Barron: The Ruthless Bear King (The Hybrid Series) Book 7

Chapter 16: Down to Business

Barron

I was training with Rowe when I saw Clarke walk in, he was angry all the time and he just kept to himself, we don't say much to each other anymore. Lark told me she hadn't found her mate and we are beginning to think someone put a spell on her, Polly went to a friend of hers to find any clues of who had it out for Lark. Rowe was getting good at his technique of fighting putting me on my ass as the crowd cheered and then everyone went silent, I looked to see Tennison Valmore standing watching and I was shocked no one notified me we had a wolf on our territory. My men got into position and I linked them to stand down and walked over to Mr. Valmore, he turned around and headed to my office which was soundproof and my Gamma Nolix was there waiting on us as I had asked. He sat in my chair and I internally growled before he looked at me and asked, "Can I trust your Gamma, Barron?"

I looked at him and said," Yes we grew up together," he smiled and said, "Those are the ones that betrayed you," I looked at him confused. He smiled and asked, "Where is Bubba?" Nolix and I looked at him ready to fight because only those in my inner circle knew we called my little brother Bubba. Tennison looked at me unfazed and I could feel his aura, it was strong for a hybrid because I could sense his vampire as well, I looked at him and asked, "Why are you here, Gamma Valmore?" He said, "Relax, I just wanted to know the type of person you are," he pulled a dagger from his pocket and said, "I need to know that I can trust the bears, Your Majesty," he smiled. I was ready to go toe to toe with him when he removed his cloaking spell and saw that it was Ty Clearwater and I was shocked.

He said, "Barron, nice to see you again," I walked over hugging him. I said, "Ty," still shocked that he was standing up in front of me, and I said, "I should have known that it was you three that came back but Cayden said nothing." Ty said, "That fairy is an ass, but he can be trusted to the end, and only a few of you know that we are back, I informed Emile not to tell you or Silas anything for reasons you will learn about later but first, we need your help." He handed me the dagger and my glass from off the table and said, "The easy way or the hard way," when I saw his vampire's eyes, I knew what he wanted, but I was confused. He said, "I can see the truth and know your intentions through your blood, a gift we picked up in our long sleep," so I cut my hand bleeding into the glass and watched his eyes cloud over as he drank.

He looked at me and said, "Something seems to plague Bubba," I nodded 'yes,' he looked at Nolix who did the same and bled into the glass. He smiled and said, "You should stop cheating on your mate," I looked at Nolix saying, "Really Nolix," he said, "I am trying to break it off, that's what I wanted to speak to you about but I think she is a witch," Ty said, "Really now," walking over to him and said, "You can break it off," touching his head, I felt a chill in the room. Ty said, "She had a love spell on him but no more," then we talked about what Roman did to Polly and his daughter. Ty listened to everything and we felt his anger because he loved Polly like a sister, he said, "I met with Alpha Seth and he is hiding a lot but I wouldn't worry about it, Aidan is still pondering about how to kill our enemies and that's where you come in, will you go to war with us if it comes to that?"

I smiled saying, "Will Roman's head be on a spike in the end?" He said, "We might do more than remove his head," I smiled shaking his hand and saying, "My men are at your service, just tell us when and where, and we will be ready to fight to the death if we have to," before Ty said, "Don't punish your men, I compel them not to tell you anything," before he walked out. Later that afternoon, I filled in Rowe on our visitor and about the conversation we had earlier as I trusted him, I will tell Polly once she is back and I know she would want to visit Ty. I wanted to fill Bubba in about the conversation earlier but we couldn't trust him right now, so I told my dad and Rowe promised to get his uncle to train the men harder so we would be prepared for when the time came for battle. Roman was finally going to get his ass handed to him and I couldn't wait.

I headed back to my home and on the way, I saw Clarke talking to himself and banging his head with his hand, I backed up dimming my scent linking anyone coming this way, not to. I needed to figure out what was going on with my brother and maybe ask Ty for help since he helped Nolix who was getting the witch arrested as we speak. Clarke's eyes were changing color as he and his bear fought for control, Zion took over and said, "We need to end all of this before it's too late." I couldn't believe what was happening and knew this was bigger than just anger issues so I left to go to speak with my parents instead because something was not right with Bubba and it's more than just simple influence. I went over to my parents, barged in without knocking and they looked at me shocked when my dad asked, "What is it, Barron?" I listened to make sure we were alone and said, "Bubba is crazy isn't he," my mother started to cut her fruit again and I yelled, "Tell me the truth."

Dad turned around defeated and said, "He is not crazy, he is different that's all," I asked, "How different is he?" My mother said, "He had your grandfather's crazy gene, they didn't call him crazy Joe for nothing, we had him spelled so he would be normal but something is interfering with that and we tried to fix it." I said, "Grandpa Joe ended up killing himself and you guys are now telling me?" My father said, "We tried to help him from a young age when we found out but if he gets worse, he will eventually end it, there is no cure for a crazy bear, you know that." I looked at them furious about the situation because it all made sense growing up, his random moods, I said, "So that is why you guys are letting him get away with this because it's only a matter of time, you are preparing for his death." My mother's eyes clouded with tears before walking out, my dad said, "Once the signs start showing, there is nothing we can do, I'm sorry," I roared in anger and said, "I will save him," and ran out calling Aidan for help.

*****

One Year Later

Sophie

I had a huge argument with my husband once again about meeting Noelle and this time, it got violent, he hit me and now, I am looking at my busted lip and swollen jaw in the mirror. I knew it was only a matter of time before he showed his true colors, he was a pretender and although I think my mother doesn't know, my father does and still allowed this union, "Sick bastard, I will never forgive him for this," I thought. I looked at my toddler on the ground playing with his toys and I smiled, he was a joy to see, Noelle refused to heal my face so I could learn my lesson not to trust Seth and she was right not to bond with Lennox. The nanny came for my son to put him down for his nap and I decided to go for a run before Seth got back, I changed into Noelle and headed out. Noelle said, "Sorry about earlier but I refused to bond with that asshole, if I do, then we would fall in love with him, and we would be trapped just like our mother."

I smiled saying, "We are still trapped," she snickered feeling the cool breeze on our fur, we went to our favorite lake and lay on the grass, it was so calming and no one came here but us. I thought about what Noelle said and she was right, she absolutely cannot bond with Lennox, it will seal our fate as we still planned to run away and hide to be free. That is one of the reasons Noelle refuses to bond with our pup so when we run, it won't hurt as much, Seth won't hurt his son but he would hunt me down along with my father if I took Seth Jr. with me. I was so deep in thought that I didn't feel Lennox sneak up behind me, he rested his head on my paws and I froze. I was panicking and he said, "Noelle, please talk to me," she drifted to the back of my mind and I changed back to my human form and so did Seth.

He asked, "Why won't she bond with Lennox, Sophie?" I said, "She hasn't come around to being here, she just needs time, Seth," he looked at me saying, "Let your block down, I want to feel you sometimes." I asked, "Why? So you can know where I am, you don't need my block down for that, you have me followed everywhere." He handed me a shirt and he put on pants, we sat by the lake and, he said, "Sorry about last night, Lennox is on edge, he just wants to spend time with his mate." Seth held my hand kissing it, I felt the tingles of our bond and he tried calming me down, I was in a marriage identical to my mother's, it was abusive, he had my father's traits, hot and cold, and I wasn't going to fall for it. We ended up walking back to our house hand in hand and he was telling me about his early morning troubles at work, I always listened because he always seemed passionate about this job.

We entered the bedroom and I was shocked, he had it set up with roses on the bed, and all over the room had scented candles, he had chocolates on the bed with a gift, I opened the gift box and it was diamond earrings. I smiled and said, "Thank you," I remembered that my father always gave my mother diamond earrings after a beating or he had f****d someone. I couldn't help but wonder which one was it if Seth had cheated, was it the beating last night or both? We are hardly intimate anymore and honestly, I didn't care, less risk of getting pregnant when I plan to run soon. We ended up in bed making love before I was off to dreamland dreaming about my freedom from being here in Ravena, I was going to human territory forever.