Page 89 of The Grizzly Situation
“You don’t know anything!” he shouted, storming toward me. The boys roared, and he hesitated a moment, but it was enough for Chaim, Benjy, Amelia, and Brent to surround me.
“You even think about laying a hand on him, and I will make sure you’re dead,” Brent snarled, his eyes narrowed and his tone dark. “My mother ran away and she was your mate. I’m more certain than ever you don’t know what love is. You’re a cold, heartless bastard. Even worse than I thought. Get out, Dad. I never want to see you again.”
“I’ll leave when I want to!”
Chaim wrapped his hand around the back of Gavin’s neck and squeezed hard enough Gavin flinched. “And you’re ready to go. I’ll tell you right now, the only thing keeping me from ripping you apart is the cub.”
“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” Brent insisted.
“You vile bastards!”
That was obviously where Brent drew the line. He stormed toward his father, brushing off Chaim and Benjy when they tried to stop him. He got up in the man’s face and in a cold, calculated voice said, “Wanna know something? I would have killed myself if it wasn’t for Chaim and Benjy. All the abuse I was getting at school combined with mom leaving and the cold disregard I got at home? Why the hell would I want to keep living under that crushing weight? But they showed me I had worth. Proved I had a family that loved me. And I discovered I had strength, Dad. They helped to bring it out, to show the sleuth I could be astrong, but kind leader. The type of person I’d like to think Mom would have been proud of.”
“Your mother was weak,” Gavin snapped. “You’re weak. In this world, only strength matters.”
“Fine, if you want to finish this fight, to show the sleuth who the better leader is, then I’ll accept your challenge. Shift, old man.”
Gavin stripped off what was obviously an expensive suit. He had money, so why did he want the sleuth? Especially since Brent had made it—oh.
“You know why he wants this fight, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Because it’s a success now, and he can have the money, then run the sleuth into the ground like he tried to do before.”
“Cub, think about this.”
“Oh, believe me, I have. Those nights when I was crying myself to sleep because my wife had died. The times when I wasn’t sure I could take proper care of the boys because I had no one I could talk with. Then there were the hours I sat, wondering where my best friends were, because he’d forced them to leave. Yeah, Chaim, I’ve been thinking about this for years.”
After Gavin was nude, he shifted. His bear was impressive, but not compared to Brent’s. In fact, he seemed rather… small, comparatively speaking. Everyone moved back, allowing the two of them full use of the great room. This wasn’t going to work for me.
“Stop!” I shouted. They both turned to look at me. “Amelia, could you take the boys to their rooms?”
“Of course.”
She herded the protesting kids away from the tense atmosphere. Cries of, ‘I don’t like him, his breath smells!’ reached me as Amelia got them to their room. As soon as I heard the door close, I turned to the other people.
“Take this crap outside,” I demanded. “We just got this place clean after the boys finished playing, and I’m not about to have two meatheads smash the furniture up.” I opened the french doors leading into the back. “Go on, get out.”
A bearish smile crossed Brent’s face as he led the way into the large, snow-covered garden. Once there, I stayed up on the veranda, staring out at the father and son who were about to fight. I was sure it had been a long time coming, but still didn’t like it. Brent had explained to me once that any bear worth his salt would rather go down fighting instead of giving up. I had no idea what that meant, so I’d just nodded.
The fight started immediately, with Gavin swiping Brent’s face, but it didn’t faze him. Brent threw his considerable weight against Gavin, knocking him over, then leaping onto him. Gavin grunted and cried out in pain. He snapped at Brent, who moved out of the way quickly. He then smashed Gavin in the face with his oversized mitt, dazing him.
It was obvious the older bear was winded, but he still staggered, huffing and puffing to his feet, his gaze locked on Brent. He plodded forward, with a listing gait, when it struck me.
“Brent, stop.”
He did as I asked, but didn’t take his eyes off Gavin. I stepped out onto the snow-covered lawn and stood beside my mate, stroking my fingers over his ears.
“How long?” I demanded.
Gavin glared at me.
“Y’know, I don’t give a flying fudge, but how long?”
“What are you talking about, Uly?” Chaim asked.
“He knows. Don’t you, Gavin?”
The shift was slow in coming, but eventually the human half stood before me. “How did you know?”
