Mary and the Bear (4 page)

What the hell was that sound?
She shoved the pillow over her head to drown it out.

Brrinngg! Brrinngg! Brrinngg!

The phone!
She flipped over and jumped out of bed. Her feet got tangled in the covers and she fell to one knee. Pushing up off the floor, she raced into the living room to catch it before whoever it was hung up.

"Hello?” She panted, out of breath and slightly lightheaded from the adrenaline rush.

"Mary Elizabeth, it's Kiesha. I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Yes, but it's alright. What's up?"

"We haven't spent any time together since you've been here. I've been busy with finalizing the purchase of the building and getting permits, but today is for you. I thought we could get together and catch up. What do you think?"

Mary Elizabeth sat on the arm of the couch. “I think it's a great idea. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, since you can cook and I can't, how about I come over to your place for lunch? Your food's better than anything around here."

She laughed in delight. “Come on over. You can see what I did with the place. I'm sure I can whip up something for us. What time?"

"I have a meeting with a contractor at ten. What about noon? I should be finished by then."

"Works for me. See you then."

Hours later, Kiesha arrived just as she was taking the last item out of the oven. “Come in. Door's open."

"Wow, it smells great in here. What are you cooking?” Kiesha placed her things on the couch and came into the kitchen. “This is really nice. When Alex first told me about this place, I wasn't too sure. But this is great."

"Thanks. It looks a lot better now than when I first arrived. I've been working on it for the last week. I hope you're hungry. I made lasagna, heavy on meat and cheese—the way you like it—and homemade garlic bread. Food's on the table. Help yourself."

Mary Elizabeth knew the moment Kiesha spotted the brownies because she squealed. “Oh, you doll. You made brownies. I love brownies, especially now. I can't get enough chocolate."

"I know, you dope. Why do you think I made them?”
Plates, forks, serving utensils, glasses and napkins. What was missing? The tea!
She got the pitcher out the refrigerator and placed it on the table. Now they could eat.

Mary Elizabeth took a seat at the table facing Kiesha. “So, tell me what's going on? The last time we talked, you weren't seeing anyone and then bamm! A new man and a baby on the way. Talk about moving fast. What happened?"

Kiesha got this look on her face that Mary Elizabeth couldn't decipher. “You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Yes, it's all happening really fast but you know? I'm happier than I've ever been. He really completes me."

She paused with her fork in the air. “I'm happy to hear that. Really, I am. Just be careful, okay. Know what you're doing. You're making a lot of changes for this man. I hope it works out for you."

"It will. There are things going on of which you're unaware. Things we need to discuss, but let's eat first and then we'll talk. It's kind of complicated. In the meantime, tell me what's been going on with you. How you holdin’ up since Babs’ death? And what made you decide to come? Don't get me wrong. I'm totally glad you did. I just wasn't sure you would."

Mary Elizabeth brought her up to speed on all that happened while she was gone. She told her about Babs’ affair, the visit from Charles and the phone call from her mother. “You know how Mother is. She pulled out all the stops this time, and got everyone in town involved. If it wasn't for dad, I'm sure I would have caved.” Then she told Kiesha what her father said.

"Wow! Your dad stuck up for you? You must have been floored. And that Charles! Is he crazy? After seven years, he thought he could just show up and say he made a mistake and you were supposed to just fall into his arms?"

"No, just a little lost. I think he's taking Babs death worse than he's letting on and he's using me as a crutch. I just hope he doesn't go to my mother with this foolishness."

Kiesha's hand hovered over the bread as her mouth dropped open. “You think he would do that? Your mother would go ballistic."

"Don't I know it. Yet another reason that it was time for me to leave. I don't need the drama that he would bring into my life. I've finally got a chance to be free of my family. Don't get me wrong. I'm not happy Babs died. She was a big part of my life. That was the problem. She and mother took up so much of my time and energy that there was barely any left for my own life. I never realized it until dad and I had that heart-to-heart talk. Now I have a chance to do what I want, when I want and how I want without worrying about what mother will think or how it will affect the family. I intend to enjoy every moment of it."

Kiesha gave her a huge grin. “Good for you. You know I told you a long time ago that you needed to cut them loose, especially Babs. She was entirely too dependent upon you."

Mary Elizabeth shrugged. “I know you did and I agreed totally, but it was something that was easier said than done. It's hard to turn loose of someone that doesn't want to let go. As much as I resented her at times, I understood her too well. She was my sister, my twin. That's a bond that's not easily broken."

"Not having a twin of my own, I'll have to take your word for it. Well, this is your opportunity. Have you thought about what you're going to do?"

"Not really. I'll let things settle for a while. Give myself time to adjust to these changes before deciding where I want to go from here. After all, I just had two major life changes—a new home and a new job. Let's save something for next month, okay?"

Laughing, Kiesha agreed with her. They spoke of more mundane topics until they finished eating, then they carried the brownies into the living room with them. Once they were seated comfortably, Kiesha turned to Mary Elizabeth and began.

"I'm going to tell you some things that will be hard for you to believe, but I want you to know that it's the absolute truth."

After that introduction, she began telling Mary Elizabeth all that happened to her, beginning with Alex finding her hanging bound in the woods, right up through the funeral three week ago. She explained about true mates and the effects of the bonding process. Mary Elizabeth sat there listening quietly as she spoke, saying not a word until Kiesha was finished.

"So you're telling me that Alex is a werewolf, and you're slowly changing into one as well?” Mary Elizabeth found it difficult to believe what she was hearing.

"Don't let Alex hear you say werewolf. They prefer the term shape-shifter, but yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Do you believe me?"

"It's a lot to take in. It's evident that you believe what you're telling me. I'll need some time to think about it. What made you decide to share? Why not keep it to yourself?”
If it was me it happened to, I wouldn't have told a soul,
she thought.

Kiesha shrugged, then grinned. “Because you're my best friend and I desperately need someone like me I can talk with about this. It's all new to me, too. But more importantly, because this affects you as well."

"In what way?” Try as she might, Mary Elizabeth couldn't see what Alex being a werewolf had to do with her.

"Well, Alex is the Raven pack's alpha. That means he's their leader. When I became his mate, that made me alpha as well."

"That's very generous and forward thinking of them, but I'm still not getting the connection. How does this affect me?"

"Because you are my friend, Alex extended the pack's protection to you, making you an honorary pack member. Remember what I said about true mates and the logic behind them?"

"Yes. True mates are the one person that can speak to both the nature of the human and beast. They are recognizable by scent and taste. In human mates, the human has a gene or something in their DNA that makes them compatible and allows them to mate and have offspring together.” Mary Elizabeth spoke by rote.

She'd listened to every word Kiesha said. The jury was still out on whether she believed any of it. But for right now, she was willing to give her friend the benefit of the doubt.

"Good, you were listening. What I didn't tell you is that most of the males in the Raven pack are looking for mates. All of them are anxious to meet you to see if you could be their One. That's why Alex put you under the protection of the pack. This way he'll have control and you won't have all of the unmated shifter males bombarding you at the same time."

Mary Elizabeth drew back in surprise. “Wait a minute. There are more men like Alex around here? And they all want to meet me? Just how many men are we talking about here?” Maybe she hadn't been listening as well as she thought.

"Well, Alex said there were about seventy men in his pack. Of that seventy, about half are unmated."

Quickly doing the math in her head, she looked at Kiesha in shock. “Thirty-five! We're talking about thirty-five men sniffing me to see if I could be the future mother of their children?” Even if she didn't believe this shifter nonsense, that was still a lot of men. Maybe coming here hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Kiesha waved away her concern. “Don't worry. Alex is taking care of it. That number may be slightly exaggerated. I don't know how many are too young or too old for a mate, and some of them who are of age may not even want a mate. Alex is having a party to introduce me to them. All of the members are required to be there. He wants you to come as well so that you can be introduced. I think it's a good idea. The men can get a sniff of you without being obvious about it and you can meet some of the locals."

"What if one of them decides I'm his mate? What happens then? I have enough going on in my life right now without a man trying to complicate things.” She shook her head forcefully.
Not going to happen. Not if she could help it.

Kiesha smiled at her in sympathetic understanding. “No one will force you to do anything. But if it's anything like what happened to me, no one will have to. The attraction will be mutually overwhelming. Alex and I could barely keep our hands off of each other."

She must have saw that Mary Elizabeth needed further convincing. Kiesha laid her hand on her arm. “Look, you won't be the only single female there. We just had a new young female join our pack. She'll be introduced at the party as well. Her name is Shannon McFelan. She's the CPA I hired to handle all of the store accounts. You two will be seeing a lot of each other at the store, so it'll be a good time for you to meet."

"When's the party?"

"Friday night at our place. I'll give you directions to the house. Go out and get yourself something stunning for the party. Consider it your ‘coming out.’ Just think, these people don't know Babs. You can be you without anyone making comparisons."

Mary Elizabeth liked the sound of that. A ‘coming out party’ to introduce the new her, only no one there would know it was a new and improved version of herself. She'd have to think about the other part—the part about the men. She didn't have a lot of experience and she wasn't sure she was ready to be the object of so much attention.

Kiesha rose to leave, but not before making one final remark. “See you Friday. Wear something sexy and let them see how attractive you really are. Stop hiding. Be the attractive woman God created you to be."

"I'll think about it.” She gave Kiesha a hug and closed the door behind her. As she cleaned the kitchen, she thought about Kiesha's tale. It was hard to believe, but what did she know. There were a lot of things in this world that couldn't be explained. Believing that humans were the only intelligent species on earth was as arrogant as believing that humans were the only intelligent beings in the universe. Humans came in all sizes, shapes, and colors. She shouldn't be so surprised that there were other species, as well.

She thought again about the attraction Kiesha spoke of between mates. For some reason, Hugh came to mind. It was a foolish thought. He was as human as she, and as far as she knew, wasn't even attracted to her. As for her, well, she liked his size and how small and feminine it made her feel, but that was as far as it went. Like she'd said to Kiesha, she didn't want a man in her life right now. Maybe later, when things settled down somewhat and she'd adjusted to all the changes in her life. Even if she were interested, her taciturn landlord would not be a consideration.

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It was almost four. Anne should be getting off soon. Maybe Anne would take them home with her. She put on her shoes, grabbed the keys and the brownies, and walked quickly out the door before she changed her mind. These things couldn't stay in the house another moment. She had to catch Anne before she left.

As soon as she walked into the diner, she could see that she needn't have rushed. From the looks of things, Anne was going nowhere. Cyndi must have called in again. She took a seat at the counter until she could get Anne's attention. On her way to the window with an order, she stopped to speak with Mary Elizabeth. “What can I get you, Hon?"

"Nothing for me. I came down to snag you before you left. I wanted to give you these brownies to take home, but you don't appear to be leaving. What happened? Cyndi call in again?"

"Yes, selfish bitch. Oh, I'm sorry, Hon. Pardon my French. It's just that it makes me so mad. She knows Saturdays are our busiest nights. That's why she called. I can't believe the laziness of that heifer. She knows I won't leave Hugh by himself."

"Doesn't he have help in the kitchen?"

"He does, but it takes the two of them to keep up. Listen, I got to go, hon. Orders are coming up. I appreciate the thought, but I'm allergic to chocolate. Maybe one of the customers will take them.” With that she hurried off, greeting a customer that walked in the door even as she set a plate in front of another.

Well, I was looking for something to do. This is as good as anything else
. Mary Elizabeth grabbed an apron and went to work. She manned the ten seats at the counter, leaving the tables to Anne. It wasn't much but even the little that she did would help. The jukebox in the corner was blaring out a country tune, making it difficult to hear. The place was packed and the conversations loud, as people got in an early meal before continuing on with the rest of their Saturday night plans.

It got busy and stayed busy until well after nine. Mary Elizabeth had no idea this many people lived in the area. Just when she thought things were slowing down, the after movie crowd came in wanting dessert and coffee. In all her running around, she hadn't seen a movie theatre in Refuge. She didn't know until this moment that there was one.

They chased the last customer out of the door at eleven. Hugh locked the doors, turned the sign to
closed
, and turned off the outside lights. To the ladies, he said, “Thanks for all your help. You go on home. The guys and I will get this place cleaned up."

Not needing to be told twice, Anne grabbed her purse, said goodbye and left. Hugh locked the door behind her and then turned to Mary Elizabeth, who was still wiping down the counter.

"Leave the counter alone. We'll get it. You've done enough for one night. You keep helping out like this and I'm going to have to add you to the payroll."

"I'm almost done. I'll go home in a minute. As far as payment goes, you can deduct it from my rent.” She winked at him and laughed, showing she was only kidding with him.

Hugh gave it serious consideration. “Deal. I'll deduct a day's wages from your next month's rent. Give me the receipts for the paint and supplies you purchased and I'll deduct those as well."

"I was joking.” Her eyes rounded in shock, a look of sheer disbelief crossed her face. The rag hung limply from her hand.

"I'm not. For what you did, you deserve to be paid. Since I can't legally pay you without adding you to the payroll, this is the next best thing. I'll knock sixty-five dollars off of the rent for your work tonight and another thirty-five for all the painting you did. Give me the receipts and I'll knock off even more."

"That's too much. You can't do this,” she complained.

"Who says? I pay my waitresses six dollars an hour plus tips. You worked seven hours tonight. You can't tell me you paid less than thirty-five for the paint, and that doesn't included labor. You increased the value of my property, therefore, you deserve compensation."

She was steadily shaking her head while he spoke.
Stubborn little thing.

"I was bored and you needed help. It's a win-win situation for us both.” She threw the rag back into the sanitizing water. “It's not like I was doing anything else. The apartment I fixed up for me. I'm the one living there and I enjoyed being able to decorate any way that I wanted. That's all the compensation I need.” She grabbed her stuff and the envelope with her tips and turned to go out the front door.

"Go out the back. It's closer to your apartment.” He guided her to the other exit. “I'm knocking a hundred off of your rent. I don't see what the big deal is. It's the least I can do."

"I don't want your discount. I made over fifty in tips tonight. That's more than enough money if that was my goal, but it wasn't. I pitched in to help out my friend. If I were after money, I would have asked for payment that first night."

"Thanks for reminding me. I'll knock another fifty off. Next month, you only pay me half of the rent due.” He opened the door for her.

"Aaargh! Are you big
and
stupid? You're getting the full three hundred next month. The rent is ridiculously low as it is. How do you keep this diner running, giving away money like you do?"

At her words, he spun her around and slammed the door shut before she could walk out. Hugh crowded her until she was backed against the door, bent down and planted his hands on either side of her, boxing her in. He lowered him face until they were eye-to-eye. “I'm not stupid, and quit being so stubborn. If I want to reduce your rent, that's my prerogative."

"No."

"You're taking the markdown. I won't accept payment from you until you do.” His bear stirred in response to his rising anger.

"No."

"Do you realize how childish you're being? How stupid this argument is? Quit fighting me and accept the price cut.” It was all he could do not to yell.

"I won't and you can't make me.” Then she stuck out her tongue at him.

Hugh let out a snarl of frustration just as her scent hit his nose. Already on edge, he didn't have the control necessary to resist the urge to kiss her into submission. Angling his head, he pressed his mouth to hers. His kiss was dominant and forceful, an expression of the frustration he was feeling. Her taste went to his head like wine, intoxicating him with her flavor.

He growled deep in his chest as he deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her mouth, wanting and needing more. He pressed forward and tried to ground his erection against her. She was too short. He lifted her by her hips until he fit perfectly in the notch between her thighs. There he pressed against her, rubbing his cock against her mound. He wanted inside and he wanted in now.

Hugh gathered the material of her sweatpants in his fists and began pulling them off of her body until he'd bared her hips. To take them the rest of the way off, he would have to move back, something he wasn't about to do. He stroked his fingers against the crotch of her panties, zeroing in on her opening. Her panties were damp, but he wanted them wet. He slid his fingers under the edge of her panties and worked her folds open. He would stroke her pussy until her cream filled his hand. Once she was wet enough, he'd rip the panties off her body and take her. He had two fingers poised at her entrance, ready to thrust inside when she whimpered. It shocked him back to his senses.
What the hell was he doing?

He snatched his hand out of her pants and dropped her on her feet, pulling her pants up at the same time. Then he jumped back out of reach. She fell against the door, panting, a dazed look on her face. The beast in him scented her arousal and roared,
Take her! Take her now!
Before he lost control again, he pulled her away from the door, opened it, and hurriedly pushed her outside. “I'm sorry. Lost my head. Promise it won't happen again. Hurry upstairs. We'll talk about the rent later.” Then he slammed the door in her face.

Once she was safely on the other side, he bolted the door, breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back against it. Whew, that was close! A few more minutes and he'd have taken her, and then there would be hell to pay. Alex would have killed him. He was supposed to be protecting her, not raping her. And he hadn't given any thought to the men working in the diner. They could have come back at any time. What was happening to his control?

On the other side of the door, Mary Elizabeth stood looking around blankly. What happened? She remembered being angry and arguing with Hugh, something she rarely did with anyone. Then he'd kissed her. Actually, it was more than a kiss. It was a claiming, like something out of a romance novel.

Before her mind could wrap around the fact that this was taciturn Hugh kissing her, he'd literally shoved her out of the door and slammed it in her face. He'd said something at the time. She caught an apology but not much else. His words ran together, not making any sense. She leaned against the door with her lips tingling and her body throbbing. Why had he stopped? Things were just getting interesting.

Climbing the stairs on legs that shook, she told herself to be grateful that he'd come to his senses when he had. Hugh was a complication she didn't need in her life right now. It didn't matter how intense the attraction was between them, or how much she enjoyed arguing with him. The man was her landlord. Nothing good could come of it. Yes, it was a good thing he'd stopped when he did. Now if she could only convince her body.