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Bunny hung up the phone, reared back, and kicked Julian s door in. He found
the Bear passed out on the floor.
His hair was completely white.
Bunny ran his hands over his bald head. What the fuck did this mean? Julian s
hair should have gone back to black by now. Shit. He picked Julian up and put
him on the sofa. He summoned Bear and settled into the healing spiral. Down he
went, deep into Julian s body, looking for any signs of trauma. A side effect would
be the partial healing of his own tattoo, but that couldn t be helped. He could
only hope that it didn t scar and ruin his mate s beautiful work.
Nothing. Julian was completely healthy and thoroughly unconscious.
He pulled himself back up the healing path, wondering what the hell he should
do now. Wait. He peered closer at Julian s head and huffed out a relieved breath.
Black strands were slowly appearing among the white. The Spirit Bear would be
fine.
He sat back and waited for Gabe to arrive.
Hell. What did you do, rip the door of the hinges?
Speak of the devil. Bunny grimaced. Dude in distress, remember? I kicked it in.
Gabe whistled. I didn t think Bears were that strong.
Black Bears aren t, Bunny muttered. Were Julian s lashes fluttering?
Right. Grizzly. I keep forgetting that. Gabe propped the broken door in the
opening and made his way to the sofa. How is he?
Waking up, I think.
Why is his hair white?
He s Kermode, remember? Their hair does this when they re healing.
Or spirit-walking, Julian groaned. His eyes opened and Bunny gasped. The
man s normally deep brown eyes were a steely gray. Chloe s awake.
Yeah. I got the call. The family asked me to come check on you when you didn t
answer your phone.
Julian grimaced. Told them I needed lots of privacy.
In this family? You ll be lucky if you get to take a piss alone from now on.
Julian frowned. I m not family.
Gabe began to laugh. That s what you think. I just came from the hospital. Trust
me, you ve been informally adopted. By a bunch of grizzlies, no less.
Julian s eyes went wide. Grizzlies? He stared at Bunny, his expression a
mixture of shock and wicked amusement. Does Gary know you re a grizzly?
Bunny smirked. Not yet.
Besides, the ones you really need to worry about are the Foxes, Gabe added.
They re sneaky. You ll never see them coming.
Now it was Bunny s turn to laugh. Foxes were notoriously good at hiding their
scent. Gabe was right. Julian wouldn t know what hit him if that half of the
family decided to show up on his doorstep. Uncle Ray, Aunt Laura, Chloe, Tiffany
and Heather could be formidable when they banded together. God help him if
those four decided Julian needed nursing.
Julian shivered. Why is it so cold in here? He looked over at his door and
frowned. What the hell happened to my door?
Bunny rolled his eyes. Gabe really needed to stop laughing.
So she s awake?
Yup.
Julian woke her?
Tabby sighed. Cyn had been up her ass all morning. Yup.
And Bunny said he s fine?
She eyed her boss. Julian s fine, just very tired. And what an understatement
that was. Alex told her that whatever Julian had done to help his cousin had
taken a lot out of her friend. He d stayed awake long enough to come back
completely (whatever the hell that meant) before sleeping again. Alex figured he d
sleep for at least twenty-four hours.
She. I meant she. Chloe s fine, right?
Tabby hid her face and groaned. Chloe s awake but she s not fine. She doesn t
remember who attacked her.
Crap. Cyn leaned against the countertop. What does she remember?
She says she thinks she got a phone call from a friend. She was walking to meet
the person when bam. Lights out. She woke up in the hospital last night,
wondering what the hell happened.
Shit. So it could have been Gary?
Tabby shook her head. I don t think so. Gary hasn t made a move toward anyone
but me. He d have no reason to go after her.
Does he need one? Tabby lifted her head, ready to argue the point. Cyn held up
her hand, stopping her. Hear me out. He s an asshat. He doesn t need a reason
to go after someone he sees as weaker.
How would Chloe be weaker?
She s unprotected, right? Not part of a Pack?
Tabby snorted. No Fox is part of a Pack. They live in family groups, remember?
No, because, duh, I m not a member of the furry set. Remember?
What happened, couldn t find someone to give you a bite?
Cyn glowered. Julian got to them before I did. I went to talk to Chloe s aunt like
you told me to. She turned me down.
Oh. Tabby hid her face again. It wouldn t do to laugh in Cyn s face.
She told me her adopted son would take care of it when the time was right.
Tabby s shoulders shook. She hoped her arms were muffling her laughter.
What the hell? She told me it wasn t her place to change me and that the honor
belonged to my mate.
He d probably prefer it that way, actually.
Cyn growled.
Seriously. Tabby lifted her head again and let Cyn see the evil grin on her face.
If it s anything like a mating bite then you ll want him to do it. She waggled her
eyebrows at her friend and waited for the explosion.
In his dreams! Cyn stomped toward the back of the shop. Don t think I won t
find a way around this. Fucking asshole. Thinks he can stop me, does he? She
eyed Tabby speculatively. So. Does your offer still stand?
Tabby groaned. Julian said if you become Wolf or Puma, your life will be in
danger. I can t.
Cyn growled.
Believe me, if I could, I would in a heartbeat. But I m not willing to risk your life.
If Julian s right, you could die, Cyn. Tabby shook her head. Julian was in for an
interesting time of it. Cyn had taken it into her head that Julian was holding out
on her for no good reason.
Fine, Cyn ground out between her teeth. I ll be in the back doing paperwork.
She stormed off, and Tabby knew it wouldn t be long before Cyn took matters into
her own hands.
Truthfully, Tabby didn t know why Julian was waiting to mark Cyn. Cyn was his
mate. He had to have known it for some time. So why was he insisting that they
needed to wait? Tabby had wanted to mark Alex the moment she saw him. She
couldn t imagine leaving either one of them hanging, especially now that she d
gotten a taste of him.
The bell over the front door jingled. Tabby got off her stool and turned to greet the
new customer. Hopefully the customer would take Cyn s mind off becoming a
shifter, at least until she could get Julian to explain things to Cyn personally.
Hello, Outcast.
Gary. She stepped away from the countertop, her back hitting the wall. Gary
was flanked by his two idiot bits of muscle. Fuck. He had a baseball bat in his
hands.
C mon out, Tabby. You know what we want. Give it to us and no one will get
hurt. He grinned, his fangs showing. Especially that pussy mate of yours.
She shuddered. No way was she letting Gary get his hands on her.
Tabby? Aw hell. Before Tabby could stop her, Glory stepped out from behind the
curtain. Um. Gary. What can we do for you?
She d said it just a little too loudly. Gary scowled at her before gesturing to one of
his minions. Get Cyn. I bet she s in the back.
Tabby scooted out from behind the counter. Leave them alone, Gary.
He smiled, his expression cold. Now why would I want to do that?
The two goons laughed. One of them pushed past Glory and headed into the
back.
Get your hands off me!
Tabby stiffened at the dull sound of a fist landing on flesh. She didn t know if it
was Cyn or the goon who d landed a blow. She hoped it was Cyn. If Cyn got hurt,
she had no idea what Julian would do.
Cyn was shoved through the open curtain. Gary s friend took his place next to
Gary. Tabby risked looking back. Hell, Cyn had a big red mark on her cheek.
Julian was going to flip out.
Glass shattered. Glory shrieked. Tabby turned back to Gary to find him standing
over the broken remains of their glass counter, the baseball bat stuck through
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