Chapter 29 – BEAU
BEAU
Lisa hasn't stopped touching me, not that I’m complaining.
She's got one arm around my waist and the other pressed flat against my chest as she steers me through the motel room door, every few seconds, her hand sliding across to a different spot, checking and pressing, searching for wounds that aren't there.
With curious eyes, she helped me strip off the blood-soaked shirt in the parking lot, her gaze constantly tracking across my bare torso, landing on smooth skin and small raised bumps where ragged holes should be.
For now, the bullets can stay where they are.
I'll get my sister-in-law, the doctor, to dig them out when we're home.
"Sit down." She guides me to the edge of the bed, and I drop onto it, more tired than hurt at this point.
The healing burns through energy faster than the injuries themselves, and now my bear is running on fumes. If I shifted, I could heal faster, but with Amber close by and plenty of witnesses, that would have been even more of a disaster.
"Stop fussing. Let me see your head." I can still hear the sickening crack of her skull hitting the pavement. She doesn't have enhanced healing like I do. That had to have hurt like hell.
Reaching for her, trying to pull her into my lap so I can get a look at the back of her head, she waves my hands away.
My bear rumbles, worried she might be really hurt. "You could have a concussion. Is it bleeding? Maybe you need an X-ray."
Pulling away from me, she stands, hands on hips, and faces me. "You got shot three times, Beau. I'll fuss if I want to."
"But…"
She presses a finger to my lips. "I'm fine. A bit of a lump, and it's tender, but nothing that an icepack and some painkillers won't fix."
Her hands are on my shoulders now, running down my arms and turning my wrists, confirming again and again, that the damage is gone, even though her face says she can't accept what that means.
She must have questions, lots of them, but that's for later when we have some privacy.
Amber is traumatised enough. Let's not add the existence of shifters to her plate.
Catching Lisa's wrists, I pull her forward to stand between my knees and press my forehead against her stomach.
My mate.
I suspected it before, but right now, needing her presence to ground me and her touch to ease my pain, I know for certain.
Her fingers slide into my hair, and for a few seconds, neither of us speaks. My arms wrap around her waist, and I breathe her in.
Lisa's alive. Amber is alive. We did it.
I press my mouth against her stomach through her shirt, and she lets out a long, ragged breath.
"Don't ever do that again."
"Get shot?" I ask. “Wasn’t that much fun. I’ll avoid it in future if I can.”
She doesn’t laugh. Her hands cup my face, and she forces me to look at her when she speaks again, softly. "Get shot for me."
I shake my head.
"Can't promise that, Red. How about you don’t get shot at, and that’ll fix the problem."
She pulls back and studies my face for a long moment, chewing the inside of her cheek as she goes to the bathroom, strips off her top and replaces it with a clean one, before scrubbing her hands.
I guess we can argue about all that another time.
"Your brother. Was he messing with you back there? The cub thing." She stands in the doorway of the bathroom, stiff as a board. “Some private joke I’m not in on? Cos it’s not funny.”
Despite knowing she’d want an explanation, I have no idea what to say.
"No, he wasn’t joking."
She runs a hand over her perfectly flat stomach before moving to my bag and tugging out a fresh shirt and pants for me. "But why does he think that? Because I’m not."
She is.
Taking her hand, I pull her closer, lift her shirt and press my nose against her stomach, skin to skin, drawing in a deep breath.
She definitely is. It’s new, but it’s there.
"Beau, what are you—"
Standing, I bundle her up in my arms, knowing this is going to be a massive shock to her. I doubt she’d have been running after bad guys, or even sleeping with me, if she’d known.
"He's right." The confirmation settles through me, acceptance that this is the way it is. She’s mine, plus a bonus. I’m struggling to wrap my head around it because nothing about the last twenty-four hours has gone as expected, and my brain is fried.
"You're pregnant. It's early, really early, but it's there. "
She stares at me. "You can't possibly know that."
"And yet, I do."
She pulls back and frowns. "Even if it’s true that your brother is some kind of walking pregnancy test, we slept together months ago. The maths doesn't math. I’d have a bump by now. I’d have symptoms."
A sadness settles deep inside me that I try to quench. It’s unhelpful. We are where we are. Wishing the situation was different isn’t going to change the fact that the baby can’t be mine.
“I know.”
A heavy pause.
"Don't." She reads it on my face before I can say a word. "Don't even go there, Beau. There hasn't been anyone else."
My hesitation is like a red rag to a bull. Her eyebrows shoot to her hairline as she glares at me, mouth opening in furious disbelief.
"I didn't say that."
Out loud. Yet.
"You didn't have to." Her chin lifts, eyes blazing. "Jesus Christ. Are you serious? There's been nobody. Not one person since you."
I want to believe her, but she’s right. It doesn’t make sense. It’s just not possible.
“Oh, you guys can do that bear thing too? That’s cool.
” Van shuffles in from next door, laptop under one arm, a protein bar in his mouth, heading for the bathroom.
“I mean, it’s so clever, delaying implantation until they know there’s going to be suitable conditions to…
no?” He glances at us, registers the tension and winces before moving fast, mumbling as he passes. “Not talking about that yet? My bad.”
My hand shoots out and grabs the back of his collar, yanking him hard, until he’s standing in front of me again.
Van scowls.
“You nearly made me drop this.” He taps the laptop wedged under his elbow and narrows his gaze at me while I pray for patience.
Lisa has gone completely still beside me. “Bears? What… no… no, that can’t be…” she trails off, and I close my eyes.
One fucking shit storm at a time, please.
"Say that again."
Van looks between us. "Delayed implantation.
Female bears can hold a fertilised embryo for months without it implanting.
They wait until conditions are right. Safe environment, enough resources, that kind of thing.
" He swallows hard. "It's well documented. I just never knew shifters had the same ability, since I’ve spent most of my time with the wolf variety… "
“Wolves?” Lisa echoes, tilting her head to look at him, a weird, distant look in her eyes.
Ignoring her, I focus on what he’s telling me. "And they can delay getting pregnant for months?"
He bites his lip and shrugs. “Real bears? Yes.”
Glowering at him for daring to suggest I’m not a real bear, I point to the front door. He’s safer far away from me right now. "Out."
Van hurries toward the door.
When I turn, Lisa hasn't moved. She's standing in the middle of the room, one hand on her stomach, the other hanging loose at her side. Her mouth is slightly open, and her eyes are fixed on me with an expression I've never seen from her before.
"Bear," she says.
She looks at my hands, at my shoulders, and then, with understanding at the healed bullet holes in my torso and leg.
"Bears," she says again, quieter, and slightly less disbelieving.
Her eyes flick toward Van who’s just about to disappear through the door. "And you?"
“Nope.” Van raises his hands with a small smile. “Just him.”
Lisa turns back to me, her lips parting, and I brace myself for a barrage of questions until my bear's attention snaps sideways.
A new scent drifts under the door, carried on the night air, making my whole body tense.
This can’t be happening.
Van's head reappears again, expression now completely different.
"Beau. We might have a problem."
I cross to the window and ease back the curtain an inch so I can peer outside.
Lisa comes up beside me and grabs my still healing arm, making me gasp in pain. "I'm a problem?"
Pointing outside, I ease back and let her see for herself. "Not you." Four men stand in the parking lot, spaced apart, facing our door, not even trying to hide their presence. "Them."
They ignore Van, who’s now standing off to the side by the truck, right there in plain sight. It's not him they're here for.
"Who the hell are they?" Tripp asks, ready to barge outside, until I shake my head.
“Wait.” I hold up a hand, and Tripp frowns. This is something I need to deal with alone. I let the curtain drop and turn to face Lisa, cupping her jaw with one hand and kissing her, firm and brief.
Her eyes are wide when I pull back.
"Stay inside. Lock the door. And if anyone comes through it, both of you, protect Amber."