The Bare Truth

Chapter 19

Joe had brought enough copies of The Post for everyone. They stood around reading the story, surrounding Sierra and Joe.

"He made you write this?" one of them asked her.

"She did it on her own," Joe assured them. "She knew a bear sighting in the middle of the city would raise suspicion, so she made up a convincing lie. I just helped with some of the little details."

The man who had formerly went by the name Gerald Gregory spoke up from the front.

"Is that all my good name is to you, Joe?" he joked. "Little details?"

There was some general laughter. Joe smiled and waited for the crowd to quiet down again, clearly in his element.

"She risked her job to tell that lie, and she did it to keep me, and all of you, safe from prying eyes. So I ask you, do you really think she would deliberately do anything to jeopardize this place?"

The crowd muttered in response. Some cast her dubious looks, but many more seemed to be in agreement with Joe, nodding their heads. Sierra allowed herself to be hopeful.

A woman with a baby on her hip and another child clutching her hand addressed Sierra.

"So why did you do it?" she asked.

Sierra took Joe's hand.

"Because I love him," she said simply.

Joe smiled at her in surprise. She hadn't said it back to him yet. For a moment they forgot the crowd and he had eyes only for her. He leaned down and kissed her. A few of the children made gagging noises. Somebody wolf whistled.

He turned back to them again, holding her hand.

"Eric went against the decision of his Alpha. He attacked Sierra in public. Shifting in an alley between two buildings in the middle of downtown Olympia. He could have exposed all of us. He claims he did all of this to keep you safe. Does his behavior make you feel safe? Would you feel better with him in charge?"

He let the words hang for a moment before continuing.

"And just what kind of man is he that he would attack a woman in the street like this?" he gestured at Sierra. "He wasn't just trying to turn her. He meant to kill her. Worse still, he also attacked her friend, a woman who knows nothing about us. Her only crime was that she was home when he broke into their apartment."

"It's true," Zeke interjected. "I saw it. Dude messed up her face pretty bad. Tore up their place too. And we're talking about a five-foot tall human woman who's half drunk most of the time. Really threatening."

"There's a picture on page twelve," Sierra added.

Several people flipped through their papers to the article on Molly's art show. It was accompanied by a great shot of Molly standing in between two of the paintings, her bruises somehow magnified by the strips of blue and green canvas hanging next to her.

It was Brenda who spoke up this time from where she sat cross-legged on the grass in the front row.

"He ripped up her paintings?" she asked.

Sierra nodded.

"He did."

"That bastard," Brenda said.