A week passed, then another, and Tavin didn’t shift. I itched to run, but I didn’t want to go without him. We hiked in the mountains though, his hip fully healed, and I introduced him to Fell, one of our clan that chose to live alone. He was tall, well-muscled, and more bear than man, even in his human shape. I’d eyed him up a time or two but Fell wasn’t interested so I’d let it go.

The pair got along well, and I’d left him up there discussing the proper way to chop trees and build a cabin. I’d made it halfway across the parking lot when I saw a woman appear out of the distance. I waited, wondering what fate was bring us now. She was dressed rather fine for a woman walking on her own, in a dress that would stop men dead, and fuck-me heels, so I knew she must be in need. No sane woman would be walking along the road like that and none of our clan had hair that ugly color of nothing. Blond I think it was supposed to be.

“Hey, can I help you?” I called out when she got close enough and saw her eyes light up. She was around 45, shorter than me, and looked exhausted.

“I’m looking for a friend of mine. His name’s Tavin, he disappeared here a couple of weeks ago. Supposedly he just vanished off the face of the earth.” She gave me a smile that was supposed to make me feel sorry for her, but instead I wanted to bash her in the face.

I’d pulled back my fist to do just that when Trudi, Quinn, and Travis came out and stopped me at the last minute. “Get the fuck out of here. I don’t care what your problem is, get the fuck out!”

I screamed and fought against Quinn’s arms, but he held me tight. I couldn’t break Quinn’s hold though, so I stopped. No use fighting a brick wall.

I glared at her and Quinn spoke. “Who are you?”

He didn’t have to ask me why I’d reacted so violently, I had and that was all that mattered to him.

“I’m Annamaria, I’m Tavin’s girlfriend. We lost him a couple of weeks ago. Is he here?” She managed to somehow make herself look small and afraid but I’d seen the snake in those eyes.

He’d never told me she was so old!

“He’s not here, move along please.” Travis spoke for all of us.

“Oh, thanks. Could I trouble you for a glass of water?” She pointed down at the heels. From a distance she’d been stunning, but up close, I could see the lines around her eyes, and how the outfit made her look desperate rather than seductive. I grinned when I saw her pedicure was chipped.

“Fuck off, bitch.” I spit at her feet, my bear almost out and ready to tear her apart.

“Wow, is that how you treat strangers?” Her snark showed itself instantly, and she bristled as she realized she’d given herself away.

“Fine, if that’s how you want to play this.” She reached around her back, into a bag I hadn’t noticed and pulled out a small handgun. “Give me the girl.”

Her fingers made a gimme motion, but my brother didn’t move to release me. “I said,” she paused to pull the hammer back, “give me the fucking girl. Or I shoot the tiny blond one.”

Her hand moved and I thought I might be done for then. I was their sister, but Trudi was their mate. If she died, they all died. I wanted to launch myself at her, and I felt Quinn spring to do the same thing, but a blur came out of nowhere and attacked the woman, large teeth, and a huge round head at her throat as the gun flew away.

“Tavin?” I asked, carefully stepping closer. He growled at the woman, drool running down her throat as he dared her to move. She didn’t. In a smart move, she stayed perfectly still as he breathed heavily against her skin, his teeth all but piercing the thin, delicate flesh.

“Tavin, baby. We don’t kill here. Not on our Bear Club land. You can drag her up the mountain if you want, and do whatever you like, fuck, I might come help you after what she’s done, but you can’t do this here.”

His breathing calmed, and his teeth moved from her throat. He shifted as he looked down at the woman that had sent him to prison for her own needs. “She’s not worth the stain on my soul.”

“Tavin, please, I can explain!” She started but he pounded his fist into the grass at the side of her head and she shut the fuck up like a good girl should.

“No, I don’t need your explanation. I don’t need your world. You came here to finish what you started all those years ago. You can fuck right off back to your own world.”

He got off of her then and moved away, repeating my move of spitting at her feet.

“And I can tell you this much, Ms. Annamaria, it’s not Tavin you have to worry about if you ever come back.” I glared down at the sputtering woman that was trying to crawl away. “Take off those ridiculous shoes, and run, bitch.”

I shifted and she shrieked while she ran away. I saw her shoes flying off as she went, and roared, but it was laughter that continued as soon as I shifted back to my human form.

“I doubt she’ll ever be back.” Tavin laughed beside me, holding his side.

“You shifted, Tavin! You did it!”

“I saw that gun and that was it, I was running and a bear. I didn’t even think about it, it just happened.” He looked stunned but happy as he pulled me in for a hug.

“I told you that’s all you needed to do. Thinking about it would only make it harder to do.”

“Sounds like a dick problem to me.” Trudi snorted, and that set us all off laughing. It was a relieved laughter though. That had been close, and a reminder of just how dangerous the human world really was. That sobered me up.

“Are you sure you want to stay here, Tavin? We don’t have the same rules as you do.”

“I am, Sabina. I’ll lay my life down for you, for any of you. I’m a bear now. This is the only place I ever want to be. Right here with you.”

My brothers and sister in law made an aw sound as he leaned down to kiss me but I ignored them all.

“At least he’s kept her from leaving.” Trudi pointed out as Tavin began to draw me away.

“Could you imagine the quiet, though, Quinn, if she’d gone? No more weird dance tracks, no more constant chatter about inventory, or suggestions on parties.” Travis was joking but I shot him a deadly glare anyway.

“Yeah, it would have been quiet, but we would have hated it. And Trudi would have killed us.” Quinn responded with a laugh.

I gave him and Trudi both a look of love as she spoke up. “You’re fucking right I would have.”

I still loved it when the woman that used to be so prim and proper cursed. It made me hot. But not as hot as my mate.

“Come on, baby. There’s a room in that barn I want to show you. It has vibrators and all sorts in it.” I whispered it to him, but he laughed loudly and looked down at me uncertainly.

“Vibrators? You think I need help?”

“Not at all, but vibrators can improve many situations. They cause awkward silences when brought out the wrong time and you want somebody to shut the hell up. They cause pleasure during times of intimacy, and hilarity when the situation needs a good old-fashioned dose of ‘well that wasn’t expected. Vibrators are awesome and can always change the outcome of a situation. You’re laughing now, aren’t you?” I looked up at him with a gleam in my eye and a grin on my face.

“Oh you’re good, Sabina, you’re very good.” He led me into the barn and I closed the door behind me.

“Now, about those handcuffs we have back there…” I laughed as he looked at me in shock yet again, and I knew that all was well. The human world had followed him, but, in true Bear Club fashion, we’d all worked together to get rid of it. I had my mate, and that was all that mattered now.

He might be an ex-con, and worse, a human, but he was my ex-con. And my bear-shifter now. He was no longer a human, but a hybrid. And all mine. Forever.