Bearing Secrets (7 page)

Ivy woke to heart-pounding
terror, reaching out to where Trey should have been. Her thoughts immediately
jumped to Randolph. Had he found them? Terrified, her body went rigid.
Everything she’d gone through was finally taking its toll, and even knowing she
was overreacting she couldn’t calm herself.

“
Shhh
…” Turi whispered,
his voice full of sleep. “You’re okay.”

As if his voice reset the
circuits in her brain, she reached out to him. “Where’s Trey?” She couldn’t
keep the fear out of her voice. Had he left her or had something awful happened
while she slept?

“I’m right here.” She glanced
up to find Trey coming through the bedroom door. “Everything is fine. I only
went to check on the sleuth.”

“Come here.” She reached out,
needing to feel him, to know he was all right.

He kicked off his shoes and slipped
onto the bed. “I didn’t mean to worry you.” He snuggled up against her,
wrapping his arm around her waist.

“It’s okay. I just thought
something was wrong.” Snuggled between their bodies she felt safe and loved.
“Can we just stay like this?”

“For as long as you want,” Turi
whispered and kissed her forehead.

“Not too long,” she amended,
sighing with contentment now that the mating connection had been reestablished.
Now that she was more awake, reality intruded on her thoughts. “Remember, I
want a laptop so I can get back to work.”

“What is it you’re working on,
my angel?” Trey kissed along her shoulder, working his way to the nape of her
neck.

“Before my life got tossed in
a blender on high, I was putting together a proposal of why there should be a
group of shifters banding together to keep law and order.”

Turi smoothed her hair out of
her face. “What is your reasoning behind it?”

“An organization like this
will make sure that what happened in Ohio and Texas does not happen again.” She
rubbed her hand along his naked hip. “I’m sure there’re other things I don’t
know that are happening that should be stopped.”

“My sweet angel thinks having
a bunch of shifter cops is going to stop it.” Trey nibbled her neck.

She couldn’t figure out if he
was impressed or just thought she was crazy. Either way, it was her project and
she was putting it together with or without their support. Someone had to agree
with her. “What I think is people need to be saved.”

“You think people are just
going to talk about what is happening to them?” Turi leaned up on his elbow and
looked down at her. “The clan members who were suffering weren’t screaming for
help. We only found out about Texas because Adam brought Tex back to Alaska
after an attack on them.”

“Who would be in charge of these…police?”
Turi questioned.

“Why not Tabitha? As we speak,
she’s gaining control over the tigers and eventually she’ll control other
shifters. She’s the perfect choice.”

“You think the other shifter
groups that aren’t tigers are going to be willing to have her as the complete
ruler?” Turi’s hand paused on her cheek.

“I know it would be hard, but
something needs to be done. If we’re going to live among humans, we need to
control ourselves, that means we need
one
organization to keep everyone
in line. Tabitha is that person, but she needs people to go out and enforce
it.”

“I like how you think.” Trey
nuzzled against her. “Turi, that’s along the same lines as why I wanted to do
the forum.”

She rolled onto her back enough
that she could look at Trey who lay behind her. “Forum?”

“About a year ago, Turi and I
discussed starting an online forum. It would be buried deep enough that humans
wouldn’t be able to find it, but it would be a place for shifters to be able to
socialize, get help with their problems, and we’d be able to monitor it for any
crimes being committed against our kind.”

“That’s a marvelous idea, why
don’t you do it? I could add it into my proposal as another way of monitoring
things.”

“She’s right about the forum.”
Turi nodded. “After you two fell asleep last night I started thinking about it.
We could make a difference with it, and it could be used to help Tabitha
communicate with the other Alphas. The possibilities of the good it could do
are endless.”

“I’d like to help in any way I
can.” She took their hands in hers. “We’ll make a good team.”

“We already are.” Turi tipped
his head toward Trey. “You’ve reminded me that though Trey and I are twins
we’re different people. Each of us have our own way of dealing with things, and
even though I prefer things done my way, he’s not half bad. We each have our
strengths and that’s what we need to focus on.”

Trey glanced at her before
looking back at his brother. “What are you saying?”

“Help with the sleuth as you
can and when you’re needed but I think you should focus on the forum, and I’ll
help you with what you need. Each of us playing to our strengths will make us a
better team.”

“Are you sure?” The surprise
was clear in Trey’s voice.

“Yes.” Turi leaned down and kissed
Ivy’s forehead. “Later I want you to finish the proposal. My laptop is in my
office. Feel free to use it, and if I can be of any assistance let me know.”

“You said later, what did you
have in mind for now?”

“To stay cuddled with you
until we have to go to Mom’s for breakfast.” He shoved his arm under his pillow
and laid his head down. His eyes instantly closed as his head hit the pillow
and he snuggled against her. “Better get used to it. Bears love their sleep.”

“Don’t forget their cuddles.”
Trey
snuggled closer against her, his eyes closing.

“Good thing I enjoy both of
those.” She closed her eyelids and enjoyed the moment. The rest of the world
and worries would have to wait. Right now, all she wanted to do was appreciate
the two men she was destined to spend forever with.
My mates.

Curled up on the sofa with a
roaring fire and the laptop, Ivy couldn’t focus. She had been on the island for
over twenty-four hours and received no word from Ty. She glared at her cell
phone, willing it to ring, but nothing happened. It had been three days since
the attack on the Arizona compound and not a word from Chad. He had to be dead.
It pained her to think it, but what other reason could there be?

She rolled her shoulders and
tried to put it out of her mind. The proposal was open in front of her, with a
completely new section to include the forum Trey was going to start, but she
couldn’t focus. Instead, she set the laptop aside and leaned back, resting her
head against the sofa.

Why worry when there’s nothing
I can do?
Not for the first time, she wished she was a shifter. Then
she could be out there looking for Chad, Mason, and anyone else who might have
survived the attack. She hated sitting there feeling useless.

The front door swung open, and
suspecting it to be Turi returning, Ivy called out. “I’m in here.”

“Good to know.” A soft female
voice replied.

Ivy spun around to see who it
was and recognized the two women from the celebration. They’d been sitting on
either side of the tiger who had shifted his hand and scratched Trey’s butt
after the lap dance. “Umm…Turi’s out at the moment and Trey’s getting a
shower.”

“No worries, we came to see
you. Can we come in?” The same woman spoke, both of them still standing in the
doorway. Each with a bottle of wine and glasses.

Ivy knew they had to play into
the Brown family somehow, she just wasn’t sure how. “Umm, sure. You’re related
somehow, right?”

“I’m Courtney, Tad and Milo’s
mate.” She tipped her head to the side, sending her long auburn hair spilling
into her face. “That’s Kallie.”

“I’m mated to the first set of
Brown twins, Taber and Thorben.” Kallie came around the sofa, and Ivy was
unable to tear her gaze away from the white streaks in Kallie’s brown hair.

When she realized Kallie had
caught her staring she quickly looked away. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m used to it.”

“It was rude, and we’re family
now.” Ivy tugged her legs under her to make room. “Please sit, make yourselves comfortable.”

“The stripes are from the
years I spent locked in my tigress form,” Kallie explained, taking the seat
next to Ivy.

“I know…” Ivy shook her head
and tried not to sound like an idiot. “I mean there was a young man in the
Arizona Tigers who had the same thing. I didn’t stare because I was in shock,
or because I didn’t know what caused it, but because I was amazed at how
striking it is. Women pay hundreds of dollars to have highlights done and to
dye their hair crazy colors, but even the best stylist couldn’t do what’s
natural on you.”

“I guess it’s like the women
with curly hair who spend hours trying to straighten it while those with
straight hair try to make it curly.” Kallie smirked. “I’ve spent years trying
to get rid of them, but no hair coloring hides them. It wasn’t until I met my
mates that I accepted them.”

“Enough about that.” Courtney
handed each of them a glass of wine. “We came to welcome you to the family.
It’s nice to see another human in the mix of shifters.”

“I thought you might want some
tricks on dealing with twins when it comes to mating. I know mine are a
handful.” Kallie let out a light laugh and it was hard not to join in. “With
that being said, I wouldn’t change Taber and Thorben for the world. They are my
rock. Grumpy at times, but don’t we all have moments like that?”

“I think bears are grumpier
than most.” Courtney smirked over her wine glass. “I should know, I have a
tiger and a bear. Some days I feel like I should be a punch line of some joke,
a bear, a tiger, and a human walk into a bar…”

“What’s going on here?” Trey
stood in the hallway with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Go put some clothes on,”
Kallie ordered. “Your brothers would have your ass for being that naked around
us women, especially after last night.”

“I was only trying to lighten
the mood and now I have the claw marks for my trouble.” He glared at Courtney.

“My mate has always been a
little quick to draw his claws.” Courtney gave a light chuckle as if she was
thinking of something else he used those claws for. “We only stopped by to
welcome her to the family. You know, and share all those hidden Brown secrets.”

“Like how we keep you in line,”
Kallie shouted after him as he turned to go back to the bedroom. “You’ve got to
keep them in line or they’ll order you around day and night.”

Courtney nodded in agreement.
“They’re protective, which is something I had to get used to since I didn’t
even know about shifters until they showed up in my life.”

“I know how they can be. I can
only image what my brother would have to say if he knew I was mated to bears.”
Ivy laughed at the thought, before tears glistened in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Courtney laid a
hand on Ivy’s knee. “We don’t know anything yet.
Don’t give up hope.”

“It’s so unlike him…we’re
close, he should have contacted me.” She wiped away the tears before they could
fall.

“He’d have to get the Alpha to
safety.” Kallie reassured Ivy.

“I’m sorry, but I’m tired of
hearing that. He could have sent me a quick text message or called, just so I’d
know he was okay. Our cell phones are untraceable. There’s no excuse why he
couldn’t…” She trailed off unable to finish the thought.

“Ivy…” Courtney squeezed her
thigh. “He could have lost his phone in the attack. Ty has a team out searching
for him. They’ll find him.
I know it’s hard but right now all you can
do it wait.”

“Sorry.” Ivy wiped away her
tears and took a deep breath. “You girls came over here and I’m such a downer.”

“We’re family through thick
and thin. Right how it’s hard, but never doubt we’re all behind you.” Kallie
set her wine glass aside. “You’ll get through this, we’ll see to it.”

“Thank you.” Ivy forced
herself to smile. It was nice having them there, and to be part of a bigger
family. She especially liked the idea of having sisters, having someone she
could confide in. Though she and Chad were close, there were things she
couldn’t discuss with him.

“So tell me, how are you
dealing with the idea of being mated to twins?” Kallie inquired.

“It’s…I don’t know…surprising
and amazing.” She took a sip of the wine and thought about Turi and Trey.
“They’re identical in appearance but that’s it. In every other aspect, they’re
completely different. Each of them with their own personality, wants, needs,
and desires. It seems overwhelming.”

“Oh, I understand that.”
Kallie’s lips curled up into a smile. “Mine are a little more alike in
personality, wants, and needs, but it can totally be overwhelming at times.
Though I wouldn’t change it for a moment.”

“Last night was amazing, but
now that the mating has been complete and I can feel them within me, it’s
almost too much.” Ivy couldn’t believe she just hinted at her sex life to two
women who were practically strangers.

“The mating connects your
emotions allowing you to—” Kallie started to explain.

“I know that, but I mean it’s
more than that.” Ivy sipped her wine and took a moment to find the right words.
“It’s not just their emotions, I can
feel
them. I know where they are,
what they are doing. It’s like I can see them in my mind. Last night, Turi was
down at his parents, when things…started. I could see him get up from the table
and come to us.”

“You were calling to him.” Kallie
took a sip from her wine. “I’ve heard only Alphas and their mates can do that
without having to focus. Everyone else has to hone that skill and really focus
on their mate. Even then it’s just bits and pieces, unless you’re like Ty and
Tabitha.”

“Their thoughts…it’s like they’re
my own.”

Kallie turned on the sofa so
she could face Ivy completely. “Now that’s unusual and, I’m sure, unnerving. Do
they have yours?”

“I asked them this morning,
they said not always but it’s like only when I want them to.”

“Now that could be fun,
especially in the bedroom.” Courtney giggled. “Think…you’ll always get it how
you want it.”

“That’s how I realized it.”
Ivy felt her cheeks heat, but she forced herself to continue. “You know how you
think
a little harder
, or
a little to the right
, well they knew
just that and, oh boy, was it amazing.”

“Color me jealous,” Courtney
announced, scooting to the edge of the chair. “Think of all the fun you could
have with that.”

“Right now I’m not sure the
fun wins out. It’s maddening to have two additional trains of thoughts running
through my head.”

“I guess it would have some
drawbacks.” Kallie laid her hand over Ivy’s. “When Robin was suffering with
something similar, Ty was able to give her some helpful tips on how to separate
them. Maybe they’d work for you.”

“Robin? Isn’t that Adam’s
mate? I think he said something about her during the helicopter ride here.”

“Yeah, she’s human but when
Harmony—who is mated to Felix the Captain of Tabitha’s guards—joined our clan
she formed an Alpha-shifter connection with Robin. It was nearly overwhelming
to Robin with all the pain.” Kallie explained. “They still have the connection,
even though Harmony’s committed to the Alaskan Tigers. It’s unheard of to have
it with a human, let alone still have the connection once committed to an Alpha
and mated.”

“Maybe I’ll see if Turi or
Trey will contact him for me, then I can see if there’s any news on Chad.”

“I know my Alpha. He’d call if
there was any news.” Kallie squeezed her hand.

That’s what Ivy was afraid of.
She glanced at her cell phone again, begging it to ring.