Bearly Accidental (Accidentally Paranormal Book 12) (8 page)

The freakin’ hedge maze. She shook her head. A hedge maze. Nina had a hedge maze.

A demon that didn’t want to eat your soul was almost too much. But a demon that looked like you could rest your head on his shoulder while you cried? Insanity.

“So you’re a good demon?”

How could that be? Who
were
these people, with their weird cult-like group and a hotline for paranormal crisis called OOPS?

Darnell grinned, his teeth glowing in the dimly lit great room filled with all sorts of medieval paraphernalia and a velvet wall hanging of Barry Manilow back in his
Copacabana
days.

“Yep. Someday when all this has passed, you an’ me, we’ll sit a spell, maybe on Marty’s big ol’ porch swing, and I’ll explain how that all happened. Right now, we gotta keep you and your mister safe.”

Her mister. Hah. Did he mean the man who’d done nothing but give her the cold shoulder since they’d arrived in a blur of a flight on an amazing private jet with the word
Pack
on the side of it? That mister?

How did this life mate thing work anyway? Did Cormac feel it, too? Because if he did—if he felt this magnetic pull to her like she did to him—he was going to win an Oscar for hiding it on the outside.

She remembered a bit of the legend her mother had once told her a long time ago, but Masha Gribanov had been gone since she was fourteen…sixteen years now. Not a day went by when she didn’t think about her mother, miss her, need her advice. If there was ever a moment she needed her, now was that time.

How could she possibly ask her brothers Vadim and Viktor about something as sensitive as life mates? They wouldn’t know sensitive from a Costco-sized box of condoms.

Marty came and sat by her on the big red and gold couch made of beautiful brocade fabric, and patted her knee. “Glad you decided to join us.”

“I’m just not sure what I’m joining you for.”

Marty simply grinned, wiggling her fingers at Cormac’s cat, Lenny Kravitz, who jumped into her lap and snuggled down. “But! You’ll wake up tomorrow without a bullet between your eyes, and that’s always a comfort, don’t you think?”

Teddy swallowed hard. There wasn’t much she was afraid of, but the unknown rated pretty high. “About that…”

Why did everyone know what was going on with this guy out in the woods but her?

“Oh, hell no. All answers and back story are up to your life mate to disclose, sister. I’m just here for the cheap thrills and Arch’s weenies in a blanket.”

Speaking of Arch—or Archibald, as he was introduced to her with much flourish—he’d once been a vampire and was now human, too.

Though, she had to admit, he was absolutely precious, from the top of his balding, British-accented head right down to the shoes that shone so bright, she saw her own reflection. His suit, silver ascot, and trousers were equally as immaculate. As Marty told it, he was Wanda and Heath’s manservant, and a surrogate grandfather to the many paranormal children in this group of accidental friends.

Not to mention, he was, according to Nina, an amazing cook. The scents flying from the ultra-modern kitchen, where Nina had told her to make herself at home with anything in the enormous fridge but her chicken wings or she’d lose a kidney, were amazing.

Archibald held a tray of those very weenies in a blanket under her nose, the smell making her mouth water. It had been hours since she’d last eaten, and the grumble of her stomach said as much.

“Surely you’re famished, Mistress Jackson? All that frigid mountain air and the call of the wild makes for a hearty appetite, yes?”

Despite the fact that she had not the first clue what she was doing here or why she’d agreed to come other than the fact that her heart, while still attempting to compartmentalize, told her she should be here, Teddy smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Archibald. This is very kind of you to cook on such short notice. I feel like we’ve been thrust upon you without warning.”

His eyes gleamed down at her when he barked a laugh. “Bah! If you only knew how often the thrust happens, milady. Please, don’t allow yourself to be troubled. There is no putting me out when it comes to a crisis. Everything is better when there are weenies in a blanket, wouldn’t you agree?”

She popped one in her mouth, the flavors exploding on her tongue in a riot of such bliss, all she could do was nod with an emphatic bob of her head.

Arch beamed down at her, the wrinkles melting into the corners of his eyes. “Surely later we’ll sit and chat. As for now, I must get to the kitchen and finish up the mini-quiches. It was all I could scrounge up at such a late hour.”

Grabbing a few more of the delicacies, she dropped them on a napkin, ran her hand down along Lenny’s back, and excused herself from Marty, heading straight for Cormac, who stood by the fireplace, his arm braced on the ornate mantle of Nina’s great room.

He looked completely out of place in the more formal setting of Nina and Greg’s castle and he still smelled dreadful. His faded jeans, torn at the knees, and black work boots had seen better days. The plaid red-and-black flannel shirt he wore beneath a black vest, fraying at the cuffs he’d rolled up to his elbows, was worn from use.

And still he was utterly breathtaking. His rugged good looks, his sinfully hot green eyes, his bulky body rippled with muscle, drew her like a moth to a flame.

Teddy approached with caution, luxuriating in the warmth of the fire.

“Weenie in a blanket for your thoughts?” she asked, keeping her voice light.

When his gaze met hers, Cormac asked a question in a tone that sounded like she owed him money. “Mustard or ketchup on your hot dogs?”

“Um, mustard. Spicy brown. You?”

“Same.”

Her stomach rippled with delight.
Aw, how cute. You have something in common. Mustard on your trans-fatty acids.

Then there was more awkward silence.

She inhaled and smiled up at him, hoping to encourage conversation. “Vanilla or chocolate?”

“Neither.”

“You don’t like ice cream? Who doesn’t like ice cream?”

“Strawberry.”

“Oh, phew! I was ready to pitch you to the curb before we got in too deep, life mate.” Then she winced when she saw Cormac’s jaw harden at the words life mate.

“Favorite side of the bed?” he asked, surprising her.

Her cheeks warmed. “Middle. I know. I’m a hog. Anyone I’ve ever slept with says so…” Ugh. Probably not a good idea to bring up past lovers and their sleeping arrangements. She sucked at small talk. “Sorry. That was insensitive.”

He smiled for the first time—that smile that made her heart go pitter-pat. “It’s okay. You’re what, twenty-five? I can’t expect you to have been celibate.”

Now she blushed, sick with delight that he thought she was twenty-five. “Thirty, actually. How old are you?”

“Thirty-nine.”

“So who’s your sleuth?”

Cormac cocked his dark head, confusion in his glittering eyes. “My what?”

“Your sleuth. You know, your clan, your pack, your people?”

“Is that what they call a group of bears? I had no idea.”

Now that was odd. Everyone who was anyone knew what fellow bears called one other. “That’s what we’ve always called them. My sleuth, I mean.”

“Who’s we? Siblings?”

She grinned, thinking about her nitwit brothers. “Two. They’re twins. Vadim and Viktor. Older by five years.”

“Jackson?”

She stiffened, looking down at her napkin of weenies in a blanket. “Hmm?”

“Your last name is Jackson. Vadim and Viktor sound Russian. Are they?”

Oh damn. Why had she lied about her last name? “My mom was from Russia…”

Cormac nodded. “Ahhhh. Interesting. Ever been there?”

“Once when I was just a little kid. Really cool. Lots of ornate churches, borscht and everyone can do a triple axel.”

He chuckled—a deep, resonant sound. “I bet.”

“Your family?”

He paused, but only for a second. “One sister. Parents are gone now.”

“Mine, too. I miss them.”

“I get it. So you work at a wildlife refuge?”

He appeared to be warming to actually speaking to her, and though the sound of his voice made her utterly giddy, she was trying to keep that on the inside.

“Yeah. I love it. It’s tough work sometimes, but more than worth the gratification it brings. I love animals and I especially love working with them.” She slowed her roll for a moment, so as not to appear rambling. “So what do you do for a living?”

“Did. I was a coder for a big tech corporation in Jersey.”

Teddy cocked her head, sensing his distress the moment he thought he’d said too much. “Did?”

His gaze found hers, searing her to the very spot she stood upon. “I left three years ago.”

Three years? He hadn’t worked in three years? Something, somewhere along the way, had gone very wrong. She absolutely had to talk to Viktor and Vadim.

“To move to the forests of Colorado? Was the reason behind that because of that guy Andre?”

End conversation. Cormac’s yummy lips clamped shut, his thick muscles went rigid.

Teddy sighed, annoyed they kept playing this ridiculous game of I’ve Got A Secret, with no end in sight. “I get it. I went too far. Forgive me for trying to figure out what’s going on when my life’s in danger.” She pivoted on her heel, preparing to go in search of someone who would actually engage in a conversation, when Cormac gripped her arm in a light hold.

The contact of his grip made her pulse race, but she kept her cool.

“I’m sorry. I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you. But the story’s long and complicated and we’ve known each other what, four or five hours? There’s a modicum of trust we have to establish.”

“All bets are off if my life’s in danger, Cormac. I can’t defend myself if I don’t know what’s going on. Screw trust.” She shook him off and moved away from him.

Because you’ve told him everything, Teddy Bear? C’mon. Play fair here, girlie.

She had to make a phone call and she had to make one now. Nina had reassured her there were all manner of proper safety measures taken to keep them safe, like cell phone jammers and security systems she’d set when they went to bed. Which meant, she needed to get outside to make a call before the alarms were activated.

Wandering away from a silent and obtuse Cormac, Teddy headed toward the room connected to the great room and ducked inside, looking for an exit.

She made her way down the long hall and found she was right back in the kitchen, where there was a six-paned glass door. Peeking outside the window, she saw the door led to one of the entries to the hedge maze.

Popping it open and praying it didn’t sound an alarm, Teddy slipped outside and turned her phone on, shivering as she waited for it to wake up.

She was calling this off. Right now. It was over. Screw the money. There had to be another way to get it.

As her phone lit up, she saw two things. The picture she’d sent her brothers of Cormac laying in the snow had never sent, which was likely a good thing—and there was a message in her voice mail inbox.

The piper was calling.

Oh shit.

S
he clicked on the name and inhaled deeply before putting on her most professional tone and saying, “Theodora Gribanov here.”

“You found him yet?” the voice at her ear, gruff and heavily laced with a Jersey accent, asked.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity
-
fuck
. “It’s been an entire thirty-two hours since you hired me. I told you these things can take time.”

“Yeah, while you run up a fuckin’ expense account on my dime, that kinda time? I damn well knew I shouldn’t have hired a broad.”

Moron
. “Because there are so many places for a
broad
like me to shop in the forests of Colorado while I’m on a job. Speaking of, you can always fire me. In fact, I quit. Free of charge.”

“Quit? What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You just got started!”

Jesus, he was testy. What was the gig with this guy? “And now I’m damn well done, okay? So it’s been real and all.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he hissed in her ear. “I gave you a hefty pile of cash as a deposit to do a job, you bitch!”

Teddy clenched the phone in her hand, ready to lob it across the top of the hedge maze. “And I’ll send your hefty pile of cash right back at’cha the second I get off this phone and I can transfer it from my account to yours. I’m out, hear me? Out. Later!”

She hung up while she still had the opportunity to cut him off and hit her bank account, transferring the lump deposit he’d made back to his account, and then she turned the phone off. She needed time with a computer to investigate this feeling in her gut that said something wasn’t right. Whatever this was, she wanted no part of it anymore.

Teddy bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying. She’d needed that money to help Sanctuary, and now it was gone with the wind. But no way was she getting into something that grew shadier by the second.

A tear slipped down her cheek for all the animals and wild birds that’d be farmed out to zoos and places they didn’t belong, to be put on display because she’d never be able to get Sanctuary out of hock now. Mr. Noodles and Suits and Kim and Kanye would all suffer.

Then she swiped the tear away in anger. She was just tired. That was all. She’d figure out another way to do this.

Once she wasn’t being hunted, that was.

Slipping back inside, she let her face rest against the cool wood of the doorframe, in the hopes she’d gather her thoughts before she had to face a crowd of people.

A hand thumped her back, clunky but gentle.

Lifting her head, she encountered Carl. A zombie. Or a half zombie. Or a zombie that looked nothing like the terrifying zombies on
The Walking Dead
.

Carl’s sweet smile beamed down at her, childlike and open, if not a little green around the edges. He held up a plate of broccoli with a hand wrapped in duct tape.

Sucking in some air, she swallowed hard to keep from bursting into tears. “Oh, thank you, Carl. That’s very sweet.” Teddy took a stalk of broccoli and bit into it with a forced grin.

He bobbed his head. “Goo…d.” He forced the word out.