Jade Crew: Fallen Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 7) (2 page)

There was no answer from Evan. She got the idea he knew more than he was letting on, but forcing him to speak now wouldn’t help her. He would tell her eventually.

After all, she knew where he lived.

“Why me?” she asked instead.

“Probably because you’re female,” one of the other shifters chimed in. Josh, she thought.

“What’s that supposed to mean Josh?” she asked dangerously. “Something wrong about me being a female shifter?”

“That’s not what he meant at all,” Evan said firmly, verbally putting himself between her and the rest of his crew, acting as a shield for them. Her eyes widened at the quick, unhesitating decision for him to do that. It spoke well of him as an Alpha, she thought.

“And you know it,” Evan continued. “Whether you’re angry about people always being surprised at the fact that you’re female and a bear shifter or not, it doesn’t mean he was saying there was something wrong. He was saying that there aren’t many of you, and even more rarely does one do something to end up needing to come to Genesis Valley. So it was likely assumed you weren’t actually a shifter.”

She felt her bear stir at the way Evan talked to her. His voice was firm and unyielding, dispensing the facts without being condescending. It irked her that he was so calm about it. She wanted to yell, to fight with him. But she couldn’t.

Because he was right.

She
had
threatened one of his crew, simply because they brought up the fact that she was a female shifter. It was a sore point with her, but that didn’t mean she needed to automatically assume everyone who mentioned it was doing so in a malicious way. Evan was right; although the reasons weren’t well known, the number of female shifters was drastically lower than males. Something on the order of twelve or thirteen to one. So that
did
make her an oddity.

Her anger rose as she was forced to acknowledge the truth of his second point as well. Most female shifters were far calmer and easily able to adapt to society. It wasn’t very often that one of them was forced to search out a place like Genesis Valley.

Then again, they don’t make them like Victoria Mackey very often!

A sad smile played across her face as she shook her head.

“Sorry,” she said gruffly, aiming her apology at both Josh and Evan. Josh, because he hadn’t deserved that, and Evan, for the threat to one of his crew.

Rumbled acceptance came back to her, followed by a ringing silence.

“So why Genesis Valley?” Evan asked after a few minutes.

Victoria sighed. She didn’t want to answer it, but there was no getting around the fact that it was a question she had expected. If anything, she was surprised it had taken him this long to get it out.

“It’s a long story,” she began, using it as a preface to her tale, not as an excuse to avoid telling it. Word would get out eventually, and she wanted to ensure it was told properly.

“Well, I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Evan said lightly, and the six of them laughed. The noises filled the small chamber that housed their cell, making it seem smaller, less sterile, and even a bit comforting.

“Life isn’t easy as a young girl when you’re six foot two and stronger than any human by the time you’re fourteen. It can lead to…emotions,” she said, tasting the understatement.

“You know, I’ve never thought about it that way,” Evan said softly.

Victoria snorted. “Of course not! You boys get it all. You grow nice and tall, you burn fat at a ridiculous rate, build muscle with ease, and you’re all gorgeous, with girls hanging off you. We, on the other hand, get tall, have a thickness about us that we can’t rid of no matter how hard we try, and we intimidate every boy there ever was, even other shifters! Unless you’re fortunate to know another female shifter, you become the loneliest person out there.”

Emotion overwhelmed her as she spoke, and she punched the wall. Hard.

“Ow,” she said, cursing softly as she shook her hand until the pain wore off.

“It must have been extremely hard. Having no support system to show you the ropes, to help you cope with the emotional distance from your peers. I can see how it would cause someone to lash out,” Evan said sympathetically when she didn’t continue right away.

“How did you know what I did?” she asked suspiciously. Had word already reached Genesis Valley ahead of her? That was silly; there was no way what she had done had been deemed important enough to spread around to the shifter communities. Had it?

“We’re all here for a reason,” came the response. There was a certain astuteness to his voice, an emotional connection that, despite the differences they may have experienced, told her he understood. All shifters went through a period of discontent, as they discovered their bears and began to bond with them. It was the realization that they were completely different than their peers. Most knew from birth, but it wasn’t until the reality of it set in that they understood just how alone they were, unless they were with others like them.

That was why so few shifters lived in big cities. They preferred the company of other bears, or wolves, or whatever animal they happened to have within them. It was a natural tendency, so that they could share experiences with those that would not only listen, but understand it as well. Humans had a tough time with the last part. They couldn’t grasp the concept of having another living entity within them. It was such a foreign concept to them. The only ones who seemed capable of understanding it were those that became mated to a shifter.

“Good point,” she said. He clearly didn’t know what she had done, but had just made an assumption based on general shifter experiences. “So, one day several of the older boys at my school—ones who weren’t intimidated by my size because they were too stupid—started picking on me. Making fun of me and calling me names. It was…not pretty,” she said slowly.

“Did you—”

“None of them died,” she said quickly, knowing the next question. Victoria knew the reputation Genesis Valley had for its swift justice when it came to shifters who killed humans.

“I see,” Evan said. “You know that here in the Valley, what you did would still result in you being ended, even if they didn’t die?”

“I’m aware,” she said, an edge of challenge in her voice. “I’ve also been told that the community is willing to overlook past transgressions, granting shifters a fresh start.”

“We do,” Evan said, relenting. “And you will be granted one as well.”

She laughed. “If they ever let me out of here.”

“Ah, yes. There is that little caveat, isn’t there?” he said, and she could picture the smile on his face.

“So, Evan of cell number two, what did you do to end up in Genesis Valley while sharing our quaint little hotel room?”

Evan

He knew it was coming. There had been no escaping the question as soon as he had asked her the same. The instant the words left his mouth, he had cursed himself silently for doing so. Not reciprocating would make him look bad, not only to Victoria, but to the others as well.

They weren’t a formal crew, but Evan considered them under his protection and guidance, which meant he had a certain standard to live up to. They had been lost and without leadership upon being thrown in here, punished for not wanting to follow their previous Alphas. The five of them, from three separate crews, had been able to form a bond over their imprisonment. It was the first time Evan had felt comfortable around others in months.

Not since…

He shook his head, fighting off the memory. He wasn’t ready to confront it. Not yet. But that didn’t mean he could get away without saying anything. She had asked him two questions, however. One, about why he was in the cell. The other was what had brought him to Genesis Valley in the first place. That was common enough knowledge, and while it brought up unpleasant memories, he had learned to cope with that.

“It’s a long story,” he started, mimicking the way Victoria had begun her tale.

Evan waited until the laughter died down before he started speaking again. Humor was important, and something he had come to cherish after being locked up in his cell for so long.

The little things seemed to mean more to him now. Forcing himself back on track, he began to speak.

“I never knew my parents. I was placed in an orphanage when I was young, before bouncing from foster home to foster home. I don’t think my parents were shifters either. I’m guessing it was a gene passed down from an ancestor that just decided to become active in me, because when I began to discover my bear, nobody knew about it. Nobody told me what I was going through. Even just the knowledge that I was a shifter would have made a big difference,” he said wistfully, remember night after night of waking up in terror, assuming he was going insane.

“I thought I was losing it. The foster homes and agency thought I was losing it. Nobody knew what was going on with me, until my bear finally manifested itself.”

He paused.

“That was six months after it all started,” he said dryly. “It wasn’t a whole lot of help by then. I was a real mess.”

“I’m sorry,” Victoria said, her hand reaching through the bar once again, for support, he figured.

Wary of the tingle he had felt the first time, and unsure of what it meant, he pressed his hand through the bars once more until their fingertips brushed against each other. There was a burst of static electricity that shot between them, but what followed the minor sting was something else entirely.

Evan hissed as he inhaled sharply, snatching his hand back in surprise as warmth blossomed across his skin wherever her hand touched him. Judging by her reaction, something similar had happened to Victoria as well. There was a small cry of surprise, and then her hand disappeared from his field of vision.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, shaking his hand, trying to make sense of everything.

Where had the warmth come from? It had been so strong that he thought he would have started burning if he kept in contact with her. He frowned then as his bear began to stir, the pain and surprise reaching through to it, practically demanding a response. Evan soothed it, letting it know it was all right and that while he had been surprised, he wasn’t in any danger.

That changed instantly as his bear ignored the calming thoughts and surged to the surface, demanding to be let out to figure out who the intruder into his domain was. Women weren’t allowed there, his bear knew. Evan had spent a long time hardening himself to the idea of women as more than just partners for mutual physical stimulation. His bear knew that. So why was it so incensed?

Evan wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer just yet, so he pushed on with his story, hoping to calm his bear that way.

“By the time I found out I was a shifter and tried to get some help, I was angry.” His voice became softer. “So very angry. Angry at myself, for what I had become. Angry at my parents, for not being there to help me. Angry at everyone around me for judging me as insane when I wasn’t. And my bear—it knew nothing but my anger. It was born to a mind filled with hate and a desire to hurt those who didn’t believe me. When I shifted for the first time, there was no one around to stop me.”

He closed his eyes, the screams suddenly vivid in his mind. The splintering of wood, the dull thud that was made when something impacted into human flesh. The warmth of blood as it flowed down his paws. But most of all he recalled the emotion of his bear. The sheer savagery and power behind it as it wreaked havoc on the poor, innocent, and indefensible orphanage and its occupants.

“I crippled two people,” he said firmly, ensuring that he didn’t shy away from the truth. Evan wasn’t perfect, and he had messed up since then, but he kept himself in check by remembering Rose Lane Abbey and Orphanage and what he had done to it. “I thought several were going to die, but in the end, I guess I was able to maintain just enough control over my bear to prevent any deaths.”

He inhaled deeply. “Barely.” He exhaled hard, his hands clenching into fists as he remembered the badly mangled body of the boy who had once been his best friend. The way he had used the one unbroken arm to try and pull himself away from the huge blood-covered monster, tears mixing with blood as he screamed for Evan to stop, for someone to help him. For anything but what was happening.

A shudder ran down his spine as he remembered how close he had come to taking a human life that day. It still haunted him from time to time, though he had other, more recent memories that usually overwhelmed something so far in his past.

“I ran away after that,” he said, admitting his own weakness aloud. He braced, expecting there to be a backlash, whether from Victoria or one of the other shifters. Or even from himself, he admitted. But nothing happened. There was just an understanding silence, as if they all understood, and weren’t going to judge him for it.

Not understanding why, but accepting it regardless, he forged on with his story.

“I moved from one small town to the next, doing just enough not to starve, but not enough to make any progress with my life. I’d stay until someone’s daughter took an interest in me, or I got told to leave by some uppity punk who thought he owned the town. It was the same story for almost a decade. By the time I finally crossed paths with another shifter who told me about this place, I was so far gone I thought I’d never come back. But I spent six months working my way here, sometimes meaning to, other times by coincidence.”

He smiled at the next part. “When I arrived at the Lionshead office, I got a rather rude awakening. I decided I was too important to wait for someone to see me, and I barged around until I found Marcus Kedyn’s office.”

“No. You didn’t!” Jared said from several cells down as the others made similar remarks at the audacity of his actions.

“Oh, I most certainly did. I flung open those big wooden doors and strode into his office, proclaiming myself to be the best miner he’d ever hire.”

The others chuckled, but there was silence from Victoria’s cell.

“Marcus Kedyn is one of the gryphon shifters who own Lionshead Mining, and most of the land in Genesis Valley,” he explained.

“Oh,” she said. Then she chuckled. “Lionshead, but they’re gryphons. I get it now. That’s entertaining.”

Evan smiled and shared a small laugh with her. “Indeed. I will give them this much: they do have a sense of humor, though you wouldn’t always know it,” he said dryly.

“Well, when you go barging into Marcus’s office unannounced, I can understand why they wouldn’t be amused,” William said. The others echoed their agreement.

“As I came to find out,” Evan told them. “Marcus proceeded to act interested, and invited me to discuss things with him more. He showed me to a door, which I found out led outside, when he sent me right through it.”

The others laughed outright at this.

“He gave me a solid beating,” Evan said, his voice growing serious as he recalled what had happened next. “Then he told me that if I ever wanted to amount to something, I needed to realize the potential within me.”

He paused, thoughtful for a moment, before continuing. “It was the first time anyone had ever said that I could be more than a failure. That I had something in me that might amount to something.” Evan swallowed hard.

“Too bad I didn’t listen,” he finished, slapping his hand angrily on the metal bars of his cell before turning his back to the outside world.

I owe Marcus a lot. Including an apology.
He had been given a chance, and at one turn after another, Evan had blown it. He was lucky that he hadn’t been ended. Truthfully, he was actually shocked when he was given a prison sentence instead of a quick march out behind the LMC headquarters for a meeting with Marcus and the end of his life.

Evan had been given a long time to think about his decisions now.

“Hey, someone’s coming,” Matthew said.

Evan listened carefully, hearing the footsteps in the long hallway outside their cells a split second later. The echo of the bootsteps grew louder, until the owner strode out of the hallway and into view.

It was Garrett, Alpha of the Jade Crew, Evan’s former crew. The man who had done his best to rescue Evan from his spiral of self-destruction, only to witness everything implode spectacularly.

A moment later, another figure joined him. Garrett was big, at least six foot six and with a thick muscled frame to go with it. Evan had always known he would be hard-pressed to take Garrett in a fight, and the several times they had clashed, he had been proven correct. But the other man had never left a doubt in his mind about the outcome of any eventual combat.

Gabriel, the leader of the Stone Bears, was a colossus among titans. He was easily within a hair of being seven feet tall, and his thick arms and tree trunk legs oozed power and the promise of a swift end. It wasn’t just the size that made him so intimidating, but the smooth, lethal grace with which he moved. The flow of his body from one place to the other belied the sheer size and weight he had behind him. It was a lethal combination, as many had found out over the years.

The two of them stared back at him, as if evaluating each other. Gabriel had been by several times since Evan had been jailed, but Garrett hadn’t set foot there. It was an ominous sign that they had both come together.

“I didn’t do anything,” Evan said, spreading his hands to plead innocence.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, while Garrett’s ice-blue eyes continued to bore deep into Evan, evaluating him. The imprisoned shifter stared back. Things were different now, and Evan had nothing to fear from his former Alpha. In fact, the disgust he had felt at first was now replaced by something he doubted Garrett was ready to believe: respect.

He saw the recognition on the Jade Crew Alpha’s face. His eyebrows rose as his forehead furrowed, his eyes opening wide, though he never glanced away.

Probably trying to see if I’m putting up a front. Well, look away Garrett. I’m not the same man you put in here. I’m better than that, and you’re just going to have to accept that. We may never be best friends, but that doesn’t mean I can’t respect you for what you’ve done now that I’ve had time to contemplate everything.

He saw that realization reach Garrett as well, but Gabriel spoke before it could go any further.

“You’re all being set free.”

Evan blinked. That was
not
what he had expected to hear. He had been ready to zone out while they grilled Victoria some more. To be told that he was finally being freed from his prison was the last thing on his mind. Which meant he was immediately suspicious.

“What’s the catch?” he asked, standing upright and facing them through the bars.

Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but Garrett laid a hand on his chest, forestalling his friend’s reply. Evan’s eyes narrowed some more as he watched Gabriel nod and step back.

So this isn’t a Stone Bear thing. This is a Garrett/Jade Crew thing. Interesting.

”No catch,” Garrett said, his deep voice rumbling across the room. “We can’t spare the manpower to guard you anymore, and we’re not interested in letting you just die here either.”

Evan wanted to give a sarcastic reply, about how people likely didn’t want to work with him, but he quelled that instinctive response. Something serious was going on. The revelation from Victoria that shifters weren’t getting into the Valley, and now the knowledge that the Stone Bears and Sentinels were needed elsewhere was ominous. Something big was about to happen.

“What’s going on?” he asked softly. He noted but ignored the looks of surprise from the two Alphas at the seriousness of his tone.

Garrett responded first. “We’re busy with other things.” His eyes flicked quickly to the cage to Evan’s left.

He didn’t want Victoria to know.

“So we just walk out of here, and that’s that?”

Gabriel shook his head. “Not entirely. You’re still obligated by the contract you signed with LMC, and you’ll be required to see that through.”

“So we’re going back to the mines,” Matthew said, speaking up at last. He was the nominal second of their little group, and Evan let him voice his opinion.