Her Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 2) (10 page)

Elise made the most of Beau’s diversion, before picking up the wine glasses and heading over to O’Dowd. “I’m his mate.” She could think of nothing better to say, it was as if her fear had locked her brain down.

Luckily, O’Dowd came to life and smiled at her. “Yes, you are.” His eyes showed no emotions, but he was obviously happy; a slight color infused his pale face. “This is Eleanor.” Elise winced at the sound of her sister’s name coming from this man’s mouth. “And she is proof Niq It works.”

He raised his glass and drank.

What the fuck was going on?
He had sensed Elise here in the warehouse, but opening the door and seeing her with O’Dowd had thrown him completely. For a split second he thought the impossible: he had been drugged with Niq It, and she had duped him into thinking he was her mate, when it was a lie.

The man who had already brought him so much misery, had somehow drugged him too, leaving him with this idea that Elise was his mate, when in reality, it was just a reaction to the drug. His blood went cold, and he wanted to let his bear free so he could avenge them. These people here in this room who had stolen his future from him. Was everything Elise told him a lie?

Then he processed the information. Elise had called O’Dowd,
Gable
. She hadn’t used his current alias, she had used the one her sister had known him by, a name he had left behind years ago.

But why was she here, what was there to gain? She had put herself in danger, O’Dowd could not be trusted. His eyes had followed her around the room; he had seen a flash of something in her eyes, an inflection in her voice.
Gable and I are just having a
drink
for old times’ sake.

To anyone else it might not be enough, but to him it said everything. She needed O’Dowd to drink. Why? Thoughts turned to the woman in the room behind him, of the terrible fate that awaited her, of the choice he had made about giving her the Niq It, and it all fell into place.

So he moved to disrupt their view of Elise, and when she came across the room, instead of reaching out and defending her, he let her go to his enemy, he let her put herself in the arms of the man who had killed his sister, and then he watched the man drink.

O’Dowd smiled, and Elise slipped out of the way, out of his line of sight. Instead, O’Dowd’s eyes rested on Beau, and a look of confusion crossed his face, and then realization. The stuff worked that fast?

O’Dowd stepped forward, his eyes showing a spark of life in them, the abyss illuminated by love. He smiled at Beau and licked his lips, making Beau want to puke. This was the power of Niq It, it took over the mind, it made shifters see the person before them as their mate, no matter who they were, no matter what they wanted.

His fist balled, and he wanted to hit O’Dowd until he bled all over the damn carpet. Stepping forward, he was about to do just that, when Elise intervened. “No. You don’t have to.”

“But I want to.”

“No. We want him to live. We want him to live each day knowing that he will never be whole, because his mate is not there. Will never be there.”

“So he has imprinted on me?” Beau asked.

“I think so.”

Behind them, Ray and the other guy moved around nervously, not knowing what to do. They didn’t have to think for long. Elise pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and hit send, the message which was already keyed into her phone asking for backup was on its way to Brad, and any second now they were going to come charging in. Unfortunately, she thought they were going to be disappointed; she doubted there was going to be any kind of fight.

“Mr. Rollings,” O’Dowd said smoothly, his voice a little breathy. “John. I can call you John, can’t I, since we’re meant to be together forever?”

Elise placed her hand on Beau’s arm to stop him. He still wanted to rip this piece of shit’s head off. But as he strained against her, the door burst in and Brad, badge in hand, came in to take control of the scene.

It was over. His chance to do bodily harm to O’Dowd gone. He only hoped that the bond would be there forever, and it would torture his soul for eternity.

“What? You don’t plan to have a go!” Will said, as the two men gave themselves up.

“Maybe we should get them to drink that stuff too,” Beau said bitterly.

“No. We’ve seen what it can do. I’m not touching the stuff,” the one said.

“But you were only too willing to stand by and let others be taken over by it,” Beau said hotly.

They had nothing to say, and Brad cuffed them each in turn, but didn’t read them their rights. Beau knew they would never see the inside of a normal human correction facility. Shifters didn’t do well in prison. No, these three would be shipped off to a shifter prison, after the evidence had been accumulated and validated.

“Won’t hurt you anyway, Ray,” the other one answered.

“Why?” Elise suddenly said. “Why won’t it hurt him? Is there some kind of immunity? Or a cure?”

Neither man spoke. So maybe someone was going to get hit today. Beau was trying to decide which one, when Elise said, “Ask O’Dowd.”

“What?” Beau snapped.

“He’s your mate, he’ll tell you.”

He shook his head incredulously. “All right.”

Beau went over to where Brad was about to haul a protesting O’Dowd out of the door. “Can I talk to him?”

“Sure.” Brad held onto him, while he took his phone out and began making calls.

“There was a young woman, couple of years back, you strangled her.” He practically spat the words into O’Dowd’s face.

“I’ve strangled many women.” O’Dowd was staring at Beau as if he were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, his eyes aflame with desire. “You need to be more specific, John.”

“She was a cop, an undercover cop.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, taking a dog-eared picture from it. “This is her.”

O’Dowd stared at it. “I remember her. It didn’t work. I needed to know why. So I questioned her and then I killed her so she wouldn’t tell what she knew.”

“And what did she know?” Beau asked.

“That Niq It doesn’t work on a shifter who has already found their mate.”

Beau felt the world falling away from him. “She had a mate? Louisa had a mate?” Why didn’t he know this? Why had she never told her own brother?

O’Dowd stood and looked at Beau adoringly, his eyes aflame, the heat chasing away his dark expression. Not that it helped, this new expression turned Beau’s stomach too, it was as awful as the dark abyss they had been before, and Beau needed him gone, out of his sight and out of his life.

Turning, he walked back to Elise and said, “Come on, there’s a girl in here that needs to get home.”

Elise hesitated, staring at O’Dowd. Beau placed his hand on her arm, he didn’t want her to do something stupid. He knew how hurt she was, and despite her words, there was a chance she might flip and try to avenge her sister.

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“Yes… I was wondering what he was.” She looked at Beau, and then shook her head. “But now I realized it doesn’t matter.”

“Are you sure?” Beau asked.

“Yes.” She lowered her voice. “Connor is my sister’s child. That is all I need to know.”

Then they walked away from O’Dowd. Beau did not want to ever set eyes on him again, because he knew deep down, if given the chance, he would kill him. In a slow, painful way, and he hated that O’Dowd had any kind of power over him still.

“Are you sure you are going to be OK?” Elise asked Jasmine. She was a cat shifter, and luckily didn’t seem to be too traumatized by what had happened.

“Yes. I just want to go home and forget this ever happened,” she said, her hand on the truck door, her eyes searching for a quick escape, and Elise couldn’t blame her at all.

“Brad will be in touch if there’s anything else he needs,” Beau said. She expected him to say,
so don’t leave town
, but he didn’t. Surely he had the same sneaking suspicion as Elise; that Jasmine would get out of the truck and slip into the shadows, never to be seen again.

Jasmine had told Brad she was just passing through, that O’Dowd had offered her a job, but when she turned up for an interview, he had simply kidnapped her and taken her to the warehouse. She had been specific in all the details, of the other women she had seen, but had no idea what had happened to them.

“Thank you for not giving me the drink,” she said, then got out, and slammed the door shut, the shadows swallowing her up.

“She’s not going to stay around here, is she?” Elise asked.

“Nope. Can’t say I blame her either.” Beau indicated to pull out onto the road, and they began their drive back to Bear Creek. Elise kept casting a sideways glance at Beau, but his face was unreadable.

“So do you believe O’Dowd?” she finally asked, needing to know what was going on his Beau’s head.

He didn’t answer, so she let him sit in silence, she could wait. It must be tough knowing his sister had a secret she kept from him. A secret so big… Just as Eleanor had kept her mate and her pregnancy a secret from Elise. She opened that box of hurt, the one she kept a lid hammered on firmly, and didn’t like what she saw. It had left a hole in her heart somehow. A betrayal.

They were twins, they had grown up sharing everything, wearing each other’s clothes, and finishing each other’s sentences. Yet when it came to the biggest event in her life, Eleanor hadn’t trusted Elise with the truth.

“Do you think Eleanor knew?” Elise asked suddenly. “Do you think that’s why she never told me?”

“You mean knew it wasn’t real?” Beau asked, his eyes filled with pity. “I don’t know, honey, and you won’t either, not for sure.” He took a deep breath and let it our slowly. “We’ll never know what they were thinking. Your sister, nor mine.”

“You could track down Louisa’s mate though,” Elise said simply, not knowing whether he had thought about that at all. “You could ask Brad to help.”

“And say what?” he asked.

“I don’t know. But surely you want to know who he is?”

“I’m not sure. She didn’t want to share the information; she didn’t want him to meet her family.”

“Maybe they had only just met. And afterwards, maybe he couldn’t face you. The pain he must be in…”

“I wonder if he died of a broken heart,” Beau said. He reached out and caught hold of her hand. “I don’t want to think about it now. I just want to get back to Bear Creek, see that young man of ours, and then go to bed.”

“Our young man…” She smiled and leaned back on the head rest. “I like that.”

“Me too. Let’s stay one night in Bear Creek, and then go home. I have a nursery to decorate.”

She moved closer to him, and leaned across to kiss his cheek, as they pulled up in front of Brad’s house. It was now late evening, and they had no idea if Brad had made it back yet. He had taken O’Dowd to a special shifter facility, where he would never see Beau again. Surprisingly she didn’t feel happy he would suffer the loss of his mate for the rest of his life. There was nothing about the whole sorry mess to feel happy about. Except Connor.

They got out of the truck, and Beau took her hand as they walked up to the front door, which opened as they approached. There was Abbi, Connor in her arms, who was squealing in delight at the sight of Elise.

Yes. Connor was the only part of this whole sorry episode that held any joy, and she silently promised her sister she would put all of this behind her, and get on with raising him to be a happy, well rounded shifter. Never would he feel unloved, it didn’t matter if she had one child with Beau, or ten, Connor would always be a part of their family, just as Eleanor would always be a part of her.

“Hello, Connor, I have missed you.” She held her hands and he came to her. Abbie let him go, and she felt the familiar weight of him in her arms, the familiar smell of him hitting her, and she kissed him on the cheek, making him squeal once more.

“He has been such a good boy,” Abbi said. “But he sure did miss you.”

“Thanks for taking care of him,” Elise said.

“Anytime, I glad this whole Niq It thing has been resolved.”

“I’m not sure if it has completely,” Beau said. “O’Dowd was just a drug dealer, he wasn’t the head of the whole operation, I’m sure. He just happened to put the drug together with shifters.”

“Well, at least that part is over. I’m sure when Brad puts his report in, something will be done, it’s too big a risk to us,” Elise said, kissing Connor again.

“Come on, I’ll fix you something to eat. It’s been a long day for you both.” She led them inside, where Sky was sat watching cartoons, dressed in her pajamas, all ready for bed. Elise let the feeling of normality wash over her. This was what she longed for. Her, Beau and Connor living together, for them to have a house filled with love and happiness.

***

She woke before it was light, listening to the sounds of the house. Instinctively she reached out to check if Beau was there. He was, and she let her breath out, and then rolled towards him, her arms wrapping around him. She kissed his back, and felt him stir.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said.

Liar, liar
, her bear chuckled.

So maybe she had hoped he would wake up and they could make love before they traveled back to his house. The relief of it all being over had left her feeling light, as if anything was possible. It also left her feeling incredibly aroused. She was here, with her mate, and they only had their future to look forward to. The pain of the past had a chance to heal now.

“I’m not complaining,” he said, and turned around to face her. “I like waking up with you next to me.”

“I like that too,” she said, feeling shy, wondering if he liked the sight of her disheveled hair, and no makeup on her face. Not to mention she hadn’t brushed her teeth. Damn, she should have gone to the bathroom and made herself a little more presentable.

“Don’t wake the baby,” he whispered, as his fingers trailed down her body, and then slipped between her thighs.

“Ohhh,” she gasped as he rubbed her clit, his fingers moving to probe her heated sex, before he lifted her thigh and rested it over his.