Chapter Nineteen – Mindy

Mindy wasn’t sure what she had intended to do when she drove through the warehouse wall. The impact of the hit had sent her jerking against her seat belt. When she came to a stop, her body moved without her needing to direct it, lifting herself out of the truck. Her hand grasped the pistol she’d gotten at a costume store, and her mouth moved.

It was only after Rex roared and charged forward that she realized just how stupid a plan it was—as if a fake gun would scare Meyer into giving her back her daughter.

Guns went off. Bullets scattered through the warehouse, blowing holes into the walls and the floors. Mindy ducked, shuddering as bullets hit the truck door. Her head spun, and for a second she was tempted to simply drop down and faint from sheer fright. But she gritted her teeth as a roar filled the air, echoed by several cries of fright and surprise.

When she peered around the door, she saw three giant bears tearing through the men. Her heart leapt, in relief and fear. The guns went silent as the men tried to flee. Meyer shoved one of his men at the honey-gold bear coming at him and leapt over a bit of equipment. Mindy realized he was coming for her and chucked the fake pistol at him. He stumbled slightly, howling, as it hit him in the eye. A gun was in his hand still, and she dove for him.

“You bitch!” Meyer shouted, punching at her. His knuckles grazed her cheek, but she pulled away at just the right time.

The force of her impact knocked him to the floor. He kept a steady grip on the gun. Mindy scrambled at it, digging her nails into his wrist. He threw her off, snarling. She lashed out, scratching at his eyes. The gun pressed to her arm, and she jerked away just in time for the bullet to brush her flesh instead of piercing it. She threw all her weight against him again. This time, though, he managed to pull her off-balance.

As she fell onto the concrete floor, Meyer rolled over her. He grasped her throat with one hand while pressing the gun to her forehead. Her heart lurched, her mouth went dry. Triumph blazed in Meyer’s eyes for one brief second before he was suddenly gone. The gun went off, the bullet impacting right next to her ear, leaving a sharp, high-pitched ring in her brain.

Meyer screamed, his head in Rex’s mouth. Rex dragged him back, away from her. The gun whipped around, pointed at Mindy once more.

Rex’s jaws crushed shut, and Meyer went limp.

Mindy turned, bile rising in her throat. The smell of gunpowder and blood was in the air. Her mind churned as she glanced around to see all of Meyer’s men dead. Fredrick and Noel leaned on each other, bullet wounds seeping blood. Her head spun, and Mindy fell backward into strong, warm arms.

She pressed her face against his chest, forgetting for a moment what had happened. Something warm and sticky flowed from his shoulder, making her stomach churn. At that moment, though, she didn’t care. All she wanted was to hold him in her arms and make sure he was okay. She shivered so badly that she couldn’t pull herself away to check.

“I’m sorry,” Rex whispered in her ear. “I’m so sorry.”

His words brought her back to herself. She pulled back slightly, staring up at him. “Sorry? For what?”

Regret, shame, and anger all burned in Rex’s eyes. “I killed him.”

“I . . . I know . . . ” She didn’t look at Meyer’s body. “He would have killed me.”

“I should have found a different way . . . I don’t know how we’ll find Ginny—”

His voice broke. Mindy understood. Her heart cracked open, and tears began to pour down her face. This was her fault—if she hadn’t been so stupid, driving in here as though she could make Meyer talk, then it wouldn’t have gotten to this point. Now there were dead men in the warehouse . . . And their only lead to Ginny was gone . . . She clung to Rex, sobbing, unable to make her throat work enough to tell him that it wasn’t his fault at all. It was hers.

Maybe it would be better for Ginny this way. Maybe she’d have a stable, loving home with a mother who didn’t have Mindy’s problems . . . 

A heavy hand touched her shoulder, making her jump. She looked up to see Noel standing over them. His face was screwed up in pain. Streams of blood ran from his torso. She suddenly remembered that Rex, too, had been shot. With a soft cry, Mindy pulled back to check on him. The shiny scars from his previous wounds gleamed, and two new bullets had been blasted into his shoulders.

“We need to get out of here,” Noel growled, making Mindy flinch. It was more a pained growl than an angry one, but it still sent shudders down her spine. “It won’t be long before the police are on their way—if we’re still around, it’s going to cause a lot of trouble.”

Mindy looked once more at the dead men, and her stomach lurched. “But I have proof. I have proof that Meyer has been blackmailing people. And when they hear about why—”

“These men were killed by animals. That’s what the coroner will say,” Noel interrupted. “If they connect us to the killings, then they’ll start wondering what connection we have with a bunch of bears that maul people. We have to go, now. Before anybody sees us.”

Right. Mindy blinked and shook her head. Her vision swayed slightly as she got to her feet. The enormity of what had happened crashed down on her, and her knees buckled. Rex caught her. He tried to pick her up but set her back down with a hiss.

Fredrick joined them. Together, they limped out of the warehouse. None of the men were in any shape to drive, so Mindy took the wheel. She wasn’t really in any shape to drive, either, with her trembling hands and her brain that kept wanting to just stop functioning altogether.

Somehow, she managed to get them to the dock, where the bears quickly boarded Rex’s large boat and went below deck to lie down and take care of their wounds. Once more, Mindy found herself having to dig into bleeding flesh to pull out bullets. It was becoming so common that she actually felt experienced as she retrieved a first-aid kit and sterilized a pair of tweezers she found inside.

For the next hour, she worked, not letting herself think of anything. Not of the dead men, not of her missing daughter, not of the potential fallout this might have. Somehow, she managed to push it all aside and concentrate on her task. She took care of Fredrick’s wounds first, since he was bleeding the most, then she moved to Noel since he’d been shot the most and finally to Rex. All three men growled and hissed as she worked on them, but after they were bandaged up, they all rested quietly.

Once she was done, though, there was nothing to distract her. Meyer was dead, along with all those other men. Yes, they had been terrible people. Blackmail, extortion, who knew what else they had done. All the women whose pictures Mindy had seen on Meyer’s computer would finally be free of him. She was finally free of him.

But he was the only one who knew where Ginny was. Now that he was dead . . . how was she going to find her daughter? Did he have a paper trail they could follow? Could they go to the police? Or would the police be more concerned about Meyer’s mysterious death than they would be about the fact that Ginny had been stolen and sold?

Was the family she was with now a good family? Or were they people like Meyer? Would Ginny have a good life? Or had Meyer been lying this whole time? Was she alone and crying, reaching out for her mother? What if she was and they didn’t find her in time?

Mindy was just about to break down into tears when there was a loud thud on the deck. She jumped to her feet. When a man came hurtling down, she screamed. Rex roared and leapt to his feet. The man stopped, arching a brow at the two of them. Mindy put a hand to her heart. It was Tyrell Jarvis.

“I’m sorry, I—” Her eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”

Jarvis grinned broadly at her. In a few short strides, he had joined the two of them and slapped Rex on the back.

“I found her.”

***

Mindy started to cry the moment she saw Ginny. As the thin woman handed the baby over to her, Mindy sobbed in relief. Ginny cooed, reaching for Mindy’s hair as it fell on her face. Mindy held her close, kissing her again and again as she checked her to make sure she was okay. Those big blue eyes remained firmly latched onto Mindy’s face.

She looked up at the couple who had thought they were adopting a baby. Both of them had tears in their eyes. They were a well-to-do couple, eager to have a family and wanting to adopt. It turned out that Meyer had conned them good, pretending to be Ginny’s father and wanting the best for her.

“We’re so sorry,” the woman whispered. “We should never have . . . It seemed too good to be true, and I guess it was. We’ll go through a proper agency next time.”

Mindy nodded at her, too choked up with emotion to reply. She curled her finger into Ginny’s small hand as Rex wrapped an arm around her waist. He kissed Ginny’s forehead, tears running down his own face.

“She’s a good baby,” the woman continued. “And I’m sorry to see her go . . . but I’m glad that you got your child back.”

“Thank you.” Mindy let out a shuddering breath.

She had feared that they would try to make it a court case or worse, simply disappear into the wind. But the couple was horrified that they had been a party to stealing a baby. They had caused no problems. Mindy smiled up at them, her heart so full of joy at having her daughter back that her voice got stuck in her throat.

Rex spoke for her. “Thank you.”

They took their leave, Mindy still holding Ginny close. She buckled her in the car seat and sat next to her as they drove to the docks. Noel and Fredrick had taken the big boat back to the island so that Noel and the other alphas could start on a plan to deal with the police if they ever came sniffing around after the Meyer mess.

Jarvis had waited, though. He captained Rex’s small boat while Mindy and Rex sat on the side, pressed closely together while holding Ginny between the two of them.

Rex pressed a kiss to her temple. “I’m so grateful both of you are safe. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.” It was as easy as breathing, saying those words. She cupped his face with her hand and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. “Thank you. For not giving up on us.”

His eyes shone with tenderness and love. “Never,” he promised. “I will always be here for you. I can’t promise that I won’t end up a mess from time to time, but I can promise never to leave you alone.”

“I’m a mess, too. But if I’ve learned one thing from you, it’s that we’re not alone.” She stroked Ginny’s soft black hair. “We have each other, and we have a whole community to back us up. We just have to accept help when it’s offered and reach out when we need to.”

Rex smiled, relaxing. “Yes, you’re right. We’re not on our own.”

When they docked, Jarvis and Rex tied the boat down together. Once they were done, Jarvis straightened, knocked his hat back a little and gave Rex a small grin. “I’m glad that your little girl is back. I know that these sorts of incidents can be exhausting, though. So if you two want to come out to the ranch and stay for a few days, until you’re ready to get back on your feet, you’re welcome to it.”

Mindy’s breath caught in her throat at the casual offer. Rex froze, too, his eyes wide. He swallowed hard.

“What about Cynthia?”

“I called her while you two were picking up Ginny. She’s the one who suggested it.”

Rex blinked rapidly, shuffling on the spot. “Does that mean . . . I’m forgiven?”

“It means that we are recognizing how hard you’ve been working to change. And that it’s time for us to move forward. Tamara needs to get to know her uncle and cousin and—”

Jarvis cut off with a strangled yelp as Rex hugged him. He was stiff for a moment before relaxing. He thumped his hand against Rex’s back in an awkward sort of pat, chuckling. When Rex stepped back, cheeks pink, both men sort of shrugged and looked away from one another.

“That’d be great,” Rex said, his voice thick. “We’ll just pick up a few things and head out . . . I think . . . if Mindy wants to?”

He turned to her with a questioning look. She smiled brightly at him and nodded. Being around people they were safe with sounded nice right now. She and Cynthia might not be close but they were connected, and it was probably a good idea to get to know each other better. Besides that, Cynthia and Diana were the only two other humans on the island that she knew of. If anybody was going to help her adapt to the culture of the bears, it was those two.

They headed up the docks, Rex walking on one side of her while she held Ginny in her arms and Jarvis carried the empty car seat. Meyer was gone. He would no longer be haunting her dreams, making her wonder and fear when he would appear and terrorize her again. She had her daughter, and she had a man who loved her. Who fought for her, even after knowing the darkest part of her.

“I want to get married,” she blurted out, then blushed fiercely. “I mean . . . if you want to . . . ”

Rex grinned at her. He had such a huge smile on his lips that she thought it might split his face. “I’d like that.”

A smile spread across her face as they continued. It turned out that she got her fairy-tale ending after all.