Wicked Burn (Realm Enforcers #3)(34)

Her phone dinged, and she pulled it out of her bag to see a grumpy Bear staring out at her. She clicked on the video chat. “Bear. Are you back home?”

His dark eyebrows drew down. “No, still in Ireland. I’m visiting friends right now in Kilkenny, and I need to talk to you. We didn’t get a chance before my ass was thrown out of Dublin.”

She took a drink of her coffee. “First, are you still in danger, and if so, from whom?”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I’m not. What happened was a business deal gone wrong eons ago, and I fixed it earlier, so stop hounding me about it.”

She narrowed her gaze. Was he lying? She couldn’t tell. “Fine. What’s up?”

He growled. “You’re not seeing the demon again, are you?”

She blinked, her body stilling. “It’s a little late for you to act like an overprotective brother, don’t you think?” She adored Bear, but they had a long-distance relationship for many reasons; she didn’t need a half-crazy bear shifter butting into her business. “Not that I don’t appreciate the concern.”

“You can’t date him.” Bear leaned closer to the camera until only his honey-colored eyes were visible. “It’s a mistake that can’t lead anywhere.”

“I can date anyone I choose.” When the hell did the males in her life start seeing her as somebody to push around? She was Simone Brightston, for God’s sake. “Butt out.”

He shook his head. “You’re a witch and are part, um, bear shifter, even though you can’t shift. A bear shifter like you, even one who can’t shift, certainly can’t mate a mind-attacking demon. It’s a crazy-bad mix, and you have to know that.”

“Don’t be silly.” She sat back. Nothing in her felt like a bear shifter, so the genes must be seriously latent. She was a witch and a witch only. Besides, what the heck was Bear’s problem? “There are demons who have mated shifters, and you know it.” Sure, she couldn’t think of any right offhand, but it wasn’t against the law or anything.

“Bear shifters have, well, sanity issues. You mix that with demon mind control, and you have a serious problem for offspring.” Bear shook his shaggy hair. “Trust me.”

That just wasn’t true. Simone snapped her fingers. “Sally O’Malley, a bear shifter out of Dublin, is mated to a demon. They live in Alaska now.”

Bear blinked. “You have a friend named Sally O’Malley?”

Simone rolled her eyes. “Yes. Her great-grandma is a witch. Sally took Byron’s last name when they mated.”

Bear snorted. “Now, that’s love.”

“Yes. It’s love that has resulted in a whole pack of bear cubs, none of them insane.” Well, no more crazy than most bear shifters, anyway. “So your theory doesn’t hold water.”

Bear shook his head. “Can’t you trust me on this? Just this once?”

She frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He sighed and rubbed his whiskered chin. “Okay. The bears in our family are a bit more insane than most, and the proof I can offer you is the fact that our bastard of a father shot you, and you had to defend yourself and kill him. Or try to. I mean, before Nick saved your ass.”

Simone kept her face stoic. “Just because Roman was nuts doesn’t mean my kids will be. No matter what male I mate.” Not that she was planning on mating any time soon.

Bear leaned away from the camera, bringing his full face into focus. “Our family can’t mate with a demon. Period.”

“Why is that?” she asked, trying to read his facial features.

“Listen, Simone. I’ve never wanted to do this, but in this one instance, I will. I’m the head of our family, and you’ll obey me on this.”

Humor attacked her, and she laughed so hard tears filled her eyes. “Oh my God, that is so funny. Obey you.”

His face hardened to the point that she stopped laughing. “You aren’t familiar with our ways, and that’s all right, because you chose your path. But you’re still a member of my family, I’m the patriarch and the f*cking leader of the bear nation.”

She cleared her throat, trying very hard not to tell him to stuff it. He was her brother, and apparently she’d stomped on his ego. Damn men and their egos. “I’m sorry to upset you, but I don’t obey anybody.”

“Either break if off with the demon, or I’ll see to it that you do.” No amusement showed on Bear’s face, for once. She could actually see the predator often hidden beneath Bear’s casual attitude. “I’m not messing around here.”

There went her temper. “Oh yeah? What exactly are you going to do, big bad bear?” she snapped.

He leaned in again. “First, I’m asking nicely. If that doesn’t work, I’ll announce to the world that you’re a bear shifter with the weakness of not being able to actually shift, which will probably get your ambitious butt kicked off the Coven Nine. And if that doesn’t work? I’ll put a f*cking bounty on the demon’s head and collect it myself if need be.”

Heat fired through Simone. “Bring it on, Bear, you idiot.” She ended the call, her breath heaving through her chest. How dare he?

Nick chose that moment to stalk into the room, dressed in black slacks and a gray shirt, oozing power and intensity. “You okay?”