She stroked his cheek. “I still want to play Jenga with their bones.”
He grinned against her neck. “I love vicious women.”
“Vicious?” She laughed bitterly. “My best friend is in the hospital after being fucking shot, I have no idea how I’m going to pay my rent and I’m going to turn fuzzy any day now. And the fuzzy thing is the good part of my week. You’re lucky I’m not rocking back and forth, sucking my thumb and mumbling like a crazy person.”
“You’re doing better than most would. Glory probably would have died if you hadn’t healed her. You should be proud of yourself.” He shook her shoulder, emphasizing his point. “It takes most Bears months to learn how to do that. You did it a day after being marked.”
“But I couldn’t heal her the way you can.”
He sighed gently, his warm breath tickling her mating mark. “That’s because you’re not a Spirit Bear.”
He turned her so that she was staring at him and not the shop. He hadn’t told her yet that she wouldn’t be a Spirit Bear. “Then what am I?”
He bit his lip. “Don’t you like surprises?”
Her brows rose. Why didn’t he want to tell her what she’d become? “Jules.”
“I told you we’re different.”
“Julian. What did you turn me into?” His reluctance to answer was beginning to scare her. What the hell had he done?
“Me? You’re the one who decided to walk the thorny path.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He looked over her shoulder, his eyes widening. “Is that Ryan over there?”
She whipped around to see what he was looking at, to see if it really was Ryan. He let her go so abruptly, she almost fell to the car’s floor. He put the car in gear, and peeled away as if the hounds of hell where after them. “I’m in the car with you, numbnuts.”
He had the grace to look sheepish. “It works in the movies.”
“You forgot the whole shove her out of the car first part.” She poked him in the arm. Hard. “What am I going to turn into, Julian?”
“So, where does your mother live?”
“Julian DuCharme, you answer me right this instant or no sex for you!”
“Kodiak.”
She gaped like a fish. “Um… Say what now?”
He shrugged. “What can I say? Apparently Bear thinks you need to be really, really big. Look on the bright side, he didn’t turn you into a Polar.”
“Jules!”
“Although, come to think of it, Kodiaks are comparable in size to polar bears. They’ve even interbred. Or am I thinking of Grizzlies again?”
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out except a squeak. She was going to be a motherfucking Kodiak?
He darted a sidelong glance at her but quickly turned his attention back to the road. It was enough for her to notice that he was trying to hold back his grin. “I’m betting you’ll be able to kick Eric’s ass.”
“I’ll be able to kick yours too.”
“Female Kodiaks might actually be larger than female polar bears. I’ll have to double check, I’m not sure.”
Well, shit. Wow. She was going to be huge. “So when Tabby tells me I have a fat ass—”
“I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may be eviscerated.”
She growled again, not at all amused when he laughed so hard he had to pull over.
Julian sighed in relief as he escorted a much calmer Cyn back into the hospital. The shock of finding out she was a Kodiak had left her practically speechless. Well, for Cyn anyway. She’d mumbled to herself the entire way to the hospital, unaware he could hear every single word.
He really hoped she wasn’t serious about the rotating pineapple attachment. That might sting.
He spotted Gabe before Cyn did. Julian hoped he had something that would ease his mate’s mind, but from the look on Gabe’s face he doubted it.
“Cyn. Julian. I need to speak with you alone.” Gabe gestured for them to follow him right back out the double doors of the hospital.
“I’ll go to check on Glory.” Cyn looked back over her shoulder, but allowed Julian to tug her along in Gabe’s wake.
“Tabby and Alex are here. They’ll let you know if there’s any change in her condition.” Unless Julian was wrong, she was going to want to hear first-hand what Gabe had to say.
Gabe led them over to his squad car and leaned back against the hood. He crossed his arms over his chest and sighed wearily. “The bomb squad took care of the pipe bomb. They managed to safely explode it, and we’re looking into whether or not we can get fingerprints or DNA off of it. Once we have it, we’ll send it off to the Senate investigators to see if they can make a match to any rogue shifters. But I should warn you, there was no smell of Cheetah on the pipe bomb.”
“What did you smell?”
“Wolf.” His frown was confused. “It was almost buried beneath the scent of deer, though.”
Julian swore under his breath. “You think whoever hired Gary and his goons have sent others to finish what they started.”
Gabe shrugged. “I spoke to the Senate representative in charge of their case. He hasn’t been able to get much more out of them. Since Gary spilled the beans that they weren’t the ones who attacked Chloe they’ve kept their mouths shut. I’ve told Max that there might be a rogue Wolf in the area, as well as a rogue Cheetah, and I called Rick Lowell as well.”
“Rick Lowell? As in the Poconos Pack Alpha?” Cyn darted a look back toward the hospital. “Someone had better tell Tabby that both of her Alphas will be in town soon.”
Dr. Max Cannon, the Halle Puma Alpha, had granted Tabby, Cyn and Glory his protection when Gary had threatened them, and accepted Tabby as part of his Pride, despite the fact that she was a Wolf. Not long after, Rick Lowell and his Luna, Belle, had arrived from the Poconos and also included Tabby in their Pack. Max had even been willing to change both Glory and Cyn into Pumas right up until he heard they had Bear mates. Then he couldn’t leave Living Art fast enough.
Max had good reason to run. While a black Bear like Julian would walk away from a fight with a Puma, a brown Bear like Alex or Ryan would maul even someone as strong as Max. If anyone other than Ryan changed Glory, the fallout had the potential to be disastrous. Not even the Senate would be able to ignore a direct attack on an Alpha by a Bear. Despite the unique circumstances, Ryan would be declared rogue and Gabe would be forced to hunt him down.
“We were thinking of asking his Marshall to assist Adrian and me in hunting the Wolf down.” Gabe shook his head, his expression confused. “There’s more going on here than I can guess at.”
“In other words, your Hunter senses are tingling?” If so, Julian would have to make it a priority to find Ryan before Gabe did. He was the only one who would be able to talk Ryan down. If he could get close enough, he could calm Ryan. Once he understood that he’d been granted access to Glory’s room and that she was on the road to recovery his Bear would back off. Ryan would once more be in control of his instincts.
Cyn tapped her foot, her hands on her hips. “We need to find Ryan.”
“I’m being pulled in multiple directions. And I’m not entirely certain that Ryan isn’t one of them.” Gabe tipped his hat to Cyn and shook Julian’s hand. “I’ll give you both a call when I have something. In the meantime, now that you’re mated—congratulations, by the way—I highly suggest the two of you live together. With Glory in the hospital Cyn is alone in the apartment, and that just makes my butt itch.”
“I’ll make sure she’s not alone.” Even if it meant he had to give up his job with Jamie’s practice. He’d rather force her to move back with him to Canada than risk her life.