Stone Bear: Sentinel (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 1) (16 page)
Read Stone Bear: Sentinel (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 1) Online
Authors: Amelia Jade
It was only then that Gabriel noticed the three dead shifters surrounding Uriel.
“That you did,” he said quietly as Raphael picked him up and rushed him to the truck, racing down the road and toward the Kedyn mansion, where he could get the treatment he needed, including a blood transfusion. Garrett and Russell went with him. Garrett drove while Russell sat in the passenger seat holding his arm, and Raphael held Uriel still in the truck bed. There was nothing more Gabriel could do for him now.
Caia stood next to him, her hand dropping down and finding his, their fingers entwining.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, burying her head on his shoulder. He felt warmth soak his shirt as her tears began to fall.
“It’s okay,” he told her. “It’ll all be okay.”
He surveyed the wreckage, and hoped dearly that he was right.
“I can’t believe they let them live,” Caia said in disbelief.
“Actually, I can,” Gabriel said from her side, his arm around her shoulder. He was holding her tight, openly and without caring what anyone thought, much to her delight.
“Why?” she asked, looking up at him, her eyebrows narrowing.
“They see another Jade Crew,” he said simply.
“What? That’s…”
“Ridiculous?” he finished. “I agree, but that’s what I thought at the time they formed a crew and gave it to Garrett, and I have to admit, that’s worked out okay.”
“Who’s going to be their Alpha?” she asked, still shocked at the entire idea.
“I don’t know,” he said, “But I’m sure the Kedyns will find someone. That’s why they’re keeping them locked up for now, I’d assume. To let things smooth over for a bit.”
The two of them stopped as they reached Gabriel’s truck. They had only come up to the mansion complex for the reading of the trial verdict in regard to the Sapphires and Opals who had survived the fight a week prior. “Surrendered” would be a better term for none of those who had fought and survived. Only those who had refused to fight, no longer obeying their Alphas, had lived to see the trial.
“This isn’t over, is it?” she asked softly, laying her head on his shoulder.
“No. In fact, I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
“Why is that?” she asked, shuffling around to face him, her hands on his chest as she met his troubled gaze.
“We didn’t find any equipment anywhere on the property that would have allowed them to manufacture the drugs, which coincided with what you told us. But it also mean
s
that Ben wasn’t the ringleader, like you thought. He was just another pawn in what was going on. Hopefully we don’t have to worry about losing any more crews to the drug, but it is obviously being made elsewhere.”
“So what do we do now?” she asked.
Gabriel grimaced. “We’ve formed a group, of sorts. Of the people we can trust. You, me, Emma, Garrett, Ajax. We’re going to continue to investigate, to see what we can turn up. But right now the only lead we have left is Luthor.”
“What about Evan?” she asked. Caia hadn’t heard anything more about the oft-troubled Ridgeback shifter.
“His trial starts in two weeks. Evidence is still being compiled, but I don’t expect it to end favorably for him.”
Caia nodded. After the carnage she had witnessed in the forest, the idea that yet another shifter might find himself ended because of it didn’t shock her at all. It was a sign, she thought, that she was quickly becoming accustomed to life in Genesis Valley. Thankfully, Uriel had survived, though he would never be able to serve in the field with only three limbs. But she gave thanks that he had been spared.
There was so much left to figure out, but for now, she intended to relish her time with Gabriel as best she could. The Kedyns had granted them dispensation to be together, freeing them from the constraints of having to sneak around, though apparently they hadn’t been able to do that all that well. The two of them had spent the past week making up for lost time.
Life didn’t mean much in Genesis Valley, and death was everywhere she turned.
Gabriel leaned down and kissed her, their lips meeting with a passion that filled her soul.
But the darkness made their love burn so much brighter.
THE END
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Ridgeback Bears
Jade Crew: Alpha Bear (Book 1)
Jade Crew: Haunted Bear (Book 2)
Jade Crew: Forgotten Bear (Book 3)
Jade Crew: Captive Bear (Book 4)
Stone Bear: Sentinel (Book 1)
– Gabriel
Stone Bear: Phoenix (Book 2)
- Uriel
Amelia Jade
Amelia Jade loves to write the stories of tall, growly shifter men and the women who come to love them. Living out in the backcountry near the mountains, she keeps her own alpha male close by to keep the bears away and keep her warm. In her downtime (which is rare), she loves to read science-fiction with a dash of fantasy. You can often find her curled up in front of the real wood-burning fireplace, her nose firmly buried in a book or her favorite e-reader. The cold can’t bother her there!
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