Edward (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 1) (56 page)

"Of course," I nodded, looking round fearfully. "Is everyone okay? Are they all back?"

"Yeah," Ian nodded. "Thank God. Though if I had my way…"

He trailed off, and a look of strained panic passed over his face.

"You would never have let them go?" She finished for him.

"Precisely. Sometimes I feel responsible for them, you know? Like they're my kids or something." He immediately shook his head, contradicting himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I get it," she cut him off. "Where are we keeping watch? And when do you think the wolves'll be back?"

"I suggest up in one of the rooms, they've got decent views over the island. And, no idea when or even if they'll be back. We might have scared them badly enough that they'll stay away, but I get the feeling that isn't the case," he shook his head. "My vote would be to hide out here until we can get off the island, but that's if those fuckers let us all get out of here unscathed."

"Yeah, I get the feeling that they're not going to be done that easy," she agreed grimly. "Your room or mine?"

He stared at her for a moment, as if convinced she was asking a very different kind of question, before it clicked in his head what she was actually referring to. She stared him out, enjoying the look of mild confusion on his face, and hey, it was nice to know that had she been suggesting the other thing he would exactly have shot her down in flames.
 

"Um, mine," he shook his head, as if dismissing all those kinds of thoughts from his head. "It can see right down over the hills, and someone said they were hiding out in the caves so we can see them if they pop out from the same place."

"And if they don't?" Iris asked, gesturing for him to lead on. Ian paused, and looked over his shoulder at her for a moment before continuing.

"We have to pray to God that someone else sees them before they get here."

And that’s how Iris came to be sitting in that hotel room, staring across at the man sitting opposite her.
 
This wasn't exactly an ideal situation, well, she didn't have to be reminded of that.
 
The most exciting thing that had happened to her in the last two years was seeing her daughter's soccer team win a county-wide trophy, and even then, that had had nothing to with her. This wasn't exactly the kind of excitement she was looking for, but still, she felt useful, outside of her daughter, for the first time in a while. And that was a really good feeling. It had been so long since she'd felt like anything other than just a mother, not just to herself, but to everyone else. She had this nagging feeling that that was part of the reason Dina had invited her along to this wedding, it was a way to guarantee some time away from home, a way to force Iris to get out of her comfort zone and do something for herself. Dina was always perceptive like that, even if her methods weren't always the most subtle.
 

"Ian," she began, breaking the silence between them for the first time since they had arrived up at the room. "Do you think…well, do you think everything's going to turn out okay?"

She knew it was a childish question, but she needed to hear from someone else that this was not as bad a situation as her senses were telling her it was. He turned to her, and plastered a reassuring but obviously fake smile on his face.

"Iris, I know this is really scary, but trust me, I've dealt with worse," he looked back out the window, and she furrowed her brow at him.

"What worse have you dealt with?"

"Before…before I was with this pack. There was another group of bear shifters I was associated with, and they weren't quite as clean-cut as these guys. We got into some shit. It's not worth talking about now."

"Well, if I'm stuck in a room with you for the foreseeable future, I think it's only fair that you tell me what you're capable of," she snapped, her words a little harsher than she had intended. She was just on edge, and knowing he had hidden something from her only exacerbated her emotions.

"It was just a dumb thing. A couple of years back, there was another pack, and they were moving in on our territory. So we dealt with them." He refused to make eye contact with her, pointedly avoiding her gaze.
 

"You fought them?" She prompted him.

"Yeah. No-one was badly hurt but it was…scary, seeing what shifters can do to each other. Seeing Win like that downstairs, it just reminded me…" he shook his head, as if trying to dismiss the thoughts from his brain.

"Is that why you didn't go out there to fight in the first place?" Iris nodded out over the hills. It had been odd-seeing pretty much everyone else run out into the storm as soon as they heard there was something wrong, while Ian stayed behind. It wasn't that she thought he was a coward-just that it was strange he didn't go out to fight with his pack.
 

"Yeah," he mumbled. "It never really, it scared me, seeing that much power, seeing the power I had when I didn't keep it in check."

"But that doesn't happen every time you shift, right?" She cocked her head at him curiously.

"I don't know," he admitted. " I haven't shifted since then."

"What? You said it was…?"

"Three years ago." He nodded, and Iris' mouth fell open.

"Isn't it bad for you? Not to shift for that long, I mean?"

"I don't think so, but sometimes it feels as if it's going to burst out of me when I least expect it," he shook his head. "It's….I just keep remembering how much I lost control, and the thought of that happening again really doesn't sit right with me."

"So what will you do if you have to fight them?" Iris demanded bluntly. If she was stuck with, she wanted to know at least that he could defend himself, let alone her.

"I'll try hand-to-hand, I guess? I don't even know if I can shift any more. It's been such a long time since I last…." His words trailed off, as if he was trying to dredge up distant memories. "I can barely remember what it feels like, you know?"

"Do the rest of them know you don't shift?" Iris pushed further. This was all so odd to her.

"I don't think they've ever noticed," he replied, "I mean, we go out shifting together once in a while, but I usually just let them split up off ahead of me and meet them back where we started. They just think I'm the most punctual bear in the world."

Iris giggled at the ridiculousness of his sentence, and Ian smiled at her, the tension ebbing out of his face as he did so.

"I don't think I'll ever shift again, if I get the choice," he admitted, stretching and shifting himself so he was a few inches closer to Iris. "I know that sounds odd but…it's not a part of me I want to explore anymore. I'm done with that."

Iris looked back at him, and saw a sudden vulnerability in his eyes; he had been so in-control up until that moment, but right there and right then, he looked a little lost, as if he didn't know how to handle the truth in what he had just said. She realized that he was closer than before, only a few inches away. If she reached out her fingertips, she could just about-

Before she had a chance to follow those thoughts through any further, the door flew open. They both jumped to their feet, and Iris felt a flash of embarrassment despite the fact she hadn't so much laid a finger on Ian. Ian hurried towards Adam, one of the other groomsmen, who was standing in the door frame with a look of pure panic on his face. And I immediately knew what was going on, as soon as the door had opened, I had felt that familiar prickle across the back of my neck.
 

"They're here," he murmured urgently, as if he didn't want Iris to hear. But Iris took a few steps closer, tilting her head so she could make out everything he was saying.

"Who's here?" She demanded.
 

"The wolves. They're here. Inside the hotel."

Iris felt another rush of adrenalin, but this one was powerful enough that it almost knocked her off her feet, her vision clouded, and her knees began to buckle underneath her. Ian grabbed her as she stumbled back, and held her close to his chest as he turned back to Adam.

"How many?"

"Five," Adam replied. "Is she okay…?"

"She'll be fine," Ian shot back as I pulled myself upright again, using the bedpost as leverage. "Do we know where they are?"

"Down in the lobby. We managed to get all the staff evacuated, but we're all scattered around the hotel."

"Are they just…waiting for us?" Iris asked incredulously.

"That's the thing. One of them, the alpha, I think, he hasn't shifted, he's human." Adam's eyes were wide and confused, and he was about to continue when another one of the bridesmaids, Maya, appeared behind him.

"Adam, we need to get everyone downstairs," she reminded him urgently, then shot a look inside the room at the two of us. "We'll have this under control in no time, yeah?"

"Why are we going downstairs?" Iris asked fearfully. "Why are we trying to get closer to them?"

"They…he wanted to see everyone. He said that he wouldn't hurt anyone else as long as he could have a chance to get his say." Adam explained, his eyes sliding away from her's, breaking contact.
 

"And you
believed
him?" Iris exclaimed. She'd seen the damage these animals, and they were animals, whether they were shifted or not, could do. She didn't want to be trapped in a hotel reception with them.
 

"The other option is to fight them, right here and now," Adam pointed out. "And we don't know how many people could get hurt or…worse."

The word hung in the air between them, heavy with implication. Iris glanced at Ian, who nodded grimly. Adam was right, they had to do what they could to avoid another skirmish with the wolves, even if it felt like the stupidest thing they could possibly have done at that moment in time.
 

As they walked out the door, Iris slipped her hand into Ian's without thinking. She just wanted some kind of comfort. Before, this had seemed so surreal it had been like an adventure, but now, faced with the prospect of coming up against a bunch of violent wolves who had already taken chunks out of various
 
members of their party, it felt much more real and much more terrifying. Ian glanced up at her, and squeezed her hand gently, she felt a small wave of comfort brush across her as she looked into his eyes. She knew that he would do everything he could to protect her, and at least that was something.

They arrived in the reception hall a few moments after everyone else, the wedding party was crowded at one end of the room, and, at the other, the wolves were waiting. Two of them were prowling up and down just next to the door, their claws tapping threateningly on the polished wood floor. The other two were standing stock-still, flanking the human man who stood in the middle of all of them. Ian positioned himself in front of Iris, partially blocking her view, but she stood on tiptoes to peer over his shoulder. She had no idea what was about to go down, but her senses were telling her that it wasn't good.
 

"We're all here now," Dina spoke, her strangled voice cutting through the silence. "What do you want?"

The man with the wolves grinned and shook his head, glanced to the floor, then back up at Dina.

"You know what I want. You
know."
He took a few steps forward, and the wedding party tensed, tightening their ranks and drawing back. "I told you that if you ever tried this, if you ever really tried to be with someone else, I would get you out of it."

"I don't want you to get me out of this," Dina shot back, her voice sounding a little more assertive than before.

"You promised me," the man snarled, picking up his pace so he was striding towards her. "You told me that you never wanted to be with anyone else."

"I was wrong," Dina spat back, and the man came to a sudden stop. Time seemed to stand still for a second as he pondered her words. Iris realized she was holding her breath.
 

"There's nothing I can do to make you change your mind?" He asked. "You remember all the good times, Dina, I know you do. You remember how good we were together?"

"I remember how you cheated on me and lied to me and made me feel like I had to earn you," Dina replied, taking a step towards him. Her fiancé jumped forward, trying to pull her back, but she shook him off. It sounded as if these were words she'd wanted to get out for a long time now, and she wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to say them.
 

"I kept you safe," he spat in response. "You think anyone here can do that for you as well as I can? You think
he
can?"

He gestured towards her fiancé derisively, and Dina reached out for her partner's hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Better than you ever could," she whispered, her voice full of certainty. The man looked taken aback, but what other answer was he expecting?

"Don't lie to me, Dina," he warned, approaching her once again. He was within a few feet of her now, and the wolves at either side of him weren't far behind. "I came all this way to
prove
to you that I still want you, that I'll do anything to have you. Isn't that worth something?"

"It isn't worth a thing to me," Dina answered firmly. "
You
aren't worth a thing to me. I don't know how I can make that more clear than I already have."