Page 79 of Trusting Her Bear

“Don’t know.” Micah is stretched out on the ground on his side, his head resting on his palm. When he arrived, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and followed me outside.

I left Steph inside with Breeane. I decided on a plan to make her feel at home. Las watched Micah curiously as he sat in the grass beside him.

Lucas and Logan arrived after I started my project but they haven’t said much. Whatever information they have can wait until I am done.

“It’s the middle of the night,” Heath continues.

“And?” Micah asks.

Steph hasn’t slept. Breeane got her to eat, but she refused to sleep.

“How do you know him?” Lucas asks.

“That is his story to tell,” Heath says.

“Did you deliberately leave out the fact that you knew him when you had our mate taken?” Lucas asks snidely.

“Are we going to have a problem?” Heath asks.

“No problem,” Logan says. “We leave it in the past. We trust Quinn.”

They are pissing me off. Arguing while I took the bark off of a tree that I cut down myself while Micah drank a beer.

“You could help,” I snap, glancing up toward the group.

“Could,” Micah replies.

“Jesus,” Heath snarls, waking over. “What do you need me to do?” Logan and his brothers look at each other; their surprise is evident. Heath notices. “What?” he barks.

“We didn’t think you were the type of person to offer help,” Lucas says.

“You know nothing about me,” Heath says as he removes his suit jacket.

“You can’t be upset,” Logan says. “We met under extreme circumstances, and both of you pretended not to know each other.”

Heath looks at me. “I wasn’t going to say anything until Quinn gave permission.” He picks up an ax. “Tell me what to do.”

I take five minutes to explain what I want to be done and watch him get started before turning to the group of men scattered over my yard. Three huge lion shifters and one deadly vampire. How did I land in this place? The lions have been very calm about the man working beside me being here. If I had been in their place, I don’t think I would be able to be in the same space.

“Micah and Heath are family,” I start softly. The echo of the ax grinds to a halt briefly, and then Heath resumes. “We haven’t been in touch for years. They were a big part of my life for twelve years. I was the one that left. I was running from the demons that lived inside of me. Did you hear what we did?” I ask.

“Vaguely,” Logan answers.

“Bash isn’t very good at group text,” Lucas says.

I fight a grin. “Any man who killed shifters, their own kind, for years, no matter the need, would have those demons. The three of us handled the result of that in different ways.” I look at each of them in turn. “We did what had to be done. Heath may use methods in the life he built that you don’t agree with, some I don’t agree with, but we shouldn’t judge.” I turn to Heath. “I did judge for too long. You are lucky they are sitting here and not fucking you up for using Breeane. You have to show them respect for their restraint.” Heath nods.

“I may not contribute much to this community that started with the panthers and rapidly expanded, but I know they accept all kinds. I hope you can accept Heath. He may piss many of you off, and he may not stick around, but I would take it as a personal favor. My mate is everything that’s good and lovely. She needs this place. She needs people around her that will love her. I will do whatever I have to to make that happen.” I move back to the log. “I need all of us to work together to catch this fucker.”

“Of course we will help,” Las says.

“We’ve all done stupid shit,” Lucas says. “I can’t say much, I fought for the asshole.”

“We will put it in the past,” Logan says.

Heath clears his throat, looking down at the blade gripped in his hand. “Thank you.”

“Are you going to tell us what kind of shifter you are?” Lucas asks.

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