Chapter Fifteen – Mindy

When Diana Dobson, the alpha-queen of the island (at least, that was how Mindy understood it; she wasn’t entirely certain how it worked yet) invited Mindy to her house, she jumped at the opportunity. Since they had gotten to the island, it had been mostly just her, Rex and Ginny. Sure, they went places together, but with the threat of Meyer over their heads, Mindy hadn’t been too thrilled about the idea of leaving the house. Now that her debts had been paid off, however, Mindy felt like she could breathe again.

After she arrived at the alphas’ house and found Cynthia and Ruby there, she got a little tense. The other women were welcoming, though and inquired politely about both her and Rex. She slowly started to relax.

Now, they were on YouTube, watching the video titled ‘Island Bears—coming soon!’

Mindy stifled a giggle as the camera panned down Rex’s body, stopping just short of indecency. It cut to a shot from a distance as he shifted to his bear’s form. Her own, overly dramatic expression of shock made her groan.

“I am definitely not an actress,” she sighed.

Ruby laughed, patting her on the back. “We wanted it to look bad, remember?”

The scene cut away to images of her and Rex walking along the beach, with cheesy, overly romantic music overlaying it. Then it cut to a dramatic shot of her face, looking afraid and a closeup of Rex in his bear form. A voiceover came on, “Don’t be afraid.”

It cut out then, and a website that the alphas had slapped together came up.

Cynthia laughed as she bounced her child on her knee. He was the same age as Ginny. “The alphas have outdone themselves. That looks exactly like an amateur attempt at shooting a movie.”

Diana nodded. “You should check out the comments, too. So many people saying that the graphics suck and the bear looks so fake. Rex was pretty smart getting this up.”

A proud smile crossed Mindy’s face. It had been his idea to put out the video, making it look like it was part of a movie that was being filmed for YouTube. Now even if Meyer released his video, nobody would believe that it was real. They’d think it was just footage of the “Island Bears” movie. The alphas already had the cancellation of the movie project planned, due to “overwhelmingly negative feedback.” It was brilliant.

In the meantime, the alphas had increased security at the house that Meyer was staying at, to make sure that he didn’t bother any other bears or make more videos.

Mindy turned to the other women. As good as the idea was, she couldn’t help but feel nervous. “Do you think it will work?”

“Of course.” Cynthia smiled. “When you look at that and think about some of the advanced techniques that they use in movies these days, Rex does look fake, doesn’t he?”

Beside her, her older daughter Tamara huffed. “But it’s real.”

Ruby ruffled her brilliantly red hair. “They won’t know that, sweetie.”

“But why don’t we want them to know?”

Mindy studied Tamara for a little bit. The six-year-old had the flaming red hair that her father and aunt shared but Mindy could see the resemblance to Rex.

Cynthia kissed Tamara on the top of her head. “Remember how I found out that you could turn into a bear and I was really scared, and I scared you and Daddy?”

Tamara grimaced.

“It’s like that. Only a lot of people finding out together would cause panic. So that’s why we want to keep it a secret, at least for now.” Cynthia paused for a moment, then combed her fingers through Tamara’s hair. “And I know it looks real, but that’s because we know that it is. People out there in the world, they don’t know that bears like you are real and so they’ll believe any explanation that sounds more realistic to them.”

Tamara snorted. “People are dumb.”

All four of the adults laughed. Tamara rolled her eyes and wandered away, bored with the conversation. Mindy adjusted Ginny in her arms, as the baby was getting fussy. Cynthia’s baby, too, was starting to cry.

Mindy whipped out a blanket from her diaper bag and let Ginny stretch out on the floor. She settled at once, and Cynthia put her son on the blanket, too. Mindy considered her for a moment. There had been no word about whether or not she was softening toward Rex or not. While Mindy understood her point, she believed that it was no longer necessary to keep Rex away from his niece.

“So,” she said, her gaze still on Cynthia. “You reacted badly when you found out about the shifting?”

Cynthia grimaced. “In my defense, I found out because someone attacked me.”

Mindy narrowed her eyes. “But you still reacted badly . . . Maybe reacting in a way that you now wish you hadn’t?”

Cynthia’s expression was blank, but there was a look in her eyes that told Mindy that she knew exactly what she was driving at.

“I’m not saying that Rex doesn’t regret what he did, or that if the same situation came up right now rather than a year ago, he’d do the same thing. But I don’t know, not yet. Until I do—”

“How can you know if you won’t give him the chance to prove that he’s changed?”

Diana cleared her throat, bringing the attention to her. “Well, I understand that Cynthia’s hesitant. But Rex and Tyrell seem to be on better terms with each other. I know that Rex is determined to finish his rota so that he can earn money for the college fund.”

Mindy and Cynthia gazed at each other for a long moment before Cynthia nodded. “You’re right.”

Mindy gave Diana a grateful smile, then focused on Cynthia again. “So, what do you think? Will you give him a chance? I know he won’t disappoint you.”

Tamara came storming into the room again. “I want to go outside. Aunt Ruby, could you please take me up to see the two seal pups that Noel brought back?”

Ruby smiled and nodded at her, and Tamara charged for the door. Once they were gone, Diana set her son down beside Ginny and started playing with the kids. Cynthia then sat on the couch next to Mindy.

“Tyrell and I . . . we want Rex to succeed. Maybe things aren’t as easy for us, and maybe things won’t ever be . . . chummy but we want him to succeed.” Cynthia’s expression darkened for a moment. “And I want to forgive him. I now that it might be strange, saying that I want that while at the same time not wanting him anywhere near my children or me. I don’t think that he’ll hurt us. I’m just afraid that if he slips back . . . ”

“He’s trying so hard. He’s working every day to prove himself. There hasn’t been a moment when I’ve felt afraid of him. Even after I saw him turn into a giant bear without any warning. He deserves a second chance.”

Cynthia looked at her. “Of course you’re going to say that. You’re his mate.”

Mindy rolled her eyes. “I’m not his mate. From what he told me, mates have that instant-love connection, that feeling like you can’t live without each other. We have a connection. I’m not going to deny that. But we’re still figuring each other out.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not mates,” Diana put in.

“Very true.” Cynthia nodded. “And that whole love at first sight thing? That’s what Rex thought he had with me. Me and Tyrell, we had lust at first sight, but it wasn’t love. Not until we got to know each other. And you? The way you talk about Rex is the way I feel about Tyrell.”

“And the way I feel about my alphas,” Diana sighed, a smile spreading across her face. “And the way that Ricky and Kurtis feel about each other.”

Mindy frowned at them. Her heart was beating faster. The truth of the matter was that she wasn’t the one who had trouble thinking of the thing between her and Rex as love. To her, their connection was way more than just sexual.

She could sense Rex holding himself back, though. For him to give himself emotionally to her, she knew that he needed forgiveness. Otherwise, he was always going to have that deep-rooted insecurity.

“I think that Rex needs to have peace with the past first. To be forgiven. He’s told me so much about when Tamara was an infant and how he helped his sister look after her. It’s killing him not to have the only family that he’s got left in his life. He’s doing everything that Tyrell’s asked of him. It’s not easy for him, he’s got a dominant personality.”

“You’re right,” Cynthia said with a thoughtful expression on her face. “He is making progress. I understand what you are saying, Mindy. It’s been stressful lately, and we haven’t had the time or energy to think about Rex but now that Meyer is taken care of . . . I’d expect progress on our end very soon.”

Mindy studied the other woman. She nodded stiffly. “Good. I’d love to be in a better place with you and Tyrell before Rex goes back to work.”

Cynthia inclined her head. “I’ll talk to Tyrell . . . we’ll have the three of you over for dinner within a week.”

“Thank you. I—“A bang from the kitchen made them all jump. Diana’s son made a startled noise, and Ginny’s face scrunched up.

Mindy retrieved her daughter. As she straightened up, Meyer stormed into the room. She froze, her lungs locking. A snarl was on his lips as he glared at the women. A gun was in his hand, and when he pointed it at Mindy, the air rushed from her lungs in a silent scream.

“What are—” Cynthia swallowed down whatever she wanted to say as the gun pointed at her.

Diana glanced worriedly at her son as she turned her body so that if Meyer fired the gun at her, it would hit her and not her child. “Mr. Meyer, my husbands aren’t home at the moment so whatever you want—“

“I want you to shut up.” He glared at her and then turned to Mindy again. “I saw your little video on YouTube. You bitch.”

The gun in his hand stole away any anger she had at the insult. She held Ginny tightly to her chest, wondering if she could make it to the door if he decided to start shooting. How had he even gotten the gun? Rex had destroyed it. Did he have more than one? Bile crept up her throat. This was supposed to be over! He’d already gotten more money than he deserved, why did he keep coming after her?

“How did you escape the guards?” she breathed.

Meyer’s eyes took on a maniacal gleam, and he fired the gun at the floor, the bullet hitting right between her feet. Cynthia snatched up her baby. All three children started to wail while Diana backed away from Meyer and Cynthia rolled over the back of the couch. Meyer ignored them, his gaze locked on Mindy.

“That’s how,” he spat. “Now get up.”

Feeling numb, she got to her feet. Ruby appeared in the doorway behind Meyer, but the creak of a floorboard warned Meyer of her presence, and he whirled around, pointing the gun at her. She held her hands in the air.

“I should kill you all,” Meyer spat. “That would teach them!”

Ruby’s gaze remained calm and fixed on him. “If you did that, there is nowhere you could hide. The bears of this island would track you down and rip you to pieces—if you were lucky enough to have a quick death. We do not forgive.”

“Neither do I.”

“Then perhaps you should ask yourself what you would do to someone if they hurt the one you loved.”

Meyer hissed between his teeth, but the threat was apparently enough. He didn’t fire the gun. Mindy’s heart jumped to her throat when he came at her, though. He grabbed her arm and pressed the gun to her neck, eliciting a short cry from her. Ginny’s face turned red as she writhed, her face wrinkled and tears running down her face.

“Try anything, and she’s dead,” he said, eyes on Ruby.

Ruby growled, her nostrils flaring, but she didn’t move. Worry radiated from her.

Meyer dragged Mindy out of the house and shoved her into Rex’s old car before he got in on the other side. Fury blazed from him, and Mindy shrank back, trying to comfort and quiet Ginny while her stomach churned. Everything seemed to be zipping by her, her mind feeling like her thoughts were trying to move through an avalanche just for one coherent action to take place.

“If I can’t have my revenge, then I will at least be compensated.” He gave her a scorching glance of hatred. “Since it was you and your bastard who cost me my money, you’ll get it back for me. You and your brat.”

One thought reached the surface, and she shied back from him. “Please don’t hurt my baby.”

He laughed, the sound full of insanity and triumph and a need to squash everything before him. “Hurt her? No. I’m not going to hurt her. Not when she can make me so much money. You, though? I am going to hurt you.”