Stone Bear: Sentinel (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 1) (5 page)

The bear collapsed, its head hitting the ground almost as hard as his fist had hit it. The eyes rolled back into its head and the bear stayed still.

“I told you not to warn him. But you had to go ahead and do so anyway, didn’t you?” he said, shaking his head in disgust.

“Ow,” he complained to himself, holding his left hand gingerly.

“Are you okay?” Caia asked as he walked toward her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just forgot how hard their damn skulls are. It’ll heal. Just fracture I think.”

“Do we need to get you to the hospital or something?” Caia looked far more worried about him than she should have.

“Did nobody tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“About a shifter’s healing abilities?”

Caia blushed. “Right. No, I knew that. It’s just that I’ve never seen one get into a fight before. Especially not where a shifter in human form takes on a bear. That was intense.”

“I thought I told you to go outside?” he asked, looking around.

“I was going to, but he didn’t seem to be a threat.”

“That could have been a good way to get hurt,” he told her.

“You fought him without changing. I needed to see if you were either competent or an idiot,” she fired back.

“And?”

“Both.”

Gabriel snorted. Then his eyes spied something going on out in front of the building.

“Listen, it won’t be long before the others come down to investigate. Go out the back, and take a cab home. Call it right now. See if you’re tailed, and if so, how far. I want to know if they’re worried about what we’re up to.”

“I thought I was going to canvass the area, see what I can pick up on the feelings of the non-shifters here?”

“Change of plans,” he told her. “Just go with it.”

“I don’t like plans changing,” she protested. “This is why we’re supposed to work together.”

“We are,” he said somewhat more vehemently than he meant to. “I trusted you in there; you trust me now.” The situation out in front of the building that he could see was developing quickly. He had to move. “Just do it.”

He left her standing there and headed out the doors. She would be fine, he thought, glancing back to ensure she was headed for the back doors. She was already moving, though he could tell by her body language she wasn’t overly happy about it. The street on the other side was arguably busier than the front, so she would be safe.

Gwen, on the other hand, was in a bit of trouble.

“Gabriel!” she called, spotting him a few seconds after he exited the building.

The other person with her followed her look and voice, noting very quickly who was striding rapidly toward him.

“Really James?” Gabriel said with annoyed disgust.

“I was just leaving, I promise.”

James was a Sapphire, and one of the worst of the lot in Gabriel’s opinion. Both of them knew he was lying through his teeth, but Gabriel didn’t want to risk Gwen getting hurt. She was too exposed if he tried to get violent with James.

“The next time I see you doing something like this, you’re going to severely regret it,” he promised, his voice deadly serious as he stared the other shifter down.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” James rushed out as he edged around Gabriel. “She was just lost and asking for directions.”

“Get out of here,” Gabriel said, taking a step toward James now that he was between the Sapphire and Gwen.

“Going,” James said and practically ran for the building.

“Thank you,” Gwen said.

He inclined his head. Gabriel was just glad he had recognized what was going on. Gwen had been at the Tongue & Flame the other day when the Opal crew had gone insane and tore the place down in their fight with the Emeralds. She was friends with Emma, who was also the person that Gabriel was about to go and meet.

After talking with Gwen, he realized she was headed to the same place, so he offered to drive her there. They didn’t talk much during the drive, and after they entered, he said his goodbyes and sought out Emma, joining her at her table.

“Hi,” he said, sitting down gently in the wire-backed chairs. They had an annoying tendency to break when a shifter sat in them, and he was determined not to have that happen to him today.

“Hey, thanks for meeting me somewhere peaceful this time,” Emma joked, waving over at her friend who was seated alone, talking to the waitress.

“Indeed. This is much better. Although I do enjoy a good fight, that was just ridiculous,” he agreed. The reason Gabriel had been at the Tongue & Flame had actually been to meet with Emma the first time. Unfortunately, they had never really had a chance in the aftermath of everything. So now they were finally having a meeting several days later.

“So, what did you want to see me about?” he asked, getting straight down to business. He didn’t want to be any longer than he had to before he called Caia to find out what had happened.

Emma nodded. “Evan.”

“What now?”

Evan was a member of the Ridgebacks. He was also one of the survivors of the first anomaly that had occurred within Genesis Valley. Originally Evan had been the Alpha of the Onyx crew. It was his first punch that had started the brawl between his crew and the Amethyst crew that had resulted in the deaths of so many bears and a few humans. The remains of those crews, against Gabriel’s recommendations, had been combined to form the Ridgebacks, and placed under command of a new Alpha.

Evan had not taken the stripping of his status very well. Gabriel knew that at first he had even kidnapped Emma when she was with Garrett, the new Ridgeback Alpha. Only Emma’s leniency had saved him from an immediate ending there.

Since then, it had been one thing after another with him. After he had messed up with Emma, he hadn’t done anything worthy of being ended, but he was a major thorn in the side of Garrett and the Ridgebacks.

“That’s just it,” Emma said. “He isn’t
doing
anything as far as we can see. But he’s been acting weird. He goes off on his own all the time, doing who knows what, and always seems to be skulking around.”

“Okay. That’s not much to go on,” Gabriel said.

“I know. But then last week, Trestin,” she motioned at the waitress talking to Gwen, “saw Evan come in and meet with Ben Groll.”

That
got his attention.

“Really?”

“Yes. He apparently came in, spoke with Ben for a minute or two, then got up and left, and very shortly thereafter, Ben and the other Sapphire he was with left as well.”

“Unfortunately, that still doesn’t give us much to go on.” Gabriel was disappointed. He had hoped for more information to help him try and identify what was going on. It wasn’t Emma’s fault, however. There was only so much she could do, and even just letting him know that Evan was on speaking terms with the Sapphires went a long way. Now he and Caia could follow Evan and see if they could pick up on something. It was at least a new angle, which is more than they had turned up at the Sapphire apartments.

Even as he thought of Caia offhandedly, his mind focused on her, bringing her to the fore.

“Listen, Emma, if there’s nothing more?” he said, raising an eyebrow in question.

“No, that’s all I had. Does it help you at all?”

“I think so. I’ll let you know though.” He rose from the table and left, hurriedly pulling his phone from his pocket.

He needed to hear her voice.

Caia

“Gabriel?”

“Hi.”

“It’s about time you called! Where have you been?”

“In a meeting, like I told you. Is everything okay?”

She could hear the fierce note of protection in his voice and tried to deny the answering surge of delight that came from deep within her. She was
not
falling for him. She couldn’t, even if perhaps a sliver of her wanted to. It was out of the question. So she had to stop feeling giddy whenever he was around or talking to her.

“I’m fine. I just didn’t expect you to take that long, is all. I’ve been sitting back at the mansion for twenty minutes now.”

“I’m sorry. I really didn’t think I was that long. Did anyone follow you?”

“I think so.”

“What do you mean by that?” He didn’t sound angry, but he wanted clarification.

“A green truck followed us out of the city, but took a left as soon as we left the outskirts. So I’m not sure if it actually was following us, or just happened to be going the same way.”

“It probably was. There’s nothing else up that road, so they must have known where you were going. Interesting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I thought you were the one who could interpret actions?” he teased. She was glad he wasn’t there to see her blush. He could make her do that so easily it would have annoyed her if she thought about it more.

“Body language. Now, I tried reading what the truck was trying to tell me, but it was rather hard.”

He laughed, conceding the point. “Okay, okay. It was them though, I wouldn’t doubt that.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“They turned off because there’s nothing else up that road except the mansion. They would have had to come all the way up to it if they didn’t turn.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know that,” she said somewhat tartly. “I’ve only been in town a few weeks.”

“That’s true,” he admitted.

“So, when do I get to see you again?” Caia closed her eyes and cursed under her breath. “When do we meet up to go over our next steps, I mean?”

“I actually have a lead. Different approach, but I have a hunch it may all be related.”

Caia nodded, waiting for him to continue until she realized she was on the phone and he couldn’t see her.

Idiot. Too busy daydreaming about his bulging arms and broad chest, aren’t you?

She couldn’t fault herself, he
was
a gorgeous specimen of the male species.

“Okay, what is it?”

“Evan Mosier has apparently been acting really weird, and has been seen with the Sapphires. I think we should look into it, maybe tail him, and see what he’s up to.”

Caia racked her brain, but couldn’t put a name to the face. “The name sounds familiar. Why does it sound familiar?”

“He was the primary shifter involved in the first incident, between the Amethyst and Onyx crews, the—”

Caia interrupted him as she remembered who he was. “The Alpha of the Onyx crew at the time. Now he’s a member of the Jade Crew, right?”

“Exactly. He’s their second, to be exact, though I’m not sure how that happened.”

“If I had to hazard a guess, it’s because of what you guys did.”

“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, sounding somewhat defensive.

“Well, let’s see. You took the remnants of two crews who hated each other and stuck them together as a brand new crew. You also stripped an Alpha of his status, and forced him to serve under someone else. A new Alpha. One who had no memories of who he was and no experience as an Alpha either.”

Gabriel didn’t say anything so she continued, outlining her logic. “So, here he is, in a place he doesn’t know, trying to do a job he has never done before, and there’s a bitter ex-Alpha right there. Of course he’s not going to stop him from asserting himself as second of the crew. He probably needed his help at the start.”

“That’s some pretty sound logic. I’m not sure if that’s how it actually went down, but it would certainly make sense. Either way though, it’s not working out any longer now that Garrett has established himself as the Ridgeback Alpha. And a good one at that.”

There was a note of respect in Gabriel’s voice, one she hadn’t heard very much from him. She wasn’t sure if it was directed at her, or Garrett, or both. After a moment’s thought, she decided on the latter. She was trying hard to make an impression on Gabriel and by extension the Kedyn brothers as well. She needed this job.

Which means you can’t let yourself get too close to him.

“So, I’m thinking we’ll meet tomorrow evening.”

“Sounds good. I have some paperwork to catch up on anyway,” she agreed.

“Excellent. Meet me at Shift on Main
for seven thirty, okay? And dress nicely, it’s a classy place.”

Caia froze. Shift on Main. She had heard of it. It
was
a fancy place. A very fancy one, in fact. One that you didn’t go to for dinner meetings. It was where people in town took dates. There was no other high-end establishment in town, so everyone knew of it.

“Uh, Gabriel. Listen. I don’t know if—”

“Nonsense. It’s the perfect place for a business meeting. They’ve got a private room. I’ll get it reserved for us so we can talk without being bothered.”

Private room? This just keeps getting better and better!

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea,” she told him, though her heart was definitely not as against the idea as her brain was.

“It’ll be fine. All business. Trust me.”

Caia sighed, giving up. It really wasn’t in her to fight the idea. “Fine, I’ll be there.”

Besides, she liked the way he looked at her when she dressed for work. It was a mixture of appreciation for the effort she put into it, and something else. Something far more raw, and primal, filled with hunger and desire. Gabriel did his best to keep it hidden and tucked away, but she could still see it from time to time, and it made her shiver at the thought of finding herself alone and at his mercy.

Part of her very much wanted to find out how he would look at her if she dressed up for him. Would he be able to contain that animalistic hunger, or would his eyes feast upon her, sending her wild with desire?

Caia took a deep, shuddering breath as she envisioned several different scenarios of what might happen, each of which ended with an explosion of pleasure. Pleasure that she knew she would have to deny herself, both for his sake and hers. Both of them would find themselves in extreme jeopardy if they got involved. It would be worse for Gabriel, because he would find himself at the mercy of the Kedyns, and they didn’t take it very well when a shifter broke the rules in Genesis Valley.

Caia would simply be dismissed from service, but if it was bad enough, Gabriel could find himself on the courtyard out behind of the mansion, which is where Caia knew they ended any shifter deemed unreliable. She shook her head, snatching herself from the increasingly morose path her thoughts were heading down. She had work to do. Work that while not overly fun, was at least a little less depressing.

If she had to daydream, she would come up with various outfits to wear for the next day, and picture Gabriel’s reaction to them. Now that sounded a lot more fun, especially if she wore the–

The black multi-line phone on her desk buzzed and Marcus’s voice sounded, asking her to come into his office.

“Right away Mr. Kedyn,” she said, stabbing her finger to end the connection before she sighed with frustration. Couldn’t a girl be allowed just a minute to fantasize around here?

The leather chair under her rolled back easily as she rose. The door to his office was behind her and to the right, allowing her desk to be interposed between anyone who entered from the main offices of the mansion into her room. The only other door in or out of Marcus’s office led into private areas of the mansion where she wasn’t allowed. So if anyone wanted to see him, they had to go through her.

Marcus’s desk was situated in the middle of the room, facing the door she had just entered, positioned in the center wall. Her legs worked quickly to bring herself across the floor, stopping smartly in front of his huge, arcing desk. Despite the hulking size of the wooden behemoth, it always seemed cluttered and covered in paperwork.

Right now, however, everything had been pushed to the side to make room for the folder he held in his hand.

“What can I do for you?” she asked politely, though her attention was focused on the folder and its contents.

The parts of your attention that aren’t focused on Gabriel, you mean. On what you picture he’s going to look like tomorrow. Is he going to wear a suit? I think he would look good in a suit.

Marcus was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m sorry sir,” she said, flushing bright red as she realized he was waiting for an answer to a question she hadn’t even heard. “Could you please repeat that?”

“Everything okay Caia?”

“Yes sir, sorry sir.”

She had completely blanked out on her boss speaking, all because of the good-looking shifter who happened to be her partner! How embarrassing. Caia just wanted to run into a closet and hide until the day was over. But she couldn’t. The part of her that refused to give up and hated being defeated rose up, overwhelming her initial urge to flee the room.

Caia straightened, focusing in on Marcus as he looked up, as if evaluating her.

“Very well then. I asked how your little excursion went this morning.”

“Rather less productive than we had hoped, unfortunately.”

She wondered just how much Marcus knew about what had happened. Was she about to get reamed out for simply showing up at the Sapphire apartments?

“Do you know why I assigned you to be Gabriel’s partner on this?” There was a dangerous undertone to Marcus’s voice that she didn’t like.

Any doubt as to whether he knew the exact goings-on from earlier that day were erased from her mind as he slowly flipped open the folder in front of her. It showed the destruction of the lobby that had occurred when Gabriel had “taught his lesson” to the Sapphire who had been on lookout duty.

“Because you valued my insight and body-language analysis sir?”

His black eyebrows narrowed dangerously, and she couldn’t help but think that made the long angry scar on his face stand out even more.

“I paired the two of you together because I knew that Gabriel could get a bit straightforward at times, and I was relying on you to be somewhat more subtle. This,” he gestured at the smashed glass and broken walls, “is exactly the opposite of what I wanted to see from you. What the hell happened?”

Great. Now she would have to defend the man who had just angered her boss, all while pretending that she didn’t find Gabriel utterly desirable. Perfect.

“The man in the lobby was warned, Mr. Kedyn. Gabriel made it very clear that he was not to communicate with Ben that we were present. But he disobeyed that, so Gabriel was forced to follow through with his promise.”

“Do you have any idea how much damage those two bears caused? Fighting indoors in animal form is not exactly conducive to our pocketbooks. It’s one thing if they brawl outdoors and nothing but the ground gets damaged. But this, this has to be fixed! Next time control that beast Miss Rowan, or I’ll find someone who can!”

Caia blinked in confusion.

“What, is there something you don’t understand?”

“Yes sir,” she said, ignoring the dripping sarcasm. Marcus was clearly in a foul mood over something else, because he had never addressed her in such a tone before. Or anyone, at least for the few weeks that she’d been around. “You said
two
bears.”

“I did. Gabriel and this other one, Morgan, I think his name was.”

“Sir, Gabriel never changed into his bear. He didn’t even consider it. The other shifter panicked, and in an attempt to overpower Gabriel I suppose, he shifted. But, as much as I don’t want to defend him any more than I already have, Gabriel didn’t do anything wrong. He was perfectly content to beat the other man in his human form, without resorting to shifting. Even when the Sapphire shifted, Gabriel didn’t.”

The scathing retort she knew had been ready died on Marcus’s lips as she explained what had happened.

“You’re positive?” he asked sharply. There was still anger in his voice, but she could sense that it was no longer directed entirely at her.

“Yes sir. I watched it all happen from start to finish. I never thought that a human, even a bear shifter in human form, could take out such a huge animal. But Gabriel did it with such ease. It’s kind of scary, knowing how proficient he is.”

Caia stopped short of asking the question she was dying to know.

Why did Gabriel have the training and skills to be so deadly? What was his normal job that he required that knowledge and experience?

It chilled her to the core. The only reason that she could come up with for Marcus to need someone like Gabriel around was either as an assassin or a bodyguard. Gabriel had too much life in his eyes, however, which made her think he was a bodyguard. But he did not spend much time around Marcus or Valen.