CHAPTER ELEVEN
The harsh ding of the doorbell ripped Grace cruelly from her sleep and sent her into an automatic fight or flight mode. Her fists were flying before she’d even opened her eyes, and much to her chagrin she accidentally jabbed Henry square in the eye.
The man’s skeletal structure was harder than rock and she screamed, feeling as though she’d broken her hand. Even worse than the pain in her hand was her guilt over having decked him. To her amazement Henry grunted and winced slightly, but he made no move to strike her back.
“I can’t believe I hit you. Crap. Crap. Crap. I didn’t mean to . . . I can’t believe I . . . I’m so sorry! Are you okay? Of course you aren’t. I just punched you in the freaking eye! I’ll get you an ice pack,” she stammered, running from the room before Henry could even attempt to squeeze a word in edgewise. She held her injured hand against her chest as she ran, deciding that she could use an icepack as well.
The fact that she was completely naked didn’t even cross her mind as she bolted to the kitchen and back. She’d been unable to find a traditional ice pack so she’d had to settle for a bag of frozen peas. She figured they could share the same bag so long as she used her injured hand to hold the peas to his poor eye.
But he wasn’t lying in bed anymore. He’d moved over to the closet and was busy tugging on a pair of pants. The doorbell rang again and Henry muttered something that Grace couldn’t fully discern, although she did catch the words “kill” and “brother” in the mix.
“Thanks.” He took the bag of peas and pressed it to his eye. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that thanks to his shifter healing abilities he didn’t really need it. It was a sweet gesture and that’s what mattered to him.
“You stay here,” he told her as he made his way towards the door. He pressed the bag of peas back into her hand when he saw her rubbing her hurt fingers.
As much as Grace disliked being told what to do, it wasn’t like she could greet whoever waited outside in her birthday suit! She walked over to Henry’s closet to see what she wanted to borrow for the day. His clothing was nice and all, but none of it really excited her.
It would have been nice to have some clothes that actually fit her, but Henry had already given her so much that she hated to ask him for anything else. So, she grabbed another of his button down shirts and belted it in to make another impromptu shirt dress. She was really starting to miss pink, but there were far worse problems to have.
Henry was still occupied with his visitor, but by this point she was no longer interested in whoever had rudely awakened them. It wasn’t her house, so whoever it was wasn’t there to see her. She was on her way to begin tackling her giant mess in the kitchen when she heard a voice that she would have recognized anywhere. She turned on her heels and started running towards the familiar sound.
“Michelle!” she squealed, launching herself into her foster sister’s arms for what could very appropriately have been called a bear hug even if it was, in fact, initiated by the only two full-blooded humans in the room. They gripped each other tightly, and then Michelle pulled back for a moment so that she could really look at her friend.
“What on earth are you wearing?” she asked with an amused look on her face.
“Is it that bad? I thought it was kind of cute,” Grace said, running a hand nervously over her shirt dress ensemble.
“You look fantastic,” Henry cut in defensively. He didn’t like the negative emotions he was currently sensing from his mate.
“I only have the one outfit I was wearing when the tigers took me, so I’ve just been borrowing stuff from Henry.”
“And it never crossed your mind to take her shopping?” Michelle accused Henry, making him growl when she poked him in the chest. “Well I’m taking you shopping. Parker says I have to learn to spend his money so I might as well start with your new wardrobe.”
She tugged on Grace’s arm, and had pulled her halfway down the steps before she heard a sound that made them both freeze. Henry didn’t realize he was growling, not until his Itan positioned his body between him and the two females and began to bark back his own gruff challenge. Henry’s bear roared inside of him, frantic that someone was taking their mate away, terrified she wouldn’t be safe without him there to protect her.
Had it been anyone but his best friend there probably would have been bloodshed. It wasn’t easy, but Henry took a deep calming breath and got his cool back. He backed down from his fighting stance, slammed his jaw shut before anyone could see that he was snarling, and he even went so far as to expose his neck deferentially to Parker.
Having felt his mate was being threatened he’d quickly forgotten about what it meant to be a good second in command, because quite frankly she made him feel more like an alpha than a beta. But he didn’t want to challenge his Itan’s leadership, never had, never would. Parker was a great leader, and he couldn’t imagine anyone else doing a better job leading their clan, himself included. But neither did he want Grace out in public without him, at least not before they were officially mated.
What if she found someone else that she fancied more? What if last night was all they ever had together? What if she realized she wanted nothing more to do with him? As his brain continued to churn out awful scenarios he felt like he was being knifed repeatedly in the gut.
Grace experienced her own fit of trepidation when the men starting getting all aggressive and furry. Instinctively, she backed up towards Henry, not stopping until her body was pressed up to his like a second skin. When his hand enveloped her own she felt as though someone had thrown her a lifeline and she inhaled a calming breath.
“Henry can come too right?” she asked her friend hesitantly.
And just like that all of the stressful masculine tension evaporated into thin air. If Michelle hadn’t been shaking her head at the two men she would have wondered if she’d just imagined the barely averted altercation.
“Sure,” Michelle replied with a wink. “We’ll need both men to help carry all our bags.”
After slipping on her shoes, Grace allowed Michelle to lead her into the backseat of a large truck.
***
Henry and Parker were sitting in chairs outside of the changing room. Both males felt distinctly out of their element, given the fact that no matter where they tried to avert their gazes they were surrounded by rack after rack of ladies’ undergarments. To make matters worse, these weren’t even fun undies.
Not even close. The bland colors ranged from white to beige and the designs were 0% sex appeal and 100% function oriented. Basically they were in granny panty hell. These were not the types of intimates featured on lingerie commercials, not even close.
Neither of them were big on small talk, so after catching up on what little clan business they had to discuss they basically sat silently and nodded or grunted at each other every few minutes or so. There had been a few times where Michelle had stepped out just long enough to send them on errands like finding something in a different size or color, but mainly they had waited patiently, keen bear ears eavesdropping unashamedly while the girls gossiped freely.
***
“So I actually stopped by today because I need your help,” Michelle admitted while she waited for Grace to try on a smaller sized pair of jeans. “You’re so skinny, if I didn’t love you so much I’d hate you.”
“Oh stop it! Like men even look at me once they become mesmerized by your pretty face and your enormous boobs,” Grace teased. “I might as well be invisible when we’re standing next to each other.”
“Ha! I wish. Although Parker says I’m sexy so I guess that’s all that matters because I’m definitely a one bear kind of girl. Anyway, the big fur ball went and invited the entire clan to a cookout at our house, which I guess makes sense because it’s the official clan den . . .”
“And you want me to help poison everyone with my bad cooking so they’ll leave in a timely manner?” Grace asked dryly.
“I wouldn’t do that to them, it’s too cruel,” Michelle teased back. “Relax. I ordered catering from a BBQ place in town. What I need is moral support. I don’t know any of these people, except for Parker’s family. And I’m pretty sure his mother hates me and I doubt the rest of them like me either. Except his sister, Sophia, who I adore. But I texted her and she’s not even sure she can come. So basically I’m freaking out.”
“Of course I’ll be there for you,” Grace said, giving Michelle another hug. “If it gets too awful we can always sneak out the back and go hang out for a few hours at Henry’s house,” she shared conspiratorially.
“You’re the best,” Michelle sighed.
“So why do you think Parker’s mom hates you?” Grace asked as they were putting all of the reject items back on their hangers.
“Well let’s see. For starters, the last time I saw her she made me pick poison ivy infested weeds in the blazing hot sun, all because I swore at her son.”
“She did not!”
“I kid you not. And, given the fact that after that I stole her son’s car and almost got him killed . . . well let’s just say that I’m pretty sure that Mia harbors no love for me.”
“Maybe we should buy you a kevlar vest and a bullet proof helmet. You know, just to be safe.”
“Thanks sis, ‘cause that makes me feel so much better,” Michelle replied sarcastically as they exited the dressing room.
It took all four of them to carry the new clothes up to the checkout. As Grace watched the total continue to skyrocket she became apprehensive. How could she ever possibly pay Parker and Michelle back for all of this?
“It’s too much. Let me just sort through and get rid of some stuff,” Grace pleaded, darting towards the register.
“No,” Michelle said. “This is my way of apologizing for stealing you away from your old life.”
There was a pregnant pause where Grace thought about how glad she was to have been abruptly removed from the drama of her past. Given the wonderful changes Henry had brought into her life she didn’t resent being kidnapped one bit. But she could never say that in front of Henry, because then he’d probably run away screaming about how messed up her life had once been.
“I’ll never be able to pay you back,” Grace whined, directing her next round of pleas towards Parker on the chance he might listen to reason, unlike her foster-sister.
“Because of you I met the love of my life, so just let the nice lady ring up the clothes already,” Parker said.
“Parker, do you want anything from the snack shop? I need a pretzel, oooh and a slushie.”
“Surprise me,” he murmured, dragging her in close for a loud kiss.
“You mean Parker lets you eat sugar?” Grace asked in awe. “Henry is a health nut, and I guess I just assumed it was a bear thing.”
“Henry is a freak even among the clan,” Parker whispered with a wink.
“Ouch, seriously ouch,” Henry said, clutching his chest. But there was a good natured smile on his face that let her know he wasn’t really offended. Better yet, he didn’t try to stop her from sneaking off to buy a very non-paleo beverage.
As they made their way towards the yummy smelling junk food, Grace explained to Michelle how in Parker’s house there was no white sugar, and that everything had to be made from scratch. It made her feel better when Michelle voiced that Henry’s way of eating was as crazy as Grace had initially thought. Although, that being said, she couldn’t help but admit that some of his food was growing on her.