Hero Bear
Fate Valley Mysteries
Scarlett Grove
Copyright © 2017 by Scarlett Grove
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
About the Author
Also by Scarlett Grove
Chapter 1
Sunshine Blackthorn walked out of the small airport and clutched the neck of her parka against the cold. The rental car waited for her outside. The valet passed her the keys and helped her stow her suitcase in the trunk. She handed him a tip and slid behind the wheel of the car.
She'd come all the way from Fate Mountain to attend the wedding of her friend Melody Banks. Sunshine’s lion shifter BFF was marrying a human man, one of the rarest pairings for any shifter. The entire shifter community was talking about it, and Sunshine couldn’t wait to meet Melody’s fiancé. She pulled out onto the freeway headed east toward Fate Valley.
The snow was piled high along the road, and she listened to the radio as she drove. Descending into Fate Valley, The Lake of the Fates stretched out before her, bare limbs of the dogwood trees covered in snow. The glassy lake waters under the big, blue Missouri sky reminded her of a fairytale. When she arrived at Fate Valley Resort, right on the lakefront, she wheeled her suitcase inside.
"I have a reservation for Sunshine Blackthorn," she said to the receptionist.
The woman pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and her fingers clacked over the keyboard.
"Here it is. You are with the wedding party of Melody Banks and Kirk Handy," she said.
"Yes, I am. I’m the maid of honor."
"Here you are," the receptionist said, handing her a key card and brochure that told all about Fate Valley Resort.
The resort had a beach right on the Lake of the Fates, a full spa, a gym, a five-star restaurant, a dance hall, a café with a full buffet three times a day, and an indoor pool. Distracted by the brochure, she ran right into the wedding party. Melody shrieked, bouncing up and down when she saw her.
"Sunshine! You’re here!”
"I've missed you so much," Sunshine said, embracing her friend.
The best friends hadn't seen each other since they’d graduated from the Bright Institute for Shifters a year before. After graduation, Sunshine had focused on building her career as a graphic and web designer. Melody, the curvy mountain lion shifter, had joined Mate.com and found her match almost immediately. She'd spent the last year in Fate Valley planning the wedding and getting settled in.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Sunshine said, thrilled that her friend had asked her to be the maid of honor in her wedding.
"You have to meet the rest of the bridesmaids," Melody said, taking Sunshine's hand and leading her into the café.
Melody went on to introduce her new friends from Fate Valley. Her fiancé’s sister Meredith, a petite, blonde human with a rosebud pink mouth, wearing a smart beige suit and flats. Cici, a curvy girl with jet black hair, porcelain skin and bright red lipstick, wore a bold flower print shirt and a form-fitting denim skirt. And the last was Stephanie, curvy cougar shifter like Melody with cropped brown hair, chocolate skin and brown eyes. She wore skinny jeans and a black printed T-shirt under a casual tailored suit jacket. Melody ordered them all rounds of coffees and the waiter brought them over a few moments later.
"We need to catch up," Melody said to Sunshine. "Have you signed up for Mate.com yet?"
"Oh no," Sunshine said. "I've been too focused on work to get sidetracked by mating right now."
"You're twenty-five years old, Sunshine," Melody objected. "When are you going to finally find a man and settle down?"
"I have plenty of time for that," Sunshine countered.
"You have all the time in the world. But nothing makes you happier than finding the right guy. My Kirk is amazing."
Sunshine grasped her friend’s hand gently, smiling affectionately at her. "I'm glad you found a mate who makes you happy, Melody.” She meant it too. She just didn't think mating was the right thing for her at that point in her life. "How do you like living in Fate Valley?" she asked, changing the subject.
"It's different from Fate Mountain," Melody confided. "But with my new friends, I couldn't be happier. It's a wonderful place. There are so many amazing things to do."
"How do you like your new teaching job?" Sunshine asked.
"Being a first-grade teacher at Fate Valley Elementary is a dream come true. I couldn’t ask for a better position. Plus, I get to work with Cici every day.”
"That's amazing news, Melody," Sunshine said. "It sounds like everything is turning out great."
"It is. Now tell me what we're doing for the bachelorette party tonight," Melody said with a giggle.
Sunshine had been conversing with Melody's friends for the last several weeks about what to do for the bachelorette party. Since she was the only bridesmaid coming from out of town, she’d needed all the help she could get.
"It's a surprise," Sunshine said.
"Come on," Melody prodded. "Just a little hint?"
"No hints," Cici said.
"Fine. You’re all killjoys."
After catching up and having a light lunch, the girls retired to their rooms and Sunshine took a nap before getting ready for the bachelorette party. She put on a formfitting yellow dress and black pumps and gazed at herself in the mirror. She’d left her umber brown hair flowing down her back in long waves, lined her big, amber-hewed eyes with black liner for a cat eye look. The yellow dress looked amazing against her tawny skin, but she couldn’t help seeing her mom Juliet’s face looking back at her in the mirror, reminding her not to get too crazy at the party tonight. She touched up her nude lipstick and pulled on her white parka, winking at her reflection before leaving her room.
The rest of the girls were already waiting down in the lobby and they piled into a shuttle that would take them into town. Everyone was dressed for a party and they giggled and talked as they sipped flutes of champagne on the way to the main event. The shuttle dropped them off at Fate Valley Brewing and the girls escorted Melody inside.
"We’re just going to a bar?" she asked.
"This isn't just any bar," Cici said.
"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Melody said.
They stepped inside and found the place was full of locals and tourists.
"I don't know any of these people," Melody giggled. "Are you sure this is my party."
"This is just the beginning," Cici said, taking Melody's hands and tugging her inside.
They found a table and the waiter brought them a bottle of champagne that he uncorked. The cork popped out and bounced off the wall. The girls gasped and shrieked as the champagne erupted and flowed from the bottle. He filled their glasses and winked at Cici.
"What was that wink all about?" Melody asked.
"Just wait," she said.
A moment later the classic rock playing on the jukebox stopped and a voice boomed over the speakers.
"We have a special guest here tonight," the voice said. "Melody Banks is getting married, and we're going to show her a Fate Valley good time.”
Throbbing dance music began to play. Out of the back of the pub, a man dressed in a tuxedo came trotting up to the girls’ table and bounced on top of it. They all screamed and clapped as he began to gyrate on the sturdy table above them. Melody covered her mouth as she watched him, her eyes big and excited as he ripped his pants off and then his jacket, dancing in nothing but a speedo and a white bowtie.
Sunshine laughed her head off as her heart raced and her belly grew warm with champagne. She had missed Melody so much in the last year and it felt good to be out with her best friend and her new friends in Fate Valley.
The dancer hopped off the table and pulled a chair over to the booth, reaching out to take Melody's hand and escort her to the chair. She accepted his hand and sat down as he did his routine just for her. Sunshine and the other bridesmaids laughed hysterically as he pumped his privates right at her face, making her blush with embarrassment and excitement at the same time. He then proceeded to give each of them dances, riling up the pub with his antics. Everyone was excited and laughing, even the guys in the bar that night.
After the dancer was done doing his thing, the girls were all rather tipsy and warm. The bartender brought them as many appetizers as they could eat and replaced the empty champagne bottle with a second and then a third. They played pool, rather badly, and almost nailed a guy in the arm with a dart.
At about two in the morning, the shuttle arrived to take them back to Fate Valley Resort. The girls piled into the car, still laughing and joking about how sexy the dancer had been. Cici was convinced she was going to run off with him and was spouting love poems in his name as she stared out the window. Meredith had had too much to drink for her tiny frame and snored in her seat. Stephanie was scrolling through her unqualified matches on Mate.com, swearing over the fact that she still hadn’t found the one. And Melody continued to prod Sunshine about joining the dating website.
"I told you, I'm not ready," Sunshine slurred, waving her prodding off.
"You gotta do it,” Stephanie said. “I still don't have a hundred percent match yet. You'd think that a female shifter would be able to find her match, but no, not me.”
Melody pulled Sunshine's phone out of her purse and tabbed over to the dating website.
"Give me that," Sunshine protested, snatching the phone out of her best friend’s hands.
"If you don’t want me to do it than do it yourself," Melody said drunkenly.
"Fine," Sunshine said. "If it’ll make you happy, I'll do it."
Sunshine could barely focus on the phone and in that moment, she wasn't one hundred percent responsible for her actions. She opened the website and began to fill out the questionnaire, which didn't make any sense, but she didn't expect it was going to work for her since she was three sheets to the wind.
Just as her matches were loading, they arrived at the Fate Valley Resort and stumbled out of the shuttle. Sunshine shoved her phone into her purse and climbed out of the van with her friends. They had to practically carry Meredith back inside as they sang the song the stripper had been dancing to. Melody shushed everyone when they made it into the lobby.
"We don't want to disturb the other guests," Melody said in an exaggerated whisper.
The other girls shook their heads in agreement and continued to the elevator, Meredith finally waking up. When they made it to their floor everyone stumbled off to their own rooms. Sunshine got back to her room and kicked off her pumps, feeling that she had given her friend Melody a good sendoff before her wedding day. Having completely forgotten about Mate.com, she collapsed face first onto her bed and fell asleep.
Chapter 2
Harrison Cole ran through the burning building. He could hear a child yelling over the crackling of the burning planks. He charged into the bedroom and found the child huddled in a corner, coughing desperately and trying to get air into its lungs. He pulled a gas mask from his pack and attached it to the child. Thinking fast, he smashed the glass out of the room’s one window and waved to the firefighters below.
They rushed a ladder over to the window and began to climb up. Harrison handed the child off to the firefighter coming up the ladder, just as he heard someone else screaming at the other end of the building.
He continued down the hall, searching for the source of the sound. A woman's voice pleaded for help. He was blinded by the thick gray smoke, unable to see his way through the haze. He stepped through a doorway and looked from side to side. He couldn’t see anyone inside as the flames rose all around him, higher and higher.
Harrison stepped into the room, thinking perhaps she was under the bed. He found her huddled in the closet, gave her his last protective mask, helped her walk out of the burning room, down the stairs to the front door.
“Fluffy!” she yelled. “Where is Fluffy?”
“Who is Fluffy?” Harrison asked, handing her off to the firefighters waiting at the front door.
“My cat.”
Harrison nodded at his team as they took the woman out of the burning building. He turned and hurried back upstairs, his shifter senses searching for the scent of feline over the flames and smoke. The ceiling collapsed behind him and flames leapt all around. Suddenly a beam caught him off-guard, hitting him in the head, knocking him forward violently, smashing his protective helmet. He fell on his chest, his eyes blinking closed as the world went dark. Never before had he been injured in a fire or during his years of service in the military. His life flashed before him in that instant and regret filled his heart. He’d yet to find the love of his life. His one true mate.
When he next opened his eyes, he found himself in a white room, a blinding light shining in his eyes. He tried to get up, but the man in the white coat held him down.
"You gave us quite a scare," the doctor said. "But you're going to be all right."
"How long was I out?" Harrison asked.
"Almost two hours."
Harrison cupped the back of his skull where he'd been hit by the falling debris. It still ached, but he could feel the warm rush of painkillers flowing through his IV.
"When can I go home?" he asked.
"We're going to keep you for observation for a few more hours, Harrison," the doctor said. "We don't take concussions lightly. Even minor ones."
"Noted," Harrison said.
"We’re going to send in some food. You need to keep your strength up."
The doctor left Harrison's room, and a few moments later, a nurse entered, wearing pink scrubs, a high ponytail, and a bright smile.
"It's good to see your handsome face awake," she said.
"Thank you," he said, sitting up in bed as she arranged the tray on his lap. He looked down at the food, disappointed at what he found. A cup of yellow Jell-O, the driest looking hamburger he'd ever witnessed and a cup of fruit.
"Is there any way I can bribe you to go down to Fate Valley Burger and grab me the special?" he asked.
"I'm afraid that's against regulation, Harrison," she said, tucking a napkin into his hospital gown. "But you'll be out of here in a few hours. Do you have anyone to pick you up?"
The question rang in his brain. He could call his chief or one of the other firefighters he served with. But he didn't have a special someone to come get him and take him home.
"Check the firehouse. I'm sure somebody can come and get me.”
"I’ll do that for you," she said as she left the room with a wink.
The curvy nurse was pretty and had a sweet smile, but his inner grizzly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was not his fated mate. Until that day, Harrison had never been interested in finding his fated mate. He’d lived a life of service, and that had always been enough.
After his military service, he had come home to Fate Valley, bought of three-bedroom house in a nice neighborhood with his shifter veterans’ bonus and joined the Fate Valley Fir
e Department. The job served him well and he had never had an instance until today. But that brief brush with death had shown him how little he had been living. He spent his time working, serving on the Fate Valley Shifter Community Association, and drinking beers with the boys down at Fate Valley Brewing.
But now he knew that what he wanted more than anything, was to settle down with his fated mate and start a family. The nurse came back a few moments later and peeked through the door as he was biting into the dry hamburger. He chugged down half the orange juice just to get the bite down his throat.
"The chief is coming to pick you up. I told him that we would call him when you're ready to be released."
"Thank you, ma’am," he said with a wink.
The nurse giggled and blushed before walking out the door. With his six-foot-three frame, broad shoulders, blue eyes and dark blond hair, he had a way of attracting the ladies. But no one but his fated mate would do. No shifter wanted a mate who wasn't his fated one. He picked up the remote control and turned on the television and spent the next several hours watching hockey on ESPN. The nurse returned several times to check his vitals and ask him a series of questions. He was a shifter, he told her. He’d recover from a knock on the head in no time. But the hospital wouldn’t take any chances.
The doctor came back and signed his release paperwork that evening. Later, his chief arrived with a fire department sweat suit for Harrison to wear home. After he changed, they wheeled him out to the front of the hospital where the chief's truck was waiting.
"Thank you for doing this, Chief," Harrison said, climbing into the passenger side of the truck.
"Not a problem, Harrison. You're my best man. It was troubling for us all to have you injured."
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