Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Asher

"Mama Lisica has sent her boys to help?" I drawled as three red-haired men approached. Mama was the matriarch of one of the biggest fox shifter clans in the city. Rye nodded, shooting me a sly smile.

"Anything for the good people of Bear Paw Security."

"For a price," I replied, not getting sucked in by his bullshit for a second.

"Always." Todd, his cousin, held his hands out from his sides. "You know how this shit works." He glanced up at the apartment building. "You want someone watched discreetly and our animals are the best for the job. So, who're we watching? Some scumbag who roughed up his wife? A fucked up stalker?"

"My fated mate."

It felt weird saying that, like I was standing before them naked or something. Shit, being naked would feel less vulnerable than this. Shifters were less fazed by nudity, having to move from skin to fur at short notice, but this… I stared each man in the eyes, waiting for the smart comments to come, but Rye just nodded.

"Fated mate?" Wyatt was the quieter one of this skulk, and his eyes darted from one of his cousins to the next. "We need?—"

"I know." Rye's shit-eating grin was gone and something real replaced it. "Your mate is in danger? There'll be no charge for this. I'll square it with my grandmother." He shook his head slowly. "Maybe one day we'll need your services. You'll owe us a favour instead."

I hated getting into any deal where everything wasn't spelled out, but there was something in Rye's, in all of their eyes that had me nodding.

"OK."

"So who're we looking out for?" Todd asked, some of his usual cocky bullshit back in his gaze. "Jealous boyfriend? A competitor you wanna take out? For a real big favour, we could ‘remove' him for you."

I wanted to think that whoever treated Imogen like that would be no threat, but I knew. That look of horror, not new or fresh, but ongoing and soul destroying, that came into her eyes when she walked into that place. She'd experienced it over and over until it became normal for her. I was willing to bet she felt both completely elated and yet also a strange kind of free-floating anxiety upstairs in her new apartment. She'd escaped him and the dump that they shared, but the scars would remain.

"Bears don't off their rivals," I snapped, and that had Todd grinning. "I just need to know if anyone is coming around, sniffing at her door. One of my guys will be here, but?—"

"We can be places you can't," Rye replied, and with a sigh he took fur, a pile of leather and cashmere was left where a man once was, a fox sitting in the middle of it.

"Always ditching his clothes, like these don't cost a fucking mint," Todd sighed, picking them up and shoving the lot of them into Wyatt's arms. The other man frowned, eyes narrowing, but he took them over to their car. "Don't worry." He shot me a long look and there was more things in there than I understood, but I wasn't about to go digging. "We'll keep an eye on your girl. Do it in shifts and report back to Ursula?—"

"Me." Now I was really hanging my arse out for everyone to see. "You contact me. I'll give you a number that you need to use if you see anyone or anything weird happening around here. A guy stands too long outside her door? Call me. Someone talks to her too much on the stairs? Call me. If?—"

"Someone breathes too close, gets too near to the one woman you think of as yours." Todd tried for a broad grin, but I saw the pain there, one that hadn't existed before now. "We know."

"You—"

"Found our fated mate?" Todd raked his fingers through his spiked hair. "Yeah, we did."

"Not that the process of convincing her to be ours is going all that well." Wyatt shot his skulk mate a dark look. "Thanks to you."

"No one's ever accused me of being slow on the uptake," Todd said to me. "We'll make sure your girl is kept safe. Gimme that number."

I inputted a private number into his phone, one given out only to my inner circle, before pulling away. Todd might want to engage in chit chat, but she called. I took the stairs two at a time, the bear's strength powering my legs. Closer, nearer, he was pushing hard for that.

Making me wonder how he'd cope when we had to leave Imogen behind.

My claws pricked through my fingers, clacking on the stairway railing as I reached her floor, but with a flick, I dismissed them. We had to wait, be patient, I told the bear in soothing tones, hoping that he'd get on board. I felt him grab at the idea in a way that made sense to him. Tracking prey, scenting a mate and coming to her when she was receptive, he understood a hunt.

Just not one where we would willingly allow our mate to slip free of our paws if that's what she needed.

As I let myself back into her apartment, I knew that was an option that had to be on the table. Kyle was helping her make her bed, something that had Imogen watching in disbelief as he smoothed the wrinkles from the sheets as Lucas walked around, camera in hand, doing a security audit. He'd have a plan to secure the place on my desk by morning, an order of all the different components necessary arriving expedited by the afternoon. But me? I just walked into the bedroom, imagining a million other scenarios.

Those sheets, that bed… When she got to know us, trust us, feel safe in letting us get close, we'd mess it all up in the most distracting way. My dick started to thicken at the thought of it. It was just the mating impulse right now, but I felt my cheeks flush at that thought. Imogen had been through hell tonight and I was what? Imagining mating her? I shook my head, looking up and finding her eyes on me.

"Everything's been brought up so you should be set for the night. Was there anything else you needed?"

Me, I wanted her to say, so badly I could almost taste it, but I forced myself to stay professional.

"No." She snorted, hands rising and falling. "You've already done so much."

"Then let us do one more thing." I turned in surprise to see Lucas walk in, staring openly. He was usually a lot quieter, reserved with those he didn't know. "The most dangerous time for a woman when she leaves her partner is the first few weeks."

Kyle looked up from the bed, shooting him a meaningful look, obviously not wanting to scare Imogen.

But maybe she needed to be.

We'd seen it over and over, women thinking they were safe now, only to be faced by the rage of their abusers for daring to think they could slip from their iron grip.

"We usually station someone outside on the road," Lucas continued

"Like a stakeout?" Imogen said, glancing at each of us. "I can't ask you to do that."

"Good, because you don't have to." I was staring, and that no doubt was making her feel uncomfortable, but I couldn't seem to stop. "We're not offering, we're insisting. You won't see hide nor hair of us. One of us will be downstairs in the car, so if you need anything, anything at all, we'll be right here to help."

She was going to say no. I could see it in the furtive twitch of her hands, as if she was going to wave us away, but I wanted, needed her to push past it. Push past the feeling that she had to keep everyone at arm's length because of her shame, that she feared their help, lest they find out what had happened to her.

But none of it was her fault.

I wanted, needed her to hear that, but it was too soon. In some ways, abuse was like a cult. It sucked you in via that need for human connection, and when your abuser had you right where they wanted you, they visited every kind of hell on you they thought they could get away with.

"OK." Two letters, two syllables, but I couldn't have been prouder of Imogen if I tried. She nodded, as if to reconcile herself with her response, and then forged on. "Yeah, if you're cool with that." Were we cool with that? It was the only bargain we could make with our bears to get us walking out the door. She smiled then, really smiled and god, she was beautiful. "I'll bring whoever's here a coffee in the morning."

"White with one sugar, please."

Lucas was like another man. He didn't push himself forward and struggled to talk to women a lot of the times, but not now. My sleuth mate was a picture of confidence and I loved that on him. They shared a shy smile and then we headed out.

"Lock the door behind you."

I stared at Imogen through a crack in her front door and watched her nod, listening to the sound of the barrel engaging before turning to run down the stairs.

"We're replacing that door," Kyle said once we were one flight down.

"And installing cameras, motion sensors, and an alarm system."

"You can put the order in while you're watching Imogen's place," I told Lucas, right before I grabbed out my phone.

"Ready for a pick up?" Ursula asked after one ring.

"How'd you know?"

"There's no way you'd leave a girl that's just moved out of her abuser's house alone on her first night, but your fated mate?"

"Worked that out, did you?"

"That strangled sound, like your balls were in your throat? Yeah, got that loud and clear." I could hear her smile in her voice. "I've got someone on stand-by. Pick up is in ten."

"Stay focussed," I told Lucas. "Don't go up there unless something happens."

"But don't be afraid to if it does," Kyle added before looking up and staring at Imogen's window. "Actually, maybe call us either way." He shook his head slowly. "We didn't get to let the bears out, and mine is going mad right now at the thought of leaving here."

"There's somewhere we can go." I reached over and squeezed Kyle's shoulder after passing Lucas the car keys, right as our driver arrived.

"Hey, boss man!" Both Kyle and I groaned as a familiar face poked out of the window. Kenny was one of the kids we'd helped out, all grown up and driving taxis now. "Where are we off to?"

I finally allowed myself to look up at that window myself. The light that seeped past the curtains, the vague flicker as someone moved behind it, I created whole stories in my head to explain what was happening in there, but wouldn't know for real, not for some time.

"The zoo," I replied. "Take us to the zoo, Kenny."