Page 14 of Cuddles for the Bear
“Python, would you shut up for five minutes,” Cyrus said. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “Wren, I know you’ve been through a horrific ordeal, and the first thing you need to know is that Michael has been taken care of, just like you’d hoped he would be.”
“He’s dead?” Wren looked at Bear, not daring to hope it might be true.
“I told you last night that my friends would take care of that for you,” Bear said quietly, reaching out and patting Wren’s hand.“It needed to be done, and it’s what we do. Michael was a truly evil person who had done what he did to you to a lot of others.”
“I guessed that.” Wren looked down at the table. “When he first got me, he used to talk about how useless I was compared to somebody he’d had before. And then more recently” - Wren swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked hard - “he would talk about getting someone else. I knew I was going to die. That was why I was on the ledge, don’t you see?”
He looked up at Bear, praying that his friend would understand. “I just thought, I don’t know why, and it’s probably silly, but I just thought that if I took my own life, then maybe it would be the one thing I did in my life that was my decision. In my head, I was dead anyway. It was only a matter of time before Michael was going to kill me. And I just thought...” His vision completely blurred. He couldn’t hold back his tears. “I didn’t want to be living that life anymore. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Oh, Wren, it’s all right. You’ve got nothing to apologize for. He’s gone now,” Bear said, leaning over and tugging Wren out of his chair, settling him on his lap.
“You can say anything to us, and we’ll understand. Believe me when I say we’ve all seen shit we wished we’d never seen, and a lot of times we’re too late to help the people who need it the most. We just take out the bad guys after the fact. That’s why my friends are so happy to see that you’re here and that you’re safe. What Michael was doing was wrong on so many levels, but you’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore, or anyone else.”
“It’s not as though I actually jumped. I feel really awful because I know I should have. But when I was out there on the ledge, something was calling me back. Something was stopping me. I couldn’t take that last step.” Wren had a sudden thought andlooked at Bear’s face in wonder. “It was you. You came! Is that fate? Is that magic? You came!”
“It could be sheer coincidence,” Python said from across the table with a drawl. “But no, before I get my arm wacked again, I do believe the wonderful Fates are rather great when it comes to making sure their mated couples meet up, although they definitely cut it close this time. Mind you, they did that with Storm and Pax, too.”
“Python!” Both Bear and Cyrus hissed the guy’s name at the same time, although Wren didn’t understand why. He was still trying to work out what Fates and mates had to do with each other. Wasn’t mates just another word for friends?
“There’re a lot of things Wren doesn’t know yet,” Bear said firmly. “He’s already had a traumatic night. He needs time to get over that before anything else.”
“That is true,” Cyrus said gently. “But you know the issue. If Wren is going to live here then he has to know those thingstoday. Otherwise it puts all of us at risk.”
“Things? What things? What am I missing?” Wren looked between Cyrus and Bear. “Have I done something wrong? Am I not allowed to be here? Where will I go? What will I do?” His heart started beating as though it was going to fly out of his chest, and he could feel that urge to curl up into a ball and just cry, hitting him hard.
No. Stop it. You’re going to be all right.Wren clenched his fists, thumping them onto his thighs. “It’s all right,” he said, hating how he could hear his sobs in his tone, but he pushed on. “It’s all right. I’ll be all right. I’m truly thankful to you for saving me, and if I could just trouble somebody for a pair of shoes, then I can…I can leave… I mean, I can walk. I don’t know where, but I can dothat. I don’t want to put anybody out, and I would never be a risk to anyone.”
“It’s not like that, Wren.” Wren glanced up to see Bear glaring at his friends. “We have a couple of rules we all have to live by if we live in the Alley – just a couple of things you need to know. Nobody said anything about you going anywhere, especially without shoes.”
Python chuckled, and suddenly his foot appeared on the table. He was wearing what looked to be a very distinctly patterned boot. “Speaking of shoes, do you like my new boots? I got them last night.”
“For fuck’s sake, Python, get those boots off the table. Wren doesn’t need to know about your boots.” Cyrus sounded as if he was warning his partner about something, but Wren was getting more and more confused.
“I was just asking if our online warrior liked my new boots. This is what’s left of Michael, my dear Wren. Do you approve?”
“Michael?” Confused but really curious, because how could a person become a pair of boots, Wren dared to lean forward, and he tapped the skin. It felt like a boot – it wasn’t warm or alive, and it didn’t try and bite his hand. It felt like a form of leather, although it was really soft and had very unusual colors all over it. Wren had never felt anything with that texture before, either.
“How can that be Michael?” he asked, sitting back. “That looks more like it’s come from a reptile or something. Maybe a snake. I think Michael used to keep one of those in the apartment a while ago, although I haven’t seen it for the longest time. Did he have the snake made into boots?” That sounded like the sort of thing Michael would do.
“You’re looking at what’s left of Michael.” Python grinned so wide Wren could see all of his teeth. “And the reason that lookslike snakeskin is because Michael was a snake shifter. I forced him to shift before I chopped his head off. But yes, he was a snake, the same as I’m a demon. Cyrus can change into a wolf or a bear, and your mate,Devon, who you call Bear, is actually a bear shifter. The other people in the Alley are paranormal, too, but that takes care of the ones sitting at the table. There you go.”
He grinned at Cyrus and Bear, although neither of them was smiling back. “Now our little online warrior has been told. Devon can take care of the mating side of things unless sweet Wren needs to learn about the birds and the bees as well, in which case, pour me another coffee and I’ll do my best to play Daddy.”
Wren felt his head start to swim. Black spots started floating in front of his eyes. “I’m not sure I understand what you’re all saying,” he said, and even to his ears, it sounded as if his voice was coming from so far away. He was looking around at three distinctly human-shaped people. His eyes weren’t playing tricks. They had arms and legs and weren’t covered in fur. So how? “Is this why you asked me if I knew about the paranormal, Bear? Are human/animals true?”
Wren couldn’t hold his head up anymore. He saw Bear open his mouth to speak, but then his neck gave up, his eyelids shut out the world, and he was gone. It was too much. With his poor brain overloaded, Wren welcomed the darkness. It was peaceful there.
Chapter Eleven
“You’re an absolute shit for brains,” Devon snarled, as he quickly felt the side of Wren’s neck, checking his pulse and then gently tilting his mate’s head back so he could check under his eyelid. “If I didn’t have my precious mate in my arms, I’d be chasing your sorry ass through the Alley in my bear form right now. That was a shit thing to do.”
“Don’t kill the messenger. I just saved you a lot of talking.” Python, leaning back in his chair, didn’t look upset at all. In fact he still had a shit-eating grin on his face. At least he’d put the boot back on the floor, but that didn’t do anything to improve Devon’s mood. “You know darn well, you would have been pussyfooting around the topic for at least a day. None of your friends would dare be outside in their shifter form in case your mate saw them. Admit it, you wouldn’t have a clue how to even bring up the subject. So yes, I’ll take your thanks with a dollop of honey because I did you a fucking favor.”
“You could’ve been a bit gentler with the reveal, babe,” Cyrus murmured quietly. “Wren has been through a hell of a lot in just the past twenty-four hours, and we’ve only got an inkling of what his life was like before that.”
“Maybe, but sometimes blunt is best.” Python pointed his finger in Devon’s direction. “Have you worked out what he is yet? I’m figuring that’s the next little issue we have to deal with. Your mate’s not human, and he should’ve known about people like us.”
“He clearly didn’t.” Devon was struggling to keep the snarl out of his voice. Python had just better watch his back the next time Devon’s bear was taking a stroll. He was going to bite that ass – he was not sure when - but his bear was in full agreement that it would be done.
