Jade Crew: Captive Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 4) (3 page)

“I’ll call you,” he said, then gave her a slight “get going” gesture with his hands as she drifted away from him without turning her back. “Go,” he urged.

She smiled, then turned to go as a flame crept across her face, courtesy of her burning cheeks.

He’s a shifter you dummy.

Yeah but he’s so cute though!

***

“Morning Hannah!” she called to her campaign manager as she tossed her purse and keys down on the desk, before setting her mug of steaming coffee down somewhat more lovingly and tenderly to ensure she didn’t spill a drop.

“You sure seem chipper today,” Hannah replied with a snort as Kierra dropped heavily into one of the big leather high-backed office chairs that surrounded the large circular table. They were in the middle of the conference room that Kierra had taken over for the duration of her campaign as her operating headquarters.

The rectangular room wasn’t huge, she thought, looking around it once more. After all, Origin and Genesis Valley as a whole were only home to a little over two thousand people, and that included the shifters, who for the most part couldn’t—or didn’t, for those that were eligible—vote. Her entire campaign team consisted of her, Hannah, and her assistant Jenny.

“Slept like a baby, thanks for asking,” she replied, though she declined to explain just
why
that was the case. Hannah didn’t need to know about her boss’s dreams and what they contained.

Or who.

“I’ve got a few things lined up that we need to go over, including that speech for the Emergency Support Personnel meeting coming up,” Hannah said after dutifully waiting for Kierra to take that first long sip of fresh coffee.

The ESP composed the various police, fire, EMS, and medical professionals within town. It was an important speech, and Kierra knew that if she was going to have a hope of winning the election, she would have to convince them. They represented a large enough chunk of the population, and an influential one at that, that they could easily swing the vote in favor of whoever they decided had their best interests in mind.

“Okay, well, let’s take care of the small stuff first then. I have a few constituents scheduled for meetings today to listen to their concerns. The first of those is at...” she searched for her schedule. “Jenny, what time is my meeting with Roger? Eleven?”

“Quarter after, actually,” Jenny said, emerging from her cubicle in the back corner.

“Thank you,” she said graciously. “How are you doing this morning?” she added belatedly with an apologetic smile.

“I’m good, thank you,” Jenny said, brushing it off with one hand as she dropped a small folder in front of Kierra with the other. “This is the summary of their complaints, for each of your meetings. Eleven fifteen, one o’clock, and two thirty.”

“Got it. Thanks again.”

“Not a problem, that’s why they pay me the big bucks,” Jenny joked, grabbing another seat at the table with them. She wasn’t entirely joking either, Kierra knew. Like every position in town, it paid extremely well. Much of the money came from the LMC, which was a sore point with many residents, but they found it hard to complain. The salaries they made were several times what could be expected in other parts of the country, mainly due to the danger they faced working in such close proximity with the unreliable shifters who lived there.

“Anything new from Jordan’s camp?” she asked the other women.

“Nothing. Actually, less than nothing. It’s as if they’re maintaining radio silence over there. I don’t understand it, and I don’t like it. Something is
not right
.” Hannah emphasized the last two words to help drive her point home.

“What are they waiting for?” Kierra mused.

Jordan Immolt was the incumbent mayor of Genesis Valley. In fact, he had won the past four elections, and all but the first one had been landslide victories. Unseating him seemed to be an almost insurmountable task. Kierra was convinced he was paid off by the LMC to look the other way in regard to a number of incidents involving shifters as well, but she couldn’t prove it.

“They must feel safe. There’s no other reason they would have stopped all their efforts,” Jenny said, chiming in.

“Unless...” Kierra said, her brain whirring. “What if they’re nervous about us? If that were the case, they know they’ve got a solid platform. But maybe they’re waiting for us to do something.”

“Like what? Why would they stop everything on account of us?” Hannah asked.

“They think we’re going to screw up,” she said abruptly. “That’s why. They’re waiting for us to make our first mistake, then they’re going to pounce.”

The other women considered her point. The three of them knew they were the only real threat to Immolt’s re-election, which meant he knew it too. They weren’t the only two people running for office, but none of the others had a chance. Kierra considered them once again in her mind.

There was Taryn Sloan. She was a likeable young woman, very near in age to Kierra, in fact. But she was campaigning on a platform very similar to Immolt’s, which meant she had no chance at all. He was the favorite of the LMC, and until she could dislodge him somehow, nothing would come of her bid.

The only other candidate was John Locking, and his wasn’t a serious campaign. He wanted to see the shifters installed as the overlords of the Valley, making all humans subservient to them. Although he had an albeit very small following of shifters who liked him because of his sheer gall, none of them actually took him seriously.

Which meant it was down to Kierra and her anti-shifter, anti-LMC platform. She was the only one with a shot at winning the office and clearing the air in town.

“Well, let’s not screw up then,” Hannah said, and the three of them laughed.

The rest of the morning proceeded slowly, and despite the first meeting with Roger, Kierra felt herself becoming more distracted as time wore on. She began to check her phone repeatedly, draining the battery, despite her notifications being set to on. At one point, she zoned out completely while Hannah was going over the main talking points of her upcoming speech in two days’ time.

“Kierra? Kierra?”

She blinked, and the image of the tall man with his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and tucked neatly into his blue jeans dissipated. The muscles and prior day’s scruff evaporated into thin air, leaving just Hannah.

“Yes?” she said, giving her head a shake to try and focus.

“I’ve been talking to you for the past ten minutes,” Hannah said sternly.

“I know,” she said, hoping to just keep going.

“Oh really?” Hannah said, crossing her arms. “In that case, care to tell me what I’ve been talking about?”

Shit.
She was getting called out for her daydreaming. That was so not fair! She was supposed to the boss.
Then you should have paid attention!

“Ladies and gentlemen…” Kierra said, before tapering off in her attempts to recite the speech.

Hannah snorted. “First you come in here grinning from ear to ear. Now you can’t focus on anything. Spill,” she said, moving away from the whiteboard she had been standing next to and sitting back down at the table.

“Spill what?” Kierra asked nonchalantly, trying to act like she had no idea what was going on.

Unfortunately, Hannah was not only her campaign manager, but also a friend. She could read Kierra much better than that. Instead of saying anything, Hannah just leaned back in the chair, crossed her arms, and waited.

Kierra was ashamed of how quickly she caved on the standoff. Less than thirty seconds elapsed before she started talking. “So, Nash took me to the reopening of that bar last night,” she said, reminding Hannah of where she had been.

“Nash? No, please tell me there’s more to this story.” Hannah looked like she had bitten into a sour candy.

“Ew, no, not Nash. Yuck. But anyway, umm, well this is really awkward, and I still don’t know what to make of it.”

“But…” Jenny prompted from behind her, having just reentered the room. “Go on, don’t stop on account of me. I want to hear this juicy gossip too!” she said, her eyes sparkling with delight as she teased her boss.

Kierra gave a rather exaggerated sigh.

“I had a really nice conversation with someone there. It didn’t seem like it at the time. It almost seemed business-like. But it’s weird. The more I thought of it, and thought of him, the more I appreciated his ability to discuss work things with me. Oddly enough, I think we were flirting. I mean, he was certainly gorgeous, but it was… I’m not really sure how to describe it. It wasn’t your typical flirting. I don’t think.”

“So who was he?” Jenny pressed.

“And are you seeing him again?” Hannah asked, a big smile on her face.

Kierra appreciated the way her coworkers and friends wanted her to go out on a date. She hadn’t been on one in a number of years, so this was kind of a big deal.

“We’re going to dinner tomorrow?” she said, her voice rising toward the end as if she were unsure if it was a good idea.

“What’s the problem?” Hannah said, picking up on what was bothering her right away.

Kierra closed her eyes. “He’s a shifter.”

“Shit.” Hannah said. “You can’t. Can’t do it.”

“I know,” she moaned. “But he was so polite, and smart, and did I say stunningly sexy?”

“I thought you
hated
shifters,” Jenny told her.

“I do? I did? Fuck,” she said bitterly, unsure of what else to say.

“Is he a miner? Or just a resident? If it’s a resident, maybe we can pull it off.” Hannah was always thinking about how to turn something into a positive, her brain already working to find a way to salvage it.

“He’s a miner,” she said glumly.

“Oh,” Hannah said awkwardly. “Um, what crew? Maybe if he’s from the Diamond Crew we can skew it as being a positive, establishing relations with the shifters on the ground, or something?”

“I’m not sure,” she said. Darren had never told her outright the night before, and she hadn’t asked.

“But it was the Tongue & Flame bar you were at, right?” Jenny pressed.

“Yes, so what?”

“Well, only two crews go there. The Emeralds, which wouldn’t be great, and the Jade Crew.

“
The Jade Crew?”
Hannah all but shouted. “Kierra! Come on girl. You know better than this. They’re just a bunch of misfits, always causing trouble of some sort or another. Absolutely not. You can’t.”

“Where are you going to dinner with him?” Jenny asked.

Kierra’s phone chose that moment to vibrate, notifying her of an incoming text. She checked it.

“Shift on Main?” she said weakly, reading the text from Darren.

Shift on Main. Seven thirty tomorrow. I’ll meet you at your place at seven?

“Don’t reply,” Hannah said. “You need to think about this seriously Kierra. If the town finds out that you’re dating a Jade Crew shifter, this campaign is all but over. Sure, you’ll probably still beat the other two, but there will be no hope of beating Jordan. Your entire campaign is built on attracting the folks who think you’re going to stand up to Lionshead and the shifters. If it’s revealed you’re dating one, the entire premise of your campaign is done. Over. So think this through carefully.”

Kierra stood up from the table, running her hands through her hair. She was stressed. “I know. Holy hell I know. I knew last night when he asked, and I meant to say no. I tried to say no. The only word that came out of my mouth though was yes.”

She turned to look at her friends. “What do I do now?”

Hannah had a firm look on her face. “Either you accept your campaign is over, and in that case, text him ‘Okay.’ Or, you call him up, and tell him that you have to cancel. Permanently.”

Kierra sat back down. Her elbows rested on the table and she put her head in her hands. Life should
not
be this complicated. Still, she had put a lot of time and effort into this campaign. There was only another few weeks left. Perhaps if she didn’t manage to win, she could call Darren up then, and they could go for dinner?

“Damn,” she whispered, knowing what she had to do.

Snatching the phone off the table, she walked out of the conference room and into the hallway. The city hall wasn’t huge, but there were still several places she could go to be alone while she phoned Darren.

The phone rang, and she almost hit the red button to end the call before it connected. But she summoned her courage, and let it ring. It kept going until it hit dial tone. He must be back in the mines, she thought idly as the beep sounded in her ear, letting her know it was time to start speaking.

“Hi, Darren. It’s me. Kierra, I mean. From last night. At the bar? Umm, listen. I know we talked about dinner. But, umm, I’m going to have to cancel. It’s just,” she hesitated, unsure of what to say.
Say something. Hurry up. Just do it.

“It’s just not a good idea,” she rushed out, then hung up.

There. It’s done. I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Darren

“Perfect,” he muttered. The door closed behind him, leaving Darren alone to deal with what had prompted his sarcastic response.

The cold, biting wind blew unceasingly across the open stretch of land in front of Ridgeback Lodge, creating a miniature vortex before abruptly finding itself swirling to the right as the building jogged at a ninety-degree angle toward the road. The L-shaped building created the perfect conditions for blowing snow to pile up. Unfortunately for Darren, he hadn’t bothered to look outside before leaving his room.

Shaking his head at the bleak outlook for the day, he stomped down the deck that ran parallel to the building. A good amount of snow had accumulated overnight, up past ankle-height in some places. Some of the drifts were over a foot high already. By the time the day was done, winter would well and truly have arrived in Genesis Valley.

Thankfully we got the snow tires put on the trucks two weeks ago. Otherwise getting up the mountain today would have been…interesting.

He passed by Garrett’s office on his way to the common room, intent on feeding his ravenous appetite. Although he couldn’t smell it, the idea of fresh bacon and eggs was making his mouth water in anticipation. They had ketchup again too, after a frightful morning the day before when they realized they were out.

It had been bad. Joel and Corey had almost gotten into a scrap over the remnants they tried to scrape from the bottom of the bottle. Ketchup was as essential as beer or bacon in Darren’s mind. It was one of those things that simply
could not
be allowed to run out.

Although the wind was noisy, it didn’t prevent Darren’s acute hearing from picking up the sounds from Garrett’s office. He paused and listened closer. He couldn’t make out what was being said, but it was clearly the sounds of shouting.

Darren frowned. There was nothing special going on that day besides the snowstorm. So what reason did Garrett have to shout at anyone? It didn’t make sense, and any time things didn’t make sense lately, something bad was going on.

He contemplated knocking at the door to see if he could be of assistance, but before he could decide, the door flew open and a body came charging out. Darren snarled as Corey barreled into him, trying to push the larger shifter aside.

“What the hell is your problem?” he snapped, grabbing Corey by the shoulder and spinning him around as he moved past.

“Piss off,” Corey growled.

Darren rolled his eyes, the feel-good mood of the morning all but gone. He didn’t have time for this bullshit.

“No,” Darren said, and followed up with a right hook to Corey’s face. The blow rocked the other shifter backward. As he came forward, fur ripped from Corey’s skin as he summoned his bear.

“Great,” Darren muttered, unable to avoid the sudden increase in size as over a ton and a half of bear suddenly appeared. The bear hit him solidly, pinwheeling him into a support post for the awning that covered half the deck. The four-by-four post cracked and shattered under his impact.

Fuck this,
he thought, and his own bear exploded forth to meet the onrushing small golden brown beast. The bone-white fur of his animal blended in with the snow, but there was no mistaking the loud battle-cry that erupted from his lungs as he slammed full force into the irate smaller bear.

Although Corey had the momentum, Darren had a rather large size advantage. After Garrett and Evan, he was the next largest shifter in the crew, although Russell would probably have something to say about that claim. The two were rather close in size. In this case, Corey’s momentum wasn’t enough to overcome the size. Corey went sliding back, his claws gouging long lines into the deck.

Dammit Corey, you idiot. Now we’re going to have to re-do this portion of the deck come springtime. What the hell has gotten into you?

Corey dipped, trying to get underneath Darren, but the larger shifter simply dropped his weight. As a paw smashed into the side of his head, however, Darren realized Corey had been ready for that all along.

Ow.

Enough was enough, and Darren wasn’t interested in doing more damage than needed to be done. Most of the time he was content to let Corey win, but when Darren chose to utilize the training of his past, the smaller shifter didn’t stand a chance.

He shot forward unexpectedly, bowling over the smaller shifter. His legs trampled across the other animal as he cleared him and spun around. Corey was a little slow getting himself upright, and as he rolled over, Darren’s open paw descended, giving Corey a very solid bop on top of the head.

“Enough!” Garrett’s voice rang out, carving through the wind like a freshly sharpened butcher’s knife.

Respecting his Alpha’s command, Darren calmed his bear, and shifted back into his human form. Corey did the same, but instead of walking up to the Alpha, he simply walked to his truck and got in, ignoring the others.

“Well that was fun,” Darren said, approaching Garrett. He saw a disappointed look in the Alpha’s eyes as they watched Corey’s truck disappear. “Everything okay boss?”

“Perfect,” Garrett spat. Then he sighed. “You may as well come on in.”

Darren hesitated. “I’m not going to come storming out like that, am I? Because honestly Garrett, I’m in a great mood this morning, and I really don’t want to have the buzz killed.”

Garrett raised his eyebrows. “Get in my office,” he snorted and turned around, heading back inside.

“Damn,” he said, looking up at the gray sky before following his Alpha through the door.

Two figures waited there for him.

“Oh,” he said dully. “Well, now I at least understand why Corey was so mad. What the hell do you want Nash?” he asked before Garrett could even get a word out.

The LMC liaison simply smiled.

“He’s here because Emma isn’t going to be around for a bit,” Garrett said.

Darren turned to his right. “Everything all right?”

“Everything’s fine,” Garrett assured him. “But Russell, Gwen, and myself will be accompanying her.”

“I see.” It actually took him a few seconds longer for everything to percolate through his brain. The fog of the morning hadn’t quite dispersed yet, despite the cold weather. Then it hit him. “Wait, so who’s going to lead us while you’re gone?”

Even as he asked it, a sinking sensation settled over Darren. The number two of the Ridgebacks was Evan, but he was in jail for the foreseeable future. Corey was the third, but if he had just stormed out…

Holy hell.

The next candidate, possibly even before Corey, would have been Russell. But he was going
with
Garrett. Which meant that—

“You want me to do it?” he asked incredulously.

Garrett glared at him. “Why is that so hard to believe Darren? You’re smart, level-headed, and you have the command in you. The biggest thing preventing you from being an Alpha in your own right is the lack of faith in yourself,” he said bluntly.

“I…” Darren stuttered to a halt. He had no idea what to say. Between the shock of realizing that he was going to be in charge of the Ridgebacks for an unnamed period of time, and the realization that Garrett thought he had the potential to become the Alpha of a crew, it was more than he was prepared to accept in such a short period of time.

Start with the more pressing issue,
a small corner of his brain urged, much to his relief.

“How long are you gone for?” he asked, doing his best to tackle the situation head-on and learn as much information about what was going on as he could.

“Probably a week. Maybe more, I’m not sure. Could be as long as two, but no more than that. The crew can’t spare two bodies for any longer than that,” Garrett said.

“Okay,” he said, his head bobbing slightly as he thought everything through. “What about Evan?”

“What about him?”

“Well, if they decide to set him free.”

Nash chose that moment to speak up. “Not going to happen anytime soon. Trust me,” he said snarkily.

Darren looked at Nash for a moment, then shifted his gaze back over to Garrett. His Alpha coughed, attempting to hide a laugh at the blatant distaste for the liaison who was universally hated by the Ridgebacks, and likely every other crew in the Valley.

“From what I’ve heard,” Garrett said, “Evan is going to be up there for a while.”

“Understood. And,” Darren grimaced, “Corey?”

“Corey didn’t want it. At all. In case you missed that,” Garrett explained. “You’ll be fine, nothing to worry about.”

“When do you leave?”

Garrett looked over at Nash. “That’ll be all for now, Nash. Go make sure the others aren’t discussing any evil plans, would you?”

The liaison fumed at the dismissal, but he left nonetheless.

“We leave today,” Garrett told him as the door closed.

“Where are you going?”

“We’re going to retrace some of my last steps, to see if we can’t jog some of my memory.”

Darren nodded. The crew had decided that it was best to keep Russell’s revelation about being Garrett’s stepbrother a secret. Only a select few outside the crew knew about it. If the LMC knew about it,
and
knew what Garrett was about to do, they would have had a fit. It had become clear that
someone
inside of the Mining Consortium was in on what had happened to Garrett. Unfortunately, nobody knew
who
. There were exactly zero clues.

“Well,” Darren said, sticking out his hand. “Best of luck boss. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“Me too,” Garrett said distantly. “Me too.”

“What’s the public reason for your leaving?” he added belatedly, realizing he should know to keep the cover story intact.

“Well, with Emma being pregnant, we figured it would be best to go visit her parents. Gwen is Emma’s best friend, so it just made sense to bring her along, which gave us a convenient excuse to bring Russell.”

Darren nodded. “That’s pretty sneaky of you, boss.”

“Why thank you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m glad you’re just now realizing I can be sneaky.”

It was Darren’s turn to snort. “Right. Just now. Anything else I should know? Otherwise, I’m gonna grab some chow.”

Garrett looked at him for a long while before responding.

“There’s a lot more going on in the Valley than we know. One thing that you should be aware of,” he paused, contemplating his next words carefully. “If something goes wrong, call Ajax.”

Darren’s eyebrows furrowed. Why would he call the Alpha of the Silvertips? Wouldn’t it make more sense to call the LMC office? Then he could speak to the Kedyns, or perhaps one of the Stone Bears. That was the usual process if something came up that the Alphas couldn’t handle themselves.

His Alpha seemed to follow his thought pattern. “Why would I tell you that?” he asked softly, his voice still managing to fill the space between them and be heard over the howling wind outside.

“The obvious reason is that you think Ajax could be of more help. The reverse of that though, would mean that the LMC can’t be of any help. Alternatively, they
won’t
help, which isn’t overly positive-sounding. If they can’t help, that means something or I guess some
one
is preventing them from doing so. If they won’t help, then I can only assume that someone is
actively
choosing to work against us. Which leads me to all sorts of unpleasant conclusions.” Darren
really
was beginning to see why Corey had stormed out, assuming they had even gotten this far in the conversation.

“We’re not sure yet,” Garrett told him. “Evidence points toward the key power players in the Valley having been neutralized. Somehow. Again, we don’t know.”

“Who is this we?” Darren asked. “And which figures have been compromised?”

“Me, Ajax, Gabriel. A few others. And now you,” Garrett said, looking at his subordinate levelly. “So far, the Kedyns and Ferro have all but been confirmed.”

The green eyes staring back at Darren were hard and uncompromising. He was being tested right now, and he knew it. Garrett was probing to see how much he could accept and understand.

“Are you expecting anything to happen while you’re gone? Anything I can be on the lookout for?”

Garrett stared for a moment longer, before shaking his head. “No, it feels a lot like we’re in the eye of the storm right now. As if the inroads with the Sapphires were their strongest effort yet, and that they haven’t had an attempt to recover. Unfortunately, without knowing their end goals, we can only react to them, instead of make them react to us.” Garrett grimaced as he finished speaking, his expression mimicking how Darren felt.

“Well, I’ll do my best, boss. Hopefully they keep calm until you return.”

Garrett rose, sticking out his hand. “I do too, but I also know you’ll do just fine while I’m gone. They’ve been quiet for two weeks, hopefully another week and change won’t affect anything.”