Chapter Five
Mack checked the new deadbolt for the third time on the office door before she turned off the lights and joined Damon upstairs.
She was nervous and couldn’t shake the feeling there was someone watching her.
She didn’t like it at all. She wanted to shift and keep her bear side out but the bar wasn’t made for the beast. She’d already complained enough about her patrons busting up the bar.
Instead she would go upstairs and let Damon protect her.
She really liked the sound of that. His protection.
She’d never needed anyone before. Mack had always been hell bent on doing everything herself.
She was a bear after all but the more she thought about that, the more she didn’t know how to really be a bear.
Maybe opening up to Damon, and letting him into her personal world would open up more than just her guarded heart.
Maybe together they could learn how to be the grizzly’s they were meant to be.
Glancing at the door one more time, Mack flipped the light switch off and climbed the stairs. She found Damon standing at the refrigerator drinking a glass of milk.
“I was starting to wonder if you got lost down there. Checking the door locks again?”
“I can’t help it, I just can’t shake the feeling.”
He finished the last of his milk, placed the glass in the sink, then walked over to Mack. He rubbed his hands across her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug
“Hey, I know this is really bugging you but I promise I’ll be right here. For a little added security, I grabbed your handgun and put it in your night stand. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all, however, I am a little nervous about using it so if it comes to that, I’m giving you full reign over the gun.”
“So let’s just call it a night huh? Everything is locked up downstairs, and you set the alarm, right?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so if anything or anyone gets in, that alarm will go off. We’ve heard it before so we know it works.”
He kissed her. It was that little gesture that gave her unwavering amounts of comfort. She nodded and switched the kitchen light off. Mack took a deep breath and tried to put her fear in check so she could get on with the night.
She walked backward slowly down the hall toward her bedroom, summoning Damon with a finger. He started to follow with a grin. She reached her bedroom door and started to unbutton her jeans when the alarm started blaring.
Damon ran past her to the nightstand and grabbed the gun.
He headed down the stairs at a run, with Mack not far behind.
She’d already informed him of the password for the keypad so he clicked in the four digits and silence encompassed the area.
He turned to Mack and placed his finger of his lips, with no words telling her to be quiet.
That’s when he heard a ruckus coming from somewhere out in the bar.
The person had broken in somewhere else this time because the office back door was intact and the one that leads to the bar was still locked.
“Please stay behind me a little okay? I’m going to go out there and see what I can see. They could be armed and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt either Damon.”
Her voice was a whisper but full of emotion.
He went to her then. With one hand slipped behind her neck her held her close and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. When he let her go, he disappeared through the doorway.
She was all at once bombarded with different feelings.
She didn’t want him to be hurt and if she went with him, maybe he would be safe.
However, she was scared to go out there to see who was there, or to see Damon get hurt.
She moved closer, peeked out the door into the hallway but it was dark.
She could only hear a scuffle going on. Stepping out, she sidled up next to the wall and crept past the bathroom doors.
There was literally nothing to see, everything was dark.
She needed to start leaving a night light on near the bar maybe.
She didn’t hear Damon so she walked out into the bar and around a few of the tables.
She even contemplated calling out his name but alerting the intruder to the fact she was there probably wouldn’t be the best thing to do.
When she got closer to the bar she heard growling and a lot of thuds.
Damn it, he must have shifted. That definitely wasn’t a good sign.
He must have thought he could protect himself better that way.
Slowly she went through the bar toward the back room, and what she saw blew her away. Not one but two grizzly bears in an all-out brawl on the floor.
***
There was growling and a lot of fir flying.
Damon didn’t wait for an explanation. He knew the intruder was a bear so he shifted and went on the attack.
It was dark so he couldn’t see the human form but as soon as he shifted, so did the prowler.
He didn’t know how other grizzlies communicated but he couldn’t hear this one’s thoughts.
He did hear Mack though. She was calling for him, her words riddled with fear.
He tried to convey to her that he was okay but she needed to find the gun.
He’d dropped it when he shifted. He tried to look around, caught a glimpse of her standing across the room.
He didn’t want her involved, didn’t want her hurt.
“Damon, what should I do?” Mack screamed. It was hard to hear her over chomping teeth and growls.
The intruder suddenly went limp, stopped fighting.
He didn’t know what changed but he couldn’t take a chance of Mack getting hurt so he gave one final blow to the burglar which sent him flying against the freezer door.
When he hit the ground he didn’t move. But, he shifted back to human.
He shifted as well and Mack was there with a blanket she’d pulled from storage to cover him.
She ran to turn the lights on and Damon couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Holy hell. Mack get me another blanket and a wet towel. Do you have a first aid kit?”
“Why? I don’t understand.”
Damon grabbed his pile of clothes and dressed fast, then went to the stranger. After covering most of his body, used the damp rag and started cleaning blood from the man lying on the floor unconscious.
“Damon, please tell me what’s going on. Why are you helping this guy? Shouldn’t we be calling the police?”
Damon stopped what he was doing and sat back, looking up at her.
“We can’t call the police.”
“Why? He broke into my bar again. Don’t you think this is the guy with the hooded sweatshirt?”
“Yes I do think it’s the guy but we can’t call the police. I know this man.”
“What? You know him? Who is he?”
“He’s my brother.”
Damon looked up at her with pleading eyes, then turned back to the person lying on the floor and continued to wipe away his blood. He knew she wouldn’t understand and he wanted to explain everything to her but first he needed to make sure he hadn’t hurt his brother too badly.
Mack knelt down on the floor across from him and with another cloth, started wiping at a large cut on his brother’s forearm.
When most of the blood was gone, she searched through the first aid box and pulled out a needle and threaded it with what looked like fishing line.
Without hesitation, she weaved the needle in and out of his skin until she’d closed the entire wound.
She cut and tied off the string and with an antiseptic wipe, she went over the area thoroughly before wrapping it with a roll of gauze from the kit.
“Where did you learn to do that?”
“My mom was a nurse, she taught me a lot when I was younger. If asked to do that unexpectedly, I probably couldn’t have but in the heat of the moment, I just didn’t think about it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You know you have some explaining to do, right?”
“Yeah, but right now, I have no idea what to tell you. I’m as shocked as you are.”
Mack and Damon spent the next hour cleaning up his younger brother Zeke. He didn’t look little anymore. He’d grown while Damon was away. However, that didn’t explain why he was breaking into a bar.
“Do you think you can move him? We need to get him off this floor.”
“Yeah I should be able to. Can we put him on the bed in the office?”
“I’ll grab his clothes.”
She moved to stand but Damon touched her arm. Then he reached over his brother and kissed Mack. “I really do appreciate you.” She smiled and kissed him back.
“Come on, let’s get him moved.”
With his clothes gathered in her arms, she waited for him to secure his brother in his arms and followed him out through the bar to the office. When he laid Zeke down on the bed, Mack covered him with blankets.
“You better stay here with him. If he wakes up, I’m sure he’ll be confused. I can go make him some food at least. I don’t know what else to do.”
“Hey you’re doing great. I don’t even know what else to say but I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize Damon, it’s obvious you weren’t expecting to see him here. Just stay with him. I’ll make us all some food. You do think it’s safe out there now, right?”
“Yeah, but maybe when you go over there, find the gun. I dropped it somewhere when I shifted. Keep it with you but I’m pretty sure we’re out of danger.”
He waited for her to leave the office, then grabbed the chair from her desk and sat down beside his brother. As he looked at him, he couldn’t help but wonder when he’d grown up, and what exactly he was doing there.
When Zeke started to stir, Damon slid his chair backward a little, to be out of arms reach just in case. With eyes open, Zeke looked around the room before narrowing his eyes on his brother and visibly relaxed.
“Damon.”
“Hey little brother, what are you doing here?”