Baby Got Bear - Milly Taiden Page 0,5

at the window of her brother’s office, Amelia yelled so everyone—especially her brother—could hear, “He’s such a dickhead!”

Trying hard not to laugh out loud at the young bear’s colorful outburst, Lucy nodded.

“I figured it was something like that. But did you have to take it out on the door? Is it still on the hinges?”

“Yeah,” Amelia groaned, digging the toe of her boot in the dirt. “I know, I’m acting like a brat. He just makes me so mad. I don’t understand why he has to be like that.”

“Because he has a lot of responsibility and tons of people counting on him every minute of every day.” Trying to reassure one of her dearest friends, when all she wanted to do was run into the house and throw herself into Beau’s big bear arms, Lucy went on. “You know he loves you more than anything.”

Reaching out, she patted Amelia’s arm. “Just give him a minute or two, maybe wait until tonight, then approach him again. When he’s had time to relax. When things are a little less hectic.”

“You think that’ll work?” Her big, brown bear eyes, so much like her brother’s, were suddenly round and full of hope. “All I want to do is go to the bonfire at the panther pride. I’ll even take a chaperone. Is that what you’d do? Wait till after dinner? Or maybe in the morning?”

No, I’d strip naked and lay across the bed, but…

Pulling her thoughts out of the gutter—well, more like Beau’s bed—Lucy reinforced, “For sure. That’s what I do with my dad.”

And that was about half right. She did always walk away and give the old alpha time to cool off. But instead of going back and trying to work things out, Lucy stayed as far away as possible. If there was one thing she’d always been able to count on, it was her father being stuck in his ways. And those ways would be in direct opposition to Lucy’s wants and desires.

“You will marry a wolf. He will be the alpha of his pack. You will do as you are told, Lucy Jo. You will uphold the traditions of the true wolves just as your mother did, and her mother before her, and her mother before her. You come from a long line of strong and respected Luna wolves, and you will continue that distinguished lineage.”

Just remembering the decree her father had issued the night of her first shift made the bile rise in her throat. Old, antiquated, stubborn, and absolutely sure everyone would bow to his wishes, that was her dad, the not-so-honorable Cleland Benton.

If he only knew what the others said behind his back. More times than she could count, Lucy dreamed of telling him what people really thought. She’d delightfully imagined the look on his face. Wondered if he would have a stroke right there on the ostentatious oriental rug in the middle of his “oval office.”

At the very least, seeing his face get beet red and blotchy, and hearing the crack of his knuckles as he clenched his fist would be worth all the screaming and yelling that followed. Cleland thought he had everybody fooled, that he won every argument, and they did things his way because they respected him.

Fat chance!

The other alphas just did whatever was necessary to make the old man shut his trap. They knew he’d win every vote because the Benton Pack was bigger and more influential than any other group of shifters. They also knew that Cleland had his head too far up his ass to see what they were doing on their own lands.

Good for them!

Chapter Four

Lucy didn’t know how her dad was convincing so many wolves to relocate. It didn’t make sense. Why would they take the chance of not being with their fated mate just to be part of Pack Benton? Their pack had been getting smaller and smaller, then bam, it’s the biggest again.

Maybe he was paying them off. Buying their loyalty. It happened all the time.

Nothing I can do about it right now. I need to figure out how to do what I want. Then I can fix the pack.

And she would. Lucy had been watching and waiting for a lot of years. She’d read anything and everything about pack law, especially the Benton Pack, and finally, she’d found exactly what she needed. Reciting the verbiage over and over until they were second nature, the Luna wolf was ready to make her father eat his words.

Ten days,