Chapter 16
Julie zipped her suitcase and sighed. Stacey hadn’t returned upstairs with the ferry schedule yet, and Julie wondered how long she’d have to stick around.
Stacey’s reassurances notwithstanding, Julie felt so awkward there now that she’d upended their lives or at least their holiday.
If the ferry wasn’t running that day, she’d have to live out of her suitcase for a bit.
Deciding it was best to leave it up there to reduce any chance of having to haul it up and down the stairs, Julie left her luggage and went down to find Stacey.
She heard commotion in the kitchen and headed that way.
“You’ve got him?” Erin was asking, worry in her voice.
“Yep. Don’t worry,” Stacey replied. “I promise he’ll be safe.”
Carol was taking Ruby’s hand as Julie stepped into the kitchen. “Come on, honey. We’re going to go play upstairs for a while.”
Corbin, meanwhile, was tugging at the hem of his mom’s shirt. “Mama?”
“It’s okay, baby.” Chelsea picked him up and smacked a kiss onto his cheek. “Mama’s gotta go do something, and I have to hurry. You stay here with all your new friends. You like playing with Elijah and Vivian.”
Helpfully, Vivian reached out her hand. “Come on, Corbin. We have to stay in here.”
Julie didn’t know what was going on, but she couldn’t miss the look of pure fear on the adults’ faces as well as Vivian’s. “What’s going on?”
Erin and Chelsea slipped out the back door, and Stacey locked it firmly behind them. “The Malones have attacked.”
“What? Attacked? Where?” The phrase processed through her mind, but it didn’t make any sense. How did this all work?
“On the beach,” Elijah offered. “It’s like D-Day at Normandy. Except the bad guys are the ones who are landing.”
“Darling, I’m afraid we don’t have time for a history lesson,” Stacey reminded him. She looked up at Julie. “Mom and I are taking the kids upstairs. There’s a safe room there. Come on.”
But as soon as Stacey moved away from the door, Julie could see what was happening.
Massive furry bodies covered the beach. Teeth and claws gleamed.
Blood flew and pooled. There was clattering all around her as the essentials were gathered for the children, but she didn’t hear any of it.
Her ears were focused on the roars and thuds that came from outside, muffled by the walls of the house.
Right at the very center of it all, she could see Will.
Julie didn’t know how she knew it was him. He was in his bear form, as were most of the other Brighams and the Malones. She didn’t know one from the other but knew this particular bear was Will. He was fighting with everything he had, biting, clawing, and throwing his weight at his enemies.
“No. No, no, no.” The word kept echoing in her mind.
This couldn’t be happening. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be real.
Why? The Malones hated him, but what would make them come there?
Her mind refused to understand anything, especially not the blinding orbs of green light that shot from Erin’s palm and blasted against the side of a big bear down by the water.
No, not just her. Chelsea, too. There was mention of them being witches, but Julie hadn’t truly realized what that meant until now.
Reality was supposed to be obvious, something she didn’t have to think about. It was what she just knew. Now, as she pressed her hands to the glass, Julie felt everything she’d ever known had been completely picked up and tipped on its head.
“Come on.” Stacey tugged on her arm.
Julie turned to her friend. “Just look at all of them,” she whimpered. “They’re fighting the Brighams. They’re attacking your family. Your home. We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing we can do.” Stacey was pulling on her earnestly now, trying to drag her away from the window. “That’s why there’s a safe room. Mom is already up there with the kids. I came back to get you, so come on.”
Julie’s feet were frozen to the floor. “But you said Carol is a shifter.”
Stacey let out an impatient breath. “Yes, but that’s a recent thing. She doesn’t have the same kind of training the rest of them do, and she’s more needed here to make sure the kids are safe.”
“They train for this?” Julie couldn't be sure why she’d latched onto that out of everything else Stacey had just said, but it told her a lot more about the Brighams than she’d known.
“Somewhat. Let’s go talk about it upstairs, okay? The Malones are a bit whacky. You’ve seen that yourself. We’re not going to do Dylan, Will, or the rest of them any favors by making them worry about us.” Stacey tugged again.
An unseen force had kept Julie from moving, rooting her to the spot.
It was starting to give, and she swayed uncertainly toward Stacey.
Safety. Yes. That was probably the best thing.
She didn’t know a damn thing about shifter etiquette, but as far as she was concerned, the Malones were crazy.
Getting as far away from them as possible was a good thing. Yet…
“Come on!” Stacey insisted with one final yank.
She took one last look outside, just in time to see Will fall to the ground.
Something inside her locked into place. Her vision zeroed in on the black bear, bleeding into the sand. Julie was no longer in control of her body as she flicked open the lock on the door.
“Whoa. Hey.” Stacey reached out to grab the door handle. “You can’t do that. You can’t go out there, and if you do, I have to lock you out. I have to keep the kids safe. Julie. Look at me. Do you understand?”
She understood the words, but none of them mattered to her.
Julie could only see Will out there, and she could only feel her heart shattering into a thousand tiny pieces.
A man had come into her life unexpectedly, one totally different from any other she’d ever met.
He wanted to spend time with her, to get to know her.
He was passionate in so many ways. He’d hurt her, yes, but it hadn’t really changed how she felt about him.
The realization slammed into her in a fraction of a second, and she yanked open the door.
“Do what you have to do, and so will I.”
“Julie!” Stacey called after her.
But Julie just ran. She went past the witches as they cast their spells and threaded through the wolves that darted around the beach. She sidestepped two bears that rolled and thrashed, locked together in battle. Julie was laser-focused on only one thing and hurled herself right at it.
Will, in his bear form, was completely limp.
Sand was caked in his fur, and blood soaked the ground around him.
A massive bear, one she had to assume was Tony Malone, stood over him after having dealt the final blow.
All the fear that Julie had been dealing with was gone now as she threw herself over Will’s body.
She gasped as she saw the gashes in his fur where yet more blood trickled out.
The smell of it was thick in her nostrils as she sobbed, her lungs heaving.
Her tears couldn’t wash away all the blood and sand around him.
With a jerky motion, the big bear over her transformed back into Tony Malone. His chest heaved and anger filled his eyes. “Get back and let me finish. You’ll have your turn with me in just a minute.”
Whatever threats he wanted to make toward her made little difference, as her life felt like it was over already.
“Fuck off! Don’t you think you’ve done enough?
If there’s any life left in him, it won’t last long.
” She pressed her ear to his chest, but it wasn’t like she knew how to find the heartbeat of a bear.
Would she even be able to hear it? Julie squeezed her eyes shut, remembering how it’d felt to lay her head on his chest as a human.
She’d heard that steady thump and longed to hear it again.
Instead, she heard Tony’s mocking laugh. “You really are some sort of fool, aren’t you? First for hanging out with this worthless piece of shit, and then for standing up for him. He’s not worth it. I can promise you that.”
Rage began to replace her sorrow. It started as a small fire inside her, and it was fueled when she looked up at Tony.
It built until it burned through her veins and vented through her throat as she shot to her feet and poked Tony in the chest. “He’s more worth it than you can ever understand, asshole! ”
“C’mon, lady.” Tony brushed her aside with his arm. “You’re just making a fool of yourself. I haven’t decided what I’ll do with you yet, so you might want to think twice before you influence that decision too much.”
“Thinking twice? What would you know when you don’t even bother to think once?” she challenged.
He rounded on her, the muscles in his arms twitching. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”
She was already standing out there in front of him, vulnerable to whatever he decided to do to her.
Julie knew she couldn’t save Will. No one who’d lost that much blood could possibly come back from it, and it wasn’t like she could call an ambulance or the police.
No. There was nothing left to lose, and she lay all the blame at Tony’s feet.
She stepped up to him, poking him in the chest with every sentence.
“I said exactly what I think. You’re a complete idiot, a man who operates on nothing more than throwing his weight around.
You’re so busy carrying around this old grudge when you could actually be working to build your business back up.
You want to waste all your time and energy pointing the finger, making it someone else’s fault.
It’s about time you grow the fuck up and start taking some responsibility. ”
Tony’s hand latched hard around her wrist. “Stop talking like you know me because you don’t. I don’t think you know Will very well, either, if you’re willing to run out here and defend his ass with your life.”
Her life. Yes. Julie had known the second she walked out the door that she was risking her life.
She’d never considered doing such a thing for someone other than Molly, but she knew Will was worth it.
Julie lifted her chin defiantly. “I know him well enough to understand that he’s not the same kid who wrecked your boat.
He was young and dumb, and he might’ve had some hand in where your family has ended up.
I didn’t know that version of him, but I can see who he is now.
Will is a man who works hard, who’s dedicated his whole life to his job, in fact.
He cares about his family with a lot more dedication than most, especially considering that he doesn’t live here.
As I recall, he’s also done everything he could to keep this situation from escalating into what it is right now.
He didn’t want a fight. He didn’t want to keep reliving the past. He wanted to move on into the future, but you were just determined to fuck that up. ”
“Guess he’s really fooled you,” Tony replied with a snarl.
“No.” She’d thought so for a moment, but Julie knew the truth now. “He’s never done anything but try to show me his genuine self. He’s always put my feelings above his. Will is a kind soul, and it’s only because of jerks like you that anyone would still believe otherwise.”
“Hmph. Will, your woman might not be a shifter, but she sure has the attitude of one.” Tony looked over Julie’s shoulder.
“Don’t be so surprised,” came a gravelly voice behind her. “Having to deal with you would bring out the worst in anyone.”
Julie spun around. Her eyes widened as she saw Will standing there. He had scratches on his arms and sand in his hair, but this wasn’t the bear who’d been at death’s door a minute ago. “Will! You’re alive? How?” She reached out to touch him tentatively.
Will gave her a wry smile. “Remind me later to tell you about how quickly shifters can heal. For right now, though, I think you’d better let me handle things from here.”
As soon as she stepped aside, Will threw a punch.
It cracked into Tony’s jaw and sent the man reeling.
Tony put his foot behind him to catch his weight before he fell, and he launched forward into Will.
Even in their human forms, the fighting was vicious.
There were no rules or reservations. When she saw the look in Tony’s eyes, Julie understood that this struggle could yet be to the death.
“Julie.” A hand closed over her arm, but it was a friendly one. Erin pulled her away from the two men.
“But we’ve got to do something,” she protested. Julie looked around and realized that much of the fighting had stopped now. The clans were exhausted. Many were injured, lying on the beach in either their animal or human forms. The scene was an odd one, and it hardly felt real.
“You already did. You gave him a chance he wouldn’t get otherwise,” Erin told her.
Off to the right, Dylan rose to his feet.
The massive amount of blood that soaked his clothing suggested his injuries, but she could see nothing more than a long pink scar through his torn shirt.
Jace’s jaw was purple and swollen, but before Julie’s eyes, the bruise was beginning to fade.
It was another piece of the puzzle of who these people were and how they lived their lives, but Julie didn’t know if it made any difference now.
She might’ve saved Will for a moment, but the savagery with which the two men continued to fight also told her a lot.
Will and Tony were both determined, stubborn men. There was only one way this could end.
She flinched as Will dodged a blow and then lunged toward his opponent.
His fists pounded into Tony’s gut, doubling him over.
The Malone Alpha swung back, but it went too wide.
He missed his chance to evade Will’s uppercut.
A semi-circle of blood flew out through his nose and followed him through the air as he fell backward.
Will was on him in a moment, his punches landing with precision now.
Tony raised his arms to defend himself but quickly dropped them again.
His head rolled to the side, and his chest heaved with effort. Will wound his arm back to strike.
“You’ve already ruined my life,” Tony said through thick, swollen lips. “Why don’t you just put me out of my misery?”
Julie’s stomach churned as she huddled in Erin’s arms. She’d thought she’d already seen a man die today, and now she truly would.
But Will’s fist landed on Tony’s chest with a dull thud as he pushed himself to his feet. He stood over Tony for a moment, then reached out his hand.