Colby (BBW Western Bear Shifter Romance) (Rodeo Bears Book 3) (137 page)

“We have the van and Mel’s car,” Bart said. “Where are we goin’?”

Candace felt the return of her panic. “I can’t…”

“Sure you can,” Matt said, putting one arm around her and one around his wife.

“Lunch is on me,” Bart said, giving her a wink.

“But…”

“Why don’t I take Addy and Candace home,” Mel suggested, picking up on Candace’s discomfort. “Candace will want a shower after her drenching this morning, and I can eat lunch there before I head back to work.”
 

“You’re sure?” Matt asked.

“I’m sure.”

Candace met Mel’s understanding gaze and felt tears threaten. These were very nice people, and she was certain they wouldn’t want anything to do with her, if they knew the truth about her, but she really didn’t have any choice but to go with them. She knew the Manager would have men combing the city, looking for her, and she couldn’t bear the thought of going back to that place.

“Okay, darlin’,” Matt said, kissing Mel soundly on the lips.

“I’ll put stew on for supper,” Addy said, “so you all get your business done then come on home.”

“Will do, darlin’,” Mark said, kissing her.

“Man, I got to get me one of those,” John said to his uncle with a grin.

Bart laughed. “Come on, boy. Let’s get Luke packed up so we can get some lunch to carry us through meetin’ with Ms. Konstantine.”

“Wait in my office, Bart, if you beat me there!” Mel said, taking Candace’s hand and heading for the door. “Do not—I repeat, do
not
—approach Kitty Konstantine, until I get there!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

Mel laughed, and Candace had a feeling that Mel was the mama bear in this odd clan. It remained to be seen just how protective she would be of her cubs when she learned the truth about Candace.

Supper was lively, with the eight of them crowded around Addy and Mark’s dining room table. Candace had been told they often ate at home together, and it was usually at Addy and Mark’s apartment, because theirs was the biggest of the three apartments in the big Victorian house turned apartment building. Mel and Matt lived on the top floor, where Mel had lived since before she’d met them. The family had bought the entire house from the owner just before Addy and Mark had married. The two younger brothers and their uncle lived downstairs.

Talk around the table mostly had to do with Bart’s negotiating with Mel’s boss, the head of the Konstantine Talent Agency. Apparently, Kitty Konstantine had been less than thrilled with the idea of Addy recording with the Saint brothers but not performing live with them on stage. Bart had out-negotiated her, and Addy had a new contract for her music
and
her singing. The entire family was delighted.

Candace heard only half of what was said, because she was still somewhat groggy from her long afternoon nap. Addy had fed both Mel and Candace lunch, then when Mel went back to work, Addy had tucked Candace into the daybed in the second bedroom, which acted as both an office and a guest room. Candace had fallen asleep quickly, listening to the lovely sounds of Addy’s guitar as she worked on a new song out in the living room. She had slept soundly for a solid five hours, waking only when the rumble of deep male voices had penetrated her sleep. In spite of missing dinner the night before and breakfast this morning, she had eaten little at lunch and even less this evening. She was too nervous to eat, knowing how these kind people were likely to respond when they learned about where she had come from.

When at last everyone had finished their last bite of peach cobbler—Addy had been busy with more than music all afternoon—Bart sat back in his chair and looked directly at Candace.

“A fine supper, Addy. I thank you. Now, I think it’s time we figure out what to do about Candace’s little problem.”

“I think I should go,” she said, pushing her chair back from the table.

“Sit still, girl,” Bart said with a soft growl. “No one here’s gonna hurt you, but we need to figure out what’s goin’ on. Luke told us his part of the story this afternoon; now it’s your turn.”

Addy reached out to lay a gentle hand on Candace’s arm. “Let’s move this into the livin’ room,” she said. “We can clean the table up later.”

Candace wanted to bolt from the room, but Addy took her hand firmly in hers and led her to the couch.

“What have I missed?” Mel asked, as they all settled themselves around the room.

Mel flanked Candace on her other side on the couch, the three women making a united front against the formidable-looking Saint men. Bart, Matt, and Mark took chairs. John pulled up a kitchen stool, but Luke remained standing.

“Luke?” Bart said.

He took a deep breath, gave Candace an apologetic smile.

“Well, I was headed to Burton and Son Music this mornin’, knowin’ they open early, so I could get those new brushes I wanted. I was walking along Twelfth, and I heard a scream. It was still pretty dark, on account of it being so cloudy, but I figured where it was comin’ from. By the time I got to the head of the alley, I heard another scream, and I went in.”

Luke took another deep breath and made eye contact with Mel, who was the only one of them from the city.

“There were two men—big, mean ones—and they had a hold of a woman. One of ’em was holding her arms behind her—I found out later he’d put handcuffs on her—and the other was bringing back his fist to hit her again. I saw red, and…well, you can guess what happened next.”

“You Shifted,” Mel said softly.

“I had to!” Luke snapped. “Those bastards were gonna hurt her real bad, and I had to stop ’em!”

“Of course you did.” Mel smiled then stood and went to him. She hugged him tightly then reached up to pull his face to her so she could kiss him, once on each cheek. Then she turned to the others.

“You know he had to do it. Any one of you would have. You
all
did for me, once.”

Bart sighed deeply. “I’m not arguin’ with you, darlin’. Of course he had to. But now we gotta figure out what’s next.”

He looked at Candace, then, and she frantically looked from face to face, completely in the dark.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

“You don’t remember what happened?” Mel asked, sitting on the arm of her husband’s chair.

“I couldn’t see much,” Candace said. “It was all shadows, and those men had me. I’d fallen asleep when they found me.”

She stopped, thinking hard. “There was a roar of some kind. Then one of the men was pulled away from me. The other threw me down and turned to face whoever was there, then he, too, went down. I heard a shot…”

“One of them had a gun?” Bart said. “Dagnabbit, Luke! You didn’t tell us they had a gun!”

“It was no big deal, Uncle Bart,” Luke said. “They only got off one shot, and they missed by a mile.”

Luke looked at Candace, and she had the distinct impression he wanted her to distract the others.
 

“I could only see this big, dark shadow,” she said quickly, drawing their attention back to her. “I was trying to hide, but my hands were cuffed behind my back, and…”

She was suddenly shaking, her mind back in that dark alley, the sounds of a ferocious fight ringing in her ears.

“It’s okay, Candace,” Addy said, speaking softly and wrapping one arm around her. “You’re safe, now.”

Candace looked up to see Luke watching her closely. “Then you were there,” she whispered. “I couldn’t help myself up, because of my hands, and when you saw, you cursed then went to search the man’s pockets. You found the key, got the cuffs off me, and threw them all the way down the street. Then you helped me up, gave me your coat, and took me with you to the music store.”

“Well, that’s pretty much what Luke told us,” Bart said after long moment. “The question is, who were those men, and what the hell did they want with you?”

Candace shook her head. “I can’t tell you,” she said, close to tears.

“Why not?” Bart snapped.

“Uncle Bart…” Luke began.

“You had to Shift, boy!” Bart said, “Right there in the middle of a city street. You could’ve been seen by anybody!”

“It was barely dawn. No one saw me. Even Candace. Right Candace?”

“Those men saw you!” Bart said. “Did you even check to see if they were still alive, after?”

“One was breathing hard, and the other was moaning,” Luke said. “I figure they found their way out of that alley. And they must’ve done, ’cause Candace saw a car she knew from inside the store. Isn’t that right?”

Candace nodded. “I’d seen it circle the block two or three times the night before. That’s why I was hiding in that alley in the first place.”

“There you go,” Luke said. “She saw that car again, so I asked the guy at the store to let us out the back door.”

“Did you tell him why?” Mark asked.

“I only said this car had been followin’ us. He recognized me from that gig we did at the Full Moon, so he figured it was a pushy fan givin’ me a hard time.
 

“Anyway, my point is, it’s not like those guys who attacked Candace can tell anybody what they saw. They were tryin’ to kidnap a woman, for Pete’s sake!”

Candace shook her head. “See what? I don’t understand.”

 
“You didn’t see what Luke became?” Matt asked.

Candace shook her head.

She looked at Luke again, and he shrugged.

“She should know,” Mel said. She went back to sit beside Candace and took her hand in both of hers.

“Might as well, now,” Bart said. He sounded more resigned than anything else.

“They’re Shifters,” Mel explained. “All of the Saints. Addy, too, though she’s different.”

“Shifters?” Candace asked. She had never even heard the term.

“You’d better show her, Luke,” Mark said. “Better that she find out now, while we’re all together.”

Candace stared at Luke, as though pleading for an explanation, but rather than giving her one, he only smiled. Then she couldn’t see him clearly anymore. He got blurry and then fuzzy, and then he suddenly wasn’t there at all. Instead there was a giant bear, up on his hind legs, his deep gold eyes watching her intently, though she could have sworn the beast was smiling.

“Dear God…”

She looked around the room, and everyone else seemed to be taking this “Shift” in stride. At least until Addy jumped up.

“Watch your head, Luke! Don’t break the light fixture!”

Then, much to Candace’s surprise, the bear dropped to all fours and came to her. He rested his muzzle on her lap. Candace reached a trembling hand out and touched his furry face.

“All the boys like to be scratched behind the ears when they shift,” Mel said with a smile in her voice, as she reached out to do just that.

“Oh. Okay.”

She mimicked Mel’s motion on the bear’s other ear, and soon the bear was grunting his pleasure.

Everyone laughed, then suddenly the bear was gone, and Luke knelt before her.

Candace took a very deep breath. “I…I didn’t know anybody could do that.”

She looked at first Mel than Addy.

“All of you except Mel have golden eyes.”

“That’s true,” Addy said. “That’s how you can tell a Shifter.”

“I think I should be scared or something, but for some reason, I’m not. I don’t know what to say,”

“Maybe you should start by telling us why you were in that alley in need of rescuin’,” Bart said, his voice now gentle, as though he had changed his mind about her,
because
she wasn’t scared of them.

Candace looked up and felt tears threaten.

“You won’t believe me. Or you’ll want nothing to do with me, if you do.”

“Try us,” Luke said. “You already know our big secret, and we can’t help you—we can’t protect you—if we don’t know yours.”

Candace took another deep breath. “All right. Okay. I’ll tell you.”

And she did.

“This is nuts,” Candace said for the umpteenth time. “You can’t possibly want to do this!”

“It’s too late now, darlin’,” Luke said, but he had a grin on his face.

“We all agreed this was the only way to protect you,” Bart said, satisfaction in his voice.
 

Bart was driving the family SUV, and all of them were along for the ride. They were on their way to the Opryland Hotel after a visit to the Davidson County Clerk’s Office, where Luke and Candace had been married. It had taken some extra cash to a friend of a friend of an acquaintance, but they had managed to fudge official looking identification documents for Candace, who had no way of proving who she was, since she’d never officially even been born, but after Candace had told them everything the night before, not only had her new family insisted she stay with them, Luke had insisted she marry him.

“This Manager guy wants you for one thing and one thing only, Candace. If you’re married to me, you won’t be what he wants anymore.”

“He’ll still want me. He’ll want to hurt me for running away. He’ll want to kill
you
for helping me.” She was that certain of the man’s power.