“Your hair looks like you’ve been stuck in a wind tunnel for ten hours straight,” I reported.
He scowled and tried to tame it, but because it was so curly, it just sprang right back into chaos.
Both of us chuckled again and went back to work. I didn’t know about him, but I needed all available brain cells to complete the swing I was working on. Two hours later, just asdawn broke, Mathan and I stared at the fruits of our labor. We’d put together a crib, a playpen, a baby swing, a high chair, and a stroller, along with a small white dresser for Alanna’s things that had a changing table on top so I didn’t break my back changing her on the floor.
I ran a hand through my hair and grimaced at the boxes, garbage, and tools everywhere. The living room lookeddestroyed. “Cubs sure need a lot of stuff.”
Mathan snorted, then sighed. “Yeah. They really do.”
He’d mostly raised his little sister by himself, so he would know. “Why have I never met your sister? She’s welcome here in the Clan, if you’d ever like to invite her. She’s even welcome to move here. We can build a house for her.”
Mathan’s jaw worked, and he looked away, wiping his hands on his shorts. “I appreciate the offer, but she prefers solitude to big groups, and she finds it hard not to flinch in fear around males. She’s in Washington. I still go up to see her now and then. I just have to make the trip, because she doesn’t ever leave her house.”
I nodded, my chest aching for my Second and his sister. I would leave it for now, but I planned to bring it up again later.
I pushed to my feet, my knees and muscles protesting. “Okay. Let’s rearrange the furniture so everything fits without feeling crowded.”
Mathan raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to keep all this stuff out here?”
I tried to rub feeling back into my legs, then started throwing all the trash into a big black garbage bag. “Yeah, we need to protect her. And the easiest way to do that is to keep her in the main room.”
Mathan hesitated. “She might not sleep very well out here, though. You know how loud the other bears can be.”
I grimaced. It was true. Bears were loud when they gathered as a Clan. It was the sound of family laughing and teasing each other, something I normally didn’t mind. But with a baby, we might need to tone it down a little.
“Alanna and the Clan will adjust.”
I hoped.
Chapter 3
Piper
“Your order will be right out.”
I nodded and waited until the waitress left my table before making my phone screen light up again. On it was a picture of my sister holding Alanna. Alanna’s adorable face was scrunched because the sun was in her eyes, but the camera had caught Lyla mid-laugh.
The screen darkened again, and I looked out the diner window, wondering for the millionth time if I was doing the right thing. I knew Riggs and the Bear Clan would protect Alanna while I went for more help, but I’d just disappeared with anote. I felt terrible leaving them like that.
I couldn’t even think about the fact that Riggs was my mate, so instead I focused on what I could handle.
From day one, he’d protected Alanna and me. And though I’d kept my distance, he’d never stopped working day and night to keep us safe.
But it might not be enough. Not against Barrett.
So I focused on getting more—more protection, more power—and not… anything else.
I’d been too numb to think to plead for the Prime’s help when I’d first come to the Lodge. It took a few days for my fight-or-flight response to settle and for my thoughts to calm. By the time I thought to ask Everly and the Prime for help, they’d already left for Dragonspire.
Which meant I needed to do this.
Hopefully the Prime would send help back with me. Twenty or so bear shifters were powerful protectors, but it might not be enough. I just had this awful feeling we’d need more. Still, leaving Alanna hurt. I hoped she was okay…
I reached for my phone, intending to text one of the bears who’d given me their number for an update, but I pulled my hand back and slumped in my seat instead.
I was so tired. I just wanted all of this to be over. I wanted Barrett behind bars, and I wanted to move forward with my life. I wanted Alanna safe and to be able to mourn my sister. I wanted a home where we didn’t have to constantly look over our shoulders anymore.
I’d been in the military my whole life. I’d joined at eighteen and had intended to stay in until I retired as a little old captain somewhere off the coast of Barbados, where the beaches were white sand and the ocean met the sky in a kaleidoscope of vivid sunset colors. I’d thought maybe of getting a dog—someone I could go jogging along the beach with. I’d seen myself alone, enjoying the good life, maybe making the trek to see my sister and niece a few times a year.
