Tigers came out of everywhere while he made his way cautiously to Rogen. She had her mouth over the man’s neck, as well as her claws digging deeply into the man’s cheek. He noticed in an abstract way that his body armor was no match for a pissed off tiger. Thatcher’s mom came to stand by the rest of them, near the man’s head. Mom cleared her throat before speaking
“Young man, did you shoot that bear? Blink once for yes and twice for no.” He blinked once, his eyes wide with terror. “Rogen wants to know, and I’d make sure to not move when you answer me, if you thought the bear was going to attack her before you moved into his sight. Rogen, honey, why don’t you lessen your grip on his throat so he can speak to me for you.”
The man did nothing but keep his eyes wide, so mom asked him again if he thought the bear would have attacked if he’d not moved. Thatcher couldn’t tell if Rogen had done what his mom asked, but apparently she had. The man answered.
“I thought he was coming for her.” The low growl from Rogen wasn’t very encouraging. To any of them, Thatcher thought. “I might have made him attack. But I have never seen a black bear before and was worried— Holy mother fucking Christ, don’t kill me.”
“Young man, your language please.” Thatcher laughed. Here was his mom, scolding a young soldier on his language when he had a large pissed off Bengal tiger at his neck. “She wants to know if you are aware of shifters.”
“Yes, my wife is a wolf.”
Mom nodded. “Did you know if that bear was a shifter or not? Were you completely sure that he was just a bear and not some little boy’s father, a husband to someone out there that is going to wonder if her husband is coming home tonight? That’s a wonderful thought, Rogen.”
“I knew. I can tell what is what with paranormals.” Rogen let him go, but the man didn’t stand or even sit up. “I swear to you, Ms. Rogen, had that been a man, I would have only wounded him, not killed him. I swear on my own son’s life, I wouldn’t have killed him unless he harmed you.”
Rogen looked at Thatcher and made her way slowly to the house. The soldier finally sat up but didn’t stand. He looked at him, and Thatcher could see that he had no badge on and there was blood on his neck. Looking at his vest, he could see blood there too.
“I’ve upset her, haven’t I? I’m sorry, Mr. Thatcher. I was told to keep her safe at all costs, and I did.” Mom translated for Thatcher and told the young man that he’d done a good job. “You might think so, but she doesn’t. And no offense to you, sir, but she’s my boss.”
Thatcher thought the men on their property worked for Winnie, or even Donaldson. He’d not realized that she had this sort of pull. After telling his mom to tell the man to clean up and get his wounds looked at, he went to the house. Shifting, Thatcher went in search of Rogen. She was at one of the many desks working, and he sat behind her and waited.
“I want you to do something for me. Will you teach the others what a shifter looks like as opposed to what a real animal is?” He said he’d do that and asked her if she was all right. “I don’t know yet. I was willing to kill that man for shooting that bear, and I’m still pissed off that he did it. He was magnificent.”
“He was more than likely sick. Bears, black bears, do not come around humans unless they are.” She said that they were shifters. “We were, but we weren’t the only people out there. Not counting the men that work for you, there are any number of us, as humans, that go out there and walk around. He could have smelled that at any time.”
She turned to look at him, and he glanced at the screen she was working with. “I was so enthralled with him that I would have let him kill me. I have to go and talk to that man. I think I hurt him.” Thatcher said not yet. “But I did hurt him.”
“You did. But you also made him pay attention to what he was doing. Yes, he did what he had to do to keep you safe. But he also knew, which was your point. You wanted him to be aware he might have killed a person with a family. But family or not, if he had touched you, wha
t the bear got would have been nothing compared to what I would have done to him.” She nodded and looked at the monitor. “What is it you’re tracking?”
“My parents. They are being evicted from their home soon, if not already. And no, before you ask, I didn’t have anything to do with it.” She turned off the monitor. “I want you to learn how to run this down here. Perhaps not as well as I can, but you need to know how to look a person up, and also be able to zero in on them to see what they’re doing.”
“Why would I need to do that? I’m not saying I don’t want to learn—I’d very much like to see what it is you do. But why do you think I’d need to find someone?” She told him. “You want me to be able to find your parents and see if they’re on their way. Where will you be when I’m doing this?”
“Working with Jamie. Grocery store. Out to lunch. Any number of things could keep me from finding them on my own. What if, say, I’m having lunch with your mom, who has invited me several times, by the way. But if we’re having lunch and I see someone that looks like them, you can tell me if I’m full of shit or not.” He told her he’d never tell her that. “You might think it, however. Thatcher, what happens to the bear now? I mean, we can’t just leave it out there, can we?”
“No. But you’ll be happy to know that the pack has taken it off the land, and they’ll get rid of it. I’m not sure how, but there won’t be a trace of it after they’re done.” She asked him if they would eat it. “Not if he was sick, no. But they might eat a great deal of him if he wasn’t. Does that bother you?”
“It would have bothered me more if he’d just been wasted out there.” She looked back at the monitors, then back at him. “I do love you, Thatcher. I love you very much.”
“And I love you too, Rogen. And I would like to marry you. Soon.” She asked him if he wanted her money. “Do you have any? Not that it matters. I have plenty enough for both of us and Jamie. Plus, any children we might have. Would you like children?”
“Oh yes, very much so.” She went to him, sitting across his lap facing him. “Thatcher, will you take me to bed? Make love to me until the sun comes up? Or down again, I guess? I need you to make me yours.”
“Gladly.”
The sun was coming up when they were headed up the stairs. He carried her, not wanting her to wear herself out before he got the chance to. She nuzzled his neck, kissed his throat, and before they were in the bedroom, she had his skin so hot and his cock harder than he’d thought it had ever been.
~*~
Lisha was beginning to worry. It was nearly light out, and the bulldozers were all lined up at the end of their street. She had a feeling that they were going to start at nine right on the dot, but then she saw one of them back away. Maybe she was going to be able to keep her house.
The big silver camper came strolling in like it owned the place. The new truck had her wishing just once they’d had the money for something like that. But when it stopped in front of her house after turning around in the neighbor’s yard, she stepped out on the porch to see who it was.
“Jimmy? Where did you get that thing?” He told her to get in and to shut up. Knowing that they were in trouble, she moved to get the suitcases, and he finally got out to help her. “I could only find one of the set of luggage we found a while back. And there really isn’t much that we can sell off, I don’t think.”
“It doesn’t matter. Just shut up and act like this is an everyday thing for us. Just leave it all behind. You’ll understand when we get going.” Always trusting Jimmy, she got into the big truck, needing his help to climb in, then they were let out again by the big dozer and were on their way. The truck was brand new. It even smelled new. “When we get down the road, we’ll pull in someplace and I’ll show you what we got. I tell you, Lisha, people are sure stupid with their things. I never had it so easy as I did getting this rig for us.”