“What do I do? There are people who aren’t getting help because Jamie has his head up his ass.” Jules flopped down in the turquoise chair by the window and watched the cars go by.
They’d kept the old chairs but had them reupholstered to match the new gray, turquoise and black color scheme. She liked the new color scheme even more than the aqua color of her old shop. It was soothing, yet modern. Tabby had talked them into buying a totally awesome chaise lounge in smoky gray that Glory had declared hers and a lighter gray sofa that Cyn had fallen into and in love with all at the same moment. The curtains at the window were white and black, in a modern floral print that Cyn wanted in her house.
Hell, even the floors here were nicer, a gorgeous dark oak that had sold her on the shop even without the added incentive of an awesome landlady.
“You’re a Spirit Bear. If the Pride or Pack needs help, they can come to you. Otherwise, let the humans find a new human doc to deal with.” Jamie’s practice had been closed by the Howard family shortly before he woke up. He’d been in the coma for six weeks before waking up, raging and crying. He’d torn up his hospital room before being sedated. There was no way he was in any condition to deal with patients. “We could also have the shifters go to Doc Woods.”
He rolled his eyes. “Jim Woods is a veterinarian, not a doctor.”
“See? Perfect.”
He snorted out a laugh, but it didn’t last long. Julian looked pensive, never a good thing with her mate. He worried far too much in her estimation. “What do I do? If Immigration finds out I’m not working I could be deported back to Canada.”
Cyn shrugged. “If that happens, I’ll open a parlor in Manitoba.”
“British Columbia.” He turned and stared at her, stunned. “You’d go back with me?”
Was he really that stupid? “I can’t believe you just asked me that.” She’d follow her mate to hell. It was an odd feeling for someone who’d never wanted to be tied down to someone else’s whims, but the knowledge that her mate valued her happiness above all else made the decision easy.
“Your family is here. All your friends.” He stood and crossed over to her, caressing her cheek. “I can’t ask you to give that up for me.”
“Then marry me.” Really, it was a no-brainer. Even if it took three years to get his green card, he’d be able to find a job and update his visa, she was sure of it. If not, she’d see if Gabe couldn’t pull some strings with the shifter Senate and get Jules a permanent residency in the good ole US of A. Having one of the rare, elusive Spirit Bears on American soil should go a long way to getting Jules his citizenship, legally or not.
He laughed. “That sounds oddly familiar. Aren’t you the one who asked me to mate you?”
“Because you take too long to get this stuff done.” She wiggled her fingers in his face. “Make with the ring, Share Bear.” She knew he already had one. Her Jules was thorough that way.
He closed his eyes and groaned, but the laughter still lit his face. “I’m not going to ask how you found out.”
She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Ve haf our vays.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You were the one who wanted to go slow and date, remember?”
She shrugged. “I’m invoking a woman’s prerogative and changing my mind.” She wiggled her fingers again. It had irked her something fierce when the hospital nurses had tried throwing her out of Julian’s room. She’d had to bring in Gabe to lie for her and say she was Julian’s fiancée. She wasn’t going without spousal privileges again. “Ring me.”
He shook his head and pulled a ring out of his back pocket. It was gorgeous, a small but brilliant diamond flanked by emeralds, set in gold. “The diamond is my birthstone.”
She grinned, loving it. His birthday was May 30. “And the emeralds are mine.” She’d been born on April 5, and thanked God every birthday she’d been four days late.
He lifted her hand and kissed the back, his brown eyes twinkling. His dark hair had been left loose around his shoulders, just the way she liked it. “Thank you for agreeing to be mine.”
She chuckled. “Agreeing, my well-padded ass.”
He squeezed her butt and sighed happily. “I’ve come to enjoy that little extra bump in your grind.”
She smacked his arm as Tabby walked, or rather waddled, into the room. The woman was barely four months along and acted like she was about to pop any minute. “I swear, I’m going to whelp triplets.” She lowered herself into a chair with a groan. “My ankles look like Mama Leone’s meatballs.”
Julian immediately went to Tabby’s side. He’d been concerned about her swollen ankles ever since she’d first complained about them, worried about gestational diabetes, but he hadn’t found anything wrong with her when he checked her. Alex was threatening to toss all her high-heeled boots away, suspecting they were the culprit.
“Nice rock.” Cyn jumped, startled when Glory picked up Cyn’s hand from behind. “Hey, Alex. Check this out.”
Alex sauntered out from the back and grinned at Cyn’s engagement ring. “So he finally popped the question?”
Julian shook his head, his hands roaming over Tabby’s tummy bulge. “Like she’d give me the chance.” A small silver streak appeared in his hair as he worked on Tabby.
Glory dragged Cyn’s hand, and Cyn, to the front window. She held the ring up to the Christmas lights they’d been hanging. “Oh yeah. We can so add this to the decorations.”
Cyn smacked the blue-haired sprite upside the head, secretly tickled that Glory seemed to be back to her old self. Her breathing was still labored at times, but she seemed none the worse for wear. Even the fact that Ryan was constantly underfoot no longer seemed to bother her the way it had.
The bell over the front door jangled. She didn’t even need to turn to see who it was. His timing was always the same. “Hey, Ryan.”
“Cyn. Nice hand candy.”
“Thanks.” He stared at Glory with a look of longing that was quickly masked. He moved to her side, steadying her on the short ladder. “Let me get that, SG.”
Glory snorted, hanging garland in the window of their new shop. “That had better stand for Super Glory, and not that blue furred freak of nature.”
“If you say so.”
Ryan, too, was mostly recovered. He’d told them how he’d gone and tried to hunt down the man who had shot his mate, but it wasn’t until Cyn had become bait that he’d had any luck. He’d spent time roaming the woods just outside Halle, thinking the shifter was hiding there since it was the only place that Gabe hadn’t checked yet. He’d been able to keep himself from going feral by focusing on Glory. The fact that his mate wouldn’t be safe until he took out the shooter had been his saving grace.
When he’d found no sign of any stranger, he’d returned to Halle just in time to see Cyn get kidnapped. He’d quickly shifted, saving Cyn’s life. Boyd had been aiming for her head; Ryan’s intervention had knocked off his aim, giving Julian the time he needed to save her. When Julian had tried to thank him, he’d actually blushed. To him, Jules was family and, by extension, so was Cyn.
The bell jangled again, startling her. “Morning, Mrs. H.!” One of their best customers had become their landlady, renting them a place less than two blocks from their old one. Cyn had been grateful for what Evelyn Hagen had done, and promised her free tattoos whenever she wished. And Mrs. H. had no trouble with the security their Bears had insisted be added to the interior and exterior of the shop. In fact, she’d paid for it herself. Apparently Mr. H. had taken good care of his widow, because she got top-of-the-line stuff to keep “her girls” safe.
“Hey, girls and boys.” She held up a couple of large white bags. “I brought barbecue!” Mrs. H. laughed as three large men descended on her and began to beg and whine shamelessly. Cyn had the urge to hang a sign over them: Don’t feed the Bears. Mrs. H. had practically adopted all three of them, to the amusement of their mates and families. Mrs. H. had even paid Mrs. Bunsun a visit, and didn’t Cyn wish she’d been a fly on the wall for that conversation?