Bear Necessities
Page 17

Julian and I need to sit down and have a nice, long talk. Soon. “She doesn’t know about the Kermode.” He grinned. “Can I be there for that discussion?”
Julian snorted. “Sure. Can you have it for me?”
Bunny rolled his eyes. “Remind me to introduce you to Ryan. You two should get along really well.” He held out the bear. “Here. From Tabby and me.”
Julian took the white bear and snorted. “Cute. But why the Superman costume?”
Tabby stepped back into the room before he could answer. She looked shaken, wild. Bunny stood, ready to comfort his shaken mate. “I just talked to Gabe.”
Julian sat up slowly, all of his attention suddenly focused on Tabby. Bunny tensed all over. The look on her face was horrible. “What, baby?”
“Chloe.” She gulped. “She wasn’t hit by a car. They’ve confirmed that the marks on her body are consistent with a beating.” She stepped forward and clasped her arms around Bunny, laying her head against his chest with a sigh. “Someone tried to kill your cousin.”
Bunny blinked in the late afternoon light filtering in through the hospital window.
He’d made sure Julian got home safely, following the cab to the small house on the outskirts of town Julian called home. He’d dropped Tabby off at work immediately afterwards and headed right back to the hospital. He’d been sitting there ever since.
“Go home.”
Bunny blinked up at his father. He couldn’t leave Chloe. What if something happened to her? He needed to be there to protect her. It was bad enough he hadn’t been there before.
His father’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I know what you’re thinking. We’re more alike than you know.” Will pulled Bunny out of the chair. “I promise nothing is going to happen to Chloe while I’m here.”
Bunny looked into his father’s shifted eyes and nodded. He and his father were a great deal alike. Will would protect Chloe against anything and everything that came at her. The only difference was William didn’t have the anger issues Bunny faced on a daily basis. The rage in him was much more focused and directed.
He’d taken that anger and turned it on the land itself, creating his business with his own two hands. Just as Bunny used yoga, his father used physical labor, and it worked. “Okay. I’ll go rest. Call me if she wakes up.” He winced. He’d meant to say when .
“Sleep, son. You’re exhausted. You helped heal Chloe. Now it’s time to heal yourself.”
Bunny nodded again and shuffled to the door.
“And leave the bike here. Take a cab.”
He froze. He never left the bike. That Harley was his baby.
“Maybe you could call your mate and get a ride?”
Now there was a thought. Maybe he’d convince her to come back to the hotel room with him. “Good idea.” Maybe he’d do more than nap, too. He pulled out his cell phone and called Living Art.
“Living Art, Glory speaking.”
“Hey, Glory. Can you put Tabby on?”
“Sure thing.” She sounded so sweet and demure, right up until she screeched at the top of her lungs, “TA-BBY! PHO-ONE!” He pulled the phone away from his ear with a wince. Damn, that girl had a healthy set of lungs.
His father chuckled. “Isn’t that the girl Ryan showed some interest in?”
Bunny gaped. Ryan had shown interest in one of the girls?
“Tabby speaking. How can I help y’all?”
He shivered. That deep drawl washed over him again, his cock perking up with insistent interest. Damn, he’d left her only six hours ago and already he was jonesing for the sight of her. “Can you do me a favor, baby?”
“Sure, sugar. What do you need?”
“Can you come pick me up? I’m exhausted and I’ve been ordered to leave the bike here.”
There was a pause. “I can’t. I’m expecting a customer in about ten minutes.”
He hated to ask, but damn it he was starting to see double he was so exhausted.
He hadn’t slept a wink in that damn hotel room, pacing and worrying about Tabby and Chloe. His mother had taken one look at him and shaken her head, exasperated. “Can one of the other girls give me a lift?”
“I’ll do one better. Wait there, someone will pick you up shortly. And don’t even think about sneaking off on the bike. If you’re tired enough to call me, you’re too tired to ride.”
He could feel himself blushing. “I wasn’t.”
“Good.” She paused. A bell jingled in the background. It sounded a lot like the one attached to Living Art’s front door. “I have to go.”
Bunny frowned. Her voice had sounded tight. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I—” Something crashed. “Shit. I will be. Gotta go.” She hung up, leaving him standing there, a red haze of anger rising inside him.
“Something’s happening at Living Art.” Bunny headed to the door. “Where’s Ryan?”
“Trouble?” Will followed him.
“Yeah. Dad, you need to stay here or get Ryan to stay here. I need to head to the tattoo parlor and check up on Tabby.”
“Not in your condition.”
Bunny turned and growled at his father. He’d never challenged the older man, but he’d never had a mate before, either.
Will threw his hands up in the air. “I’ll call Ryan, have him meet you there.”
Bunny nodded and stalked toward the elevator, the possible threat to his mate thrumming through his veins. Suddenly he wasn’t so tired anymore.
God help anyone who laid their hands on what was his.
Tabby called 9-1-1, but the damage was done. Someone had thrown something through the window and she had let Bunny know something was wrong. Fuck.
Ten to one he was already on his way over here.
“What the fuck?”
She turned to look at the patron who’d entered the store just before the thing came through the window. What the hell was that anyway? It looked like some kind of metal tube. A pipe, maybe? “Ryan?”
He looked over at her, his pale blue eyes turning brown as she watched. “Where’s Glory?”
“Here.” Glory stepped out from behind the curtain, followed closely by Cyn.
He went right to Glory’s side, his gaze roaming over her, his hands twitching at his sides. “What happened?”