Page 65 of My Unbearable Mate

Bellamy raised a brow. “Are you stalling?”

“No. If we could find a way to measure magic, it could be really powerful.”

“You’re right, and that’s something we can explore after we solve this case. Time seems like a critical factor.” Barrett picked up his phone and swiped. “I’ll get all available bears on deck. Right now, all we need to know is if there is magic. If this isn’t the place she intended for us to meet her, we’ll need to find her.”

“It is.” I could feel it in my bones.

I hoped my bones weren’t lying.

Time moved in strange waves as Bellamy’s coworkers arrived at the office. They were all massive bears. Strong. Smart.

The energy was overwhelming.

But it wasn’t just bear bravado. It was sadness. Having something to prove. I realized all these bears had lost their clan to circumstances beyond their control.

I hadn’t, not yet. But after that last encounter, when my sister questioned me like a criminal and Edgar wanted to throw down with his bestie instead of welcoming him home? The memories turned my stomach. I used to consider myself an outsider, but now I really was.

There was no way I could go home again, after that fucked up visit. With Bellamy hurt, I’d barely had time to process what had happened. Nana had been acting sketchy ever since the locket went missing. Sage shocked me. We’d always been close, even though she was always doing the right thing, and I was the disaster sibling. We understood each other. And there was no excuse for the way Edgar treated Bellamy.

I wandered into Bellamy’s office while the guys finalized their strategy. Excitement rolled off Beau, Brad, and some of the other guys who I’d been quickly introduced to, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever these ghost bears had to tell me would make it worse.

The person I always turned to when shit hit the fan like this? Nana. This time, I couldn’t. And that hurt.

Is there any reason anyone would use those names to get your attention…Barrett’s question was doing somersaults in my head… There was only one way to find out who conjured those long-dead bears back to life.

I took a deep breath before I dug my phone out of my purse. It had managed to fall to the bottom, poetically settling under the tangle of receipts into the puddle of broken lip gloss and spare change at the bottom. After using an old parking ticket to clean the goop, I read my notifications and my eyes widened.

Maybe calling Nana wouldn’t be so awkward after all, since I’d missed a half dozen calls from her and several texts. There was one from my sister, urging me to call her.

Someone knocked at the door just before I was about to hit send. Bellamy poked his gorgeous face in.

“Ready for the surveillance gear?” he asked. “It’s pretty badass, if I do say so myself. You’re gonna look hot in it.”

“Not yet.”

He frowned. “You’re not changing your mind about this, are you?”

I shook my head. “We can’t go out there blind.”

“We’re not. We have my whole team on this. You’re not alone anymore, Clover.”

His words knocked the breath out of me. I wanted to counter that I hadn’t been alone, but I’d always been the outcast. The troublemaker. The one who’d sent our alpha packing.

These bears had my back.

“I appreciate that. But we can’t rely on magic alone. We need answers.”

Bellamy nodded. “We’re ready when you are.”

Emotion stung my eyes as he closed the door. I hit send before I had a chance to talk myself out of it.

“Oh, thank the moon you called,” Nana said when she picked up the phone.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“You didn’t need to call me to know the answer.” She chuckled grimly. “I called to apologize. And more importantly, to come clean with you.”

“I have questions for you too.” I swallowed hard. We were in uncharted territory. Nana didn’t often apologize, or admit she was wrong. That was usually my job.

---