Justiss And Graver (MC Bear Mates Book 4)

by Becca Fanning

  “He’s right, J,” Kiko inserted. “Don’t let past grievances intrude on future relationships. That’s just stupid.”

  J pursed his lips, finding sense in what Kiko said, and nodded. “Look, I just want him found. The minute he is, it’s a huge load off all our plates. With Logann gone and Moses too, that’s Jefferson’s biggest allies down for the count. The rest will scatter.”

  “I know that, Justiss. I’m not an idiot. We can safely get rid of Moses without having to risk another challenge, which makes it imperative we hunt him down. But like I said, I can only do so much. If we can’t find him, we can’t find him. I’ve put the word out that the MC’s baying for blood and that any snitches will be well rewarded, but after that, what can I do?”

  “Have you involved the cops?” Aaron asked, involving himself in the conversation he’d stood on the sidelines for thus far.

  “I’m hesitant to involve them,” Mars replied. He rubbed the back of his neck, apparently uncomfortable with his next admission. “Annette is trying to stop me from bankrolling dirty cops.”

  “Well, I agree with her, that’s for the best. But in this instance, we’ve bigger fish to fry. Tensions in the MC have been rife since we’ve been at war with the cartel. Our territories have reduced in size and prominence, and with other gangs after us, we can’t travel anywhere without a target on our backs. Then, when we saved the Ukrainian girls, we couldn’t shift… None of it has helped this cause.” Justiss rocked back in his chair. “Internal war is not how I want to die, so we need to wrap up this side of things and move on. I have ideas of how to do that, but I feel we can’t step forward without dealing with Moses.”

  Mars narrowed his eyes at J. “Kiko mentioned you had ideas about the MC. I’d like to hear them. You know we’re trying to streamline, go more down the legal route. Any advice on that would be appreciated.”

  J nodded. “I know that’s where the MC is trying to go, and I wholeheartedly approve. It’s getting too risky. With all the cartels and Latin American gangs out there, it’s too fucking hard. They’re insane. The levels they’re willing to sink to? That isn’t us. Sure, we’re bikers, but we’re bears. Even schmucks like Moses work to a different level than the gangs. Desperation has made them feral, but not us.”

  Graver moved away from the window and took a seat at the council table. Kiko followed, and Mars sat down too until all four of them looked to be doing nothing more innocuous than having a meeting. It couldn’t have been more different than a few minutes before when tempers had been fraught.

  Kiko broke the small well of silence with, “Is it true, J?”

  Justiss cocked a brow. “Is what true?”

  “That you’re rich.”

  “Oh. That.” He jerked a negligent shoulder. “Yeah. I am. The route I tried to make Jefferson take was a profitable one.”

  “How rich?” Mars asked.

  “How badly in the red is the MC?” Justiss countered.

  “Close to five million. I don’t know what the fuck Jefferson was doing when he sat here, but money slipped through his fingers like fucking water. That’s probably why he tied us up with the cartel. Only that kind of debt would encourage any bastard to get into human trafficking. And ever since we’ve been at war with Martinez, we’ve been losing money hand over fist. The situation’s dicey if we don’t find alternative sources of income.”

  J rubbed his ear, the admitted, “I can afford to clear the debt.”

  “Why would you do that?” Mars asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion.

  Kiko whistled. “You could afford to do that?”

  Most Shifters plowed their earnings back into the MC. Justiss, raised by a man who had never been good enough for his mate, had never been so generous. In his long life, he’d always been money savvy. He was a wealthy man where his brothers probably just had good savings. Because the fact of the matter was, no Shifter really thought about the future until he found his mate. Then, having money took on importance, because they wanted the best for her. But before then, the endless waiting took its toll.

  Had Justiss not seen his father’s desperate attempts to provide his mate with the best, had he not been so affected by that, he’d probably have been the same.

  To Kiko’s question, he murmured, “I’ve invested wisely over the years.” To Mars, he stated, “I want Graver on the council without having to challenge for it.” Before Aaron could complain, he held up a hand and continued, “I want to build a house, close by here, for my mates and me. I suggest that other mated couples do the same, and we make it a tradition. Mated couples live on their own. I can buy a plot of land that would suffice size wise.”

  “Why would you do any of that?”

  “Because the MC is my home, and it’s my family.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

  “Most of the brothers shunned you, Justiss. Why would you want to help them?”

  “Because they’re family,” he told Mars. “Where the hell else would we go if we didn’t have this place?”

  The Prez studied him for a handful of minutes, long enough for Kiko to murmur, “You know J’s good for it, Mars. Don’t be looking at him like he’s some kind of goddamn criminal.”

  “I’m trying to understand his motivations, Kiko. They don’t make much sense to me.”

  “And they don’t have to, so long as they make sense to the man himself.” The second-in-command shook his head. “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

  “Gift horses sometimes come with large price tags.” Mars scraped a hand over his jaw. “You want to be Prez, is that it? Because you all know I’m doing this because I have to, not because I want to. I never wanted to be President.”

  “Maybe not, but you’re good at it. And no, I don’t want to be Prez. I have no desire to lead. It’s not in my nature to be the boss. I’m too much a loner. But I want to help. I want to make this place better for all of us.

  “The truth is, the clubhouse is no place for mated females and cubs to be running around. I don’t care what any of you say; you’re lying if you think it is. But if we have extra territory, Clan territory that belongs to us all and not just the council, I think it would make the women a lot happier. I know my mate wouldn’t be happy living here. It’s just too much for her, and let’s face it, Christie isn’t all that happy about being here either, is she?”

  “Just because you intend on footing the bill, doesn’t mean your opinion is the only one that matters. The land has to be selected by all the council first.”

  J shrugged. “Whatever you want. We can go up to ten million for a plot large enough. I’ll get my real estate broker to send us over some land that fit our needs… although I guess we’ll have to have a meeting about what those needs are in particular.”

  Mars clenched his jaw. “Just how fucking rich are you, Justiss? You can clear the club’s debts and buy a plot of land worth ten mil? Why is this the first time I’m hearing of you being Rockefeller?”

  “I made a killing a hundred years ago on iron and steel. I’ve been playing ever since with the markets.”

  “You’ve been rich all this time, and you never said a damn thing?” Kiko demanded, his shock almost amusing to behold.

  J’s lips twitched. “It had nothing to do with anyone but me.” To Mars, he said, “I’ll need my accountants to run over the books before I pay off the debts. Are you amenable to that?”

  “Do whatever the fuck you want with them,” Mars retorted. “Once that slate is clean, we can start afresh.”

  “Good. I’ll give you the firm’s details, and I’ll instruct them to handle the account.”

  Mars nodded, then rubbed his hand over his chin. “This is the first time we’ve been able to talk in private, but you’re sure you two share the same mate?”

  Graver cleared his throat. “Positive.”

  Justiss stated, “Without a doubt.”

  “How do you know?”

  J looked over at Aaron, letting him answer. W
hat he’d just disclosed about talking to a Goddess, well, if anyone understood, it was Mars. The Prez had endured a blood sacrifice too, after all. But it was down to Graver if he wanted to share that or not. It took a handful of seconds, but Graver eventually said, “We’re tied together because of the blood sacrifice. Toni is tied to us both as a result.”

  “You bound her to you yet?” Kiko asked, gaze darting between J and Graver.

  “No. She’s been resting.”

  “All this time? It’s been two days since we brought her here.”

  J shrugged. “What can I say? She was tired.”

  “I hope this doesn’t blow up in your faces when it comes time to claim her,” Mars said gently. “I don’t want either of you to be hurt.”

  “We won’t be hurt,” Graver replied, confidence lacing his tone. “If I hold Toni’s hand, the connection is there. But if she holds Graver’s too, it’s like a lightning bolt.”

  Mars didn’t look convinced but he nodded. “Just keep me apprised of the situation, okay?”

  “Of course, we will.” He rubbed his hands together, determined to change the subject because he knew Graver didn’t want to discuss it further. “Now, have you been doing any research on micro-breweries?”

  Kiko and Mars looked at one another, before they both shook their heads. At their confusion, Justiss grinned and sank back in his chair.

  It was time to get this show on the road.

  It was a noise that jerked Toni from sleep. Well, several noises, in fact.

  The first was an annoying clack-clack that never seemed to end, as well as a low hum of conversation and laughter that had her eyes slowly opening onto the bright, over-white room before her. When she saw where she was, at first, she figured she was in hospital. It was anonymous enough to be a ward. Then, when she didn’t smell the usual perfume of disinfectant and ozone, she rolled over onto her back, registered the comfort of the mattress—something that deserved an A+—and realized there was no way in hell this was a hospital.

  She sat up, peered over at the noise’s source, and squinted when she saw a very pregnant woman knitting and watching Ellen on the big screen TV.

  The belly registered first, and her voice was hoarse and croaky as she asked, “Christie? What are you doing in here?”

  When she heard Toni’s voice, Christie shot her a grin and said, “Watching Ellen, of course. I never used to like daytime television, but ever since I’ve been stuck at the clubhouse, it’s grown on me. I get in such a mood if I miss my daily dose.”

  That had Toni snorting. “I hate those kinds of shows.”

  “I did too, but boredom has a way of skewing your taste.” She held up some wool that could only be considered knitted in a Salvador Dali dreamscape. It had more holes in it than weave, with big gaping spaces dotted here and there. “Never thought I’d enjoy knitting either, but here I am. Doing it.”

  Toni wouldn’t have called whatever Christie was doing ‘knitting’, but she didn’t have the heart to say it. “What are you doing in my room though?”

  “I figured you were ready to wake up,” came the easy retort, but the other woman’s attention was on a kid making pasta and getting more flour on his face than in the bowl. “Two days is overkill, and I knew you must have a shift at work soon. The way Graver and Justiss have been hoarding you though, I figured they’d let you carry on until you turned into Sleeping Beauty.”

  Toni blinked, only one part of what Christie had said registering, “Two days?”

  Finally, she caught Christie’s full attention. “Yeah. Two days. You’ve been asleep a hell of a long time. I thought you would be ready to be up and about by now.”

  “What time is it?” she asked, and though a part of her was panicking, another part felt so damn good for having slept as long as she had that she couldn’t really find it in herself to get mad.

  The last time she’d binge slept like this had been after her finals at med school. She’d slept fifty-six hours, breaking that only to get up to pee and drink water straight from the faucet.

  The fact she’d slept so well now was a testament to two things.

  Firstly, how exhausted she’d been since working evenings and nights. Sleep had never been a close friend of hers, but when she had to work in the dark, it became an enemy. Secondly, how safe she’d felt here. It might have looked rough, like the entire building could fall down at any minute, and it might very well house dangerous outlaws, but hell, subconsciously, she’d been A-Okay staying here.

  The former reduced her irritation with the reason behind the latter.

  She couldn’t be too mad at the guys who made her feel safe enough to glut herself on sleep, even if that meant she’d missed a day’s work. And truthfully, Toni couldn’t be bothered going into work today either. She’d have time, if she rushed through the traffic, to get there, but the impetus wasn’t strong.

  The bosses had shafted her, shoving her on night shifts when she’d protested, heavily, against it. They’d chosen to ignore her when she told them Rodriguez was a pervert, and instead, had told the supervisor she’d filed a sexual harassment charge against him—making the man even more of a bastard to work for.

  At this moment in time, when she felt more rested than she had in months, she really couldn’t find it in herself to be that mad.

  She hauled herself up the mattress and sank against the headboard for support. She was still feeling a bit weak from all the sleep and kept yawning, watching Ellen make some celebrity Toni had never heard of before laugh.

  “You seriously like this?” Toni asked after a few minutes of twaddle passed between the two women.

  Christie’s grin was contagious. “Yeah. Shocking, right? But she’s funny.”

  Toni yawned again. “If you say so.”

  “You slept well, I take it?”

  “Which part gave it away?” she teased. “But yeah. I feel better for it. I haven’t been sleeping well since my shifts changed. I hate working nights.”

  Christie wrinkled her nose. “One good thing about being a dentist. Regular working hours.”

  Toni clucked her tongue. “I should have thought of that when I was younger.”

  The other woman laughed and said, “I’m surprised I managed to sneak in here if I’m honest. One of them has been in here with you while you slept, and they only just left now because they went to the council room. I saw them both go in and seized my chance to come pester you.”

  “More like act like my human alarm clock.”

  “Well, that too.” She went back to knitting. “You’re not too mad at my waking you up, are you?”

  “Nah. I needed to get up eventually, right?” she asked, a tad rhetorically. There was something about Christie that Toni liked. A kind of cheeky hesitance, like she’d been made to feel a nuisance at some point in her life and didn’t want to impose on anyone as a result.

  At her reply, Christie beamed. “Do you want to get some coffee?”

  “Are you supposed to be drinking that?” Toni asked, brows raised as she sent a pointed glance at Christie’s extended stomach.

  “Hey, I can drink decaf, thank you very much.”

  “How do you know? You haven’t been to an OB/GYN for bloodwork or tests or anything. No coffee at all might be good for you.”

  Christie stuck out her tongue. “You’re going to do all that for me though, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, and break a couple dozen laws while I’m at it.” Toni rolled her eyes. “But still, until we’ve run some tests, you need to take it easy on the usual culprits.”

  The other woman wrinkled her nose. “Yes, doc.”

  Toni hid a smile. “So, while I’m having coffee, you can have some tea or something.”

  “Aren’t you generous?”

  On creaky legs, Toni climbed out from under the sheets and got to her feet. She ached like a bitch. Her back was sore, and her knees felt like they’d been kicked out from under her, but as she moved around a little, she got her rhythm back.<
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  “You look like me first thing on a morning. If I get any bigger, Mundo’s going to have to fireman lift me out of bed.”

  Toni snorted. “I can guarantee you’re going to get bigger. You’ve another couple of months to go, don’t you?”

  Christie’s nod was sullen.

  Toni snickered. “The joys of pregnancy. Getting to look and feel like you swallowed a basketball whole.”

  “I’ll make you feel this good when it happens to you, fear not,” came the false-cheerful retort. “And with two mates, it’s bound to happen sooner rather than later. Hell, you’ll be waking up like that every day.”

  “What? Like I’ve been riding a bear?”

  The instant the bawdy words escaped, the two of them collapsed in hysterics. Toni clutched her stomach as she went over to Christie and helped heave her onto her feet, and the two of them chuckled their way down to the kitchen.

  Toni had no other clothes save the scrubs she’d come in yesterday, and though Christie had offered to lend her something, Toni wanted coffee first.

  At least, she did until they passed a group of ten men who gawked at them on their way past.

  “Don’t worry. They’d do that even if you weren’t bare-assed naked and walking through the clubhouse,” Christie told her, apparently trying and failing to be helpful.

  Toni was grateful the hem was long on her shirt, but she still felt like her ass was hanging out even though she’d worn shorter dresses in her time. She peered back and saw the men were still gawking, their tongues practically hanging out, but it wasn’t in a sexual way.

  Which was weird as hell.

  In fact, it was so weird, she had to ask, “Is it just me or was that not sexual?”

  Christie’s nod was immediate. “No, they’d have done it to me too, and I’m so far from sexy at the moment, it’s nuts.”

  “Why though? What’s going on?”

  She shrugged. “We’re mates.”

  “What does that mean?”