Page 9 of Hexy Bear
"Why would you want to know about that?"
"Because she's part of who you are, part of who Tilly is. And because I can see that you're carrying guilt about moving on, about feeling something for someone else." Mara's green eyes were steady and compassionate. "I'm not threatened by your past, Griff. I'm not trying to replace anyone or erase any memories. I just want to understand."
The simple honesty of her statement broke something loose in his chest. "She was a healer," he said quietly. "Not magically, just... naturally gifted at making people feel better. Tilly gets her empathic abilities from Sarah's side of the family. She died when Tilly was six months old, magical accident at the clinic where she worked. Some kind of experimental treatment that went wrong."
"I'm sorry," Mara said, and the words carried genuine sympathy without the awkward pity that usually accompanied condolences. "It must have been terrifying, suddenly being responsible for a baby on your own."
"Terrifying doesn't begin to cover it," Griff said with a weak laugh. "I knew nothing about babies, less about magic, and absolutely nothing about being a single parent. Most days I still feel like I'm making it up as I go along."
"You're doing better than you think," Mara said firmly. "Tilly is confident, secure, and incredibly well-adjusted for a child dealing with extraordinary circumstances. That doesn't happen by accident."
The approval in her voice made something warm unfurl in his chest. He'd been functioning on parental instinct anddesperate improvisation for so long that he'd forgotten what it felt like to have someone acknowledge that he might actually be doing something right.
"The guilt is the worst part," he found himself admitting. "Wondering if I'm making the right choices, if I'm protecting her enough, if I'm somehow failing her by not being able to give her the kind of stable, normal childhood that other kids have."
"Griff," Mara said, moving closer until she was standing directly in front of him. "There's nothing normal about Tilly's situation, and there's nothing normal about the magical world she's growing up in. What she needs isn't normal. She needs parents who understand her gifts, who can help her navigate the complexities of supernatural life, and who love her enough to make the hard choices when necessary."
"Parent," he corrected automatically. "She just has me."
"Does she?" Mara asked softly, and the question hung in the air between them like a bridge waiting to be crossed.
Griff found himself studying her face, noting the way her pupils had dilated slightly and the way her breathing had changed. She was close enough that he could smell her perfume, something light and floral that made him think of summer gardens and promises of things he'd thought he'd never want again.
"Mara," he said, coming out rough with want and uncertainty.
"I know this is complicated," she said, reaching up to touch his face with fingers that trembled slightly. "Griff, I need you to know that I'm here. Whatever happens with the supernatural crisis, whatever we're facing with the entity and the bloodlines and all the rest of it, I'm not running away again. We both can’t explain what’s going on between us, but I’m willing to see where this goes. Nico is right, there might be a reason why I’m here."
The sincerity in her voice, with how she was looking at him like he was something precious and worth fighting for, made it impossible to maintain the emotional distance he'd been trying to preserve. His bear was rumbling with contentment, his human heart was racing with possibility, and every rational thought he'd had about keeping things professional was dissolving under the weight of how right this felt.
He was leaning toward her, drawn by an attraction that went deeper than physical desire, when the lights in the house suddenly flickered and went out. The temperature in the kitchen dropped ten degrees in as many seconds, and from upstairs came the sound of Tilly's voice raised in fear.
"Daddy! Miss Mara! The shadow friends are back, come, I’ll show them to you!"
The moment shattered like glass, leaving them both breathing hard and staring at each other in the dim light that filtered through the kitchen windows. Whatever had been building between them would have to wait. Once again, the supernatural world was demanding their attention, and Tilly needed Grim to be a parent first and everything else second.
But as they rushed upstairs to deal with whatever new crisis was unfolding, Griff couldn't shake the feeling that they'd been interrupted for a reason. Something didn't want them to get closer, didn't want them to form the kind of bond that might make them stronger.
Which meant that whatever was coming for his family was already closer than any of them had realized.
FIVE
GRIFF
Four days flashed by in a blur, and the town had been deceptively calm. But in the Cooper house, a family slowly formed. Mara and Griff had been pushing and pull between their connection, and arrived at some unsaid agreement. But the peace didn’t last long.
The first sign that the peace was over was the shadow beings arriving with the dawn, pouring through Tilly's bedroom window like smoke given malevolent purpose. Griff had been making coffee in the kitchen when his daughter's scream shattered the morning quiet, sending him racing upstairs with his bear clawing at his consciousness and every protective instinct he possessed blazing to life.
He found Mara already there, standing between Tilly's bed and the writhing mass of darkness that filled half the room. Her hands were raised, green light crackling between her fingers as she wove some kind of barrier that kept the entities at bay, but Griff could see the strain in her posture and the way her magical shield flickered with exhaustion.
"They're not trying to hurt her," Mara said without taking her eyes off the shadow beings. "They're trying to communicate, buttheir desperation is making them too aggressive. Tilly's power is calling to them, and they can't control their response."
Tilly sat in the middle of her bed, clutching Mr. Gruff and glowing with power that made the surroundings shimmer like heat waves. Her amber eyes were wide with fear, but she wasn't screaming anymore. Instead, she was humming, a low, wordless melody that seemed to be keeping her magic stable despite the chaos surrounding her.
"What do they want?" Griff asked, moving carefully into the room. His bear was demanding he shift, demanding he tear apart anything that threatened his cub, but the rational part of his mind recognized that brute force wasn't going to solve this particular problem.
"To show us something," Tilly said, her sweet, small voice steady despite the circumstances. "They want to show us what happened to them, what's going to happen to us if we don't listen."
The shadow beings seemed to respond to her words, their forms shifting and coalescing into more recognizable shapes. Griff could make out what looked like human figures, men and women of various ages, all with expressions of desperate urgency etched into their ghostly features.
