Jade Crew: Hunted Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 6)

by Amelia Jade

  “I don’t think so,” Garrett said with a laugh, snagging a plate and tossing some pancakes on it from the pile. He added some blueberries, a couple of strawberries, and a small heaping of whipped cream.

  “Heathen,” Joel told him, gesturing at the lack of butter and maple syrup.

  “Emma says I need to eat healthier,” the Alpha grumped, wolfing down his first few bites.

  Joel and Corey shared a snicker at that.

  “Careful Corey, otherwise I might have to arrange for Emma and Jenny to have a short conversation…”

  The blond-haired shifter stopped his laughing. “You wouldn’t,” he told the Alpha. Jenny was his mate. Though she was new to the crew, most of the shifter couples were already welcoming her with open arms. She just had that type of personality where she could fit in anywhere. Her lack of shyness went over well with the very close bear family.

  Garrett only smiled evilly. “Hey Joel, gimme some of that bacon, will you?”

  Joel had just taken the first batch out of the pan. With a shrug, he picked up the plate and headed toward the table where his Alpha was sitting.

  “Is that bacon I smell?”

  If it were possible, Joel would have sworn that the voice itself was salivating at the smell. With a glance he saw Trestin maneuver herself inside. Her belly was hugely swollen with Cole’s child, and she was due in just a few weeks.

  “Garrett, what are you doing?” she asked as he snatched several pieces of bacon from the plate.

  “Uhhhh,” the shifter stammered.

  “Don’t make me tell Emma that you’re disobeying the diet she put you on,” the very pregnant woman admonished with a shake of her finger.

  “I’m not going to make you tell her at all,” Garrett said agreeably. “In fact, if we don’t tell her, that would be perfect.” He picked up a piece of bacon, hoping to shove it in his mouth before more happened.

  “Garrett Hoffman, did I just hear that you’re eating bacon?”

  The Alpha groaned as another woman—also very pregnant, but not as big as Trestin—walked in. The reason for the size difference, Joel knew, was that Emma was only having a boy, while Trestin was blessing Cole with twins.

  Sucker.

  “I wasn’t having any bacon,” he said, quickly pushing the strips back onto the plate that Joel was holding out. “In fact, Joel put it on my plate without thinking, and I asked him to come take it back.”

  Emma snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly the way it went down. Now stop blaming people you can boss around, and eat your breakfast.” She walked forward and snatched an extra helping of berries, depositing them on his plate.

  Garrett looked up at Joel, his expression clearly begging for help.

  Joel just shrugged as if to say “I’m not fucking with two pregnant shifter mates, are you nuts?” and moved back to the kitchen, tossing some fresh bacon in. The others would consume it.

  The others began to arrive shortly thereafter. The shifter crews always rose early, usually with the sun, though in the wintertime they were often up earlier, like today. The sooner they started up to the mountain, the sooner they could be done and head to Ferro’s for a drink.

  He was helping wash up when Garrett finally asked the inevitable question.

  “So, did you find anything?” he asked, keeping his voice low. The other shifters would hear, but it wasn’t them he was concerned about. Both Trestin and Emma were well along in their pregnancies, and he didn’t want to unnerve them, or any of the others for that matter. Several of the couples were trying to conceive, and stress did not help that. They didn’t need to know what was going on.

  Not that the shifters kept any of them in the dark, because as evidenced by breakfast, there was no keeping a secret from them. But they didn’t need to know the extent of what was truly going on. That was why Corey and Joel had been the ones tasked with entering Ferro’s to snoop.

  Corey was still newly mated to Jenny, and she wasn’t living at the Lodge just yet. Joel, well, he didn’t even have a mate. They were the only ones who could sneak out for the entire evening and get away with it.

  “Nothing. Not a fucking sniff,” he said angrily. Not only had they wasted the entire evening, but the slog through the forest had deprived him of the chance for any sleep. He wasn’t mad at Garrett, but at the futility of their mission.

  “Well, that’s not entirely true,” Corey chimed in. “We didn’t find any letters or incriminating objects, but we did find out one thing that none of us knew about Ferro.”

  “What?” Garrett asked.

  “He has a daughter. Young too, like our age.”

  “How do you know it’s his daughter?”

  The two of them proceeded to describe where they had found the picture and how they had arrived at that conclusion.

  “She even sort of looked like him,” Joel said, shrugging his shoulders.

  Garrett didn’t reply. His gaze had gone distant, unfocused.

  “What is it boss?” Joel pried. He knew that look.

  “What if she’s it?” he said slowly, as if letting the idea form within his head while he spoke. “I mean, think about it. What if someone had your daughter,” he said, looking at the both of them. “Would you risk her by intervening in some petty shifter war, when all the participants will be dead in a hundred years anyway?”

  There was silence for a moment as they considered that angle. It suggested disturbing things about the lengths to which their enemy would go. Then again, he thought, they hadn’t hesitated when it came to trying to kidnap the mates of the Jade Crew shifters. That had been their initial tactic for some time, but they had seemed to have moved past that recently, instead trying other ways to eliminate the crew.

  “Shit.”

  The other two looked at Joel questioningly.

  “We have to find his daughter now, and do so without alerting Luthor.”

  Garrett and Corey slowly nodded their agreement. The task wouldn’t be an easy one. Luthor was the unknown figure in everything, though it increasingly seemed as if he was deeply involved. He had shown up months ago, acting like he and Ferro were friends that went back a long time.

  It wasn’t until recently that they had discovered he was actually the exact opposite, and that it was he who was forcing Ferro to remain inactive in the fight for Genesis Valley. If they could free Ferro’s daughter, then Ferro would join their cause. Unfortunately they just didn’t know what Luthor was. He wasn’t human; that much was clear.

  But they couldn’t detect any animal scent about him either. It was the biggest puzzle they had yet to crack.

  Joel picked up some more bacon from the table, chomping down on it as he thought. Things were coming to a head, and it looked like he was going to be right smack in the middle of it. At least he got to see Courtenay again that night.

  Now all he had to do was stay awake…

  Chapter Three

  Courtenay

  Another yawn coursed through her body, forcing a pause in the paperwork that lay strewn on the desk in front of her. It was never-ending, she thought. No matter how much she signed off, denied, filled out, or requested, there always seemed to be more. More requests to file for replacement supplies. More prescriptions to fill. More. More. More!

  Folding her arms in front of her and placing them flat on the desk, she laid her head down, using them as a pillow. She needed a break. A change. Something. Anything.

  Her phone buzzed.

  Ignoring it, she continued to daydream about a vacation to some warm tropical locale. Now that would be a positive change. Hell, even the end to the constant rainstorm that had been situated above Genesis Valley for the past few days would be welcomed at this point. She needed sunshine, and lots of it!

  A soft ding from her computer indicated yet another email.

  “What now?” she complained, cursing softly under her breath as she pushed herself back up into a sitting position.

  It was just another form to fill out.

/>   “Oh, forget this,” she said angrily, hitting the power button.

  Courtenay Laurel was going to do something she had done very rarely since joining the LMC. She was going home early for the day. She even promised herself that she wouldn’t spend most of her extra time fussing over what to wear that evening.

  After all, the obvious answer is rain pants and jacket, with a big old umbrella. Hell, maybe he’s going to take me fishing.

  She snorted, standing up from her desk, the wheeled chair going rolling across the floor until it bumped into the wall. There was a slight pause to organize a few of the multitude of pieces of paper on her desk. She grabbed the completed ones to drop in the bin on the outside of her office, so that the inter-office mail clerk would grab them and ensure they were delivered back to their recipients.

  Eyeing the big blue rain jacket nastily, she snatched it from the coat hook by the door and pulled it on. It was a few minutes’ walk to the doors outside, and she would get a little warm with it on. It was easier to do it now than it would be later.

  Taking a last look around the office to ensure she didn’t forget anything, Courtenay flicked the lights off and closed the door. She wasn’t worried about an emergency. If something truly bad happened, the company had her cell phone number.

  Her cell phone.

  Pulling it out of her pocket as she walked down the hallway, her heels clicking on the tiled floor, she took a peek at who the message was from.

  Joel: Looking forward to seeing you tonight.

  Courtenay felt a blush creep up her cheeks, despite the fact that nobody else could read the message. It was simple and straight to the point, but its forthrightness was exactly what made it so pleasant to read. He wasn’t going to beat around the bush or play games. She paused inside the doors to reply.

  Courtenay: As am I. Are you going to tell me what we’re doing yet?

  Joel: That would really take the surprise out of the surprise. See you at 6.

  She smiled and dropped the phone back into her purse before pushing the door and heading into the ugly weather. The rain had slowed it seemed, but everything was still drenched. Streams of water ran off the buildings, cascading down as overwhelmed gutters struggled to keep up with the flow. Puddles were everywhere, and in several places the water ran fast enough to form a moving current.

  A blue pickup truck finally materialized in front of her, the same color as her jacket. Courtenay tossed her bag in first, then swiftly followed, pulling the door shut after her. Not wasting any time she punched the start button and quickly turned on the heated seat warmers. It wasn’t that long of a drive home, but the weather outside was still somewhat chilly. Warm air blasted out of the vents shortly after and she pulled the rain jacket off, stuffing it into the back. Her house had a garage with access to the house, so she would no longer need it.

  Her house also had a package waiting for her.

  She didn’t notice it until she was pulling into the driveway, but there on the front porch, thankfully covered under a metal awning, was a brown box. She went inside, dropped her things, and immediately made a beeline for the front door.

  “What the hell?” she muttered to herself. There was an envelope slid partially inside the un-taped box. The flaps had all been folded down to keep it closed, but she wouldn’t need a knife to see what lay inside.

  Opening it, she read the letter contained within.

  Courtenay,

  Hopefully this provides a clue. Call me when you’re ready.

  -Joel

  “Curiouser and curiouser,” she said softly, wondering what it was.

  Joel had been completely unwilling to tell her what they were doing. She had accepted his offer of an after-work excursion somewhat hesitantly, but there had been something about his charm that made her want to say yes.

  When he had then refused to tell her what they were doing, she had begun to reconsider, but he never once made her feel uncomfortable. He just seemed to want to present her a good time without spoiling it first. She had asked if they were going to dinner or to the sole movie theatre in town, but he dismissed her guesses.

  Now, whatever was in the box would likely tell her his plans.

  “Here goes nothing.”

  She opened the box.

  “Is he serious?” she asked.

  Courtenay may have been forced to turn into a bit of a city girl because of her schooling, but she had grown up with a love for the outdoors. Which meant that she knew exactly what the contents were going to be used for.

  With an increasing amount of young childlike delight, she pulled out the blue helmet, blue mudpants, and a blue jacket.

  “A man after my own heart,” she said with a laugh, dropping the items back in the box and bringing the entire thing in.

  There she pulled out her phone and sent him a text, letting him know she was ready. If they were going mudding, she didn’t need to get prettied up. They were going to get rather dirty, especially in this weather.

  Moments later, as she was in the middle of pulling off her work clothes and putting on the gear, a truck rumbled in front of her house, idling for a moment before the driver killed the engine. Curious as to why he hadn’t pulled into her driveway she peeked out through her front window.

  Attached to the big black truck—she would have to have a word with him about it not being blue—was a big trailer carrying two large ATVs.

  She smiled. Now this was a first date.

  Which is what it was, she couldn’t kid herself. They were going on a date. She was going on a date. With Joel, a shifter. A Jade Crew shifter at that. Courtenay knew what that meant, but that didn’t mean she could help being attracted to him.

  Besides, he was taking her mudding. It sure beat the hell out of some of the first dates she’d been on before. A certain trip to a heavy-metal concert came to mind and she shuddered.

  Snatching the helmet off the table she clomped her way to the front door, pulling it open just as he knocked on it.

  “This is your idea of a surprise?” she said by way of greeting, a huge grin on her face.

  “Were you surprised?” he asked with an answering grin.

  “Yes, yes I was.”

  “Do you need anything else?” he asked, gesturing past her into the house.

  “Just my purse,” she said, picking it up off the stand she kept just inside the door. Locking the door behind her she followed Joel to his truck.

  “It’s unlocked,” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the downpour.

  In the time it had taken her to get ready the rainfall had increased, nearly reaching a fever pitch as they drove out of the city.

  “I haven’t been out mudding in years,” she said, feeling giddy, like a child who had just been told they were going to Disneyland.

  “Well, then this should be fun.”

  She noticed that he couldn’t stop from smiling.

  “So where are we going?”

  “There are some good trails by me,” he told her. “I thought that would work well, in case we get into a jam we can’t get out by ourselves, and then we also have a convenient place to go for dinner as well.”

  Courtenay was surprised, her raised eyebrows showing it. “You’re taking me onto Jade Crew land?” she asked. It was only their first date. She didn’t know what would come of everything between the two of them.

  Joel, it seemed, had a bit better idea of how he felt.

  Without warning, the words Corey had told her the other day flashed through her head.

  “I know this isn’t really my place to say, but just trust me when I say it can come out of nowhere.”

  “What can come out of nowhere?” she had replied in confusion.

  “Love.”

  Could it really be that easy? Looking over at him, it took but seconds for her to begin to feel the pull—that bit of intrigue into who he was, to know more about him.

  Lust, perhaps. She wasn’t afraid to admit that he was extremely easy on the eyes, ev
en for a shifter. There was a lot about him to like that would lend itself well to a romp in the bedroom. It wouldn’t even be the first time she had hooked up with a shifter.

  But no, there was more to it than that. Her interest wasn’t just skin-deep. It was two-pronged: physical and emotional.

  Shit. She liked him.

  Okay, but that’s a lot different than being in love with him, she told herself. Which was true, it was a lot different. But it was also the first step in the road. Had Joel already progressed past that point? Is that why he was comfortable bringing her up there on the first date? It was far from an unheard of thing to bring a woman onto shifter territory, but they usually waited until a little later in the game from what she understood. The first true interaction was supposed to take place on fairly neutral ground.

  The conversation in her office didn’t count. This, this would be their first real time spent together, just the two of them, in a planned manner.

  What was going through his mind?

  “Sure, it’s perfectly harmless. Besides, other than on the trails, there’ll be lots of others to talk to. The entire crew is getting together for a party. It was supposed to be a barbecue, but uhhhh, yeah,” he said with a laugh, looking out the water-streaked window as rain continued to fall. “All the other guys have dates, and they told me to bring someone too, so I was sort of hoping you could bail me out,” he continued, much more awkwardly. His normal confidence had disappeared as he revealed the true reasoning behind bringing her up there.

  She breathed a sigh of relief. That was far more acceptable. Still, there was something about his tone…

  “What kind of party?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Umm, a baby shower?” he replied lamely.

  Courtenay stared, dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe it. But it did explain everything.

  “A baby shower?” she finally managed to get out. “Are you serious? I’m not wearing anything remotely acceptable for that sort of occasion!” She picked at her clothing, showing him the sweatshirt and jeans she was wearing.

  “Nonsense, you look beautiful,” he told her.

  “Thank you for the compliment,” she said, “but that doesn’t mean that I’m dressed appropriately for a baby shower. Plus, I don’t even have a gift!”