Bear Claw (3 page)

“Like we would actually agree to register so they can
police
us,” Zak replied.

“You never know, man,” Cody said. “With all the trouble the Church is causing, it’s possible they might get away with it.”

“I spoke to Kurt with the wolf council. They have trouble down in Texas. He’s there trying to get more on one of the divisions, but he did say there was no way that the shifter leaders would agree to it,” Jamie said.

“Better not,” Zak stated firmly.

The door to the bar opened, and Jamie glanced up to see Aubrey stepping inside. She was a confident woman. He enjoyed watching her as she searched the room for them. He wasn’t attracted to her in a sexual way. He liked her type of woman—sweet and kind while still powerful and tough.

She grinned once she spotted them. Jamie lifted his hand in a wave.

Next to him, Cody sighed. Jamie glanced at his buddy, who sat with a sappy look on his face as his mate strolled toward him.

Zak leaned close to Jamie and whispered loudly, “Whipped.”

Jamie chuckled then had to pull away from Cody, who once again tried to smack Zak. Aubrey was almost to their table. A large, overweight man stood and blocked her path.

He couldn’t hear what was said over the noise in the bar but the smile fell from Aubrey’s face.

Standing, he slammed his mug down, ready to defend his friend. Cody wrapped his hand around Jaime’s wrist.

Confused, he looked down at Cody.

“Don’t worry about it,” Cody told him.

“But…” Jamie glanced back to Aubrey standing with her hands on her hips.

“Dude, if you take away her fun, she’ll beat your ass as soon as she finishes with that moron.”

Jamie sat down but kept his gaze on the scene. All three of them grunted as Aubrey shot her hand out and grasped the troublemaker’s package.

He squeaked as she leaned close and spoke into his ear.

Damn, Jamie wished he could have heard what Aubrey had said that caused the man to pull away roughly and hightail it for the door.

For her part, Aubrey didn’t even look after him. She merely wiped her hands on her black slacks and continued their way.

“Hey, baby,” Cody greeted once she reached them.

“Hi, handsome,” she said cheerfully then dropped into his lap.

Cody wrapped his arms around her waist as she picked up his beer and took a long drink.

She set the mug down. “Jamie, Zak, how are you guys?”

The four of them talked and exchanged laughs until Cody stood to get another round.

“I got to hit the head,” Zak said then left with Cody.

Aubrey turned to him with mischief on her face, and Jamie wanted to groan. There was no telling what trouble she was going to get him in.

“What?”

“Well.” She laughed, looking toward the bar. Then she moved her chair closer.

“Am I going to need bail money?” he asked, only half-joking.

“Nah.” She waved him off. “You know Cody’s birthday is coming up.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I want to throw him a surprise party,” she confided.

Well, that wasn’t bad. A party shouldn’t get him into too big of a mess. “Okay.”

“Except he specifically told me not to. Last night he called his parents and demanded they forget about his birthday.”

“And?”

“So I want to have it next weekend when he least expects it. He’ll be off call for the entire weekend. I swear, he fixed the schedule so he would have to be available for the Coalition on his birthday.”

That did sound like Cody. “What do you need from me?”

“You’re going to get him to the party,” she said then smiled widely.

Now he knew why she was looking like the cat that had swallowed the canary. “What do I get out of it? Cody’s my best friend. A betrayal like that could really hurt our friendship.”

Aubrey frowned and tilted her head, trying to figure out if he was serious.

He held back his laughter as long as he could.

“Asshole.” She smacked his shoulder.

“Ow! Don’t hit me if you want my help.”

“Help with what?” Cody asked, coming up behind them.

Aubrey glanced over at Jamie quickly. “My case,” she lied.

“Oh.” Cody nodded and passed around their fresh drinks.

“No shots?” Jamie asked then stuck out his bottom lip in a practiced pout.

“Screw you, man,” Cody griped. “I am not doing shots with you again.”

Picking up his full beer, Jamie only shook his head. “Not my fault you can’t hold your liquor.”

Cody narrowed his eyes just like Jamie had expected he would.

“I am not carrying you two out of the bar again,” Zak said, joining them again. “
No
shots.”

“Man,” Jamie whined. “You guys are no fun.”

Everyone laughed, and they drank for a couple of minutes until Aubrey turned back to him.

“I do need to talk to you about this last case I got,” she said.

“Sure, I’m all ears.”

Aubrey laid out the information and details of the case in a clear-cut and professional manner. Jamie could see why she made such a great investigator. She didn’t miss the little things.

He noticed both Cody and Zak leaning forward and listening intently too.

Two teenage boys who, for some unknown reason, had run away from the reservation, couldn’t be found. Their clothes were gone along with some personal effects that they wouldn’t have left behind. Their families had both insisted that the two young men would never have run off.

And they’d left two weeks apart from each another.

“So the parents say they didn’t run,” Jamie commented. “What do you think?”

“To be honest, it looks like they really did run,” Aubrey admitted. “But they were good kids who had no reason to do so. They seemed happy and I can’t find a single person that they told they were leaving. They disappeared.”

“No clue on where they could have gone?” Zak questioned.

“None, the parents let us go through their rooms and computers. We talked to their friends and family. I’m getting nowhere fast.”

Jamie had to squash the spark of jealously as Cody rubbed Aubrey’s neck in a show of intimacy.

“You’ll figure it out,” Cody assured her.

“There’s more,” she said, her gaze going back to Jamie’s.

His gut clenched and he wasn’t sure why. “What?”

Aubrey blew out a long sigh. “They are bear shifters.”

The words reached him then understanding dawned. He sucked in a breath. “What kind?”

“Grizzly.”

“Shit.” Jamie sat back. The grizzly shifter was the most aggressive of all the bear society. “Are they through their first transformation?”

“Yes, and the family swears they are no danger to anyone.”

“Why didn’t they contact the Coalition?” he asked, thinking he already knew the answer.

“Are you kidding? With all the shit going on, they’re worried about the boys getting arrested or worse. They don’t really trust authority anyway, and now their paranoia is at an all-time high.”

“Yeah, our division met with some of them as we opened the Coalition, but they would barely listen to us. Since we’re founded by the government, we’re considered enemies.”

“How big is this group?” Zak questioned.

“Maybe thirty families,” Jamie replied, glancing over at Aubrey for her thoughts.

“Closer to forty now. Their numbers have grown in the last year,” she told them.

“And now two of their boys are missing,” Cody added. “If they are that fanatic it could cause a lot of problems.”

“Who came to you?” Jamie inquired.

“The sister of the second boy. She was worried after the first boy’s disappearance. They were told not to tell anyone, but after it was her brother who disappeared, she couldn’t be silenced anymore.”

“Brave girl,” Zak stated.

“Yeah, she attends the university and knows more about the boys than the parents do. Sadly, she also doesn’t believe they would run. Both were seniors in high school. Smart and popular. Happy. Sophia said if her brother had had any issues, he would have gone to her.”

“I’ll see if I can find any matching cases in the morning,” Jamie suggested.

Immediately, Aubrey perked up. “That would be great.”

The conversation changed to lighter areas, but Jamie couldn’t quit thinking about the case. He had been a little older than they were when he’d been kicked out.

It was hard to make it at that age. Without any kind of street sense, they could be seriously injured, if not killed. The fact that they were also grizzly shifters was a cause for concern.

Like the natural grizzly bear, the shifters were the most aggressive and dangerous of all species. It was why his team had tried to contact the group. He’d never known other bear shifter units like that and had been curious. But he and his unit hadn’t been welcomed.

When talk went from the last movie Cody and Aubrey had seen to Cody’s search for a new house, Jamie chugged the remainder of his beer and stood.

“I’m going to get out of here,” he told the others. “There are still a few things that I want to do. I go back to work tomorrow.”

He received a hug from Aubrey, a handshake from Cody, and a back slap was gifted to him from Zak. As he left the table and passed by a small group of women, he noticed the silence that fell. Glancing over, he raised an eyebrow as the women openly ogled him.

“Hey there, sexy,” one slurred at him.

“Ladies.” He nodded politely but didn’t stop. A few years ago, he would have pulled up a chair and seen how many he could get to go home with him. But he’d long ago grown out of that kind of behavior.

It was cooler out in the parking lot. He stopped beside his bike and simply breathed. While he loved his friends, he was lonely. Ever since Cody had found Aubrey, the loneliness had been growing stronger in Jamie.

Jamie wanted what they had. An equal partnership with someone who would love him. Not another one-night stand full of hot sex. Was it too much to ask to find a woman who wanted to curl up on the couch and watch the classics?

Sure, he came off as brash and loud, but he wanted someone who would look deeper than merely the surface.

As Brandy had during his first visit to the library.

She never made fun of him for his reading choices or questioned the fact that he enjoyed a variety of genres.

Brandy was who he was looking for. So even though he didn’t believe he stood a chance of catching her, maybe he should try? If she turned him down, hopefully they could still remain friendly.

What did he have to lose? She would probably laugh in his face but Jamie wanted to be part of those sickly sweet pairs who everyone else teased.

He wanted Cody to tease him and Zak to crack jokes about him being whipped.

Mind made up, Jamie straddled his Harley and stuck the key in the ignition. The bike came to life and the old familiar rumble soothed his soul.

He was going to do it. Maybe Aubrey would help him come up with a good plan to sweep Brandy off her feet.

Pleased, Jamie took off out of the parking lot toward home. He had a new erotic romance novel that he could settle in and read. He was looking forward to finding out what trouble Drake would find himself in this time.

And if he jerked off to the steamy scenes between Drake and his on-and-off-again lover, no one needed to know, did they?

Chapter Three

Jamie knew he should set the paperback down and go to sleep. It was past midnight and he had a lot to do once he reached the office in the morning. But he couldn’t stop in the middle of one of the best novels he’d ever read.

The main character Drake had finally met a woman who was his match in every way. The heroine was hiding a big secret and Drake was determined to find out what it was. She gave her body to him but held back her heart.

Jamie was so intrigued by the plot that he
had
to find out what was going to happen. The author Lynn Cummins had penned a story that he had the privilege of losing himself in.

The fact that the author wrote hot, steamy sex scenes was really just a bonus. Currently, Drake and the woman Anna were locked in a broom closet together. As Drake moved to pin Anna to the wall, Jamie reached down and palmed his half-hard cock.

Continuing to devour the story, he slowly jacked himself. Fuck, the way the scene was written and the image it created in his mind, he could easily replace the characters with himself and Brandy.

Picturing the two of them was enough for him to finally drop the book and close his eyes. With his free hand, Jamie cupped his balls and rolled them gently. Thrusting up into his hand, he pumped his hips frantically.

He imagined Brandy’s mouth wrapped around his hard dick, his hands threaded into the silky strands of her blonde hair as he slowly fed her his cock.

Fuck!
That thought almost sent him over the edge.

If visualizing sex between him and Brandy was this intense, he didn’t know if he would survive the real thing. Speeding up his motions, Jamie was so desperate for release his hips left the bed and he thrust repeatedly through his closed palm.

Damn, it was so erotic visualizing it as he took Brandy fast and hard. After a few more erratic thrusts, he spilled over his knuckles and up his arm.

Collapsing onto his mattress, he panted, grinning. Yes, he would make his move soon. There would be no more waiting. He was determined to claim Brandy as his own.

First, he would need to make sure that she was going to be able to accept his other half. He didn’t know if that was something she would be able to deal with. And it would be the biggest obstacle for them to overcome.

The fact that he could shift into a big, furry bear might be too much for sweet Brandy to handle. Jamie hoped not, though. He’d gotten to know her pretty well, so he didn’t think she was one of the people who called him unnatural or wanted him collared.

No, he was counting on Brandy being open to mating with a shifter. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—change who he was on the inside.

Too many shifters still lived in fear of being found out. The ones who were open to others were finding it wasn’t as easy as everyone had hoped.

Only time would tell, though.