Jade Crew: Fallen Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 7) (3 page)

“Yes,” Gabriel said without hesitation. “But you’ll be free of here, and free to do what you wish, as long as you don’t violate any of the rules of the Valley. Otherwise, a clean slate.”

“Do you mean that?” Evan asked slowly.

“I’m not thrilled about it,” Gabriel said, looking Evan in the eyes as he spoke. “But Garrett here seems to believe in you, and I trust him.”

Evan’s gaze swiveled back to Garrett, but the Jade Crew Alpha just stared at him imperceptibly, his emotions hidden and the mask of stone on his face not revealing anything to his former crew member.

“So I go back to being a Jade Crew member,” he said aloud. “But what happens to them?”

Garrett shook his head. “You can’t come back,” he said quietly but firmly. “Not to the Jade Crew.”

“Then what the hell am I supposed to do?” he asked, confused.

“Do what you’re meant to do—what the rest of us can see in you but you have a hard time believing.
Lead them.
”

There was no preventing it; Evan’s jaw dropped open as the others reacted audibly.

“You can’t be serious. Why would you give me another chance at leading my own crew?”

Garrett smiled. “Two reasons. One, because we don’t have a choice. You’re a bunch of fuck-ups, but you all have potential. Two,” he said, ticking the points off with his fingers as he spoke, “because I know you can. I just need
you
to believe it.”

Emotions warred within Evan. Excitement and terror. The opportunity to be an Alpha again, to lead a crew and mold them into the best team he could? It was a grand notion, but one he had always envisioned in his head. The idea sent his heart racing and his blood pumping.

Everything crashed back down to earth as the terrible, unshakeable pressure mounted almost immediately, forming a block of ice in his stomach. He’d been given the role of Alpha of a mining crew once before. It hadn’t ended well. In fact, it had resulted in the deaths of several shifters and two human women.

He snarled internally, knowing he hadn’t been responsible for what had happened. It had been the other shifter who had thrown the first punch, not Evan. Everyone knew that, but they chose to blame him for it.

“So, do you accept?” Gabriel asked, his words blasting apart the memories and bringing Evan back to the present.

“If they accept me as their Alpha, then yes,” he said, motioning to all the cells to his right, where the other male shifters resided.

“I do,” they said almost as one.

Nodding, Garrett stepped to the control panel and punched several buttons. A moment later, the cell doors began to grind open. Evan stood back, his eyes darting around the room as he waited for the other shoe to drop despite Garrett’s assurances. The doors finished retracting with a clang, but he didn’t move.

After a handful of seconds had passed, he tentatively took a step toward the opening. When nothing happened, he darted through into the room beyond, looking around in wonder. It had been over three months since he had last stepped foot outside the cell, and his senses tingled with warning.

In the end, however, no threat emerged.

“You were serious,” he said to Garrett, the Jade Crew shifter looking somewhat amused as the other bears slowly followed him out of their cells. He looked at the shifters he hadn’t seen in months, imprinting the memory of their faces into his mind, so that he might never forget. They were his now.

“I was, and still am,” he said, gesturing toward the doorway, indicating that Evan should follow him that way.

Nodding, he waited for Garrett to go, and once again to his surprise he did. By leading the way Garrett was exposing his back to Evan, a potentially dangerous move. But by doing so, he demonstrated the faith he had in the former Jade Crew bear.

The group of shifters headed for the hall, intent on making their escape from the white room that had been their own personal hell for far too long. All that Evan could think of was getting out into the open, to see the sky above him and have trees around him.

And one of Ferro’s beers wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.

A noise from his left caught Evan’s attention, and all of a sudden he remembered that there was still another shifter locked up. He cast a glance over at the cell, a grimace on his face as he realized what the poor sorry soul was in for. Evan just hoped she would get out sooner than he did.

“Hey, watch it!” Jared said in irritation as Evan walked right into him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, but his attention was transfixed elsewhere.

Her back was to them, but it didn’t matter. The long, dirty-blonde hair hung down over a leather jacket, nearly touching the midpoint of her back. Faded blue jeans concealed thick legs and a large ass. The leather jacket was dried and split, with no logos adorning it. The way it swam on her made him think that it had once belonged to a male closer in size to himself.

A single thought ran through his mind.

You need her.

Victoria

“She comes too,” she heard him say, picturing his hand coming up to point at her cell.

“She’s not going anywhere,” Gabriel said. “Not until we know how she got here.”

“She comes too, or no deal,” Evan said, injecting steel into his voice, letting the others know that he wasn’t going to bed on the issue.

Victoria had been facing the far wall, her back turned to the others as they prepared to depart, leaving her alone without any contact as they mysteriously freed the others. That had seemed like it was to be her fate, until he had decided otherwise.

Evan.

Who was he? Why was he so adamant that she go with them? Nobody cared that much about her, especially not a male shifter. Her hands pushed off the solid rock, propelling her away from the wall. Using the momentum, she turned and strode smoothly to the front of the cell, where she almost walked right into the bars as she saw him for the first time.

Oh my God he’s
gorgeous!

Thick dark brown hair hung down from his head. She could tell that it wasn’t by choice, but simply because he had been unable to stay groomed in the cell. A matching beard, shaded much more toward black covered his face, but it didn’t matter. The slightly crooked nose passed almost unnoticed as she met his eyes.

While the rest of him was in desperate need of some regular maintenance, there was nothing wrong with the vivid, intelligent brown eyes that were looking back at her. The pools of hazelnut seemed to ebb and flow as she became lost within them. All the moisture fled her mouth, forcing her to swallow hard.

Almost unbeknownst to her, in the periphery of her vision, Garrett and Gabriel seemed to exchange a few words. Then Gabriel moved back to the console, and moments later, the steel separating her from Evan began to retract. The sudden loud grinding startled her, snapping the fragile moment that had begun between them and slamming Victoria roughly back into the present as she remembered there were a number of other people in the room.

She wondered if all of them had seen what she had felt, or if to the outside world it had been nothing more than a look of thanks as Evan freed her.

A large shape stepped in front of her, blocking her view. She looked up into the hard, uncompromising eyes of Gabriel.

“Do you agree to follow his lead, and to obey the rules of the Valley?”

“I don’t know the rules,” she said, peering around him to get another glimpse of Evan. “But I will take him as my Alpha,” she told them all, stating the words aloud.

But will he take me?

The scenario running through her head was vastly different than the one she was vocalizing. It involved a lot more than just following his lead as a normal crew member though, that was for sure.

And if he were to command me to do certain things, that wouldn’t be too terrible either…

Blushing at the thoroughly wicked thoughts that suddenly flooded her mind, Victoria stepped around the seemingly immovable rock that was Gabriel and made her way to Evan’s side. Once there, she had to fight down the sudden urge to take his hand, or to link her arm with his. The animal within her roared loudly at that denial, fighting with her human instinct.

Is this really happening this way? We met in a fucking jail!

Still, she had to admit that there were no rules on where mates might meet, and there was no denying that’s what her bear thought he was. Victoria herself wasn’t quite ready to admit that just yet. She needed to know him a bit better before she completely succumbed to whatever it was that her bear felt was between them. It wouldn’t be the first time it had launched her at a man, though this time felt vastly different than any before. Usually it was a simple physical urge, to enjoy a night of rough passion before being slapped in the face by reality the next day.

This didn’t feel like that, however. There were elements of it, including the thoughts of getting him alone. Other images, barely formed ideas, and possibilities echoed around as well. They were too faint for her to pick up on just yet, but there nonetheless. She wondered what her brain was trying to show her, but decided she didn’t want to see it.

Not yet at least…

***

“Feel better?” she teased as the shifters emerged from the showers.

Evan smiled with more energy than she had seen from him yet. “You have no idea!”

Her eyes traveled over him, noting the changes. He had scraped the beard down to a short stubble, and his hair had been trimmed back down to a more respectable level as well, though it still needed a professional’s touch. Fresh clothes and a long hot shower had made a remarkable difference in the appearance of the entire crew.

Which is what they were, she realized. They were a crew now. While they had no name, nowhere to live, and no real sense of identity, the framework was there. It would be up to them to fill it in. Starting with Evan.

“Here,” Garrett said, tossing something Evan’s way. Gabriel had gone back into the Lionshead offices, but the Jade Crew Alpha had stayed behind.

She watched as Evan snatched it from mid-air, the distinct sound of metal on metal coming from his palm before his fingers closed around whatever it was.

“Keys?” he said, looking at Garrett. “What are these for?”

“Your new home.”

Something in his tone made her focus on Garrett. “What aren’t you telling us?” she asked.

He smiled. “I hope you can make a better name for it than those who lived there before you.”

“These are the keys to the Sapphire apartments, aren’t they?” Evan asked softly as understanding dawned.

Victoria looked back and forth between the two of them, confused.

“Yes,” Garrett said. “You’re in charge of making it respectable again.”

She expected Evan to burst into an uncontrollable rage, angered by the challenge, though she had no idea what it was all about. Instead, however, her Alpha simply smiled.

“I think we can do that,” he said, his voice quiet but confident.

“Good,” Garrett said. “Get to work. Your truck is out front waiting for you.” He threw another set of keys at Evan.

The two exchanged a few more muted words as Evan stepped forward to shake his former Alpha’s hand, then motioned for his crew to follow him out into the hallway.

“The Sapphires?” she asked as soon as they were outside, away from any prying eyes.

“Our former crew,” Matthew said, jerking a thumb at himself and Jared.

“A bunch of assholes,” the second shifter said, his eyes looking off into the distance, remembering.

“Care to fill me in?” she pressed, sticking close to Evan’s side. It felt natural there, and none of the others challenged her for the spot. That was surprising, as the left side of the Alpha was typically where the second walked.

“It’s a long story,” Evan said dryly, and the group had a chuckle over the line once again.

“Wow, looks like they took good care of it,” he said with genuine joy as they approached a big silver pickup. “Hop in,” he said, hitting the unlock button.

Without waiting for anyone else, she yanked open the passenger door and hopped in to sit next to Evan. The others piled into the back, or even into the bed of the truck.

“First order of business: more vehicles,” Evan said as his truck’s suspension groaned from all the weight.

He brought the truck to life, and guided them down the sole road that led away from the LMC headquarters and wound its way down the mountainside to the town below.

“So,” she said at last, giving Evan plenty of time to formulate his thoughts before she pressed him for information once again. Clearly there was a lot of backstory between Evan and Garrett, and she wanted to know what the hell she had gotten herself into.

“The Sapphire Crew,” he rumbled at last, clearly reluctant to talk about it.

“What happened to them? Why are they not living there anymore?”

“The Sapphire crew used to be the largest crew in town.” He paused, and she could see him sorting his thoughts. “They were also the only ones who lived in Origin itself,” he said, pointing a finger at the cluster of buildings at the foot of the mountain that they were heading toward.

“They were, as Jared so eloquently said, a bunch of assholes. They thought they were the best, and when the opportunity to make a lot of money and escape from a life of working the mines appeared, their Alpha, Ben, took it.”

“What opportunity?”

“They got their hands on a new drug,” Evan said angrily.

Victoria’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Just like that? Things that mess with us are rather rare,” she said, stating the obvious. Any shifter knew that.

“They had some help,” he said, and she caught the self-incriminating tone of his voice.

“You gave it to them?” she asked hesitantly, unsure she wanted to know the answer.

“I did,” he admitted. “Then I tried to convince them to stop, after I found out just how badly it messes with you.”

There was a world of hurt hidden in that sentence that Victoria couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Whatever had happened, its effect upon Evan had clearly been profound. She wanted to ask him for more information, but suspected that he wasn’t ready to talk about it yet. If he chose to, Evan would have to come to her, not the other way around.

“But it didn’t work,” she said instead, prompting him to continue.

“No, it didn’t,” he agreed. “They were so far down the path by then, they couldn’t have stopped if they wanted to. They went for broke, and it backfired on them.”

“How so?” She was beginning to get the sense that things in Genesis Valley where a hell of a lot more complicated than she had ever been led to believe. Victoria was quite positive that she had gone and stepped in it, without even realizing what she was doing. By attaching herself to his crew, it would be tough for her to back out now.

You could always run away. You’re plenty good at that.

But where would she go? Genesis Valley was supposed to be her last stop, the place where she turned things around. If she left now, there would be no fixing things for her. Not anymore. No, Victoria was determined to make her life here work, even if it was going to be a bigger challenge than she had ever expected.

“They gave enough to a brand-new crew as a celebratory gift, for finding their first Dragon Stone,” Evan answered her, grimacing as he recalled the events. “It fucked them up so badly they never had a chance. The Emerald Crew, along with a few of the Jade Crew and Gabriel, ended them after a major fight at a bar. The remainder fled and eventually they and the Sapphires were tracked down and dealt with.”

“Oh,” she said, shocked at the casual way he referred to the endings of so many bears, as if it were common nature, even in Genesis Valley.

Then something he said registered. “But if they were all ended, who are all of them?” she asked with a nod toward the other shifters in the truck.

“Remnants who refused to obey their Alphas,” he explained. “Their defiance was considered enough to grant them jail time and the possibility of another chance down the line.”

“A chance we mean to take advantage of,” Matthew said with a growl. “They were our family, but that doesn’t mean we approved of what they were doing.” He shook his head. “Difficult situation, and one that I can honestly say I’m glad is over with.”

Victoria nodded, understanding the dilemma between having to betray someone you know is family, versus letting their ill deeds go unchecked. It was not a decision she envied, nor did she hold their lack of action against them.

She bit her lip, feeling embarrassed about the next question she needed to ask. But before she could open her mouth, Evan shot her a look, seeming to pick up on her mood.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I have a dumb question,” she admitted, shrugging her shoulders helplessly.

“I’m sure I’ve heard worse.”

She smiled. “You mentioned Dragon Stones. What are they?”

“Okay, maybe I haven’t,” he said, tossing her a wink along with his grin to let her know he was teasing her.

“Not fair!” she protested. “I’m new here, and my ‘orientation’ consisted of being thrown in jail with you lot!”

“I know I know,” he said, holding up a hand to try and calm her. “I was just teasing.”

“Well, you had better spill now,” she told him.

“I will,” he assured her, pausing to take a breath before continuing. “We mine for Dragon Stones, sometimes called a ‘soul stone.’ It’s the essence of the dragon left behind when they die. With it, a mature dragon can breathe life into one and create a new dragon.”

“Interesting. I had no idea that’s how dragons reproduce.”

“It’s not a very widely known fact,” he told her. “Most of those outside of the Valley don’t know either, and we try to keep it that way, out of courtesy to the dragons.”

She nodded. “But why here? Why this place?”

“Genesis Valley is the origin point for dragons, where the first one lived, and where their species first originated, thousands of years ago. Back then, dragons were plentiful, and while they spread across the globe, they always came here to die. So over time the stones accumulated. Several hundred years ago, the Dragon Council decided to begin mining for them to keep them safe after several rogue dragons began a search for them in an attempt to create an army.”

“Fascinating,” she said, sitting back into the seat to absorb all the new knowledge. She could tell that Evan was dodging something, but what he did tell her seemed to be the truth. Perhaps it was something to do with his own involvement, something he didn’t want to share with a person he had met mere hours ago.

The rest of the ride passed in silence as she looked out over the town that was now her home. It was a very small place, and she doubted the entire Valley housed more than two thousand people all told. But everywhere she looked there was greenery, trees planted along the streets and in backyards, potted plants hanging off the few second-story balconies they drove past, and even a few outdoor parks. For a small town, it was impeccably well-maintained.

She wanted to comment on how clean everything was, until the truck made a right turn into a section of town that was a stark contrast to everything she had seen before.

“Here we are,” Evan said, and her spirits dropped even more.

They were in the middle of a concrete haven. The streets were paved, though in disrepair, and the sidewalks were unbroken with even the slightest hint of greenery. In front of them, the drooping façade of an old apartment building presented itself. Although the letters themselves were gone, she could still see where it had once said “Sapphire Luxury Apartments,” the letters outlined in black grime on the faded and crumbling reddish-orange brick exterior.

“Oh.” She was unable to keep the dejection from her voice at the less-than-stellar accommodations they had been provided with.

“It may not look like much now,” Evan assured her. “But that was part of the challenge Garrett gave us. To make it great again.”

She looked uncertainly at the five-story building in front of them.

“The difficult we do first, and I guess the impossible will just have to take a little longer,” she muttered, exiting the truck as Evan killed the engine.

The empty parking lot at the rear of the building where they were currently located was devoid of cars, the asphalt cracked and broken with bits of unpleasant greenery growing in several places. The lines were faded and scratched.

“This is going to cost a lot of money to fix,” she said, slinging her bag across her shoulder. It had been returned to her upon her release, and by the looks of things, they hadn’t bothered to rifle through it either.

“Probably not as much as you think, and besides, we’re paid very well to work in the mines,” he told her.

She looked up at him, feeling some of the optimism in his voice reach out and latch onto her, buoying her spirits somewhat.

“You really think so?”

“I do,” he said, throwing his arm around her shoulder. “Come on, let’s go inside!”

She had doffed her jacket after leaving the truck, and now his hand connected with her exposed skin. The connection was instant, and without realizing it she found herself leaning in to him, their bodies pressing together.

But that wasn’t what hit her the hardest. The moment they touched, she felt fire bloom where their flesh melded together, the intense heat boiling out and flowing across the rest of her back, down her arms, and into her legs as well. It wrapped her in its heated glow as she struggled to maintain her balance.

It tingled at first, the sensation building until it became almost too painful to bear, but it never did. It morphed until the pain mixed with the pleasure of his touch. It reminded her all too well of several nights she had experienced before. Nights that she knew would be dwarfed if she were to spend time alone with Evan.

Which she must never do, she commanded herself. Not before she had a better feel for the town and her new life here, at least. If it turned out that Evan hadn’t come around for the better, she didn’t want to attach herself to him, no matter how intense the connection between them.

And wow is it intense,
she thought with a shiver, trying to contain the urge building between her legs, a desire that told her she needed to get Evan alone as fast as possible.