A MATE FOR THE BEAR
By
Natalie Kristen
Also by NATALIE KRISTEN
Bear Brides
A Bride For The Bear
A Date For The Bear
A Wife For The Bear
A Mate For The Bear
Billionaire Bear Shifters Romance
Taken By The Bear
Owned By The Bear
Saved By The Bear
MISTY VALLEY SHIFTERS
Growl For Me
Fight For Me
Purrfect For Me
MATE series
Alpha Mate
Bear Mate
Vampire Mate
Wolf Mate
Wild Mate
Dark Mate
Blood Mate
NORTH WOLVES
To Kill A Wolf
ALPHA GAME
Alpha Game
Alpha Game 2
Alpha Game 3
DARK erotic romance
Rapture In The Dark
Release In The Dark
One Night With Death
Copyright © 2015 Natalie Kristen
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
About this book
Alone and up to her eyeballs in debt, Joyce Donovan has to work as a stripper to pay off her ex-husband's debt. On a whim, she joins an online dating site, hoping to make a friend and just connect with someone. To her surprise, one of the members on the dating site contacts her. His profile name is DJ, and he becomes her online friend, someone she can chat with anonymously and confide in.
Dalton Jameson didn't think his Alpha's plan would work. But being a good Beta, he throws his support behind his Alpha's insane plan and gamely puts up his profile on an online dating site. Dalton doesn't think he'll find his mate on the site until he sees JD's profile. They strike up a friendship, a purely online one. When she finally discloses that she is working as a stripper in a club in Moonstone Creek, Dalton resolves to find her, even if he has to visit every strip club in town.
Facing off against treacherous predators in the strip club, Joyce is shocked when she is saved by DJ, her online friend who has burst out of cyberspace and into her real, messy life. Dalton takes her home and offers her a job. But falling for her boss and best friend brings danger to his doorstep.
Joyce isn't going down without a fight this time.
Dalton is her mate, her true love and she will fight for a future with him.
*****
CHAPTER ONE
Joyce applied another coat of lip gloss and stepped back from the mirror. She squared her shoulders, puffed out her chest which was amplified by the sparkly stringy bra, and blew out a long breath. Nope, that wasn't her in the mirror. That sultry woman with the big hairdo wearing too much makeup and too little clothes was Jade. The moment she stepped into the club, she was no longer Joyce Donovan. She was Jade.
She had been given that stage name because of her stunning green eyes. Her unruly red hair emphasized the color of her eyes and the freckles on her nose, which she tried to conceal with lots of powder. Joyce adjusted the sheer, see-through fabric of her costume and made sure the feathers were securely fastened to the sleeves. Snapping the sequin mask over her eyes, she struck a pose and blew a kiss to Karen, who was liberally dusting glitter powder all over her cleavage.
Karen turned and winked at her. “Warming up, are we, Jade?”
Joyce laughed and wiggled her generous bum. “I don't need to warm up. I'm hot!”
“Touche!” Karen grinned.
Joyce smiled as she squeezed past the other girls to reach her large, floppy tote bag on a corner chair. The girls were all dressed up and made up, all ready to step onto the stage and do their thing. All eyes would be on them while they owned the stage, but once they stepped out of the club, no one would even recognize them. Karen was a single mom to two young kids, and the loud, gum-popping Stephanie who was stretching and gyrating in a corner to limber up was actually a studious, bespectacled med school student by day.
Working at Candybar, the newest and hottest strip club in Moonstone Creek, allowed the girls to earn enough money to fund their day-to-day lives and their dreams. For many of the girls, stripping was a means to an end. They were just here to earn the money they needed and pay off what needed to be paid.
Like a big, fucking debt incurred by a loser ex-husband.
Joyce slumped into the chair and sat in a dim corner of the dressing room. Wearily, she shook all thoughts of her ex out of her head. Felix had been nothing but trouble, and even after their divorce, he still managed to cause trouble for her. She hadn't seen him in more than a year, but she sure saw a lot of his creditors. The little shit had forged her signature and made her the guarantor of his debts. She had almost passed out when she found out that Felix owed a truckload of money to the Crimson Wolves, one of the largest, most dangerous wolf packs in town. The wolves had come after her and demanded that she pay off Felix's debt in full. They obviously didn't care that the document had been forged. All they cared about was getting their money.
But where in the world would she find that kind of money? Felix had practically wiped out all her savings towards the end of their marriage. She still had her job as a receptionist in a small trading firm, but her salary barely covered her rent and daily necessities.
The Crimson Wolves weren't known for their scruples. They could make people they didn't like disappear, people like errant debtors and irresponsible guarantors.
Joyce had no intention of disappearing. She had finally ended her disastrous marriage and was about to begin life anew. She wasn't going to let the wolves kill her just as she was learning to live again.
She would pay off the debt and she would live, goddamit.
But first, she had to find a way to raise that obscene sum of money.
Randell Wyle, the Beta of the Crimson Wolves, had offered her an opening. It was an offer she couldn't refuse.
She would work as a stripper in their club to pay off the debt. The Crimson Wolves owned a few nightclubs and a string of other businesses that she didn't really want to know about.
It was easy as pie, Randell told her. They would take a cut of her earnings, a big cut since she wanted to settle the debt as soon as possible, and she could take home the rest.
Joyce didn't see any other way out. She would do it. She would strip, but she wouldn't strip all the way. She would wear a thong and a stringy, bikini bra and a mask, and she wasn't going to take these off. With an amused smirk, Randell had agreed to her conditions.
Joyce continued working as a receptionist in her old firm. But every weekend, she would slip into her sexy, sheer costume, throw on that glittering mask to obscure half her face and transform into Jade, stripper extraordinaire at Candybar.
Joyce felt her phone vibrate in her bag. She fished it out and smiled when she saw the screen light up with a new message.
It was a message from “DJ”.
She opened the message and giggled at the joke he'd sent her. DJ always knew how to make her laugh. Even though she'd never even met him. He was just a nameless, face
less friend she'd made on a dating site.
Making a friend, on a dating site? Unbelievable, right? She wouldn't have believed it was possible if it hadn't happened to her.
On a whim, she had signed up at an online dating site. She had used her initials, 'JD', as her profile name. She'd cropped her profile picture to show only her eyes and she hadn't bothered typing out a long, rambling paragraph about herself. She'd just answered the site's mandatory questionnaire and left most of the columns blank. She wasn't actively looking for a long-term relationship. She had too much on her plate right now. Holding two jobs, shuttling between two identities and trying not to keel over from exhaustion didn't allow for much time to date. But she thought it would be nice to just chat with someone about, well, everything and nothing. Just chat and connect with someone, even a stranger. Her friends, if she could call them that, had distanced themselves from her when they found out that the Crimson Wolves were after her for a big fat debt. She was disappointed but she couldn't blame them. They had to look out for themselves, their families. The wolves wouldn’t hesitate to hurt anyone connected with her just to get what they wanted.
After her divorce, she had no family to speak of and no friends to speak with. She felt so isolated, so alone. She just needed to have someone to talk to. Even an anonymous online friend would be enough to fill the void and save her sanity.
Joyce had stated categorically in her profile that she was only on the dating site to make new friends. Friends, with no benefits. It was for their safety as well as hers. With the wolves breathing down her neck, it wasn't safe to get too close to anyone. She could only hope to have at least an online friend, someone she could talk to but would never meet.
She'd been surprised to receive quite a number of messages from the members of the dating site. But a quick glance at their profile and their messages told her exactly what those men were looking for. Those men were at the dating site for one thing only. They just wanted casual sex, so any female would do. They weren't really interested in her. They weren't even on the dating site to find a date. They were just there to score.
Joyce had deleted all the messages without replying. All but one. That message had been from a member with the username “DJ”. It was a simple, no frills profile name. Unlike most of the other profile names which made lewd, suggestive innuendos and puns on their, um, size and prowess. Joyce had learned from experience that empty vessels made the most noise. It was just hot air and inflated puffery. The more they talked, the less they did. And the less they did, the more deluded they were about their abilities and achievements.
But “DJ” was different. His very first message had just been a simple, sweet greeting asking how her day was. It just happened that she'd had a really crappy day, and she just had to vent or she'd explode. She ended up typing a rather incoherent, expletive-laden message and hitting the send button before she cooled down enough to realize what she had done. Mortified, she'd sent him another message, apologizing for her previous rude message.
She definitely didn't expect to hear back from him. She thought he'd probably deleted her message and blocked her from ever contacting him again. But to her surprise, DJ replied.
She messaged back, and that was the beginning of their online correspondence. They messaged each other almost every day, sharing jokes and encouragements. Even before DJ pointed it out, she'd noticed that his profile name mirrored hers exactly. And that made her suspect that “DJ” had used his initials as his profile name as well.
Their messages were affectionate but not sexual. They could chat about anything and Joyce began to think of DJ as a real online friend. She realized that “real online friend” was an oxymoron, but that was what it was. Their friendship might just be online, but it was real. DJ had asked to meet in person a couple of times, but she'd hesitated and he didn't push the issue. He wasn't just looking to get laid, that much was obvious. And he wasn't trying to scam her. He never asked her for money or for any favors, sexual or otherwise. Instead, he told her more about himself. He was a landscaper and he lived in Moonstone Creek. When he asked if she lived near Moonstone Creek, she'd just said yes without telling him her exact location. They were in the same little town, and they could have passed each other on the street without realizing it. She'd kept her personal details vague, revealing only bits and pieces of her life. But she'd finally confided to DJ that she was working as a stripper during the weekends to pay off her ex-husband's debt.
To that, DJ had commented that he was friends were some strippers and those girls were really great, amazing girls. He wasn't crude or judgmental, and he made her feel a whole lot better about herself.
Joyce read the joke on her phone again and typed a quick reply to DJ, asking him his plans for the evening. She told him she was at the club and was waiting for her turn on the stage.
I hope I'll earn more tonight, she typed with a sigh. I seem to be making less money these past few weeks.
It was a while before she received DJ's response.
'I know you've rejected my offer before, but I have to ask again. Would you let me help you pay off your debt? It'd be a loan since you won't accept a gift. And we don't have to meet if you don't want to. I'll just wire the money into your bank account, and you can take your time paying me back. And I know what you're thinking so I'll say it again: No strings attached. At all. You won't owe me anything but the principal amount of the loan. OK? Sincerely, DJ.'
Joyce swallowed hard. Her fingers twitched over the screen of her phone. She had been so tempted to take him up on his offer when he first mentioned it to her. But she'd held back.
No strings attached, he'd assured her.
Could she trust him?
She had gotten herself into a tangle because she had trusted the wrong man. She had married a deluded, dishonest man, a man who did nothing but gamble away her money and their future.
She'd learned the hard way that there were always strings, strings that bound you and wound around your neck like a noose.
Before she could type her reply, she heard her name being called. “Jade! Randell wants to see you in his office now.”
Joyce fumbled up and stuffed her belongings hurriedly into her locker. Two bouncers were waiting for her, and they escorted her into the small elevator at the back of the premises. The club and the bar took up the first and second floors, while the entire third floor was Randell's office.
Joyce gulped as the elevator door closed.
Randell had never asked to see any of the girls before. To the wolves, they were just cattle.
What did Randell Wyle want from her now?
The wolf was up to something.
And Joyce had a feeling it wasn't anything good.
CHAPTER TWO
Dalton Jameson was about to get in his Jaguar when he saw four of his clan members jostling their way to his gate.
“Are you going to a strip club again, Dalton? Count us in!” Curtis hollered.
His twin, Connor, grinned and added, “Take us with you, Beta. You know we never say no to strippers!”
Dalton rolled his eyes as he opened his automatic gate for them. “Fine.”
A cheer went up among the four Nightfire werebears. “Which club are you checking out tonight?” Bruno asked.
“Candybar,” Dalton said.
“Ooh, the latest, hottest spot in town,” Jason quipped. “It belongs to the Crimson Wolves, right?”
“Yeah,” Dalton said, still giving curt, one word answers. He wasn't in the mood to make conversation. There was a lot on his mind. His clan members might think that he was frequenting all these strip joints for fun and pleasure, but the truth was he hardly paid any attention to the girls strutting in front of him and shaking their tits and asses in his face. He wouldn't be distracted from his mission. He was searching for someone. Someone with arresting green eyes, a spine of steel and a dry, cryptic sense of humor.
He didn't even know her name. She called herself �
��JD”, and she'd told him that she worked as a stripper during the weekends in a club near Moonstone Creek. Heck, perhaps she was right here in Moonstone Creek but refused to admit it to him. Well, he would start with the clubs in town, and then gradually broaden his search. He would keep searching for her. Even if it took him his whole life, he would find her.
His clan members thought their Beta was just out to have fun and they were only too happy to join him. Dalton used to hang out with his younger brother, Tony and his cousins, Cole and Brad, but after they'd all found their mates and became domesticated homebodies, Dalton had to contend with hanging out with the rowdy, unmated members of their clan. Not that he minded their company. The boys were good fun, and they knew how to have a good time. But the majority of them were in their twenties, young, single, carefree. Dalton was thirty-eight, in the prime of his life, successful, rich and powerful. He was the Beta of the Nightfire clan of bear shifters and co-founder of Nightfire Landscaping, the landscaping firm he started with his cousin, Cole. Business was good, more than good. They were up to their eyeballs in work and new projects. The Nightfire clan wasn't that big, compared to some of the other packs and clans in Moonstone Creek. But they were united, and their members were solid and fiercely loyal. They liked to let their hair down and play hard, but when there was work to be done, every bear put his massive shoulder to the wheel and pulled more than his weight.
Dalton got in the driver's seat and waited for the four young werebears to stuff themselves into his spacious Jaguar. Bruno, being the biggest and broadest of the bunch, took the front seat. Jason was squeezed between the twins in the backseat, and the three of them batted at one another as they fought to make themselves comfortable.
“Are we...” Bruno began impatiently.
Dalton revved the engine and said sternly, “If I hear a single 'Are we there yet?', I will turn the car around. Got it?”
A Mate For The Bear: BBW Paranormal Alpha Shifter Romance (Bear Brides Book 4) Page 1
