Page 36 of Cuddles for the Bear
“You see, when it came time to finally confront the rogue vampire, the sexy demon’s demon side decided they’d been away from their sexy mechanic for far too long, and refused to help with the kill. He was sulking. What should’ve been a regular job turned into a fuckup of epic proportions.”
“Oh, my goodness, what happened?” Wren was still worried about getting back to Devon, but Python was an excellent storyteller – even if he did take ages to get to the point.
“It was tragic. The sexy demon was badly wounded. Vampires have poison on their claws, and the sexy demon’s human form was terribly affected by it. He barely made it back to the sexy mechanic. Covered in blood, stinking of poison, he collapsed into his sexy mechanic’s arms, truly believing he was breathing his last.”
“You almost died because you hadn’t told Cyrus what you did for a living before you claimed each other?”
Python spread his hands wide, his smirk widening into a grin. “What can I say? You’ve seen my sexy mechanic. Who has time for talking when all I wanted was to get my hands on those muscles? The point is mistakes happen. That mistake almost cost me my life.
“Well, I wouldn’t have died. That’s not possible. But things could have been a bit awkward for a while. You can just imagine my spirit sitting down in the Underworld trying to explain to Lord Hades why my body was in such a state and needed healing.”
Wren couldn’t imagine it. He wasn’t sure who Lord Hades was, but Python was still talking.
“New matings are very difficult. I know, for example, your lovely bear didn’t tell you that Cyrus had to inform Devon that the agency had threatened to kick him out of his job and his house if he didn’t get the answers they wanted from you. Actually, Cyrus owns the houses, so Devon probably wouldn’t have had to move, but his job was definitely on the line if he didn’t cooperate.”
“Devon never said anything about any of that.” Wren’s guilt was threatening to come back.
“No, he wouldn’t have,” Python said. “But I can tell you, because I was there eavesdropping on that conversation, that your bear said he would leave the job, leave the men he considered family, and everything else in his life, if it meant he could keep you safe. He didn’t want the agency going anywhere near you, and frankly, the way they were pushing Cyrus, to push Devon, to push you, I can’t blame him.”
Wren’s guilt was back full force, and this time he sat with it. “Why didn’t Devon tell me? Why did he hide that, too? I don’t want him to lose his job for me. I would’ve talked to them if I had to.”
“Because at heart, Devon’s a shifter. A shifter who saw his mate, before he was claimed, almost fall to his death. You don’t realize this yet, but Devon would rearrange the entire world and do anything in his power and beyond to make sure you were safe and that you had a right to your decisions.”
“Even when he was the one who took that right to decide away from me himself?”
Python chuckled. “I didn’t say he was good at it, yet. I said that was what his intention was. The pair of you will learn. The pair of you will come to trust each other over time. And I’ve probablyused the wrong word there. Because it’s not that Devon doesn’t trust you to make your own decisions. He’s worried that because of the life you’ve led, you’ll agree to things that might make you uncomfortable just because you were trying to help someone else – like him, for example.”
“I don’t know if that’s true or not,” Wren said, “because I haven’t been given the chance to find out for myself. But if Devon was so adamant about not asking those questions for the agency, why did he do that last night? Why did he grill me for the information he thought the agency wanted?”
“Ah, yes. This is where you need to get your head out of your cute little ass and start looking at the bigger picture. He did it because you’re not the only victim that Devon has ever seen,” Python said firmly. “The work we do, we see countless victims. Ninety-nine point nine, nine percent of those victims are usually dead before we have a chance to get there.
“You were saved. You survived. The information you give could help save a whole stack of other people. That is the only reason that Devon promised Cyrus that he would talk to you before you guys came back to the Alley. The only reason. Because it’s not just you he has to consider. You come first, but as shifters, paranormals, we care for children…”
“Not all shifters, obviously,” Wren said, thinking about what Devon had said about the pastor. Michael was another example of where that ideal was missing.
“No, not everybody follows that edict,” Python agreed. “That’s why we’ve got a job, because we can take care of them and continue to keep people safe. But you can take this to the bank. That is the only reason Devon pushed you into discussing things he was fairly sure would make you uncomfortable.”
Wren considered what Python had said for a moment. It definitely changed things – to a point. “Imagine how much easier things would’ve gone if Devon had explained all that background in the first place.”
“True, but as my beautifully rendered story described, we should all have a chance to make one mistake when our mating is new, don’t you think? Now it is your decision, obviously, but how about we finish up our drinks? I’ll text everybody and let them know they can stand down because we have got assassins wandering damn near every street in Big Sky looking for you.”
Wren nodded. “Please thank them for me. That was very sweet of them.”
“You can do that yourself when you and Devon get back to the Alley. But in the meantime, we need to go back to the hotel so you can talk down a rampaging bear. I doubt he’ll shift back until he sees you. Remember to let him know he is absolutely not allowed to destroy a hotel room again, because that’s going to take out a fairly big chunk of his credit card. Agreed?”
“Agreed.” Wren quickly drank some more of his drink. “How did you know I like extra sugar in my chocolate? Did Devon tell you?”
“Two spoonful’s, online warrior.” Python chuckled. “Another thing about sexy demons is that we’re really good at noticing details. It’s why we’re so good at our job.”
As they got up to leave, Wren said, “You have magic the same as Pax does. Couldn’t you fix the damages you said were in the hotel room?”
“I could,” Python admitted. “I still might. But you have to ask yourself what would Devon learn if I did something like that?”
“That he’s got a good friend who happens to be a sexy demon?” Wren suggested.
“Ooh, you’re good, online warrior.” Python’s laughter caused more than a few heads to turn among the breakfast crowd. “You’re very good.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
