“When the bear comes out in the middle of it. What does that mean?”
Devin scoffed. “You know exactly what it means. It means that she has been claimed as your mate and she really is off limits, well, until you die.”
That seemed to upset Devin even more and Shane knew why. It meant that Devin had never had a chance, even if he had before. But she had been claimed. Even if Shane didn't want her, their fates were sealed. She was his, for better or worse. All he had to do was figure out where she was first.
“Crap.”
“Are you sure that you're that upset about it?”
Shane didn't want to say one way or another. He didn't like to be forced into a situation and that's exactly what it felt like. Shane felt like he had no choice and he hated not having control. He had been bound and determined to be the captain of his own destiny for a very long time. Now, everything was upended, and he felt like he was being dragged around by his balls, fate’s hand the one holding it.
“Anyway, we need to find her.”
“Do you think that she's going to tell somebody? I mean I know that you don’t want to think about it, but you need to. She can really make trouble for all of us.”
Shane wanted to say that she wouldn't, but he really didn't know. She had been shocked, more than anything else. What he needed to do was figure out where she was and explain himself. He hadn't worried all that much about her telling his secrets. Even if she did, even if she went and told the world that he was a shifter that turned into a bear, who would believe her? No, Vivica just needed answers and some assurances. Shane was ready to give both of those to her. She just had to let him.
“What happened with the clan? What did they want, and is your dad okay?”
Shane had forgotten all about it. He was taking care of things, but he hadn't really talked to Devin about it. He had been so focused on getting to Vivica and then he was with her, passed out, and now she was gone. He hadn’t gotten anything done past that.
“Dad’s fine, he always is, he’s like a cockroach in that way. Clan is still the same. They want more money because they spent all of my mother’s family’s money. Now, they want more to blow. They heard about my good fortune, probably from dad, and now they want to put their hands in my pocket and pretend like they didn’t shun us for all these years. They thought I would be desperate to get back in with them, to have a clan and not be a loner anymore. That was their words.”
“What are they going to give you for it? What is the bait that they dangled?”
Shane sighed. It wasn’t something that he wanted to even think about.
“They want to give me my rightful place back. Although there's a lot of contingencies. I have to have a second, and the elders would make most of the decisions. Really, they just want my money.”
“You should take it, and then run the damn thing into the ground.”
Shane was surprised at Devin speaking so negatively about the clan. He knew that secretly Devin was dying to get back into it, never liking to be alone. Bears were made to be together; his kind had always been together. Both of them had been without a clan for a while, too long in Devin’s case.
“I think I should just stay away from all of them. I don’t trust them, and I am sure they would find a way to make me lose the title again. They would get me drunk, drug me unawares, they would do something, maybe even slit my throat while I slept.”
“You're not worried about it right now, are you?”
It was the last thing that he was worried about. All he was worried about was Vivica and getting her back by his side and in his bed where she belonged. If something happened to Vivica, he didn't know what he would do.
Shane couldn’t talk about it anymore. He needed to do something. He sent Devin to make calls and find out some information that would be useful. Shane, not able to sit idle a moment longer, went into Vivica’s room and started to look around.
It was weird to go through her things and he felt guilty, like she was going to catch him at any moment and tell him about himself. She never did and she had almost nothing with her. All he could find was a key. It looked like it was to a storage locker or something. He sent a picture of it to Devin and told him to find out where that somewhere was. She had to have stuff stored somewhere, so Shane just needed to find out where and wait her out. She would show up and he would finally be able to have a real conversation with her.
It wasn’t the most direct plan that Shane had ever had, but he knew that he was going to have to take his time with Vivica. She was delicate and she had seen far more than she should have. Shane had to be easy with Vivica. She was his mate after all, and Shane just wanted everything to work out. There was a lot that had to be explained, though Shane already had his mind on other benefits of their mating.
Chapter 17
Vivica
Even as Vivica was leaving, in her heart she wanted to stay. Now that she was back in a sleazy hotel as Shane called it, she felt even worse about it. She shouldn't be there. She should be with Shane because it was just where she was supposed to be. She had no rhyme or reason for those feelings or anything to tell her otherwise. It was just a feeling really that came over her and once she left his side, she felt him gone more than she thought she would.
She kept replaying their time together and she had a mix of feelings about it. It wasn't like anything she had ever imagined it would be. Vivica knew enough about sex, just like most people. She heard all about it, but what she didn't get was how passionate and fulfilling it would be. She also didn’t hear about how overwhelming the experience had been.
Surely, what they had done was not normal. Not only had he turned into some kind of beast in the middle of it, but he had been so forceful. So wild. Vivica couldn’t imagine that normal people did it that way. What they had done didn't seem normal at all. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had never been done before in all of the world.
She blushed at the thought, still feeling his hands on her body. She couldn’t stop thinking about it. Not only was she back to sleeping in squalor and not really knowing where her next meal was going to come from, but she had this aching hole inside of her that only Shane could fill. It was misery all around.
Vivica wanted to go back. Part of it was curiosity because she wanted to know what he was. Obviously, that wasn't anything new. She wanted to know everything there was to know about Shane. What he really was, what he was capable of. She had so many questions, and for the life of her, she never got an answer.
