Red's Bear (Erotic Shifter Fairy Tales) (19 page)

“But you,” he whispered. Even now the ache of that day,
his bear knowing that his life mate had been located and had been ripped away
without care or explanation.

She leaned her head onto his shoulder. “Only because I
had the idea to shift and got your bear to follow my lead back to your parents’
cabin. But, you didn’t shift back for almost a week and you refused to eat or
drink anything.”

Wrapping an arm around his grandmother, he pulled her
along his side. “And still you stayed right there with me.”

Stretching up on her toes, she kissed his cheek. “I’m
Nana, where was I supposed to be.”

He smiled.

She returned his smile then her expression became
serious as she said, “Taking Rena away wasn’t Lillian’s only crime. Genma and I
brought Rena here because not acknowledging her bear was killing her. We had to
do something.”

Dropping his head, Cord struggled to breathe. It had
been worse than he suspected. “How could this happen?”

“Lillian told Rena that Den was a horrible place,
warned her off from coming here. She’d been lying to Rena since she was a baby
that she was allergic to honey and fish…particularly salmon. She raised her
child as a vegan. Genma had lost her own daughter and didn’t want to cause
conflict between Rena and Lillian. When Rena’s father passed away the next
year, it just got more complicated.”

Cord shook his head. That was the most bizarre thing he
had ever heard. A bear staying away from things they needed most. “Lillian
wouldn’t have been able to keep herself away from honey or she’d be dead.”

“Very true.” His grandmother stepped away and moved
back to her lounger. “We couldn’t do anything about Lillian. But, when Rena’s
illness was getting worse we knew we had to do something for her. For me there
was my grandson to consider.”

Facing her, he wondered how he played a factor in
trying to heal Rena. “What about me?”

“I’ve watched you over the years. Present but not
really here in heart. I know the pressure your father has you under with the
mayor position having to be filled soon.”

“No worries there, Nana, I’m taking it.” Cord sat
again.

“Oh, sweetheart, I know you are. Besides I heard about
that match with Tim from your grandfather.” She growled and pretended to make
jabs in the air.

Laughter erupted out of him. “It was wrestling, Nana,
not boxing.”

Lowering her hands, she placed them on her hips. “I
know that, but I didn’t think you wanted me to get up and throw you to the
ground as an example. I was saving your male pride from being lost in the dirt
like your cousin’s.”  She winked at him.

He chuckled. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Sobering she said, “Your
great-grandfather, your grandfather and your father have all been blessed with
having their true mate at their side as they led this town. I wasn’t going to
have my grandson doing it with less. If I had anything to do with it.
Especially not with that hot-furred Marcella.”

Reaching across the space, he took hold of her hand.
“What would I do without you?”

“Thank the Great Spirit I’m a Were-bear so it will be
many years before you have to find out.”

Squeezing her hand, he asked, “What should I do now?
I’m torn.”

Patting the back of his hand, still holding hers, she
said, “You wait. You’ve had patience all these years. A little more time will
not make much of a difference. Let Rena come to you.”

That was the opposite of what he wanted to do. He’d be
fighting, getting in his truck and driving to Genma’s and carrying Rena out of
there to his house. Their home. That’s what his bear wanted him to do and he
was of the same heart and mind.

Staring down at their hands then, he raised his eyes to
meet hers. “What if she decides all this is too much and she heads back to her
life.

“We’ll sort that out when and if the need arises. If we
have to hog tie her to a chair, we will.” She slapped her thigh.

He knew this feisty old woman and her cohort would.
“I’m sure you would.”

“Whatever it takes to make sure she gets her last two
marks and can’t leave you.” She pulled her hand away and stood. “Don’t think I
didn’t smell your scent all over her. Now, how about you make your Nana some
lunch.”

Cord stood as well and led the way into his house. “By
the way, there’s just the final mark.” He pulled the door open.

Pausing she looked at him. “I only saw the one on her
shoulder. Do I want to ask where the other one is?”

Holding up his hand, he showed her the healed cut on
his finger. “She marked me.”

“That’s one smart sow.” She wagged her finger at him as
she went by into the kitchen.

He agreed with his grandmother’s assessment of his
mate. He wondered if Rena’s intelligence would lead her to choose him.

Chapter
Eleven

“Hello, mom.” Rena held the phone to her ear. Her
grandmother was waiting in the front office talking to Sheriff Smokey.

“Rena? Dear, where have you been? I’ve been trying to
reach you for days now.” Her mother said.

“I’m in Den County. I thought you would have recognized
the only number in town.” Rena paced the floor around the table the phone sat
on in the corner. The radio, the main communication method, crackled with
conversation going on around the county.

“What are you doing there?” Her mother’s voice was
tight as if she were speaking through clenched teeth.

Rena could believe her mother was gritting her teeth,
because Lillian Hoodman didn’t take disobedience well. “No disrespect, but I’m
the one who needs questions answered.”

“Come home then. When you get to my house I’ll explain
anything you want to know.”

“I have one better for you, mom. You have until this
evening to get here or I’ll tell Grandma you said she can tell me the truth,”
she countered.

“Why would you believe someone else’s lies?” Her mother
ranted. “Don’t believe them. Don’t eat anything.”

“This evening.” Rena tuned out Lillian’s dogged attempt
to still cover her tracks. “At the sheriff’s office,” she demanded.

“Rena, liste—”

Rena did something she’d never done before, hung up on
her mother. Taking a moment, she inhaled a deep breath. She wasn’t sure if
she’d done the right thing. Even though she wanted answers maybe she should
have flown to Adams Town and confronted her mother there.

Her bear whined at the thought. Rena understood clearly
the message. It was no longer her destiny to leave Den. The life she’d once
known was gone.

However, before she could move forward to her future
she had to clean out the cobwebs from her past.

Opening her eyes, she left the back office.

Her grandmother glanced in her direction when Rena
opened the door. “Did you talk to her?”

“Yup.” Rena walked to the seat beside her grandmother.

Sheriff Smokey stood quietly leaning his shoulder against
the wall.

“What did she say?” her grandmother asked.

“Not much once I told her I wasn’t talking to her
unless she came here to Den.”

Genma patted Rena’s leg. “Good for you. Oh, to have
been a bird on Lillian’s windowsill and seen her reaction.”

Rena knew how her mother looked when the topic of Den
County came into the conversation. It had only taken Rena one time after she’d
graduated from high school and she wanted to spend the summer with her
grandmother before she left for college. Lillian Hoodman had gone ballistic.
Stomping around the house, lecturing and fuming about honor and a daughter’s
responsibility to honor the wishes of her mother.

It would have been foolish of Rena to point out how her
mother was not honoring her own mother by keeping her grandchild away from her.
She learned to keep her peace. Over the years, Rena had wondered how her
father, a patient and scholarly man, had dealt with her mother’s tantrums. Her
mother had a tendency to be controlling and self-centered, wanting things her
way or no way.

After her father’s death, her mother had focused every
ounce of her energy on Rena. The reason that after she had completed college
she took the first job away from her mother she could find.

“What do you want to do in the meantime?”

“If she comes.” Rena fell back onto the wall behind the
bench.

“Oh, she will, Red. She will not be able to resist.”

Standing, Rena said, “How about we grab food at
Gobi’s.”

Genma stood and smiled. “Sounds like a plan.” Heading
toward the door, she paused and looked over her shoulder at the stoic lawman.
“You care to join us, Sheriff?”

He pushed away from the wall with a look of concern on
his face. Rena wondered if he believed her inviting her mother back to Den was
going to cause a lot of upheaval in his orderly town.

“No, I need to make the rounds at the grounds. I’ll see
you two back here later.” He followed them out.

“Would you like us to bring you something back? Rolls
with homemade sweet butter?”

He gave her a small smile. “Not necessary. I’ll grab
some delicious treats from one of the booths.” Waving them off, he turned and
headed across the street toward the festival.

Linking her arm through her grandmother’s she asked,
“Do you think the sheriff is acting odd?”

“It’s a day away from Bear Run, every single male and
female bear is behaving out of sorts.” Her grandmother chuckled as they
continued on to the diner.

Smiling for the first time all day, Rena said, “Bear
Run? Hmm, I think I just discovered what we shall talk about over food.”

“Which is perfect because that will lead into the
discussion of marking…like the one on your shoulder.”

~YH~

“See, what did I tell you, Rena? Your mother wouldn’t
have to worry about the town barriers. Lillian would remember how to find her
way in.”

Anger contorted her mother’s face as she raced across
the sheriff’s front office toward Genma with an accusing finger aimed at her.
“You! I should have known you were behin—”

Genma’s growl was low, but piercing.

“No, Mother, I’m the one you’ll need to be talking to.”
Rena rose from Stacey’s empty chair behind the desk and approached her mother.
She’d never seen the beautiful woman appear so frazzled. Rena could imagine the
last minute plane ride from Massachusetts to California. Her mother’s black
hair was normally perfectly twisted into a bun at the top of her head. Today it
was wild and floating like an ebony cloud around her shoulders.

Staring from Genma to her, Lillian said, “Rena, we need
to talk—”

Calm and in control, just as her mother had taught her,
Rena stood before her. “Yes, we do.”

“Not, here.” She glanced around, seeing the sheriff and
then looked back at Rena. Holding her arms out at her side, Lillian said, “See
I’ve come, just as demanded. Now let’s go home.”

“But, this place is perfect, Mother, for you to answer
for your crimes.”

Folding her arms over her chest, Lillian asked, “What
supposed crimes have I committed? Being a good mother? I was a single parent
for most of your life and raised you to be a bright, well-adjusted young lady.”
She shot another look at Genma. “Until now.”

Rena guffawed. “Attempted murder.”

Lillian’s head whipped back around, pinning her with a
stare. “Really, Rena, such theatrics? You should know better than this.”

“I would have thought the same of you. But I was so
wrong,” Genma said.

Stalking to the bench, Lillian dropped onto it. “See,
this is why I kept you from her. I knew they would one day poison your mind
against me. Without giving me a chance to defend.”

Genma stepped before her daughter, and stared down at
her. “You have always been a selfish and willful child. Always having to have
things your way or you leave without considering the ramifications of such
actions.”

Slapping a hand against her chest, Lillian cried, “Rena
was my child. Mine to deal with how I saw fit. Underestimating you was the only
consequence to my actions.”

“What about your father?” Genma’s voice lowered. “Your
father had gone out to search for you. He wanted to bring you home. But way
beyond our territory he’d been killed by a hunter.”

For a moment Rena witnessed her grandmother appearing
to become the elderly woman her human age indicated. It concerned her. Her
grandmother always seemed so strong, invincible. But, Rena realized that the
old woman had been carrying around too much hurt and pain, too many secrets.

Stepping to her, Rena wrapped her arms around her
grandmother. She leaned against her.

“That wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know he would look for
me. I…I just needed to get away.” Lillian’s voice no longer held the
condescending tone as before, it had become hollow and broken.

Her grandmother sniffed. “He loved you. We loved you.
Of course we would have searched for you.”