Page 20 of Choose the Bears

“Stay there. Don’t move. Don’t go back to work. Just stay there. We’re… about ten minutes out. Hang tight, you can do that for me, right?”

I wanted to say yes. I needed to say yes, so that’s what I did.

“Imogen.” Jade walked in the door of the break room and any relief I felt died when I saw Jackie was in tow. “That was your ex, right? Can you fill us in on what’s going on?”

Chapter 11

Lucas

“We need to get Imogen back to headquarters,” Asher said as he jerked the car into a park out the front of the supermarket. He stared at the long windows placed along the front of the building as if they personally offended him. “That apartment… This place…”

We could all calculate security risks, but no one could do so as quickly as Ash. As his eyes narrowed, I knew he was coming up with plans and discarding them.

Whereas all I wanted was Imogen.

I jumped out of the car as soon as it rolled to a stop, striding across the car park. Kyle was right there with me, matching me stride for stride.

“You gave our mate your number?” he asked, hungry for details.

I’d woken them up, got everyone moving without spilling any of the details of last night. I clung to the memory of her body pressed against mine, the way she relaxed in increments, finally falling into the deep sleep she seemed to need. I needed the same, but couldn’t seem to rest for any length of time when Icould stare at her, trace the shape of her face, the fall of her hair, the way it spread across the pillow. She was fucking everything, and I soaked up the sight of her until my eyes wouldn’t stay open any longer, figuring I could grab some rest later. What I didn’t expect was to hear her voice through the haze of sleep when I answered the phone on automatic. I really didn’t want to hear that her ex was back in town and harassing her.

I wish I could say I was surprised.

This was a theme we saw all too often. The implosion of a relationship was like a bomb blast, destroying everything in it’s path, but then the survivors would try and process what had happened.

I’d never been in a relationship, saving myself for the moment I found my mate, but I’d watched the way the different genders processed heartbreak. I’d seen women rage, cry, or go stone cold. Some slashed their ex’s tyres or went and beat up the woman that replaced them. None of that was OK, but the incidents like this were few and far between.

Mike’s behaviour was pretty bloody mild compared to the shit that we saw, but I shook my head as I got close to the front door of the supermarket. There was a common thread, though. A feeling that their partner’s thoughts, feelings, implications meant nothing. Whether it was beating their wife or just turning up to her workplace to create trouble, they felt entitled to vent their spleen in whichever way made sense to them.

And right now, I was determined to make sure he never got another chance to.

“So Imogen rang you?” Kyle was trying to keep his tone neutral. “How did that happen?”

“She was crying,” I told him as we walked inside, the harsh artificial lights, the noise of a busy supermarket, hitting me like a gut punch. “I heard her from the car. Went upstairs to check on her and she let me in.” I stopped then, staring at my sleuthmate, right as Asher caught up, glaring at the entire store as if it’d personally offended him. “We slept together.”

“What?” Asher only caught the tail end of that, but his hand was around my neck, dragging me closer. His nose worked, catching the scent that was all over me, eyes blazing neon blue. “You?—”

“Slept on top of the covers while she slept under them.” I slapped his hand away. “You know I’d never take advantage of Imogen while she’s going through this.”

He wasn’t my focus, though. I strode over to the service desk, pulling out a business card when the cute, curvy woman behind the counter turned to me.

“Can I help you?”

“Imogen?” I could barely get another word out, my throat closing up. The business card was pushed towards her, and then her eyes went wide as she read the script there.

“You’re here for her? I’m Jade, the assistant manager. I’ll take you through to the staffroom.”

My bear was fairly laid back.Other shifters described their beasts being a constant presence, something they needed to fight against to maintain control, but mine was usually pretty quiet. Not so now. Feeling him flex inside me, snuffle at our surroundings, catching stray, stale scents of her, and not being satisfied until the door was shoved open and there she was. Not crying this time, that was my only consolation, but that haunted look?

I stayed away from the intake area for just this reason. My brain couldn’t make sense of it, my heart hurting too much in second-hand pain for someone else’s injuries. I’d caught glimpses in children, in women’s eyes of that same feeling of hopeless fear, but never hers. Never Imogen’s, that I swore. Imoved forward, sinking down to one knee, remembering my training that making myself smaller would be reassuring in this kind of situation.

“Lucas…?” Imogen seemed surprised to see me, as if she’d forgotten she’d called me, her eyes flicking up to take in the rest of my sleuth. “You didn’t have to come down like this. Look, I’m sorry, I overreacted?—”

“Why don’t you tell us what happened first?” Asher said, it taking conscious effort to keep the growl out of his voice. “Then we can help you work out if there’s a real threat.”

“You can go home,” Jade said, but her eyes darted to the door. “I’ll find a way to clear it with Jackie.”

“No!” Why did Imogen’s whole body stiffen? She realised and then shook her head much more sedately. “No, I need to finish my shift. I’ll talk to the guys and be right out.”

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