Page 6 of Guard Bear (Return To Fate Mountain #5)

Chapter

Five

Joy parked her truck outside Sweet Summit Café, her hands already sweaty on the steering wheel. Through the window, she could see Andre at a corner table. Two coffees waited, steam curling up in the morning light.

Her mountain lion snarled, recognizing her mate even through glass and distance. Joy forced herself to take three deep breaths before climbing out of the truck. The walk to the café door felt both endless and too short.

The bell chimed as she entered. Andre's head snapped up, those warm brown eyes finding hers instantly. He stood, nearly knocking over his chair in the process. The clumsy gesture eased something tight in her chest.

"Hi," he said with loud enthusiasm, then winced. "I mean, good morning." He managed a suave tone.

"Good morning." Joy slid into the seat across from him, eyeing the coffee. "Is that..."

"Honey creme latte with goat milk." Pink crept up his neck. "I may have asked around yesterday. About what you usually order."

Joy wrapped her hands around the warm ceramic, inhaling the familiar scent. He'd gotten it exactly right. "Thank you."

"I wasn't sure if you'd actually come." The words tumbled out in a rush. "After yesterday, with the whole announcement disaster and then showing up at your booth like some kind of stalker."

"You weren't stalking." Joy took a sip, buying time while her mountain lion paced restlessly. "Much."

He laughed, a surprised bark of sound that made his dimples appear. "Fair enough."

The tension between them eased by degrees. Andre leaned forward, elbows on the small table. "Tell me about your bees. How did you get started?"

Joy found herself relaxing as she talked about finding her first swarm in the apple orchard behind the barn. She'd been sixteen, more curious than scared, coaxing them into a cardboard box with her bare hands. Buck had nearly had a heart attack when he found her.

Andre asked real questions, not the polite surface ones most people offered. He wanted to know about queen rearing, about how she selected genetics, about the delicate balance of leaving enough honey for the bees while still having product to sell.

"You really did your research," she said after explaining the difference between Italian and Carniolan bees.

"My nephew Tommy is obsessed with bugs right now. I've been reading him this book about bee colonies over video calls. He makes me do all the voices."

"There are voices in a bee book?"

"Oh yeah. There's Bella the worker bee, and Bob the drone who's always confused, and Queen Beatrice who speaks in rhymes." Andre's voice shifted for each character, his face animated. "Tommy's favorite part is when Bob learns his only job is to mate and die. Five-year-old humor."

Joy laughed. This was the sweet man from yesterday, the one who'd carried heavy crates and fixed wobbly tables without being asked.

"Do you see him often? Tommy?"

Andre's expression softened. "Every Sunday night for story time, no matter what. My sister says I spoil him, but..." He shrugged. "I love my sister’s kids.”

"Family's important." Joy thought of her own sprawling clan, the safety net of cousins and aunts and uncles that had always surrounded her. "Is that why you left Portland? To be closer to them?"

Something flickered across his face, there and gone too quickly to read. "No, they're still back there. I needed a change of scene. Fate Mountain seemed like a good place for a fresh start."

Joy's mountain lion noticed the deflection but didn't push. Everyone had their secrets.

"Speaking of fresh starts," Andre said, his tone shifting. He reached under the table. "I wanted to talk to you about what's been happening around town. The security concerns."

Joy's coffee cup clinked softly against the saucer as she set it down. The shift felt natural enough.

"Rollo mentioned you had some equipment tampering?" Andre pulled out a manila folder. "I've been reviewing all the incidents, trying to find patterns."

"It's probably nothing," Joy said. "Some hive reducers moved around, a loose gate latch. Could have been weather or animals."

"That's what Mateo thought at first." Andre opened the folder, spreading out photos. "Before they burned his boss's orchard."

Joy leaned forward despite herself. The images showed charred trees, destroyed equipment, scared faces. Each photo was labeled with dates and locations. A clear escalation over time.

"The community's been dealing with this for three years," she murmured.

"Exactly. Which is why I've been working on prevention strategies." Andre pulled out more papers. Diagrams and schedules filled the pages. "I've mapped vulnerable properties based on the attack patterns. If we can get ahead of them..."

Joy studied the documents, appreciating the thoroughness even as uneasiness gnawed at her gut. "This is a lot of work."

"I want to help." His earnestness was almost painful. "I've already purchased security equipment for your property through the department's special budget. Cameras, motion sensors, the works. Top of the line stuff."

"You already purchased this equipment?"

"The department has funds specifically for at-risk businesses." He pulled out another sheet. "I could install everything tomorrow. Full coverage of your workshop and hives. I'd personally check your perimeter every morning."

Between her uncle Heath and her older cousin Gabriel, two cops watching out for her, she didn’t need a third. At least her cousin Valeria was bringing some much-needed feminine wisdom to the Bear Partrol.

Joy's hands stilled on the papers. "You want to patrol my property every morning?"

"And evenings. Maybe mid-day if things escalate." He traced routes on a hand-drawn map. "Based on public records, I've worked out the most efficient pattern. Your workshop is here, right? Based on the building permits?"

Joy’s heart sank as tension rose, heating her face. "You looked up my building permits?"

"Public information. Same with the property boundaries, septic locations, access roads." He didn't even pause, pulling out another diagram. "See, if we put cameras at these angles..."

"Andre." Joy's voice came out very quiet. "How much research have you done on my property?"

He looked up, seeming to register her tone for the first time. "I'm trying to be thorough. This is what I do. Threat assessment, strategic planning."

"Without asking me."

"I wanted to come prepared." Confusion flickered across his features. "Show you I take this seriously."

"You mapped my entire property without talking to me first."

"The information was publicly available?—"

"That's not the point." Joy pushed the papers back toward him. "You decided what I needed and made plans for my land without any input from me."

His bear rose behind his eyes, frustrated. "Someone was on your property. What if next time they do more than move equipment around?"

"The issues I told Rollo about were probably nothing. Weather, animals, my own forgetfulness."

"You can't be serious." His voice hardened. "Look at these photos. Look what they did to the orchard, the brewery. You think you can handle this alone?"

Joy's temper flared. "You can’t just walk in here with a folder full of plans and expect me to hand over control of my property."

"I'm not asking for control. I'm offering protection."

"Protection I didn't ask for. With equipment you already ordered. And patrols you've already scheduled." She gestured at the papers. "Did you plan on asking my permission at any point?"

Andre's jaw tightened. The sweet, bumbling man from ten minutes ago vanished, replaced by something harder. "I'm doing my job."

"Your job is to coordinate with willing participants, not make unilateral decisions about my security."

They stared at each other across the small table. Joy could smell his frustration mixing with genuine fear. Her mountain lion recognized a predator backed into a corner.

"I've seen what happens when we're not prepared," he said quietly. "People get hurt. Property gets destroyed. Lives get ruined."

Joy heard the weight behind those words, the echo of some past failure. But she also heard how he wielded that fear like justification for any overreach.

"I understand you're trying to help," she said carefully. "And I appreciate that the threat is real. But I need to be part of any decisions about my property."

"Then be part of it. Let me do the installation tomorrow?—"

"No." Joy pulled on her jacket. "If you want to do a security assessment, you can do that tomorrow morning. Eight o'clock. One walk-through, with me present the entire time. That's all I'm agreeing to right now."

"That's not enough?—"

"That's what I'm offering." She stood, her mountain lion grace keeping the movement smooth despite her shaking hands. "Take it or leave it."

Andre's hands clenched on the folder. "Fine. Tomorrow morning."

"Come to the main gate and wait for me." Joy turned to leave, then paused. "And Andre? If I find out you've been on my property without permission, we're done. Whatever this is, it's over."

She left without waiting for his response.

The morning sun felt too bright as she walked to her truck.

Her mountain lion prowled restlessly, torn between claiming her mate and protecting her independence.

Joy gripped her keys tight enough to leave marks.

She'd given Andre a chance. Whether he'd respect her boundaries remained to be seen.