”

“Could he give you the identity of the hitman?” Alex asked. Tara watched him, concern written all over her beautiful face.

“No, but it doesn’t matter anymore,” Ethan said. “That’s the situation I was calling about.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Alex repeated. It definitely mattered to him.

“Yeah,” Ethan said with a sigh. “We have the hitman.”

“They have the hitman,” Alex told Tara, watching her sag with relief. “What’s he saying?” he asked Ethan.

“Not much,” Ethan replied. “What with him being dead and all.”

“Dead?” Alex asked. He was pretty sure his mouth was hanging open, but he didn’t seem to have control of his jaw right now. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Ethan confirmed. “Kane identified him as the hitman in question and he is most definitely dead. He’s pretty… uh… damaged.”

“Damaged?” Yeah, he really had to stop just repeating everything that Ethan said. Sadly, his brain was struggling to keep up.

“He looked sort of… well… shredded…. and beaten. Looks like typical shifter on shifter violence. We managed to keep the human police unaware of it, so it shouldn’t be an issue.” He paused. “Odd thing is, the face was undamaged, almost as though the attacker wanted us to be able to identify him.”

Oh. Hell. No. She wouldn’t. Alex was aware of Ethan talking, but he didn’t hear any of it. He ended the call and stared helplessly at Tara.

“What?” she asked him, forehead scrunched in concern.

“The hitman is dead. He won’t be coming after me anymore,” he told her.

She smiled and stepped forward to hug him. She pulled back after a moment and frowned at him.

“Why do you not look happy?” she asked.

He looked at her. “Because I am not arresting my mother.”

***

“Stay calm,” Tara said for what seemed like the millionth time.

Alex grunted at her as he unlocked his front door and let them inside. The inside of the house was quiet. Tara hadn’t wanted to leave her sister, but Sara had insisted that she needed some time alone. Unwilling to leave Alex to deal with his mother by himself, she had reluctantly agreed.

“You don’t have any proof,” she tried again. “You can’t just march in here and accuse your own mother of murder.”

He grunted again as he stomped through the living room into the kitchen. “She’s not here.”

“That proves nothing,” she insisted. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe his mother was capable of killing someone, especially when that someone threatened her precious son. She just didn’t want Alex to accuse her without evidence.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Alex stomped off, coming to a halt in the middle of the living room as the door opened and his mother walked in. She was dressed in a bathrobe with a towel wrapped around her head.

“Oh, hello there,” she said, smiling at them. “I was just taking a nice, relaxing bath.”