Jade Crew: Outcast Bear (Standalone Paranormal Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 5)

by Amelia Jade

  To his surprise, Ferro’s cheeks twitched. Corey had no idea what had brought the sudden bout of confidence, considering Ferro could likely tie him in a literal knot if he decided to take offense to it. But for some reason it just felt right, and Ferro seemed to agree.

  “Imprisoning a princess is a bad idea. Eventually some knight will come and slay the dragon,” he said, then moved away.

  “So that’s why you became a bartender,” Corey said with a tilt of his beer. Inside though, he was thinking.

  Ferro rarely spoke. When he did, there was always something deeper in the meaning. So why had he picked that particular part of the joke to elaborate on? His thoughts collapsed into a jumble as the doors opened behind him, admitting a number of other bear shifters.

  “Ajax,” Corey said as the leader of the Emeralds dipped his head in greeting.

  He watched as they took up chairs in their customary part of the bar. There was more than one wave or gesture of greeting his way, which he returned in kind to each of them. It was a big change from the way things had been when the Jade Crew first started coming here. He chuckled softly to himself.

  “What’s so funny?” Kierra asked, sitting down next to him. He hadn’t noticed her trailing the Emeralds inside.

  “A memory of the first time we came to the bar,” he said absentmindedly, before straightening on his stool and turning to face Kierra. “We had just found our first stone,” he explained after seeing the curious look on her face. “So we were officially nicknamed the Jade Crew.”

  Each shifter crew had their formal name, the one given upon their formation. But until they found their first Dragon Stone, they were still considered unproven. The Emeralds, before they had found their first stone, had only their given name to go by, the Silvertips. Corey’s own crew was known in formal circles as the Ridgebacks. The formal name wasn’t as widely shared, and could get confusing. Lately the crews had taken to using their nicknames—even amongst themselves—to make things easier on everyone, since many of the humans had no idea the formal names even existed.

  “How did you get the nickname the Jade Crew?” Kierra asked.

  “Darren didn’t tell you this?” Corey sat up in surprise.

  “I actually never thought to ask,” she said with a shrug.

  “Oh, well it’s quite simple,” he told her. “The first Dragon Stone that a crew finds is their nickname.”

  Kierra thought about it for a moment. “Hasn’t that ever resulted in a nickname being shared more than once?”

  “Very rarely. Each of the mine shafts are located in areas that have a prominence toward a certain type of stone. On top of that, rarely are crews actually disbanded. We’ve seen more of that over the past seven months than we have in the last century. Usually as bears get too old for the mines, they are simply replaced. Only a major accident results in a new crew being formed, or expansion to a new mine.”

  “It’s hard to believe that people have been mining here for two centuries and still haven’t run out of stones,” she said, gratefully acknowledging the glass of wine that Ferro brought to her.

  “Genesis Valley is the home of the dragons,” he said simply. “They came here for millennia to die, back when their population was great. Plus we mine by hand, so it takes us a lot longer to work our way through the mountains.”

  “It is?” she asked, looking surprised.

  Corey nodded his head. “Get Darren to give you a full history lesson,” he joked. “Now that you’re a Ridgeback, you deserve to know. But yes, hence the name Genesis Valley, and the town of Origin.”

  A spatter of pink rushed through her cheeks. “I had never thought of it that way before.”

  He brushed it off. “No reason you should have. Now,” he said, changing topics to save her any further embarrassment. “Back to the story. We were celebrating our finding of the stone. The Emeralds didn’t like us much, and kept calling us names. We eventually went outside and had a dustup.”

  “Did you win?” Kierra asked.

  Corey snorted. “Hell no, Garrett had just met Emma and was in full-on protective mode, and they ducked out of the battle, wanting no part of it. Evan, bless his stupid ass, got us in too deep and we got our asses handed to us,” he said bluntly.

  Kierra laughed at his declaration. “Well, things sure have changed between you and them now,” she said.

  “Exactly,” Corey agreed. He had been thinking the same thing, and he was very happy for the change.

  “Evan is the one up in the prison, right?”

  He nodded, but didn’t want to go into more detail. It was a black spot on everyone’s memory.

  “So, you wanted to see me?” he asked, switching subjects yet again.

  “I did. On Jenny’s behalf, actually.”

  Corey sat up straighter, his attention focused directly on Kierra. Then he noticed she was no longer looking at him, but at his hand. Corey frowned, looking down at his right hand, the one holding his beer. It was resting on the bar. He looked back at Kierra and saw her eyes looking behind him. Craning his neck he noticed Ferro staring at him, arms crossed.

  “What did I do?” he asked.

  Ferro looked at his arm.

  With the beer. That was sitting on the countertop. The magnificently glossy and shined mahogany countertop.

  Without a coaster.

  “Oh shit,” he muttered and snatched up a cork square and put it under his beer. “Sorry Ferro,” he said awkwardly.

  Ferro just shook his head and turned away.

  “Anyway, where were we?” he said to Kierra with a grimace.

  She smiled and resumed speaking. “Jenny didn’t exactly tell me to come here, okay? So don’t repeat what I’m saying.”

  He nodded.

  “She’s been through some stuff in her life. Stuff that caused an unexpected reaction last night to what was happening.”

  “So it wasn’t me?” Corey asked, brightening at the idea that maybe he hadn’t screwed things up completely.

  “Not at all. She actually wants to see you again, though she’s far too embarrassed to track you down to say so. I think you should go see her again.”

  Corey looked around the bar, as if expecting her to appear in front of him. “I’d love to!” he exclaimed.

  “Good. As it just so happens, she’s waiting for me to come back to the office from a meeting.”

  His eyes narrowed as he thought it over. “You didn’t tell her the meeting was with me, did you?”

  Kierra smiled. “No.”

  “You’re not planning on going back there, are you?”

  Darren’s mate shook her head.

  “Do I look okay?” he asked, hopping off the barstool and finishing his beer as he waited for her to answer.

  “Better than Darren on at least one of the occasions when we first got together,” she told him.

  “Sounds good to me!”

  Corey took off for the door at a dead run, only slowing long enough so that he didn’t break the doors on his way out.

  He was going to see Jenny!

  Chapter Four

  Jenny

  Her foot tapped incessantly on the ground. She was leaning up against the reception desk, waiting impatiently for her friend to appear. Kierra had told her the meeting wasn’t going to be long, and that she would be back before six. It was five minutes after now, and she was getting bored.

  Movement outside the front doors caught her eye and she looked up from the gossipy news article she had been reading on her phone, glad for the distraction.

  “It can’t be,” she breathed, the words slipping out moments before her system locked up.

  She needed to run. Embarrassment rose up and overwhelmed her as she realized that it was Corey, and she was going to have to explain herself now. Jenny wasn’t ready for that, not yet.

  Run. She tried to force her body to turn and scurry back into the building, losing him among the many corridors and rooms in the town hall. Her legs refused to move, however
, and she stayed rooted to the spot as he approached, a big smile spreading across his face.

  She saw happiness in his eyes as he saw her, but no surprise. How could that be? And why was he there at all? A sinking sensation spread out from her, and despite her best efforts a reluctant smile answered his.

  “Kierra was meeting with you, wasn’t she?”

  Corey stopped several feet short of her, his smile becoming a grin. “If it helps, I had no idea what she had planned until she showed up and told me, maybe half an hour ago,” he said, spreading his hands to show he was there peacefully.

  “I’m going to kill her,” Jenny said, but she didn’t mean it.

  “Can I at least take you out for some food before we get to that part?” Corey asked nicely. “If you’ve worked all day too, then I can bet I’m not the only one starving.”

  “Of course,” she said lightly, before striking a serious tone. “I do my best work on a full stomach anyway.”

  Corey snorted with laughter, his chest bobbing up and down as he tried to muffle the noise.

  “Remind me to stay far away from you then if I ever get on your bad side and find out you’ve just eaten.”

  “I wield a mean fork,” she said, shaking an imaginary utensil at him as he led her from the building.

  Jenny was amazed as she realized she had taken his arm once again without hesitation. Just like that, Corey had come in and disarmed her, pushed any embarrassment she might be feeling to the side and had allowed her to relax. All without saying a single serious thing.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, still trying to understand what sort of effect Corey had on her. The night before she had been nervous as all hell too, but he had come in and just joked around and relaxed with her, doing his best to put her at ease. Was it that apparent that she was nervous?

  She quickly switched her brain to a different topic before it could answer her.

  “You’re warm enough?”

  “Yes,” she replied, unsure of what that had to do with eating. She was wearing her big winter jacket. It had kept her a little warmer than she might have preferred while she waited in the lobby of town hall, but outside it kept her perfectly heated.

  “Good, then we’re going to go somewhere a little different today,” he told her, pointing across the street into the park that along with the town hall building formed the focal point of the area. They were just slightly south of the main intersection in town, which was considered “downtown.” The park bordered along Main Street, starting a few hundred feet down the road from the Origin Café.

  “The park?” she asked, confused. “I’m not interested in going hunting for fresh squirrel,” she warned, having no idea whatsoever of his intentions for food.

  “What?” he asked, glancing down at her with a look of confusion on his face. “No, over there,” he said and again pointed at the park.

  Following his finger, she finally saw what he was pointing to.

  “You’re taking me to a hot dog vendor?”

  “Unless you don’t like hot dogs?” There was a slight consternation in his voice, as if nobody could dislike hotdogs.

  She could tell he was faking it, but decided to play along anyway. “Hot dogs are despicable. I can’t believe you would take me there.”

  Corey laughed. She enjoyed the big booming noise. It was so genuine, and though she had absolutely no reason to suspect it, Jenny had a sneaking suspicion he didn’t laugh often enough.

  “In all seriousness though, if they don’t have ketchup, then this is a no-go,” she told him firmly.

  “Is not having ketchup normal for a hotdog stand?” he asked her.

  “No, but this is the only street vendor in town. Some days he gets hit really hard and runs out of stuff,” she explained for his benefit. Jenny had been there numerous times, and often office lunch runs were over to the little cart. More than once he had been out of ketchup, so they had started keeping a bottle in the office. A hot dog without ketchup in her eyes was blasphemous.

  “That would be…disappointing,” Corey said as they strolled through the park, taking their time.

  She felt her lips tug upward into a contented smile as she kept her hands tight around his arm. Jenny could understand now why the other ladies loved the size of their men so much. She felt protected and safe from any danger.

  Much to her delight, there was still ketchup, and the two of them wolfed down the food, neither pausing to talk. They did share one glance at each other as they both took huge first bites, but the food was just too good to interrupt it with chatter. She knew they would have plenty of time for that later.

  Or at least that had been the plan. As they walked back into the park, the wind began to pick up briskly, bringing with it swirling snow and reduced visibility.

  “How are you not freezing?” she asked, forced to speak up over the whistle the wind was making through the trees.

  Corey stopped his walk. “I don’t get cold very easily,” he said, raising his hand toward her face.

  She felt herself begin to flinch, but the soft touch of his palm against her cheek stopped her. As if on instinct she felt her head lean into the softness of his skin. Then it hit her.

  “Holy shit,” she exclaimed. His hand began to pull away in concern, but she latched onto it and pressed it against her face again, letting the heat seep into her bones. “Are you always like this?” she asked, eyes closed as she let him warm her.

  “Yes,” he said, his voice fraught with tension.

  The heat was so nice Jenny barely noticed it. Without thinking, she pressed herself up against his sweatshirt, the only thing he was wearing against the cold. It took a few moments, but all of a sudden she felt the blaze of heat reach out from within him and envelop her in its warm glow. Only after she felt the rapid staccato of his heartbeat did she realize something was going on.

  A second after that, what she had just done clicked in her own brain. She had thrown herself at him, and was currently leaning against his chest with her arms wrapped around his neck. They were now inside each other’s personal space, and it was all by her actions. She had initiated it, without any hint or push from Corey.

  But the warmth is so nice.

  She didn’t move. Couldn’t move. The nervous anxiety had crept back into her system, slipping its tendrils through her mind until it latched on. What would she do now, it asked? Was she ready to tilt her head upward and present her lips for a kiss? Or did she need more time, which would mean pulling away and raising a wall between them?

  Jenny didn’t know what she should do. Even if she tried to keep herself guarded, Corey had shown that he could waltz through her defenses at will, without even assaulting them. They just melted aside as if they realized he was meant to be there. Every barrier she had ever kept around herself was nothing more than a wisp of air in his presence.

  Licking her suddenly dry lips and attempting to swallow the lump of tension in her throat, Jenny made her choice. She knew what she wanted to do. Now she just had to do it.

  Corey’s large hands wrapped gently around her shoulders and held her still as he took a half step back, allowing their eyes to meet. His grip wasn’t tight—she could break it if she wanted—but it was firm enough to let her know he would prefer if she stayed there.

  “Jenny,” he said, and she caught a hint of tension in his voice as well.

  “Yes?” she asked breathlessly.

  “I would really like to kiss you right now.”

  She forced herself not to inhale sharply, instead taking a smooth, easy, breath before responding. “I would like that,” she heard someone respond, using her own voice.

  How does he do that?

  There was no time to contemplate how he managed to get her to respond the way she wanted to. Jenny wanted to be kissed by him. But she had decided that now wasn’t the right time, despite it definitely being a “moment.” Yet that wasn’t the answer she had given him, now was it? She had told him it was okay.

 
His hand reached up to cup her chin, tilting her head back. The height difference was extreme, but Corey had a solution to that too. He bent down to kiss her. Their lips brushed, his free hand wrapped around her waist, and as he stood up, he lifted her with him.

  Oh my…

  Eyes closed, she flung her hands around his neck, helping hold herself up, but also pulling him closer. She was basically swooning like a maiden in a terrible movie, but Jenny didn’t care. It was the most romantic yet sexy gesture at the same time. He was so strong! His lips were tender and soft, questing lightly against hers as he began to slowly spin in a wide circle as the wind and snow swirled around them.

  The fact that she’d only known him for twenty-four hours did cross her mind, but Jenny paid it no heed. She wasn’t sure how, but she knew that Corey would not press her further than she was ready to be pressed. He was a good man. Or shifter.

  Whatever, she thought, sinking back into the kiss and shutting off her brain. There would be plenty of time for thinking later.

  “Hi,” he whispered as they broke apart for air at last, their eyes mere inches away from each other.

  “Hey,” she responded, darting forward to steal another quick kiss. “You can put me down if you’re getting tired,” she offered, conscious of the fact that he had been holding her aloft for several minutes now while they were lip-locked.

  “I’m far stronger than I look,” he told her. “I could hold you like this for quite some time before I get tired. Although, if you would prefer to have your feet on the ground…”

  She pretended to think deeply about it, before flashing him a mischievous smile. “No, not yet,” she told him, and before he could reply, she pulled his head back to hers.

  Despite the warmth rolling off of him in waves, the temperature outside was dipping quickly and she was beginning to develop a chill. She pressed herself to him for several long moments before releasing her hold on his neck. Corey sensed she was ready to stand on her feet again, and he deftly lowered her to the ground and released his hold on her waist. But not before he planted another kiss on her cheek, however.