9781631054747HerstoBearHoffa (5 page)

Jenna
lay with her head pillowed on Bern’s considerable bicep as her breathing
returned to normal. She was a hot sweaty mess, her hair was plastered to her
face and she felt like she’d run a marathon. Hell, her legs were shaking. Who
knew sex was so…exhausting, she thought as her eyes drifted closed and slumber
stole her thoughts.

Jenna
woke to find the bed next to her empty and the smell of food enticing her to
the kitchen. She rose from the bed gingerly, used the restroom, brushed her
teeth, slipped on her robe and sauntered into the kitchen to find her big bear
at the stove in nothing but his jeans and bare feet. That was a sight she could
certainly get used to.

She
stole up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Did
you have a nice nap, little one?”

“I
did,” she said with a sheepish grin. “Someone wore me out.”

Bern
smiled down at her, looking a bit prideful. “Dinner is almost ready. Why don’t
you pour yourself a glass of wine and rest while I finish cooking?”

“Man, a
girl could get used to this kind of pampering,” Jenna said, pulling his head
down to kiss his lips before doing as he suggested.

Once
Jenna was seated at the table she said. “I guess we really should talk about
the rest of the stuff, we kind of got distracted from earlier? Huh?”

Bern
raised an eyebrow. “I guess so. Though, I must say, I myself am very glad we
got distracted.”

Jenna
could feel the blush color her cheeks.
“Me too.”

Bern
came over to the table and kissed her heartily.

“Okay,
where shall we start this time?”

“Well,
let’s go back to what happened at the store. I understand now why Andy was so
differential to you, but what was the big deal about that wolf being in the
store? There are wolves all over Honey Corners.”

“There
are wolves in Honey Corners, yes, but they are wolves not associated with a
pack. Lone
wolves,
or wolves that we have adopted into
our clan. The wolf that was in Andy’s store was part of the Von Drake pack.
They live in the next town over. It is hard to explain…We are friendly rivals,
I guess would be the best way to put it. We are not at war, but not exactly
friends either. We do not trust each other. Pack/clan members are not allowed
to travel into each other’s territory without permission and the borders are
guarded.”

“So,
that wolf should not have been here without permission?”

“Correct,
but more importantly, he shouldn’t have been able to get to where he was
without being detected. That’s the part that has me upset.”

“And
the wolf who invited us to dinner, Von Drake.
Since the pack is named Von
Drake, I’m assuming he’s the head wolf?”

“Yes,
he is the alpha.”

“So,
how the hell does he know about me?”

“That
is the other question that sticks in my craw. He should not know about you
already. I have told the clan…”

“You
what?”

“I told
the clan.”

“When
the hell did you do that?”

“The
day we met.”

“You
told the whole town we were mates the day you met me?”

“Yes,
of course.”

“What
do you mean? Yes, of course. Don’t you think that was a little presumptuous?”

“No. It
was necessary. I had to make sure you were protected.”

“What
are you talking about?”

“You
have been guarded since I found out you were my mate.”

Jenna
thought her head might just explode.
No
wonder
I felt like I was being
watched! I was being watched! Gah!

“People
have been spying on me?”

“No one
has been spying on you. Someone has just been posted outside your domicile to
make sure you were safe and unharmed.”

“They
followed me when I walked to school too, didn’t they?”

“Yes.”

“That’s
why I had that creepy feeling I was being watched, I thought I was being
paranoid or going crazy! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I
hadn’t told you I was
Sippe Leiter
yet. How could I explain you might be in danger from being my mate? Plus, I
didn’t want you to be afraid. I never thought you would even notice my guards,
they must be slipping, you should never have known they were there.”

“Well,
I did know they were there, I even told you about my creepy feeling and you
didn’t say anything then.” Jenna punched him in the shoulder and then shook her
hand out. Damn, it was like hitting concrete.

Bern
grabbed her hand and kissed her fingers. “I’m sorry you hurt your hand, and I’m
sorry I didn’t say anything when you mentioned it. I didn’t want you to be mad
at me,” he said with a silly fake pout on his face. Jenna couldn’t help but
laugh.

“Okay,
I forgive you.” She kissed him and plopped back onto her chair.

Bern
turned back to the stove and pulled the salmon from under the broiler, it
smelled delicious. Jenna stood and retrieved plates from the cabinet and
silverware from the drawer. Bern served up the salmon along with steamed
broccoli and parmesan pasta and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

“This
is wonderful,” Jenna said.

“Anything
would be wonderful with you for company,” Bern replied.

Can this really be happening to
me?
Jenna
smiled across the table at her mate.

“So, is
this dinner with the Von Drake wolf a big deal?”

“Yes,
my second, Martin will be having a fit over it. We do not often associate with
the Von Drake wolves and if we do it is in neutral territory, never in their
den.”

“Are we
going to go?”

“I’m
afraid we have little choice. To decline would be an insult. It could cause us
to go to war.”

“Is it
dangerous?”

“It
could be, but I don’t think so. We will be going into Von Drake territory, but
we will take a few guards with us. However, Von Drake knows that if he issues
an invitation and perpetrates aggression on me or my mate it will mean full out
war. I don’t think he would be that stupid.”

“Okay.”

They
finished dinner and did the dishes together, brushing hands and rubbing against
each other constantly. They moved into the living room, popped a movie in the
DVD player and snuggled up on the couch.

Bern
sat in the corner of the overstuffed sofa and Jenna sprawled across his lap,
she was much more interested in him than she was the
Werewolf of London.
Suddenly a thought popped into her head from
her paranormal romance books about mating.

Jenna
abruptly sat up. “Bern, when, um I mean if we mate, you bite me right?”

Bern
smiled at her slip of the tongue. “Yes, little one.”

“Um…this
may be a stupid question, but…”

“Go
ahead and ask, sweetness, nothing you ask is stupid.”

“Will
I, um, turn into a werebear?” Jenna bit her lip.

Bern
looked down at her and smiled. “Did you read that in one of your romance
novels?”

Jenna
gave a sheepish shrug, “Yeah, I said it was a silly question.”

Bern
turned seriously. “You have to understand, little one, what I am about to tell
you cannot be shared with anyone. It is a secret closely guarded by the shifter
world.”

Jenna
swallowed tightly. “I promise.”

“Yes,
you will change.”

Jenna
gasped.

“But,
understand, this only works for mates. It’s not like we can go around biting
people and changing them into weres. The goddess gave us this gift, because
a were
’s life span is so much longer than a human’s. If we
couldn’t turn our mate then we would be destined to live much of our life
alone.”

“Wow.
That’s something I’d never thought of. So, how long will I live?”

“Barring
an accident or war, you could live to be six or seven hundred years old.”

“Seriously?
That’s a long damn time. I’ll
out live all my friends, my family.”

“You
would have out lived your parents anyway you know. You will make friends among
the weres. My sisters will love you, I know. You will have more family than you
know what to do with.”

Jenna
smiled. “It would be nice to have sisters. I always wanted a sister.”

“I will
be happy to share mine with you.” Bern kissed the tip of her nose.

She
laid her head against his chest and hugged him close. He bent down and began
kissing along her jawline. Soon her robe had fallen open and Bern’s hands were
roaming freely across her body. Jenna slipped from the couch and switched off
the TV.

“Let’s
go to bed,” she said and her big bear followed her into the bedroom.
Where he made sweet love to her before she drifted off to sleep in
his big hairy arms.

Chapter Five

The
buzzing of her alarm clock roused Jenna from a deep sleep, she tried to reach
over to hit the snooze button, but something held her trapped in place. She
looked down, found a furry arm surrounding her naked torso and grinned. The
massive body behind her shifted, pulling closer and growled. Jenna chuckled. “I
need to turn off the alarm.”

His
beard covered face nuzzled behind her ear “Mmm, yes turn off that noise, so I
can snuggle with you.”

“No,
silly.
While
that would be nice, I have to get up. It’s a school day.” She patted the hand
that covered her stomach in a silent demand for him to release her.

“But, Mom,
I don’t wanna go to school,” he whined. “Call in sick.” He squeezed her tight
and buried his head in her back. All the while the alarm blared in the
background.

Jenna
finally managed to reach her arm out and slap the alarm silent. She turned in
Bern’s arms and cupped his face. “I would like nothing better than to spend the
day in bed with you, my honey bear, but a room full of sweet little smiling
faces will be waiting for me in…” She looked over her shoulder at the clock.
“Oh my goodness, an hour.
I’ve got to get a move on!” Jenna
jumped from the bed, and Bern grabbed for her, but his arms snagged empty air.

Jenna
rushed into the bathroom and flipped on the shower while she brushed her teeth.
“The coffee maker is on a timer, so there’s coffee in the kitchen, help
yourself,” she called as she dropped her toothbrush and stepped into the warm
shower. She started when a large body followed her behind the zebra stripped
curtain.

“Opp!
Bern, what are you doing in
here?”

“Taking
a shower, what does it look like?”

“With
me?” she squeaked.

“Sure,”
he said planting a kiss on her nose. Saves water. Jenna ducked her head under
the shower, she shouldn’t be embarrassed after everything they’d done together
last night, but somehow showering together seemed more intimate then having
sex. It was mundane and every day.

Jenna
quickly shampooed and conditioned her hair, and then moved out of the way of the
water so Bern could utilize the stream. The confines of her shower had never
seemed so small. Jenna squirted a generous dollop of vanilla scented bath gel onto
a bath puff and started soaping her body.

When
she looked up Bern’s eyes were glowing
an uncanny
amber instead of the normal deep chocolate she had come to love. “Bern,” she
gasped, “Your eyes…”

He
closed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them they were chocolate
colored once again. He pulled her close, rubbing her soap covered body against
his and kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry, little one. I didn’t mean to
startle you. My bear was a bit near the
surface,
your
luscious scent has him rather aroused this morning.”

Jenna
stepped back and looked up into Bern’s face.
“Really?
We don’t have time now, but…can I see your bear soon? Will you show me?”

“Of
course, I will be glad to show you my bear. He would love to show off for you.
Would you like to come to my house tonight? There are lots of woods around
there, so it’s safe for me to change.”

“Okay.
That sounds good. Oh God. I really need to hurry. I’m going to be late.”

They
both rinsed and jumped from the shower. Bern dressed quickly in his jeans from
the night before and kissed Jenna on the cheek. “I will go and get your coffee
ready. Do you want anything to eat?”

“Some
toast would be great, thanks,” Jenna said as she rummaged through her drawers
for underwear. The numbers on the clock seemed to be flipping at an alarmingly
rapid rate and perspiration was coating her skin.
Great.
That would make getting
dressed
so much fun.

Bern
left the room and she took a moment to stand under the blades of the ceiling
fan and take a deep breath and relax. So much had changed in her life since
yesterday, she needed to calm down and find her center. Everything that
happened had been good, marvelous in fact. She needed to remember that. Yes,
things were happening fast, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Up until now her life
had been a slow crawl, maybe it was about time things sped up, she laughed.

Cooled
off and calmed down she donned a flowing crochet maxi skirt in deep purple, one
of her favorites and a cream colored embroidered top. She quickly blew her hair
dry and put it up in a messy bun on top of her head, a light application of
makeup, her espadrilles and she was ready to go.

Jenna
walked into her kitchen and stopped, Bern stood at the sink, a cup of coffee in
his hand staring out the window over the sink as she often did in the morning.
He was shirtless and shoeless and oh so handsome. He must have heard her enter,
because he turned and flashed
her a
panty dropping
smile, white teeth flashing from his neatly trimmed beard.

“Your
coffee and toast are on the table.” He crossed to give her a kiss. “Let me get
my shirt and shoes and I’ll walk you to school.

When
they stepped onto the front porch a large blond man emerged from the shadows a
few hundred feet from the property line. He opened the gate for us to exit and
nodded to Bern and then to me. “Good morning,
Sippe
.”

“Morning,
Hans. All is well?”

“Yes,
Sippe
.”

“Very
good.
You’re
dismissed. I’ll walk Miss Jenna to school today.”

“
Danke
,
Sippe
,” Hans said with a small salute as he strode away.

“I knew
the town had an old German look to it, but I didn’t realize that people still
spoke the language.”

“The
clan is originally from Germany. My family is from Stuttgart. We have only been
in America one generation, my parents came from Germany. Many have been here
longer, but still, for clan business, things are often done in the old
language.”

“Wow,
you learn something new every day. Lately I feel like my brain is on overload.”
Jenna paused for a moment. “I talked to my best friend, Alice the other day, I
told her about you.”

Bern
leaned his head onto her shoulder, “You did, did you? And what did you say?”

Jenna
could feel heat rush to her cheeks. “That is privileged information. Don’t you
know the girl code?”

“Girl
code?”

“Yes.
Anything that best friends say to each other is off limits to boyfriends.”

Bern
smiled smugly, and waggled his eyebrows, “So, I’m your boyfriend now, am I?”

Jenna
slugged him on the arm. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t have slept with you if I
didn’t consider you my boyfriend,” she hissed, shaking her throbbing hand. Damn
his arm was hard.

“I want
to invite Alice to come down and meet you. Is that okay?”

“Of
course.
I’d
love to meet your friend.”

Jenna
hugged Bern’s arm, it felt so nice walking and talking with him. Maybe there
really was something to this mate bond thing, because they just ‘clicked.’ Bern
was so easy to talk
to,
he put her at ease, made her
feel comfortable about herself.
Safe.
Secure…loved.

Too
soon the brick façade of the school appeared. Bern escorted her right to the
door and left her with a gentle kiss on the lips.

* * *
*

Bern
entered his office and as expected found Martin already there and trying to
pace a hole in the hardwood floor. His lieutenant, Guiles was seated on the
sofa, drinking a cup of coffee and eating a honey bun.

“I told
him to sit down and relax,” Guiles said, “But, you know Martin. The world is
coming to an end and if he just keeps pacing it will stall the inevitable.”

Bern
laughed and reached for the pot of coffee on his desk, he poured a cup and
added plenty of sugar and cream, then he sat down behind the desk and took a
long sip before directing his attention to Martin.

“
Zweite, sitzen sie!
Second, sit. You are making me
nervous!”

Martin
sat on the edge of the arm chair facing Bern’s desk. “What are we going to do
about Von Drake?”

“We
aren’t going to do anything. Jenna and I will go to dinner, with a few guards
of course as a precaution, and hopefully have a lovely time.”

“Are
you insane? What if it’s a trap?”

Bern
raised one eyebrow at Martin, and a low growl issued from his throat. The look
in his eye guaranteed to quell the attitude coming from his subordinate.

“Um…I’m
sorry,
Sippe
. I did not mean to
question your judgment.”

“Von
Drake is not a fool. If he wanted to set a trap for Jenna or me, he would not
send out an invitation. Why not just paint a big red target on
his own
back? Everyone in our clan would know he was the
culprit and none would stop until he was destroyed.” Bern rose and walked to
Martin’s side, slamming his fingers against Martin’s temples. “Think man,
think. He would have to be the insane one to try something like that.”

Martin
looked down and to the left, baring his neck to his alpha. “You are right,
sir.”

Bern
leaned forward and hugged his second, placing his forehead to the other man’s
for a moment. “I appreciate your concern, my friend. You are a good second, but
you must learn to curb your hot head and think things through. You are young
yet. Time will teach you well.”

Bern
turned to Guiles, “Did you determine how the young wolf got through our
defenses?”

“No,
that is the part that has me stumped. It’s almost like he had a cloaking spell.
None of our trackers could find any hint of his scent, either from his coming
or his leaving.”

“I
smelled his scent clearly enough in Andy’s store,” Bern interjected.

“I know
,
that’s what makes it so odd.”

“We
searched the area, but couldn’t find any tracks or scent.” Guiles studied the
pattern in the throw rug on the floor. “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know what else
to do.”

“Step
up patrols in the area along the western border. Add some wolves to those
patrolling that sector, maybe they’ll smell something we’re missing.”

“Yes,
sir.”

Bern
went back behind his desk and poured another cup of coffee. “Anything else I
need to know about?”

Martin
cleared his throat. “Janice Hilliard’s son, Boyd saw a man with an infrared
scope and a tranq gun sneaking around the edge of town after dark last night.
He followed him back to a camp about ten miles outside town. Boyd told his
momma, and she told her friends and you know how that goes. Now the whole town
is rumbling about
, HUNTS Humans United Negation Team
for Shifters.”

“Crap, that’s all we need.”

“It’s just rumors at this point, but I think we should check
it out.”

“Definitely, better safe than sorry, but I don’t want any
trouble. Send a recon team in first. Find out if these yahoos are even in the
hate group to start with before we do anything. If they are, then we’ll have to
decide what to do. For the moment, do not approach them. Investigate, only.
Understand?”

Both men stood. “Yes, sir,” they answered together.

“We done for now?”

They nodded, “Dismissed.” Bern flipped on his computer and
Guiles and Martin left the room.

Bern tried to concentrate on the invoices for his lumber
company, but he couldn’t get the thought of the possible threat to his clan out
of his mind. Were the campers in the woods really from the HUNTS group or was
his clan merely being paranoid?

Shifters had never been a threat to the human race. While by
nature shifters were violent, violence against humans had never been tolerated.
It was a death sentence to a shifter to attack a human. Before they had come
out, it was necessary to keep their secret, now it was necessary to keep the
peace that balanced on the head of a pin.

Shifters were stronger and faster than humans, they healed
faster and lived longer, but in one area they were seriously lacking.
Numbers.
Shifters were outnumbered by humans by millions to
one. If the human population decided they truly were a threat they would end up
in cages or worse.

Shifters would be forced to go back into hiding, living in
the wild, or in a cage. Not much of a choice. While Bern loved his bear, he
loved his human half too. He had no desire to live a feral life. He liked
living in a house, shopping in stores and eating cooked food. Hey, he was a
civilized bear.