by Amelia Jade
The Stone Bears had recently set up codes with the Alphas, to ensure that when they called in, the Stone Bears knew it was them. They hadn’t told the Sentinels about it, figuring they would ask their bosses what the gibberish words meant.
Gabriel frowned. “No, I didn’t think about it, but—”
“Let’s see,” Uriel said, knowing he was on to something here. He walked back around the corner.
“Justin, you answered the call from the Jade Crew earlier today, correct?”
The Sentinel nodded.
“Did anything stand out about that phone call?” Uriel pressed.
“Yeah,” Justin replied immediately. “He said the words ‘dancing duckling’ at the end. I told Gabriel that.”
Uriel nodded, turning to face another of the Sentinels.
“Norman, did Marcel say anything weird when you took his call earlier?”
Uriel expected the shifter to stumble, to try and make something up. He was fairly positive he had caught their mole, that Norman had created the diversion phone call to ensure backup couldn’t arrive here in time to save the Emeralds. What he didn’t expect was for the shifter to turn and make a run for it.
Ajax and Gabriel moved fast, but Uriel was faster. His hand swept to his waist with incredible speed, snatching up his dart gun smoothly and efficiently. The gun came up, barrel tracking the fleeing target. He squeezed the trigger and the familiar snap-hiss of the gun echoed in the chamber as a flurry of darts hit Norman in the back. The shifter cried out, his arms flailing widely as he fell head-first onto the cavern floor.
“Get these two up to the complex as fast as you can,” Uriel ordered, gesturing at Norman and the shifter he had knocked out earlier. The other Sentinels leapt to obey. He handed a gun and two of his remaining clips to Raphael, who would escort them back. Keeping them knocked out would be far easier than trying to keep them restrained.
“Anything else going to happen?” Uriel sighed dramatically.
Chapter Fourteen
Sydney
With a sigh she killed the engine. It was good to be home, and she was exhausted. Not long after Uriel had left, there had been a horrific crash at the base of the mountain. The medical staff at the Mining Consortium office had actually been closer to the site than the Origin EMS team, and they had gone to help. Courtenay had taken Sydney along to help her out, and they had worked side by side to treat the terrible injuries.
When the EMS team finally showed up, the women from the LMC office had the situation well under control. What had followed was plenty of paperwork that everyone hated.
“That’s strange,” she muttered, as the usual noises Bruce made when she got home were conspicuously absent.
She put her key into the lock and tentatively opened the door, wondering why her dog wasn’t there to great her.
“What the heck?” she said aloud. The front hall light was off. She always left it on, so that Bruce could see her when she came home. A light flickered from farther inside.
Not sensing any immediate danger, she closed the door behind her, and stepped into her house. Something crunched under her foot. Putting her bag aside she crouched down and grabbed whatever it was.
A smile blossomed on her face as she recognized the object even in the dim light.
“Uriel,” she said softly, dropping the rose petal to the floor. Now that her eyes were adjusting, she could see an entire trail of them leading deeper into her house.
She kicked her shoes off and began to follow the red markings. They led to the kitchen, where a sudden smell hit her.
“Oh my God, is that pizza?” she gasped.
“Perhaps,” came Uriel’s voice as he appeared behind her.
“You sir, are amazing,” she told him, putting her hands around his neck and allowing herself to be kissed by the man she loved.
“One tries,” he replied before kissing her again. They weren’t deep, passionate kisses, but light, enjoyable, comforting touches, which was just what she needed.
“I am so glad you didn’t do gourmet home cooking,” she said, backing away as she flipped open the box and grabbed a slice. “Bacon and pepperoni? What did you do?” she teased, pretending he was bribing her.
“It’s what you did,” he said, joining her and taking a piece himself. They leaned back against the counter and munched happily.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked after taking a couple of delicious bites.
“You fixed me. Cured me. Whatever you want to call it,” he said after swallowing his own cheese-filled mouthful. “I cannot thank you enough. But this is a start,” he said.
“A start?” she asked, quickly downing the rest of the slice. “What’s next?”
Instead of replying, Uriel handed her another slice, and then pointed at the ground. It was then that she noticed the trail of petals led to the pizza box, but then turned and clearly went back out of the kitchen.
Frowning, she looked at him suspiciously before beginning to follow the trail to the next destination. Which, it turned out, was the bathroom. There was warmth billowing out of the tub and candles lit everywhere, providing the perfect setting.
“Oh my,” she said, setting the half-eaten slice of pizza down as Uriel lifted her shirt above her head. Sydney continued to relax as Uriel did all the work of disrobing her and most importantly, handing her back her pizza.
He offered to hold it while she got in the tub, but Sydney was too hungry for that. She munched away happily as she dipped her toes into the water. Then, not caring what Uriel thought, she stored the tip of the slice in her mouth and used both hands to lower herself into the lovely water.
“I’ll be right back,” he said cryptically, but she didn’t object, leaning back into the towels he had set up for her to use as a backrest.
“Bliss,” she whispered.
“Here you go,” came Uriel’s voice a few seconds later.
She opened her eyes.
“Thank you,” she said, laughing and shaking her head at him as she accepted another pizza slice.
“You’re very welcome,” he said.
“So you think I fixed you all up, do you?” she asked as the warm water leeched the soreness from her.
“Well, you might not be a doctor, but you’re just the prescription I needed,” he told her.
Sydney’s jaw dropped and she almost let go of the heavenly slice of pizza. Bacon prevailed however, and she maintained her grip on it, unwilling to waste such delicious food.
“How long have you been waiting to use that line?” she asked, rolling her eyes at him.
“About six hours, since I came up with it,” he said flatly.
“Unbelievable. Just unbelievable,” she said, but she was laughing and couldn’t help it. “So, tell me about what happened.”
Uriel nodded and proceeded to fill her in on all the details, and what they had learned about their enemy.
“They said that their master is already among you?” she asked, sitting up straighter
Uriel frowned at her and said nothing until she relaxed back into the bath.
“Better,” he said with a wink. “Yes, when we got the two prisoners back to the complex, we managed to get that out of them. We think it’s a dragon leading them, but we don’t really understand his motives just yet. The prisoners made it sound race related, but we don’t have anything concrete.”
She could sense he didn’t want to be talking about it right then, so she changed the subject.
“I could get used to coming home to this every day,” she told him, slipping lower into the tub as the water rose up and over her shoulders. A warm, euphoric glow had replaced the dull sense of exhaustion she’d had upon walking inside. “Where’s Bruce?” she asked.
“Happily chewing away on a new bone out back,” Uriel told her.
“You bribed my dog to keep him quiet?” she accused.
“Yep.”
“Well, good thing I have a guard bear now,” she said, reaching out and taking his hand and cup
ping it to her face.
“That you do,” he told her. “Although I can’t promise to do this every day. Not unless you move in with me up at the complex. I’m always on call. I have to stay there most nights,” he told her.
“I know,” she said. “But we’ll work something out. Somehow. What do Caia and Gabriel do?”
“She mostly stays with him, and on nights he’s not on call they go to her place.”
“Oh. Well, I can’t leave Bruce. But we’ll find a way together.”
Uriel leaned in to kiss her. “Good. I like being together.”
“Me too,” she said. “Besides, the complex is no place for kids.”
The hand holding her face jerked slightly in surprise. “Kids?” he asked.
She looked up at him. “Yes, kids. I thought all you bears were obsessed with having children? Am I not allowed to want them as well?”
He shook his head. “It’s not that,” he said with a smile. “The way you said it though…how many kids were you expecting there to be?”
Sydney smiled evilly. “Well, I do come from a family of eight children. My mother is one of nine and my dad one of seven.”
Uriel blanched.
THE END
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Want More of These Characters?
Stone Bears (Genesis Valley Shifters)
Stone Bear: Sentinel (Book 1) – Gabriel
Stone Bear: Phoenix (Book 2) - Uriel
Ridgeback Bears
Jade Crew: Alpha Bear (Book 1)
Jade Crew: Haunted Bear (Book 2)
Jade Crew: Forgotten Bear (Book 3)
Jade Crew: Captive Bear (Book 4)
Bluff Bears
Rogue Bear (Book 1)
Outlaw Bear (Book 2)
Broken Bear (Book 3)
Junkyard Bear (Book 4)
Other Series by Amelia Jade
The Wolf Wanderers (w/Terra Wolf)
Cinder Wolf (Book 1)
Feral Wolf (Book 2)
Rebel Wolf (Book 3)
Noble Wolf (Book 4)
About the Author
Amelia Jade
Amelia Jade loves to write the stories of tall, growly shifter men and the women who come to love them. Living out in the backcountry near the mountains, she keeps her own alpha male close by to keep the bears away and keep her warm. In her downtime (which is rare), she loves to read science-fiction with a dash of fantasy. You can often find her curled up in front of the real wood-burning fireplace, her nose firmly buried in a book or her favorite e-reader. The cold can’t bother her there!
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Author Page
Contents
Copyright
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
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Stone Bears (Genesis Valley Shifters)
Ridgeback Bears
Bluff Bears
Other Series by Amelia Jade
About the Author
