Bearly Accidental (Accidentally Paranormal Book 12) (7 page)

If only Nina knew how often she’d been roughed up. Never stabbed, mind you, but beat to hell and left needing stitches? Hell yeah. “Fine,” she gritted out. “Just do it.”

“Hold her arms, ladies—this is gonna sting,” Nina ordered Marty and Wanda, tucking her long hair behind her ear before she pressed the cloth to Teddy’s side.

Just a blip of a second before she nearly skyrocketed off the couch from the sting, she felt the lightest of touches, a mere wisp of Cormac’s fingertips glancing hers. Calloused and rough, he wrapped them around her digits and squeezed.

And then Teddy fought a scream of anguish—because no way was she losing ten bucks—digging her heels into the hard floor, almost biting her tongue off to keep from crying out.

Nina eyeballed her from where she was hunched on the floor in front of her and winked her approval.

And for some crazy, weird reason, as sweat formed on her upper lip and she almost burst every blood vessel in her head to stay quiet, Teddy was ridiculously pleased this grumpy, mean, no-bullshit ex-vampire approved of her stiff upper lip—and Cormac held her hand through it all.

C
ormac watched Teddy sip a hot toddy Marty had mixed for her, the sight of her lickable lips curling over the rim of the mug making him warm all over.

Jesus. This was such bullshit. How could he feel anything for a woman he didn’t even know? Yet, when he’d seen Teddy charge that guy, somewhere deep in his chest, a small piece of him dislodged, broke off, reattached itself and made a home under his skin, where this alarming emotion made itself comfortable.

Well, you know, that one romance novel you read said this is how life mates react to one another. You just know instinctually that person is your person. Remember? You were up until four in the morning reading all about it, Casanova.

He remembered. He’d thought it was bullshit then and he thought exactly that now.

Then why is your heart beating faster? Why do you want to ask her all sorts of stupid questions? Like if she had a date for her senior prom. What her favorite sleeping position is. If she puts ketchup or mustard on her hot dogs.

If she puts ketchup on her hot dog, it’s over. Mustard all the way. Spicy brown, thank you very much.

Stop, you silly. It’s only just begun
.
You won’t care if she doesn’t brush her teeth or scratches her metaphorical balls. You’re in, pal.
You’re just shy of twirling your hair and batting your eyelashes.

Clearing his throat, Cormac sat up on the recliner across from the couch and forced himself to be involved in this conversation about the sniper. “So you’re sure this guy was aiming at me?” he asked, Teddy.

Brushing her hair from her face, she bobbed her head. “One hundred percent. He had a site on a sniper rifle with a red laser beam. It was aimed at your chest via the bedroom window. So why don’t you tell me what’s going on here? How many people have a hit man after them? I think at the very least I deserve an explanation.”

Because she’d put herself in the line of fire for him, was the not-so-subtle implication.

Wanda looked at him, sending him some kind of signal he didn’t understand in what he supposed was girl-speak. It probably meant shut up. So rather than run the risk of saying too much, he remained in stubborn silence.

Teddy slid to the edge of the couch, her wound obviously feeling better. “Better yet, why don’t you tell me why the guy I tackled out there while I was keeping him from killing you looked just like one of the men you had up on your screen when we first got to the cabin?”

Cormac fought to keep his face nonreactive, but his pulse began that harsh bounce in his neck. “A guy on the screen?”

Fuck all, they’d found him. Fuck, fuck, fuck all.

Teddy rolled her eyes to let him know he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Yeah, the guy with the scruffy dark beard, beady black eyes, who looks like he bathes once every full moon cycle and goes by the name of Andre, if I caught it right before you turned the computer off. What is it you don’t want me to see?”

Shit. She
had
seen. Andre was one of Stas’s goons. One of the motherfuckers responsible for hacking off his finger.

So Andre had finally come to take him out, which meant Stas and whomever he worked for had found him and decided his time on earth was due to come to an end.

Fuck. How the hell had they found him after all this time?

He liked it here. It was as close to safe as he’d felt in the three years he’d been on the run.

So he played dumb. “You’re sure it was the same guy?”

Teddy’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as she set the mug down and folded her hands together, her slender fingers curling into a ball. “I already said it was. So who is Andre and why does he want you dead?”

Because he works for my sister’s psychopath ex-boyfriend and I know sensitive information about him.
What was the right answer here? What if Teddy worked for these murderers?

That makes absolutely no sense. She would have just let Andre take you out and skipped on down the mountain all sexy and sassy. She sure as hell wouldn’t have let him knife her in the gut for you just for show, fool.

His eyes went to Wanda, who clucked her tongue and intervened. “You saw
his
face. Did he see yours, Teddy?”

“Well, yeah,” she scoffed with a snort. “I was on top of him, demanding who he was. Looked right at me before he jammed the knife in my side.”

Nina smiled on a grunt as she nudged Teddy’s shoulder with her own. She held up her fist for a bump. “You are one bad muthafluffin’ bitch. Gimme one.”

Teddy grinned for the first time then, and it was exquisite. The upward turn of her lips changed the map of her face entirely as she fist-bumped with Nina, punching him hard in the gut with more feels.

Stop getting the cuddlies over Teddy. She could well be the enemy.

Make up your damn mind. You can’t have it both ways. Either I allow the warm-fuzzies to take hold or I think of her as a foe.

“Okay, that means we’re absolutely not safe here,” Wanda reminded. “First, this Andre is still wandering around out there, maybe waiting to take another shot at us. Second, he’s seen Teddy, which means she’s not safe either.”

Teddy held up a hand, rising from the couch with purpose. “Hold up now. Obviously this guy is a bad dude. And now he’s seen me. If I didn’t deserve to know why he was after Cormac before, I damn well do now. Now I’m in danger, too. But from
what
? Somebody better start talking before I take myself back down this mountain and find the local authorities.”

That’s more than fair, man, and you know it.

He opened his mouth for only a moment before Wanda intervened again when she rose and addressed them all with that air of authority she was so good at. “How about we do this instead. It’s painfully obvious we can’t stay here any longer. Andre is wild and free out there and he’s seen both Cormac and Teddy. So let’s go back home, where I know we can keep you safe.”

“You’re from New York,” Teddy said. “I can’t go to New York. I have family who’ll worry. A job. A—”

“A life you hope to keep? A family you don’t want to endanger?” Wanda asked, her eyebrows furrowing on her smooth forehead.

Teddy conceded with a sheepish admission, driving her hands into the pockets of her bloodied vest, “Okay, that’s fair. But
New York
?”

“Yes, New York. Stop saying it like it’s the Andes, for the love of Pete,” Wanda chided. “We’ll do our best to get this over and done with as soon as possible and you’ll be right back here in Colorado before you can say pic-i-nic basket.”

“If I’m going to New York, I at least deserve to know what the hell is going on!”

Cormac heard the rise of panic in Teddy’s voice, saw the bright patches of crimson on her cheeks, and found he wanted to ease her fear. “I promise I’ll explain everything when we get there, Teddy. But we don’t really have a choice at this point. Please come with us. I couldn’t live with myself if you were hurt again because of me.” There. He’d said it. That was the truth.

Her face went from panicked to pacified in seconds, but she only nodded her agreement.

Wanda’s nod was brisk. “Good enough. Nina, call Archibald—tell him we’re headed to the castle and we need him to meet us there. Then call Darnell and ask him to contact Keegan to arrange the private plane. Tell him we have company. It’s time to end this once and for all.”

Both Teddy and Cormac looked to Wanda and simultaneously muttered with disbelief, “The
castle
?”

Wanda lifted her chin, her conservative yet chic stud earrings catching the light of the fire. “Are bears prone to hearing issues? I said castle. What about ‘castle’ don’t the two of you understand?”

And a plane. Somebody named Keegan had a private plane?

Cormac couldn’t help himself. He snorted. “Is it like that Castle Wicket you told me about?”

“It’s
Beckett
, fuckwad,” Nina spat at him just before she headed for the door. “Ease up on the sarcasm or I’ll force-feed you some of that shit with a spoon. Don’t even consider takin’ cheap shots at where we been. Because I will fuck you up.”

Wanda planted her hands on her hips, sizing them all up. “Are we going to put up a fight and ask a ridiculous amount of questions here? Because I’m just going to remind you again how fed up I am at this point when everyone questions my decisions. I’ve led this crew into more than one battle, and I’ve led them successfully. All while they bitch, they moan, they argue. But not this time, ladies and gents. Either you’re in or you’re out, and you’ll decide without a single word of dissent. I’m not discussing it. I’m not fighting with any one of you about it.

“Cormac, you’re not safe here. If you wish to be safe elsewhere, then follow me and I’ll be sure Darnell handles any evidence you were ever anywhere near here. If not, let Andre make your unusually large body resemble a hunk of Swiss cheese. Teddy? I assume, since Cormac is your alleged life mate, you’ll want to go with because as his
furever
girl, you want nothing but his safety. Now, we all assemble outside in five. If you’re not there when I’m ready to get the hell off this mountain, then God-freakin’-speed!”

Wanda pivoted on her heel then, sauntering to the door and pulling it open as the frigid night air whooshed in and she exited, her head held high.

Nina slapped a stunned Cormac on the back, the scent of Cool Ranch Doritos on her breath. “You heard her, Pooh Bear. If you want to get to the bottom of this shit, bust a move, brother.”

“But all the research I’ve compiled over the years is on my computer,” he muttered under his breath, even though he knew what Wanda was suggesting was the right thing. “We’ll need it.”

Marty squeezed his arm and gave him a small smile. “Darnell will be here any second. He’s hard to explain, but trust me; he’ll make sure everything’s handled. Promise. Now, I think you’ve got like three minutes and twenty-seconds left. Don’t dally,” she said on a chuckle, tucking her chin into her scarf and scooting out behind Nina.

Both he and Teddy looked at each other, their eyes guarded.

He was the first to speak, when he said, “So,
life mate
, are you in or are you out?”

She raised her chin, the sharp line of her jaw glinting in the light of the roaring fireplace, her hazel eyes glittering. “And miss staying in a castle? My Disney princess dreams just exploded in my head. Oh, believe this. I’m all in,
life mate
. All in.”

Cormac fought a chuckle as she made her way outside to join the others, keeping his eyes averted to avoid looking at her curvaceous backside.

“One minute and thirty-two, Pooh Bear!” Nina shouted.

He scooped up Lenny and took a long last glance around the place that had been his sanctuary for three years now. The place he’d hated and loved for all manner of reasons. It was sparse, he’d lived with only what he truly needed, making trips into the neighboring town in a disguise to gather supplies only when it was absolutely necessary.

He’d learned far more than he ever thought he’d need about survival. About fear. About loss. He’d licked his wounds here. Raged against the unfair, cruel world here. He’d shifted for the first time here. Dealt with this crazy metamorphosis without anyone to turn to for help.

And he’d survived. He’d thrived. There was a small part of him that would miss the solitude, the beauty of the purple twilight fading into an orange ball of sun when he greeted each new day. The wildflowers in the spring, the rush of the creek, the first fall of snow. The peaceful breeze, the soft scent of pine and lake water tickling his nose while he napped in the hammock he’d made out back.

But it was time to reclaim his life. Maybe not the old one he’d wanted—the one where he and Toni lived in neighboring towns and their children played together on his front lawn, and they celebrated births, graduations, had barbecues, went on vacations with their families together.

But something on par with all those things, all those dreams he’d left behind, would be really damn nice, even if it wasn’t exactly what he’d fashioned in his mind.

And he was ready.

He was goddamned ready.

He’d actually miss this place he’d alternately called his prison and his home. But it was time to go. Cormac sucked in a deep breath of air and tucked Lenny into his down jacket. Focusing his eyes on the purple door he’d painted himself with an old can of paint he’d found in the closet, he opened it and strode outside to meet the others, and didn’t look back.

* * * *

Teddy finally spoke as they sat in Nina’s castle living room, her mouth dry and her mind reeling. “So you’re a demon?”

The enormous round man with high-top sneakers, gold chains and an NFL jersey, who looked more like a teddy bear than a servant of evil, nodded his scruffy dark head. “Yes, ma’am. Flyin’ low under the radar o’ hell like a boss.”

Teddy was still trying to process everything. The castle, the baby vampini, Charlie—who Nina’s husband Greg had whisked off to spend time at Wanda’s house with her husband, Heath. The gentle zombie who went by the name of Carl, and brought her books and a blanket.