Jade Crew: Forgotten Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 3)

by Amelia Jade

  “I suppose. But they were all involved in it, and those six remaining bears could quite easily cause an unbelievable amount of damage and death if they decided to.”

  “But still, Unfound? Setting every shifter in the Valley on them with a license to kill? With that many shifters on the loose, someone is going to get caught in the crossfire, don’t you think?”

  “I hope not,” Emma said, though she didn’t argue his point. “We’ll just have to ensure that that doesn’t happen then, won’t we?”

  “Right,” he said, though his mind was still elsewhere. To be labeled “Unfound” meant that you weren’t considered part of any crew in the valley, and thus you were a rogue. It also meant that every shifter in Origin and its surroundings was given the ability, and the directive, to kill them. It wasn’t a title that was applied lightly, and to see it given to six individuals at the same time was unheard of.

  “So,” Emma said, changing the topic. “How did things go with you and Gwen last night?”

  He snorted. “Trying to play matchmaker already?” he teased, trying to play it off.

  “Hey, if it works. It would certainly be nice to have a third female hanging around the Lodge.”

  “You just say that because you two are best friends. Give her the guest room if you want her around,” he said, holding his hands up innocently to show that he had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Oh please, I saw the two of you laughing about that. But then I heard you told Garrett this morning that you didn’t think seeing her again would be a good idea.”

  Russell winced. He hadn’t thought that Garrett would tell Emma about that, but he should have known better.

  “Listen, it’s complicated. There are a lot of things at play here.”

  Emma’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Don’t you mess with her, Russell Warne. You will regret it, I promise,” she said evenly, her voice filled with steel once again.

  He felt his own guard come up. “Don’t threaten me,” he said equally softly. “That’s not what I meant. I have no intentions of hurting her, and I certainly do not have anything going on the side, which is where I can see you were going.”

  “So what is going on then?” she asked with a slight nod, respecting the strength of his reply as her body relaxed again.

  “Between me and Gwen? I don’t know. As for the rest, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you that,” he said as gently as he could. It wasn’t something he wanted to upset her over.

  Emma looked at him, then nodded slowly. “Okay Russell, just don’t hurt her. She’s been through enough.”

  He glanced over at Gwen, admiring her from afar. He loved the way she kept having to flick her long hair out of the way as she worked. It clearly annoyed her, but she must love having it so long to keep it. It was a cute little internal battle that she probably didn’t even realize she was waging.

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he said softly, before turning and heading back to his bucket of debris.

  No, it wasn’t Gwen that was going to get hurt, he thought regretfully.

  Chapter Six

  Gwen

  “Hi Ferro,” she said as the bartender walked by her for the first time since she had arrived.

  “Hello Gwen,” he said politely, a smile on his face. “How are you today?”

  She smiled back. He was so kind, she thought, though she still didn’t know who he really was. She had seen him snap a bear shifter’s neck with ease the day before, using only his hands. Clearly he wasn’t a normal human either, though nobody had yet told her just what he was. A part of her shuddered at how nonchalantly she could think about the day before already. She had witnessed five people die. Wasn’t she supposed to be traumatized about that?

  Except that’s not how anyone else sees it. So if they aren’t freaking out, then you naturally wouldn’t either.

  There was some truth to that thought. It had actually triggered a memory of hers, of being around one of her friends who already had children. One of them had been running across the floor, and fallen rather hard. Gwen had started to move, to get up and run to the child, but the mother had held her back and told her just act normal, like nothing was wrong. So Gwen had sat back, keeping her cool as she looked over at the child.

  The kid, who couldn’t have been more than three or so, had looked ready to explode into tears. But as the two women sat back, acting like it was nothing, she saw the child shrug it off, get back up, and keep going. It had been an eye-opening insight into the way that one’s emotions were affected by those nearby.

  In her mind at least, it seemed to help explain her lack of stress over the incident. She knew she would have some time before it came across as completely normal to her, but at least she wasn’t having nightmares about it. In fact, her dreams had been rather on the opposite side of the spectrum, if she was honest…

  Giving herself a mental shake, she brought herself back to the conversation. “You know what? I’m actually much better today. Yesterday was one hell of an interesting welcome to Origin, but I think I could go without another for, oh, let’s say at least a few years?” she said with a small laugh.

  Ferro looked around his ruined bar, then back at her. “You know what, I’m sorely tempted to agree with you,” he said with a laugh. “Though if it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to stretch that out to at least a decade.”

  “Deal!” she said, sticking out her hand to shake on it. Ferro looked at her in surprise for a moment, then grabbed her hand and shook it vigorously.

  “So, Ferro—which by the way is an awesome name—what are your plans for this place once the structure’s back together?”

  “What do you mean?” he said. “And thank you.”

  “Well, you know, the other place was a little…um, rough around the edges, no?” she said, suddenly embarrassed. Perhaps Ferro hadn’t been aware that it was in need of some updating and touchups.

  “It was? I thought it was pretty good.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t bad,” she assured him. “But I mean, I was only here once, and I noticed that a lot of the chairs were broken or the padding was ripped, the light out front was broken, and a lot of the decorations would have looked more appropriate to say, a hundred years ago?” she said with a forced smile, hoping he wouldn’t get mad.

  “They were?” the bartender looked around at his bar, as if trying to understand.

  “Listen, I’m not saying you need to go with an ultra-modern look here. That would just be a horrific idea, trust me. But it could use a female’s touch,” she finished.

  “Okay,” Ferro said without argument. “You do it then.”

  “What?!” she yelped in sudden surprise.

  “You’re hired. I want you to make the place look like it fits with the times.” He was nodding along as he talked, as if he thought the idea was a fabulous one.

  “Um, surely you’re joking, right?” Gwen stammered, completely taken aback. She barely knew anything about Ferro, his bar, or the townspeople that frequented it!

  “Not at all,” he said seriously, as if he didn’t understand why she was so surprised. “You obviously took an interest in the place, enough to imagine it looking differently. So, make it look different. You have a blank canvas,” he said with a small smile.

  “Okay,” she said slowly, still trying to process what had just happened.

  “Excellent,” Ferro proclaimed. “I look forward to seeing what you do with the place.” He turned to go.

  “Wait,” she said. “You don’t want any say in it?”

  “No, I think you’ll do fine. You’re going to be around a lot from here on out anyway, so it’ll be a good way for you to start to fit in,” he said with a knowing look.

  She felt that if he was the type to express things with his body, he might have winked at her. But she was overwhelmed and confused, and without thinking about where it might lead, the next question just slipped out.

  “Why do you seem so sure that I’m going
to be around?”

  Ferro looked at her, then over at Russell, who was busy manhandling pieces of junk into a trash bin to take outside. Sweat was streaming down his forehead and soaking the shirt he was wearing. It also had the side effect of making plaster adhere all over his skin, making him look like a ghost of sorts.

  “What was that look for?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  “I think you know,” he said, “but if you don’t, I’m going to let you figure it out on your own. It’s much more fun that way.”

  Gwen sighed and shook her head. “You’re as bad as one of the shifters!” she exclaimed.

  Ferro looked at her strangely before speaking again. “Gwen, I am one of the shifters,” he said, as if he had just told her a big secret.

  “You are? Why did nobody tell me?” she asked, not understanding.

  “I’m a dragon shifter,” he said, pausing to let her gasp and stare at him anew. “Most humans get a little silly when they realize that, so the others don’t share my secret with anyone. But we’re going to be working together, so I may as well tell you now.”

  “Wow,” she breathed. “A dragon shifter.” Then she caught herself. “Yeah, I see what you mean. I was just about to go down that path myself. Sorry if I weirded you out there,” she said, feeling awkward about the whole situation.

  “I’ve had much worse, trust me,” he said wryly.

  “You know, I have no problems believing you on that one,” she said with a reciprocating chuckle. “Last question, and one I need to ask, though I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What sort of budget am I working with to do this? I hate to bring up money like that, but…I kind of need to know,” she winced, completing the sentence, hoping he didn’t freak out.

  Instead Ferro smiled. “Whatever you need,” he told her.

  “What?”

  “Unlimited. Money is not a factor,” he said, repeating his original answer.

  When she continued to stare at him as if he wasn’t making any sense, Ferro relented and explained it to her.

  “I’ve lived a long time, Gwen. I’ve spent forever collecting a fortune in gold and jewels. That’s hard work, let me tell you! But this paper money thing you humans have? That was quite easy to accumulate a large amount of. So spend whatever you need to,” he finished, this time turning and heading off to do other things.

  “Whatever it is dragon shifters do, I guess,” she said to herself, trying to process what had just happened, all because of one offhand remark.

  As she was standing there, Garrett called a break. The shifters stopped their cleaning and began to file outside. She envied their ability not to feel the cold. She was wearing a warm jacket with a hat, and had gloves in her pockets if she needed them. Every bear shifter she saw was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. It was a great look, she had to admit, but part of her wondered if they kept it up once winter arrived in force. They would look really silly otherwise, she thought, before a voice interrupted her.

  “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Russell said, coming up to her, having lingered behind while the others filed outside. She had noticed earlier the way he would smile at her, but this was the first time he had actually come up and said anything to her now that they were alone.

  Gwen decided to ignore that for a moment and just live in the now. There would be time to ask him that later. Perhaps it was just a thing when it came to being a shifter that they didn’t like to flirt in front of others. She looked him up and down before responding. “Yes, well, I think I have. Though I never expected him to be that good-looking.”

  You’re just killing it with saying things you shouldn’t be today, aren’t you?

  “Well, if we’re admitting things like that today, then I’ll let you in on a secret too,” he said, leaning in conspiratorially.

  “Oh, what’s that? I love secrets!” she teased.

  “When they told me who I had to go haunt, I didn’t think I’d get sent to someone so pretty.”

  She had the good graces to blush at that comment. She liked knowing that he thought she was pretty. It did all sorts of wonderful things to her ego when tall, ripped men showed sexual interest in her. The fact that he seemed to be about more than that was just fine with her.

  “They?” she asked.

  “Oh, yes. The Ghostly Hauntings Unit. It’s one of those lame little society things you have to attend when you’re a ghost. They make you take training classes in saying ‘Boo!’ and going “Ooooooooooooooooooh,” he said, exaggeratedly waving his hands around.

  “Stop!” she said, sputtering with laughter at his descriptions.

  “Yes ma’am,” he said, ceasing his motions immediately.

  “That’s right. I’m glad you realize that I’m now the boss of all of you,” she said with a grin.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? You say that like you mean it more than just the typical ‘Crazy Woman Thinks She’s the Boss of Men’ type of thing,” he said.

  “Did you just air quote that?” she asked in disbelief, laughing off his obviously sarcastic misogynistic line.

  “Yes, I did. I won first place in Air Quotes Club in senior year of high school, thank you very much,” he said haughtily, as if hurt by her teasing.

  “Wow,” she said, at a loss for words. “Okay, I have nothing in reply to that.” She laughed as he mock-bowed in front of her, proclaiming his victory. “But going back to the original point, yes, I am the boss. Ferro put me in charge of redecorating once you slackers have finished building it back up.”

  “Slackers? Who? Us?” Russell asked innocently, looking around. The others were still outside, leaving him the only shifter in the room. Even Ferro had disappeared into the back.

  “Actually, just looks like you.”

  “I’m the only one working!” he protested half-heartedly.

  “Now there’s a story if I ever heard one,” she said dismissively, raising a hand to stop his further protests.

  Russell laughed, throwing up his hands in defeat. “So you get to redesign the place do you?” he asked somewhat more seriously.

  “Yeah, I told him it could use a touch of updating, and he just said ‘Okay, make it happen,’ and that was that,” she told him.

  “Cool. It’ll be nice to have some new stuff in here, I can’t lie.”

  “I wasn’t here for all that long, so I’m going to be soliciting some advice on what should change, starting with you,” she told him.

  “Okay, sure. Couple of easy things. Bigger and sturdier chairs. Those rickety wooden things he had were notorious for falling apart without warning.”

  “New chairs, designed to support you unnaturally large folk. Got it,” she said, jotting her notes down on an imaginary clipboard.

  “Rude,” he said, sticking out his tongue. “Anyway, a bit brighter lighting as well. I always felt like his lights were some of the first ones ever invented, they were so dim. I’m not talking super-brilliant, but bringing it up a level or two.”

  “Yeah, I do recall that. I was also going to make his windows larger and slightly more see-through, to allow more daylight in. Speaking of which, I need to talk to whoever’s going to handle the design of the walls to change the window layout too,” she said, her brain starting to click into gear as she talked about her new responsibilities.

  “That would be Ajax, from what I understand,” Russell told her. “And I would support that as another change.”

  “Good to know.” She smiled up at him. His cheeks dimpled slightly as he returned the smile, but as soon as he heard Garrett’s voice coming back inside it disappeared, back under the façade he seemed to construct around his Alpha.

  He had shaved this morning, which added a bit more strength to his jaw, but it also allowed her to more clearly see his jaw muscles clench.

  “I need to get back to work Gwen,” he said more formally.

  “Okay. I should probably go look around town, see
what I can find for furniture. But,” she told him, “don’t think you’re going to get away with this for much longer.”

  “Get away with what?” he asked, picking up his bin.

  “This whole not wanting to be seen with me around others. You owe me an explanation.”

  He stopped his movement and looked at her intently. “Very well,” he said stiffly. “The next time I see you, I will tell you.”

  Shit. He thinks I’m pissed at him. She wasn’t. Not yet at least, because she figured there was some sort of reason behind his slightly strange behavior. He wasn’t outright rude to her around others, nor did he ignore her even. But he just wasn’t his normal flirtatious self. It was like she was seeing the business side of him, and the real him. She wouldn’t have been that concerned if that was just the way things were around his crew, but she had seen Emma and Garrett flirting and being silly around the others. It seemed unfair if that was a privilege only the Alpha could enjoy, though Gwen would be the first to admit she didn’t know nearly enough about their society to understand if that was just normal to them.

  “Good,” she said. “Now, go do some work…slacker.”

  The tension on his face evaporated for a moment as he realized that she wasn’t mad at him yet, and was going to give him a chance to explain. He smiled and gave her a wink before heading over to the rest of his crew as they got back to work.

  “Gwen?” Emma said, getting her attention from behind her.

  “Yes?” she said, turning, but the smile on her face died when she saw her friend’s face. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s…wrong,” Emma said, though the words seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth. “It’s just something that I’ve avoided telling you, but that I really should have.”

  “Okay, you can tell me anything Em, you know that.”

  “I know,” she grimaced. “It’s just that I feel really bad about it, but there wasn’t really a way around it, and I just didn’t know what else to do…” she trailed off.

  “Emma, you’re starting to scare me,” Gwen said with a little shake of her head. “What is going on?”