Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,117

they?”

She heaved a sigh and looked him up and down. “Damn. I guess there’s no getting around telling you, is there?” She looked so resigned, as if her jig was truly up. It stung a little that she thought he would ever get her in trouble.

“Jessie,” he said quietly. “Unless you kidnapped all those kids, I’m not going to tell anyone what’s going on if you don’t want me too. Whatever this is, you’re obviously scared and you need help. Just... please let me help. I won’t even tell my brothers. Not even Connor.”

She did not look very comforted.

“Well,” she said slowly. “The thing is that I kidnapped all those kids.”

“Jessie,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

She had a dry sense of humor sometimes. He had noticed that before, but now didn’t seem like a good time for jokes.

“I’m not kidding,” she said. She opened the door again and ushered her inside. “You’d better come in then. And I’ll explain. You want some coffee?”

“Oh... kay.” He pursed his lips and followed her inside.

He found himself annoyed and he growled under his breath, his bear inwardly pacing in a circle. Inside, he faced a gaggle of children who blinked up at him from their positions sprawled out on a colorful rag rug and from a clearly secondhand red microfiber couch that had seen better days. Jessie walked over to the television and turned it off and the children groaned. There was a pair of nearly identical little twins on the couch both hugging a large stuffed alligator and they yelped in discontent.

“Who’s that!” A little boy with floppy brown hair in his eyes pointed at Cody, looking vaguely frightened. He hid behind an older boy on the rug. “Is he from our sleuth?”

“No,” Cody said, before Jessie could speak. He looked back and forth between the little boy and Jessie. “No, I’m from the big ski lodge down the mountain where Jessie works?”

“He’s my friend,” Jessie said. “I didn’t mean for him to come meet you.” She snuck Cody an annoyed glance. “But here we are, I guess.”

“Is he going to take us away?” The little boy burst into tears, clutching the older one who sighed and patted his back in a tender gesture of comfort. Were they all siblings? Cody had a million questions.

He opened his mouth to speak, uncertain and Jessie said, “No! He’s not going to take you away.” She gave him a wary look and he knew she was lying for their sake. But he couldn’t promise anything until he knew what this was.

“I’ll make coffee,” she said, and nodded toward the kitchen. Cody followed, slowly walking backward. All the children were staring at him and an older girl hopped up and tentatively followed them.

“I can make coffee,” she said, and pushed Jessie aside, taking a can off coffee grounds from the counter. Jessie smiled gratefully and motioned for him to sit at the table.

Cody tapped his fingers and Jessie seemed nervous to start talking. She waited until the girl had set down two mugs and a carton of half and half and some packets of sweetener.

Jessie shook her head and winced, as if just remembering something. “Gosh, what am I thinking? Cody, this is Molly.” Molly smiled politely at Cody and he nodded. “The little boy who was upset is Jason and the older one is Chris. The twin three-year-olds are Kevin and Mary, the toddler is Sophie.”

“Okay,” Cody said slowly. “I’ll never remember all that.”

Jessie chuckled and stirred cream into her coffee before sliding the carton over to Cody. “That’s what I thought too.”

“Jessie... what on earth is going?”

She took a long sip of coffee and said, “Okay. I was on a run in the woods with my roommates one day... ”

41

Jessie

Jessie spilled her whole story to Cody and by the end of it, she was fighting back tears. She didn’t want to cry, not in front of the children still warily eying her and Cody from the living room. They had a tendency to get upset if she was upset. The constant fear that they would be found by their abusive sleuth or taken away from Jessie was always on the surface of things.

Jessie told Cody about finding the kids and sneaking them through the woods until they’d stumbled onto the abandoned cabin that didn't have enough room for seven people and only a mini-fridge for food because all the electricity ran off a generator. She didn’t mean it to sound as tragic as it