Stone Bear: Sentinel (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 1) (11 page)

She hung up the phone several minutes later, obviously frustrated. He hadn’t tried to listen too hard to what she was saying. Hearing half of a conversation would have likely left him almost as frustrated as she looked.

“I take it they didn’t?” he asked after a minute.

“No, and they need the Kedyns’ permission to exhume the corpses.”

“Probably not worth it at this point,” he commented. “It likely wa
s
even too late by the end of the day. But over a week and a half later? Nothing is going to be left.”

“I know,” she said angrily. “I was just hoping that perhaps there had been some foresight when the office was informed. I think I’m going to ask the Kedyns to implement a change there.”

He smiled. Gabriel liked her intensity and her drive. It made him feel more alive simply by being around her. Part of him wished yet again that they could simply make things public, and begin to explore their relationship in more depth. The sex was great, he had no complaints there, but there was so much
more
to her than that, and he was missing out. He craved just being around her, inhaling her scent and being with her. But at the moment, he couldn’t risk that. Neither could she, and it hurt him more than he was willing to admit.

“Okay, I’m going to go tell the Kedyns what we’ve learned and suspect, and see if they have any more insight,” she said as the mansion came into view.

“Sounds like a plan,” he said, grasping the wheel with one hand so he could hold hers with the other, a last bit of contact between the two of them before they had to resume their professional personas and forego any contact for the rest of the day. She smiled up at him and gripped his twice, giving it a double squeeze, which he returned.

“I’m going to make some calls to the other Alphas. I want to know if any of them have heard any rumors of a new drug that maybe they thought was just silliness and not worth reporting. I’m sure
one
of them has heard of something or come across something. Hopefully they’ll share and we can come up with a new lead.”

Caia nodded, and then quickly looked to ensure there was no one around. Then she unbuckled her seat and leaned over, planting a kiss on his cheek quickly before exiting the vehicle.

Gabriel stared after her, his hand rising to gently touch where she had kissed him.

Damn, I love her
.

Although it seemed rushed, he wasn’t surprised one bit. His bear was absolutely crazy for her; it craved having her near every minute of every hour, and made its unhappiness known when she wasn’t around. On top of that,
he
wanted her around all the time as well, and when they were together everything just felt complete and his life full.
Or at least
, he amended,
full enough until we can have some cubs
. The two of them hadn’t discussed children yet, but the few comments Caia had dropped told him she was likely as interested in the idea as he was.

The idea of spending his life with Caia and raising their cubs together kept him warm and happy during the entire chilly walk across the courtyard to the Stone Bears garage. He slipped inside an access door and headed toward the offices. Two of the three heavy-duty trucks made especially for their use were missing, letting him know that Raphael and Uriel were likely out on a pickup, which was perfect, because he didn’t want them to overhear his phone calls. He knew they were good men, but he didn’t want one more person than necessary to be aware of what was going on in Genesis Valley.

Picking up the phone, he dialed the first name.

“Michael here,” came the smooth tenor voice of the Alpha of the Whitepines.

“This is Gabriel,” he said, before letting him know why he was calling. “I need to know if you’ve heard any rumors about a new drug in town, or if any of your crew have exhibited signs of increased arrogance, lack of respect for authority, and disregard for personal health.”

Michael thought about it for a moment before replying. “No, nothing like that has come across my desk,” he replied.

“Okay, make sure to let me know if that changes, or if you hear anything, but don’t go asking around either. This needs to remain secret. When I can tell you more, I will,” he said, adding the last bit to cut off any inquiry. He didn’t want to spend all day on the phone explaining what was going on.

Michael seemed to understand. “Very well. I’ll call you if anything changes.”

Gabriel thanked him and hung up the phone. He then tried Marcel, Alpha of the Frostclaws, and got the same result, though he wasn’t surprised there. The Frostclaws were the clear “B” team in Genesis Valley. They were heads above the next crew, and some days even challenged Michael and his Whitepines for supremacy, but overall they were the second-best crew in the Valley. They were also all polar bears, and preferred the cold. They spent most of their time in the high reaches of the mountains, mining the shafts the other bears would rather not. This also meant that they did not interact with those in the city much, so it came as no surprise to Gabriel that Marcel didn’t know a damn thing about what was going on.

Feeling hopeless, he called Ajax. The Emerald Crew was rather well-known for being well behaved, so he wasn’t expecting any luck there either.

But Ajax surprised him. “I can’t say I’ve heard of a drug, specifically,” he said. “But, I have heard rumblings of
something
, but not enough to track it down.”

Gabriel felt his initial hopes falling.

“There was, however, one of my crew who exhibited those signs. This was several months back, just after the Ridgebacks were formed. One of my crew impersonated me, sending a report to you, saying that I felt Garrett was useless as Alpha of the Ridgebacks, and should be removed in favor of Evan. I ended him, because that was the last straw, but his prior warnings all came about because he was being cocky and arrogant beyond what was the norm for him. I figured it was just because he had been spending more time with the Sapphires and they were rubbing off, but now I wonder if it was more than that.”

“I think it’s safe to say it was
definitely
more than that,” Gabriel confirmed. “It would line up with everything else that we’re discovering, that’s for sure.”

He heard an unpleasant sounding grunt from Ajax, before he spoke again. “Shame.”

“What do you mean?” he asked the Alpha.

“I assumed it was just Alex’s personality showing through,” he said, naming the ended shifter for the first time. “But if it was a drug, then I am to blame. I could have done something to help him, to get him clean. Instead, I ended his life.”

Gabriel grimaced. He hadn’t thought of it that way, and now his digging had given Ajax—one of the Alphas he liked most—something that he would probably hold against himself for a long time.

“It’s not your fault, Ajax. There is absolutely no way you could have known. Nobody did. And besides,” he added, “it was Alex’s choice to take the drug in the first place. It wasn’t forced on him.”

“I hear what you’re saying Gabriel, and I appreciate the words of condolence, but that doesn’t make this an easier pill to swallow, to put it poorly.”

Gabriel winced at the drug reference. “Well, if we get the chance to do something to those that put the pill in his hands, do I have your support?”

The voice that came back was hard enough to snap steel. “Count on it,” Ajax snarled, then hung up the phone.

Gabriel sat back in his chair. Something wasn’t adding up.

Where was the drug coming from? That was what was bothering him. The Sapphires weren’t idiots, but he didn’t believe they were smart enough to concoct a brand new drug all on their own. That was just way beyond their capabilities as far as he was aware.

So where was it coming from? Who was supplying it? Was it even being made in the Valley?

He had a feeling he didn’t want to know the answer to those questions. That didn’t discharge him from his duty to find out, however, and he knew the one person who might know them.

Heaving his large frame to his feet, he sighed deeply and headed deeper into the mansion complex. He was going to have to go ask someone who would know, as little as he might want to.

Reluctantly Gabriel’s legs took him toward Marcus’s office.

Caia

Caia had just finished telling Marcus that she and Gabriel were convinced it was a drug that was causing the problems within Genesis Valley.

Marcus sat back in his chair and contemplated what she had said.

The door into his office, the one that she had never been allowed through, banged open suddenly. She never saw Marcus move, but he was on his feet and halfway to the door before he stopped.

“What in the name of hell do you think you’re doing Gabriel?” he snarled.

Caia froze, not wanting to get involved in a fight between the two of them.

“The drug isn’t coming from within the Valley. It can’t be. It has to be coming from an outside source.”

This is what he interrupted for?
Anger flared in her brain. Caia had already arrived at the same conclusion. Why couldn’t he have let her meet with Marcus herself? This was just as much
her
case as it was his. Besides, she needed the respect of Marcus more than he did. Caia was still trying to prove herself. Gabriel had had the past eight years to earn that trust. She hadn’t had eight weeks!

“I was just about to cover that bit with Mr. Kedyn,” she said coolly into the silence as Gabriel wandered over to her side of the desk, warily watching his boss. She forced herself not to smile at Marcus, who looked like he had had his feathers ruffled more than he was willing to admit by Gabriel’s entrance.

Something had him on edge, she realized. That couldn’t be good.

“Thank you Gabriel, but that will be all,” he said, sitting down.

This time Caia did allow herself a little grin as he was summarily dismissed before her and Marcus continued talking.

Serves him right for interrupting,
she thought.

“What are your next steps then?” he asked, looking at her directly. “We’ve already lost one brand new crew to this stuff. I really do not wish to go through the effort of forming and training another one before we have it snuffed out. But at the same time, we’re falling behind in our quotas as well. That is not good,” he said icily.

Gabriel was just pulling open the door when someone else walked through it first. Caia’s heart quickened as she recognized Marcus’s brother Valen. The atmosphere in the office became instantly cooler. Valen was nowhere near as social, polite, or willing to put up with his employees as was Marcus. In fact, he spent most of his time out of the office as much as possible, much to the relief of the staff. When he
was
present, he was generally a walking nightmare.

Caia profusely hoped he wouldn’t be long, because she had to ask Marcus a question that she really did not want to, and she feared that Valen would jump all over her if she asked it while he was there.

Marcus explained quickly what she and Gabriel had discovered. She expected Valen to brush it off, but to her utter shock, he exchanged a look with Marcus that reeked of worry.

“What?” she asked, speaking into the silence far more boldly than she felt.

Four eyes swiveled to look at her, imploring her to be silent, but she wasn’t going to.

“You know something that you aren’t telling the rest of us, don’t you? Is this bigger than just the drug?” Their silence did not reassure her. “What does it encompass? If it’s so large, why do you have me on it? I’m so new to everything, this is probably way beyond my abilities! What are you not telling us?!” she cried as they continued to look at her in silence.

To her surprise, it was Valen who spoke. “Actually, it may just be that a human is exactly what is necessary. A tenacious, strong human, who looks at things differently than the rest of us. Or,” he glanced over at Marcus, “it may be that it will take several of you. There is something going on, Caia Rowan, but we do not know what it is. Not yet, at least.”

She evaluated his expression, trying to see if he was telling the truth, but she couldn’t pick up on anything.

“Have you talked to the Dragon Council yet?” she asked, throwing her last card on the table.

The Dragon Council was the ruling body for the most powerful race of shifters. They also settled large-scale disputes between the other races as well, along with providing knowledge and wisdom to those who asked on rare occasion.

“We have,” Marcus said, though his tone told her not to take any hope from that.

“And?” she pressed.

“You must remember, Caia, that dragons do not operate the same as others. Even we,” he gestured at his brother and him, “seem young and impetuous to them, and yet we are both in our third century of life.”

She fought to remain in control as he revealed his age to her. It was one thing for her to read that certain shifters lived extremely extended lives. It was another entirely to have one admit it with such confidence that she knew it in her core to be true.

The things they must have seen…

Marcus was still talking, she realized after a moment. “This little hiccup and slowed rate of discovery is nothing to them. In fact, many of them will likely
sleep
through it,” he said, stressing just how long-lived the dragons were. “If it were to begin to stretch into multiple decades or a century, then they would
begin
to take notice. I often find the days blurring by myself, so it does not surprise me that they have no interest or worry over what is going on at this time.”

Caia felt the finality of that last sentence hit her like a ton of bricks. What Marcus was saying was that whatever was messing with them they would have to deal with on their own.

“The only reason that I
do
notice it, however, is because I spend so much time around you humans in the operations of this company. If I were to hang around with my own kind, or dragons, I would likely have a much similar mindset. When dragons hang around each other, they tend to become even slower to act. It is only because I don’t that I have a different perspective.” His eyes bore into hers at that last sentence, but he didn’t say anything more.

Caia’s eyes narrowed. Marcus was trying to tell her something without outright saying it. She knew he interacted with humans regularly. That wasn’t knowledge, and she wasn’t asking him for more information. She was asking him to ask the dragons. Dragons. That had to be what he was getting at. Something about them. The Council always stayed together, and they almost never met with humans either. In fact, the vast majority of dragons, like Marcus had said, all stuck with each other.

Except for one,
she realized with a start.

Ferrovax.

He lived in the Valley, and to her knowledge, had lived there amongst humans for a long, long time. Marcus was telling her that she should go talk to him, because he might have a different perspective on things. Actually, Caia corrected herself, he’s very carefully
not
telling you to go talk to him. But why wasn’t he saying it outright? There was a reason for that, she realized, which she hoped might become clear when she talked to Ferro.

“I understand,” she said aloud. “I’ll keep working on the case then, and see if I can’t find anything more.”

“Very good,” Marcus replied.

“I’ll report back when I find something,” she said, and left the office behind, her mind whirling.

Gabriel was waiting for her. The moment the door shut, he closed the space between them until he was no more than a few inches from her.

“I want you,” he said, his voice thick with desire as he leaned in to kiss her neck.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, reluctantly pushing him away. His lips felt like fire on her neck, a delicious burning bliss that she yearned for more of. “You’re going to get us both fired!”

He looked around. “There’s nobody in here, and there’s no cameras. Come on, just one kiss,” he pushed.

She fought back a smile, looking up at him as she bit her lip. Glancing past him, she confirmed that there were indeed no people in the room, and then she hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.

Their lips met furiously as passion exploded between them. Gabriel lifted her up on to her desk, scattering some paperwork as their arms became entangled with each other.

“Okay. Stop,” she said urgently, pulling back, her breathing already labored from the brief outburst. Her lungs rising and falling with the increased effort, she slid off the desk and put a few feet between the two of them.

His eyes hungered for more as she looked up into them, and a part of Caia yearned to be able to indulge him. But she had to keep her head straight. Something was going on, and Gabriel needed to know.

“What is it?” he said, his eyes all of a sudden piercing and inquisitive. He must have seen something in her expression that told him something serious was going on.

“First,” she said with a smile, “thank you for that.” She winked. “Secondly,” her face turned grim. “Whatever is going on has Marcus
and
Valen worried.”

That got Gabriel’s attention.

“Valen was there?”

She nodded. “They’ve already been to talk to the Dragon Council too.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows hit the roof. “Without our prodding they went to them?” He swallowed hard. “That’s not good at all. What did the Council say?”

Caia shook her head. “Nothing. Apparently they aren’t worried enough. A few months of things being odd isn’t enough for them to be concerned.”

Gabriel nodded. He had more experience with shifters, so it came as no surprise that he instinctually knew why that might be.

“But Marcus hinted that perhaps we should go talk to Ferro.”

“He hinted?” Gabriel looked confused.

“You look so cute when you’re lost,” she said, leaning forward and planting her lips on his very quickly. “We’re going back into town today. If my hunch is right, Marcus can’t talk to us for some reason, but Ferro may be able to.”

“The Tongue & Flame?” he asked, confirming their destination.

“Exactly,” she confirmed.

“Okay, let me grab my stuff and I’ll meet you outside.”

He leaned forward, gave her another kiss, and then before she could react, reached around and gave her rear a full-handed grab. “See you in a bit, beautiful,” he whispered in her ear, and before she could react, he was gone.

Caia stared after him for several minutes, doing nothing but smiling.

He sure makes it easy to fall in love with him, doesn’t he?

Caia’s eyes flew open. She had never used that particular word to describe their relationship before, and her brain’s subconscious use of it had caught her completely off guard. Did she love Gabriel?

Just as importantly, did he love her? She loved spending time with him, but that was different from actually being
in
love with him. That was a lesson she had learned when she was younger, and a difference she had been sure to understand in her relationships since.

But with Gabriel it was different. He was strong and confident, unafraid of the world and yet at the exact same time, completely unashamed to show her his true self and the side that he hid from the world. He had opened up to her completely and totally, without hesitation, telling her about his childhood and the things he had seen and done since. Not once had he hesitated, afraid of her judgment. Instead, he had trusted her outright from the start, and as a result their relationship had blossomed at an incredible pace.

Clearly it had grown faster than she was aware of if part of her already thought she was falling in love with him. Not that he was a bad choice, she thought with a smirk. He certainly kept things…interesting.

Her phone buzzed. She took a look at it.

Raph and Uri just got back from a dual pickup. I should really help them with the paperwork and delivery. Can we meet at T&F for 5? <3

Caia smiled. He was also a good man, always wanting to help out his comrades, and that was something she deeply respected. After texting him back, she decided that perhaps now would be a good time to do some of her own paperwork.

Glancing at the stacks of it on her own desk, she sighed. Not her preferred way to spend the afternoon.