Page 63 of My Unbearable Mate

This was the first time he’d put me in charge, and I wanted to make him proud. The company had grown bigger than the two of us could have ever imagined. But still, walking into the office felt like I was about to get busted for skipping class. Clover’s energy changed too, her nerves evident with her shaky breath.

Barrett was at his desk, his gaze fixed on his laptop screen.

“Sorry I’m late. Had a little incident I had to take care of.” I held up my arm with the arm cast.

Barrett’s eyes widened as he looked up. “So it is true.”

I laughed. “I’m not answering that until you elaborate.”

“I missed you, man.” He rose from his chair and clapped his hand on my shoulder. “First, tell me what you did to the other guy.”

“He kicked his ass, obviously.” Clover held her hand out. “Hi, you must be Barrett. I’ve heard so much about you. How was your mate moon?”

“It was fantastic. Thanks for asking.” Barrett grinned. “So you’re the one with the hot car that Bellamy dropped everything to save from a ghost bear cult clan in the middle of the forest.”

“I take it you talked to Beau.” I groaned.

“To hear him tell it, you left him in charge of the whole operation while you went to woo your mate.” Barrett sized up Clover. “So far, I’m not detecting the lie.”

“That wasn’t exactly how it happened,” Clover said before I had a chance to speak. “First, I asked him to help me, and he sent me packing. Then I got abducted.”

“This is Clover,” I said, most likely in a futile attempt to regain control of this situation. “And that’s a loose interpretation of the truth. From everyone. The case didn’t seem like something we’d take, until Clover went missing, and things got more interesting from there.”

“Can’t wait to hear the details,” Barrett said. “Since it looks like you’re catching up with me, Brad’s case came to a resolution last night, and to hear Beau tell it, you left him in charge of things.”

“I did make him temporary second-in-command to give him a chance to step up. Everyone was great. They picked up the slack when this case took some unexpected twists.”

“I might have another one. A woman came in looking for you. She said you’d know what this was about”—Barrett picked a Post-it note and squinted at it— “Does the name Alba Lynwood mean anything to you?”

Clover’s expression had to mirror mine, with her eyes wide and mouth open.

“No fucking way,” I said under my breath as I reached for the note.

Barrett narrowed his gaze. “Care to elaborate?”

“She’s one of the ghost bears!” Clover exclaimed. “The one who I think might have spelled me in the middle of the woods. What happened? What did she say? Tell us everything, including what she looked like so we can confirm it’s the same person.”

“Older woman. Gray hair in a grandmotherly bun.” Barrett shrugged. “She wore a long red dress that seemed kind of bohemian. I was pretty sure she was a shifter, but there was something strange about her energy.”

Clover gasped. “She might have spelled you.”

“Do you feel any different since she was here?” I asked.

“What the fuck are you two talking about?”

“The ghost bear cult clan. She’s their healer,” Clover said, and then let out an exasperated sigh when none of the what the fuck faded from Barrett’s expression. “We’re pretty sure Alba Lynwood is my Nana’s rival. Which would make perfect sense, but as far as we know, Alba’s been dead for decades.”

I pulled my laptop out of my bag and set it up on Barrett’s desk. The family tree research was still in my browser history, and I pulled it up quickly. “When I found Clover in the forest, she was alone, but she said that she was taken by bears, and they shared their names.” I tapped the screen where the clan tree had been forever fractured. “You can see here that they have a clear link to her grandmother. This Anders, who should’ve claimed her grandmother, has also ordered a motorcycle from Choppers by Lowe, that briefly went missing. But unless there’s an extreme coincidence that another person with the same name is in Granger Falls, or we’re dealing with ghosts.”

Barrett whistled low. “Alba seemed pretty real to me.”

“Right?” Clover said excitedly and then recounted what happened to her for my boss. I listened carefully, making sure the details of the story didn’t change since she told them to me. Not that I didn’t trust her, but if she’d been spelled, it could’ve messed with her memory. Every detail was the exact same. “The camp seemed like it was fully operational, but Bellamy said it was abandoned when he found me, no sign of other bears.”

Barrett ran his hand over his beard like he often did when he was thinking a case through. “If they’re long dead and they’re connected to your grandmother…”

“Yeah, we questioned that too,” I said. “Shirley’s date of birth on this document makes her much older than she claims to be.”

“Nana would never tell us how old she was.” Clover shook her head. “All she would say was that women blossomed as they got older.”

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