Dragon Star (A Shifter Football League Novel) (18 page)

A
new book
for Black Bear Clan fans.

Are you ready for Keith to find his mate?

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M
ia nervously twirled
her black locks as she waited in Black Bear Tavern. To be this close to bear shifters was something rare, and in a few minutes, she expected even more to pile in.

More shifters, and she was all alone.

Mia had never even met
one
bear before. Soon, she’d be meeting with a whole council. That’s why she was an exceptional bundle of nerves on this balmy autumn evening. Also, because there was a lot on the line. Her company. Her workers. Their families’ futures.

As she began to think about the pressures, someone entered. His giant shape cast a shadow over the whole bar as he approached. This new bear was gorgeous...and a little scary.

He was a tower of broad muscle, his arms capable of easily dangling Mia from the ground, and she was not one ever to be lifted up by a man. Past boyfriends had tried that act of seduction and failed miserably, but this guy looked like he could throw her over his capable shoulders and take her away without one strained breath.

He had sleek, medium length black hair. His beard was neatly trimmed, and his eyes were like warm honey that trapped her upon first glance. She had to force herself to look away, fearing that she was staring. A black t-shirt that hugged his muscular biceps, a big leather belt with a great buckle, and some dark jeans that showed his powerful, awesome thighs—all of it made Mia think this bear looked badass, and once again, frightening.

His leather boots thumped on the wood like a T-Rex approaching. She kept her stare at the bar counter where the owner of the place, a woman with wild, frizzled hair, glared back at her with unnatural silver eyes.

Usually, shifters went through the trouble of hiding. Or at least, making it difficult for humans to figure them out.

Not this guy.

He emanated unworldly power. And his eyes, while a vastly different color from the bartender’s silver ones, were just as ethereal and enchanting.

Mia peered down at her glass of iced tea. She’d do for some wine, but upon her arrival, she was told they only stocked the local Black Bear Winery, and she wasn’t sure how much of a kick that stuff would have. The last thing she needed to do was get sloppy for the most important business meeting of her life.

The shifter sat down at her table and she jumped back. Mia looked around at the empty tables, like he’d taken the wrong one.

“Oh, I’m here for a meeting,” she said softly. She hoped he wouldn’t be offended. The last thing she needed to do was to piss him off.

He placed his giant triceps onto the tabletop. He leaned in. Even sitting down, he would eclipse her if she stood up.

“Let’s start the meeting then,” he said, his voice clipped with rough tones, but still finishing smooth.

What? Where was the rest of the bear council?

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Mia asked as she tilted her feet toward the exit. This looked more like an intimidation scheme rather than a business meeting.

“You’re the person who sent us the fancy letter, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Mia said, shocked, but she still dragged her seat in. “I’m sorry. I expected more.”

The bear leaned back and threw his hands up, letting Mia feast on his glorious body. “What, this isn’t good enough for you?”

She scoffed with a snort. “No, I meant…”  

His eyes narrowed. “I know what you meant. It was a joke, unless you don’t do jokes in fancy business land?”

“Maybe we’re getting off on the wrong foot.” She didn’t want to—she thought the bear would crush her hand, but she reached and offered it to him anyway. If this was what she had to work with, she would do her best to make it work.

“My name’s Mia Marchini.”

“Too late for that, I’m afraid. I already know your name.”

With a gracious squeeze, he said, “My name’s Jax.”

After pulling away, Mia’s heart thudded in her chest, and she tried her best to focus. A sip of iced tea helped her relax a little. If he already knew who she was, Jax would probably hate her guts, and she wouldn’t blame him. Her father didn’t have the best reputation, especially when it came to keeping nature pristine and pure.

Jax tilted his head and smiled. “Never heard of me, huh?”

“I’m afraid not. This is the first I’ve come into contact with the Black Bear Clan.”

“Guess you didn’t do your research.” He leaned back, kicking up a boot. The chair screeched. She let out a little whimper.

“Look, Jax, I’m not sure who you are, but I assume you’re someone important.”

“Head alpha.”

“Head alpha. That’s important. I mean, it sounds very important. Might you be able to agree to deals that pertain to Black Bear Woods, specifically contracts involving Black Bear Park?”

“We don’t have fucking contracts. We have our word. Our word is enough.”

It was strange. It seemed like Jax avoided her eyes all of a sudden. Like he was afraid.

“Good. Then we’ll agree by word that you’ll sign my papers, because you seem like a swell enough guy.”

Mia pushed a manila folder across the table. “I'd like you to look over this contract.”

He glanced down at it with disgust. Then he shoved it back at her. “You tell me what you want. I decide if you're telling the truth. I'm not reading the papers. I want to hear it from you.” He leaned forward, meeting her gaze now, producing a shiver in Mia. But then he turned away again and folded his arms.

“All right,” she started, her voice meek but growing in confidence from necessity. “I have an offer for you and your clan. As you're well aware, my family, the Marchinis, have owned the land that you've settled on for many generations, but have let you stay there.”

Mia moved on, fearing that he would interrupt her. This wasn't even the worst part of it.

“We've had a silent agreement for a long time, but as the new owner of the Marchini company, I need to make you a different offer.”

“Is it an offer I can't refuse?” He grinned, and she smiled too, until he growled, “Continue.”

“We're not that type of business,
but this is
an offer you'd be a fool not to accept.”

He groaned. Her cheeks flared when she said that.
Okay, so that was corny
,
let me try again.

“I know you're already opposed to this idea, but please, hear me out. You know my company is involved in the logging business, so you're already skeptical of us. Bad blood between my family and your clan goes back a long time. I'd like to change that.” Mia rose in her seat. She thrust her chest high. “I'd like to offer you a chance to live, cost free, in one of our houses.”

“Our homes are fine,” he snapped.

Jax's immense size forced her to scurry back.

He leered over her and said, “Tell me what you really want. You want to kick us off our land, don't you? I'm guessing you'd like to relocate us?”

“That's not what I'm suggesting at all,” she said, shaking her head vehemently, giving him pause and a reason to sit back down. Hopefully, he wouldn't charge back up. “I would like to build the homes on land you've already settled on. They would be fabulous, two-story homes with two car garages. These are our new model homes that I'm proud of. All of your clan would live for free, on your old land, only in our homes.”

“And who else with us? Is this your plan? Is this your offer? You call this an offer...” His chest heaved, falling and rising in rapid pace. Jax gritted his teeth and turned away from her again, each word falling harshly from his gorgeous lips. “This isn't an offer. This is a joke.”

He stood up and turned his back to Mia.

“Wait, before you go, you should know the other option.”

Growling low, he spun around and glared at her.

Mia didn't like this part, but she remained focused on her alternative, telling her company that they had no future. The company that was their family's for generations would crumble, all because she couldn't come up with a solution. There was no way Mia would give up so easily.

“The other option is that I kick you out. Or you could do the smart thing and give your clan a chance. Take the offer. Let them live in the new community I'm going to build. It's free. All you have to do is say yes.”

“Agree to destroy our homes, to let you take our land? You'll never hear me agree to that.”

“Something must be done with the land. It's the perfect site for an upscale community in Vermont. Since we technically already own the land, we could do with it whatever we like.”

She took three suicidal steps until she stood next to the great bear.

“I could ask you to clear out today if I wanted to,” she whispered, a threat that she hoped she wouldn't have to follow up on.

Jax laughed. “I'd like to see you try. There's a reason why you wrote your fancy letter and decided to come here with a fancy contract, because you're too scared to ask the clan face to face.”

He leaned closer, bowing so they were eye-level. Those molten pools of honey were all consuming. His manly scent of the woods, hard labor, and leather swirled around her, breaking her confidence.

“I'm only one bear, and you're having a hard time remaining tough around me. How will it go when there’s a whole clan of us? There's a reason why your family couldn't do this before. They knew better than to piss off a clan of bears.”

He let out another growl, almost a low purr, and it reverberated in Mia long after he stepped through the door.

“You’ve got a lot to learn, little one,” he said, just before he walked outside.

Mia raced to the door. She screamed at his back. “There's two choices. Remember that. If you're not going to take the gracious one, it'll be the one where we drag you off our land!”

The bear froze.

Too far? Dragging them off the land would be her last resort, but if he made her do it, she would have no choice. Mia grabbed the doorframe to steady herself.

His monstrous shoulders tensed, his shoulder blades flexed. Through his thin shirt she watched the rippling of tendons. Jax had the body of a true predator.

He said nothing. But he did give her his response.

For the first time in her life, Mia watched someone shift. The first time seeing a shift could really wreck some non shifters due to the unnaturalness of it. Mia watched in awe and horror as he compacted, muscles and bones flipping in seconds, then his mass exploded, filling out until there was no longer a man standing before her, but a hulking, furry black bear.

Without a word or a roar, the black bear took off toward the dense forest in the distance.

Mia clutched the frame so hard she broke a nail.

“Dumb bear. Dumb, dumb, bear…”

Cursing, she walked it off, pacing in front of the Black Bear Tavern as she tried to think about what to do next. The image of a regular man changing into a bear still rattled her sense of reality, but it eventually subsided to the background of her mind.

It was a cool, crisp autumn evening in Vermont. The sun began to fall over the lush red and orange mountains, casting a warm, majestic glow. She sat down on the front step and let it all sink in.

A week into her new job as CEO, and Mia had been tasked with the impossible.

There was no doubt about it.

Jax would be a problem.

* * *

S
tupid bear
...

His bear could go to hell.

Something strange had happened to Jax during that meeting with Mia, something that he'd been hoping for years to feel, but now that it happened, he couldn’t believe it.

It couldn't be. Mia couldn’t be the one.

Yet his bear told him that this was it. Mia was his mate.

After a night of hardly sleeping, Jax fueled himself on a pot of coffee, downing the whole thing because, why not? He was a big guy. He could handle it. And he needed to get out of his head.

Work was usually the answer.

In his work outfit: rugged jeans, a t-shirt scattered with holes, and some hardy boots – he met up with the rest of the clan's bearjacks. They were gearing up at their usual meeting spot, on the crafted benches just outside of Black Bear Park at the cusp of the Big Trees, not the most creative name, but damn accurate.

“What's up, big guy?” Claude asked. He threw his head back, in effect, tossing his blond hair over his shoulders. Claude would be what they called an outlier black blear. There weren't many Black Bears that came out of the litter with a full head of blond locks.

Just don't call him Goldie Locks. While he might be one of the biggest pranksters on their bearjack crew, he hated any mention of his blond oddity, and he'd been in a lot of fights over it. Square jaw, frame like a linebacker, the man could take down a bear without even shifting.

“Ready for work,” Jax grumbled.

“He's extra growly this morning,” Claude reported to the others. “I guess we can expect to bust our ass today.”

“Uh huh,” Jax said as he passed them by, heading past the maple trees. His focus was on the job. The others lugged the equipment: the knit bags, the axes, and the saws, trying to catch up with Jax's long strides.

“I want to ask what's wrong, but at this point, I know better,” Claude muttered.

Jax tried to ignore them, but they were right on his heels. Gritting his teeth, trying his best not to produce another growl, he continued. If he kept this brooding up, they might discover that he'd met his mate...or what his bear told him was his mate. He still refused to believe it.