From her position on the floor, Fiona slid a glance at Stig and Leif. Fury etched into their features, and their bears shone in their eyes, itching to get out and wreak havoc.
“Get up bitch. I didn’t hit you that hard.” Robert kicked her in the ribs to hasten her along.
“Hurry,” the man with the gun ordered. “Someone will come inside soon. You, there.” He pointed his gun at Leif. “Move again and I’ll shoot you.”
Time for action. Fiona pushed to her feet with a pained grunt. She staggered into the gunman and knocked him off balance before Robert had a chance to stop her.
The kitchen door sprang open and a RCMP burst through in a flash of blue. Leif shifted and jumped at the gunman while Fiona took advantage of the diversion to punch Robert as hard as she could in the stomach. While he groaned, she kicked him in the groin.
He howled like a girl and fell to the floor, holding his groin and writhing in agony.
Fiona booted him in the ribs, pleased she wore her sturdy boots.
“How do you like that?” she shouted. It felt so good, she kicked him again.
Another RCMP burst through the front door, followed by a huge polar bear. The bear let out an enraged roar and charged over to Leif and the gunman. He roared a second time, his fury reverberating inside the café as he smacked the gun from the gaping man’s grip.
Kirk and Josef raced inside in their human forms.
“Fiona!” Josef dodged the gunman and the two bears. He skidded to a halt in front of her and cupped her cheek with a gentle touch. “Are you all right?
Fiona gingerly fingered her face. Nothing seemed broken, though her entire cheek ached. “Yes, I’m fine. I need a napkin.”
“Let me,” Kirk ordered.
She held still while he cleansed her face.
“You have a cut on your cheek. It’s not bad enough to need stiches,” Josef said.
“Robert always wears his family ring. He struck my nose. It’s sore.”
“Your nose is red, but I don’t think it’s broken. We’ll take you to the doctor and get him to check it,” Kirk said.
The two officers, with the help of her men, soon had Robert and the gunman restrained. The RCMPs marched them away after requesting that Fiona come to the station to make a statement.
Slowly, she scanned the café and the frozen family group still seated at the far table. “Are you okay? This is my fault. I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” the woman of the group said stoutly. “Who is that man?”
“One of them is my estranged husband,” Fiona said. “We’re in the process of getting a divorce. I had no idea he’d arrived in town.”
“Your friends kept cool heads,” the woman said with a hint of admiration. “They didn’t panic or attack anyone. They remained calm and called for help.” She glanced at her husband. “The two of them stayed to help protect us when they were worried about you. I have good hearing and heard them make their plan.”
“How did you know?” Fiona asked Leif once he had shifted back to his human form.
“We heard you telling him to fuck himself and that the money belonged to you, not him.”
“I lost my temper. I haven’t stood up to him before.” She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “It felt good.”
“You’re well rid of him.” The woman beamed at Leif and his brothers—Arve still in bear form—who crowded around Fiona in a protective fan. “Churchill men have honor.”
“They do,” Fiona agreed. “I’d better go to the RCMP. I want Robert charged, and I have to tell them about the other shootings.”
She marched through the doors. “Which way is the department thingy?” She clicked her fingers. “No, you call them a detachment, don’t you? Is that where they would’ve taken him?”
“It’s on Kelsey Boulevard,” Josef said.
“This road? Perfect. I can stomp and work on my mad on the way there.”
