One Bear and a Baby: BBW Bear Shifter Baby Paranormal Romance (Who's the Daddy? Book 1) (4 page)

“Don’t leave town,” she told him, her voice breathy, not the stern sheriff she needed to be.

Down the stairs she went, trying not to run away, and trying not to run back into his arms. As she opened the front door, she called, “Thanks for your help” to Jesse, and then got out of there as if he really had been an axe-wielding serial killer. The experience couldn’t have been more unsettling if he was.

It took him a moment to steady himself after she had gone. If the situation wasn’t bad enough before, this had made it so much worse. He could probably have lied convincingly to the sheriff,
if she was not his mate
.

“Cade, are you all right? You look pale.” His mom came out of the kitchen with Maisie, who smiled at him, happy to see him, the person who had given her stability and love.

“I have to leave,” he said quickly. “The sheriff has gone to check on the details surrounding Maisie’s birth and when she finds out I’ve lied, she’ll be back.”

“Cade. Slow down, I thought you had it figured out, I thought you were going to convince her that Maisie was yours.”

“I couldn’t. Now she’s going to dig and I don’t know what she’ll stir up. I don’t know what I’m up against. And without that knowledge, I can’t keep Maisie safe.” He began packing everything, going from room to room collecting the baby paraphernalia, which had already spread through the house.

“Why not?” His mom took hold of his arm. “Why not?”

He stopped, slumping down against the arm of the sofa. “She’s my mate, she knows it as well as I do. She won’t just walk away. She won’t just take it that I’m Maisie’s father.”

“You can’t go.”

“I have to.”

“Where to? Where are you going to go to next? Children need stability, they need family, you cannot just move from place to place.”

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t.” His mom implored him. “Stay here, talk to her, explain it to her.”

“She’s the sheriff.”

“She’s your mate first. You know that.”

“I can’t risk it.” He turned back to his mom. “As soon as she checks the name I gave her she’ll know I’ve lied. Then she’ll begin digging around in my background, flags will be raised, and I don’t know who is looking for those tell-tale flags. I’m in the dark over all this. If only I could have found Jenni, it might have made things different. But I couldn’t. So I need to leave; it was a mistake coming back here.”

“No, it wasn’t. Your instincts were right. This is where you belong.”

Cade shook his head. “There was a setup. She got framed, which means someone in the force was in on it.”

“Are you sure?”

He stopped and looked at his mom, frowning at her concerned face. “Yes.”

“Let’s sit down and think about this. She could have been guilty. She might have lied to you, and it was easier to keep running without a child.”

“No, she was scared.” He thought of Jenni’s face, how she looked as if she hadn’t slept for days. She was thin, tired, and telling him the truth. He was certain. “I have to go. It’s for the best. The sheriff will go and make the phone calls. She’ll dig deeper.”

“Then tell her the real truth. Ask her not to make a fuss. She’s your mate.”

“It’s easier to run.” He saw it now, saw why Jenni had done exactly the same thing, only he was not leaving Maisie. Ever.

“No, it’s not,” his mom insisted.

“Yes it is, this way I keep you all safe. What happens if someone comes after me? If they hurt you? Or the sheriff?” He couldn’t say the words,
my mate
, couldn’t think of people coming here to hurt her. “I have more responsibilities now.”

“We can protect ourselves. And Isabelle should be given a choice.”

“Not about this. She won’t be able to see clearly what has to be done.”

“Cade.”

“Tell dad I love him, and I love you too, Mom. But I have to go.” He kissed his mom and took Maisie in his arms, heading for the door.

Pulling it open, he went out to his car, opened the door and put Maisie in the car seat. Then he headed to the driver’s side, and was about to get in when something hit him squarely between the shoulder blades, and his legs buckled under him and he fell to the floor.

He didn’t lose consciousness, but all around him the world swam. A face came into view; he had to blink to focus on it. Then she touched him, and it was as if the world was all right, back on its axis, something he had not felt for months. “Sheriff.”

“I asked you not to run, Cade,” she said, her voice gentle, but he could sense her disappointment.

“I had to.”

“Why?”

“I can’t tell you,” he said. Then he felt the cold steel around his wrists and realized she was cuffing him.

“Then I will take you to a holding cell until you do. I need to make some inquiries, and dependent on those inquiries, you will either go to prison, or I’ll set you free.”

“But I’m your mate,” he said as she hauled him to his feet. He should try to run, but she still had the Taser in her hand and he was cuffed; she was in control.

“You should have thought about that before you chose to run,” she said, taking him to her car. “Jesse. Take care of Maisie. Please don’t try to leave town, because if you do, I will find you and she will go into foster care.”

“Mom,” he said, turning to look back. “Look after her, please.”

“I will, Cade.” His mom was crying. He hated this, hated everything about it.

Not wanting to make matters worse, he let the sheriff put him into the back of her car. Then watched as she walked around to the driver’s side and got in. He knew the doors were locked, knew escape was not an option, and as his head began to clear he knew he had to start thinking about what options he did have.

She was his mate, and would protect him. Was his mom right, was that how this worked? If he told her exactly what had happened, would she help him or turn him in anyway?

If only he knew her, knew what kind of person she was. Did she love her job more than anything? Some shifters protect their own above all else. But some police officers protected their own interests above all else.

But she’s our mate
, his bear said.

And we tried to run
, he replied. Looking at her back as she drove off, he could tell by the set of her shoulders she was definitely pissed at him. She had good reason: to Isabelle, her mate had not wanted her enough to stay around. That had to hurt.

To Isabelle he had chosen a baby over his mate. He would have some making up to do.

It took five minutes to get to her office. Once there she came around and helped him out of the car. “Please don’t run.”

“Why? Because it hurts you to hurt me?” he asked, testing for cracks in her hard exterior.

“No, because it will make a scene if I have to shock you again. Seeing the sheriff make a grown man fall to his knees tends to upset people.”

“Then let me go,” he said.

“I can’t do that. Not until I have answers.”

He decided to cooperate, and she led him inside the building and then into a small interview room. “Cozy,” he said, smiling at her, his head clearer now, and his body filled with her presence. “You know I could think of a lot of other more enjoyable things for us to do.” He smiled. “I’ll even let you keep the cuffs on me.”

“As if you have a choice,” the sheriff said.

“So you like a little bondage?” he teased.

“Stop it.” She sighed, and then turned to look at him, her hands resting on the table as she leaned towards him. “Is this a game to you? You have a little girl in your possession and I am just trying to make sure she is safe.”

His shoulders slumped and he looked at her, hoping he could get her to understand this was not a joke to him at all. “I want you to believe that she is very important to me. And I will do whatever it takes to protect her.”

“Whatever it takes?” she asked, fixing his gaze. She tried to see into the soul of this man before her, who she was linked to in way she was only just becoming fully aware of. The nearness of him was almost too much to bear. As she looked, she noted the amber flecks around his nut-brown eyes, and the way his full lips parted, begging to be kissed.

“Whatever it takes,” he repeated softly.

“So tell me.”

“Tell you what?” He frowned.

“Tell me what it will take to protect her.” She eased herself back away from him, needing distance between them or else she might just kiss him. And that would be totally unprofessional! “Because right now you are safe, you have come back here to live with your parents in Tawny Valley. I can see no danger present, so yes, what are you protecting her from?”

He closed his eyes, letting his head drop, as if he was a beaten man, and surely when he opened his eyes again, they showed a deep sadness and regret, unlike anything she had ever known. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know what?” she asked, her voice soft, encouraging him to say more.

He shook his head. “What exactly I’m protecting her from.”

“But her mom knows you have her?” She had to be sure he hadn’t kidnapped Maisie, he was her mate, she had to know what kind of man he was. If she wasn’t the sh

“Yes. But I don’t know where she is.” He looked at Isabelle, his eyes capturing hers.

“Handy. If I can’t get hold of her, to check your story.”

“Please believe me. You know what we are to each other.”

“Oh, I thought we were pretending that wasn’t real either,” she snapped.

“I’m sorry. You have to understand that Maisie’s mom asked me to look after her and protect her with my life. I swore an oath to myself and to Maisie that I would do exactly that.”

“You must take it seriously, since you chose her, even above your mate.” She hadn’t realized the hurt was this deep. Back at his parents’ house he had rejected her, and the wound had been swiftly inflicted.

To his credit he winced. “I’m sorry.” He looked up at her. “I never expected … you.”

“
Me
. So if your mate was more attractive, you wouldn’t have walked away?”

“No. I didn’t mean it like that.” He raked his eyes over her curvy body, lingering on her breasts, and then looking her in the face. “I mean I never expected to meet my mate. I never expected to have to make an impossible decision.”

The pain in his eyes looked real. She took the key from her pocket and uncuffed him. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what is going on?”

He flexed his wrists, and she tried to shake off the need to rub them for him, to ease away the pain she had caused. “Thank you.”

“I’m not saying you can go.” She put her hand out to block him as he made to get up. “Mate or no mate, I need you to tell me the truth. Or I won’t just be cuffing you, I’ll be throwing you in a cell.”

“Sheriff…”

“Isabelle,” she said bluntly. “You might as well call me Isabelle.”

“Isabelle. And I am Cade.” He offered her his hand, as if they were old acquaintances, not two people who had only just met. Not two people who were meant to spend the rest of their lives together.

As long as he isn’t a child kidnapper,
she thought, looking at his hand and then steeling herself for his touch. Their first touch, which would send shock waves through her body.

His skin was warm, his touch inviting. What started out as a tingling sensation in her fingers soon spread across the back of her hand and then travelled up her arm to erupt across her chest. She took a breath, trying to stop herself from blushing as she thought of where else she would like his hands to touch her, to stroke and caress her skin.

Isabelle went to pull back, but his hand tightened around hers and he held her in place. Her eyes flitted up to his. She was a sheriff, good at her job, and strong-willed, able to tackle anything put in front of her, but he made her feel soft and feminine. And that scared her.

Snatching her hand back, she wiped her palm across her pants, wanting to erase his touch. Until she got to the bottom of this, she could not give into the primal needs that raged through her body.

“Enough. I want you to start at the beginning and tell me exactly what is going on, because in my opinion all this is just your way of stalling.” She waved her hand in the air.

He sat back, and then rubbed his face with his hands. When he took them away, he looked deadly serious. “It’s difficult to talk about.”

“Sometimes we have to do difficult things.”

He tilted his head. “You have no idea.”

“Cade, I swore an oath too. I have a duty to protect and serve. I take that duty very seriously. And right now, young Maisie is the one who needs protecting. You gave me the details of her mother and her birth, are they true?”

“No.”

“I thought not.” She hated to ask the next question but had to know the truth, not just for the investigation, but for herself too. “Are you the father?”

A brief hesitation, and then he said, “My name is on the birth certificate.”

That wasn’t a direct answer, and she was sure he was lying, but she decided not to push it. She didn’t want him to clam up, which was her fear, because the color had gone from Cade’s face and his eyes were unfocused, as if he was watching something in the distance. Did he love her? The woman who was Maisie’s mom, were they in love, even though they were not mates? The shock hit her nearly as hard as his touch had earlier.

“What happened to her? What makes a mother abandon her child?” Isabelle asked.

“I need you to promise me something first,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “I need you to promise me, that what I tell you stays in this room. Not for my sake, but for Maisie’s.”

“Cade, I don’t know if I can promise that. Not until I know what it is I’m promising,” Isabelle said.

“It means I should have protected Maisie’s mom.”

“From whom?”

“Whoever it was that set her up. I think she was vulnerable. She didn’t say exactly.” He shrugged. “We were undercover.”

“Wait. You’re a cop?” she asked, stunned by this news.

“Yes. Or was. I have been working undercover on various operations for the last five years.” He looked so tired as he spoke. “Posing as a hit man, infiltrating a bank to stop a large embezzlement ring. But then I got paired with Jenni. We were to go undercover and try to expose a high-profile businessman who was behind a drug ring. She was to be his maid; I was to be one of his delivery boys.”