CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER NINE
Wess
Nightshade Bear Territory
A sharp knock on the front door startled me awake.
“Huh? Is it the baby knocking?” Preston murmured, still asleep.
It was definitely not Baby Andy knocking on the door all alone after dark. Bear cubs were sneaky, but I had a feeling that the adults in this family were sneakier than he was and he couldn’t slip by them. Besides, whoever was knocking on the door had much bigger hands than him.
I slipped off the sofa and covered up my naked mate with the knitted blanket on the back of the sofa since I was no longer able to use my bear to keep him all warm and toasty. Plus, whoever was at the door sounded insistent.
“Hope we don’t have to make another ice statue already. They’re knocking on the front door. This one might be more difficult to hide,” my bear chimed into my thoughts.
I peeked out the peephole to see a guy about my height with ginger hair and sleepy blue eyes.
His hair was shaggy, and it looked like he did that thing younger people did to make it look like he just rolled out of bed.
The wolflings of the pack on the mountain liked to ‘style’ their hair like that too.
He wore jeans and a black puffy jacket with his hands shoved into his pockets, bouncing from foot to foot like he was freezing his balls off.
“Should’ve put them in a sock or something,” my bear said as he shifted my eyes to his.
“Hey, bud. Can I help you?” I asked, opening the door.
“Is Preston here? Or Mori maybe?” he asked, trying to look past me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I’m Bernard. I didn’t know they had company. Is a giant hairy bear in there?” he asked.
I sniffed the air. This guy smelled like a bird. Like an owl, maybe? I almost asked if he could swivel his head around in human form but knew Loop and Sawe, my friends back home, would say that was rude.
“Uh… Have you looked around, dude? There are a lot of big hairy bears here,” I said, leaning into the doorway so that he couldn’t see inside.
“His name is Venal. He’s my roommate. He left like four days ago. Said he was gonna meet his mom and then come see his baby,” the guy said. “I’ve been trying to call Preston half the day but he won’t answer. The two of them don’t get on that well because his mom wants custody of the baby and…”
“Bernard?” I cut him off.
“Yeah, that’s me. What of it?”
“Okay, birdboy. First, check the attitude. I eat owls for dinner. Literally. Multiple times a week and I’m hungry.”
“What? Are you going to spear me on your stubby little horns?” he asked and the cold swirled through my core. One more smart-assed comment from this feathered fuck and it was over for him. He could join his roommate in the snow.
“Babe?” Preston’s voice reached my ears. “Who’s there?”
“Preston!? Get your booty call! He’s over here trying to play macho y macho or some shit. Venal’s not back and the rent’s due!” Bernard called out.
“Where’s my…” Preston sat up and started looking for his clothes.
“Venal isn’t here,” I said. “We haven’t seen him. I’ve been here most of the day and I’m not a booty call. I’m his true-mate.”
“Look,” he put his hands up like I was going to place him under arrest or shoot him. “I’m not looking for trouble. Venal is late on rent. I’m trying to track down the dude, so I don’t get evicted. I’m not looking to live in a tree or some shit.”
“Why would Venal be here?” Barry’s voice cut through the cold, snowy night.
Mori was right on his heels and for a moment my blood ran hot.
Where was the baby? With Preston’s carrier, of course.
The one direct family member of Preston’s I hadn’t met.
Sure, he had other friends and family I’d eventually meet too but I didn’t think Baby Andy was with any of them.
“He was meeting with his mom and coming to see his kid,” Bernard said, turning to face Barry.
“Do you know who his mom is?” Mori asked before Barry or I could say another word.
“Uh… Some bear, I’m guessing,” Bernard shrugged.
“Friend, I wouldn’t count on Venal coming back if he went to visit his mom,” Barry took over.
“He’s not here. I don’t know what he told you about his relationship with his baby, but there isn’t one.
He never wanted one. Look, I know it’s a rough break, but if he’s run off with his mom to do whatever you might want to look for a new roommate or somewhere else to stay.
” He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet.
“How much is Venal’s share of the rent?”
“What? No!” Preston stepped outside barefoot. “Venal’s caused enough headaches here without you paying his rent.”
“I’m not paying his rent. He’s not there. He’s off with Sharon,” Barry said and handed Bernard a few hundred of the universal dollars that most groups accepted. “Glitter Bomb still takes these, right?”
“Yeah,” Bernard nodded blinking at the money.
“Well, there you go then. That should tide you over, right? Did you take the train here or the Other World Gateway?” Barry asked, patting the owl shifter on the shoulder.
“Had to be the gateway!” he laughed as if it was at his own short sightedness.
“GGB is too far by train for a quick trip. Let me walk you back. Lots of folks get lost in the snow out here. Money won’t do you any good if you can’t make it home, huh? ”
Barry walked away with Bernard and Mori and Preston exchanged a look I couldn’t read.
I just hoped that Barry wasn’t going to off Bernard.
The guy seemed pretty clueless. I started to sit down on the porch then remembered that Mori and Preston weren’t snow demons like me.
So, I ushered them both inside, glad that I’d put the massage table away earlier.
Mori plopped onto the sofa and Preston grabbed his phone to see all the missed calls and text messages from Bernard. He had been at it since the first time the vibration interrupted us.
“I don’t think he’s actually coming here,” Mori said. “I think he just told Bernard that because it made sense. It was a good way of covering his tracks.”
“Why though? If he already told him he was going to visit his mom, why would he tack on a lie?” Preston asked, plopping down on the sofa next to his twin.
“Maybe he was going somewhere else altogether. Like he wanted people to look for him in places that he wouldn’t be.
Like anyone who knows who his mom is has to know he’s not telling the truth,” Mori said.
“Maybe it was a clue for someone else. Who knows? Maybe he did go to see his mom, and she decided to sacrifice him instead of the baby since she can’t get Andy? ”
I went into the kitchen to gather up some snacks because I couldn’t stand them theorizing any more about where Venal might be when I knew exactly where the fucker was.
He wasn’t going to hurt anyone anymore unless someone stubbed their toe on him.
I made sandwiches and did my best not to think too hard about it.
Sure, I wasn’t on any links with anyone here yet, but it seemed like bad luck to think about it.
I glanced out the kitchen window, trying to see the snow pile that was really Venal.
The back door swung open as soon as I turned my back and went back to making sandwiches. I turned around, bread knife in hand and found myself face-to-face with Barry.
“Stop staring out the window. They’ll think you’re worried he’s coming too,” Barry said, picking up the piece of bread I just sliced and taking a bite before heading back into the living room.
How long was I supposed to keep this a secret?
How long could I let Preston worry that this loser was going to show up and cause him a headache?
Sure, he probably wouldn’t be happy with me…
. I mean, he thought it was hot when I said it earlier, but I wasn’t so sure about how he’d feel with it in action.
“Babe?” Preston called.
“He’s making sandwiches. He knows you two,” Barry laughed. “I took a look around outside after I walked Bernard to the gateway. He’s not been out there. No one strange has besides the owl guy. I can stay if you want, though.”
Was Barry really not going to say anything to his sons?
I bit my lip. Maybe it was for the best. Venal was out of the way for good.
There was nothing for anyone to worry about, but Preston didn’t know that, and his scent said he was about to run and get his baby and hide out.
Going along with that felt a bit like gaslighting.
Shit! I wasn’t going to be Barry’s favorite son-in-law but I could live with that.
I couldn’t live with letting Preston worry any longer.
Hell, maybe I already let it go on too long.
I put the sandwiches on a plate and made my way into the living room.
Barry’s eyebrows hit the top of his head as soon as he saw my expression.
I expected him to tell me to shut up or to try to drag me back into the kitchen, but he didn’t.
He merely took a sandwich from the plate and waited to see what I was going to do.
“Preston, I need to tell you something and I should’ve told you earlier,” I blurted out the words. “Venal isn’t coming here.”
“Did you see something?” he asked, standing up, ignoring the sandwiches.
“No, not that way,” I shook my head, wishing I could’ve sent Venal off on a mission to find his true-mate. That would’ve been a simpler way to solve the problem.
“What’s going on?” Preston asked.
“He was here earlier. Still sort of here. He pulled a gun on me and was rambling about how he was going to take Baby Andy so that his mom left him alone and I couldn’t take….”
Preston didn’t let me finish. He ducked down to get his machete from under the chair. I found it while cleaning up earlier but left it where it was because with psychos running around you could never have too many weapons at hand.