I don’t bother saying hello back. Instead, I raise my eyebrows and scowl at the man.
“Impolite, as always, Willow.” He rolls his eyes, and it takes me back to all the “family” dinners we used to have when Milo was “alive.” The arguments, the storming out, the insincere apology gift the next day; it all is a vicious cycle that they keep living in.
“Is there something we can help you with, Mr. Barrow?” Eddie says. His chest vibrates with a rumble, one I can only feel since I’m practically plastered to his side. I know he’s trying to be on his best behavior, but he can only take so much and so can I.
“And of course, you bring a fake date. Are you not better than this? Did Milo mean nothing to you?”
“Let’s go, Willow,” Eddie says. His body trembles, and his hand is a band of steel around mine.
“Running scared again?” No, Mr. Barrow. No. Why did you say that? I watch Eddie, who’s stopped walking and marches right up in Mr. Barrow’s face.
“You don’t get to disrespect her, not after she fought more for your own son than you did. Not when she gave a home to your daughter after the hell you put her through. Not when she’s been nothing but kind to your family, even after all the shit you’ve pulled.”
“Don’t you speak to me like that.” Mr. Barrow is shaking with anger and he’s now yelling.
“Please, the last person I want to be talking to is someone whose kids ran away from him,” Eddie says, trying to guide us away from the angry bear. Mr. Barrow goes to swing at Eddie, but I yank Eddie down towards me. Mr. Barrow’s fist scrapes my arm, and even though the punch barely hit me, it frickin’ hurt. I try to keep my face neutral so that Eddie won’t notice that the hit landed on me, but I can’t hold back the grimace of pain.
“Swinging on someone’s back, Mr. Barrow? Really?” I ask, trying to grip Eddie’s suit jacket. It’s as if I disappeared because Eddie turns around with a force I’ve never seen and punches Mr. Barrow, making his head turn. He steps to the side to balance himself, but it doesn’t matter because he loses his battle with gravity and hits the floor.
I yell Eddie’s name, but he hardly hears me. All the acknowledgment I get is a slight push back, moving me out of the way as he charges Mr. Barrow again.
Eddie laughs, but it’s not his soothing laugh, not his laugh that lights up a room. He chuckles darkly as he nods his head as if something is clicking in his mind.
“You fucking touched her! Hell no, let’s get this party started for real,” he says, taking off his jacket and tossing it on the ground.
Eddie shifts into his bear, ripping his brown suit off entirely in the shift, and so does Mr. Barrow, and they’re swinging. Their claws are swiping at each other, but Mr. Barrow is no match for a younger, angrier bear.
Eddie’s drawing blood, and I watch as a crowd forms. I see Mrs. Barrow rushing to the front, yelling for Mr. Barrow to stop. My parents, Harper, and Jason, are making their way towards me.
I can’t decipher their faces, but I pick up on the fear. My hackles raise, and a sudden whoosh of terror and sadness covers every inch of my body. I move my eyes to Eddie’s bear, who is playing with Mr. Barrow now. He circles him like bait with a bearish smile and anger still lingering in his eyes.
Disrespect is a hard limit for shifters, for Alphas and Lunas especially. It’s a huge mistake to disrespect someone in an Alpha’s presence, let alone to disrespect an Alpha, but Eddie isn’t an Alpha. I’ve never seen him this angry before. I’ve never seen him angry. He’s happy. He’s laughing. He’s Eddie. But I guess everyone has limits, and I feel horrible for not sensing that Eddie was closer to his limit than I recognized.
I’m not stupid enough to jump between two bear shifters fighting. No one is. All that matters is dominance, and what comes from living in a world ruled by dominance is fighting. It’s not completely abnormal for a fight to break out at events, but this, this is different.
It’s for me. It’s for Layla. It’s for the families we lost.
A sick sort of pleasure takes root in my mind, in my bear, and this is just another part of me I don’t like. My bear takes great pleasure in being defended, but I, human me, can’t take the guilt in my stomach for putting Eddie in a situation where he’d have to protect me.
“Eddie, please, let’s go.” I can’t take it anymore. I need to leave, and I need Eddie to come with me.
I need Eddie to be okay, and I need him to stop fighting before my bear makes her appearance. She getting mad about the blood on his arms from the hits Mr. Barrow landed, and she sure as hell doesn’t like the cut stretching across his waist.
My desperation must have reached his ears because he shoves Mr. Barrow away and stalks towards me. Still in bear form, he picks me up in his arms and storms away. I curl around him. He’s incredibly strong, and I won’t pretend my size twenty-two ass is small.
He shifts, and the skin of his human body rubs against me as he carries me away. I wrap my arms around his neck as he carries me all the way to the car and gently sets me down. He carefully puts my seat belt on before shutting my door. He stops by the trunk to get some clothes, I assume, then storms to his side and gets into the driver’s seat.
We ride to the hotel in silence. I don’t know what to say, and I’m full of emotions that anything I could say would get choked up in my throat.
When we enter the hotel room, he shuts the door and takes my hand. Sitting on the bed next to each other, the only thing filling the silence is the sound of our harsh breathing.
“I’m sorry, Willow.” His voice comes out harder and lower than I’ve heard it. His hand is shaking, and grips mine tighter, as if I would float away.
“No, I’m the one who is sorry, Eddie. I’ve dragged you to this ceremony without checking in on you, or—or anything—and I’m sorry.”
“Willow, you have nothing to be sorry about. I’m the one who lost control. I’m the one who ruined your sister’s mating ceremony and probably your relationship with her, fuck.”
“Eddie, I’m not mad, and I’m not worried about Harper. She chose me, remember? I’m worried about you. You need to shift again and heal that scratch, please,” I say. I try to standup to give him room, which he must not have liked because his arm shoots out fast and yanks my body, so I’m on top of him completely. His chest rise and falls under me as his arms wrap around me, and his legs open up to give me more room.
