Chapter 6

"We are not building a tower to guard our daughter in!"

Bear was following behind Tessa, his phone out as he researched what it took to build said-tower. "I need to protect her!"

"You need to calm down." Tessa stopped walking.

She turned and waited for him to catch up with her. When he did, she grabbed his phone out of his hands. He looked up in protest, but closed his mouth when he caught her stern gaze. Tessa tucked his phone into her lab coat pocket and reached for his hand. She placed it over her baby bump, where she could feel their daughter moving around.

A look of amazement crossed over his face, replacing the worry that had been there since Dr. Pedaleck had announced the gender.

"You are going to be a great father," she told him. "You are going to teach our daughter to be strong on her own two feet, to be her own protector. What you are not going to do is build a tower to hide her away from the world. Got it?"

His face scrunched like he was in pain. "I can't have anything happen to her. You either. It would destroy me."

"But you also can't smother us. You need to let us live our lives while keeping us safe. Understand?"

Bear hung his head in defeat. "Fine."

She brought his hand to her mouth and kissed his calloused palm. "Good." She turned to head back towards Bree's hospital room. They'd already decided not to keep the baby's gender a secret. Lucky knew already. Bear had called Steel to tell him as well as his parents.

Tessa cringed. She still hadn't told her own mother about the baby.

"I'm still looking into boobytrapping our lawn though!" Bear called after her.

Tessa just shook her head and kept on walking.

Bree was sitting up in her bed. She had a mountain of pillows to help support her. Based on the number of cardboard boxes in the corner of the room, Angel had been doing some online shopping at the websites Tessa had recommended for paraplegic supplies and aids. There was a youth's pink wheelchair in the corner of the room, though Bree was in no condition to be in it yet.

Cage, Angel, and Bones were in the room, all wearing their cuts. Like Bear, it seemed they rarely went anywhere without it.

Bree's room was covered with get well, good luck, and prayers greeting cards and balloons, as well as bouquets of various flowers. The public might not know who the blood drive was for, but that didn't stop them from wanting to wish her well. The club made sure to inspect everything before giving it to Bree, just in case her assailants tried to send something to her through the hospital.

Tessa was very impressed when she looked at Bree. Not only was her jaundice improving, but her demeanor was as well. Though she still looked exhausted and was breathing heavily, she was smiling and talking animatedly to the MC members.

Sometimes, optimism was the best medicine.

As soon as she saw Tessa and Bear enter the room, she turned that glowing smile onto them. "Did you see your doctor?" Her voice still sounded scratchy but was definitely stronger. "Did you find out the gender?"

Tessa looked at Bear to see if he wanted to share the news, but he still looked like he was contemplating which boobytraps to set in their future front lawn. She rolled her eyes at him and faced the room.

"It's a girl!"

A collective of whoops went up. Bree clapped. Cage lifted Tessa up in his arms and spun her in a circle. Bones, who was limping slightly, gave her a much more platonic hug. Angel remained on the bed next to Bree and offered her congratulations from there.

Bear turned to his brothers. "What is your stance on Punji traps?"

"No!" Tessa shouted before either could answer. She walked towards Bree's bed and took the chair on the other side of her from Angel.

"Do you even know what that is?" Angel asked in a whisper.

"No clue, but I've already had to nix him building a Rapunzel tower so I'm sure, whatever it is, I won't agree with it either."

"Don't worry," Bree said. She started coughing. Angel and Tessa waited patiently for it to run its course so she could continue. She accepted the water cup with a straw from Angel. "We'll teach her how to stand on her own two feet and face down these overprotective Neanderthals."

Tessa and Angel burst out laughing. Angel pulled Bree into her side, kissing the top of the girl's head. The women's eyes met over her head and Tessa knew they were both thinking the same thing.

Bree had spoken of the future. She'd said we. She'd never done that before to Tessa's knowledge.

It was such a good sign. It meant Bree hadn't given up hope. She still had a long way to go and a hell of a fight to survive ahead of her, but a strong positive outlook sometimes meant the difference between life or death, no matter the advancements of modern medicine.

Taking Bree's free hand, Tessa squeezed it. "He's just overcompensating. He fainted when he found out we were having a girl."

"I didn't faint, woman!" came from the other side of the room. All three females started giggling.

Bear grudgingly leftthe hospital around nine-thirty. He had to be at work at five the next morning.

"I'm turning in my resignation," he told her as Tessa practically pushed him out the door.

"No, you aren't," she argued. "You're going to go to work like a good boy. We'll figure out our schedules, Bear. It's just going to take a little time."

He grumbled, refusing to let go of her. "I don't like leaving you."

"You called Q and Conner," she reminded him. "They'll be here soon and will keep an eye on me, even though I think it's completely unnecessary."

"Unnecessary?" Bear repeated, his grip on her tightening. "That bastard was in the ER! He was in a closed room with you!"

"And he has no way of knowing that I figured out who he is," she pointed out. "He clearly was here just fishing for information on Bree. He has no reason to touch me."

Bear still grumbled. She pushed on him, though it did little good. "Bear, please, just go. You're going to regret not going home and getting some sleep when it's five a.m. and you have to be passing meds at work."

"Fine," he snapped, "but you and I are going to have to have a serious talk about our jobs and schedules. We are not raising our cub on a two-income household if it means you and I never get to see each other."

She agreed. Bear kept talking about quitting his job and being a stay-at-home dad, or Papa Bear, but she was thinking that wasn't necessary. Maybe he could drop his hours down to part-time. It would depend on his benefit requirements too. They still had to talk about whose insurance the baby was going under. There was a lot to consider now that he was involved in the baby's life.

Bear kissed her deeply. They were standing by the Emergency Room entry doors. Thankfully no one but a few orderlies were about. She seemed to forget her rules about PDA when Bear was around.

"Get some sleep," she told him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Should be at yours around two," he said like the words left a bad taste in his mouth.

"It's only sixteen and a half hours," Tessa reminded him. She reached up and stroked her fingers through his beard. He turned his face into her hand.

"Too long."

She smiled, because she agreed. "It'll be here before we know it. Go."

Bear gave her one more kiss before he walked out the ER doors. Tessa sighed and put her hands in her lab coat pockets. She knew it was pregnancy hormones, but she felt like crying as she watched him leave.

She was halfway back to the nurse's station when Tessa noticed she had a phone in each pocket of her lab coat. Crap! She'd never given Bear back his phone after she'd confiscated it before to keep him from researching towers and traps.

She turned and ran out the emergency room doors. Maybe she could catch up to him. She knew where he'd parked. Otherwise, he might be home before he realized it and have to come back?—

"Umph!"

Something hard hit Tessa, throwing her forward. On instinct, she put her arms around her middle to protect her baby as she collided with the blacktop. She felt her skin scrape. Her left elbow hit hard. Before she could move to get up, something struck her in the back.

Tessa cried out. She brought her legs up in the fetal position, her only goal to protect her baby.

Another strike, this time to the back of her shoulder. Tessa whimpered and curled herself tighter around her belly.

She felt warm breath across her ear. "Bring us the girl by midnight or you take her place. You have?—"

The sudden roar of motorcycles filled the parking lot.

"Fuck!" a different voice said. "How many of these guys are there? Come on, we have to go!"

"Fuck!" the voice by her ear shouted. "Midnight, bitch! And lose your fucking guard dogs!"

Tessa heard footsteps scamper off. She told herself to move, she was lying in the middle of the parking lot with only the streetlamps to illuminate her, but her body couldn't move. Her brain knew that she was suffering from active immobility, a common response following an attack or a scare. She knew what and why her body was doing it. She just couldn't make it stop.

The motorcycles came closer.

"Tessa!" Brakes squealed before footsteps rapidly approached her. "Fuck, call Bear!" She thought she recognized Quinten's voice. He was one of the prospects Bear had assigned to watch her when he wasn't around. "Tessa, can you move?"

She moaned. Her baby. She needed to get inside. She needed to get someone to check on her baby. She hadn't felt her move since Tessa's fall.

When Bear's phone rang in her pocket, there was a collective of "Fuck!"s from both prospects.

"Go get help!" That was Q again. Bear had explained that prospects don't get to choose their road name until they earned their rockers, the patches on the back of their cuts. Some of them already had monikers from their military days, like Bear or Steel, while others got to choose their name, like Lucky, and others, like Pumpkin, landed their name after doing something so stupid the others refused to call him anything else.

"Steel! Tessa's been attacked outside the hospital. I can't reach Bear. She's got his phone. We need him here now!"

Tessa heard a commotion approach and the distinctive squeaking of a gurney's wheels. She saw Dr. Bennett, the other ER attending on duty tonight, as well as several nurses.

"Tessa, what happened? Where are you hurt?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

She wanted Bear. She needed Bear.

Tessa felt herself being lifted up onto the gurney. Dr. Bennett was able to gently pry her limbs away from her baby bump. Her daughter… Oh God… She wasn't moving. Her medical training told her there could be many reasonable explanations as to why her baby wasn't moving, the most common being she was sleeping, but all Tessa could think about were the bad reasons.

Red and blue flashing lights filled her vision as she was rolled into the hospital.

"Tessa!" she heard as she was wheeled into an exam room. She saw Carlos and felt grateful, but still disappointed. She didn't want Carlos; she wanted Bear. "Oh God, what happened?"

"Give her some space," that was Dr. Bennett. "She's still in shock. Have we reached her NOK?"

"That's her mom," someone female answered. "She lives up towards Cottonville."

No, her brain cried silently. Not her mom. Bear. Bear was her next of kin. If there were any decisions that needed to be made, it should be Bear who did it. For both her and the baby.

"Michelle, get me a clean out kit. I need to remove this gravel before I can assess the wounds. Someone, page OB stat!"

"Right away, Doctor."

"Did anyone see what happened?" That was Carlos again.

"We saw the end of it, but we didn't realize what we were seeing." She was pretty sure that was Conner. He was such a sweetheart. Young too, mid-twenties. He'd left the Army after his initial four years were up. He'd lost his twin brother serving and couldn't stay in beyond his first contract. "We saw two guys running across the parking lot. We thought it was weird but didn't think anything of it. Then we spotted Tessa on the ground."

"Why was she outside?"

"We don't know. She was supposed to be inside working. We were five minutes behind Bear. He knew we were on our way," Quinten answered.

"She has his phone," Conner said. "What if she was going after him to try to give it to him before he left?"

"Is that why no one has been able to reach Bear?"

"Yeah. We rang him and found his phone in her lab coat pocket."

"What happened?!" That demanding voice was Steel's. She'd know it anywhere. He sounded pissed—but also extremely worried.

"Everyone out!" another voice shouted. Dr. Bennett. "I want you all out of my exam room! Tessa does not need this right now. Go!"

Another scurry of footsteps. The men's biker boots squeaked on the linoleum flooring. Then there was the click of the door.

Her eyes landed on Dr. Bennett. "Thank you," she mouthed.

He nodded to her. "I know you're concerned about your baby. Do you mind if I take a look?"

She shook her head. She needed to know.

"Michelle, get the curtain please."

Tessa felt her scrub pants being cut up one leg. Bear would have been able to get them off her without having to cut them.

"No active bleeding, Tessa. That's really good." She felt the cold metal of his stethoscope against her rounded stomach. "I can hear his heartbeat. It's strong. We'll wait for OB to confirm but preliminary exam looks promising, Tessa. You did good. You protected your baby."

She'd protected her baby… Tears continued to pour down her face. Suddenly there was a roar of commotion out in the hallway. It sounded very much like an angry grizzly bear.

Tessa felt a shiver of relief course through her. Bear was here.

Bear had pulledinto his driveway and had just climbed out of his cage when Lucky, Demo, and Scar came rolling up on him.

"Get on!" Lucky shouted. "It's Tessa!"

He hadn't had to say anything more. Bear ran towards Lucky's red Limited and leapt on. He hadn't even had time to grab his cut from where it was sitting on his cage's passenger seat. Later, it would occur to him that he'd never rode bitch before but, at that moment, it had been the furthest from his mind.

"I don't know much," Lucky told him as they sped down the road. "Steel said she was attacked and being examined now. Q and Conner found her in the middle of the parking lot."

The parking lot? What the fuck was she doing out there? He'd just left her. He'd left her inside the hospital. Had she followed him? Why? It made no sense.

Why the fuck was Lucky driving so slow?

Bear leapt off the hog as soon as they were near the entry way. Lucky hadn't even come to a complete stop. Bear ran inside.

The entry way was a madhouse. He saw Steel, Conner, Quinten, Cage, and Bones, plus Carlos and about four nurses crowded around the nurse's station. No Tessa.

"Where the fuck is she?" he roared.

Steel came up to him. "She's with the doctor. He's examining her now. We don't know much. We think she was following you to try to catch you before you left. She had your phone in her pocket."

Stupidly, Bear patted his front pocket. No phone. How had he not realized that?

"Two men were seen running away from her," Steel continued. "We don't know who they were or what they wanted."

"My cub?" Bear's voice was barely a whisper. He'd never felt such fear. And Tessa thought he was overreacting by building a tower? Fuck that, he was now building a moat around their house and filling it with alligators.

Steel's face was sympathetic. "We don't know yet."

Quinten approached them. "She was curled around the baby. Even afterwards, she wouldn't let go."

Bear rounded on the prospect. "Where the fuck were you! Why the fuck were you not there to protect her! That was your job! You had one fucking job and you failed! If it were up to me, you'd both lose your cuts right this second and be out."

Quinten and Conner paled, but they both stood their ground. "We were on our way. You both knew this. She wasn't supposed to leave the hospital."

"Don't you dare blame her!" Arms came around him as Bear started forward. "Don't you fucking blame her for failing to do your job!"

"Bear," Lucky said from behind him. "No one could have anticipated this. Not you forgetting your phone or them running late or her leaving the hospital alone to try to catch up with you… None of it. It's no one's fault but the men who did this."

Bear let out a roar of anguish. He needed to see Tessa. He needed to lay his own eyes on her.

An exam room door to his right opened up. Bear couldn't see inside because the curtain was drawn. A nurse he thought he'd heard Tessa call "Shelly" came out. "Bear, she's asking for you."

Lucky released him immediately. Bear jetted forward, pushing his way past his brothers, Carlos, and hospital staff alike. His only goal was Tessa.

A male doctor was placing a sheet over Tessa's lower half. He could see pieces of her scrubs on the floor. He knew how Tessa felt about having male doctors examine her lady parts. He opened his mouth to say something when he heard Tessa.

"Bear." Her voice was low, shaky.

He ignored the doctor and rushed forward. He didn't care if the bed was narrow or that they weren't alone. He picked Tessa up, placed himself down on her bed, and then curled her over top of him.

Her tears came faster. He clung to her. Never again. It hadn't been Quinten and Conner who'd failed her. He knew that. He knew who was to blame. It was him. Tessa was his woman, his ol' lady. She might not wear his cut yet, but she was his. His to protect, his to guard. And he'd failed her. Her and their cub.

As she cried, he looked over at the doctor. "What's her prognosis?"

"Bruises mainly. I still need to get the gravel out of her wounds. One or two I suspect need stitches. Her left elbow's swelling concerns me. I've ordered an x-ray."

"Our daughter?"

"I hadn't heard it was a girl. Congratulations. She's fine as far as I can tell. No vaginal bleeding, which is the most important thing after a trauma like this. I've paged OB. We'll have them confirm my examination with an ultrasound."

"Thank you, doctor."

He nodded solemnly. "I'm so sorry this happened. The police are here and are going to want to speak with her. I've also summoned security. I'm sure they're out there too by now."

Bear clung to Tessa. "Can we be alone please?"

"Of course. I'll be right outside if you need me. Radiology should be up to take an x-ray as well as OB."

Bear nodded. The doctor lowered the lights before exiting. He left the curtain drawn, which Bear appreciated.

Tessa continued to cry. Bear just held her. Breathed her in. Soaked in the gratitude that she was okay. Their daughter was okay. For the first time in a long time, Bear felt a tear escape his eyes.

Dr. Bennett came backin to inform them that OB was there. Bear didn't like it, but he had to get off the bed so she could be examined. As the OB—who was another man, much to Tessa's dislike—used the ultrasound to get an image of the baby, placenta, and uterine wall, Dr. Bennett started pulling pieces of gravel out of Tessa's arm, palms, and thigh.

Radiology also showed but had to wait in the hall for their turn. Once the obstetrician had confirmed that the baby looked healthy, he'd left. He instructed Tessa to follow up with her own doctor within a week, or sooner if she started bleeding.

Dr. Bennett finished removing the gravel. The nurse Bear was sure was named Shelly assisted him and they got her bandaged up.

Bear agreed with Dr. Bennett that Tessa's elbow looked damaged beyond standard bruising.

Radiology came in with their portable machine and lead blanket to protect their cub. Bear had to step out of the room while they took the required x-rays. Dr. Bennett examined the images on the computer screen as soon as they appeared. He proclaimed she had a non-displaced fracture. Bear let out a sigh of relief. That meant she needed a cast, not surgery.

Then it was a waiting game for someone from orthopedics to arrive and cast her. Bear climbed back into bed with her. Careful not to jostle her elbow that was now resting on a pillow.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked softly. He ran his fingers through her hair; he'd taken her braids out earlier.

"I still had your phone." She wouldn't look at him. Was she ashamed? Scared? "You'd just left. I thought I could catch you before you pulled out. I'm not sure what happened. I don't even remember seeing anyone out there. But something hit me. I landed hard on the ground. I think he kicked my back." Bear made a move to look, but she stopped him. "Dr. Bennett already examined me. It's just a bruise. No broken bones. I know my elbow was from the initial fall." She swallowed, her chin quivering. "There were two of them but only one actually hit me. He told me to bring ‘the girl' outside by midnight or I would be taking her place."

Bear stiffened. "Bree?"

"Who else," she replied, shorter than she'd meant to. "Sorry."

He kissed the top of her head. "You're fine. Keep going. Can you describe them?"

"I never saw them. I'm not even sure what they hit me with to get me on the ground. It wasn't the man who came to the ER, though. I didn't recognize either of their voices."

Now that he had his phone back, Bear was texting information one-handed to Steel as Tessa told him. He'd already asked Keys to look through the surveillance tapes, even if Carlos told him that Tessa's attack was a police matter.

Bear didn't care. It didn't matter if the police looked into the attack. It didn't matter if they also pulled the surveillance video or even if they identified the men. It didn't matter.

Because they weren't going to jail. They were Bear's. They'd signed their death warrants the moment they touched his woman and unborn cub.

There was a knock on the door before they could speak again. Bear called out, "Come," and Shelly poked her head into the room.

"Tessa, your mom's here."

Bear wasn'tsure what to make of Mrs. Fisher. Tessa had asked Bear to get off the bed before Shelly brought Mrs. Fisher in, but he refused to move. He was not holding her suggestively, nor were they doing anything inappropriate. Mrs. Fisher was going to have to get used to seeing Tessa in his arms, regardless, because he had no plans of ever letting her go again.

Mrs. Fisher was taller than her five-foot-two oldest daughter. He didn't know what Tessa's sister looked like, and wondered where Tessa got her shortness from. He placed the woman about five-six. She had short, curly blonde hair that was obviously dyed to coverup any gray hairs. Her eyes were blue like Tessa's, though Tessa's had a brightness to them that her mother's lacked.

"What the hell is going on, Tessa? Why did I have to come down here in the middle of the night?"

Bear glared at the woman's obvious disregard for her daughter's wellbeing. "Your daughter was attacked outside the hospital earlier tonight."

The woman's icy blue eyes turned to him. "And you are?" Her tone suggested she thought he was white trash that was tainting the air she was breathing.

"Tessa's man." He reached out his hand to her. "You can call me Bear, everyone does."

Mrs. Fisher ignored his outstretched hand. Instead, she put her hands on her hips and smiled condescendingly at him. "Tessa doesn't have a man or a boyfriend or anyone."

"Tessa's going to be fine, by the way," Bear told her, despite the fact that she hadn't asked about the welfare of her daughter. He didn't give a rat's ass if the woman believed Tessa was or was not involved with him. Why was her mother standing in her hospital room and had yet to ask how her daughter was? Especially after Bear had said she'd been attacked. "She broke her elbow and has some bruises, but nothing life threatening."

Tessa remained quiet, which was unlike her. He glanced down to see she wasn't even looking at her mom. Was she ashamed of him, embarrassed to have him sitting in bed with her? He hadn't meant to embarrass her by remaining there. He'd hoped his presence would comfort her. He didn't know much about her relationship with her mother, but he knew enough to know it was strained.

He put his finger under her chin to raise her head up. She didn't fight him, but she still wouldn't look at him.

Bear leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "What is it, Mama Bear?"

He realized his slip too late. He was so used to calling Tessa ‘Mama Bear' that it hadn't occurred to him not to.

"Mama Bear?" The woman's voice came out like a shriek. "Tessa, what is the meaning of this? Did you get yourself knocked up?"

Tessa winced—and Bear's blood boiled. His head whipped around to face Mrs. Fisher. "How dare you! Do you even give a damn about your daughter? You do have two of them, you know. You have yet to ask how Tessa is, woman. Yes, Tessa is pregnant with our cub. But don't you dare disrespect her or our daughter by claiming she ‘got knocked up', like it makes Tessa less of a person or our daughter unwanted."

"I won't be spoken to this way." Mrs. Fisher hiked her purse strap up higher on her shoulder. "Tessa, when you actually feel like you can explain yourself, call me. Not tomorrow, though. I'm going shopping with your sister." With that, Mrs. Fisher left the hospital room.

Bear looked down at Tessa. "I don't like your mother."

Tessa cringed. "If it doesn't have to do with Gina, she doesn't really care about it."

He leaned down and kissed her forehead again. "Sorry about spilling the beans. Not calling you ‘Mama Bear' feels wrong."

She let out a small snort. "She'll realize sometime tomorrow that she's going to be a grandma and somehow make it all about Gina becoming an aunt. To be honest, I'm grateful. I'd been fighting with myself, trying to figure out a way to tell her."

Another knock sounded on the door. Bear looked up in time to see his own mother poke her head into the room. "Lucky called us. Can we come in?"

It waspast midnight before Tessa got her cast. She dozed in and out in his arms on the too small hospital bed. Bear eventually had to tell his brothers to stop checking on them and to not allow any more visitors, so she wasn't disturbed. He'd text someone if they needed something. Bear knew everyone was concerned, but Tessa and their cub needed sleep.

He also knew he owed Q and Conner an apology. From what he could gather from Tessa, it was their entrance into the parking lot that had scared Tessa's attackers away. It could have been much worse if they'd been even a minute later.

Around one in the morning, Steel slipped into the room. Tessa was asleep. Her arm was still resting on a pillow, newly casted. Bear had himself tucked up against her back, so she was half on him and half on the bed. His left arm was wrapped around her, resting under the pillow. His hand was splayed across their girl cub.

"I know you wanted to be left alone but I thought you'd want to know what happened. Midnight came and went. We staked out the parking lot but didn't see anyone. Carlos also had Bree's room moved and posted a deputy outside. Since Cage was due to be admitted in two days anyway to prep for the surgery, the hospital's agreed to admit him early and place him in her room for extra protection. Angel says she's sorry she can't come down to check on Tessa herself."

Bear nodded solemnly. "I'm not surprised they didn't come back. They probably watched her get brought in and realized she was in no condition to get to Bree even if she agreed to their terms. My concern is that they'll still try to come after her. They threatened to make her take Bree's place."

"You think they work for the pornographer."

Bear nodded. "Likely the two who threw Bree out of that van in my way."

"Fuck." Steel ran a hand down his face. "Scar's outside your room. Get some rest, Bear. No one's getting to your ol' lady. We won't let them."

His smile didn't hold a trace of humor. "No, we won't."

Tessa groggily forcedher eyes open. Bear and she were standing in line at the pharmacy to get her prescription filled. She kept jumping at every little sound and flinching if someone walked too close, even with Bear at her side like a giant growling bodyguard. Another one of the MC was following them, but Tessa hadn't asked who.

Between her cast and the sling, Tessa felt utterly useless if she were attacked again. How could she protect her baby now?

She'd been put on leave from work—ironically by doctor's orders. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with her time if she wasn't working. She didn't want to get into the habit of sleeping at night again, or it would be worse when she went back to work.

She looked up at Bear. Someone had brought him his cut as well as his car. He was currently staring down an old man who'd stepped into their path while switching aisles.

"You're not at work." It seemed like a stupid thing to say. Of course, he wasn't at work. He was standing in a pharmacy with her.

"Called out. Family emergency."

"You're going to get in trouble if you keep missing work." He'd already called out the day before so he could go to her OB appointment with her.

"Don't give a fuck."

The lady in front of them with a small kid glared over her shoulder at his language.

"Bear, you need a job?—"

"Taking care of you and our cub is my job," he told her.

The lady in front of them peeked over her shoulder again. This time Tessa got the distinct impression she was trying to determine what Bear had meant by cub. Like maybe he was a paranormal shifter from a romance novel and was wondering if she might be able to steal him away from Tessa.

"Eyes up front, lady," Tessa snapped. She was tired, cranky, and sore. They were not good combinations.

Bear's expression turned amused as he glanced down at her. "You're hot when you're jealous."

Tessa rolled her eyes. She was a bruised mess with a cast on her elbow and her arm in a sling. She was the furthest from hot that she could be.

Finally, they got her medication. She was exhausted. If they weren't in public, she'd ask Bear to carry her to the car because, public or not, he'd do it.

He did lift her into the car, which she was grateful for. His new Subaru wasn't overly tall, but she was short, hurting, and down an arm. He even buckled her in before kissing her on the lips. He dropped his head down further and pressed a kiss to her baby bump too.

Tessa ran her fingers through his hair. "Thank you, Papa Bear."

He rose, looking her in her eyes. "Anytime, Mama Bear."

As he walked around the side of the car, she saw him give a chin lift to someone. She looked in the mirrors until she spotted the motorcycle. The rider was wearing a black helmet with full faceplate so she couldn't make out who it was.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked as he pulled onto the road.

"Honey, you can ask me anything. Open book, remember?"

"I overheard Steel refer to me as your ol' lady. I think I know what that means. I've heard you refer to Jenna and Harper as such. What I don't understand is why he would call me your ol' lady? I'm not your wife or your fiancée."

Bear reached across the console. "Because you're mine, Tessa. I claimed you. By biker law, that makes you my ol' lady."

"Can you have more than one ol' lady? Like, if we break up, can you replace me?"

"First of all, we aren't breaking up and no one is replacing anyone. Secondly, it's a permanent claim. To us, it's more sacred than marriage because it can't be broken. There's no divorce in the biker world. You're mine and, as such, claim the rights and status as my ol' lady. You will always have that. No matter what. Even if something happens to me, you'll still be club property and they'll have you."

She wasn't sure she liked being referred to as property, but she did like the idea of having the club as well as Bear. Forever. Her daughter too. She saw firsthand how the club had come together for Bree, an orphaned girl Angel had claimed after knowing barely a day. What they had accomplished had been nothing short of a miracle. Cage was donating a kidney to someone he hadn't even known two weeks ago.

Family. That's what the club was. One big, overprotective, rambunctious family.

Since her dad had died, Tessa hadn't felt like a part of her own family. Her mom had clung to Gina from the moment she'd been born, and Gina had soaked up her mother's affection and attention like a sponge. Tessa was there, but also not. Her mother lived forty-five minutes north of her and yet last night was the first time she had seen her in close to two months because her mom was always with or around or dealing with Gina.

Gina, who had just gotten married. Gina, whom her mom had taken a second mortgage out on her house to pay for said-wedding. Gina, who had openly announced at her wedding that her and her new husband were going to be trying to make a baby on their wedding night.

Bear was still furious about her mother's lack of concern for Tessa. In her own way, Tessa was too. She was just used to her mother's dismissal of her, so it didn't affect her as much as it was Bear. Tessa supposed she needed to just bite the bullet and call her mom. A part of her wondered how pissed off this was making Gina. That part really didn't matter. Her baby's relationship with her maternal grandmother should not be influenced by her aunt's feelings, opinions, or beliefs—yet Tessa knew it would be.

Mount Grove was separated down the middle by a river. During the summer, it ran fast and high from the heavy spring rains. It generally froze solid by the end of November and wouldn't thaw until mid-March/early April. On this hot August day, it deceivingly looked cool and inviting. It reminded Tessa that she hadn't gone swimming in months.

"Lucky's dad died on this bridge," Bear said conversationally. "We were seventeen and he didn't come home one night. His car hit some ice and went over the edge. They didn't find him until the river started to thaw in the spring."

"That's horrible," Tessa gasped. "Poor Lucky."

"His mom took it really hard. I told you he adopted his younger siblings. His mom started using drugs after his dad died. She?—"

The car's frantic beeping interrupted Bear's words and then there was a horrible crash as Tessa and Bear were thrown forward against their seatbelts.

Tessa shouted. Her head flew forward and barely missing hitting the dashboard. She wanted to grab for her belly, but her only working arm was busy keeping herself braced upright.

"The fuck!" she heard Bear shout.

Then there was the horrible squeal of brakes and the smell of burning rubber. Tessa felt the car jolt forward, like whatever had collided with them had swung around and hit them again.

Bear tried to twist the steering wheel, but it was locked in place. His hands slipped uselessly over the plastic. He was practically standing up, gritting his teeth. That was when Tessa realized they weren't stationary, and the burning smell was coming from their car.

Their car that was slowly being pushed towards the edge of the bridge. Two thin metal bridge rails were all that stood between them and the rushing water below. Bear rose, and it took her a moment to realize he wasn't standing up—he was standing on the brakes!

Oh my God!Tessa's eyes went wide. Fear coursed through her. Though it wouldn't help them, Tessa looked over the back of her seat. All she could see was a large black hood with bumper bars on the front of their cab ramming into their trunk. Smoke was rising between the two vehicles.

"Hold on!" Bear shouted.

Tessa felt herself jolt forward. A horrible crunching sound came from the front of their vehicle as it was pushed through the bridge rails. The front of the car dropped forward as the front wheels were pushed off the side of the bridge. Tessa braised herself against the dashboard.

Ping!

It took her a second to register the new noise.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Suddenly the bobtail truck behind them reversed. The bar was caught on the back of Bear's car's trunk and pulled their vehicle back onto the bridge. Their front tires hit the edge of the bridge just as the bobtail spun suddenly, tearing its connection to the Subaru.

Bear and Tessa teetered with the car as it fought for balance.

The bobtail truck raced away, that pinging sound following them.

"Tessa!" Bear gasped. "Are you okay?"

She was too scared to move, too scared to nod. Bear too was frozen where he sat. Neither one wanted to cause the car's weight to shift and send them hurling down into the water's depths.

Suddenly a face appeared by Bear's window. It was one of his brothers, the one with the long scar down his face. He must have been the one on the motorcycle she'd seen outside the pharmacy.

Bear didn't look at him but could clearly see him. "Get her out!" he shouted.

Tessa wanted to argue, to say they would get out together, but, of the two of them, she was the one carrying their daughter. This was not a matter of her versus him; it was a matter of their daughter's survival.

Scar left the window. Movement in the rear-view mirror caught Tessa's attention. He was now standing at their mangled and broken trunk. Of all the things to go through her mind just then, she thought it odd that Scar wasn't speaking. Instead, he gestured, encouraging her to come to him with the waving of his hands.

"Tessa." She turned her attention back to Bear. They were both breathing heavily, neither moving so much as an inch. "See the broken trunk window? I need you to carefully crawl out over the seats to Scar."

"What about you?" she demanded.

"Cops and fire have to be on their way. I'm not going anywhere until they have secured the cage. I weigh too much. But you're small, light. You won't unbalance the cage while I'm still here."

Tessa felt her heart break in two. She wasn't a physicist. She didn't know the math to figure out if Bear was right about his own escape. There was also the high possibility that he was just spouting off random statistics in the hopes she'd believe him, so she'd get herself to safety, even if it meant leaving him behind.

Tessa opened her mouth to argue but Bear shouted over her, "You need to go, Tessa! Get our daughter out of here!"

Her chin quaking, her nodded. "Okay." She reached for her seatbelt. Nothing happened. It was locked. "I can't get it off."

Panic was starting to set in. Was this how she was going to die? If she died, so did their daughter. What about Bear?

Very slowly, Bear slid a hand into his pocket. He pulled out a folded knife. He carefully moved it across his body to the cup holder between them. Aware they were still slightly rocking up and down, Tessa moved just as slowly to retrieve it.

She forced herself to take deep breaths and stay on task. She sawed carefully through the polyester. Once she was free, she closed the knife. She needed to give it to Bear so he could cut himself free too.

"Go," he told her. "Slow and steady. Once you're in the trunk, Scar's going to reach through and pull you out."

Unable to leave him without saying it first, Tessa blurted out. "I love you. Please don't die."

Bear let out a shaky laugh. "You're stuck with me, Mama Bear. I'm not going anywhere."

Tessa lifted herself up on her seat. She waited a second to make sure the car hadn't increased its teetering. She put her right hand on the back of Bear's seat. Her sling had slipped off her left arm and was dangling uselessly from her neck. The cast prevented her from being able to use her left hand, but provided a steady brace for her to lean against as she climbed between the seats. The back row of seats was down, lying flat. Tessa just had to get over the center row to reach Scar.

She reached around the driver's seat until she felt Bear's hand. She placed the knife in it. "Be careful."

"Go," he insisted.

Tessa went. Adrenaline was coursing through her system. All her aches and pains she'd been feeling only a half hour before in the pharmacy were no longer noticeable. However, as she raised her leg over the middle row of seats, she felt a wetness between them.

Fear ran through her. Was she bleeding?

Sirens could be heard just as she reached the trunk. Glass was everywhere. The car was so new that there wasn't much else in the space. Despite the care she tried to take, she still felt the pricks of glass as she made her way to where Scar stood.

He was an imposing man. The scar along his face made him appear dangerous and was made more prominent by the lack of facial hair. He had bright blue eyes that were hard to read. His hair was shorn close to his scalp.

He'd thrown his jacket with his cut down on top of the pointed shards still imbedded in the window frame. Tessa squatted in the trunk. Slowly she lifted her torso out through the opening. Scar's hands went first under her armpits and then to her waist as he steadied her. She placed her good arm against his shoulder.

Then with a great heave, Scar lifted her out of the window. She felt wobbly as he placed her sneakers on solid ground.

Cop cars, an ambulance, and a firetruck rolled up to the scene. Their sirens nearly drowned out the roar of a dozen motorcycles behind them. Tessa felt herself sigh in relief. Bear would be okay. They'd get him out. He was?—

There was a great groan of metal bending. Once more Tessa found herself being thrown to the ground, only this time she landed on the hardness of a muscled body and then was rolled beneath. She heard shouts and cries, metal scraping against concrete. A hand kept her head down, but she twisted against it.

She cried out in horror as she saw the trunk of the Subaru fall down the side of the bridge towards the rushing waters below. With Bear still inside.