Jane: Big Easy Bears III Read online

  “Which is why you show up exhausted once a month.”

  “Full moon. Yeah. I’m out all night at the teddy bear picnic. But it’s not contagious. You don’t have to worry about it.”

  “Who’s worried? If I haven’t gone fluffy yet, I don’t think it’s going to happen. This explains some things but why’ve you been so edgy lately?”

  “Why? I’m debating how and when to tell someone I care about my biggest, darkest secret …”

  “Being a werebear is your darkest secret?”

  “Okay, no, but it’s the one that can do the most damage to the most amount of people if it gets out. I’m not public and I don’t want to be. I don’t know how it would affect my job. Can you imagine Carter’s reaction?”

  “You don’t have to explain, I can understand that. With all the nonsense from that stupid racist terrorist group, I wouldn’t want anyone to know if I was different either. But how do you know I’m not a werewolf or a were … tiger or something? Maybe I have my own secrets?”

  “There are no weretigers. Weres are native to Europe, hence wolves and bears. There are no tigers in Europe naturally so there are no weretigers. Besides, I’ve met most of the pack and you don’t smell like a wolf.”

  “What do I smell like?”

  “Bryce.”

  “Huh. That’s oddly comforting.”

  “You’re not freaking out?”

  “If you had told me before werebears and such had become publicly known, I think I’d have a harder time with this. It’s not contagious so you weren’t changed, and you can’t change me, right?”

  “Right. I was born a werebear. You have to be born to this.”

  “So it’s safe.”

  “I’m a bear, Bryce. I mean I’m not exactly the raging Hulk, I won’t go all furry just because someone cut me off in traffic, but I’m still a bear. When I’m a bear I know my clan but I don’t know if I’d know you. You wouldn’t walk up to a bear in the wild so you should probably avoid me while I’m furry too. At least until we can do something with the safe room and my Clan Chief can be there.”

  “Right. Okay. Don’t piss off the girlfriend, got it.”

  She smiled. “Happy wife, happy life, right?”

  “Whoa, hey, you’re not proposing, are you? We don’t have to get married just because I know about this, do we?”

  “It doesn’t matter if you go to the news and tell them you met a werebear. Everyone already knows. And you already said you’d respect my desire to keep this a secret. So why would we have to get married?”

  “Phew. Okay, because proposing after three and a half weeks seems a little strange to me.”

  She laughed. “I like you enough to trust you with this, Bryce. I’m not sure we’re forever. I – I don’t trust easy. I tend to react like a total bitch to most things.”

  “I’ve noticed. Well, we’ll have some fun and figure out the future later. I’m glad this wasn’t a huge thing.”

  “Well, thing is, that’s not quite all of it.”

  “Do you turn into an amazing dancing circus bear?”

  “No.”

  “Can I train your bear to be an amazing dancing circus bear?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, then what’s on your mind?”

  “An old friend of mine is staying at my apartment. I’m not sleeping with him. He’s a werebear. He’s from my old clan and I haven’t told my Clan Chief about it even though I should have and it’s driving me crazy.” The words tumbled out in a rush.

  “Uh, should I be jealous?”

  “No.”

  “But you have a random guy sleeping at your apartment?”

  “He’s not a random guy, he’s an old friend.”

  “For how long now?”

  “Remember that date I cancelled for the family emergency?”

  “Yeah. Are you serious? You cancelled because this guy from Quebec showed up at your apartment and you didn’t think to tell me something about it?”

  “It’s habit, okay? I’ve been alone, all on my own since I was eighteen. I’ve had this secret other life since I was twelve. Being private and closed in, that’s habit. I don’t have family. I have very few friends. I’m just trying to figure this whole thing out. I recognized that you were upset and told you everything I was keeping private. Maybe I should have said something earlier but we’ve only been dating for three weeks.”

  “I get that. I just … that’s a lot of secrets to unload on someone in one day.”

  “I can go. If you need time to think, I can go.”

  “Stay. At least stay for lunch. We’ll make fun of Carter and talk about experimental astrophysics or politics or something and later I’ll think. Okay?”

  Jane nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”

  * * *

  Jane got out of her car after work Wednesday to find Philippe waiting on the front steps of her apartment building. “Following me again?”

  “No. A Mr. Laurent Durand has arrived from Quebec.”

  The color drained from Jane’s face.

  “So you know him? He knows you and he’s telling quite the story. Remy has requested your presence at the warehouse. Now.”

  “A phone call would have sufficed.”

  “You can give me a ride back.”

  “So you’re my chaperone then? Is Remy really that concerned that I won’t show?”

  “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do. To all of us.”

  “No time to change clothes I take it?”

  “No one is going to care what you’re wearing.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You don’t know Laurent like I do. Let me run up and change.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No.”

  “Then no.”

  “Philippe, you can take those doors off their hinges and you can do the same to my apartment door. You’ll hear me if I slip out the back. There is no way I can get away from you. Let me go up to my apartment and change out of my work clothes. I’ll be down in less than five minutes. I’ll even take the stairs so I don’t get stuck in the elevator.”

  “I’ll wait in the lobby.”

  “Fine.”

  She took the stairs two at a time. Three was faster but just a little beyond her short legs. Luckily she was only on the third floor. She let herself in and put a finger to her lips before Etienne could speak.

  “Busted,” she said softly. “Stay here.”

  He nodded.

  She disappeared into her room and threw on a clean set of clothes. She ran a comb through her short hair and headed for the door.

  “Good luck,” he said under his breath.

  She nodded and was gone. She was in the lobby three and a half minutes after heading up the stairs. Philippe was waiting by the door, arms over his chest, looking every bit the bouncer. “Are you ready?”

  “No. Let’s go.”

  They drove in silence as the guilt ate away at Jane. Philippe was the closest thing to a friend she had here, at least before Bryce, the only person in the clan who seemed to appreciate her need for privacy and her witty humor. She told herself over and over that it was justified, that she had to protect Etienne, but justifications did little to soothe the guilt.

  Jules and Remy’s beat up cars were parked outside the warehouse alongside Brock’s rather fancy one and lastly a luxury model with rental plates. She wasn’t surprised Laurent had picked the fanciest car on the lot.

  “Everyone is here?” she asked in a small voice.

  “Laurent insisted this was an official clan matter and required the entire clan.”

  “Yeah,” she murmured. “Of course he did.” She sighed and got out of the car, noting how Philippe positioned himself to block her escape. “I’m not going to make you chase me,” she said.

  He didn’t respond.

  She went to the door and reached for the key pad but Jules swung the door open from the inside. He looked upset, maybe even sad, and she wanted to believe he felt bad that
she was in trouble, that he felt sympathetic. More likely he felt hurt and she was the cause of it. She looked away.

  Remy and Brock had their backs to her but turned as she came in, revealing the man they had been speaking to. Laurent Durand was tall and wiry, more like the lead in an old French romantic movie and nothing at all like the other men in the warehouse. His hair was dark, just long enough that he had to run a comb through it to keep it out of his eyes, and he had a thin dark moustache. Combined with the fine-cut suit, it made him look charming, even dashing. The charming smiled he had used on Remy and Brock and the rest of her clan shifted subtly when his gaze fell upon her, becoming smug though not quite a sneer. To sneer would have been below him, but it was implied.

  She turned her attention from him to her current Clan Chief. “Sir, you wanted to see me?”

  “It has been brought to our attention that a strange werebear has been in our territory for some time, without the permission of his Clan Chief, and without my permission.”

  Jane just waited.

  Remy sighed. “Jane, do you know the whereabouts of Etienne Dubois?”

  He could have put power in his voice, could have forced her to answer, but he hadn’t. She knew what that meant; this was her last chance before his trust in her shattered completely.

  “Yes sir, I do.”

  Mutters came from the rest of the clan.

  “And I beg from you the chance to explain,” Jane added.

  “All right. We will hear your side.”

  “Etienne came to me and asked me to keep his presence here a secret. I knew this was wrong. Even Jules ensured his father followed protocol. I protested, I really did, but he said it was crucial that his Clan Chief not know where he was. He said my old clan was in danger, that he was in danger, and that he needed somewhere to lay low until he had the evidence he needed.”

  “Evidence of what?” Brock said.

  Remy hushed him. “Tell us what happened in the order it happened, please.”

  She nodded. “I thought it would be a few days but it just stretched on and on. Every time I wanted to tell the clan about him, he had some new piece of information for me. He said he was trying to find out what happened to my parents, that their deaths weren’t an accident. They were always so careful; a part of me wanted to believe him. He said his Clan Chief was involved in whatever he was looking for, that without evidence you’d be bound by law to inform his Chief of his whereabouts and then he’d be ordered home and punished. I only got the full story out of him on Saturday. He says that Laurent Durand has ties to The Human Order and that my parents were killed because of it.”

  “What did you do at the full moon?”

  “I let him borrow my car. He went out of the city.”

  “This is a very serious accusation.”

  “Yes it is,” Laurent said. “And a baseless one. I would very much like to have words with Etienne.”

  “So would I,” Remy said. “I want to see this evidence, or at least hear his reasoning. No offense, Laurent, but perhaps the problem is not you. Perhaps someone else within your pack is framing you.” He turned to Jane and when he spoke this time she felt the power of the clan in his voice. “Jane, you will go and fetch Etienne and bring him before me.” The power vanished suddenly, though his tone of voice didn’t change. “Immediately. The evidence is important. I want to know everything he knows.”

  “Yes sir.” She bowed her head. She was bound by magic to follow his orders, but only the ones enforced by his power as chief.

  “Shall I escort her again?” Philippe asked.

  “No. She cannot disobey her purpose.”

  “I’ll return as soon as I have what you ask for,” she said. Everything was tumbling into place. He was angry with her, that much was obvious. Brock, Jules, and Philippe were too. But at the same time, Remy was concerned that there was something to Etienne’s claim. Worried enough that he was hiding something from Laurent.

  When she got to the apartment, she locked the door and turned on her computer. A moment later, Etienne came out of the bathroom. “How did it go?”

  “My Clan Chief wishes to speak with you. He wants to see the evidence you’ve gathered.”

  “I don’t have any yet, you know that.”

  “I know. But we’re running out of time. What do you have?”

  “Nothing. Not a goddam thing. I thought I could do this digitally but I can’t.”

  She stopped and stared at him. “When were you going to tell me this?”

  “I’m telling you now, Jane. The only way to get the evidence is to be in Quebec. I was emailing back and forth with another clan member, hoping they could do a little leg work for me. That’s how Laurent must have found me. But this is perfect. We can go to Quebec, now, while Laurent is here. We’d have a few hours head start on him. If you came with me, if you told the rest of the clan that you believe me, and that your Clan Chief would protect them from Laurent’s anger, maybe we could get the evidence before Laurent catches up with us.”

  “I’m in a lot of trouble already,” Jane said. Then again, Remy did say the evidence was important.

  “Marnie was getting something together for you but I had to leave before it was ready. She said it was stuff that belonged to your parents, from when Laurent sold the house.”

  Jane cursed silently. Something wasn’t right about the situation, she could feel it. It was all too perfect but she didn’t understand why or how or who to blame. She called up the airport website. “All right. I’ll look for a flight.”

  “The sooner the better,” Etienne said.

  “Here, finish booking us two tickets. I need to throw a bag together.”

  “Round trip?”

  “I don’t know how long I’ll need. I’ll book my return flight when we’re ready to come back.”

  That made him smile but she didn’t have time to stop and wonder why. She grabbed a backpack from under her bed and started throwing the bare necessities into it.

  “You did see the time on the flight you selected, right?”

  “You said the sooner the better.”

  “I hope you know a short cut to the airport or we’ll miss the flight.”

  “You have the tickets?”

  “Just printed.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 10

  They’d gotten lucky with the almost direct flight and had made the trip in just eight hours. By now her absence would have been noticed. She wasn’t sure how long Remy could stall Laurent with excuses of “we’re looking for her” but she was certain that by this evening Laurent would be on his way home.

  Etienne had flown out from the airport in Montreal so his car was still parked in the long-term lot. They paid for the parking and he navigated out of the city. For Jane nothing was familiar. It had been five years since she’d seen this city and had only driven through it a handful of times in those first eighteen years of her life. She’d been too busy looking over her shoulder for Laurent to look at her surroundings the day she left. Now she found it looked like any other city at first glance. Lights, cars, people, noise. She never imagined she’d be used to it.

  Once out of the city, he pointed them North-East on the highway. Now she started to feel nervous. Coming back here had never been a consideration before now. Staying would never be an option. Get in, get the information you need, maybe get a few keepsakes from Marnie, and get the hell out again. Get home and make things right. Because that was what this boiled down to. Etienne may have been a dear friend once, Marnie had always had her back in little ways, but New Orleans was her home now and she wasn’t leaving it unless Remy forced her out.

  At some point the countryside, broken only by the occasional gas station or small town, lulled her to sleep. She woke when the driver’s side door slammed and she looked around. They were in pack territory for sure, Marnie’s house by the look of things. Marnie had lived only a few miles down the road from Jane’s childhood home. The house was similar, small bu
t cozy rather than cramped, with the familiar woods threatening to walk right out onto the neatly kept lawn. She shivered. Somehow she had made it here without having the dream again. She always thought coming back here would trigger it.

  She stepped out of the car and stood there, staring off in the direction she knew her house to be, one hand on the top of the car, the other on the car door.

  “Jane, you all right?”

  She nodded.

  “Come on. Marnie’ll be waiting for us inside.”

  The door opened as they were climbing the low flight of steps up to the front porch and Marnie came out. She hadn’t changed at all since the last time Jane had seen her, which had been only days before her exodus. She came out with arms open wide, her dark hair pulled back by a hair tie, the errant strands held off her face with a rolled up bandana that made her look like a Rosy Riveter poster, except for the floral summer dress she wore in place of overalls. She had the shoulders and hips of a woman who worked hard and enjoyed good food and good company. And she was smiling like a sunrise.

  “Jane Gratton, for the life of my mother, may she rest in peace, I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

  If you could’ve rewound time by even five minutes and paused it long enough to ask Jane what she expected by way of welcome, she wouldn’t have had an answer but as Marnie enveloped her in the first real, honest, tight, hug she’d had in years, she wasn’t the least bit surprised.

  “Hello, Marnie.”

  “Well, at least you’ve enough sense not to Mrs. Henzel me. Etienne texted from the airport so I have a bed all made up for you, and dinner too. Come in. Etienne, you too.”

  “I’ll just grab her bag,” he said. “I’ll be inside in a minute. I’ve been cooped up for half a day.”

  “All right, but I’m not waiting the food for you.”

  “Understood.”

  “He’s a good kid,” Marnie said as she ushered Jane inside. The door closed behind them, affording them some privacy. “Weren’t the two of you an item at one point?”

  “More out of necessity, I think. There was no one else my age.”

  “And now?”

  Jane looked away. “I don’t know. I left so suddenly to come here.”