Page 33 of Bad Blood Bear

Chapter 15

When Lissa woke up, late afternoon light was slanting in the window. She felt warm and safe and comfortable, and Tank was sitting in a huge leather chair in the corner of the room, writing on a pad of yellow paper.

For a few minutes she stayed quiet, glad for the chance to observe him when he didn’t know she was watching.

He was a grizzly bear. She was still wrapping her brain around that—inside that enormous, seriously ripped body was a deadly animal that could take her apart with one swipe of its giant paw.

And yet here he was, sitting in a leather recliner with his hair all tousled and sexy, with that cute frown between his eyebrows.

She spoke up. “What are you doing?” she asked quietly.

He looked up. Those gorgeous green eyes looked startled, then relieved. This was a man who, no matter how tough he was, could never hide his feelings.

“Hey,” he said softly, pen poised over his paper, his attention completely focused on her. “How’re you feeling? Are you okay?”

She moved and stretched. She felt kind of sore and bruised, and her shoulder hurt a little, but other than that she felt fine. “Yeah,” she said. She sat up, trying to smooth back her tangled hair. “What are you doing?”

He glanced down at the pad in his hand. “This?” he said. “I’m making a shopping list. Of things you need.”

That shocked her. “Things I need?”

After a second’s hesitation, she reached out her hand. He handed the pad over, and Lissa started scanning the list.

It was a long one. Jeans, tops, socks, shoes, underwear. A winter jacket. Boots. Gloves. Brush, comb, smell-pretty shampoo. That made her smile. Makeup was near the bottom of the list, with a question mark. Then girl stuff, which made her smile again. Was that supposed to be tampons? Bikini wax? She’d love to know what he thought it meant.

And then there were other things near the bottom, also with question marks. Books? Hobbies? Computer or tablet? Then, underlined, cell phone.

Lissa put the list down, tears unexpectedly stinging her eyes. “You’re seriously thinking you’re going to buy me all this?”

Tank looked confused. “Well, yeah. Flynn told you—you’re part of the crew now, so that means he’s responsible for making sure you have everything you need. But trust me, you don’t want to go shopping with Flynn—he hates stores. And civilization. And people. So I’m going to take you. Not tomorrow, probably—the weather’s changing and we have to finish insulating Jasmin’s shed. But the next day, maybe.”

Lissa was still trying to blink back tears. She didn’t know why she was crying—she never cried. She never let anyone see how she was feeling inside.

But no one had ever wanted to take care of her before, either.

Tank was frowning again. “Is it okay? I mean, these were just ideas. If you need something else, just tell me.”

“But…” Lissa swallowed hard. “There’s like, a thousand dollars’ worth of stuff on this list. And that’s not even including a computer, which is just crazy talk.”

Not that she wouldn’t give anything to have a computer of her own. That would be beyond awesome. “Who’s going to pay for all that?”

“The crew has money,” Tank said. “The Nashville wolf pack bought us this territory, on account of they attacked us with no provocation a couple of months ago.” He paused. “Well, half of them did. Jesse Travis, who was the alpha of the not-shitty half of the pack at the time, negotiated the territory buyout, plus startup money, as part of the treaty between us. That’s what we’re using to buy the trailers and upgrade the shelters and get everybody outfitted.”

He tore the sheet off and laid the pad aside. “Everybody here came with nothing,” he said to Lissa. “You’re no different. And the crew is providing for everyone until we get on our feet and get everybody some kind of job, so we can be self-sustaining.”

“Oh.” Lissa thought that over. She didn’t mind being a charity case, as long as there wasn’t some kind of debt incurred that somebody thought they could call out at a later date. But if this was what everyone was getting, then maybe there really were no strings. “Okay, I guess.”

Even if there were hidden strings, she could deal with that. A lot of crap was easier to deal with when you had decent clothes and could keep yourself clean.

An uncomfortable silence fell, as if Tank didn’t know what to say next. Neither did she.

So much had happened to her in such a short time, and she was still trying to sort it out. People who turned into animals. Brother Damien really being a bear. Being told she was one of these… shifters.

Finally she screwed up her courage. “What happened to me, before?” she said. “All I remember is that Flynn touched me, and my shoulder started burning, and then it’s all red and hazy and jumbled.”

Tank sighed and sank further into his chair, looking upset.

“We’re not sure exactly what happened,” he said in a low voice. “We’re thinking Brother Damien wasn’t just a shifter—that he had some kind of magical power.”