Chapter Ten – Tyrell

Cynthia’s scream rang in his ears, high-pitched and terrified. It made his heart shrivel up and sink into his shoes. He reached for her but before he could touch her, she slapped away his hands. She jumped to her feet and backed away from Tamara, staring with pure terror.

He crossed the room in an instant and gathered Tamara into his arms. Ruby gave him a wild-eyed look and he just shook his head. He’d deal with Cynthia, but not when Tamara was in the room. Then he dashed upstairs, cradling his daughter to his chest. She shifted back slowly, starting to cry.

“What did I do wrong?”

Tyrell let out a shaky breath. “Nothing. Nothing, Cynthia just wasn’t ready.”

“I scared her…”

“Honey, I need you to stay here.” He set her on her bed and kissed her forehead. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I just need to make sure that Cynthia is okay.”

“Daddy—”

He hated leaving her, but what choice did he have? He tore back downstairs. The screaming had stopped and he allowed himself a moment of hope, thinking that perhaps Ruby had calmed Cynthia down and they could discuss this rationally. But as he landed on the last step, he heard Ruby cry out in pain. Seconds later, Cynthia dashed out of the house and slammed the door behind her.

“Wait,” Ruby called.

Tyrell didn’t wait to see what had happened. He was after Cynthia in a flash, his heart in his throat. In her current state, she might get herself hurt. Or, if she left the island, she could tell everybody about the bears here. And then what? What would happen to them?

Damn James Smith! What was he thinking, ambushing her like that? Tyrell’s bear raged; if Cynthia got hurt because of this, there was nothing that would stop him. Not even the alphas. Smith would die.

He caught up with her as she was opening the door to the truck. He seized her around the waist, slammed the door shut, and spun her around. Pushing her against the side of the truck, he pinned her there. Memories of how many times he’d done this before surfaced but he shoved those aside. Now was not the time to be thinking about sex.

“Cynthia, I need you to calm down.” He tried to make his voice low and soothing.

Cynthia made a screeching noise and slashed at his face, fingers held like claws. Her nails scraped down his cheek and he grunted. “Calm down? Calm down? What are you? What sort of sick joke—you’re freaks!”

Her words drove through his shield of calm, shredding it. His bear snarled. Freaks. He had hoped that when she found out she would be understanding. But freaks?

“Calm down,” he snarled.

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my God. You can do it, too. You can… I’ve been sleeping with a bear!”

“We call ourselves shifters. I know it’s difficult to understand when it’s been sprung on you like this, but—”

“Get the hell away from me!”

Cynthia began thrashing and screaming. She hurled every insult and profanity he’d ever heard of to him. Frustration mounted as he struggled to hold her, to stop her from hurting him or herself. A quick glance at the house showed Ruby standing in the doorway, eyes wide with a hand covering her mouth.

And suddenly all he could think of was Tamara. Tamara in her room, hearing all this and thinking that it was her fault. Thinking that there was something wrong with her.

Tyrell grabbed Cynthia’s wrists and dragged her from the truck. His gaze flashed over his property, finally settling on the hill that housed the root cellar. He seized Cynthia around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. Her fists rained down on his back, but he ignored the pain as he rushed to the cellar. He opened the door, thrust her inside, and slammed the door shut. Her shouts were instantly muffled by the thick wood.

“Let me out!” she screamed through the door. “Tyrell, please! I won’t tell anybody!”

Panic and terror infused her voice. Tyrell leaned his head against the door. His stomach clenched and his teeth ground. That was hardly the issue, but he knew that trying to tell her that in her current state would do no good. He slammed down the crossbar to lock the cellar door and yanked the radio from his belt.

“Ricky, come in. It’s Tyrell. Over.”

For a moment, he was afraid there would be no answer. Then Ricky’s voice crackled over the line. “What is it? Over.”

“Cynthia knows.” He wasn’t going to tell the whole story over the radio. Who knew who else might be listening in?

He cursed at the prolonged silence from Ricky’s end. This was why she should never have been hired. He should have sent her on her way the moment Ruby brought her to the house. He should never have allowed it to get this far.

And he ought to go find James Smith and tear out his heart. He’d been stalking and chasing Cynthia. Had he planned to hurt her? If he had… I’m going to have to let the alphas deal with him. But I’m going to demand something be done right away this time. I’m done waiting around and just barely catching him before he does something.

Ricky’s voice came over the well. “How’s she taking it?”

“Not well.”

“And by not well you mean—?”

“She started to panic.”

A curse. “What are you doing now?”

Tyrell glanced guiltily at the cellar door. His heart twisted as Cynthia started to sob. Good God, what was he doing? “I… She kept screaming and fighting so I locked her in my root cellar.”

In a second, a new voice came over the line. “What the hell?”

That was Noel. “Sir, I—”

“That’s not going to help her trust us, Jarvis!”

“She was freaking out, was I supposed to let her just drive off when she might crash into a tree or something?” Tyrell gripped the radio so tightly that he thought he might snap it. Behind him, Cynthia stopped banging on the door, instead just sobbing. He closed his eyes as the radio crackled. After hearing his name practically yelled through it, he finally answered. “What?”

“We are coming right away. Let the girl out of the cellar, for God’s sake, and try not to be an idiot.” That was Kurtis, alpha of the Ridgelines and Tyrell’s step-brother.

Tyrell’s jaw snapped shut. He wanted to yell back that he hadn’t planned to stuff Cynthia into a root cellar, but kept his mouth shut. He hung the radio back onto his belt and hid his face in his hands. What the hell was happening? He had had so many thoughts about this, so many plans for how to tell Cynthia that they were bears. He had planned out exactly what he was going to do if she found out accidentally, like this.

And instead, he locked her in the root cellar. Smooth. Real smooth. Especially after Smith attacked her.

“Tyrell,” Ruby called. She hurried over to join him. There was a bit of blood smeared over her forehead and his eyes widened.

“What happened?”

Ruby touched the blood and grimaced. “She freaked out. But whatever, have you told the alphas?”

“Yeah. They’re going to come to help… deal with the situation.”

Ruby nodded, frowning. “Tamara is in her room, sobbing. I’ll handle Cynthia, you just go take care of your daughter.”

Tyrell flinched. He nodded, feeling like he was in the middle of a whirlwind. As he stepped away from the cellar, though, he stopped. He was the one who put her in there, he ought to be the one to let her out. So he lifted the crossbeam and opened the door. Cynthia flinched back from him, tears streaming down her face.

The fear in her eyes made him want to shrivel up and die. “I’m sorry...”

“Go take care of Tamara,” Ruby said again, more firmly.

Head hanging, Tyrell turned to the house. He heard Ruby and Cynthia following but didn’t dare turn and look. When they got to the porch, the roar of a motorbike made him turn. Within seconds, Rex was there. The bike spat out gravel as the other bear leaped off it. Fury was written all over his face as he charged at Tyrell.

A fist swung, connecting hard with Tyrell’s face. The force lifted him up and threw him halfway across the porch.

Ruby gasped, Cynthia screamed, and the next thing Tyrell knew, Rex had Cynthia in a protective grasp while he glared at the siblings.

“How dare you?” Rex seethed. “I heard everything—how dare you treat her like this?”

Tyrell scrambled to his feet but just stood there, unable to say anything. Rex glared at him with a gleam in his eye, as though daring him to attack, to defend himself, to do anything that would allow Rex to become more of a hero in Cynthia’s eyes. But Tyrell didn’t move. He didn’t even process what Rex was saying. Instead, his eyes were locked on Cynthia.

Tears streamed down her face and she clung to Rex’s side. Terror shone from her eyes. He wanted to say something, anything, that would reassure her. To let her know that this wasn’t who he was, that he just panicked, that he didn’t want what she was screaming to be heard by his daughter. Everything froze in his throat.

He’d fucked up.

He knew without having to ask that he had just destroyed everything that they had had together. There wasn’t any point in lying to himself, saying that it wasn’t all that important or that Cynthia was just a fling. At that moment, there was nothing but her. And the guilt and regret burning in his gut.

Rex turned Cynthia towards himself and clasped her hands tightly. “Hey. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

Cynthia glanced at Tyrell again. “...No.”

“It’s gonna be okay.” Rex’s voice was low and soothing. “I promise. I won’t let him come near you. I know this must have been a shock to you, but it’s okay. We’re not monsters, we’re not animals. We just happen to be able to change shapes.”

Ruby stepped up beside Tyrell and gave him a worried look. He closed his eyes for a moment before he turned to her. “Can you get Tamara? Take her into town or something, I don’t want her to see this.”

Cynthia opened her mouth but didn’t speak.

Ruby disappeared into the house, while the three left behind still stared at one another. After a moment, Ruby came out, holding Tamara. She sobbed and Cynthia pressed a hand to her mouth. She still didn’t speak, though her tears increased. Ruby walked swiftly passed her to the truck, where she settled Tamara in and drove off.

“I’m sorry,” Cynthia whispered, staring after them.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Rex soothed. “Now… let’s go sit down and I’ll get you a glass of water.”

Tyrell’s bear snarled at the thought of Rex stepping foot in his house, but he didn’t protest. He even went so far as to step out of their way, so that Cynthia didn’t have to be near him.

First Smith attacked her and then he locked her in his cellar. Right now, she was probably so afraid that she didn’t know whom to trust. When he found out about this, Smith was going to have a field day. He’d say that this was exactly why humans shouldn’t be allowed on the island. As if he wasn’t the one who had cause all of this from the start.

He still stood outside on the porch when the four alphas arrived. Each of them looked stressed and angry, not that he could blame them. When they asked where Cynthia was, Tyrell wordlessly gestured into the house.

Kurtis and Ricky both paused while Bobby and Noel went into the house.

“Hey. You okay?” Kurtis asked, his voice low.

Tyrell glared at his step-brother, opening his mouth to answer harshly, but a glance at Ricky stopped him. It was a genuine question. After a moment, he swallowed and shook his head. His eyes burned, much to his chagrin, but neither alpha commented on it. Ricky gripped his shoulder and led him inside, Kurtis following.

The alphas gathered around Cynthia, who sat on a love seat looking shell-shocked. Beside her, Rex had planted himself firmly on the cushions. He didn’t look at Tyrell, his attention solely focused on Cynthia.

“Cynthia.” Noel was the one to speak, his voice authoritative despite how he tried to soften it. “You’ve learned something about us. Something that we have been trying very hard to keep secret from the outside world. You can understand how this is cause for concern.”

She flinched. “You’re going to kill me?”

“No,” Tyrell said at once. His bear snarled, ready to attack the alphas even though he knew they’d never suggest such a thing. “Never!”

“Diana’s human,” Noel quickly added. “We stay out here so that we don’t end up with the drama of humans finding out about us. So… can you please tell us how you found out?”

Cynthia opened her mouth, closed it again, and shut her eyes.

“It was James Smith,” Tyrell muttered. He sank onto the couch. “She was walking back from town. He attacked her. I don’t know… what he was planning.” Rage rose up in him and he jumped to his feet again. “He attacked her!”

“And so you decided to attack her as well?” Rex snarled at him.

The rage drained from Tyrell’s body. “I…”

Cynthia looked up at him, wiped her eyes, and turned to Rex. “He protected me. From the other bear. Then we came back and Tamara…”

“She shifted,” Tyrell said, his throat closing over. “And I… Cynthia, I’m so sorry.”

She turned her face away. “I want to go home.”

Bobby crouched beside her. “Cynthia. I know that this is strange and frightening. But I’m afraid that we are going to have to keep you on the island until we can figure out how to proceed. There are several hotels that you could stay at, or—”

“She’s staying with me.” Rex’s voice was gruff. “I’ll keep her safe.”

Here he sent a deadly look at Tyrell. Tyrell’s hackles rose, and he bared his teeth. How dare Rex insinuate that he’d hurt her? He’d never hurt her! He opened his mouth to say just that, but even as he did so, he remembered the sound of her slamming against the cellar door. His voice caught in his throat. How could any of them think differently?

“We’ll deal with Smith,” Noel said. “He won’t come anywhere near you again, Cynthia. So you can stay where you’d like. We can even assign some men to protect you.”

“They’ll be bears, too?”

“Yes,” Kurtis said. “We all are. You and Diana are the only two on the island who aren’t.”

Cynthia looked like she was about to throw up. “I want to go home!”

“Sweetheart, you’re safe now,” Rex murmured.

Tyrell hung his head and stepped back. “I will go… somewhere else while you pack your things,” he mumbled. “I… I’m sorry.”

He heard Cynthia inhale, but didn’t wait to hear what she would say. He turned on his heel and marched away, not wanting to have anything to do with any of it anymore. He dug his hands into his hair as he marched off into the field, not caring where he was going. His bear snarled and beat his chest. He stripped off his shirt and pants and shifted, letting his bear forward. It eased some of the tension inside of him, but not enough. Not until he barreled toward the ocean, letting his muscles scream with the exertion.

God, what had he done?