Bearly A Squeak (3 page)

“Can you tell her I was looking for her?” he asked.

“Of course I will,” Dana said. She sighed. “Look, Tara is a bit quiet, and she scares easily, but in the end she'll come around. Just be patient and you'll be fine.”

Patient. Yeah, not really his forte. He ordered another honey cake. He'd need it to placate his mother after refusing another one of her set ups. The latest woman had been barely legal age and had a head full of fluff. His mother had actually invited the woman to dinner. He'd sat there for half an hour before manufacturing a work emergency and escaping. His mother was not happy.

Taking the cake, he made his way home. Once there, he sat in his car outside his house for a while, trying to work up the courage to go inside. His mother was a black bear, he was a grizzly like his father, so that gave him the advantage in terms of size. If his mother started something, he could totally take her. Maybe. She did tend to fight dirty.

Sighing, he left the safety of the car and entered the bear's den, er... his house. It was quiet, suspiciously so. He stalked to the kitchen and placed the cake on the table. Then he turned around to find his mother standing right behind him. The noise that came from him was a growl, honest. Grizzly males did not shriek. Ever. He clasped his hand to his chest, trying to keep his pounding heart inside his chest where it belonged.

His mother watched him with her dark eyes. She stood there intimidating him. All five foot two inches of her. Her short dark hair had streaks of grey, but she still seemed as vital as she had when he was a little cub. Anna Russell was not one to allow something like age to slow her down.

“What are you up to?” his mother asked, voice full of suspicion.

“I brought a honey cake,” he said, pointing to the table. Please let her be distracted by it.

“Again?” his mother asked, one eyebrow raised. “If you keep this up, you'll get fat. Then how will you attract a mate?”

“I'm not trying to attract a mate,” he protested. As soon as he said it, he knew it was a mistake. He took a step back, his ass hitting the table and halting his retreat. Dammit.

“Why not?” his mother asked, stepping towards him, eyes narrowed. “Don't you think I deserve grandcubs? While I'm still here to meet them? Before I die, I want all my cubs settled with cubs of their own. Is that too much to ask? Too much to give your poor mother?”

“Ma,” he whined. “You're as fit and healthy as I am. We have plenty of time.”

“Which I why I need to get you sorted out now,” his mother said, nodding as though he'd been agreeing with her. How did this keep happening to him? “I have this friend who has a daughter...”

“No, Ma,” Alex said, eyes wide. He couldn't cope with any more. Inside his head, his bear was actually whimpering.

“Well, how else are you going to find a mate?” she asked, clearly exasperated. “This woman is just right for you...”

“I found my mate,” he blurted out. He clamped his lips together and slapped a hand over his mouth. Oh shit. This was not going to be good. He tried to edge away, but the stupid table was still behind him.

His mother frowned at him, wiggled her finger in her ear, tilted her head. “I'm sorry,” she said, her voice deceptively calm. He remembered that tone of voice from his childhood. The one that he and his siblings had referred to as the ‘really scary, someone’s gonna get it’ tone. “Can you repeat that? It sounded like you said you'd found your mate. Except if that were true, she'd be here right now, wouldn't she?”

Oh this was so not going to be good.

“It's a bit complicated,” he tried. Maybe he could divert her with vague answers. His bear snorted at him and went back to cowering in the corner of his mind.

“In what way, son?” she asked, head still tilted. “Did you or did you not find her?”

“I did,” he confirmed. His eyes scanned the room. How far was the back door? Could he make it? Doubtful. His mother was surprisingly speedy.

“Then why is she not here?” his mother asked. “Why have I not met her?”

“She... uh...” Alex took a side step, edging closer to the door.

“Alex Theodore Russell,” his mother snapped. “Don't you even think about running out on me. Where is your mate?” She stood there, hands on her hips, eyes flashing.

“She sort of... uh... ran away,” Alex said with a wince.

His mother's eyes widened. “She ran away?” She waited for his nod. “What did you do to her? We can fix it. I'm sure we can.”

“I didn't do anything!” he protested. “I didn't even get a chance to speak.”

She eyed him suspiciously.

“Honest, Ma,” he said. “I don't know why she ran.”

“Hmm,” his mother said. “Tell me that you at least know where she is. Tell me that you can find her again. I will track her down myself if I have to.”

“No, Ma, that's ok,” he hastened to assure her. If his mate had run from him, she'd flee even faster from his mother. Probably to another country where she'd assume a whole new identity. Heaven knows, he'd been tempted himself a few times. “I know where she works, I know some of her friends, I can find her again.”

“Where does she work?” his mother asked thoughtfully. “Maybe I could just pop in and see her...”

“No!” Alex blurted, shrinking back when she glared at him. “I mean, no, that’s okay. Really. I think I should be the one to talk to her. I'll find her. I promise!”

“You'd better,” his mother said. “I'm not going to get any grandcubs while you don't even know where your mate is.”

“Tomorrow,” he promised. “I'll find her tomorrow.”

***

The doorbell rang. Tara ignored it and picked up another forkful of cheesecake. Who needed the rest of the world?

Sadly, she'd forgotten something.

“I'll get it!” Sara called from the hallway. Dammit. Maybe it was just a salesperson. Maybe they'd go away.

“Hey, sis!” Sara yelled. “You have visitors.” Dammit.

Dana and Fiona appeared in the kitchen doorway, followed by Tara's overly sociable sister.

“Hey,” Dana said. “What's up? You've missed work for three days now.”

“Yeah, we had to let Dana bake,” Fiona said with a shudder. “Are you okay? Are you ill? Is there anything we can do?”

Tara looked down at her cheesecake. There was clearly some kind of cheesecake conspiracy going on.

“Okay, sis,” Sara said, sitting down at the table. “Enough is enough. Tell us what's going on. Are you afraid of hot bear dude?”

“Hot bear dude?” Dana asked with a puzzled frown. “Oh, you mean Alex!”

Alex, her mate's name was Alex. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Well, not really. I don't know him well enough to be worried.”

Dana patted her hand. “Alex is a sweetie. Really. I know he looks all big and growly, but he's one of the good guys. Ethan says he's pretty solid. Even if he has reached all new levels of grumpy the last three days.”

“So, if hot bear dude isn’t upsetting you, then you must be worried about Barry,” her sister stated.

“Who is Barry?” Fiona asked, a frown appearing on her face.

Tara sighed. She pushed her plate of cheesecake away, no longer interested in it. Looking down at the table, she scratched at a non-existent mark.

“Her asshole ex,” her sister supplied. “He just turned up in town.”

Dana looked worried. “You know, some guy was in a few days ago looking for you. Really smarmy. He's been in the cafe every day.”

Tara squashed down the fear that flared up. She knew Dana wouldn't have told him anything. “Yeah, that was probably him,” she murmured.

“Is there a good reason to worry?” Dana asked. “If he causes trouble, I'm sure Ethan can sort it out. Not to mention Alex.”

“What's wrong, Tara?” Fiona asked gently.

It was time she told them. If she had to move away, then they at least deserved an explanation. She couldn’t just disappear without telling them why. She took a deep breath.

“I met Barry right after college,” she told them. “He was good looking and charming. He said we were mates. I was young and I never really understood how I would recognize my mate, so I guess I just thought that if Barry said we were mates, then we must be. So we started seeing each other. Before long, he was pressuring me to marry him. I was young and I wasn't ready, but he kept trying to push the issue.”

“Wait,” Dana said. “He was pushing you to marry him? The human way?” Her head was tilted as she looked at Tara, her expression confused.

Tara shrugged. “Yeah. Now you mention it, that was pretty weird. I mean, he never pushed for us to mate properly, he never tried to bite me. He was all about the human ceremony.”

Dana frowned. “He's a shifter though, right?”

Sara snorted. “Yeah, wereslug.”

Tara shot her an amused glance. “Not a wereslug, although I do see the resemblance. Barry is a fox shifter.”

“It does seem odd that he'd be so insistent about a human wedding but not about the mating bite,” Fiona mused.

“It does now,” Tara agreed, “but at the time, I was young and I just accepted it all. Apart from the getting married bit. I kept refusing and it drove him nuts. We ended up living together for a while but I still wouldn't marry him.” She paused, gathering her courage. “Then he became a lot less charming.”

“What happened, sweetie?” Dana asked softly.

Tara shrugged. “I'm not even sure where to start. It was a lot of things. The constant put-downs, always undermining my confidence. He turned my friends against me, keeping me isolated, making sure that he was all I had. He became controlling, always telling me what to do, what to wear, what to eat, and which people I could talk to. It went on for years.” She paused and looked down at the table, trying to summon the strength to continue. “After a while, he started getting violent.”

“He what?” Sara's voice trembled with fury. “Why did I not know this?”

Tara sighed. “Because I didn't want you to know. I didn't want anyone to know. He'd been chipping away at my self-esteem for so long, that I honestly thought it was my fault and I was embarrassed at the mess I was in.”

“That's why we didn't hear from you much?” her sister asked.

“Yes,” Tara answered. She blinked away the tears in her eyes. “I'm sorry. It was never about you.”

“So what happened?” Dana asked gently. “I mean, obviously something made you leave him?”

Tara nodded. “First, I discovered that he was cheating with several other women. Then he confiscated my birth control pills, saying I'd marry him if he got me pregnant. I know it’s not like the old days where being an unmarried mother is frowned on. Still, I believed we were mates and if we had a child together… I don’t know. Maybe I would have married him.” She shuddered. “Things were really bad by then. The thought of a child being caught up in it freaked me out. Also, by then, the thought of me being stuck with him for the rest of my life? It horrified me. I knew then that I had to get away.”

“You should have called me,” Sara said sadly.

“I know,” Tara said. “I was still so ashamed of what had happened. One day, I packed up a few things while Barry was at work, then I walked out the house and got on the first bus I came across. After wandering for a few days, I decided to come here, to Bearbank. I got a job at the cafe, found myself a house, and I started my life over. That was five years ago, and until now, everything was fine.”

“And now slug boy has shown up here,” Sara finished. “What does he want?”

Tara looked back down at the table. “He said he's moved here, permanently, and wants to get reacquainted.” She couldn't suppress the shudder at the thought of him anywhere near her.

Sara growled. “Not happening. That slimy asshole is not getting anywhere near my sister. I'm pretty sure that hot bear dude will be happy to help with that too.”

“I haven't met Barry yet and I already hate him,” Dana added. “Also, I’m totally on board with stomping him into tiny little pieces.” As a moose shifter, that would be some serious stomping.

“As the token human around here, I'm not as good at stomping,” Fiona said wryly, “but I'll totally kick his ass.”

Tara smiled. It was good to have friends, especially loyal friends with violent tendencies. Already, the panic was draining from her. She'd told her story and it had lost some of the power it had over her. Her friends were here, willing to help, and more than capable of taking on Barry. She wouldn’t be such easy prey this time.

“Katie will be so annoyed that she missed this,” Dana pointed out. “She's been angling to eat someone for a while.”

“Who is Katie?” Sara asked, head tilted. “I ask because it sounds like I will like her a lot.”

Fiona shrugged. “Friend of ours. She's a lion shifter and gets annoyed when people threaten her friends.” She looked at Dana. “She's still annoyed that she didn't get to eat your stalker.”

“Yeah, so is Ethan,” Dana said. “He whines about it all the time. I had to promise that the next time I have a psycho stalker after me, he's all Ethan's. Carnivores are weird.”

“Didn't you also promise any psycho stalkers to Katie?” Fiona asked, amused.

Dana shrugged. “Yeah. I'm hoping it doesn't come up and neither of them have to know.”

“Okay,” Sara said. “We can help with your Barry problem, and I figure that if you stop hiding from your mate, that'll all work out too.”

“I'm not hiding,” Tara denied.

“You're sitting in your kitchen with the blinds closed,” Sara pointed out. “You do realize that it's only a matter of time before hot bear dude finds out where you live, right? So, hiding in here won't help. You need to get out there. Are you a woman or a mouse?”

Tara looked at her. “Both,” she said, drily.

“Oh, yeah,” Sara smiled sheepishly. “However, not is not the time to be the mouse. You have a mate. Go forth and conquer!”

Was she ready to face hot bear dude, erm… Alex? One thing was for sure. Her sister was right. Sooner or later either Alex or Barry would find her and she'd rather not be cornered in her house. Time to get back out there. After she'd had that cheesecake.

Paperwork slid under his office door. Fabulous. Now nobody was brave enough to enter his office. Admittedly, Alex had been just a tiny bit grumpy lately, ever since his mate had disappeared on him. His mother was threatening to track her down and drag her back. She probably meant that literally. Alex was no expert, but he suspected that that would be a bad way to start their lives together. He had continued to drop by the cafe to look for her but so far he'd been unsuccessful. He'd make one more attempt, and then he'd have to try something more drastic.