A Grizzly Kind Of Love (The Mating Game Book 3) (11 page)

Zane’s lawyers had to go to court to get access to the company headquarters. Hubert managed to get him temporarily blocked from the property, but the next morning, Zane had the restraining order overturned.

It was a complicated affair; Zane had the right to issue a death challenge to his uncle, which everyone knew Hubert would lose, but he had to wait until the legal matters affecting the clan and their property were resolved.

“I’m surprised Hubert’s still in the country,” Wynona said as they pulled up in front of the company headquarters, which was located in a building in front of the property. Zane had brought along Rex and Panhead and Knuckles and half a dozen other shifters who worked with him at the garage; they were following Zane on their bikes. They’d also brought along Gillian to help go through the paperwork in the office, because she was so compulsively organized.

“Looks like he’s going to fight as long as he can,” Zane said. “He knows he’s going to lose, so I suspect he’ll flee the country before I get a chance to challenge him.”

Several of Hubert’s men stood blocking them for a moment, growling and bristling. Zane, Rex and the rest of the crew returned their snarls. Within seconds, Hubert’s men caved. Their shoulders slumped and they stepped aside to let everyone in. Then they hurried off towards their cars.

“Don’t go far,” Zane yelled after them. “There will be arrest warrants with your names on them, real soon.”

“Screw you! You’ve ruined everything, you selfish bastard!” one of the men shouted angrily at Zane. He wore a custom-tailored, pin-striped suit and a Rolex, and an expression of sheer misery. The free ride was over now. He climbed into his Lexus and drove off, with the rest of Hubert’s men following.

Zane led the group into the building. They walked in to find Hubert and Cecily in the reception area, along with the sawmill’s foreman, Algernon, the crew boss, Pete, and several other bears Wynona didn’t recognize, standing next to several metal trash bins full of burning files. They looked up with snarls of rage as Zane and his crew piled into the room.

Gillian gasped in outrage at the mess they were creating, but Zane just laughed.

“You think that will even slow me down?” he said. “There will be bank records of everything you’ve done. But don’t worry, Hubert, you won’t survive long enough to go to jail.”

Hubert bared his teeth and let out a low growl of rage.

Cecily clenched her fists and raked Zane with a look of pure hatred. She was furious and near tears. She knew everything was collapsing around her ears and there was nothing she could do about it.

“You’ve always been a horrible, selfish beast,” she sniffled angrily at Zane. “Putting your own happiness in front of the pack’s well-being. We found you a perfect mate who would have saved our pack from financial disaster and given you cubs with a sterling pedigree. And now you’re destroying us all.”

“You’re the selfish ones,” Zane snapped at her. “My parents built up a successful business, and you tore it down. You chased off all the decent members of the clan, and ruined our clan’s reputation and our business.”

“You’re just like your father.” Hubert’s fangs descended, and his words came out slurred. Drool ran down his chin. “Self-righteous bastard.”

Zane roared with fury. “Insult him again and we’ll end this right here! You know you can’t beat me in a fight.”

Now Hubert’s expression turned sly and gloating. “Not in a physical fight, no. But I can beat you.”

Cecily was starting to look frightened now. She cringed towards the husband she loathed, looking at him with desperation. “You have a plan, don’t you?” she whined.

Hubert ignored her.

Zane snorted. “You can flee the country with the clothes on your back and live in poverty, or you can face my challenge.”

“There’s a third option,” Hubert snarled, “where I finish what I started with your parents. The Molfetta brothers screwed up, but I won’t.”

“Boss.” Algernon looked alarmed. “Are you crazy? Now we’ll have to kill them all.”

Wynona sucked in her breath in shock. The room went very still. Zane’s entire body turned furry, and he began to grow taller. He was controlling his change so that he could still speak, but he’d go bear any minute now.

“You what?” Cecily gasped. She looked at Zane, her eyes huge. “I swear I didn’t know.”

“I suspected that you hired the Molfetta brothers to kill my family, and then killed them so they couldn’t talk,” Zane gritted out. “And I would have proved it.”

“Probably,” Hubert said, with a crazed grin. “It’s been a great run. But we’re going out on my terms. I spent last night rigging the building with explosives. I’m going to blow us all to kingdom come.”

Before anyone could stop him, he dashed to the door and slammed it shut. There was a clicking sound. Panic filled Wynona as she realized he’d probably rigged the lock as well.

Cecily ran for the door and frantically pulled at the handle. The door didn’t budge.

“Wynona, Gillian! Find a way out of here! Save yourself!” Zane shouted.

Hubert sneered, and the sneer turned into a snarl as he shifted. His expensive suit split and shredded into tatters as his forelimbs lengthened and thickened. Chunky gold links at his wrist and neck popped open, and thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry hit the floor. His soft hands with their manicured nails – hands that looked like they’d never done a decent day’s work – became massive shaggy paws with curved, yellowish claws.

Algernon and Pete followed suit, rearing behind Hubert, all slavering jaws and bravado.

Zane shifted too, with Panhead and Knuckles flanking him. Rex shouted orders to the other guys from the garage, who spread out in human form. They formed a threatening semi-circle of muscle and testosterone, many of them wielding two-foot-long wrenches or with heavy chains wrapped around their knuckles.

Hubert would have to be arrogant to the point of being suicidal to think he and his yes-men could win.

Hubert charged.

The two groups collided in a cacophony of meaty thuds and furious bellows. Algernon was sent yelping as a chain, wielded like a whip, caught him square on the snout. Hubert turned and snarled at him, enraged by his cowardice, and Algernon slunk back reluctantly into the fray.

Hubert got his huge forelimbs around Knuckles in a brutal bear-hug and heaved, sending him tumbling across the floor and scattering the guys from the garage like nine-pins. But they were on their feet almost at once. A few of them shifted, fur exploding over their muscular bodies as they swelled and mutated into their towering animal forms. Others spat blood, swore viciously, and waded back into the fight with fists flying and chains spinning.

Panhead and Pete were wrestling, snapping at each other with their huge jaws. Pete swung a heavy paw at Panhead’s scarred muzzle, failing to make contact when the big bear lunged low and knocked him to the floor, shaking the foundations.

Cecily clutched her beautifully coiffed hair, torturing the lacquered strands until she looked like a scarecrow. “Hubert,
do
something!” she cried.

His head snapped around, and he snarled at her, his eyes seeming to shine red with feral anger. Slaver dripped from his jaws and he gave a snorting bellow and started towards her. For a horrible moment, Wynona thought he was going to tear Cecily limb from limb.

But Zane slammed into him, knocking him backwards. Hubert struggled, trying to get off his back and onto his feet, swinging his extended claws at Zane’s throat.

Zane just lowered his head, taking the brutal swipes to the back of his thick, muscular neck.

Hubert’s claws cut deep – almost to the bone – and Zane’s thick fur was quickly matted with blood, which made bright red coins where it dripped to the floor. He didn’t react to the pain, though. Hubert, driven to the brink of feral rage by the way his years-long plans had been so swiftly dismantled, was lashing out blindly, unable to do Zane any mortal damage.

Ignoring the din, Wynona and Gillian ran over to the window and struggled to open it. It was stuck fast – maybe even rigged from the outside, in the same way Hubert had fixed the door.

Cecily was curled up in a ball, wailing. She wasn’t even watching the death-match between Zane and her husband – her sobs were out of sheer frustrated pique and fear for her own spoiled skin.

“Get up and help us!” Wynona yelled at her, but she ignored them, screaming, “We’re all going to die, we’re all going to die!”

Wynona grabbed a chair and began smashing it against the window. It bounced back, hard, not even cracking the glass. After a second blow, the leg of the chair split. Wynona glanced around frantically among the snarling, struggling men and bears, the last of Hubert’s lackeys being taken down by Zane and his friends. Even if she could find something stronger than the chair and succeed in smashing the glass, though, there was no chance of everyone climbing out through the window before Hubert’s explosives blasted them all to pieces.

A small explosion sounded at the door, and made everyone jump. Wynona, heart racing, turned to look. Algernon and Pete and Hubert’s other men were bleeding out on the floor. Several of Zane’s friends were badly wounded and covered in blood.

The door fell inward, and Leander walked in.

Hubert shifted back into human form. Blood streamed down his face and from a dozen gaping wounds on his now-naked body.

“It should of gone off,” he wailed. “Why didn’t it go off?”

Leander held up a black box with wires dangling from it. “It should
have
gone off,” he said coolly. “And perhaps it failed because I destroyed your detonator.”

“Leander,” Gillian gasped, her eyes shining. “You saved us all.”

“Noooo!” Hubert screamed, and ran for the door. Cecily tried to clutch at his leg, but he kicked her and kept running. Zane ran after him, in bear form, and there was a howl of pain followed by a disgusting ripping sound and then a wet, heavy thud.

Zane’s friends limped from the room, leaving the dead and dying behind them. They staggered out onto the porch, where Zane stood over Hubert’s dead body. Zane quickly shifted back into human form and stood there naked and bleeding.

Wynona quickly called for an ambulance, and the men sat there on the grass, binding each other’s wounds and flashing bloody smiles and exchanging high fives.

Cecily crawled out onto the front porch and just sat there curled up and crying. Wynona tried to dredge up some sympathy for her, and failed.

“How…how did you know about the bomb?” Gillian said to Leander, her voice trembling.

“I never take on an assignment without investigating it thoroughly,” Leander said. “I looked into Zane’s family, and what I found was troubling, so I began staking them out to ensure that they wouldn’t pose any danger to you.”

“And to Wynona, of course.”

“Sure, sure,” he said, waving his hand dismissively and never taking his eyes off Gillian.

Sirens were wailing in the distance now, and getting closer.

“Gillian,” Wynona said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually think that you should give Leander a chance.”

“You do?” Gillian said hesitantly.

Leander reached out and took her hand between his and stared into Gillian’s eyes.

“Well, he has saved Zane and me several times over now, when he certainly could have killed us. And he is Sprinkles-approved. That’s no small thing.”

“No, it isn’t.” Gillian’s eyes were brimming with tears of happiness.

“I swear on my life that I am retired from my former business,” Leander said eagerly. “I’m using my earnings to run my rescue dog sanctuary, and also donating to literacy programs.”

“Oh, how wonderful.” Gillian’s eyes lit up.

“I must confess that to a certain extent it’s selfish on my part. I loathe the illiterate almost as much as I adore you.”

Wynona turned her attention to Zane, who was sitting on the front steps of his business, watching his wounds slowly healing. Thank God he was a shifter, or some of those injuries might have been fatal.

She sank onto the steps next to him.

“Are you all right?” she asked him. “I know you’re all right physically, but that news about your family… I’m so sorry.”

He managed a bloody smile and reached out and grabbed her hand. “I’m not,” he said. “Now I finally know the whole truth, and everyone behind their murder is dead. I can start rebuilding the family business, for the Wileys, and for the clan that you and I are going to build together.”

One month later…

Hubert had left the Shepherd finances in a horrible mess. The rest of the clan was in jail facing charges. Zane’s accountants were able to seize all of Hubert and Cecily’s belongings, along with the other clan members who’d participated in defrauding the company, and were selling them off at auctions to repay the clan’s debt. Zane would probably have to sell about a hundred acres of property, too, to keep the sawmill going. Cecily was destitute and living with relatives, who weren’t particularly gracious about it, and she was among the clan survivors who were facing charges of fraud.

But Wynona wasn’t dwelling on any of that.

It was a beautiful day for a cookout, and Zane had invited everybody to his newly expanded house for a barbecue – he’d just finished building another room on to it. Wynona’s niece Daisy was there with her mate Ryker and her pregnant belly resting on her knees as she sat on the front porch swing. Gillian and Terrence, formerly known as Leander, sat on the porch steps, reading an article on the front page of the
New York Times
and laughing about the bad grammar.

The Wileys were sitting at a picnic table, watching the younger children chasing Daisy’s son Jasper around a tree. Jasper was in cub form, yipping happily.

Zane stood at the grill, serving up hamburgers and hot dogs to Rex and the rest of the guys from the garage and their mates.

“Wynona, do you have something you want to tell me?” Daisy asked her.

Wynona looked over at her niece, puzzled. “Like what?”

Daisy glanced at Wynona’s middle.

Wynona burst out laughing. “I’m not pregnant, if that’s what you’re asking,” she said. “Why on earth would you think that?”

“Well, other than the fact that you and Zane have that highly satisfied glow about you both…”

“Daisy, really.” Wynona felt herself blushing. “We’re family. That’s not appropriate!” It was true, but not appropriate.

“Other than that, there’s the fact that Mrs. Wiley is rushing your wedding so fast. I figured maybe she wanted you to get married before you started to show.”

“Oh, good heavens, no,” Wynona said. “She’s just super religious and mortified that Zane and I aren’t married yet. She wants to make an honest woman out of me. Other than that, she’s incredibly sweet. You know she actually encourages me to eat? It’s like having a real mom.” Her voice turned slightly wistful. “Portia never encouraged me to eat. Except lettuce and nonfat yogurt.”

“Portia, excuse my French, was a raging bitch. Yes, Gillian, I know that isn’t French!” she called out before Gillian could say anything. “What kind of a mother won’t let her daughter call her mom? One of the happiest days of my life was when Jasper first said mama.”

“That was the day after he said dada,” Ryker added.

Daisy shook her head with an affectionate smile. “He’s never going to let me live that one down.”

“Nope. Sure won’t,” Ryker agreed.

Daisy swatted at him. “Oh, go make yourself useful and get me a non-alcoholic beverage, you big lug.” Ryker leaned down and kissed her forehead before heading off to fetch her a drink.

Zane was walking towards them now, holding a tray of hamburgers.

He climbed the front steps of his porch. “Excuse me, Daisy, may I sit next to my beautiful fiancée?” he asked. “And may I say that you are looking especially lovely today? Pregnancy certainly agrees with you.”

Daisy scooted over to make room for him. “He is such a gentleman! And so charming,” she said to Wynona, who accepted a burger from Zane and took a big bite. “You really lucked out with this one. It’s like he went to finishing school.”

Wynona choked on her burger as Zane laughed at the expression on her face.

“You all right there, princess?” He smirked. “Just remember, if you ever need any tips on etiquette, I am always pleased to assist you.”

“Always pleased to assist me?” She suppressed a giggle. “I will get you for that later, you grizzly-faced jerk.”

“I was counting on it,” he whispered in her ear, and his hot breath sent a wave of arousal rushing through her body. “I promise not to fight back very hard.”

“Hey!” Daisy said loudly. “I’m her niece, and I’m sitting right here. You two keep it clean.”

Zane rested his hand on Wynona’s knee, and Wynona, blushing furiously, look away, ate her burger, and pretended that she hadn’t heard a word of what Daisy had just said.