Obeying the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 1) (5 page)

Brennan cleared his throat. “As per tradition, a nominee must have ample support to participate in this challenge. Please choose.”

I moved to one side of the room and Joshua to the other. One by one, each bear stepped in the middle and then took their place by our sides. The division was about what I had expected. My father had made some of our members angry with his restrictions and rules and those bears decided it was time for a new face of leadership. But one bear surprised us all. Julia, Joshua’s daughter, was one of the last to go. She had spent a lot of time with me and Emma over her teenage years. And as she wavered from side to side on her feet, struggling with her decision, I felt as proud of her as a father would. She was coming into her own and she wanted to make her own decision. The fear was written all over her face, but then she straightened her shoulders and joined my side of the room.

Some couldn’t hide their gasps and Joshua didn’t even try to hide his growl. “Get over here,” he commanded.

“No,” Julia said with a shaky voice. “I choose Brandt for alpha.”

“Get. Over. Here.” Joshua’s skin rippled with his grizzly.

“I won’t,” Julia whispered.

“She’s allowed to choose on her own,” I said. “Every single one of us has that right.”

Again, Joshua growled, a feral sound coming from his human mouth. But he didn’t argue. If he was going to be alpha, he needed to show that he would uphold our traditions.

Three more bears chose and then Emma stepped forward. “No way!” Joshua objected. “She is not a part of this clan anymore!”

Emma visibly cringed and my bear jumped into my throat. “She is my mate.”

“She left you.”

I stepped forward, only seeing red, but Bo and Brennan each grabbed one of my arms to stop me from tearing into Joshua right now. “She is my
mate
.”

“It’s okay, Brandt.” Emma held out her hand. “You know where I stand.”

“No!” I shouted. “You are a part of this clan and you will be allowed to choose.”

“If she chooses, I will fight you right now,” Joshua challenged. He bared is teeth, showing me how serious he was.

“Sounds good to me,” I growled. The bones in my arms started to twitch, readying themselves for a change. This was not the way a challenge was supposed to happen but I didn’t care. I wanted to kill Joshua for his attack on Emma.

“Brandt, no!” Emma stayed in the middle of the room but only faced me. “This is not the way to do this.” Then she turned to Joshua. “I support Brandt.” With that, she walked away and disappeared into the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

Joshua had the nerve to laugh and I almost lost it again. But Bo held me tight and when Brennan left my side, Derrick took his place as my restrainer.

“The challenge will occur in two days. The place to be determined by the challenger. Joshua?” Brennan asked.

“The clearing on the west side.”

Brennan nodded. “The challenge for alpha will take place at Rainbow Meadow in two nights. It is only to occur between Brandt and Joshua and will go until someone succumbs or until death.” Brennan shook his head before continuing. “By rules of the clan, no one will interfere without the penalty of abolishment.”

Everyone nodded, fully understanding the importance of this challenge. The clan was evenly divided which didn’t bode well for those left on the losing side in a few days. But that would be yet another task the alpha would have to deal with.

“Dixon’s funeral will be announced as soon as we deal with the sheriff’s office.”

His tone implied that we were all dismissed but no one moved until Joshua finally decided to leave. He brushed past me, nudging my shoulder like a schoolyard bully. I didn’t react even though Bo and Derrick were ready to hold me back again. Joshua was taller than me but I had more muscles. And my bear was bigger.

As everyone finally left, only Julia and my closest friends remained. “Brandt, can I stay here the next two nights?” she asked.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said.

“He’s not going to let it slide,” she whispered.

My stomach twisted for her. I had been lucky enough to be raised by a father who disciplined only when necessary. It was rumored that Joshua beat every single one of his children into submission. And I had no doubt that’s how he planned on running our clan.

Tammy stepped up and wrapped her arm over Julia’s shoulder. “You know what? Why don’t you come stay with me? I have a spare bedroom and just got a new comforter set.”

Julia smiled and I thanked Tammy for the save. Of course I wouldn’t mind Julia staying here, but that wasn’t the best idea given the challenge situation. As I watched the two of them leave, a new round of dread tore up my stomach. “This is going to get ugly,” I mumbled to Bo.

“You shouldn’t worry. He’s a brawler. You’re a smart fighter. It will be over before it even begins.”

I could only wish I had that much confidence right now. “Where’s Emma?”

“She went for a walk,” Derrick said.

I didn’t know how he knew that exactly but the fear that she wouldn’t come back suddenly stabbed at my bear. “I should go find her.”

“No,” Brennan said. “We need to work on finding out who’s killing our people.”

“Well you seem to have an opinion,” I snapped.

“I don’t think it was the Tik’a pack, but I don’t know who else it might be.”

Rubbing my hand through my hair, I shook my head and cracked my neck. “Fine,” I grumbled. I’d work with Brennan now and find Emma in a little bit.

I
tossed
and turned for hours. Knowing that Brandt was somewhere in this house ate at me like a raging bear. But also knowing that my presence was going to cause him problems had me hiding in my room most of the evening.

Until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

My bear paced inside, agitated for more reasons than I understood. She wanted her mate. Her mate was hurting and that was all that mattered to her. So after debating my next move for twenty minutes, I slipped out of the bedroom and crept up the stairs.

It was almost three in the morning and the main floor of the house was quiet. Too quiet. I made my way into the kitchen and poured a glass of milk. Digging through the pantry, I hit the jackpot when I found some cookies. With the pack in one hand and my milk in the other, I looked out the large windows taking up most of the wall over the kitchen sink. And that’s when I saw it. A light from the floors above me meant someone else was up.

I climbed the stairs slowly, trying not to make too much noise. I didn’t know why, it just felt like the right thing to do. The second floor was quieter than the first, but I heard the rustling of papers coming from Blaze’s office at the very top.

Light crept out from the small crack in the door like a beacon calling to me. Brandt’s scent filled the air and my bear asked me to rush forward. Instead, I slipped down the small hallway and gently pressed open the door.

Brandt sat in the middle of the floor, papers surrounding him. He’d pushed all of the furniture to the side of the room next to the book shelf and had apparently emptied every filing cabinet of its contents. He looked up at me with tired eyes when I stepped inside the room. “Couldn’t sleep?”

Shaking my head, I tried to step closer to him, being careful not to land on any of his piles. “She’s restless.”

He nodded in understanding. “Yeah, mine too.”

“So what are you doing?” I bent forward and picked up a memo. At quick glance I saw that it had something to do with one of the Callaghan’s fish processing plants.

Brandt waved his hands around the piles of paper. “I just don’t believe the Tik’a pack would attack us. The Kenaitze people are not ruthless like that. I’m trying to find something that will help me figure out what’s really going on.”

I sat cross-legged on the floor and looked at my mate. His eyes were bloodshot, his stubble even darker than this morning, and his skin seemed paler than usual. I’d never seen him this stressed before and both me and my bear wanted to protect him from feeling this way. “Can I help?”

He smiled at me and my heart pounded. “Sure. Although I don’t even know what to tell you to look for.”

Scanning the papers, I scrambled my brain to think about ways we could organize our search. “Maybe we should start with contracts? The clan works a lot with the Tik’a pack, right? Maybe there’s some small print on one of them that could be causing an issue?”

Brandt reached behind him and grabbed a stack of papers as thick as a dictionary. “Already sorted.”

With an encouraging smile I said, “Okay then, let’s start there.”

We divided the pile in half and read through the various contracts for the next hour. In silence we searched for something—anything that would help. On the very last contract I read through, one for an agreement to land boundaries, I thought maybe I’d found something.

“Brandt, look at this.” I lifted the paper and read the bottom few lines again. “The Tik’a pack of the Kenaitze people is hereby given permission to access the ceremonial grounds at Rainbow Meadow for their rituals, provided twenty-four hour notice is given.” I looked up at him. “Have you ever seen the pack in the middle of our territory before?”

Grabbing the paper from my hands, Brandt read it again and shook his head. “No. In fact my father and my grandfather forbid it.”

“When was that signed?”

He scanned the pages. “In 1901.” Grinding his jaw together, he looked up at the ceiling in thought. “This is definitely an issue, especially if our last two alphas weren’t honoring the contract. But I still don’t think that’s the reason two of ours were murdered. I mean, why would they not take any kind of action until now?”

“I agree. But maybe we should still look into this some more.”

Brandt leaned back and fell on top of the papers. He sighed and rubbed his face. “I’m so exhausted.”

As the next potential alpha, that was something Brandt would never have admitted in front of anyone else. It just showed how much trust he had in me. Even after the way I’d hurt him, he’d welcomed me back into his heart.

“Are you worried about the challenge?” I whispered, wanting to snuggle up next to him but waiting for him to offer. I still needed to be sure he had forgiven me enough.

“I don’t know.” An honest answer, and again one he would never admit in front of another clan member. “Joshua is strong, but he is not a leader.”

“Then you need to make sure you beat him,” I said.

Brandt chuckled, “Yeah.”

“What’s so funny?”

He turned his head to smile at me. “Captain Obvious.”

I tossed a paper at him, but it only floated through the air a few inches. “I was trying to be supportive.”

With a laugh, he lifted his arm in invitation. “I know.”

Crawling over to his side, I laid down beside him and wrapped my arm across his broad chest. He smelled like bear and pine, the scent I loved so much. The warmth from his body heated my soul and everything inside of me felt at peace again.

“Are there any plans for Dixon’s funeral yet.”

Brandt’s chest tightened under my arm but then he blew out a breath. “Derrick’s going to work his magic again tomorrow with the records and Brennan will have to sway the sheriff’s office.”

“Do you think they’ll get suspicious?” After all, this was two deaths in our “family” in less than a week.

“Probably, but I trust Brennan to handle it.”

“He’s not happy I’m here, is he?”

Brandt rubbed his fingers up and down my arm. “He’s cautious. He’s protective of me and I can understand his hesitation.” He shifted his position and squeezed me a little tighter. “He’s the one who saw the worst of me after you left.”

Guilt clawed at my insides. I’d hurt this whole family. “I’m sorry,” I apologized again.

Kissing the top of my head, Brant whispered, “You’re home now.”

My bear nestled up against him, wanting to confirm his words in her own way. “I’m not going anywhere,” I said. And this time, I really meant it.

“I know.”

We lay in silence for a few minutes before I spoke again. “You are going to be an excellent alpha.”

Pushing me to the side, Brandt sat up and rubbed his face. “I don’t know if I want to be alpha.”

His admission startled me, a truth so far from what I’d expected him to say, I didn’t know how to respond. So I said nothing.

“My whole life I watched my father struggle with his role. It drained him of everything. He put so much effort into protecting our clan that sometimes he had very little left to give to his family at the end of the day.” Brandt pushed up to standing and started pacing the room. “I don’t know how I can be everything to everybody, especially with the tension already pulling our clan apart.”

“You’ll find a way to make it happen,” I said softly.

But he shook his head. “I can’t be leader, businessman…father all equally.”

He’d glanced my way with the word
father
, and I was surprised by how much I wanted him to be a father to our unborn children right now. I hadn’t put too much thought into that kind of future for us before, but now it felt like the best plan ever. Keeping those ideas locked down inside for now, I stood and grabbed Brandt’s hand. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“Now?” he asked, looking around the room at the mess of papers.

“Yes. This can wait for a little while. You need to get out of here and clear your mind.”

He let me pull him into the hallway, walking behind me in a daze of lost thoughts and unnecessary pressure. His bear was very close to the surface, trying to protect him from the anxiety churning inside. I knew that feeling all too well and knew that if he didn’t acknowledge that part of him, he’d pay the price for it later by making a reckless decision.

As we made it to the first floor and the large set of sliding glass doors leading out the back, he paused. “Where are we going?” His tone had lightened a little and I almost thought he might be teasing me.

“Um…” I realized I didn’t actually have a plan. “Let’s go—”

Brandt chuckled and took the lead when we stepped outside. “Come on, I have a place in mind.”

His excitement ignited the heat in me again. I loved seeing this side of him—the one he kept hidden from so many others.

He stopped when we reached the edge of the woods and looked up at the sky. “We should change so we can get there faster.” Stripping off his shirt and sweatpants, he was naked in two seconds flat.

I smiled at the mischievous look on his face. “What do you have planned for us Brandt Callaghan?”

He jerked his chin toward the mountains. “You’ll see.” And with that, he jumped into the air, shifted into his bear and took off.

Giggling all the way, I repeated his behavior and ran into the night as my grizzly hummed with anticipation.