Obeying the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 1) (8 page)

M
y bear flourished
with exhilaration while my stomach rolled in disgust. I’d never killed a human before. And although Brandt had technically killed Joshua, my bear wanted him to know that we’d beat him too.

I stood in grizzly form watching over the crowd. Licking the taste of blood off my lips, I stared at them all, trying to pull some of the human back to the surface. Derrick was already stepping into the jeans he discarded nearby. Eliza, Zane, three other bears from Joshua’s group were in the process of shifting forms. All of the wolves remained as animals, understandably feeling the need to protect their territory.

Brandt roared at the circle of humans who had betrayed them. My bear wanted to call back, but now wasn’t the time and I pushed her to be silent. One by one the deceitful members of our clan bowed their heads and exposed their necks to Brandt’s grizzly. He mouthed their skin, just one canine away from ending their lives. Each human succumbed to his rule and pledged their allegiance through their actions.

Footsteps crunched behind me and I turned with raised lips. Bo held up his hands and smiled. “Easy there, tiger.” He finished buttoning up his shirt and then almost tripped over the remains of Joshua when he stepped up beside me. “Holy shit, did you do this?”

His hand brushed my side when he steadied himself. I huffed and pointed my snout toward Brandt. Bo grinned wider. “Good job, Brandt,” he muttered. Looking at him in question, he understood what I wanted to ask. “I got here about ten minutes ago. My asshole brother and Derrick didn’t call me until they were already on the pack’s territory.”

As if on cue, Brennan and Scarlett walked out onto the street, Peter hanging off their shoulders. Brennan was still naked, but Scarlett and Peter had thrown some type of cloth wrap over their body.

“Well look at that,” Bo said in my ear, watching Brennan with curious eyes.

I snorted and turned my attention back to Brandt who had just finished shifting. He ran over to me and my bear shivered with pride. His naked body glistened, every muscle twitching with his new role as alpha. I could sense the difference—his power had changed, increased. And my bear absolutely loved it.

Brandt rubbed his hands along the side of my giant bear face. Pressing his forehead against my snout, he whispered. “Are you okay?” I licked his cheek and he laughed. “Can you change back?”

Could I? I didn’t know. It had taken a lot of energy to shift—something I needed to do to heal from my injuries. While I didn’t think Joshua hit my jugular, he’d torn practically everything else around my neck and shoulder. I crouched to the ground, Brandt following me down. His hands rested on my back, gently rubbing and encouraging me to change.

Everyone watched as I struggled. I coaxed my bear back into her cave but she didn’t want to surrender her form. Something was preventing her from giving in completely. My breath came faster as I tried to force the change. Brandt’s small, human head leaned against my ribs, soothing me with some sort of song he was humming. I listened and relaxed. I envisioned myself as a human again. Remembering our time together last night, I encouraged my body to change so that we could experience it together again. But nothing worked.

Brandt suddenly stiffened against me. A low growl rumbled in his throat forcing me to look up at the person walking toward us. The old woman we’d met just a little bit ago knelt down on my other side and spoke to Brandt in her language. I knew he didn’t understand any more than I did, but she must have shown him something that relayed her meaning. Brandt sat back, pulling away from me just enough that his body didn’t touch mine anymore. But he left his hand resting on my paw and I loved him even more in that moment.

The old woman began chanting. A different chant than what we’d heard before. Her hands roamed up and down my body just a fraction of an inch above my fur. The repetitive song calmed me down and I swear I could feel heat everywhere she almost touched me. Her clothes smelled like lavender and the dried flowers in her hair must have been sage. She continued chanting and I lost track of the time that had passed. But slowly, I could feel my bear going to sleep and allowing my human brain to come to light.

It wasn’t until the woman leaned against my head and whispered into my ear, “They are safe now,” that my body shifted easily back to human. I lay there, naked and in somewhat of a trance, wondering if I’d heard her English correctly and trying to interpret what that meant.

“Emma?” Brandt asked. “How do you feel?”

I assessed my body from my head to my toes looking for any signs that something had been injured too badly by Joshua. But I felt good. Better than good actually, and I looked over to the old woman.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

She smiled down at me and once again rested her hand on my stomach. With a quick nod, she stood and disappeared into one of the trailers down the road. Bo chuckled and handed Brandt my clothes. “Well, that was weird.”

Weird? Definitely. But today had been a weird day and a lot had changed since Brandt woke me this morning. I looked up at him still hovering over me and lifted my arms. “Come here,” I whispered.

He smiled and bent forward, pressing his lips against mine. The warmth between us heated my core and when I pushed my tongue into his mouth, he moaned. His hands gripped the back of my head, pulling me closer to him, our kiss deepening with each breath.

Bo cleared his throat and tossed a pair of pants onto both of us. “Okay lovebirds. Everyone’s watching and its quite obvious how excited Brandt is.”

I felt his erection brush against my stomach and giggled. As much as I wanted him inside me now, Bo was right—this wasn’t the time.

“As soon as we get home,” he promised.

I sat up, not wanting to let go of him. “Sounds perfect,” I said with a smile.

We dressed quickly and walked over to Scarlett and Peter hand in hand. Brennan was no longer by their side but someone had given Peter a plastic lawn chair to sit in. His skin looked gray and wrinkled, the change obviously sucking the energy from his aging body.

“Thank you,” Brandt said, holding out his hand to the Tik’a pack leader.

Peter shook it and then jerked his chin toward Scarlett. “She will be handling all of the pack logistics for the next several weeks.”

I looked at Scarlett for any signs that this was a surprise to her, but she gave nothing away with her expression.

Peter continued, “You are now the alpha of the Callaghan clan and I hope to continue our discussions soon.” He meant discussions about the pack’s rights to some of our land and the voting rights Blaze had not yet granted.

“Of course,” Brandt said with a nod. “I will be in touch very soon.”

“Is everyone okay?” I asked Scarlett. I didn’t think I needed to specify that I was talking about the members of her pack.

“Everyone is fine,” she said with a small smile.

“Good,” I muttered to myself and Brandt wrapped his arm across my shoulder.

“Come on. I have a lot to do tonight,” he said.

While I hoped he just meant time with the two of us, I knew better that. Being alpha meant he had a lot of phone calls to make and loyalties to enforce. The politics of clan business had always been a thorn in my side. But this was the life I’d chosen and I would be the best mate possible to Brandt for as long as we lived.

I brushed my hand over my stomach, still wondering what that old woman had sensed. Brandt saw the motion and smiled down at me. He didn’t say anything else as we walked arm and arm down the dirt road, passed all of the bears and wolves, and climbed into his truck.

When he slammed the door shut, he turned to me and smiled. “Are you ready?”

I took his hand and squeezed him tight. “Always.”

E
mma set
down the last of the boxes from my house that had been delivered this morning. “Where are we going to put all of this?”

I eyed up the living room, now filled with brown cardboard that held all of my belongings and the promise of a life outside of the clan. I’d wanted that once, especially after Emma had left me. But now that she was here and I was alpha, everything seemed to settle into place.

“What are you talking about?” I teased. “We have this entire house.” We’d officially moved into my father’s place the day after the challenge. But it had taken several weeks before I actually had the time, or the desire, to pack up my house in town.

“Well, we have to save room for Bo and Brennan to stay here, right?” I nodded and laughed as she placed her hands on her hips and studied the pile. “So I think we should start with the kitchen stuff then.” Looking up at me with her bright blue eyes and contagious smile, she winked. “That’s going to be the easiest.”

She’d said that because I never really cooked in the kitchen and there were probably a total of three boxes for that particular room. I sat at the small table near the house’s front entry, surrounded by contracts that needed to be signed by the new alpha, and actually preferred to help unpack boxes. But then I remembered my new responsibilities to the clan and to all of my members and had a change of heart. It had been tough the past three weeks—trying to accept that both Emma and I were locked into this life forever. But as I watched her nest, I knew that this was the life we were supposed to be living. Together.

Brennan walked through the front door without even knocking. I debated telling him that this was our home now, but then decided against it. My brother was welcomed here any time.

“Hey Emma,” he called out over the pile of boxes and as she carried a rather large one into the kitchen.

“Hi!” Disappearing around the corner, she kept on working the task in front of her. I think it helped keep her mind off of everything else.

“She looks busy,” he mumbled.

Brennan was finally starting to warm up to the idea that Emma had returned. I would have liked to believe that was because he’d seen how happy I was, but I also wondered if it was just him submitting to the way his new alpha wanted things to go. “She hates seeing the boxes,” I said.

Brennan pulled out a chair across from me and set another binder on the table. “Additional contracts with the Tik’a pack,” he said when I gave him a dirty look. “I found a whole other pile in dad’s work office.”

I hung my hands in my head and sighed. The never-ending trail of paperwork just got longer.

“Are you set to speak to the board on Friday?” Brennan asked.

“Yeah, I think so. You and Bo will be there, right?” Meeting with the Board of Directors of our largest fish processing plants was something I’d been putting off. It was a good group of local men and women, they were just a bit difficult to deal with sometimes.

“I’ll be there,” Brennan said with a clipped tone.

“Bo still pulling his disappearing act?”

Brennan rolled his eyes. “Of course.” He glanced at his watch and then looked toward the kitchen when Emma dropped something and swore. “Please give him some kind of responsibility. Dad never did and I think that’s why he doesn’t participate in clan, or family, business.”

“You think he could handle it?” I asked.

“Yes. He’s brilliant.” That was the first time I’d ever heard Brennan acknowledge our little brother in that way. It made a small piece of that uneasiness settle inside of me. Brennan looked at his watched again.

“Are you late for something?”

“What?” He met my glare and then hung his head. “Oh, I just have a…I have a date.”

“You have a date?” Emma asked, coming back into the room and carrying a small expresso maker.

“Yeah,” Brennan muttered, embarrassed and obviously hiding something.

“Well, you look nice,” she said.

For the first time since he sat down, I really looked at him. He’d dressed in a dark green long-sleeved shirt and khaki slacks. His short hair had been styled and his face free from any stubble. Brennan was certainly trying to impress someone.

He sensed Emma and I staring at him and stood. “Just give me the Tik’a contracts when they’re signed and I’ll take them over.”

I nodded, still wondering what he was trying to hide. “Okay.”

“Have fun tonight,” Emma said, causing Brennan to blush.

“Yeah, have fun,” I teased.

Brennan walked to the door and then stopped before leaving. “You guys are assholes,” he said with a smile.

“Be safe!” Emma shouted at his back as he closed the door. She giggled and then picked the expresso machine back up. “Where did you get this?”

“An ex-girlfriend,” I lied.

She wrinkled her forehead and gave me a fake glare. “Liar.”

“I think it was a gift from the board?” I honestly couldn’t remember.

“Well, do you even drink coffee?”

“Nope.”

“Then why do you have it?”

“I don’t know.”

She sighed and set the machine down on the table. Sliding into my lap, she nestled up against me. “Well, we should give it to Brennan since you don’t drink coffee and I won’t be able to for a long time.” Rubbing her stomach, I sensed her maternal bear rush to the surface.

I covered her hand with mine and enjoyed feeling the place where our cubs were growing. Four days following the challenge, we learned that Emma was pregnant. With twins. She’d been suspicious after the old woman blessed her and coaxed her bear back inside by telling her that her cubs were safe. Within days, Emma bought every pregnancy test available and confirmed her suspicion.

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked, surprised at how much more protective I’d become since learning that my mate would bear my cubs.

She laughed and twisted in my lap so that she was straddling me. “I’ve never felt better.” Kissing my forehead, she pushed herself against me.

“Pregnancy makes you feisty.”

“Perhaps,” she said with a shrug. “But it definitely makes me hungry.” Her stomach growled right on cue.

Laughing, I pulled her closer to me. “What shall it be tonight?”

“Hmmm,” she glanced at the ceiling in thought. “How about steaks and pickles?”

“Pickles?”

“And steaks. Rare.” She licked her lips and my heart nearly exploded for how much love I felt for her right now.

“Streaks and pickles it is.”

“Yeah!” Leaning forward, she kissed me slow and sensual, savoring every drop. We continued making out at the table until her stomach growled again.

With a laugh, I reluctantly pulled away. “Let’s get you guys some food.”

She stared down at her still flat belly and then back up at me. “I love you.”

The sense of relaxation and contentedness flooded me and my bear once more. While we’d had so much happen to us over the last year, we were right where we needed to be. My mate and my cubs would always be safe here.

I scooped Emma up into my arms. “I love you, too.” She giggled as I took her into the kitchen to prepare a meal for my new family.