Chapter 3

Chloe couldn’t believe it. She was walking down the street with her mate, her hand held tightly in his. The quick little glances he kept sending her, as if he expected her to run if he loosened his grip, were oddly reassuring. He was making it clear he wanted her right where she was.

Chloe blew out a breath and tried to steady herself. She was so nervous she was afraid she might not be able to speak, and her left hand kept twitching uncontrollably.

“How’s the speech therapy going?”

Chloe startled. They’d been walking in silence for so long she’d sort of expected it to continue that way. “I’m trying to burn to slow my beach down, but it’s harder than it creams.” She sighed wearily, wondering how Jim would take her garbled speech.

“Take your time. I won’t rush you.” Another quick glance. “Your speech is barely slurred.”

“It was glad in the beginning, but it’s gotten a slot better.”

Jim stopped and turned toward her, forcing her to halt as well. “I want you to do what your therapist said, and slow down a bit. All right? I’m listening, and I know what you’re trying to say.”

Chloe once again tried to relax. Jim smiled sympathetically, but that didn’t help at all. “I…” She frowned, the words lost for a second. Sometimes it was almost worse when she tried to concentrate. It was as if she could feel the words slipping and sliding through her mind, hiding from her. “I’m. Still. Hungry.”

Jim laughed. “You didn’t get to finish your sandwich, did you?” He

began walking again. “Let’s hit Frank’s, and we can talk some more.”

“Yay.” Chloe grimaced. Her family might put up with her weirdness, but she doubted Jim would for long.

“You don’t want to talk to me?”

She blew out a frustrated breath, the words sliding away again. “No.” She shook her head. “Yes.”

Jim lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles. While her Fox was doing the Snoopy dance, her head was telling her that at some point he’d pull away again. A one-eighty like this couldn’t last, could it?

They entered Frank’s Diner. Jim put his arm around her shoulders and began maneuvering them through the lunchtime crowd.

“My valance is fine.”

Jim blinked, but it didn’t take him very long to figure out what she was trying to say. “Oh. Balance? I know.”

“Then why are you holding me?”

He grinned sheepishly. “Because I want to.”

Before she could respond they were at a booth. She slid into the seat, and Jim took the one across from her. “So.” She picked up one of the rolled napkin and silverware thingies and began to unravel it, picking the napkin apart into tiny little pieces. “Spencer.”

He nodded. “My father had an affair with a woman living in Chicago. When she became pregnant, he abandoned her. She was a single mom with no support from him or the rest of her family, and she was too proud to go after a married father for child support. She raised Spencer on her own and did a damn fine job of it.”

“That stucks.” Chloe didn’t know what she would do if she lost her family.

“Yeah, it does. When she died, Spencer reached out to my father, who

told him to basically go to hell. When I found out about it, I decided to meet him.”

“Why?” Chloe would have done the same thing, but she wanted to hear his reasons from his own lips.

“Why did I want to meet him, or why did my dad not want to?” “You,” Chloe replied softly.

“Because he’s family.” Jim shrugged. “My mother found out about Spencer and flipped out, throwing my father out of the house. He tried for a month or so to get her to take him back, but she turned vicious, and he decided it wasn’t worth it.”

“And you were dealing with Spencer?” Chloe was careful to speak slowly, sounding out each word to herself before speaking.

“Yes. We thought he had Lou Gehrig’s disease. Most people who have it die within three to five years due to respiratory failure. Spencer has been sick for three, so…”

The pain in Jim’s tone couldn’t be faked. “You taught he was dying.”

“I did. When the latest doctor told us it wasn’t ALS but chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, we were ecstatic.”

Chloe frowned. She’d never heard of… “What is that?”

“It’s the chronic form of Guillain-Barré syndrome, sort of. Spencer might never walk again, but we’ve caught the disease before he lost any other motor functions.”

“Ouch.” Chloe winced in sympathy. “He didn’t tell me that part.”

“The good news is that, unlike ALS, it’s not fatal. He’ll live a long, happy life with the right therapies. And he has me now, so he has family again.”

“I’m glad for him.” Chloe jumped when Jim covered her hands, stopping the destruction of the poor paper napkin. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His gaze remained kind, but his tone was firm.

“Tell you butt?” Man, her brain really seemed to like that word lately. “That I was your mate.”

“Shh.” She looked around, grateful that the other diners seemed to be immersed in their own conversations. “You can’t talk about that in public.”

“All right. Calm down.” He patted her hands and let go, sitting back in his seat. “You want a burger or something else?”

She blinked. “There’s something else?”

He laughed. “Yeah, the burgers here are the best.” When the waitress, someone Chloe had never met before, walked over to their table Jim ordered for both of them. How the man knew she liked to get the extra-thick chocolate shake along with a glass of water, she had no idea, but that’s exactly what he asked for.

“Thank. You.” Chloe smiled.

“You have conductive aphasia, right?” When she nodded, he continued. “I want you to relax. The tenser you are, the harder it is to speak using the correct words.”

“I can read and write them dine, but…” She paused, trying to spit out the word on the tip of her tongue. She couldn’t quite get it to come out, but Jim waited patiently, and eventually she was able to speak. “Talking is card sometimes, and I switch words.”

“Paraphasia.” He nodded. “I looked some of this stuff up when I realized what was going on. Took me some time, but I figured it out.”

He seemed so proud of himself for that.

“Why would you? As far as I drew you wanted nothing to do with me.”

He actually flushed. “Because you’re important to me, more than I wanted you to know. I tried to stay away, to keep you out of my mind, but I

just couldn’t.”

Ouch. That hurt, but at least he was being honest with her. “Any weakness on your left side other than your hand?”

“Go. I primp sometimes in bad weather or when I’m fired, but otherwise everything else seems fine. I’ve got some tingling in my right bland that I need to have checked out soon, though.” Chloe’s left hand was still trembling, the spastic movement outside her control. “And the aphasia is mild.”

“Do they say whether or not you’ll recover any further with more speech therapy?”

She shrugged. “Pretty sure it’s as good as it’s going to set.” “What about for your hand?”

She held it up. “Same thing.” While she’d lost some control over her motor functions, at least she could still use it to a small extent. She could hold a burger if she was careful.

Speaking of which, a plate of hot, greasy goodness was placed in front of her along with a thick, creamy shake. Another plate was placed in front of Jim, who nodded his thanks to the waitress. “Can we have two brownie sundaes for dessert?”

Chloe blinked. How in the world had he discovered her favorite dessert?

When the waitress left, Jim winked at her. “I have a weakness for chocolate and ice cream.”

She bit her lip. Sure he did. She’d seen what he ate for lunch on a regular basis. Salads with grilled chicken and light dressing, diet soda or water, and if he was really hungry he had an apple or orange for dessert. She’d worked for, and lusted after, him for quite a while. “Liar.”

“Nope. I just hide my addictions well.” He took a huge bite out of his burger, moaning in appreciation. “Besides, all those salads allow me to eat

like this for dinner.”

Chloe took a much smaller bite of her own burger, savoring the taste of well-cooked meat, melty cheese and ketchup. “S’good.”

“Mm-hm.” He wiped his lips with his napkin. Frank’s burgers were not neat food. “So. What do I need to do to get you to forgive me?”

She suddenly had a hard time swallowing. Shrugging, she took a sip of water, hoping it would loosen her tight throat.

“Are the dreams as bad for you as they’ve been for me?” She whimpered before she could stop herself.

He laughed softly. “I’ll take that as a yes.” The laughter slowly faded, a deepening hunger taking its place. “You’re stronger than I gave you credit for.” He grimaced. “Stronger than I am, that’s for sure.”

She nodded. She sure as hell was.

“Will you at least give me a chance to make it up to you?” He held up his hand before she could respond. “I know I don’t deserve it, but I’d like to try.”

She thought about that while she took another bite of burger. While she was pissed that he hadn’t come to her when he’d first discovered Spencer, in a way she could understand it. He hadn’t felt the same way she did. He hadn’t felt the pull or had to deal with the mate dreams tormenting him night after night.

Even when he’d been turned he’d done what was needed for his family first, and that was something a member of the Bunsun-Williams clan could fully understand. “Yes.”

The relief on his face was worth the courage it had taken to say that one little word. “Thank you.”

That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make him work for it, at least a little. “Don’t fake me regret it.”

His hazel eyes turned brown. “I promise.” She planned on holding him to that.

Jim waited patiently in line at the grocery store, praying he wouldn’t have to be there much longer. He had a meal to make and a brother to eat with, not to mention a phone call he was very much looking forward to. Chloe had been more than generous when she’d given him permission to try and make things right between them, and he had every intention of taking her up on that offer.

Honestly, if he were her, he would have kicked his ass to the curb. Instead, she’d offered to take things slowly, give them time to learn one another before he finally claimed her.

His Wolf wasn’t too thrilled with that, but as much as it pouted and grumbled, Jim knew it was the right way to go. He’d hurt Chloe badly, and he needed to make sure she knew that he valued her just as much as he did Spencer. If he rushed things he might never gain her full trust.

“Ahem.”

Jim rolled his eyes. Oh, joy. He recognized that voice. In fact, he’d been expecting this for a while now. “Hello, Ryan.” A tap on his shoulder had him turning. “And Alex.”

Ryan Williams and Alexander “Bunny” Bunsun stood behind him in line, wearing identical scowls. Ryan was the first to speak. “I hear you’re dating my sister.”

A snicker from the front of the line and an oh shit, dude’s dead had Alex smirking. “You have no idea how badly I’ve wanted to kick your ass.”

It was no secret that Alex was very protective of his female cousins, Chloe and Heather especially. “Chloe told you not to?”

Alex growled, while Ryan simply glared.

“Did she explain what’s been going on?” Jim pushed his cart forward as

the line moved, hoping the two weren’t planning on putting on a bloody showdown in the middle of the Super Foods.

“Something about a bastard, but I figured she was talking about you.” Ryan’s smirk was annoying. Jim had the urge to wipe it from his face, but the Grizzly could probably mutilate him with his pinky finger. While Jim could take on a human, a Grizzly Bear was a whole other matter.

Besides, even if there was a chance he could win he wouldn’t hurt Chloe’s brother. She might be willing to forgive him for a lot of things, but he doubted even she would forgive Jim for making Ryan bleed.

“She was talking about my half brother.” Jim started emptying his cart onto the conveyor belt as the person ahead of him moved forward. “My dad cheated on my mom and wound up having a son out of wedlock. Spencer is living with me now.” He wasn’t going to go into details with these two until their attitudes changed. He understood how they felt, but while Chloe was Ryan’s sister and Alex’s cousin, Spencer was his brother.

“And you think that makes what you did to Chloe okay?” Alex flexed his hands, almost making fists.

“You want to tell me what Chloe said, or do you just want to threaten me?” Jim wasn’t about to allow these two to intimidate him. They might maul him, but he’d get a few good licks in himself. Besides, he was pretty sure that if they damaged him Chloe would be on their asses like a burning rash. “Because I’m not telling you jack shit unless you back off.” While he wouldn’t get himself in trouble with Chloe by starting a fight, he sure as hell was willing to defend himself if need be.

The two exchanged an angry glance while Jim finished unloading his groceries. They spoke quietly while the cashier rang him up, then followed him out of the supermarket to his car.

“Fine. Chloe said Spencer was in a wheelchair, that he had something

wrong with his nerves.”

Jim quickly explained CIDP. “He’s got a rare inflammatory disorder that’s eating away at the myelin sheath surrounding the nerves that deliver the signals to his arms and legs. Because he went so long without a correct diagnosis, he’s wheelchair bound. It’s still better than when we thought he had Lou Gehrig’s disease or MS, though. CIDP isn’t fatal.”

The two men looked shocked.

“Worse, the sperm donor wants nothing to do with him, so I’m the only family Spencer has left.” Jim finished loading the groceries into his car and slammed the trunk shut. “So he’s agreed to move in with me while we look for a wheelchair friendly place for him to live.” Something Jim no longer had a problem with now that he knew Spencer wasn’t terminally ill. If Spencer had been dying Jim would have done his level best to give his brother the best final days possible, and that meant living with Jim for the rest of his life.

Ryan’s shoulders sagged. “Damn it. I really wanted to beat the snot out of you.”

Alex cursed softly. “Fuck. That we can understand. Family comes first.”

Ryan held out his hand. “I’m sorry I called you an overused, undersized douche-nozzle.”

Jim took it, shaking Ryan’s hand firmly. “And I’m sorry I hurt your sister. I’m going to do what I can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“Just…” Alex looked at him, and Jim could see the war going on inside him. His hazel eyes were browner than normal. Part of Alex was still pissed at him. “Talk to her from now on. Don’t leave her like that again.”

“Yeah. I don’t think you understand exactly how bad things were.” Ryan grimaced. “She was dying, and there was nothing we could do about it.”

“Wait.” Jim held up his hand as a cold chill went through him. “When I

got the call I was told she was stable and in the best possible care.” Jim watched the cousins exchange grimaces. “Seriously? Dying? Why was I told she was going to be all right?”

Alex and Ryan scowled. “Who told you that?” Alex growled.

Well, shit. “My mother.” It was right after he told her he was going to find Spencer whether she liked it or not.

The two men shared a confused look. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Alex was watching him suspiciously, as if he thought Jim was lying to him. “Aunt Laura told me she’d called and told you about Chloe.”

Jim shook his head. “Nope. I never spoke to her until I got there and Chloe was already awake.”

“What the fuck, man?” Alex looked confused as hell.

Jim shrugged. “Maybe something got confused?” God, please let it be that and not my mother being a bitch. “I know your aunt was upset. It’s possible my mother just didn’t understand what she was being told.” A remote possibility, it was true, but still there. He refused to believe his mother had lied to him on purpose.

Ryan shot him a sharp look. “You kept telling her she was too young for you.”

“She is.” Jim still couldn’t get over the age difference, but he’d have to. There was ten years between them, and she’d practically been a baby when he first met her. “When I visited her in the hospital no one told me how bad she’d been.” She’d been bruised, battered, scared and scarred, but she’d been awake. Her green eyes had glowed when she’d first seen him, dulling when he told her that they couldn’t be together.

Fuck. If he’d known then what he knew now, he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from being with her. As it was, he’d been so torn between his duty to Spencer and his desire for Chloe that he’d become a bear to live

with.

“If it weren’t for Julian, she would be dead.” Jim almost howled out loud.

The cousins exchanged another, unreadable glance. “Speaking of Julian…”

“You might want to have a little chat with him.” Ryan cleared his throat. “The two of them have a…connection most other shifters don’t.”

Connection? Oh, Jim’s Wolf didn’t like the sound of that. Not one little bit. It didn’t matter boo-squat to him that Julian DuCharme was madly in love with his mate, Cynthia Reyes. He squinted at the two men, noting how uncomfortable they looked all of a sudden. “What kind of connection?”

Ryan zipped his lips as Alex shook his head and held up his hands. “Nuh-uh. Talk to Super Bear. Or better yet, Chloe. Let them explain it.”

“I’m not even sure I could if I tried.” Ryan frowned, looking confused. “It’s not a mate bond, but it’s really close.”

Jim surprised himself with a loud, animalistic snarl. The world lost color as his eyes shifted, the reds and greens of the parking lot turning yellow and brown. Anyone with a mate-like connection to Chloe that Jim didn’t have deserved pain.

Ryan wagged his finger at him. “Now you know how she felt whenever she saw you with another woman.”

Jim took a deep breath, trying to calm his Wolf. “I haven’t been on a date in over a year.”

“Bullshit,” Alex coughed into his hand.

“Seriously. The one time you all saw me out I was with a colleague, someone I was trying to lure into my practice. Remember Doc Klein?” He waited until they both nodded. “He retired six months ago. I just managed to replace him.” It was one of the many reasons he’d been so swamped.

He’d had to take on not only his own patients, but Doc Klein’s as well. “He had that massive heart attack and was forced to take early retirement.”

From the expression on their faces they hadn’t known that little tidbit. Neither of them owned pets, and they’d been busy with their own personal issues. “No wonder you’ve been unavailable,” Alex muttered.

“And I wasn’t able to talk to anyone about any of this, not even Emma. Between my parents, Spencer’s illness, and Doc Klein? I was fucking swamped. Then I get the whole fur-faced thing plopped on top of that, and we’re lucky I’m not in a hug-me jacket humming ‘Psycho Chicken’.”

“You still need to…psycho what?” Ryan tilted his head. “There’s a song called ‘Psycho Chicken’?” He turned to Alex. “Why haven’t I heard of this?”

Alex grunted, ignoring his insane cousin. “You still need to make time for Chloe.”

Ryan was glaring again, but there was a little more sympathy in his gaze too.

“I plan on it.”

“Good.” Ryan held out his hand. “Make sure you talk to Julian before you confront Chloe about the bond they have. He’ll be able to explain it better than we can.”

“And ask Cyn how she feels about it.” Alex took his hand next. “She’s in the same position you are, so she’ll be able to give you a little more insight on how your Wolf will react when the two of them connect.”

The more Jim heard about this the less he liked it. He was definitely going to have to speak to Julian and Cyn, preferably before he spoke to Chloe. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Good.” Ryan looked relieved, but Alex still looked a bit worried. “Chloe won’t admit it but I know she’s concerned about how you’ll react to

her bond along with everything else that’s wrong with her.”

“I didn’t leave her alone because she has trouble talking. I was taking care of a terminally ill brother.” Jim wanted that clear right from the start. “Besides, I knew nothing about shifters and mates. If I had, things might have been different.” If Chloe had been up front with him, he would have… Hell, he would have freaked the fuck out, but he wasn’t completely unreasonable. Once he’d seen her shift he would have believed her. The undeniable draw toward her would have been explained. The need to

simply breathe the same air as her would have made perfect sense.

“Would they?” Alex was watching him, his expression skeptical. “I’ve seen what happens when humans find out about us. Some of them accept it just fine, but most run as far and as fast as they can.”

“Not from Chloe, I wouldn’t have.” Not ever.

“You already did.” Ryan patted him on the shoulder. “But at least you’re not running anymore, right?”

“Right.” Jim rubbed his shoulder once Ryan lifted his gigantic, fifty- pound paw off of it. What the fuck did the Bunsun-Williamses feed their kids? Stainless steel Wheaties?

“By the way, does the Curana know now what was going on?” Alex glanced at his watch, frowning when he saw the time.

“I introduced Spence to Chloe and Emma at the same time. We stopped by Wallflowers and they bonded over tea and my assholeness.”

Alex chuckled. “Good. I need to go. Tabby’s expecting me. She’s got a doctor’s appointment.” Alex shook Jim’s hand again. “We’re watching you.”

Aw, that hit him right in the feels.

“Ditto.” Ryan shook hands too. “I need to call Glory and let her know we’re on our way back.” Already he’d pulled his cell phone from his

pocket, a worried expression on his face.

“How are the panic attacks?” Glory had relapsed after being shot, the panic attacks that she’d suffered through in her late teens returning with a vengeance. Chloe told him she was doing better, but he wanted to hear it from Ryan as well.

“She’s doing better, but it will take time to get them back under control.” Alex was already striding toward his car. “We’ll see you at the family dinner on Sunday.”

Jim blinked. They would? “Okay.”

“Bring Spencer.” Ryan smiled, his phone to his ear as he followed after Alex. “Hey, SG. We’re on our way.”

Jim shook his head. Family dinner, huh? Maybe he was closer to being accepted by the Bear and Fox clan than he’d thought.

With that small hope winging through him Jim took off. He’d make Spencer’s dinner, then go pick his mate up for their first real date.

It was a going to be a good day.