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Chapter Twenty-Nine

An Inside Job

Clover

Leaving Bellamy’s office, I felt like I was walking through taffy. My body was numb. If we didn’t find this locket, the clan could descend even further into chaos. Nana could die. Edgar might call himself alpha, but Nana was the leader of the pack. Without her…

No, I couldn’t even think about it. I wouldn’t mourn her while she was still here. My nana might be a lot of things, and no matter what we found, badass would always be one of them. I took after her in that regard.

A massive wall of bear stepped in front of me. Bellamy rumbled softly as he put his hands on my shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

“Nana’s gonna die if we don’t find that locket.”

Every bear in the room gasped.

I shook my head. I needed to think straight. “I didn’t mean to be so dramatic. But she said with the locket missing, she’s losing power. She’s aging fast.”

I repeated our conversation. “But there’s stuff that makes even less sense now. How did the ghost bears know there was a problem, before there was an actual problem?”

Bellamy nodded. “It’s a good question. And there’s got to be a logical answer. You’re in shock, Clover.”

“Totally expected, considering the circumstances,” Barrett added with a nod.

“Maybe the ghost bears have a way to read minds? A spell that they could forecast what your nana planned to do?” Bellamy suggested. “Or it could be a coincidence. Shirley could have already been sick. They could’ve picked up on that energy.”

All eyes turned to me.

“Did you feel a change in your nana’s energy?” Barrett asked.

“The magic is so new to me, unfamiliar.” I shook my head as I replayed the last couple of weeks. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure.”

“Think back to your last visit. The one where this guy got that.” Barrett motioned to Bellamy’s cast. “What did you feel?”

I shrugged. “It was a total shit show.”

“Think about the emotions,” Bellamy said. “Go back and feel those feelings again.”

It was the last thing I wanted to do. I’d felt betrayed, disappointed…

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “Anger. Jealousy. Competition.”

A growl slipped from Bellamy’s lips. “There’s a chance this could’ve been an inside job.”

“No. No one in the clan wants Nana dead.” My gaze locked with his. “Unless I’m wrong about absolutely everything.”

“It makes sense,” Barrett said softly. “Whoever did this knew enough to use those names?—”

“And to plant that ring in Coeur d’Alene,” Bellamy added. “It’s too much of a coincidence.”

They made valid points, but… “It doesn’t explain why those bears ambushed me on the way out of Granger Falls, and that village that they brought me to that supposedly doesn’t exist. Was that my magic, or theirs?”

“Good question,” Bellamy said. “Did your nana give you any information about the Lynwoods?”

“Sort of, but after she told me she was gonna die, I got a little sidetracked.” I hated the sinking feeling. Minutes ago, we thought she was the problem, and now I might have screwed up the only chance to save her life.

“We stick with the original plan.” Bellamy’s energy changed, and it didn’t matter if he was second-in-command, or that he’d never be alpha—he was totally in control, and it was hot as hell. “We use what we know to get answers from the Lynwoods.”

The bears outfitted me with surveillance equipment. There were microphones on my earrings, and a camera on my pendant. I had an earpiece so we could stay in communication with the rest of the security team.

Bellamy punched something into his GPS. “I dropped a pin last time we were there, looking for you, in case we didn’t find you on our first trip.”

“Smart.” I studied his profile as he drove. The bear was serious, clutching the steering wheel while he scanned the road. Butterflies fluttered in my belly. “What did you feel when we were in clan land?”

He let out a breath and shook his head slightly. “It was surreal being back after all these years. I can’t lie, I’ve dreamed about it so many times, but they always welcomed me back.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was my delusion, not yours.” He chuckled grimly. “But to answer your question, I didn’t feel anything, at least not until your magic blossomed. Until that, I was numb.”

“Interesting.” That definitely wasn’t the answer I’d expected. “Maybe I needed your magic to pull that off.”

“Whatever you did, it was one hell of a showing,” he said just before the GPS told us we had reached our destination.

My heart pounded as the convoy of bears pulled over behind us. Everyone had been given their assignments. Bellamy took my hand in his as we headed down the forest trail.

“Does any of this look familiar to you?”

I shook my head. “No. All I remember is two naked bears picking me up”—I grinned as Bellamy growled— “And then being in that tent with tape on my mouth, and all those stones and crystals. They must have spelled me as soon as they captured me. What if they spell us again? All of us?”

“That would take some impressive power,” Bellamy said. “Especially now that your magic has been realized. Can you call on your power?”

“Technically, yes. But I don’t know how I did it when I tried to stop Edgar from challenging you.”

“You were pretty fucking magnificent.” Bellamy grinned at me. “Call it if you need it. The rest of us have your back. I see the tents ahead. If we’re in the right spot, we’ve arrived.”

My body contracted like someone had punched me in the gut as we walked into that village. Or I should say, where the village had been. The place I remembered being vibrant and lively looked long forgotten. Strips of faded, tattered tents rippled in the breeze. The setup seemed similar to what I remembered, with the only remnants of the firepit being some ancient wood in the middle of the clearing.

When I closed my eyes, I felt the energy like they were all here. But when I opened them, it was only Bellamy. He nodded, letting me take the lead.

I made a loop around the village, vaguely aware of the bears from Sawtooth Security watching us from the perimeters. But no sign of the Lynwood clan. One of the tents seemed familiar, even though they all looked the same. Was that the one I’d been kept in?

A peek inside offered no confirmation. It was empty.

“Did I imagine this whole thing?” Everything about the Lynwoods was incredibly frustrating. I settled in the middle of the clearing, where I’d sat between Alba and Anders and enjoyed a giant feast.

“There’s too much evidence that says you didn’t,” Bellamy said as he settled beside me. It was probably no coincidence that he chose Anders’s spot.

“Maybe it was a vision, and my subconscious did a shit job at conveying that it was really you and Nana.” I knotted my fingers in my lap. “It could’ve been Nana’s power all along.”

“She’s admitting she took us on a wild goose chase.” I didn’t recognize the voice of the bear who was talking shit in my earpiece. “Maybe now we can get back to real work.”

Bellamy growled as he rose from the ground. I fully expected his bear to make an appearance. The heat that rolled off his body could’ve ignited the long forgotten wood in the middle of the firepit. “We’re staying until Clover says the job is done. If you think this job is beneath you, hand in your resignation. You’re no longer part of the Sawtooth Security team.”

The declaration was met with deafening silence.

“That’s what I fucking thought,” Bellamy growled. He put his hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. I believe in you, Clover. And we’re gonna find this locket and save your nana.”

“Maybe we’re not in the right place,” I said. “Do you feel anything?”

He didn’t answer right away. We’d been so focused on this case we hadn’t explored his powers yet.

“I feel your heartbeat. Your energy,” he said, that protective rumble still resonating in his voice.

He needs your strength , my bear said. The magic can come later.

We sat in silence. I was listening, feeling, and trying to think about anything but how I’d put the entire security company in danger. How I’d fucked things up again. Okay, I was absolutely thinking those things. I could feel the bears getting restless in their outposts, and Bellamy beside me, sure and steady. Massive and magnificent. This bear had every reason to doubt me, to walk away from this whole thing, and here he was, by my side.

Energy swirled inside me, and I thought I was going to get sick. I’d been too nervous to eat before we left. I opened my eyes and gasped.

“Holy shit.” That was definitely Beau’s voice coming through the earpiece. “I’m looking at a real fucking ghost.”