Bear Naked (Halle Shifters) (10 page)

Suddenly Alex wasn’t laughing so hard. He held out his own bag, the scent of cinnamon pastries strong. “I love you.”

Tabby bopped him over the head, then stole the bag. “Forgiven.”

“Hey, I get some of those too.” Glory grabbed for the cinnamon goodness, only to come up short when Tabby dashed into the kitchenette. “You’re pretty fast for a whale.”

Tabby poked her head around the corner. “I may be a whale, but I’m a whale with a bag full of fresh churros, bitch.”

“Gimme.” Cyn grabbed the bag of tacos and led the way to Ryan’s small dinette set. “I’m starving. Let’s eat.”

Glory collapsed onto one of the dining chairs and grabbed her share of tacos and nachos. “Star. Ving.”

“Mm-hmm.” Cyn already had a mouth full of taco, an expression of bliss on her face. “So good.”

Ryan placed a glass of soda in front of Glory, pressing a kiss to her head. “Thank you, by the way.” She growled at him, and he laughed. “Only SG could have gotten this place to look this good so quickly.”

Glory sniffed. “You’re taking the crockpot out to the Dumpster.”

He stared at her, looking confused. “Why? It still works, doesn’t it?” When she threatened him with the beat-up roll of paper towels again he held up his hands. “Okay, okay! I’ll toss it after dinner. But you’re helping me pick a new one.”

“Only if you promise not to duct tape it shut again.”

Bunny choked. “Geez, you still have that? How long ago did we make that chili?”

Ryan frowned thoughtfully. “In college?”

“That’s disgusting.” Glory almost put her taco down.

Almost. They were
really
good tacos.

“I was planning on cleaning it.” Ryan actually had the balls to look hurt.

“I told you to get that flamethrower.” Julian moaned as he bit into his own taco.

Glory shook her head. That wasn’t strong enough. “I think the life form inside would survive a little fire. No, that calls for something more drastic.”

“Blast it into space.” Tabby came back into the room smelling suspiciously like cinnamon. She settled on Alex’s lap and pulled one of his tacos toward her.

“Nah. I’m afraid if we do that, it will take over some planet, make slaves of the indigenous species and come back here with an armada and revenge in mind.” Glory waved her hand. “I think we need to consider sinking it into the sea.”

“With our luck it would float to the Bermuda Triangle and mutate further.” Cyn laughed. “It could become the Triangle’s Nessie.”

“Really. It’s not that bad.” Ryan grabbed another taco. “I think it can be saved.”

“Oh, sugar, no.” Tabby patted his shoulder. “That stuff is way too evil. It will never come to Jesus.”

Laughter erupted as Tabby calmly bit into her taco with a smug smile.

“Seriously, though. I think it needs a hazardous waste container.”

“Fine. I’ll carry it to the Dumpster after dinner.” Ryan gathered up the empty taco wrappers and carried them to the trashcan. “Wait a minute.”

“What?” Glory got up to see what he was staring at.

Ryan was looking down, but Glory couldn’t see anything strange. At least she didn’t until Ryan exclaimed, “Whoa. The carpet is
beige?
”

Three sets of paper towel rolls hit him in the head at the same time.

Chapter Seven

Ryan woke the next morning to a strange sound in his living room. Slipping from between the sheets, he padded silently to the bedroom door.

“Take that, asshole.”

Someone had broken into his apartment and was in his living room, playing…video games?

“Ha! I love it when their heads explode.” Suddenly the door was pushed open, knocking Ryan back a step. Whoever it was, the man was
huge
. “You coming out or not?”

Ryan blinked. “Who the fuck are you?”

The blond man had to be at least six foot eight, easily, and he smelled strongly of Bear. His gray eyes twinkled merrily under his cowboy hat. “I’m James Barnwell, but you can call me Barney.”

“Shit.” Ryan immediately relaxed, remembering that this was the Hunter Gabe had sent for. “That was fast.”

Barney winked. “Most of the Hunters I train only call me on the hard cases. You a hard case, Ryan?”

“Ask me that after I’ve had coffee.” Ryan stumbled back into his bedroom to the sound of Barney’s laughter.

“I brought breakfast sandwiches with me.”

“I hope you brought enough for the clan.” Ryan tugged on a T-shirt and jeans, foregoing shoes. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Cyn and Julian had taken Glory home with them when Glory refused to spend the night at Ryan’s.

Ryan was going to work on that. If she wanted him to move in with her, he’d be packed up and ready in a nanosecond. He wasn’t attached to this apartment. He had no trouble leaving it for Glory’s far more eclectic, colorful place.

“Clan?” Barney leaned against the doorjamb, watching him dress.

Ryan didn’t get any skeevy vibes off the guy. He seemed to be watching Ryan like a bug under a microscope, studying the way he moved and reacted. Well, Gabe had warned him Barney was a strange one. “My family is coming today.”

“The Bunsuns, Williamses and Allens?” Barney whistled and glanced back toward Ryan’s tiny living room. “I think you need more seats.”

Ryan barked out a laugh as he headed into the bathroom. “You think?” He began brushing his teeth.

“You’re surprisingly easy with me being in your apartment.”

Ryan spit into the sink. “You’re here to protect my mate and Gabe vouches for you. That’s good enough for me.”

“Hmph.” Ryan turned to find Barney walking around his bedroom, studying his belongings. “You should be more cautious. For all you know I
am
your mate’s stalker.” Before Ryan could react, Barney was across the room, his arm around Ryan’s throat. Ryan’s air was cut off as Barney squeezed. “I could kill you before you could—”

Barney screeched as Ryan’s five-inch Grizzly claws sank into his balls. He let Ryan go immediately, cupping himself with a shocked expression.

“Before I could what?” Ryan’s Bear was close to the surface. He suspected the Hunter was simply trying to teach him a lesson, but it was one Ryan didn’t need to learn. He knew Barney wasn’t there to hurt Glory, but damn if his attitude wasn’t pissing Ryan’s Bear the hell off. “You might want to think twice before pulling that shit on me again. Got it?”

Barney took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Ryan could sense the healing spiral all Bears danced when healing. The damage he’d inflicted on the Hunter was slowly being repaired. “Got it,” Barney wheezed. As he slowly straightened, his expression turned speculative. “Have you ever considered Hunter training?”

“Fuck no.” Ryan laughed and moved past Barney. His family would be here soon, and Ryan had to make sure everything was ready. “I’m not Hunter material.”

“Mm-hm.” Barney flopped onto Ryan’s sofa and picked up the controller. “I think you’ll find that you’re wrong on that.”

Ryan froze, his hand on the refrigerator door. “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” Barney sighed wearily. “And I have to wonder. If an Oregon Bear with Hunter potential has moved into Gabe’s area, in Gabe’s backyard even, what the hell is going to happen around here?”

“What do you mean?” Ryan pulled open the door and grabbed the bottle of orange juice.

“These things happen for a reason. Always. The powers that be arranged for you to come here.”

Ryan snorted. “That’s because my mate is in Halle.”

“Uh-huh.” Barney’s tone was skeptical. “I think there’s more to it than that.”

The last thing Ryan needed was to become a Hunter. He had enough on his plate, what with Glory’s missing sister, her stalker and her refusal to let him worship her. “Yeah. You believe what you want to. My only concern is my family and my mate.”

Barney began firing on the zombies on the screen. “Thanks. I will.”

Ryan shook his head as he poured himself some juice.

“You knew it was a shifter.”

Ryan’s hand jerked, spilling juice on his newly cleaned counter top. “How did you know that?”

“You also knew it had something to do with Hope Walsh’s disappearance.” The sound of rapid gunfire almost drowned out Barney’s voice.

“And?” Ryan began making coffee.

“We need you.”

“Who is we?” Ryan’s hands were shaking.

“The Senate.”

Shit had just gotten real if he’d caught the attention of the shifter Senate already. “You really think I’m some kind of proto-Hunter?”

Barney turned and stared over the top of the sofa at Ryan. “Proto-Hunter?” He burst out laughing. “Oh, I like that.”

“I’m an accountant, for fuck’s sake. Gabe’s the one in law enforcement.” Hell, even Bunny would make a better Hunter than Ryan. The man had self-control down to a science now, but he was still a fierce warrior when he needed to be.

“You went on a Hunt already, Ryan.” Barney paused the game again. “You found the bad guy and administered justice.”

“He shot my mate and was going to kill her best friend.”

Barney sighed. “What do you think Hunters do, Ryan? We take down rogue shifters. And like Alphas and Betas and Marshals, they’re born, not made. I can’t
make
you a Hunter, Ryan. I can only train you, because you already
are
one.”

Something in Ryan shifted. His Bear was listening intently, even as his human half denied what the other Hunter was saying.

Wait. Did I just think of Barney as the other Hunter?
Shit. It couldn’t be. Ryan had never intended to become something so lofty as a Hunter. He’d been content working for Bunsun Exteriors.

“You’d be surprised how little your life will change. You’ll still have your job and your place in your family group.” Barney grinned. “Hell, maybe I’ll be nice and stay in Halle to train you rather than take you home.”

“I won’t leave my mate.”

“Did I ask you to?”

Ryan snorted. “Gabe warned me about you.”

“Nag, nag, nag. Gabe needs to get over himself. I trained him the way the Senate needed me to. But with you, I can make my own decisions.”

Ryan poured two cups of coffee. “Then your decision had better be to remain in Halle, because otherwise I won’t become a Hunter.”

When Barney tried to stare him down, Ryan kept his gaze steady. He didn’t give a flying fuck about Barney and what he wanted from Ryan. All he cared about was fulfilling his promise to never leave his mate.

“Fine. We’ll play this your way, Ryan. Just be aware, I’ll do what’s best for you
and
your mate whether you like it or not.”

Ryan snarled. “You won’t separate us.”

Barney smiled, turned back to the television and unpaused the game. “We’ll see.”

“I can’t believe what you guys have done with this place.” Chloe Williams, Ryan’s little sister, was leaning against the wall in Ryan’s bedroom, where Glory was getting ready to have her picture taken for Gabe’s hunt for Hope. She was watching them closely as Cyn adjusted Glory’s wig. “I mean, who knew he had a
beige
carpet?”

“Ugh. Don’t remind me.” Glory fluffed out the blonde wig Cyn had managed to dig up. It was as close as they could get to her natural hair color. “How do I look?”

She stuck her tongue out at her blonde image. Blech. She
hated
the pale blonde locks she’d been born with. They were so blah, not like her pretty powder blue, or the violet she’d sported in college.

Maybe it was time to go back to that pale lavender color? While she loved the blue, it
was
getting a little old. She’d had it for almost two years now.

Or maybe… Maybe a deep, vampiric red? Her pale skin would really stand out then. And she’d always wanted to be a redhead.

“It looks fine, Glory.” Cyn carefully brushed bangs over Glory’s forehead. “You look just like you did in high school. Bitch.”

“Just because some of us got wrinkly and old…” Glory laughed when Cyn growled. “You know you’re hot.”

“Damn straight.” Cyn sniffed. “You know…”

“What?”

Cyn put the brush down. “Have you thought about changing your hair color? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? And I know how you get bored with it after a while.”

“Oh! Go a darker blue, like midnight blue or something. You’d look cunning.” Chloe picked up the camera she’d offered to use to take the pictures for Gabe, fumbling with it when her damaged hand wouldn’t close completely around it. “Yarn it.”

Glory smiled at the pretty Fox with the short, pixie-cut red hair. Chloe, Ryan’s sister, was still recovering from the near-fatal beating she’d taken the night Alex claimed Tabby. She still had trouble using one of her hands, and her words got seriously mixed up at times, but she was still the same sweet girl who’d once been a waitress at Frank’s diner. Her dreams of becoming a veterinarian had been shattered, but she still hoped to work with animals in some capacity. The double-tailed kitsune, or fox spirit, she’d had inked on her shoulder was a symbol of her acceptance of her new life. “I was thinking vampire red.”