Chapter 4
Riggs
Icame into the living room to find Taco changing Alanna on the table set up in here, with Mathan following behind him, giving a string of curt directions. Alistair, Akeno, and Drew were talking on the couches.
I came up behind Mathan and blinked at the baby. “Why is Alanna wearing a bear costume?”
Where did he even get the costume?
Taco’s face lit up as he held her up proudly, like Mufasa holding Simba in The Lion King. The costume, not yet fully on, drooped down her body until it settled around her feet. “She’s an honorary bear!”
Mathan, unable to handle Taco’s ineptitude anymore, grabbed Alanna from him. “Just give her here. You put it on all wrong.” He laid her on the changing table again and fixed… whatever Taco had done. She really did look cute. The costume was brown and included a hoodie with ears and a fuzzy tail.
“Ah, I missed a few buttons,” Taco said.
“You have a button where your brain should be,” Mathan retorted.
“You know that’s not possible, right?”
Mathan growled at him in disgust as he picked up Alanna again, cradling her against his chest. She let out the smallest baby growl, imitating him, and Mathan’s entire expression softened.
I chuckled, shaking my head and let them be. The three on the couch nodded respectfully to me as I made my way over and sat down. Well, Alistair scowled, but that was normal for him.
Since Emrie had mated and moved, Alistair had gone a little more feral.
I could rein him in, but I walked a careful line as his alpha.
I could force him to behave with my alpha powers, but I usually preferred not to do that if I didn’t have to.
However, I was sleep-deprived, and he’d been just short of disrespectful lately…
“Alistair.” My gaze was direct, and I let my power unroll just enough to make my point.
After a moment, he looked away and ducked his head slightly. “Alpha.”
Akeno, ever the peacemaker, cleared his throat and asked, “Is Emrie going to make it today?”
“She’s not feeling well, so it’s just us today.”
Sullivan, with hearing that belied his age, poked his head around the kitchen entryway. He was making dinner for our Clan. It already smelled wonderful, and my stomach growled in anticipation.
“Did I hear Emrie isn’t feeling well? I’ll make her my special get-well soup.”
“I think Roarke has her covered, Sullivan. He’s a professional chef, after all.”
Sullivan snorted, waving a flour-coated hand at me. “He doesn’t know how to make this soup because it’s a family recipe. I’ll make her a big batch and send it over.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. Thank you. Dinner smells good.”
“It’ll be ready when you get back.” He disappeared into the kitchen again.
It seemed that everyone missed having Emrie on Clan property.
We all still got to see her, but it wasn’t the same.
As her alpha, I wasn’t as close to her as some of the Clan, because I had to walk a careful line, especially with our only female bear shifter.
But I missed her all the same. My gaze traveled back to Alistair.
Emrie had been one of the only ones who could tame him.
He was just snarly and grumpy without her.
“It’s a good thing Ben found a permanent home for Kona, huh, Alpha?” Drew said, laughter in his voice. He was watching the antics between Taco and Mathan over Alanna. “I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have both a baby and a koala that can turn invisible at the Lodge at the same time.”
I chuckled. Yeah, that would have been a disaster. He had been a cute, cuddly little guy, but also highly mischievous.
I glanced over to see that Taco had stolen Alanna back again. She was growling at him, and Mathan was actually laughing and encouraging her.
I was secretly glad Taco had bought the costume. She was cute in it, and it would probably keep her warmer than regular clothes on our ramble.
I stood when everyone was ready. “I won’t shift today so I can carry Alanna. Let’s head out.” I moved to take her from Taco, but Alistair’s voice stopped me.
“Alpha?”
I turned in surprise. His tone had almost sounded respectful.
He didn’t make eye contact as he spoke. “I’ll hold her. I don’t need to shift today. I just shifted earlier this week.”
I hesitated. “Are you sure?” Alistair wasn’t patient on the best of days, and I didn’t want him to be grumpy with Alanna if she started fussing or crying.
He frowned at my skepticism, still without making eye contact. “I can handle a baby, Alpha. I’ll take good care of her.”
Reluctantly, I nodded for Taco to hand her to him. “Protect her well, Alistair.” The threat was implied. I knew I didn’t need to make it explicit.
“Yes, Alpha.” He took Alanna gingerly, grabbed a thick blanket from her crib along the living room wall, and wrapped it around her. We bears always tended to think she would turn into a block of ice if she didn’t have three blankets wrapped around her at all times.
His expression softened as he stared down at her.
I shook my head, baffled. Alanna was weaving some kind of magic on my bears. My strongest, grumpiest bears seemed to be getting smitten with her.
We all made our way to the front lawn and shifted. As alpha, I covered the back of the group, where I could see all my bears and be on the alert for danger.
We had a good crowd today. Of the twenty-eight bears in the Clan, fifteen had made it.
Black bears, sun bears, brown bears—we filled the lawn, then the forest as we made our way toward the streams and rivers on our property.
The weather was cool enough to be comfortable and slightly breezy.
I lumbered on all fours, stopping to tilt my face up to the sunshine as I closed my eyes.
Moonhaven in spring was beautiful this time of year. There was so much natural beauty in the area, with the coastline, the forest, and the streams. It all made for a rugged but beautiful coastal town, and the place I’d called home for nearly ten years now.
I was the only polar bear shifter in the Clan, so my white fur was easy to spot among the browns, blacks, and reds the rest of them had, but I didn’t mind.
My Second, Mathan, was at my side, and Alistair was careful to stay near me in the back.
He was quicker on two legs than we were on four, but our rambles weren’t meant to be fast. They were meant to draw us closer as a Clan and to let our shifted forms out.
My bear was usually very present no matter what form I was in, becoming even more so when I shifted, but he seemed subdued today.
You okay?
Miss Piper.
The surge of pain from the thought nearly took my breath away. It was both of our pain, and I had to pause for a moment to breathe until it passed. When it lessened, I started forward again.
Yeah, me too, big guy.
At least Matteo was with her now. But after his report about what had happened on the bridge, and then at the airport, my bear and I were both more worried for her than ever.
We have to trust her. And Matteo’s there with her now. He’ll help her.
My bear sighed. Trust, he echoed, subdued.
That night, Taco was trying to give Alanna a bath in the sink while Mathan, Alistair, and I chuckled as we watched from the large kitchen table. Taco was using a bathing seat for Alanna, but between the two of them, Taco was the more soaked. Alanna kept splashing water everywhere.
“I get her after,” Mathan said. “I’ll put her pajamas on.”
“I’ll put her to bed,” Alistair said, glaring at us as if daring us to contradict his plans.
I merely sat back and smiled. Who would have thought a cub would draw us all closer as a Clan.
Taco managed to get Alanna cleaned despite the water dripping into his eyes, then handed her off to Mathan, who was waiting with a towel. Mathan dried her off as he carried her into the living room to get her ready for bed.
After a minute or two, Mathan came back in. She was in fuzzy purple footed pajamas and had a bright smile on her face. When she was handed to Alistair to put to bed, everyone slumped around the kitchen table and sighed in relief.
“Now maybe we can get some sleep,” Mathan said.
Taco nodded, drooping, water still dripping off him. I handed him a towel, and he started mopping himself up. “How is it possible for one tiny cub to be so exhausting?”
I shook my head. “Moms do this every day, guys, sometimes alone. It’s taking an entire team of us to do what a single mom or dad does on a normal basis.”
Taco looked pained. “I’m gonna call my mamma tonight and thank her for not dropping me off at the circus when I was a cub.”
Mathan raised an eyebrow. “We’re clearly lazy bears. We need more workouts, or stamina builds or something.”
“Tell that to our enforcers,” I said, amused.
He nodded seriously. “I will. If one cub can decimate us, we need better training.”
Mathan was over the enforcers in our Clan until Matteo returned.
All of us had jobs that brought in income—Clan income and personal income—and also positions within our Clan.
But the last few days, it suddenly felt like I was juggling too much.
Trying to handle my businesses in town, all the work needed as Clan alpha, and taking care of and protecting a baby was wearing me out.
I wasn’t a bear shifter who needed much sleep, but whatever that magic number was, I hadn’t been getting it.
I knew it was probably because she missed Piper, but Alanna had developed some kind of insomnia.
My bear growled at the brief thought of our mate, and I tried to soothe him.
I know.
Sighing, I stood and went to help Alistair. He was probably reading Alanna a story and doing the voices all wrong.
I came into the living room to find Alistair gone, and Alanna wide awake in her crib. She stared at me, babbling happily when she saw me.
“Go to sleep, Alanna.”
She blew a raspberry, and I chuckled, sighing in exhaustion as I took a seat in a recliner and pulled out a book. I’d sit here a while with her and wait for her to fall asleep. Then I’d crash on the couch.