Releasing the Bear: BBW Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance (The Callaghan Clan Book 2) (6 page)

“Where?”

“It’s a surprise.” Then he winked at me. “Plus, I know you like seafood so I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

I slapped him playfully on the arm. “My wolf would never refuse a carcass as a gift.”

With a laugh, he walked me to the passenger side where my clothes still lay. “I’ll remember that.” He kissed me, nice and slow, and sweet. His fingers never stopped brushing against me. “Okay. That’s it. We need to go.” I kissed him again and then he gently pushed me away. “For real now.”

He walked around the back of the truck and I pouted. I’d never acted this way around any man before and I still couldn’t believe how connected I felt to Brennan. Finding a mate was like discovering a new flavor, hearing your favorite song, and tasting something delicious all at once. I’d never known how incomplete I’d been until now.

Brennan was truly my mate in every sense of the word. No matter what anyone else had to say about it.

Using my phone to find the hotel Bo had booked for us, I was surprised when it led us to one of the only luxury hotels in the city.

“Well, this is nice,” Scarlett mused.

I heard the sarcasm in there. “I know you’d probably be happy sleeping naked and free in the woods, but I thought we’d splurge on tonight.”

She punched me in the shoulder. “Okay Mr. Callaghan Clan bear. Not all of us require luxury living when we travel.”

The truth was, I wouldn’t have booked this for myself. All the more reason why I suspected my brother was up to something. And when I checked in and picked up the
one
room key, I knew what he’d done.

“The honeymoon suite, huh?” Scarlett stated as the bellhop set down our small bags.

He left with a nod and I took in the room. King sized canopy bed, a small kitchen and sitting area, and a fully stocked dry bar. A vase of fresh red roses sat on both end tables next to the bed, a towel in the shape of the swan welcoming us to the space.

“Did you plan this?”

The love in her voice made me want to lie. But I couldn’t. Not to my mate. Shaking my head, I walked over to the bar and poured us each a glass of champagne that was already chilled. “No, I didn’t. This would be the interference of my brother.”

“Bo?”

“How’d you guess?”

She grabbed her glass from my outstretched hand. “Brandt doesn’t seem like a romantic and Bo has a reputation,” she said with a smirk.

“He sure does,” I said as we clinked our glasses together and took a sip. “So…what’s my reputation?”

Scarlett bit her lips and scrunched up her face. The way she looked, like the cutest girl in the world, had my body physically reacting again. “Serious. Cold. Perfectionist.”

I raised my brows. “Well, that doesn’t sound very appealing.”

She shrugged. “It does to someone who wants to do business with you and your family. Everyone knows you’re the one to come to.”

My pride swelled with her comment. “But Brandt is the clan alpha.”

“Yes, he is. But that just means you have more time to focus on the business outside of the clan.”

I thought about that and realized she was right. Out of the three of us, I’d always been the business brother. The one who worked a zillion hours to make sure all of our relationships, human and shifter, ran smoothly. The problem solver. The go-to man. The one who didn’t have time for relationships…

“And what about me?” Scarlett sidled up against my side and gave me her best flirtatious face.

“What about you?”

“What’s
my
reputation.”

I hesitated and she caught it. When I laughed, I got punched again. “Okay, okay. Let’s see,” I lifted my chin into the air like I was thinking. “Super hot. Long legs. And a drop-dead gorgeous smile.”

She kissed my cheek. “Thanks, but I know that’s not true. Most shifters won’t even look me in the eye.”

“That’s because you’re dominant. Your powerful. But you’re also respected by almost everyone.” I clinked my glass with hers again and downed the rest of my drink.

“Almost everyone?” she questioned.

“Hey,” I said, squeezing her ass, “you can’t please them all.” Just then, my phone buzzed with a message and I reluctantly took a look. “It’s Derrick. He said the humans are online right now.”

“How does he know that?” Scarlett opened her duffle bag and pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a leather jacket.

As I watched her change, I could barely form a thought or a cohesive sentence in my head. “He has ways to track people’s activity online through backdoors and search engines.” She stared at me with a blank look. “Derrick’s a computer genius. That’s all I know.”

“Okay, and he’s sure that they’re online now. On their website that the video was uploaded to?”

“I assume so.” My phone buzzed again but when I saw the message I rolled my eyes.

Scarlett saw my reaction and peeked over my shoulder. When she took a look, she laughed. A beautiful laughed that warmed my heart. “Got to love your brother.”

Bo had sent me a photo message where he’s edited a wolf and a grizzly sitting together under a wedding arch. He’d put our names on it and added in pink floating cartoon hearts. “Well, he knows,” I groaned.

“Good,” Scarlett said, grabbing her jacket. “Now everyone knows and they can all support us.”

I loved her smile. And her optimism. Too bad I didn’t share it. “We should go.”

“And there is the serious Brennan,” she teased.

I gave her a look as she slapped my butt. It was hard not to love her.

Twenty minutes later, I parked my truck several blocks away from the warehouse that Derrick said the humans had used as their address. I still didn’t totally understand how he’d found this place, but he was certainly one of the most valuable members of our clan.

“So what do we do now?” Scarlett asked when I turned off the ignition.

“I guess we scare them?” She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh forcing me to give her a look. “What?”

“You just sound funny saying that.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re too nice, Brennan. Sure, you’re huge,” her eyes traveled to my crotch and she wiggled her eyebrows, “but I’m an enforcer. I have to threaten wolves into submission all of the time.”

“So do you want to take the lead?”

Her mouth dropped open. “You’d let me do that?”

I nodded my head. “Of course. If this is your area of expertise, then you take charge.”

She crawled across the seat and grabbed the sides of my face. “Brennan Callaghan, I think this relationship is going to be just perfect.” After her kiss, she reached across me and opened my door. “Now, let’s go kick some ass.”

I loved her. I really did. While my bear would forever feel the need to protect her, I relished in the idea of having an equal. A mate that could take care of herself. Even though I’d always be standing by her side.

This part of the city had already closed shop for the night. Despite the recent sunset, it seemed many knew which areas to avoid after hours. So we passed no one as we walked through several alleyways and hid in the shadows. “That’s it over there,” I said, jerking my chin to one of the divided warehouses across the street.

“I don’t see any lights, but I can hear them,” Scarlett replied.

Sure enough, the sounds of a television, cheering fans, and shouts could be heard by our increased senses. Perhaps they were somewhere toward the back of the building. “How many?”

Scarlett tilted her head and listened. “Two. No, three. Someone else just joined them.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

My mate smiled and pushed by me, taking the lead like she wanted. The building contained several different entrances, each one with a number above a large, metal door. We needed the one on the end. Scarlett tested the handle and shrugged when she found it unlocked. So we stepped inside and started looking for the humans. The buzz of electronics overwhelmed my ears at first, but I soon realized they didn’t really have any more equipment than I’d seen in Derrick’s office.

“Is this it?” I ask, disappointed that they weren’t a little more high tech.

“Looks like it,” she whispered. “I think they’re back behind that door.”

Sure enough, along the side of the cluttered desks filled with soda cans and empty chip bags, was an interior door that had been added as a second thought. But I wanted to look at their computers first. I sent Derrick a quick text.

“What are you doing?” Scarlett asked.

“Checking with Derrick to see if we need to do anything with these.” My phone buzzed and I huffed when I saw the message.

“What did he say?” she looked at the door as though someone might walk through at any moment.

“He said to smash them.”

She smiled. “Well, no shit.”

“Exactly.” I shoved my phone back into my pocket. “Let’s deal with them first and then come back out here.”

“Okay,” Scarlett agreed but then she grabbed a hard drive on the table next to her. It looked like it was at least ten years old.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

She winked and said, “You’ll see. Can you get the door?”

“Sure.” Stepping in front of her I checked, “Kick it or go in quietly?”

“Kick it and then get out of my way.”

I kissed her on the forehead and turned sideways. With one swift kick, the door exploded off its hinges and Scarlett burst into the room. She eyed the large man standing closest to us against the wall who’d dropped his beer can when the door broke. And then she slammed him in the side of the head with the hard drive. He went down. Fast.

The other two men sat on a worn out leather sofa facing away from the door as they watched a soccer game on the television. Their surprised expressions told me that they had no idea who, or what, we were. One of the men, scrawny but fit, stepped up onto the couch and jumped over the back.

“What the fu—”

Scarlett had him on the ground and holding a broken arm before he could ask his question. The remaining man looked at me, then at Scarlett, then back at me again. He wanted to question why this amazing, athletic female was beating them instead of the linebacker-sized man like me. But he stayed silent and lifted his hands up in surrender.

“Who are you?”

Scarlett took two steps to reach him and grabbed the man-bun wrapped on the top of his head. She dragged him over the couch and pressed his face into the floor. In seconds, she’d subdued them all. My heart swelled with pride…and arousal.

She chuckled. “I smell that,” she said, eyes not leaving the man on the ground.

“Smell what?” he asked while I simply acknowledged her comment.

“You don’t speak until I ask you to,” she growled in his ear. Her gaze traveled over to the man she’d hit in the head and then to the scrawny one crying like a baby. He’d slid to the far wall but I knew she could still get to him in an instant.

“Now, which one of you took the video?”

“The video?” the man underneath her squeaked. “What video—ow!”

A large chunk of dirty hair fell to the floor when she yanked on it again. Sucking in a deep breath, she tried again. Only this time she looked at the one with the broken arm. “I’ll give you one more chance to come clean. Otherwise you’re going to wish that you only got one broken bone.”

He swallowed hard. “What are you?”

Scarlett slammed Man-bun into the ground and stomped to Broken Arm. In one swift movement, she lifted him off the floor and pushed him against the wall. His feet dangled while his eyes bulged wide. “You’re one of them, aren’t you,” he squawked through his narrowed windpipe.

“I might be. And he might be.” Scarlett jerked her chin toward me.

For the first time, the man seemed to notice me and I smelled the urine dripping down his leg. Good to know I could still incite some fear when necessary.

“Now, who took the video?”

Man-bun looked at the guy on the ground. “He did.” Coughing, Scarlett must have squeezed him harder. “Okay, we all did. We all did!”

“Who has a copy?”

“Just us.” Another cough. “I swear. Just us!”

He wasn’t lying. We could sense it based on common measurements like heartbeat and scent. But that didn’t mean the other two unconscious men hadn’t shared it. Scarlett must have thought the same thing.

“Did they send it to anyone?” she asked.

“No. I’m pretty sure they didn’t.”

“Pretty sure?” I growled and the stench of fear grew. It was hard not to let my bear free. He hated smelling fear.

“No, no they didn’t.” Then he focused on Scarlett again. “So does this mean that we aren’t getting our money?”

He screamed out in pain when Scarlett kicked his shin and it snapped. Still holding him off the ground, she pushed her face up into his. “You will get nothing. And if we get word that this video has been released or that you’ve trespassed on shifter land again, we will find you. We will find you, your family, your friends. Everyone in your life. Do you understand?”

He only screamed out in pain.