by Olivia Arran
Grant
Heartsridge Shifters
Olivia Arran
Arran Publishing
Copyright © 2018 Olivia Arran.
All rights reserved worldwide.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Please note that this work is intended only for adults over the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
Edited by CM Editing
Cover Design by Ravenborn
If you’d like to be informed of new releases, sales, and giveaways, please sign up for my newsletter: http://smarturl.it/OANewsletter
Contents
Foreword
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Sneak Peak: My Curse to Bear (The Everson Brothers)
From the Author
Foreword
It is recommended that you read this series in order due to the continuing storyline. If you haven’t already read the previous book in The Protectors series, you can start HERE with Owen (book #1).
Or you can go right back to the beginning to the first Heartsridge series, South-One Bears, starting HERE with Austin (book #1).
Prologue
Carter
I tapped the pen on my desk, gathering everyone’s attention and disbursing the low rumble of voices into silence. Meeting and holding their eyes, I let my lips curl into a mockery of amusement. “I think we can all agree that the plan worked.” Running a bootcamp for the human cops had been a brilliant idea, especially since it had been my own.
Murmurs of agreement, some faces twisting in obvious worry met his words, but nobody disagreed.
Good. The Shifter Council might be the fucking kings and queens of their little part of the world, but here in Heartsridge—here—I was in charge. And they wanted my help.
Because they didn’t have the balls to do what needed to be done.
I resisted the urge to rub at the tension mounting behind my eyes, the dull throb a never-ending ache that had become a constant companion lately. Weariness might be trying to suck the marrow from my bones, but I’d be damned if I’d show a hint of weakness. Not when surrounded by predators.
A throat cleared, drawing my attention to the tall, angular woman seated across from me. Jasmine Kent, a stunning tiger shifter with a fierce intelligence that demanded respect from everyone she met, narrowed her eyes at me, challenge sparking in the silvery depths. “What’s our next move, Noah?”
Good thing I counted her as one of my close friends. Letting a genuine smile curve my lips, I leaned back in my chair and adjusted my cuffs. “They came to us, tipped their hand.” A feral edge sharpened my smile as I surveyed the room. “Now it’s time for us to go to them.”
Confusion creased the wolf council member’s brow as he shifted in his chair. “But why would—”
“We drop enough bait, eventually they’ll walk straight into our trap.”
“And lead us directly to their master,” Jasmine finished for me with satisfaction adding a purr to her words. “I like it, Noah.”
I schooled my expression, this time into one of boredom as I tilted my head in agreement. “I want the man at the top.” I wanted his fucking balls on a skewer, but I held that little titbit in, letting the image soothe the beast inside.
“We all do.” Sylvia growled, smoke escaping from her nostrils. “You have our full support and backing.”
I muffled a snort of amusement. As if that was ever in question. They wanted me to accept their proposal—for me to re-take my place on the council—therefore they couldn’t risk insult. “I need two of your council hunters.” Highly trained, they were the real ghosts of the shifter world.
“Done.” Theo, the wolf shifter, nodded. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
“Two of our own will go in with them.” I already had two names in my head. “They already know the humans, there shouldn’t be an issue with them making contact and monitoring the situation.”
“Who?” Jasmine looked like she was restraining herself from licking her lips. Barely.
“Grant and Daryl. Two of our best wolf shifter enforcers.” They’d already been briefed and knew exactly what this mission entailed.
“Dante will go with the wolves.” At Sylvia’s statement, I arched an eyebrow. “The dragon thinks because he’s old he’s untouchable. It’s time he remembers his place in our world.”
Biting back my chuckle, I answered, “I’ll let you break the news to him.”
“With pleasure.”
Theo didn’t hold back his laughter, his large frame shaking as he stroked his short beard. “And what will you be doing while your dogs are out tracking?”
“Orchestrating the game of cat and mouse, of course.”
On my order, Anita had deliberately left one of the computers unlocked while rushing out to answer a phone call. Unmanned. Unwatched. The perfect temptation for someone wanting to sneak into our security system. We’d just had to bide our time, wait and see if the bait had been snatched up. Yesterday I’d received the news that had prompted calling the Shifter Council back to Heartsridge. The bait had been taken and the trace had been successful, our suspicions confirmed.
We had a dirty cop on our hands.
Not that they would actually have access to anything useful. Anita and Jake had isolated the access and were feeding it bullshit information, just enough to keep the spy unaware of what was really happening.
We were coming for them.
Chapter One
Grant
The door slammed shut behind us with a sharp clang, bringing every head in the room up. Eyes centered on us. Most viewed us with suspicion, a healthy trait for a cop, so I’d let it go. Just this once. It wasn’t like we were walking around with ‘shifter’ tattooed on our goddamn foreheads; so it had to be the fact that five men, each of us towering over six foot and with more muscles in our pinky fingers than the lot of them put together, had walked into their station.
Eyes narrowed, more than one hand twitching for their sidearm.
“Kinda feels like pistols at dawn,” Daryl muttered, his trademark smirk firmly in place.
Exactly what I’d been thinking.
Beside me, Ridge grunted his apparent amusement at the situation, his partner in crime, Talon, shaking his head in mock dismay. Both guys were built like linebackers, and both were bears. They were on loan from the Shifter Council and they were a part of a Hunter Squad, and that was all we knew. Everything else was classified, according to them.
Who cared? Hunter or mercenary or goddamned cute little bunny rabbits—I didn’t give a flying fuck, so long as they could do their job, and that was to provide back up. Okay, I hoped
they were tougher than a fluffy bunny, but as long as they looked the part, I was fine with whatever the hell it was they actually did. And they fitted in just fine with myself and Daryl. The cops were shitting themselves behind their safe little desks, clutching their government issued staplers.
Though Daryl, apparently did care. He couldn’t help himself from trying to dig out all of their secrets, and had spent the entire journey up here trying to wheedle info out of them, until Talon had threatened to put him on his ass if he didn’t shut the hell up.
Which just flicked Daryl’s switch straight into annoying asshole mode.
I’d nearly wrecked the SUV when a stray punch had winged my way.
So, yeah, Daryl was firmly situated on my right, the two new guys, on my left. I felt like a kindergarten teacher that wasn’t getting paid enough.
It didn’t help that Dante, acting like a typical egotistical dragon shifter, was propping up the wall, doing his best to disassociate himself from the rest of us. It just made him look like a creepy dude.
“Why are they all staring at us?” Daryl asked, not bothering to keep his voice down. Even the perps were staring at us, the cops processing them having frozen mid intake. A woman with wild hair and even wilder eyes jerked her handcuffed hands behind her back, cocking a bony hip out to the side, and causing the elastic band she had wrapped around her tush to ride even higher. “Baby, just say the word,” she purred in a voice rough and scratchy. Her eyes traveled up and down in a flicking motion, and I began to worry for her balance as she wobbled on her skyscraper heels. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and had probably once been pretty before life had taken its ounce of flesh. The heavy mask of makeup smeared across her face didn’t help, either.
Daryl took a breath.
“Don’t—”
I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before Daryl shot back with, “Word?”
The cop standing next to the woman shook his head in apparent amazement. Yep, I was right there with him.
She licked her lips, her tongue snaking out and leaving a trail of saliva that did nothing to hide the cracks creasing her mouth. “Oh, baby, I’ll do you for free.” She tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips and giving Daryl a come-hither look.
Daryl grinned. “Honey, you’re sweet and all, but I think I’m going to have to pass, since you’re kinda tied up right now. Thanks for the offer, though.”
Now, most of the cops in the vicinity probably had Daryl pegged as easy or a player by this point, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. Daryl always turned a woman down with an easy smile and a kind word. Half of the time, they walked away not knowing what had just happened, but they were never upset. It was a skill, one I’d watched my friend fall back on more and more over the years.
Though I didn’t have a clue why.
A question for another day, when we didn’t have a job to do.
I cleared my throat, ignoring the woman who was making eyes at Daryl. “We’re here to see Lieutenant Murphy.” At my statement, everyone lurched back into action, going back to whatever they’d been doing. The young man behind the front desk tilted his head up, as if trying to look down his nose at me. Good luck with that, sunshine. He had to be all of five foot six and built like a string bean, still wet behind the ears and fresh out of the training academy, no doubt. Leaning forward, I planted my elbows just inside the Plexiglas enclosing his little throne, focusing in on his badge. “Officer Trigger?”
His throat worked as he swallowed, fingers tightening around a pen. “Yes, Sir?” He immediately scrunched up his nose, probably cursing himself silently for addressing me as such.
“Grant Romano, here to see Lieutenant Murphy. This is Daryl Sett.” I jerked a thumb behind me, where I could feel Daryl breathing down my neck. “That’s Dante Bloodfire. And that’s Ridge and Talon … Hunter.” I ad-libbed the Hunters’ last names, since neither had offered any.
“Is Lieutenant Murphy expecting you?” His voice was nasally and high, like his balls hadn’t dropped yet. It set my teeth on edge.
Snotty little shit. I flashed him a smirk. “Yeah, Kel’s expecting us, all right.”
His face looked like he was sucking on a lemon as he picked up the phone to make the call.
“Hold up, Trig, I’ll take them back,” a woman’s voice called out from behind us. “Well, well, what have we here?” she continued with a put-upon drawl. “Slumming it, huh?”
I stiffened. I was fucking jinxed.
“Mandy!” Air rustled at my back as Daryl swerved away from me, a squeal erupting that immediately set my teeth on edge.
Fuck.
“Put me down, you big lug!”
“What if I don’t wanna?” Daryl’s voice was muffled and playful.
For the first time in my life I wanted to kick my friend’s ass and I wanted it to hurt.
“You’re manhandling an officer of the law, big guy.” She was laughing and didn’t seem too pissed about the whole manhandling thing.
The soft thump of boots hitting the ground reached my ears, indicating that Daryl had released his prey. That didn’t stop the low rumble from forcing its way out of my chest, trickling out of my mouth. My knuckles cracked and I stared down at them in confusion, flexing my fingers until the blood rushed back.
Officer Trigger’s eyes were wide, his body poised in fight or flight mode as he stared at me.
Sucking in air, I almost choked as her sweet scent weakened my knees and almost sent me crashing to the floor. Exactly the same way it had done the first time we’d met, when she’d visited my home town for boot camp training, only a few weeks ago.
But this time it was a hundred times worse.
Here, I was trapped as a man, unable to escape to the woods and my wolf. I had to face her, wondering if she knew she starred in my dreams every night.
Right now, I had to look at her as if she were nobody to me.
As if she wasn’t my fated mate.
The voices behind me fell silent, the inane introductions over and done with.
Pushing away from the counter, I turned around, forcing myself to focus on a spot just above her right ear. It didn’t help; I could feel her eyes weighing heavy on me, her corkscrew curls crackling with energy as she pushed them behind her ear, where they popped straight back out again. “You weren’t supposed to be here,” I snapped.
A brief pause. My eyes almost darted to her face, to search for a scowl, but I refrained. Just.
“Well, it’s sure nice to see you again too, Grant.” Just as well it didn’t sound like she meant it.
Just as well.
Chapter Two
Mandy
Le sigh. I allowed myself the tween-esque hum of approval only inside my own head as I laid eyes on the one man who was guaranteed to make my insides launch into a remake of the final scene from the Titanic. Meanwhile, my girly bits were rocking the raunch factor of Dirty Dancing, just dying to do a little bump ’n grind of their own against the large lump o’ male who was shooting daggers somewhere over my shoulder.
Damn. Did he have to look so darn hot? Even with a scowl, he rated a ten on the screw-ability meter. And when he smiled… Whew-eee. I mentally fanned myself. That’s when the man leapt off the chart and straight into heart palpitation territory. Shame the smile was never aimed in my direction.
Well, it was his loss. He could just take his stinking attitude along with his gorgeous muscles and his suave silver tipped hair and his deep swoon worthy gray eyes and his— No, damnit Mandy, he’s a Jerk. Yep, capitalized, and all.
Quickly assessing the scene—and my petrified co-worker behind the counter—I jabbed a thumb in the direction of Kel’s office. “I’ll take them on back, Trig,” I repeated. His mumble was punctuated with muttered curses and I winced, knowing damn well that the guys had heard him. Lucky for him, shifters had better manners than most, and would be on their best behavior, though it didn’t stop the low growls that erupted before I punched in the door lock code and
swept them through to the inner sanctum of the station.
“Kel knows you’re coming, right?” I shot over my shoulder, keying in yet another code and pushing the door open. Because I sure as hell hadn’t.
“Sure does, sweetheart,” Daryl quipped, his footsteps heavy at my side. He tilted his head, winking at me. “Miss us?” Something other than wicked amusement lit his eyes, a caution shadowing the brilliant green that was gone almost before I knew it.
“Sure did, sweetheart,” I quipped back.
A rumble started up behind me, cut off as fast as it started.
My stride stuttered as I nearly tripped over my own feet, the sound striking something deep inside of me, stirring up a deep longing that had me curling my hands into tight fists.
Heat buffeted against my back, a rock-hard chest brushing up against me for a split second, sending a shiver racing down my spine and my lady bits clenching at air.
Whoo-ee! I bit back a gasp, replacing it with a colorful curse. A glance over my shoulder only confirmed the culprit, though his expression wasn’t a surprise.
Stormy eyes met mine, then slid away, his mouth stretched into a thin line. Disgust? Disappointment?
Whatever.
My eyes narrowed. “Watch where you’re going, big boy.” The words were out of my mouth before I had chance to catch them, annoyance riding my common sense into the ground and knocking it the hell out. What the hell was his problem? It wasn’t the first time I’d asked myself the question since that fateful day, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but … still no answer. No sane answer, anyway.
