Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Asher

"Well, this went well."

My sister came to stand beside me, watching the barbeque take place. In the end, Kyle had suggested we eat outside. There was a largely unused barbeque area at the back of the property, but once word went around what was on the menu, almost everyone came outside to eat. Kyle was manning the grill, because apparently he knew the art of cooking the perfect burger. I burned some sausages one time and that disqualified me forever. Imogen wasn't content to just stand around and wait for her food. She was dishing up salads and refreshing bowls of toppings for people to add to their burgers. I don't think I'd seen her stop the entire time, and I was just about ready to make her.

"She's found her feet very quickly," Ursula continued, "your mate."

Imogen had with an ease I frankly envied. When the police placed me with Kyle's parents after I was returned to the bear community, I'd just sat in my room, my back pressed against the wall, not coming out for days. My adoptive parents had to coax me out like a wild animal, and Kyle was there, staring wide eyed at his new ‘brother.' Not Imogen. She chatted away with the mothers and smiled for the children before helping everyone get their food.

But not her own.

Every minute she went without eating forced my fangs to grind together.

"Too quickly," I growled. "She thinks she needs to prove herself to be here, to serve others to deserve a place here. That if she isn't paying her way somehow, we'll…"

I didn't finish that sentence. I couldn't, striding forward, moving between the crowds.

"These are damn good burgers."

Slate, one of the other bear shifters that worked here said, stepping into my path, speaking with his mouth half full.

"They are," I agreed, even though I hadn't eaten one yet. "And I need to make sure my mate has one."

His eyes widened and he looked over his shoulder, seeing Imogen in quite a different light now. He moved aside so I didn't have to force him to get out of my way. People seemed to sense my mood, the crowds parting, until I was standing in front of Imogen.

"Asher…" She was trying so hard to be pleasant and useful, but that mask seemed to shatter the moment she was near me. I almost smiled to see the real her rise, if only for a second. Eyes wide and staring, her lips parted and her tongue flicked over the bottom, making me wonder. Did she see that hot, desperate, aching dream playing out over and over, the same way I did every time we got close? I liked to think she did. But she recovered all too quickly, putting on a professional smile before clacking her tongs. "Did you want a burger?"

"Yes." I would say that to anything she might have to offer, that I knew, but that wasn't what I meant right now.

"Veggie, beef, chicken, or fish?" she asked.

"What would you have?"

My tone was too low, the bear too close, but she just nodded in response.

"Beef burgers are a classic, and we got this special brisket mix Kyle was harping on about." She picked up a bun and split it, putting it on the plate. "Salad? Mayo? Sauce?"

"Make it the way you would if you made it for yourself," I replied.

"Ohh-kay."

One wary look my way and she went to work, assembling the burger only to present it to me. I took the plate, then walked around the trestle table to her side, slowing my steps when she took one backwards.

"Go and sit down." That came out like an order, not a suggestion and I instantly regretted that while realising I also didn't want her to refuse. "Eat."

"But you're paying me?—"

"To do as I ask." I sucked in a breath, then another, my brain conjuring more and more ways I could get her to do exactly what I wanted for our mutual pleasure, but that impulse was shoved to one side. "I don't expect you to be everyone's personal chef. This is a barbeque. People are enjoying themselves." I turned around to confirm that. "And you should too."

"Oh."

I don't think I'd ever seen my mate surprised, and I sucked in her expression right now. The flush in her cheeks, her mouth forming a perfect ‘O.' Imogen recovered quickly though, nodding and then pulling away from the table.

"Well done." My sister had followed me and now appeared at my shoulder, using the same tongs to make herself a burger. "You'll have to watch out for her. She's going to want to lose herself in work, in staying busy, to avoid what's coming."

I stared into my sister's eyes, neither of us needing to explain what she meant. The price all abuse victims seemed to pay. Once you were safe, free of the people causing you pain, that's when the real work began. Like aftershocks from an earthquake, emotions that weren't safe to feel while you were in immediate danger came rushing up, sucking all the relief, the pleasure, everything good away.

"I'll make sure she has all the support she needs," I told Ursula, "but I can't make her sit with her feelings."

"No." Her wry smile contained a wealth of experience, of pain I knew well. "I don't suppose you can. Hurt people gotta hurt in only the way they can." I watched her gaze sharpen. "Speaking of which, don't go hunting Phil Jackson down."

I let out an involuntary snort at that. The impulse was like a snake in my guts, roiling, roiling, growing more and more venomous by the second. I hated that there were witnesses when I had the arsehole in hand that night in the car park. The need to break that fuckhead's neck was pressing down on me so hard. I hated that I listened to the guard, to my sleuth mates, and let Phil get away, but nothing, I mean nothing, filled me with rage more than the moment I walked into that apartment.

Imogen had just started to build something for herself. The place was old, crusty, and in need of updating back in the 80s, let alone now, but like so many people, she made the most of what she had. Each book she slotted into place, each cupboard she filled, was a ritual claiming of the space. It was hers and hers alone, and no one could take that from her.

Except he did.

Fucking arsehole, I was sure I know why Phil had staged this attack. With the bullshit he pulled, he'd contravened the conditions of his bail and would spend the months before his trial in jail. In his tiny little brain, he thought if he could silence Imogen, that problem would go away.

Except we would never allow that to happen.

He made a mistake, hurting Mary and Scott, but I could've pursued justice for them through the courts if he just kept his head down. He made another mistake menacing my mate, not once, but twice. Each time, someone stepped in before something happened, and that was all I needed to keep the bear back.

So in his mind and mine, I just needed to make sure I found Phil when no one else was around to stop me from making clear his actions had consequences he wouldn't survive.

"Why would I do that?" I asked, busying myself with making my own burger. It was an effort to get me to engage with food, but suddenly the smell of the grilled meat was too tempting to resist. My sister made a rude noise.

"Because you're you." She turned to face me while I spent undue time picking out the perfect lettuce leaf to put on my bread roll. "Because the wheels of justice are too slow, too flawed for you."

"That's because they are," I replied mildly.

"Because this is personal." That note in her voice had me facing her. "And when your heart's involved, your brain stops working."

I kept my bear down all the time, but sometimes I'd let him ease forward, stare through my eyes, often when dealing with abusive fucks. In some ways that's what I saw now. Not a bear. Ursula, like most women, did not have a beast to call forth, but instead she had this. Pain, so much pain, the sight of it frankly shocking me. She saw Elodie regularly. She trained religiously in the gym. She worked all day, every day helping people get through that tricky transition from victim to survivor. Yet as I stared back, I saw that she was still very much on that journey.

"Urs—"

"You'll burn the world down for those you love." Her finger buried itself in my chest. "That's a wildly romantic idea, but…" Her smile was like the loose one you found on a bleached skull. "But when the ashes settle, what does she have? A whole lot of destruction." My sister pulled away then, clapping me on the shoulder before joining the crowds. "You know what you need to do."

I did.

I loved Ursula. I'd killed a man to stop him from hurting her, so that was never in doubt, but she didn't know. There was something inside me, something dark as night, twice as dark as any twisted shit that lived inside Phil. It knew the way a man's screams cut off the moment you tore him apart, the sound of sinew snapping. It rose now.

Phil Jackson made a terrible, terrible mistake.

I would've been content to see him go to jail, but by invading Imogen's space, I needed a more permanent solution. Tonight I'd track him down, drag him out to the same remote national park he and his buddies had been partying at, and then I'd take fur. He'd see exactly what happened when a man faced down a fucking bear.

At that, I took a bite, the taste feeling like it exploded on my tongue. I rarely bothered with food because it all tasted like cardboard to me, but not this. Crafted by my mate's hands, I caught every herb, every seasoning she'd added. My eyes found her across the courtyard and saw that she was sitting down next to Lucas. I watched the way she smiled and then took another bite of her food, hungry for the details, right up until she smiled. Brighter than the sun and twice as glorious, I knew. I'd do anything to see Imogen smile like that more often.

Including killing Phil Jackson.

I looked down in surprise to see I'd eaten all my food, so I got up to shove the paper plate into the bin. The sun was starting to set, so it was go time. I walked back inside, returning to my room and fishing out a key only I had. It opened a small anteroom where all the tools I didn't want anyone else to find were kept. Dark-blue clothes that were form fitting and hard to see in the dark. A long knife with a cunning edge. A pistol with a silencer attached. As I started to strip down and get dressed, I heard a sharp knock on the door. Staying perfectly still, I assumed whoever it was would go away after a bit.

How wrong I was.

The sensor light flickered, making clear it was one of my sleuth mates, and in they both walked.

"Going somewhere?" Kyle asked as Lucas crossed his arms.

"Not anywhere you want to go," I replied.

"To kill Phil Jackson?" Kyle's slow smile, that cocky look, made clear he didn't know anything about what he was talking about. He shared a long look with Lucas, both of them staring me down when they turned to face me. "I think otherwise… brother."