Chapter 72

Chapter 72

Imogen

There's nothing like coming home as a conquering hero. I wasn't, of course, since I managed to get knocked out cold in my first fight, but you'd never know it by the crowd that greeted us when we returned from the hospital. I sucked in a breath as we parked out the front of HQ, seeing the masses of people and balloons standing by the door.

"What the hell…?" I muttered.

"Everyone wanted to come and visit when you were in hospital," Kyle explained. I'd had to stay overnight with a suspected concussion. "So we made them wait until you got home."

"I made them wait," Asher said from the driver's seat. "You organised a bloody party."

"And it's not just our people that have decided to attend."

Luc's eyes slid sideways and mine followed. A massive contingent of the media begin to rush forward, microphones and cameras waving.

"Change of plans," Asher growled, turning the key in the ignition. "We're parking underneath the complex."

"No." Everyone looked back at me when I spoke. "No. They can't touch me, not when I'm with you," I told them. "And we're not hiding. We can't anymore."

Asher's fingers tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. I'm pretty sure he was regretting the hell out of his decision to out shifter kind. If he didn't at the time, some terse conversations in the hospital corridors with members of the bear community definitely made clear the damage he'd done.

"Right." His focus shifted to the other guys. "Let's get Imogen, get everyone, inside straight away. Don't stop to chat. No statements made to the press."

"Why would we do that?" Lucas drawled. "You made a pretty definitive one."

Kyle snorted, trying to stifle a smile, and that had me grinning. Lucas' lips became a thin line, every muscle twitching with the effort of trying to stay serious, so I leaned forward and kissed him. His lips softened instantly, kissing me back gently but sweetly.

"OK, don't do what I did," Asher growled, and at that, we all moved.

As he turned the car off, Lucas opened his door and then scooped me up in his arms and started hustling me towards the door. Ursula saw what was happening and moved, trying to step between us and the press, throwing her arms wide, but they weren't going to be dissuaded. A bun fight of sorts broke out as each journalist tried to get closer, but when they threatened to overwhelm Asher's sister, Kyle strode forward.

"Get back!" he roared. "This is private property and you're trespassing!"

I'm not sure who had legal jurisdiction over the footpath, but people stopped in their tracks. Cameras rose and shutters whirred as photo after photo was taken of my mate as he stood there. They didn't take one step closer, though, some primitive instinct kicking in.

Human beings have always been scared of the dark. Maybe we now knew why.

"Inside, everyone, now," Asher barked as Lucas carried me forward, my arm unable to loosen its death grip on his neck until we were all safely inside. He slapped his hand down on the button that had the shutter rattling down the minute every last member of the welcoming committee was in the foyer.

"Well, that was exciting." Gail came forward, looking a little flustered. "How are you, darling?" Her razor sharp eyes took in the bruise on my forehead. "That is still looking nasty."

Fern, Lucas' mother, stared at it as well, making me feel just a little self-conscious.

"Did you need an ice pack?" she asked, but before I could answer, I was hit with more questions. "Did they give you any pain relief?"

I sucked in a breath to answer, but Lucas got there first.

"They did and I'm going to take Imogen to my room so she can take her pills." His voice was firm, which had me staring up at him in admiration. "Maybe round up this insanity and take them into whichever room you set the party up in."

"Who said anything about a party?" Gail asked, all innocence, but he just stared her down. "Fine, it's in the dining room. There's food, drinks, some fun things for the kids?—"

"Excellent," Lucas replied. "We'll see you in there."

"You're being very take-charge right now," I said, now I was sitting on the edge of Lucas' desk. He was patting his pockets, looking for the medication I was sent home with. "It's kinda hot."

"Kinda…?" He shot me a speculative look full of heat, then shook his head as if to dislodge those thoughts. "I was going for manly and protective."

"Very manly. Very protective," I repeated dutifully.

"And very forgetful." Kyle appeared in the doorway and slapped the small packet of medication at his chest before he turned to me. "So I'm a complete idiot."

"No."

"Yes, I am. I let the mums know when we'd arrive, thinking they'd do something nice on your return, but bear mates don't do anything by halves. If there's a petting zoo and a chocolate fountain in the dining room, I won't be surprised," Kyle sighed.

"So that's my future?" I looked up at the two of them through my lashes. "That's what I'll do one day for our kids?" You could have heard a pin drop, all of the muffled noise coming from down the hall dropping away as the atmosphere thickened. "I can become one of those insufferable mums who's all in my kids business because…" I hadn't heard a peep from my own family, which tracked. "That's how much I love them."

"I hope so." Lucas smiled when I focussed on him. "I admit I think you'd be an amazing smothering mother."

"You could totally cross every one of our kids' boundaries, getting in their faces about everything," Kyle continued.

"Be overly involved." Lucas slapped his forehead. "You could be one of those boy mums that talk about never wanting their son to find a mate because that takes him away from you."

"Terrify your daughters-in-law!" Kyle grinned and that had us all smiling. "Become a just-no MIL."

My first giggle was one of those awful snorting ones, and that started them laughing, which just had me cracking up more. Was this hysterical laughter or the good kind, I wasn't completely sure, but I knew this.

We were together.

Phil was in hospital, under police protection, because he'd be facing a magistrate as soon as he was well enough and being put in jail until his trial. I knew this because Mike was already cooling his heels in a cell for his role in what happened. The bad guys had been defeated, and we'd won the day.

But…

We giggled about our potential future, because we had no idea what was coming. The world had changed overnight and we'd changed it.

The guys noted my shift in mood and then went to work. Kyle popped my pills from the blister pack and Lucas retrieved an ice cold Coke from the bar fridge in his room, so I swallowed the medication dutifully.

"There you are." Asher appeared at the doorway looking paler than normal. "Imogen, if you need rest?—?"

"I'm fine," I said with a wave of my hand.

"Then we need to confront the hordes in the dining room," he said, like he was a general facing battle, not a man with a room full of his loved ones waiting for him. "Ready?"

I slipped from the desk, even as Kyle and Lucas moved to steady me, but I didn't need it. My head hurt a bit, but I was otherwise unscathed because of them. My hand gripped Asher's and we walked down the hall together.

"There she is!" Gail said, rushing forward as soon as we entered the room.

People were all so very lovely, but I admit I was glad to be now sitting in the corner of the dining room, a table and a bunch of chairs between me and the crowds. The bear community was… intense.

And now I was one of them.

That was both lovely and overwhelming at the same time, a feeling that Asher seemed to share, sitting by my side, a quiet but watchful presence. So watchful he stiffened and then got up as Mary approached.

"I'll go grab you a drink," he told me, squeezing my hand, seeming to sense the woman wouldn't get any closer if he was there.

"Thanks," I said, staring up at him for a moment, then smiling at the woman as she crept closer.

"I…" Her voice cracked on the first word and her face fell, her hand fluttering through the air. "I…"

"Come and have a seat," I said, patting the chair next to me. "This party is insane. The kids seem to be having a ball though."

There was no petting zoo, but there was a clown who was making balloon animals for the kids. It was one of the many bear dads in a costume, I think. The kids wanted balloon bears, lots of bears, it appeared.

"I'm sorry," she said finally as she sat down, able to speak when her eyes were focussed on the crowd, not me. "Phil?—"

"Is a fucking prick," I replied.

She snorted, smiled, stopped herself from smiling, and then let out a nervous laugh.

"Yes, well, he is." Her fingers picked up a discarded serviette, worrying the paper until she forced them to still. "And what you did… I'm sorry I… I'm just sorry."

"We both are, aren't we?" I smiled as Scott got his bear balloon. He roared and waved it around in the air, his little brother laughing. "I don't know about you, Mary, but I never said yes to this when Mike asked me out." I dared a brief look her way. "I didn't say yes to being talked down to, treated like shit, being his personal maid." I twisted slightly towards her. "I don't think you did either."

"No." Her chin wobbled a little but her muscles tensed to firm it. "None of it. You'd never believe it, but when we first met…" She turned my way as well. "He was such a great guy. Attentive, interested in what I had to say." She started to laugh but that was cut off abruptly. "He used to bring me flowers every day. From his mother's garden, but still."

"Love bombing." I had a language for that now. "I don't know if it's deliberate or something some guys just do instinctively, but it's what happens. For a short period of time, they're the perfect guy."

"Long enough to suck you in." Her voice was like razor blades scraping against gravel, her eyes narrowing. "Long enough to make you love them. No, not them. The idea of them, an ideal they can't maintain, never intended to maintain, until they have you right where they want you–even at the end."

Her expression was stricken.

"I thought he was going to kill everyone in this building." Her words came faster and faster. "I thought he'd blow the place up." My hand snaked across the table and gripped her hand. "I thought…"

"I know." I gave it a squeeze. "I know. You didn't take the kids outside because you wanted to protect them, protect all of us." The look of pain in her eyes killed me, because it was completely unearned. She'd done nothing but been brave enough to leave Phil. "You're the real hero."

"I nearly got you killed!"

"No, Phil did."

My eyes went wide then, remembering my own shame. Mine was much more prosaic, the marks Mike left on me not physical, but still there. They had me shrinking back from my fated mates when they came into my life, despite the fact all they did was look after me. He conditioned me to keep away from the people who wanted to help.

So he could still hurt me.

"We aren't the ones that should be apologising." My heart lightened in ways I couldn't really quantify. "We didn't do anything wrong. We…" My gaze locked with hers. "We were the victims."

Mary gripped my hand right back then.

"We were the victims," she said with a nod and for just a moment, we sat with that idea.

Not for long, though. Mary's youngest started crying because the balloon bear had popped and she was forced to pull away and pick him up, settling her child on her hip. I watched it as if it was a TV show playing out, not reality. Everything felt a little strange, unreal. Perhaps that explained the way I jumped when Elodie came and sat down across from me.

"I know you're probably not super keen to talk to me," she said with a wry smile. "That makes sense. Not everyone likes talking to psychologists, but after what you went through, I just wanted to make sure you knew my door was always open if you want to talk."

"I do." My reply was instantaneous, blurted out without thought, and she blinked in response. "I wasn't ready before, but now…" I nodded. "Yeah, pencil me in for an appointment. I think I'm ready to talk."

Author note: reading a lot of reviews has made clear that some readers get super upset if there's any story threads left open, even for minor characters. They view this as a cliffhanger, though that's not the actual definition of one. If you're one of those people who'll have a terrible reading experience if everything isn't tied up in a neat little bow, don't read any further.