CHAPTER SEVEN
Wess
Nightshade Bear Territory
Being outside felt more natural to me than being inside a house.
Sure, houses had their perks and were a great place to keep things but outside in the snow would always be home.
Preston plonked Baby Andy down in a snow pile as Mori watched from the porch.
I waited until they were both caught up in the baby before I circled around to the back side of the porch for a better look around.
Someone was watching my mate. The feeling hadn’t gone away once we discovered Mori and Baby Andy in the window.
If anything, it had intensified, itching the base of my horns.
There were footsteps all over the backyard but that didn’t surprise me.
It seemed the citizens of the Nightshade Bear Territory made it a habit to cut through each other’s property to get to where they were going.
Still, I didn’t think the neighbors were spies.
“Maybe it’s his parents,” my bear offered up but I wasn’t sure my magic would register Preston’s parents as spies.
I sniffed the air and let the cold fill up my veins.
Soon, I needed to go get my ice and other stuff from Lero’s house and to properly apologize to him for not spending the winter holiday there with him.
I made a mental note to make sure I sent him something for Yule.
Maybe Preston or Mori would know what he liked.
Beyond the cold was the scent of bears and wolves.
A dragon and a fox were tossed in here and there too.
Only someone was closer than they should’ve been.
Another alpha bear. A bear who smelled a bit too much like Andy for my liking.
“Well, hell,” my bear chimed off in my thoughts. “I guess the only question is if we’re gonna eat him or ice him.”
That wasn’t a question. We’d ice him. It was quicker and less messy than eating someone.
A twig snapped in the trees on the far side of the yard and I took off in that direction, keeping my pace casual in case someone was watching.
No need to alarm the neighbors. A nice, new winter statue never harmed anyone.
The other bear didn’t back off as I approached.
Metal hit my nose. He had a gun. Whelp. That wasn’t allowed here.
It was like their first law and I read all their laws before coming here.
Through the trees I saw it tucked away in his waistband.
Not the smartest move in the world. That looked like a good way to blow your dick and balls off.
Well, that wasn’t my problem. He wasn’t going to be anyone’s problem for long.
“Go away,” I said, cutting to the chase. If he wasn’t here to start trouble that should’ve been enough to get him moving. It wasn’t like Preston and Mori invited him over for tea and cookies.
“Who are you?” he spat the words, trying to sound gruffer than he actually did.
I fought off the urge to roll my eyes. Bad asses never had to pretend to be bad asses. I met guys who sang soprano who would slit your throat over their hot chocolate.
“I’m the demon who’s about to make you no one’s problem,” I said, already feeling the cold drawing deep into my core where my magic lived.
My polar bear sat on his haunches staring out at the other alpha bear.
My eyes shifted to his and the other bear growled.
What was his name again? Vennie? Venereal?
Something like that. Preston had said it once or twice.
“Uh… You think you’re special because you’re a satyr?” he laughed.
“Oh, lordy. Here we go again,” my bear face-pawed. “Not the satyr comments!”
“Why are you here?” I asked, giving him one more chance.
“It’s my turn with my kid,” he said and I almost laughed.
“You’ve never even met your own kid,” I said, leaning one hand against one of the old, tall trees. “I think you should just go.”
“Or what?”
“I’m not talking about or whats with you,” I shook my head. “I’m saying you need to go.”
“This isn’t your house,” he said.
“Is now. My omega too,” I met his gaze.
“My baby,” he said pointing to his chest.
“Oh, did your mummy send you to get the baby for her?” I asked, unable to resist sinking my voice down into baby talk.
“Look, I just want the crazy bitch to leave me alone. If she wants the baby, I’m going to get it for her. Then she can do whatever she wants and I can get on with my life. I didn’t want to be a dad in the first place,” he rolled his eyes.
“Does he hear himself talking?” my bear asked.
A familiar calm settled over me as Venereal Disease’s words sank into my brain.
He called Andy an it. He was willing to let his own offspring be sacrificed to appease a psychotic mother.
Yeah. This conversation was over. He reached for his gun and that was the end of his story.
At least for now. The ice escaped me, forming a protective shield around me, and then surging for him.
He opened his mouth, but it muffled his scream, suffocating the word in his throat.
He tugged on the cold metal of his weapon, but the ice spread capturing the motion.
I swung my foot back ready to kick him, but a hand found my shoulder.
I turned on my heels, ready to freeze the newcomer but an elf who looked way too much like Preston and Mori smirked at me.
“I’m gonna say, I didn’t see that. You’re gonna say that when I came to see where you were that we went to check on Preston and Mori’s Yuletide tree.
They’ve dug up the same one for years. We’re going to bury him in the snow until we find a better place to get rid of him.
That’s what we’re going to do and then we’ll go on with life.
You’ll have a happy sire-in-law and every once in a while I’ll call you my favorite son-in-law. ”
For a long moment, neither I nor the elf said anything.
We stared at the shocked, terrified look on Venereal Disease’s face, reveling in our shared hate.
Then I tipped the ice statue over between two trees and we set to burying him in the snow.
We piled up the good, white stuff to look as if the wind had just created another big pile.
We packed in the bottom most layers around him so that the wind wouldn’t blow it away and leak our secret to the world.
“I never liked the son of a bitch,” the elf said. “I get not wanting to be a dad but I don’t get playing along with a psychopath. I put my own brother out of everyone’s misery. So he has no damn excuse.”
“My baby now, huh?” I asked the buried ice statue, ruffling the top of the snow to make it look undisturbed.
The elf started walking off into the trees and jerked his head for me to follow him. I followed behind him, grateful that Preston and I hadn’t exchanged the claiming vows yet. He didn’t need to know what his sire and I got up to in the woods.
“I’m Barry,” he said once we were deep within the trees.
“Wess,” I said, preparing not to roll my eyes when he started in on the ‘break my son’s heart and I’ll break your neck’ speech. Only Barry didn’t take the conversation that way.
“Preston can take care of himself most of the time. He can fight his own battles,” Barry said.
“But he shouldn’t have to,” I shrugged. “I mean, Venereal Disease is---”
“Don’t start that,” Barry shook his head.
“Venal is an ass. If I have my way no one from his family will ever be around Baby Andy but that’s still his sire.
He shares blood with that asshole. Sure, calling him an STI is a good way to blow off some steam and it’s funny as shit.
At least it is until Andy hears it and is old enough to understand what you’re saying.
Then it gives him a complex or hurts his feelings.
Then I have to kick your ass for upsetting my grandson and I don’t want to do that.
I want to keep liking you as much as I do now.
Makes the holidays, birthdays, and feast days easier if I don’t want to kick your ass.
And yes, Venal is his sire but he has no right to drag him off to his psychotic mother. ”
Barry stopped in front of a tree that barely came up to the points of his ears. It was a vibrant evergreen that looked as if it had been well cared for during the off-holiday seasons.
“This is their tree. It’s been their tree since the first Yule they had outside of our house. When they didn’t live together they took turns on who had it. Let’s get it dug up so that they’re not out here in the blizzard tomorrow trying to get it out of the ground. They’re capable but---”
“They don’t have to live hard lives while we’re around,” I said. “I get it. I didn’t come here to make your son’s life harder. I came here because Rune of Hemlock Mountain gave away where I lived by accident.”
“I’ve heard. We spoke on the phone. I was the one who offered to pick you up at the station,” he said.
“Thanks for that. It wasn’t too bad of a walk though. Mori dragged me through the trees. Made it shorter,” I shrugged and set to work brushing away the snow from the base of the tree.
The roots began to wiggle under the cold, frozen soil.
Barry had more magic to him than it first appeared.
Should’ve known he had something up his sleeve when he didn’t freak out about me turning Venal into an ice statue.
Maybe Barry could keep him in his backyard as a decoration or something.
A little souvenir for all the trouble he caused his family.
“Just so we’re clear,” Barry said as we lifted up the Yuletide tree now free from its hole in the ground. “Venal was never here. We don’t even tell the twins. That’s part of the deal. They can just think he kept to his keeping away. It’ll be easier for everyone that way.”
“Fair enough,” I nodded. “I didn’t do it for glory. I did it because if you’re part of a plot to sacrifice your own baby you sort of don’t deserve to walk around the world with the rest of us.”