Page 20 of Bearly Yours
He shook his head as he set his coffee cup on the tray. “I’m not really sure why youwantanonymity in your line of business.”
I fidgeted with the leather arm of the chair, pinching the fabric between two fingers and rolling it to soothe my anxiety. “I don’t really know.” I closed my eyes. “But as far back as I can remember, my mom and dad always encouraged me to keep my identity quiet to the paranormal community at large.” I swallowed the emotion that clogged my throat when I thought of my parents.
“And then they were killed,” Roarke said.
I nodded.
Roarke gently used a forefinger and tilted my face so he could see my expression. “Emrie, sweetheart, do you think there’s someone that was after your family? That you’re still in danger?”
I started trembling for absolutely no reason that I could discern. My hands shook and grew sweaty. My mind went blank with an emotion stronger than anxiety, but thankfully less than a panic attack. Roarke immediately knelt down in front of me and gently took my trembling hands between his gigantic ones. His hands were dry, warm and soothing.
“Talk to me, sweetie.”
I shook my head back and forth jerkily. “I don’tknow.I have these vague memories of my parents asking me to stay on Clan property as much as possible, to not share my last name, to try to stay off the paranormal community’s radar. I was only ten when they died. I have no memory of them ever discussing why it was so important with me. But...” I fidgeted and drew in a deep breath. “I keep having these anxiety slash panic attacks for noreason. It’s like my body is trying to tell me something that my brain doesn’t remember or understand.”
Roarke sat back on his heels, his massive thighs bunching under his dark-wash jeans. He soothed my hands with his and pondered my emotional state in silence for a moment before he drew out his phone and punched in a saved number.
I could hear King Draven pick up on the other end and I froze, wide-eyed. What the honey truffles was he doing? I wanted to snatch the phone from his hand and toss it into the fire.
“Already missed me?” King Draven said.
“About as much as a dinosaur misses a mosquito,” Roarke drawled. “Listen, I’m here with Emrie and we’re talking over your library commission. I’m not stepping on her toes and saying whether she’s planning on accepting or not, but I wanted to be sure you could keep her name out of people’s mouths. I don’t want any of the many employees you keep around your mansion so you can feel big and strong and affluent to have her name on their tongues. Her name stays quiet, and she has guards at your house.”
“Of course. My main staff in the house will never speak her name, and the guards I assign to her won’t, either. I’ll keep the other riffraff from that section of the villa. She’ll be safe, friend. I promise.”
Roarke said his goodbyes and got off the phone. He looked at me, waiting.
I knew I should protest his high-handedness, but I didn’t. I felt cared for, and I knew that this was another one of Roarke’s love languages. He took good care of the people he loved, and he protected them well.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Always, Emrie. Always.”
Chapter 5
Emrie
As soon as my tires hit Clan property, I breathed a sigh of relief. As much as I loved Roarke, there was always this underlying sense of anxiety being off Clan property that I only ever realized had been there because of the relief I felt when I hit the Clan’s borders again.
I nodded at the sentries I passed as they patrolled our property in their bear forms, and hilariously, most of them stood up and waved at me. Most people would never see a bear on hind legs waving a huge paw in greeting, but if they did, I bet they wouldn’t find it funny. I mean, I got it, bears could be really scary, but these guys were my family, and I loved my family. There was a sense of safety here, and a sense of peace that I’d never been able to find anywhere else.
I had a thought and called Roarke.
“Emrie.”
Oh, his voice did that warm chocolatey melty thing again to my stomach.
“Random question,” I said. “Would you ever consider moving onto Clan property?”
He was quiet for so long that I glanced over at my phone holder on my dash and checked to see that we were still connected.
We were.
“Where is this coming from?”
I couldn’t get a read on his voice. He sounded...emotional? But I was probably reading him wrong.
“I was just thinking...it would be great if you were closer.”
