Page 20 of Cowboy Bear’s Hope (Motley Crewd Shifters #3)

P resent time.

The weight of everything didn’t disappear, not entirely, but it felt lighter.

More manageable.

Because Dante wasn’t just standing next to me. He was with me in every way that mattered.

He’s here. He came.

I looked up at him, his steady gaze meeting mine, and a smile of gratitude tugged at my lips despite the storm raging in my mind.

He didn’t have to say a word. I could see everything I needed in his eyes.

With Dante here, I wasn’t just facing the storm.

I was ready to stand in it, face the wind, and fight back.

“Okay, I think I’ve been fed some misinformation. Nurse Brown, I do not know what is happening here, but we will get to the bottom of it. Why don’t we go inside my office?” Principal Jefferson suggested.

“I think I’ll take off,” Dryden said, but Dante moved, blocking his exit.

“I don’t think so.”

“Avery? Please let’s go inside my office,” my boss tried again.

I shook my head, determined to stand right by the door where Rosie was even now being questioned.

“I’m not leaving until my child comes out that door. Now, tell me what happened. All I know is whatever this man said to you, it was a lie,” I said, pointing at the assistant creep.

“This is ridiculous. I acted within my rights as assistant principal. Your child has been a problem since the start of the school year. Acting out. Being unreasonable. Fighting with the other children. Her behavior is abhorrent. And I am guessing it comes from your own behavior, Nurse Brown. A single mother with a revolving door of men is no doubt unfit?—”

“This is the only warning you will get. Shut your fucking mouth about her,” Dante snarled.

“Look,” I said, trying to shift the focus back to my child. “I am not going to defend my behavior to this man who is obviously delusional, Principal Jefferson. But Rosie is not a problem?—”

“She has been difficult, Nurse Brown,” my boss said, eyeing a file that undoubtedly held records of incidents I wasn’t even aware of thanks to that fucking tool. Mr. Dryden.

“Rosie’s rambunctious, but she’s not mean. She’s not malicious,” I countered, tears welling in my eyes.

“She’s been having issues, Avery,” Principal Jefferson repeated, and my chest squeezed.

Had I been neglecting my own daughter?

“Surely, I would have been told if things were taking a turn for the worse. Miss Dembeck knows to email me,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

“You haven’t answered her last six attempts to contact you,” the principal replied, showing me printed out copies of these supposed emails.

“But that’s not the right address. Look, there’s an e at the end of Brown? This was sent through the school’s system, wasn’t it?” I asked and felt my panic turning to anger.

“There must be a mistake,” the principal said, checking the document.

“Clearly there is. This man messed with my email address in the system! Didn’t you?” I accused and felt Dante growl behind me.

“So what if the email address is incorrect? Your kid is a little monster! I did what I had to do to make sure the other kids were safe. Principal Jefferson, I am appalled that my motives are even being questioned,” Dryden said.

The creep was trying to gaslight all of us, acting like he was somehow the wronged party.

Bile rose in my throat. I could not believe it.

“Y-you called protective services because I wouldn’t go out with you. And you lied to our boss and said I was your fiancée, so you assumed permission to go ahead and have Rosie evaluated?” I asked, trying to make sense.

“No. No, she’s not being evaluated. You are! They’re going to find out what a dirty little whore you are and take your spoiled brat away from you. Rosalind will be better off?—”

I faltered, my knees wobbling like they were seconds away from giving out.

How could this be happening?

My chest felt tight, like the walls were physically closing in on me, squeezing the air out of my lungs.

This was my fault.

The assistant principal, Mr. Dryden, had stirred up all this chaos because of me.

Rosie, my sweet girl, was probably terrified right now, being questioned by some stranger in a cold, unfamiliar room. And why?

Because I’d had the audacity to say no to his slimy invitations. Turned down all his pathetic attempts to woo me with romantic overtures and coffee dates.

I refused him, and this was his revenge.

The thought churned in my stomach like acid, my pulse racing faster with every second that passed. I couldn’t move. I stood there, frozen in a cocktail of horror, rage, and helplessness.

And then, through the fog of panic, I became aware of something behind me.

A sound.

Low, guttural, and ferocious.

The terrible, angry rumble grew louder, reverberating down the hallway until it filled the space like thunder rolling over a stormy sky. It was a sound so primal, so filled with rage, it made the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

I didn’t have to turn around to know where it was coming from.

Dante.

My mate.

I barely had time to blink, let alone react, before the rumble exploded into action.

With a snarl that seemed to shake the very air, Dante surged forward, his fist colliding with Mr. Dryden’s smug, unsuspecting face. The crack of bone meeting bone echoed down the hallway, followed by a gasp—maybe mine, maybe someone else’s.

The force of the punch sent Mr. Dryden flying backward, his body crashing into the cement wall with an audible crack that seemed to rattle the very foundation of the building.

That creepy fuck crumpled to the ground in a heap, groaning in shock and pain, one hand clutching his now-bloodied nose.

Silence fell over the hallway, heavy and electric.

My heart thundered in my chest, but this time it wasn’t from fear.

I turned slowly, my eyes locking on Dante. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, his jaw clenched so tightly I could see the muscles ticking under his skin.

His eyes burned with a wild fury, the kind of look that said he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if Dryden so much as breathed wrong.

And in that moment, all the fear, all the doubt that had threatened to overwhelm me, began to dissipate.

Because Dante wasn’t just angry—he was furious on my behalf. On Rosie’s behalf.

He wasn’t just defending us. He was declaring, loud and clear, that no one messed with his family.

And God help anyone who tried.

Sexy, strong man. Christ, I love him.

“Oh my God!” Principal Jefferson said, her hands covering her mouth as she rushed to see if Dryden needed help.

Just then, the interview room door opened and a small woman with blue hair sticking out of the bottom of her braid came walking out with her hand on Rosie’s shoulder.

“Oh, um, hello. My name is Sybil. Are you Rosie’s parents?” she asked.

“My name is Dante. Can I speak with you?”

“Sure,” the woman, Sybil, said.

Her eyebrows went sky high when she saw Mr. Dryden sprawled across the floor, and Principal Jefferson trying to stanch the flow of his bleeding nose.

I couldn’t hear what Dante was saying to the woman, and at that moment, I didn’t care.

“Rosie!” I said, crouching down and opening my arms for my daughter.

She came running into them, hiding her tear streaked face in the crook of my neck. She trembled from head to toe, and I lifted her off the floor and squeezed her tight to my chest.

“Oh, my sweet baby. Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry, Mama. Mr. Dryden said not to tell you about my fight with Lisa and Robbie.”

“Shh. It’s okay.”

“He said if I told you, I would have to go live somewhere else. He said you would send me away. But I don’t want to go, Mama! I don’t want to!” Rosie said and started sobbing and wailing.

Her tiny body was trembling in my arms, and I held her even tighter. She was hysterical and crying so hard it hurt my heart.

She was also getting hot. Like really hot.

“Rosie? Rosie, tell Mama what’s wrong?”

But she just kept on crying and squirming. Her skin was getting too hot for me to hold on to and I gasped. Dante turned to me, his eyes glittering and dark with his Bear.

“Shit. It’s happening already. Give her to me,” Dante said, reaching for Rosie.

Shock and fear or a combination of both had me handing my writhing, screaming child to him.

“What do you mean it’s happening, Dante? What is happening?”

He ignored me though and extended his arms. I looked down at Rosie. Her skin was turning colors, a mottled red and brown, and the sounds coming from her were hardly human.

Dante tossed me the keys and took her from my hands. I allowed it, not knowing what to do. Then he took off running.

“Come on, Honey. I need you to drive,” he ordered, and my feet started moving.

I met the gaze of the blue-haired woman, Sybil, and she nodded from her position crouched on the floor.

“Go on, I got this,” she said.

I thought I saw the air shimmering around her and swirls of glitter spinning, but I couldn’t bother with that right then. I was too busy chasing Dante with a grunting Rosie in his arms.

I jumped into the driver’s seat in time to see dark brown fur sprout across Rosie’s face, and her brown eyes bleed to black.

“Oh my God!” I cried out.

“Drive, Avery. Fast!” Dante grunted.

Rosie’s claw-tipped fingers raked across his forearms, and blood sprouted from his skin.

“Dante,” I muttered, tears streaming down my face as I burned rubber.

The roads grew icy the closer we got to the ranch, outside of town where the salt trucks traveled less.

“Shit. Stop here. Let us out of the truck, then drive to the cabin. We’ll meet you there,” he grunted, struggling to contain Rosalie, who seriously was not looking a whole lot like my daughter anymore.

What is going on?