Page 11 of Her Protector Bears

COLE POV

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I barked at Ivan. I had been looking forward to this date all week long. What the fuck was he doing here trying to ruin it? There had always been a competitive edge to my relationship with my twin brother, but this was taking it a step too far. I hadn’t even seen him since meeting Miranda, so how could he know about tonight? And why would he want to do this to me? “Get out of here, Ivan.”

“Ivan?” Miranda whispered, the color leaving her cheeks. Oh great, now she was uncomfortable. Not the best way to start a date.

“I’m here for my date with Miranda.” Ivan jutted his chin out defiantly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Red mist descended in front of my eyes. I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing Ivan by the shoulders and shoving him roughly, almost knocking him into the table behind him.

“Cole, fucking calm down.” Ivan rose up fast, trying to make himself look like a big man in front of Miranda. Not that it was going to work. Not a chance in hell. “I’m here for my date with Miranda. I don’t know why you’re here. You’re being crazy.”

Before I could speak up for myself, he swung his fist back and slammed it into my face. A burning heat surged through my cheek, adding to the red mist. I couldn’t stop myself from lashing out and attacking him just as hard. This anger came from such a place of disappointment that I couldn’t ignore it. Meeting Miranda had been the highlight of my week, and I was so looking forward to having a great time with her tonight. For my fucking twin brother, of all people, to get in the way…it sucked.

Ivan and I were close, even if it didn’t feel that as we fought in the middle of the restaurant, but not the way it seemed other twins were.

“Stop, stop.” Miranda leapt up from her seat and stepped between us as best as she could without getting hurt. “Please don’t do this. This is my fault. I’m the one who made a mistake.”

Mistake?That was an icy cold word that made me turn to Miranda, only to see pain in her eyes. What did she mean? That the whole thing was a mistake? Or just this right now?

“It was you in the diner.” She pointed to Ivan, her cheeks flaming red with humiliation. “I’m so sorry, I thought it was Cole. We knew each other from the bar and I just assumed—”

“Oh God.” Now it was Ivan’s turn to freak out. “I wondered why you were coming on to me so strongly. Now I know why. Because you thought I was him.”

He met my eyes and we both blanched in humiliation. How had we let things get out of hand like that? I guess because despite the competition between us, we had never been mistaken for one another before. People in Twin Lakes knew us too well for that. They saw the differences without even trying, even in the way that we carried ourselves. In the military, we were stationed at completely different bases, so there was never an issue there. It was just poor Miranda who hadn’t had the chance to get to know either of us enough. What the hell did we do now?

“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind both taking a seat for a moment…”

It was only when I stopped drowning in anger and really listened to Miranda that I noticed her voice was trembling. She was afraid. Was that just because of me? Because of us and the fight? I never should have lost my temper. It made me a real asshole.

“Sorry, Miranda.” I slid into one of the chairs, and my brother sat back down in his. “I didn’t mean—there isn’t any excuse for any of this. We shouldn’t have fought like that.”

“Yeah, no, that’s not…” She seemed sad all of a sudden.

After our little twin shit show, I wasn’t sure I could make her feel better again. The date had already gone down the drain, and I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do to claw it back.

“I just wondered if you guys had heard anything,” she swallowed hard, “about a body.”

“Oh…right.” I hung my head low. Here we were fighting like assholes and Miranda had a real issue here. Of course it was going to scare her to have these rumors circling around Twin Lakes when she had just moved here. “I heard about that. I don’t know if it’s true though. I haven’t seen any official reports on it or anything.”

“It’s true,” Ivan said grimly, making me cringe. I was trying to make Miranda feel a little calmer about everything, but he was much less tactful than me. “There aren’t any official reports, but I have been doing some investigating. A body was definitely found.”

Miranda’s eyes widened like saucers. “A woman’s body? A…a she-wolf?”

Ivan shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “I don’t have any details or anything like that. I just know that someone was found dead.”

Things like that just didn’t happen in Twin Lakes. Ever. It was a peaceful town, everyone got along for the most part, and murder was practically unheard of.

“I’m worried.” Miranda twisted her hands around in her lap, anxiety coming off her in waves. But then I remembered how she had confessed to me that she was a she-wolf. She had to be worried that she was in danger. Especially in a town where she had just moved and she didn’t know a soul. She didn’t know if this was a safe place.

“I understand.” I leaned forward and caught her gaze. “But you will be fine. If you want, we can look after you, so you don’t need to worry about anyone coming for you.”

I looked at Ivan, who was nodding. Miranda could actually be the person to bring us together if we let her. That would be awesome.

“No, it’s more than that.” This time it was Miranda who leaned in a little closer, so that she couldn’t be overheard as she spoke. “There is a reason I’m here, and it’s more than just wanting a fresh start or whatever everyone assumes about me. I’m actually…running.”

“Running?” Ivan asked. “What do you mean?”

She couldn’t look at either of us as she replied. “My fiancé. Ex-fiancé.” The way she corrected herself made me very nervous. “He wasn’t the man I thought he was. He’s a…a violent man who I saw throwing the body of a she-wolf into a lake.” A shudder tore down her spine at the memory. All I wanted to do was hug her tight, but I was frozen to the spot, shocked at what she was telling us. “Which made me realize that everywhere we had lived, a dead body was found in the lake just before we left.”

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