CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
WEEKS EARLIER AT THE BARBEQUE . . .
Henry hadn’t been paying that much attention to what Michelle had been saying, but he’d definitely picked up on the instant tension when Parker’s mom had piped up. He really hoped that his mother and Grace got along better than these two turkeys, because it was seriously painful to watch. Mia looked like she was going to shoot daggers out of her eyes, and Michelle looked like a fish flopping about out of water.
Michelle pivoted around and squinted pathetically. Was she constipated or just unhappy? She proceeded to blink her eyes like a mad woman. Then her eyes darted about wildly, like she wanted to get out of Dodge ASAP. Michelle couldn’t take the stress and the anxiety. There were awkward situations, and then there were times like the one she was in that were so bad you wished you could press the rewind button on life and get a second chance. Sadly, this was one of those moments. She was about to use her friend as the ultimate scapegoat
“Mia, it’s so nice to see you. It’s been too long! Where are my manners? Let me introduce you to my foster sister, Grace. She’s the drug addict who stole our rent money to score her next hit. If I hadn’t been looking for her in the worst part of town I wouldn’t have witnessed the tiger shifters committing murder, and I never would have spent all my money on a bus ticket here. So I guess you could say that she’s the reason your son and I found each other . . .” Michelle was rambling like nobody’s business, and all of her attention was on Mia, so she failed to see what a horrible mistake she’d made with her terrible choice of words.
Henry was still standing with Nanna, and Grace and Michelle were a few feet away. Grace was standing in front of Michelle, but she was so short that she wasn’t at all in his way when he lifted his gaze to glare at the woman who’d had the audacity to shame his mate. How dare she? His bear was angry, and it demanded that he right the wrong.
All of his attention was focused on Michelle, so he didn’t even notice when Grace turned and darted out of view. All he knew was that he had to right the wrong to Grace’s honor. She didn’t deserve to be disrespected, especially not by her best friend—her own sister. It didn’t matter if they were legally only foster sisters, as far as Grace was concerned they were family, and there were certain things family didn’t do to each other. Michelle had gone too far, and she was going to apologize, even if he had to make her.
The day had been perfect until Michelle had gone and opened her damned mouth. The woman had no right to go about calling people mean names, even if the claims were accurate. Grace had been nervous about coming in the first place, but he’d told her it would be all right. Michelle had turned him into a liar. That was so not okay.
Now his mate would never agree to meet the rest of his family, and it was all because of Michelle. Deep down in his heart Henry felt that Grace would have warmed up to the rest of his family once she got to see how wonderful they were, but now he wasn’t so sure she’d ever leave the house again. His family wasn’t even the problem! It was her foster-sister that was stirring up all the drama.
Under normal circumstances he never would have treated his future Itana with anything but respect. He never would have spoken harshly to a member of the weaker sex. More specifically he never would have threatened his best friend and Itan’s mate. But these weren’t normal circumstances. If he’d already completed the mating ritual his bear would have been calmer, but he hadn’t, and Michelle’s childish behavior had put his entire future in jeopardy.
“What the hell are you doing?” Henry yelled as he stormed toward Michelle. The crowd of people parted, and the awkward silence got even more uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said that. It just came out,” she replied, obviously mortified. “You know I love Grace. I need to go find her so I can apologize.”
Henry wasn’t mollified by her answer. He was sick of words; his bear wanted action. He wanted to shake the woman until she couldn’t hurt people anymore with her sick lies. Then again, what if she’d been telling the truth? He’d long suspected that Grace’s past wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies.
Was that what her nightmares had been about? Had she simply been going through withdrawal from the drugs? Somehow he sensed there was more to her story. He refused to judge her even if she had been a junkie. Regardless of what she may or may not have done in the past, she wasn’t anything like the person Michelle had described now. The worst thing he’d ever seen her put in her body was a sugary beverage.
Grace was loving and considerate. She’d never stolen anything from him, and he’d never caught the scent of drugs on her body, except for maybe that first night. But there had been so many other smells lacing her skin that he’d never been able to get past the horrid scent of the tiger shifters. After she’d showered and put on new clothes even their odor had been gone.
“I can’t believe you would say those things in front of all these people! Do you have no filter at all? I swear, if you were a man, I would punch you right now.”
He felt a strong hand grab his shoulder from behind, and he knew it was Parker before he even heard the voice.
“Henry, let’s go inside and talk this over. You need to calm down.” It was obvious by the tone of his voice that Parker was showing considerable restraint given that Henry had practically threatened to punch his mate. But Henry wasn’t in his right mind at this particular moment, as his next actions would prove.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Henry yelled as he spun around and pushed Parker so hard that he went flying backwards into a table. The table split in two as Parker landed on the floor with a loud crash. Henry’s mouth and nose had already formed into a snout, and hair had begun sprouting from his body in several places. He just couldn’t get the picture of Grace being humiliated in front of his entire clan out of his head. Would she ever be able to look him in the eyes again? He was blinded by rage, and he didn’t care if he hurt the people closest to him.
Parker looked up in shock at his second-in-command who had just assaulted him. Had anyone else attacked him like that he would have already shifted. But this was Henry so he was trying to be a little more accommodating, because it was darned near impossible to have a peaceful conversation when he got his full fur on. Henry was his best friend, so he was willing to make some concessions, willing to compromise, but he wasn’t willing to lose his woman over it.
When he saw Henry standing over him, partially shifted and apparently not backing down, he knew it was time for the kid gloves to come off. Parker sprang to his feet growling, and in unison the two men shifted right in front of everyone. It was almost beautiful, although in a grotesque kind of way.
Their muscled bodies bulged and their physiology began to adapt to a drastically different shape. Grunts filled the air as the sounds of bones cracking were replaced by ripping sounds as the fabric of their clothing stretched and tore apart, revealing dark fur everywhere. The transformation was complete, and the two bears stood looking at each other for a moment before charging into each other.
They collided with a great crash, and the sound of their roars was deafening. Henry swiped his claws at Parker’s chest, drawing blood instantly. Parker roared, and then he bit Henry’s arm in retaliation. This was more than your average shifter brawl. It was acceptable to break a few bones, but killing each other definitely wasn’t okay.
Michelle viewed the scene with utter horror. They rolled and tumbled across the room, knocking over tables and chairs and turning them into splinters. The catered feast was being systematically turned to mush. She felt sick. Had she single-handedly destroyed this family with just one slip of the tongue?
She looked around and could see that several of the clan members were shifting due to the powerful feelings of tension they were no doubt undergoing. But no one seemed to know what to do. So they were just standing around gawking. Apparently they were conflicted as to which side to take in this fight. Parker was their Itan, but as the clan’s Enforcer, Henry also held a position of power.
Henry and Parker were violently beating each other to a pulp, and there didn’t seem to be an end in sight. When Parker flung Henry across the room Michelle saw a bright shining window of opportunity. She knew in her gut that if she didn’t intervene this would end very badly, and she would be to blame. As the two bears were about to charge each other again, she ran in between them and yelled, gesturing to both of them with her arms.
“STOP! Don’t do this. It’s my fault.”
Henry’s bear was incensed, but he wasn’t so far gone as to bowl over an innocent female. He stopped right in his tracks, and he saw a look on her face that seemed an awful lot like fear, guilt, and remorse all wrapped up in one. What was he doing? What if Grace saw him like this? Would she be able to trust him again if she saw him acting like a freaking monster?
All of a sudden it hit him. He had attacked his best friend. More than that, he had attacked his Itan for no reason. Instantly overwhelmed by guilt, he began to slowly shift back into his human form as he knelt down on all fours. He was so upset that he was shaking.
“Forgive me,” he said softly, as he bared his neck to his Itan.
He could feel Parker’s paw on his shoulder, and then he heard the cracking sounds that signified Parker was shifting back as well. He looked up at Parker’s face and saw that he had an expression which communicated, “I forgive you, but I’m not happy with you.”