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

***

The red neon sign shone brightly in the dark and the bright white light spilling through the windows told him the place was open for business.

Evan wondered if it was open to him, however. Garrett had sent him the text, telling him to be there. But that didn’t mean he was truly welcome inside. Not after all that he had done.

“Why is it that these first steps are never easy?” he muttered with a wry smile. The entire drive back from Emily’s grave had been uplifting. It was as if his ability to finally recognize his own idiocy had been all that his memory of Emily was looking for. Evan knew he had a lot of apologizing to do, and it would be a long time before he could forgive himself. But he
could
finally begin to move on from his past, to prove to himself and those around him that he was a better person now.

His hand paused against the smooth-sanded wood of the swing door that would take him inside. He knew this was it. He was committed, and no matter the judgment passed upon him by those inside, he would not be able to avoid it. Knowing that despite Garrett’s invitation Ferro and the others might still choose to ostracize him, to blame him—and rightly so in many cases—made it a lot harder to tip the balance of his weight and continue heading forward. It would be so easy to just back away, get in his truck, and go back to the apartments. That was what part of him wanted to do.

But it wasn’t what he was going to let himself do.

Steeling himself for the reaction he knew was coming, Evan pushed forward and into the bar that had at one time been his second home, even if he hadn’t deserved it.

Conversation stopped. A hushed silence fell over the entire bar as he stood there in the entranceway, framed in the darkness of the night outside.

Someone coughed.

Glasses clinked noisily as shifters put their beers down in surprise.

Nobody spoke.

Evan wasn’t sure what to do. He could feel his cheeks heating in embarrassment, but still he held his position, waiting for a reaction of some sort.

To his utter shock, it didn’t come from either group of shifters. Neither the Emeralds nor the Jades made a move. Both Ajax and Garrett were watching, but they weren’t looking at him. They were busy gauging the reaction of their crew to see how the other shifters took his return to the Tongue & Flame.

It was Ferro who reacted first, reaching under the bar into his mini-fridge and pulling out a bottle of his house brew. A flick of his wrist divested it of the cap, and—after setting out a coaster!—he placed it on the solid mahogany bar in front of him. He caught Evan’s eyes, nodded once, and then returned to cleaning another section of bar.

Without any further hesitation Evan stood up straight and strode through the bar until he reached the beer. Sitting down on a nearby stool he grunted a thanks to Ferro and took his first pull in months of the delicious beer.

“Some things never change,” he said, sighing in contentment as the liquid amber left his taste buds tingling.

He looked around behind him at the bar. Despite Ferro’s gesture of welcome, signaling to the others that he was allowed to stay, the room was still filled with tension.

“And some things do,” he muttered to himself.

“Not all change is permanent,” a voice said to his right.

Evan looked up in surprise as Ajax, Alpha of the Emerald Crew, took the stool next to him, the solid oak frame barely creaking as his massive bulk settled into it. Before Evan could open his mouth, Ajax looked expectantly beyond him. Turning, he saw Garrett approaching them. The two Alphas sat on either side of them, and without having to be asked Ferro came and deposited two fresh beers for them.

“Whole gang’s here,” he said to Garrett at last, nodding at the cluster of Jade Crew shifters and their mates who lounged on and around the chairs to his left.

“Mm-hmm,” Garrett agreed, taking a long drink.

Evan looked around, noting all the familiar faces both from his former crew and that of the Emeralds. So many people he knew. His eyes narrowed and he looked around the bar some more, looking for another familiar—if never happy—face that he didn’t see.

“Where’s Luthor? He’s always here,” he asked. “That guy seemed attached at the hip to Ferro!”

The two shifters on either side of him stiffened.

“What? What did I say?” he asked, looking back and forth at them rapidly. Something he had said had just set them off.

“Luthor is...” Ajax paused as he thought about his next words.

“We don’t know where he is,” Garrett said, speaking into the silence. “And that’s the problem.”

The serious nature of their voices told Evan that whatever was going on, it was bad news.

“Things haven’t gone well since I was put away, have they?” he asked softly.

Garrett and Ajax looked at each other before responding at the same time. “No.”

Evan opened his mouth to respond, then closed it, grabbed his beer, and downed the rest of it. “Okay,” he said, taking a preparatory breath. “How bad is it?”

Ajax nodded at Garrett, inviting him to explain.

“The short and long of it is we’re going up against one of the first dragons, a veritable army of shifters, and we have absolutely no idea what their plan is.”

Evan blinked. “Oh, is that all?” he asked, meeting Garrett’s eyes while at the same time taking the fresh beer Ferro was just setting out. Without pausing he upended the entire thing.

Then he did the same to the next one.

“Okay, details,” he said.

So they told him. Evan felt his eyebrows rise as they outlined everything that had happened, and all that they had learned. He was just as surprised as the others had been that Luthor was the one behind all their troubles. For longer than anyone had realized, he had secretly been orchestrating everything, the shadowy presence behind all the troubles in Genesis Valley.

His blood boiled when they revealed that it was Luthor who had not only sourced the drugs that Evan had been using, but also the one who pushed the others to try it. If he hadn’t been one hundred percent about joining in the fight for the Valley before, he was then.

And there was no mistaking it. That was why they had called him there.

“You want us to fight for you,” he said at last, still trying to come to terms with all the new information.

“No,” Ajax said. He had let Garrett do most of the talking, but he spoke up then. “We do not want you to fight for us. Rather, we want you to fight
with
us.”

Evan nodded thoughtfully. It wasn’t a huge difference in wording, but it was a night and day difference in meaning.

“So if I say no, you’re not going to put me back in jail?”

Ajax smiled wryly. “No, not unless you give us a reason to. And frankly, if you do that, it’s likely the Kedyns won’t give you any more chances.”

“Right,” he said, though his tone told them he wasn’t contemplating that. “Do the Kedyns even know I’m out? Where have they been through all of this?”

“They’re with us,” Garrett said, referring to the twin gryphon shifters, Marcus and Valen Kedyn, who owned Lionshead Mining Consortium and most of Genesis Valley as a whole.

“Really?” Evan was surprised. The Kedyns were not a pair that had struck him as being willing to step in.

“Valen actually interceded on our behalf when Luthor sent in his pet bat shifter,” Ajax explained, then proceeded to tell Evan all about that adventure as well.

“I have missed a lot,” he said, digesting even more information. “What’s his game plan now that we know who he is?”

“Luthor is one of the first dragons,” Ajax said. “He thinks that dragons should rightfully be the top species on earth, and he’s aiming to ensure that happens.”

Evan considered that for a moment. “He’s going to need a lot more dragons than that. Plus, isn’t the Dragon Council kinda sorta against that? I’m assuming something has happened to them as well, so that we can’t just whistle them up?”

Garrett nodded. “Exactly. They aren’t responding to any communications, and nobody knows where to find them.”

“So we’re on our own,” he said with a grimace.

“We’re on our own,” Garrett confirmed.

“Isn’t that swell,” Evan said, taking another long drink. “What happens if we fight with you?” He would talk to his crew first, but he knew they would follow him if he asked them to.

“For now, just hang tight. We’re not sure what their next move is, though we know it’s going to happen any day now.”

Evan saw Garrett’s eyes flick briefly to Ferro, and wondered what that was all about.

“In fact, if it sticks to what we were told, then it could happen tomorrow.”

What had that glance been all about? Was Ferro now somehow involved in the situation? He probably shouldn’t ask, but at the same time, they were asking him to put his life and the lives of his crew on the line. They had a right to know.

“What about Ferro?” he asked, tilting his head in the direction of the bartender.

Ajax shook his head. “No. He won’t say why, but Ferro is sitting this one out.”

Evan frowned. “We’re fucked then. Without a dragon of our own, we’re toast.
Especially
if we’re going up against a fucking First dragon. This is suicide!” He kept his voice low, so as not to alarm anyone else.

“We have to try,” Ajax said with calm confidence. “We might lose, true. But we
will
lose if we don’t try. And not only will we lose, but so will everyone else. If Luthor—or
Mirrnolax, if our suspicions are correct on his true name—wins this fight, then he will have what he needs.”

Suddenly Evan understood.

“The Dragon Stones.” He swore rather more loudly than he intended. “He’ll be able to create an army.”

The two Alphas nodded.

“We understand if you’d prefer not to get involved,” Ajax began, but Evan waved him off.

This was not a fight he could avoid. Not if he was going to call himself a good man, a label he desperately wished he could apply to himself, and that others may in turn use to describe him. But more than that, this was his
home
. Nobody was going to take that away from Evan Mosier. Not without a fight.

“Ahh fuck. I should probably have been ended by now, if we’re being brutally honest. This place gave me a second, third, and even a fourth chance to do something with my life. This may as well be it,” he said, shaking his head at how nonchalant his response sounded.

“Glad to have you with us,” Garrett said, leaving the “after everything that’s gone on” unspoken. Both of them knew it was there, but neither of them wanted it said.

Evan simply nodded. He was having a hard time believing the way that Garrett and Ajax were treating him. They had told him it would be a fresh start, but he hadn’t truly believed they could make it seem so easy, as if everything that had gone before them truly did not matter any longer. But true to their word, they were acting like he had done no wrong.

It was a strange feeling to have their trust. But it was also a feeling he realized he liked. Knowing that others trusted him once more, especially his peers, was heartening. Maybe he could make something of himself after all.

You just have to survive the coming days first,
his inner voice said sarcastically.
And Victoria.

The last thought caused a smile to break out across his face. Then he began to laugh.

“Oh man, I am so dead,” he said with a chuckle.

“What do you mean?” Ajax asked curiously.

“Victoria is going to
kill
me.

Victoria

Her window overlooked the parking lot of the apartment complex the still-unnamed crew occupied. There were only a couple of dozen spots, making the few trucks that had been returned to the other members of the crew look lonely and forlorn as she gazed out over the cracked and broken surface.

After Evan had followed her to the park and confronted her in the cluster of trees, she had walked aimlessly for some time, her mind elsewhere, not focused on anything in front of her besides ensuring she didn’t walk into anyone or anything. The thought of danger didn’t even cross her mind. Her sheer size deterred most people, and for those that didn’t... well, they’d learn quite quickly that female bear shifters have quite the temper.

Victoria snorted at that understatement. Hers had a short fuse, but she was practically an angel compared to some of the other females she had come across in her travels. She could not fathom why the men in their lives chose to stay with them, but thankfully it hadn’t been her problem.

Below, lights turned into the parking lot from the street and the shape of Evan’s truck resolved itself out of the darkness as it came within the glow of lights from the building. Her heart began to thud against the walls of her chest as she saw him step from the vehicle.

He’s so gorgeous
, she thought, biting her lip as she saw his arm flex slightly through the thin material of his T-shirt as he pushed the door closed. Her eyes tracked downward to his rear as he walked off to the side of the building, affording her a glimpse of his tight, muscular ass.

Her mind’s eye filled in the details his clothing blocked from the night they had shared together.

It was last night. Stop acting like it was so long ago! You clearly have some feelings for him, so why is that so difficult to admit?

It wasn’t hard to admit to herself. Even admitting it to Evan wasn’t that challenging, though it would be a little more nerve-racking. No, it wasn’t the feelings that scared Victoria. It was everything associated with them, including the speed of all the changes in her life.

Many humans she’d talked to were under the impression that mates simply found each other, and boom, that was it. They knew they were fated and were in love from day one without any problems, living in a paradise of emotion and happiness.

“Ha!” she said out loud at the lunacy of that thought. It was
so
much more complex than that, because she wasn’t the sole being inhabiting her body. Her bear had a personality and thought process all to its self. Most of the time, it was content to reside within her, and to take orders when she asked it to appear.

Sometimes it chafed against her mental control, but unless she was distracted, like earlier, it was rarely able to actually take physical control of her body. But it could still feel, have wants, needs, and desires… like her bear did for Evan. It wanted him
badly
in more than just a physical sense. It recognized something within him, something that she couldn’t see. Whatever it was, it made her bear at ease with him. That was part of finding a mate.

But there was also the human part of her, and it was far, far slower to befriend, let alone fall in love. She couldn’t deny an interest in Evan, but she was also—in some aspects at least—just human. Sexual wants and needs were a normal part of life, and he was extremely easy on the eyes. After their mutual slip of judgment the night before, she also knew he was extremely fun in bed.

Her body tingled at the memory.

Knock. Knock.

The knuckles rasping against the door startled her back to the present. Blinking away her thoughts she headed toward the door, bracing herself for her talk with Evan.

“Hey,” Matthew said from the doorway, much to her surprise.

“Uh, hi,” she said, stopping the door in its tracks. She had been in the process of throwing it wide open to let Evan in so that they could talk, but now that it wasn’t him, she kept her hand on it instead. Matthew seemed like an okay guy, but she didn’t know him nearly as well as she did Evan, or even as well as Evan knew him.

“Look,” he said, shifting from side to side awkwardly. “I just wanted to let you know, that uh, we, I mean, me and the other guys, we talked and uh, we think you’re pretty all right,” he finished, his shoulders seeming to sag slightly as he finished speaking the words.

Her mood brightened. “Really?”

Matthew nodded. “Yeah. I know we don’t really know each other all that well, but uh, what we’ve seen, we think so.”

“Thank you,” she said, completely sincere in her words as well. She knew it was hard for others to welcome someone into their group, especially when it was a female, shifter or not, who was coming onto a bear crew.

“We’re having a beer downstairs if you want to come join us,” he said.

“The meeting room?” she asked, remembering the big open space they had discovered on the floor below them.

“Yeah,” he said.

“Give me a minute, and I’ll be down to join you,” she said with a smile. “Thanks for the invite, Matthew.”

He smiled, dipped his head, and disappeared from her doorway.

“Nice guy,” she said to herself after the door was closed. She moved over to the bag near her mattress. It was still unpacked. A sign of her decision to stay, she wondered, or of her laziness?

Shrugging her shoulders and figuring it was likely an equal mixture, she grabbed a fresh pair of socks and pulled the pink cotton onto her feet.

Nothing wrong with being a little girly from time to time,
she thought.

She grabbed a zip-up hoodie from her pile of clothing as well, tugged on some shoes, and headed down the flight of stairs.

“Party’s here!” she said sarcastically as she pushed the door open.

Voices raised in greeting and laughter greeted her as the other four shifters sat around in a circle.

“Hey, where did you guys find actual furniture?” she exclaimed at the sight of the folding chairs they were lounging on.

“In one of the storage rooms,” Jared said, pointing behind her.

“Nice,” she said, snagging one of the free ones and flipping it around backward so she could rest herself on the backrest of it. “I’m totally stealing this for my room until I can get some real furniture in there.”

The others nodded, and William tossed her a bottle of beer. She snagged it mid-air and expertly twisted the cap off in one smooth motion.

“Ahh,” she said, smacking her lips together after taking a nice sip. It was nicely chilled as well, just what she needed.

“Welcome to the family,” Matthew said, raising his beer in her direction. The others chimed in and lifted their drinks as well.

The toast was unexpected and she felt her throat tighten at the words.
Welcome to the family.
Victoria had never had a family before. She’d been allowed places before, but never before had she been
accepted
into one. Not the way the others had just opened themselves up to her.

It was such a small thing, and yet to her it meant more than she could likely ever tell them. But she had to know…

“Thanks guys,” she said, her voice a little unsteady. “But I mean, don’t you think it’s a little premature? You barely know me.”

Matthew looked at the others, but they all seemed to defer to him to speak, so he nodded and met her gaze once more. “Perhaps, but what we have seen meets our approval. And on top of that, Evan says you’re good people. We trust him and his judgment. Besides, he has a crush on you and if he annoys us, we can just say we’re going to tell you what he did, and he’ll stop!”

Victoria’s jaw dropped open at the last line, and she felt laughter well up inside of her, consuming her as her stomach shook. Tears formed in her eyes as the group all joined her, the humor helping to make them feel even more united. For Victoria, not all of the tears that ran down her face were from laughter. Some of them were emotional tears at the idea of being welcomed with open arms and trusting hearts.

She didn’t feel she deserved it. Hell, she knew she
didn’t
deserve it, not after some of the decisions she’d made in her life. But with this group, this crew, she vowed to try harder, to do better, and most of all, to not disappoint them. Each of them deserved that after the trust they were already willing to place in her. Matthew, Jared, Josh, William.

The door opened behind them.

And Evan.

Friendly greetings were exchanged all around as the Alpha walked in, but everyone could sense that the tension in the room had just rocketed to a new level. There were glances back and forth between her and Evan, as if they expected one or the other to erupt right away. It was no secret that there had been a bit of a blowout between them earlier, even if none of the others actually knew what it was all about.

“We need to talk,” he said solemnly.

For a minute Victoria couldn’t believe he was telling her that in front of everyone. Of
course
they needed to talk, but couldn’t they do it in private? Why did he have to announce it?

Then his tone hit her, and she realized that he had something he needed to say to all of them. As this realization hit the others, the mood in the room darkened as well. Whatever it was, he wasn’t overly happy about it, and it didn’t sound good.

“It’s not good news, is it?” Josh said, breaking the silence at last.

“Not in any normal ways,” Evan confirmed, pulling up a chair.

Jared handed him a beer.

“Okay,” he said after taking a sip. “I don’t want to drag this out, so I’m just going to lay it on the table without a lead-in. So there’ll be information missing, which I will give, but don’t all start asking questions at once. Let me finish, okay?”

The assembled group nodded.

Evan took a deep breath, and began to speak. “Most of you know that something was going on in Genesis Valley before we got locked up. That someone was trying to hurt us here. Well, ever since we went away, things have escalated. It’s gotten to the point where we can now reasonably expect the next best thing to a fucking military invasion of shifters in the next twenty-four hours or so.”

He held up a hand to keep any questions at bay, reminding them that he had promised to explain.

Victoria didn’t need the hand, because she couldn’t speak. The sudden revelation about what she had gotten herself into by coming to the Valley was so stunning, she had no words.

“The force is composed primarily of the shifters who have been trying to come to the Valley. Apparently they’ve been getting waylaid along the way and subverted into this ‘army.’ An army being led by a dragon. Luthor,” he finished heavily.

Shouts of alarm and outrage erupted from the group as the bears flew from their seats.

“We need to leave!” she said, her instincts taking over. “Pack the trucks and get out of dodge, right now!”

“We can’t,” Evan said, and the others immediately quieted down as they sensed the resolution in his voice.

Victoria heard it, and she didn’t care.

“Yes, we absolutely can,” she said firmly. “It’s actually quite simple, unless we’ve got an army of our own and a few dragons as well. Do we have that?” she asked sarcastically.

“No, we don’t,” Evan answered quietly, but there was no give in his voice. “But that doesn’t mean we can run.”

“Why the hell not?” she asked in surprise. It made no sense! A fucking dragon? They were the oldest shifters on the planet. How were they supposed to stop one?

“Because this is our home,” he told her, his eyes blazing with fierce determination. “And I will not simply abandon our home.”

She rolled her eyes. “So we make a new home! Trust me, it can be done!”

Evan pursed his lips together. “Maybe, for a time. But it won’t last. The dragon, one of the First dragons I should add, isn’t going to be content with just the Valley.”

“A
First dragon
?” she roared. “Oh this just keeps getting better and better! Not just any old dragon, no, you had to go and scare up one of the oldest, strongest dragons that exists! Perfect!”

She knew her reaction was a little much, that she was getting overly worked up, but it was just too much to bear. She could only handle so much, and the past few days had stretched her beyond her limits.

“He intends to take the Dragon Stones in the Valley and use them for himself. To create an army of dragons.” Evan paused, his arms flexing as he struggled to control himself. “Think about it. There are only a hundred, maybe two hundred dragons on the entire planet. If he were to raise
thousands
of dragons in his image, the damage would be unimaginable. He has literally promised to erase other species of shifters from the face of the planet.” His voice rose until it was a full-blown roar. “And we are the only ones who can stop him! So yes, I told them we will fight, and I meant it!”

“You told them
WHAT
?!”

She was furious. Livid.

“I told them we will fight,” he said, his voice almost a challenge.

“How dare you volunteer us like that? What gives you the right to do that? I would fight alongside you if some other bears were ganging up on you, or something where it wouldn’t automatically end in death. I’m not afraid of fighting. But you signed us up for this without our permission. Who said you could do that?”