Shifter Nation- East Coast Bears Collection

by Meg Ripley

  I set down the pot and turned to him. “Thanks. But even if I do this, there’s no guarantee they’ll hire me.”

  He beamed at me as if I were his favorite person on Earth. “With your degree and credentials? There’s no way they wouldn’t.”

  I didn’t smile back. “We’ll see.”

  “You know, Grace, I’ve been watching you for a while.”

  He stepped closer to me and looked down at his feet. I think he was trying to look vulnerable. Humble, maybe? But it came off as somewhat creepy. Then I noticed my parents had snuck out of the room, leaving us alone in the kitchen. Real subtle, guys.

  “Yeah?” I asked. “Why would you do that?”

  “Besides the fact that you’re stunning?” He met my eyes and gave me an intense stare. “Even back when we were in school together, I saw how special you were.”

  “We weren’t even in the same grade.”

  “Upperclassmen know things about lowerclassmen. People talked about you. How amazing you were, and I have to agree. You do something like this for the clan, and they’ll all adore you even more than they already do. I’d even say you would make a fabulous co-Alpha.”

  “I appreciate that, Adam. But I wouldn’t want to steal your glory. You earned your role, and you do it well. You deserve to be Alpha alone.”

  “Well, if you were by my side as not just co-Alpha, but a partner, we would be a team—and I think we’d make a great one, you and me. We could be one of those power couples, you know?”

  I had to remind myself that he was the Alpha of our clan. I couldn’t say what I really wanted to because of his position. If I were just outright rude, it wouldn’t have been appropriate.

  “The only problem with that,” I pointed out, “is that we’re not a couple.”

  “That can be easily fixed.”

  He stepped closer, and I worried he might do something very stupid, like try to kiss me. He wasn’t a bad looking guy, but I knew him too well and had known him far too long to have any sort of feelings or interest in him whatsoever.

  I held up my hand. “Adam, I’m focusing on my career right now. This isn’t the time for me to be in any sort of relationship.”

  “I can be patient.”

  “Really, I appreciate your kind words and all, and I’ll go ahead and try to work at the park to help the clan. I know we can work together for the greater good of our people, but I’m just not interested in a relationship like that.”

  He gave me a sideways smile. “I don’t mind a challenge. You let me know when you hear from that park. I’ll make sure we throw you a nice party for doing something so big for us.”

  “Thanks.” I turned back to my dishes and let out a sigh of relief when he went off to find my dad.

  I could help my clan, I’d decided. Who was I to put myself over helping the entire population of croc shifters in the ‘Glades? There was too much danger for me to just ignore it and go on with my plans. Maybe I’d get back to law school one day. Or maybe I’d find enough satisfaction in winning the fight, like my dad had said. I was willing to at least give it a try. School would always be there, but if someone didn’t step in and put and end to these clan wars, we might not be.

  2

  Mason

  I drove to the Ranger Station, as I often did in the late morning. The Everglades general Park Rangers and Law Enforcement Rangers were closely tied and often worked together. Since the ‘Glades took up such a massive amount of land—1.5 million acres—we always were each other’s eyes and ears for whatever was going on in the park. It also happened that two of my best friends and clan mates worked as Rangers there. Owen, our clan’s Alpha, was also the supervisor of all the Rangers. His second in command, Ezra, also worked as a Park Ranger. I loved being able to do my job serving and protecting while also hanging out with my friends. A real win-win.

  I strolled into the Ranger Station and waved to Rachel, the office assistant. “Anyone in?” I asked.

  She smiled at me and nodded. “Owen’s in his office. Not sure where Ezra is.”

  That was typical. Ezra tended to be late or off doing who knew what. I knocked on Owen’s door with our special knock.

  “Hey, Mason.”

  I walked in and sat down across from him. “What’s the word?”

  He scrunched his face and tapped his fingers on the desk as he glared at his computer screen.

  “Something wrong?” I asked.

  “I don’t know yet, man.”

  “Care to elaborate?”

  “We hired a new Ranger.”

  “And…?” I pulled my eyebrows together, and he kept squinting at his computer screen. “That doesn’t sound like a problem unless there’s an issue with the new hire himself.”

  “Herself,” he corrected me. “And I don’t know if there’s an issue or not.” He turned from his screen. “She’s a croc.”

  I sucked in a breath. “Okay, well, you must’ve hired her for a reason.”

  “I didn’t hire her, my boss did. She has impressive credentials—assuming they’re all real.”

  “Are you questioning that?”

  “I’m questioning everything at this point until I know for sure if she’s a threat or a phony or just plain stupid.”

  “What do you have there?” I gestured to his computer, where he kept refocusing his attention.

  “Searching her name and her school to make sure she is who she says she is.”

  I nodded slowly. “Everything checking out?”

  “So far.” He sounded disappointed that he didn’t have a reason to turn her away.

  “Maybe it won’t be a bad thing. We’ve been trying to settle our differences with the crocs for years. Maybe she can be a bridge.”

  “Or a spy,” he said.

  I shrugged. “Or a spy. I guess we’ll have to be careful until we know for sure.”

  “I’ve never dealt with a situation like this. I’m not sure how to proceed.”

  “Owen, you’re the sharpest man I know. You’ll figure it out. I’m sure you’ll just keep an eye on her and an ear open. There’s nothing else to do, really.”

  “So far, she’s done nothing wrong. At all. I can’t even write her up for being late. It’s like she’s…”

  I raised an eyebrow at him.

  He continued. “Trying too hard. I hate to make assumptions, but it’s like she’s up to something. Like she’s here for a reason.”

  “Yeah, I get it. The crocs have not exactly been willing to intermingle on friendly terms.”

  “She’s just so nice.” He made a disgusted face. “I wish she wasn’t so pleasant. It’s hard to hate her.”

  I laughed. “She’s a croc. That limits her likability automatically.”

  His radio crackled and he pressed the button on its side. “Go ahead.”

  “I checked out the swarm and everything looks good.” It was a female’s voice on the other end.

  “That’s her,” he said to me. Then, into the radio, “Go on and head back in then.”

  “Have you heard anything from the conclave lately?” I wondered.

  They’d supposedly been aware of and trying to figure out our problem with the clans fighting for a while now. But they never seemed to do much to help us.

  “Same as always. I report to them, they listen and take notes and file them, and that’s it. Sometimes they make ‘helpful’ suggestions.” He rolled his eyes, then looked up. “Oh hey, Grace.”

  I turned toward the door to see the new hire. I could smell the croc in her before I even turned. But when my eyes rested on her face, my heart jumped. She might have been a croc, but she was drop dead gorgeous. Like, model gorgeous. I swallowed hard. How could Owen work alongside someone like her? Oh, right, he had his own beautiful wife, Addie. Well, I didn’t. I was single, and I’d take my time looking, thank you very much.

  I nodded at her. “Welcome to the team.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled and the sight lit up my heart.

  “This is M
ason.” Owen gestured toward me. “He’s one of the Law Enforcement Rangers here at the park. If anything questionable goes down here, he’ll be on his way.”

  She met my eyes and her smile grew. “Nice to know we’re protected.”

  “Indeed.” I tipped my head at her.

  Owen was all business. “Why don’t you go on and check on the new calls that came in today. See if there are any you can handle on your own.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.” She smiled at me again, then spun on her heel and left to chat with Rachel.

  I gave Owen a wide-eyed look and mouthed, “Holy shit!”

  He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

  The moment she left the station, I was on my feet, leaning on his desk. “I’ll keep an eye on her, look her up. Whatever you need.”

  He smirked back. “You do that, Mason. You do that.”

  “I will.” I tapped my finger on his desk, then hurried off.

  I wanted to know all there was to know about that woman.

  3

  Mason

  Owen had called me first and gave me a heads up. I was grateful because I’d planned to go out on patrol. When he said Grace was coming in for her fingerprints and background check, I parked my butt right behind the front desk, under the guise of doing research.

  And, technically, I was doing research. I was looking up everything I could on Grace. No criminal record or history of arrests. Nice. Meant she was probably a good little croc. There wasn’t even a mention of her having called the police to report anything. That could’ve meant two things: either she’d never been involved in anything that required a call, or she had, but hadn’t reported whatever crime was going down. For the time being, I’d give her the benefit of the doubt. Her DMV record didn’t have as much as a speeding ticket.

  When the door opened and it was her, I tried to play it cool. “Hi there. What can I do for you?” Then I feigned a moment of recognition. “Oh, it’s Grace, right? Owen said you’d be stopping by.”

  “Hello.” She stuck out her hand and I shook it. “Grace Osborn.”

  “Mason Rowe.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  I pulled my mouth into a half smile. “You, too. Ready to get started?”

  “Yup.”

  I gestured to the seat at the desk. “The background check for new employment asks a lot of questions. Just answer the best you can.”

  I planned to print a copy of her information for my own purposes later, but for now, I took note of particularly interesting pieces of information. Like her birthday and the fact that she was 26, which was conveniently only a few years younger than me. She’d lived in the ‘Glades her whole life, even at the same address. Her family had been in the area for a long time; old crocs. I didn’t really have a concept of if the problems we’d been having were more with the newer clans or older, but it seemed like good information to tuck away.

  Once that was done, I retrieved the fingerprint kit, set it up and walked around to her side of the desk. I stood close to her and took her hand to roll her finger in the ink, then pressed it down on the page. She was so close, I couldn’t help but take in deep breaths of her scent. I thought the croc in her might bother me, but her scent drove my bear wild. It made my heart race; made beads of sweat begin to gather at my temples. I moved slowly, trying to make it seem methodical and careful, but really, I just wanted an excuse to linger near her longer.

  When we were through, I handed her a wipe for her fingers. I perched at the edge of the desk, closer than I was when I’d been behind it.

  “So, how are you liking the new job?”

  “Pretty great so far. Everyone is really nice.”

  “Owen and Ezra are two of my best friends. They’re good guys. Owen’s been at this a long time. How about you? Did you dream of being a park Ranger when you were a girl?”

  She laughed, and the sound was like ecstasy to my soul. “Not exactly. I’ve actually always wanted to be a lawyer.”

  I let my shock show. “Then how in the world did you end up working in the park?”

  “Well, I wanted to go into environmental law, so it’s not too far from my original dream. I guess you could say it was family duty.”

  “Your clan made you?”

  She glanced around, then let out a nervous laugh. “I wasn’t sure if it was safe to talk.”

  “There are a few non-shifters on the force, but none of them are here right now.”

  “Oh. Well, they didn’t make me, but it just seemed that staying local would be better,” she explained.

  “We all make sacrifices for our clans, I guess.”

  “Did you? Or did you always want to be a cop?” She leaned against the desk, just feet from me.

  “I had no idea what I wanted to do. I spent a lot of time just running and being with my clan. I guess I did sort of the same thing you did in the end. I thought it would help keep all shifters safe, and I wanted to keep the park safe for everyone.”

  Our conversation came easily; naturally. I could have sat there talking to her all day. We had several things in common, I was pleased to find. Besides being shifters both working to better the park and protect and serve people, we both liked the same kind of movies and music. We even had the same favorite beer—one brewed locally by ‘Gladesmen called Beast. I’d never seen nor heard of a woman liking Beast. She just laughed it off and said it was what her dad and uncles all drank, so it was the first thing she tasted when she was a kid sneaking sips just to see what all the fuss was about. I shared my story of doing the very same thing.

  It seemed like every sentence of our conversation brought up something else we had in common, until the phone rang, interrupting us. I let it ring a minute, but when no one answered it, I reached back and picked it up.

  “Hey,” Owen said.

  “Oh, hey man. Got something?”

  “Was wondering if you had something, actually. Grace? Is she still there?”

  I glanced at her. “Yeah, she’s here.”

  “Is there a problem?”

  “No, why?”

  “She’s been gone for almost two hours.”

  I checked my watch. We’d been talking for a long time. “Ah, yeah, I guess it is getting late.”

  He sighed. “Just send her back, please. I have things to go over with her before I can leave for the night.”

  “Sure thing.”

  I replaced the phone on its receiver and pressed my lips together. “That was Dad calling. He says you’re out past curfew.”

  When she made a confused face, I explained.

  “Owen. Wondering what’s taking so long.”

  She looked at her phone and gasped. “Oh, my goodness.” Her face turned red. “I’ve been gone a long time. I’m sorry, I’d better get going.” She grabbed her purse from the desk and slung it over her shoulder. “I guess it’s too late to try to come up with an excuse?”

  “Probably.”

  She pressed her lips together.

  “It’s my fault,” I confessed. “I shouldn’t have kept you talking so long.”

  “I loved talking with you.”

  “Then maybe we can finish our conversation over dinner?”

  “I would love to. You have my number in all that information somewhere?”

  “I do.” I patted her file sitting on the desk.

  “Then I’ll be expecting your call.” She walked to the door and paused to look back at me before pushing her way through and walking away.

  I sat down with a hard sigh. It felt like little hearts were floating around me, and I grinned. A date with Grace. I wondered if it was it too soon to call her right then.

  4

  Grace

  I nearly danced out to my car as I left the police station. Mason was so adorable and funny, and we had so much in common.

  My buzz was killed slightly when I got back to work, though. I felt bad about being gone so long and hoped it wouldn’t be a mark against me. My cheeks must have been red as I w
alked into the station because they felt like they were on fire. I went right to Owen’s office and knocked.

  “I’m so sorry,” I blurted out the moment I entered the office.

  He waved me off. “Mason can be a chatter. I need you to do the afternoon drive through and make sure all is right.”

  “Sure thing.” I turned to leave but thought better of it and turned back around. “I really am sorry. I won’t let it happen again.”

  He nodded and returned to his computer screen.

  I hopped in the utility vehicle, grateful to be out of the station. He hadn’t seemed too upset, though, so my worry faded and my buzz from earlier returned as I cruised through the park, taking in the sights of all the trees and wildlife, all the scents around me.

  That night at home, the questions seemed endless.

  My dad raised a thick eyebrow. “Well, aren’t you in a good mood.”

  “Isn’t that allowed?” I asked.

  “Just wondering why is all,” he said.

  But my mom was there, and she looked at me more carefully. “Wait a minute.” Her mouth spread slowly into a grin. “Did you meet someone?”

  Damn that mother’s intuition. There was no way I could tell them I had set up a date with a bear shifter. They’d probably disown me. They certainly wouldn’t be happy, and I didn’t want anything to dampen my excitement.

  I quickly dropped my smile. “Meet someone? At work?” I huffed. “It was just a good day is all. I like my new job.”

  “What have you found out so far?” Dad asked.

  “Nothing really. The bears all seem pretty nice, actually.” I almost mentioned how I’d taken too long at the station and Owen didn’t seem mad, but then they’d wonder what took so long, and I didn’t want to have to keep lying. “My boss especially really just wants to make the park safe and enjoyable for all who visit and for the animals who live there.”