Wild Mate: BBW Bear Shifter Romance (4 page)

Rebecca shook her head and
turned away from the window.

Enough. She had more than
enough bad memories, thanks to Phin. No need to wallow in them and
torture herself anew with them.

She needed to forget
everything.

Stop remembering, start
living.

She put the kettle to boil and
began to wipe the dust off the counter top and table. She would make
herself a nice cup of tea, calm her nerves and grab a bite before
getting herself ready for the evening. She had called her manager at
Club Mate, and he had assured her that she was welcome back at the
club. Rebecca blew out a breath as she dunked a teabag in a cup.
She was glad she still had a job. The mortgage didn't pay itself.

As she sipped her hot tea, she
glanced down at her arms and body. All her scars and bruises were
gone. The witch healer at the hospital had given her a potion to
enable all her scars to fade in double time. “But just the
outward scars,” the healer had told her gently. “You
have to let go of your inner scars yourself. Hmm, maybe my sister,
Melynda can help you with that. But she hasn't graduated yet.”

Rebecca had glimpsed a baby
bump under the healer's white coat, and she had politely commented,
“You're having a baby.” To her surprise, the healer
replied, “A cub. I'm having a cub. My mate is a werebear.”
Rebecca saw so much pride and love in the healer's eyes when she
mentioned her mate.

Rebecca sighed. What was it
like to feel so loved and cherished, to know that you belong to
someone who would protect and keep you safe always?

Rebecca gulped down the rest
of her tea and wrinkled her nose. She guessed she would never know.

But, she had no time for a
pity party.

It was time to work.

She planted her hands on her
hips and traced her curves.
Work it, girl. You've still got it.

Despite her prolonged hospital
stay, she hadn't lost much weight. Well, she had lost some, but she
hadn't lost her curvy figure. Her body was still full and lush.

And with her scars and ugly
swells and bruises gone, she was as good as new.

But just the outward scars.

Only the outside scars were
gone. She looked good only on the outside. Like she was whole and
healed.

On the inside...

She couldn't even bear to take
a good, hard look at what was happening to her on the inside. What
would she see? A complete mess, a total wreck.

Rebecca let out a long, shaky
breath. She might be a wreck inside, but as long as she looked fine
and moved all right, she could work it. She had to. She did a
little jig, practicing her moves. Gaining confidence, she hummed a
sexy tune as she swayed and shimmied her way to the living room.

Yeah, she could still work it
on stage. Snatching up the broom, she pretended to dance around the
pole.

She had forgotten a few steps,
but she improvised, singing with wild abandon and grooving to the
lusty tune. Gradually her confidence and grace returned.

She was a stripper, an
entertainer, the sole breadwinner who brought home the dough and paid
the mortgage. She was Raven Rose, the most popular stripper at Club
Mate.

Raven Rose was back.

Rebecca smiled as she finished
her routine with a flourish. She would be just fine tonight.

Rebecca walked into Club Mate
and strolled right up to the bar counter. “Hey.”

Danny, the bartender, spun
round and his face split into a huge grin when he saw her. “Raven
Rose! You are back! How are you?”

“
Good. Good as new,”
she smiled back. “How's everything?”

“
Nothing's the same
without you,” he lied, still baring his fangs in a wide grin.

Rebecca nodded, making no
reply. The club raked in the bucks and the bloodsuckers with or
without her. One less stripper made no difference to their business.

“
Here.” Danny
pushed a long stem glass of crimson liquid at her. “Tonight is
your first night back. This one's on me.”

Rebecca squinted at the glass.
“What's this?” she asked the vampire. “Is it...”

Danny laughed. “Relax.
It's just red wine. This...” He raised his own glass at her.
“...is blood. Pure, undiluted, A+ blood.” He knocked
back the contents in one gulp and smacked his lips. “God, I
needed that.”

Rebecca raised her glass.
“Here's to hope, health and happiness!” She drained her
glass, trying not to grimace at the irony of her toast. She would
never know the taste of hope and glowing health, and definitely not
happiness. She was broken, in all ways.

But she couldn't let anyone
see that. “Thanks, Danny. Have you seen Will?”

“
Yeah, he's in his
office.” Danny jerked his thumb in the direction of the
manager's office. “And...he's not in a good mood tonight.”
He rolled his eyes. “Good luck.”

Rebecca kept her head down and
walked briskly to Will's office. She could see some of the girls
coming into the club, but she didn't feel like making small talk and
gushing about how great it was to be back. This was just a job. A
job she needed. She had to do it and get out, and try not to step on
anyone's toes on the way out.

She rapped smartly on the door
and waited.

“
Come in,” came
Will's grumpy voice.

Rebecca straightened her
jacket and walked into Will's office. “Hi, Will.”

The man looked up with a
scowl. “Raven Rose.” He leaned back in his chair and
raised a brow. “You're in early. How are you?”

“
I'm good. You?”
She pulled out a chair and sat down.

“
Good, good.”
Will leaned his elbows on his desk and closed his laptop. “Let's
take a look at you. You up for the stage tonight?”

Rebecca hesitated a beat, then
stood up and shrugged off her denim jacket. She was wearing her
costume underneath, a translucent number that showed some flesh, not
enough to titillate, just enough to tantalize. She spread out her
arms and turned slowly in a circle, feeling Will's appraising eyes on
her. Will was human, but apparently, even the vamps gave him a wide
berth. He had connections, and he ran the club with an iron fist.
She had never seen him lose his temper, raise his voice or his fist.
He didn't have to. He had people to do that for him. Will could
make people he didn't like disappear. Rebecca stopped turning and
held her breath as she stood stiffly in front of his desk.

Did she pass?

Or was he going to ask her to
disappear?

Will made an appreciative
sound. “You look good, Raven.”

Rebecca let out the breath she
had been holding. He approved. She still had her job.

Will didn't ask why her body
bore no marks of her assault at all. He dealt with witches,
warlocks, demons and she had no doubt he had his fingers in all sorts
of shady, dark dealings. Perhaps that was why he didn't have a
single wrinkle on his face. Rumor had it that Will was at least half
a century old, but he looked not a day over thirty.

Will flashed her a smile and
inclined his head. “Well, go get ready. And...welcome back,
Raven Rose. We missed you.”

Rebecca smiled sweetly and
walked to the door.
Sure you did
.

She made her way to the
dressing room. Thankfully only three girls were there. She smiled,
laughed and joked with them and answered the usual questions with
deft, light strokes.
I'm good, never better. Everything's all
right. Can't wait to get on that stage. I missed you all too!

Soon the music started, and
everyone flitted round the dressing room, checking their make up,
putting the final touches to their costumes and props, doing
stretching and warm up routines.

Rebecca strapped on her seven
inch heels. Her nails had been freshly painted, and she had applied
a temporary tattoo of a raven on her thigh. She had changed into a
glittering mini skirt, and she adjusted her red conical bra under her
translucent blouse. She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders,
trying to relax her muscles.

Staring at herself in the
mirror, she struck a few poses and gulped. Why did everything feel
so unfamiliar? This was her old job, her old life. Yet it felt odd
to be back.

It's just nerves.

She stared at the tattoo on
her thigh. It showed a raven in flight, its black wings spread wide
and as she tensed her muscles, the wings seemed to move.

She started when she felt a
hand on her arm. “Come on,” one of the girls smiled at
her. Rebecca smiled back automatically, but her mind drew a blank
all of a sudden.

Blinking hard, she finally
managed to stutter, “I'll be right out. Jade.”

That was her name, right?

To her relief, Jade nodded and
filed out of the room with the rest of the girls.

With a final glance at the
garishly made up stranger in the mirror, Rebecca mouthed,
showtime!

And she stepped out into the
dark sea of pulsating lights and loud music.

Levi stood across the road
from Club Mate, watching the drunken customers spill out of the
premises. Scott was standing still as a statue beside him, but he
could feel his cousin's worried eyes on him. Everyone was worried
about him. He saw it in their eyes, heard it in their voices, even
though none of them made any mention of Rebecca Rose.

Levi and Scott had just
stepped out of a meeting with Jett and a bunch of senior Enforcers
and had headed straight to Club Mate. There was some activity going
on in the clubs and Jett wanted them to investigate it.

The Enforcers' meeting had
been brief but eventful.

“
Biting by vamps and
blood demons?” Mason Gray, a werelion Enforcer, had asked at
the meeting. “I thought we had that under control with the new
licensing regulations and...”

“
No,” Jett had
answered tetchily. “The vamps and demons are behaving
themselves. For now.”

Levi had remained silent.
Jett's ill-temper and snappy replies told Levi that the Head Enforcer
had a problem on his hands that he couldn't solve. Jett was a man of
action. He was quick, sharp and he always got to the root of the
problem before the problem could take root.

His mind was as quick as his
tongue and his hands. That was what made him such a good leader and
a fearsome Enforcer. Under his leadership, the Enforcement Unit had
grown to be a force to be reckoned with. The previous Alpha before
Lucas Rieve had paid scant attention to the Enforcement Unit.
Training and weapons had been inadequate, and many Enforcers had lost
life and limb in the line of duty. When Lucas became the PAC Alpha,
he had headhunted Jett Riley to lead the Enforcement Unit, and
increased the budget for recruitment and training of the Enforcers.

Jett trained and led them
well. He also protected them and tried to solve all their problems.
Jett had been in street gangs in his youth, and Levi suspected that
these underground connections enabled Jett to keep his ears on the
ground. His ears and eyes on the ground no doubt accounted for his
uncannily accurate hunches.

“
So, what are we looking
for? Do we have proof of any illegal activity going on, or is this
another one of your “hunches”, Jett?” Zymfer
probed, impudently rolling his eyes at his boss. Zymfer was a young
demon Enforcer who obviously hadn't yet had a taste of Jett's
explosive temper and acerbic tongue. Levi could hear a collective
intake of breath from the senior Enforcers.

The room went so silent Levi
swore he could hear a bead of sweat ooze out of Mia's pore. Mia Lin
had worked with Jett before, when Jett was an officer in the NMPD.
She had been a junior police officer under him, but Jett had seen her
potential, and had recruited her as an Enforcer when he joined the
PAC. Mia knew Jett pretty well. She knew the way he worked, and she
knew his quick temper and wit.

Mia was shaking her head and
narrowing her eyes at the clueless demon. That big bad demon was
about to get eaten alive. Jett would chew him up and spit out his
bones. And that was if he still had any bones left after Jett was
done with him.

The other Enforcers all seemed
to shuffle back a little, giving Jett space and distancing themselves
from Zymfer's brazen comment. Jett folded his arms over his broad
chest and studied the insolent young demon.

“
Got something against
my “hunches”, Zymfer?” Jett asked nonchalantly.

“
Yeah. As a matter of
fact, I do.” Zymfer puffed out his chest, his horns slowly
elongating above his ears. You could always tell when a demon was
worked up. It was all in their horns.

Levi almost groaned. Why
wouldn't the youngster just shut up?

Jett cocked his head and
smiled tightly. The Head Enforcer made no reply, just stood waiting
for the demon to shove his own foot deeper into his big mouth and
down his throat.