Bear with Me (Half-breed Shifter Series) (8 page)

With a gulp, she decided to
keep her news quiet for a few minutes longer. Brick might get a little
overprotective if he knew his mate was carrying his babe, and if things went
south—well, she’d just tell him later.

Chapter Seven

Brick couldn’t stop staring
as Shaw showed Clem Riker, the Hunter, into the dining room where the rest of
the family had gathered to formally receive him...or possibly kill him if he
tried to turn on them.

But, gah, why did this guy
seem so damn familiar?

When Riker glanced over and
caught his gaze right in the middle of Shaw introducing him to Knox and Jaycee,
something pierced Brick with a deep, binding awareness.

He blurted out, “Why does it
feel like I should know you?” He was positive he’d never seen Riker before in
his life.

Riker’s lips twitched with
pleasure. “Because I’m you’re father,” he answered simply.

Just like that.

Out of the total freaking
blue.

“What?!” Rhea shrieked while
everyone else gaped back and forth between Brick and Riker.

Brick’s mouth fell open.
“But...”
What?

“Wait a second.” Confusion
marring his face, Shaw leaned in to point at Brick. “If you’re his
father
,
then that would make you—”

“A shape-shifter as well.”
Riker nodded, confirming their suspicions.

“A bear/jaguar mix,” Gannon
confirmed after sniffing the air around Riker.

“But...” Shaw shook his head,
bewildered.

“I never lost track of you,
son,” Riker explained to Brick. “In my line of spy work, I couldn’t form
attachments, so I couldn’t stay with your mother. She never even knew what I
was. And I guess I never spoke of my breed with her, so I didn’t realize she’d
be so...closed-minded about our species. I never would’ve let you stay there
with her if I’d known what she’d do when she found out. The day she called the
organization to come get you, I made sure Shaw was one of the operatives to
pick you up.”

A flustered Shaw waved his
hand. “Then, you knew—”

“That your wife and children
were half-breeds as well? Of course I knew. I’ve always known.”

“Then why the hell did you
never
say
anything to me?” Brick’s father-in-law yelled at his father.

Whoa
. Two weeks ago, he’d had no paternal figure in his life
whatsoever. Now, suddenly, he had two dads.  Cool. Even though he was beyond
the age to need any, they’d still make good granddaddies for his young.

“I was a little more deeply
undercover than you were, Griffin,” Riker explained to Shaw. “And there’s no
way you would’ve been able to keep your cover as long as you did if I hadn’t
always been there to smooth it back over for you.”

“Hot damn,” Brick whispered
to Rhea. “My dad’s more bad-ass than your dad.”

Riker sent him an amused
glance before turning back to Shaw. “I came here tonight to tell you...to tell
all of you...” His gaze settled on Brick. “That it’s over. The Hunter
organization has folded and is no more. And it only took me thirty-five years
to accomplish it.”

“It’s over?” Shaw murmured in
disbelief. “But...how?”

“Tax fraud.” Riker gave a
serious nod before delight flickered over his lips. “That’s how all the great
baddies are caught, isn’t it?”

“Oh, he’s awesome,” Brick
decided, grinning at Rhea before turning back to gaze at his father in awe.

“Once I put them into
financial trouble, the rest of the organization caved in like a deck of cards.
They’re so busy fighting amongst themselves and blaming each other for what
happened, they won’t be worrying about shifters for years to come...if ever again.
And now that it’s over, now that I don’t have to hide what I am or try to hide
any child I have, I was curious if I still had a chance to get to know...my
son.”

When he gazed beseechingly at
Brick, a tight band of warm hugged Brick’s chest. “So...you stayed away all
these years to keep me safe?”

Riker nodded once. “If my
cover had ever been blown, you—along with every other shifter family I worked
to conceal—would’ve been put into grave danger. I couldn’t let you get close to
all that risk. But I tried to make sure you were always in a safe place and
always had someone who’d look after you.”

When he glanced at Shaw,
telling everyone he’d trusted Shaw as his son’s guardian, Brick laughed and
shook his head. “And that someone was Shaw Griffin? Really? Jesus, if you only
knew how many times he’s threatened to kill me.”

“And I still might,” Shaw
added.

“Whatever. You were right,
Riker. He totally loves me.”

Riker nodded. “Can’t blame
the man. You
are
my son.”

When a flair of Brick’s own
cockiness flickered in Riker’s eyes, it really hit him. Yes. Yes, he was
definitely this man’s son. Life could not get any better.

“So, it’s really over?” Riley
asked, clutching Shaw’s arm and looking hopeful.

“It’s really over. Which
means, now that your lives are perfectly safe from the biggest threat to our
species in fifty years, I fully expect grandchildren soon.”

Rhea grinned and set her hand
over her belly. “Oh, that’s already taken care of, sir.”

“What?” Brick and Shaw roared
together. Brick whirled to her and examined the ecstatic sheen on her face
before he realized she was serious. They were going to have babies. Soon.

Damn, he’d been right. He
loved being right.

“Oh, shit.” He hauled her
into his arms and picked her up off her feet. “That’s fucking fantastic!”

“I’m pregnant too,” Ari burst
out, unable to keep her own news quiet any longer.

As Dane shouted his happy
surprise and kissed her savagely to reveal his pleasure, Brynn lifted her hand
and wiggled her fingers.

“Me three!”

Joy flowed through the room.
Brick and his extended family went around, congratulating each other and
laughing and talking as if nothing could beat this moment, which it couldn’t.
When he made it back to this mate, he hugged her close and kissed her hair.
“Thank you,” he murmured in her ear.

For years, he’d had no one
and now...now he had an entire loud, boisterous family. Because of her.

Rhea kissed him back softly.
“For what?”

“For accepting me,” he
answered.

Because now, he was complete.

The End

Thank you so much for reading about my half-breed shifters.
This concludes the series
!

About the Author

Miranda lives with her wonderful, Brad-Pitt-lookalike
husband (hey, they're both blond-haired and blue-eyed) and adorable
still-needs-to-learn-the-meaning-of-NO toddler daughter on their spacious
corn-field-and-cow-pasture-front property in Kansas.

Librarian by day and author by night, she is also
published in YA and contemporary mainstream romance under a different pen name.