Alpha Bear by Bianca D'Arc

get Brody and Zak and a few of the
others,” John promised, already thinking ahead, planning the
mission. It was one of the strangest ops he’d ever planned, that
was for sure, but it might just be one of the most important—if it
would help keep his people safe.
     

Chapter Four

    They kept working on the plan for about an
hour. Eventually, Brody came back, and John pulled him in to help
keep track of what they would need, laying out the problem in
impressively few words. John really knew how to boil things down to
the basics, and that was something Urse could respect.
    He’d even sent someone over to the bookstore
to keep Mellie company, though Urse didn’t quite know how to feel
about that. Was the man sent to keep her safe or to keep the town
safe from the mad strega on the loose? Was the guy intended
to be a companion or a jailer?
    Urse figured she wouldn’t find out ‘til she
got back to the store, and she couldn’t do anything about it at the
moment. John probably wouldn’t even consider starting to trust her
again until she proved herself in some way. Maybe after he saw her
in action tomorrow at dawn, doing her all—and giving all her
energy—to safeguard the town and its people. Maybe that would help
win back his regard.
    She found it mattered. A lot. And that was
weird. It had been a long time since a man’s opinion of her had
mattered quite this much to Urse. Not since Tony Albernoni had
broken her heart in high school when she’d started acting weird
because her power had been coming to life and she hadn’t known how
to handle it back then.
    Since then, in fact, she’d steered mostly
clear of human men. There was the occasional passing warlock, but
those guys weren’t really interested in long-term commitments with
someone of her level of power. Her bloodlines were too diluted with
the shifter blood—even as far back as it went—to interest any of
the really powerful mages.
    When it came down to it, the magical
community was filled with snobs. Every last one of them.
    Only among the strega did she and
Mellie fit in. A sisterhood that traced its roots back to Italy and
a small group of women who kept the magic alive in their families
and their descendants. They had welcomed her, regardless of the
shifter blood that others said tainted their line. Among strega , the Ricoletti name was well respected for its past
deeds and unwavering service to the Light.
    That seemed to count among shifters as well,
which Urse liked. They weren’t snobs. At least not that she’d seen
since moving here. They were good, honest, sometimes irreverent
people who seemed to judge people on their actions.
    Which was why she had a lot to prove to John
tomorrow morning. She’d hidden the truth from him. She didn’t think
it qualified as an outright lie, but it was something that
definitely stood between them now. And more and more, she realized
she didn’t like the distance between herself and the hunky
mayor.
    No, she liked John a little too much to
tolerate his suspicion. She wanted it gone. And the only way she
thought she could accomplish that feat was to prove to him that she
meant no harm to anyone. She just wanted to coexist and make
friends. That’s all. Nothing sinister or covert.
    There would be no more hiding what she was.
She was strega, and she was proud. And damn it all—she even
had a bit of bear shifter blood in her ancestry, which should count
for something among these people. It sure as heck had made her life
difficult among magic users, who saw it as a major flaw.
    “I think we’ve got just about every angle
covered, right?” John said, breaking into her thoughts. “Unless you
have something else to tell me?”
    And there it was. He totally didn’t trust
her.
    “No, John.” She bit her lip and prayed for
patience. “I’ve told you everything you can expect tomorrow. The
only things I’ve left out are the things I can’t predict. Such as,
how the creature is going to react, and what effect