Chapter Ten – Rex

His chest burned, as though he had been stuck with red-hot pokers. His bear wasn’t helping matters, slamming into his ribs again and again while roaring and screaming. Adrenaline surged through his veins as the memory of Meyer pointing his gun at Mindy filled his brain. With a strangled shout he jerked forward. Pain exploded through him, but he fought it back, desperate to get to Mindy.

Two pairs of hands grabbed him, one on each side, and pushed him back down. The roar increased, and he thrashed against them. He managed to free one arm and smashed his fist into a hard jaw before another roar drowned out his.

His bear dropped, still on edge but recognizing the command of an alpha. Everything was a strange red glow. Then Rex realized that his eyes were still shut. He forced them open, his body still twitching. Leaning over him were Noel and Jarvis.

“Calm down,” Noel ordered, his voice still holding a command but softer than his roar. “It’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.”

It took a great deal of effort, but Rex finally made himself be still. He swallowed hard, the memories of being shot tearing through him. “Mindy?”

“She’s with the baby.” Jarvis slowly released him. “She’ll want to know you’re awake. I’ll go to her.”

The door opened and closed, and Rex swallowed dryly, the relief at knowing that she was okay making him sag into unconsciousness again. As his eyes started to flutter, though, he jerked his head back up. His whole body jerked with it, making a dull pain throb through him while a sharper jolt in his chest left him reeling.

“Hold still,” Noel ordered again. “You are going to tear your stitches open doing that. You’ve already caused me enough trouble, I won’t have you dying on me now. You have to survive long enough to help me fix this mess with Calvin Meyer.”

“Meyer . . .” Rex turned quizzical eyes on his alpha. “What do you mean?”

“Why did you have to go and shift in front of a slimy character like that?”

A low growl wormed its way from Rex’s throat as his bear snorted. “He threatened Mindy. What was I supposed to do, let him?”

“No, but shifting in front of him . . .” Noel leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “And not only do you expose yourself to the worst humanity has to offer, but you also nearly get yourself killed. Where is your brain at?”

“He threatened Mindy.”

“Mindy.” Noel rubbed the back of his neck, and a small smile spread across his face. “I can understand that. She’s . . . Well, I didn’t think she was your type, but she’s certainly an interesting one. She’s been beside herself with worry. Told us everything. That Meyer has us over a barrel alright. But you were protecting your mate and child, so—”

“She’s not my mate,” Rex interrupted.

His bear slapped him, making him wince, but it was the truth. After the situation with Cynthia, Rex had learned that a mate was more than someone you were drawn to. It was more than love at first sight. More than sex. It had been a difficult lesson to learn, but he had learned it. He wasn’t going to lose his chance to be in Ginny’s life because he pushed Mindy too hard.

“Mother of your child, then. It doesn’t matter—that’s hardly the issue right now.” Noel took a deep breath, visibly calming as he patted Rex’s shoulder. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

Rex’s breathing hitched as a spike of pain ran through his chest. He nodded through gritted teeth, although he mentally contested this idea of what ‘okay’ meant.

“The big issue is what to do with Meyer now. He followed you and Mindy and took a video of you shifting. He’s threatening to expose us to the whole world.” Noel leaned back, stifling a yawn. Dark smudges circled his eyes and Rex winced. Just how long had this been going on? Noel hummed, his gaze unfocused. “The amount of money he’s demanding to keep his mouth shut would completely wipe out the college fund. He’ll ruin us financially if we don’t find a way to deal with him. I very much doubt he’ll be satisfied with a one-time payment.”

Rex growled, almost wishing that he hadn’t agreed to Mindy’s pleas not to kill the loan shark. He started to sit up, but Noel put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him back down.

“Hold it there. You’re in no shape to go anywhere.” Noel frowned. “You need to give yourself time to heal.”

“Forget healing. I’ll take care of Meyer.”

Noel shook his head. “Bobby and Kurtis are attempting to negotiate with him. We could lock him up for what he’s done or kill him, but sooner or later it’ll cause questions, and we don’t know how many people he’s working with. Right now you just need to take care of yourself, okay?”

“But you said that I needed to help you clean up this mess.”

“I was joking.” Noel narrowed his eyes and glared at him. “Besides, I was talking more about Ginny and Mindy. Here you’ve got a daughter that none of us knew about and then you went and told your lady friend about us being bear shifters without getting alpha permission first.”

“You were gone, and she needed to know.”

Noel growled at Rex’s tone, eyes narrowed. “You didn’t need to tell her right away. You know, this is the opposite of getting your personal life in order.”

“She needed to know. I’m not going to apologize for it. I’ve got a daughter, and I have to act in what I feel is her best interest. I saw what lying did with Jarvis and Cynthia. I needed Mindy to know as soon as possible so that I wasn’t constantly lying to her. How would it be for Ginny to have parents who didn’t trust each other?”

Noel frowned for a moment but didn’t argue. “You know that with Mindy and Ginny on the island, it means that you’ll be taken off the volunteer list and—”

“Once Meyer is taken care of, I can finish my rota.” He wasn’t going to give up his opportunity to help the others on the island. “I know the rules, but she got pregnant before I even volunteered. Whatever Mindy and I are, we’ll figure it out.”

Noel attempted to glare at him, but his lips twitched upward into a smile.

Rex released a slow breath. The alphas’ approval was important to him. There was a time when he would have fought the whole island for the honor of being Noel’s second. Now he understood why Noel had never chosen a second. Because his job was to unify the clan, not to cause fights.

“Well, we might be able to work something out.”

“Good. Because I’ve got to follow through with my commitments.”

Noel smiled again. He opened his mouth, but at that moment there came a knock on the door. Rex caught a whiff of Mindy’s pure scent combined with the baby smell of Ginny. He launched himself upright, only to fall back with a groan as the world spun around him and lightning bolts shot through his chest.

“Seriously, stop doing that,” Noel snapped. “Or I’ll have to tie you to this bed. Got it?” Rex nodded weakly. His alpha glared a moment longer, snorted, then stood. He gestured at Rex while he looked at Mindy. “He’s all yours now.”

Mindy sat next to the bed. Her eyes were red, and she sniffled. Ginny squirmed in her arms, gurgling.

“I’m glad that you’re both okay,” Rex breathed, reaching for her. “I’ll make sure it stays that way, I promise. I’ll protect you.”

To his surprise, Mindy looked away. “You shouldn't have to. This is all my fault, it’s because of me that you’re in this situation and I . . . I’m so sorry. It shouldn’t have gotten to this point. I should have taken care of it.”

Rex lay his hand over hers. “Mindy. You don’t have to do everything on your own.”

Mindy’s lip trembled, and she bit down on it. “I know that.”

“Do you, though? This isn’t your fault. It’s Calvin Meyers fault. You are going to be fine. Ginny is going to be fine.”

“If I were a proper mother, she never would be in danger in the first place.”

“You can’t condemn yourself for a mistake you made two years ago. How does something you did before you even got pregnant make you a bad mother?” Rex peered at her for a moment longer, but she avoided his gaze. The need to reassure her rose up in him as he remembered all the times that Angela sat crying while she stared at Tamara, saying that she was a bad mother. He took a deep breath and spoke carefully. “Mindy . . . You’re anxious, you get frustrated with yourself, you’re always feeling guilty about something, and you’re always saying that you’re not good enough to be Ginny’s mom, even though she is a healthy, happy little girl and that’s because you take such good care of her.”

Ginny kicked her legs and giggled, making Mindy smile as she stroked her daughter’s dark hair.

Mindy’s shoulders slumped. “Maybe you’re right.”

“You feel like you need to do everything on your own. But I’m here. And I will be with you every step of the way, okay?” Rex smiled at her, trying to show her his promise as well as comfort her. “It’s okay. I’ll be with you.”

Mindy sucked on her lower lip as she wiped her eyes. “But what if they decide that I’m not good enough? What if they take Ginny away from me?”

Rex didn’t ask her why she thought that. He knew well enough that the brain sometimes decided to tell lies and whip up fears that didn’t always make sense.

He also knew that these weren’t fears that would just vanish from her mind, but there was something he knew for certain. “Nobody is ever going to take Ginny away. I won’t let that happen, Mindy. And if they do, I’ll go to the end of the world to bring her back. I promise.”

***

A few days later, Rex climbed out of the old, beat-up car he had borrowed from Noel. Kurtis’ townhouse was the best-looking building in the street, not to mention one of the few original structures on the island that remained intact.

Rex hated that Calvin Meyer was living in it. The shark didn’t deserve it.

His chest constricted as he walked to the front door, but with two days of rest and Mindy by his side the whole time, he was feeling much better. Not back to his full strength yet, but enough to take care of this. His bear growled as he rang the doorbell.

Meyer answered, shirtless and wearing a pair of sweatpants. His eyes widened when he saw Rex, and he backed up a step.

“Hello.” Rex gave him his best toothy grin. “I can see you weren’t expecting me.”

“How—”

“You’ll find that bears aren’t as easily killed as humans.”

Meyer’s jaw clenched shut. He rose up, chin drawing parallel with the ground. “If you’re here to kill me—”

“If I were here to kill you, you’d be dead already.” Rex let out a growl. His bear urged him to attack even as he pulled a wad of cash from his pocket and thrust it into Meyer’s hands. “This should be enough to satisfy you. Half of what Mindy owes you. We’ll get the other half to you shortly, so stop breathing down our necks. Oh, and we weren’t running away from you. So you had no reason to shoot me.”

“You think so?”

There was something in his tone that had the hairs on the back of Rex’s neck standing up. Rex growled low in his throat and stepped a little closer, letting his sheer size do the talking for him. Meyer, to his credit, didn’t back down until they were almost face-to-face. Or rather, chest-to-face, as Meyer was significantly shorter than him.

“Leave Mindy alone. You’ll get what she owes you. But if you ever harm her or Ginny . . .” Rex allowed his bear to start emerging, sharpening his teeth into fangs as he glared down at the man before him. “There will be nowhere for you to run. Nowhere for you to hide.”

Meyer’s face paled, but he smirked at Rex anyway. “The same, Bear, goes to you. I will get what I’m owed, alright, from Mindy and from this whole damn island. Otherwise, you’ll be the face for all the freaks who live here. And people will come from all around the world for the pleasure of wiping you out.”

Kill him. The urge rode him hard, but Rex fought his bear back down. Noel had said they shouldn’t kill him. So he wouldn’t. It didn’t stop him from snarling once more, though, before he took his leave. He couldn’t shake the feeling, though, that this was far from over.