Private Release

Officer Banks is good. She may no longer be a member of the RCMP, but she’s a great forensic investigator. One of the best,
Gordon had emailed. Jared hated the fact he had to bring in outside help to clear up the mess in which his father’s clan was involved.

Correction. His clan. He was chief now and responsible for every soul who was part of it.

Death, destruction and despair were all that was left of his family’s
Mukswa
clan. Levi, in his quest for power, had destroyed everything.

Sheridan offered to stay after she was joined with Gordon, but she was newly mated to the right male, and carried an heir to a tribe older than his. This was no place for her.

Jared had more than his work cut out for him, and even though he wasn’t fully healed since Levi’s demise at the hands of his new brother-in-law, he still did more than their tribal doctors recommended.

Jared scrubbed his hands over his face and then moved away from his computer. He caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. God, the elders were right. He looked like shit. He survived his ordeal, but he was worried his clan wouldn’t survive its wounds. The clan bore scars that ran deep.

He pushed his rolling chair away from the desk where he had spent the last
several
hours going over the drained bank accounts. Levi had hidden the money, but who the fuck knew where.

Jared wandered out to the balcony of his parents’—now his—penthouse suite. Below him other luxurious apartments housed the rest of his clan, or what remained of it.

He leaned on the railing. The lights of downtown Winnipeg glittered against the skyline and reflected in the dark waters where the Assiniboine River met the Red and continued to meander through the city. It was like a picture-perfect postcard.

Though below him was far from perfect. Next to the financial statements was a list of missing clanspeople.

A few were young women, like Sheridan, and Jared couldn’t even fathom what Levi had done with them. He had an inkling and it tore at his heart.

Some leader you were.

It was in moments like these that he yearned to be back in his bear form, wandering high up in the muskeg of Manitoba’s north, swimming from floe to floe in Hudson Bay. Only since he’d been shot he hadn’t been able to shift and the bear inside him was growing restless. As if on cue his wound throbbed. He rolled his shoulder and cursed under his breath. Pent-up energy swirled around inside him as fierce as a winter storm.

Restlessness wasn’t the only thing stirring in his blood. He was antsy. Fuck that, he was horny as hell.

It’d been far too long since he sought his comfort in the arms of a woman.

When his father had been chief and their clan had been prosperous he’d been a playboy, sowing his wild oats with
Mukswa
women and human women alike.

His clan was decimated, sinking into a pit of near extinction. Now was not the time to play fast and loose. He couldn’t be parading women in and out of his bedroom. He had an image of dignity and pride to uphold.

He was the chief.

Already the elders were pushing him to choose someone, a mate to bring him an heir, but that thought didn’t appeal to him in the least.

It’s your duty.

His own dearly departed parents had an arranged mating and were, for the most part, happy.

At least they
seemed
happy.

But then there was Sheridan who married for love, who was attracted to her mate. And Gordon was enraptured and totally devoted to Sheridan. Jared wanted that. Why couldn’t he have
that
?

You know why.

He didn’t have time to search for a mate and have his heir. Members of Levi’s gang were still at large. He couldn’t leave his clan without a successor. The elevator, which opened straight into his suite, dinged softly.

“Chief Jared, where you at?” Étienne, his second-in-command, called out.

Jared didn’t answer. Étienne would find him. Étienne was the man who helped Sheridan escape. He had his own cross to bear in the aftermath of Levi’s evil. He heard Étienne’s heavy footfalls across the apartment, down the steps of the sunken living room and up to the landing leading out onto the terrace.

“Jared?” Étienne’s gruff voice came from behind.

“Yeah?” Jared finally answered, not turning around to look at him.

“The elders have gathered in the chambers, they’re waiting for you. Are you ready, bro?”

No.
“Yeah. I’m ready.”

He glanced at Étienne. The man looked like shit too. Levi’s thugs had messed up his face. Three long claw marks ran down his face, causing a part of his mouth to remain in a perpetual frown.

Clawing a male
Mukswa
’s face was the ultimate insult, since claws were used to mark female mates. Étienne carried what appeared to be a mate mark on his face.

“You don’t have to do this,” Étienne said. “I don’t know why you’re in such a rush—”

“Because it’s my duty. Like my father before me, I won’t shirk my duty.”

Étienne’s lips pressed together in a firm line. Jared knew he wasn’t done, but wouldn’t press any further tonight. Which was good. Jared didn’t feel like arguing tonight.

Though he did feel like fighting. The beast in him was raging.

“Perhaps you should tell them,” Étienne said, stoically.

Étienne was the only other
Mukswa
who knew of Jared’s inability to shift, because Étienne understood. Not only was his face damaged by the claws of another male, but his arms and his hands were crisscrossed with horrific scars, testament to what he endured when he lost his claws. When Étienne was tortured Levi declawed him in bear form.

He looked down at his hands. At least his claws were still intact, but he couldn’t draw them. How the hell was he supposed to protect his clan or even mark his mate for that matter without that ability?

“If I tell them they’ll strip me of my heritage. Males of my father’s family have always been chief. The line of my ancestors can’t end here.”

Étienne snorted and nodded. “Understood. If they want you to shift…”

“Tell them the bullet wound still pains me and shifting is dangerous. I don’t need to link telepathically with any of them tonight.”

“Very well. Anything else I need to know before you go in front of the council and I start guard duty?”

“A private investigator is coming to help me with tracking down the stolen funds.”

Étienne’s brow furrowed. “An outsider?”

“My brother-in-law recommended her.”

“A female?” Étienne asked in surprise.

“She isn’t like
Mukswa
females. She’s a private investigator who worked with the RCMP, but branched out on her own.”

Étienne didn’t look convinced. “You should’ve let me investigate her background.”

“My decision is final,” Jared snapped. “My judgment is sound. I am chief.”

Étienne’s black eyes glittered, but he nodded and lowered his head in deference.

Jared instantly regretted his outburst. Lately all he seemed to be doing was spouting off at random and he hated it.

A chief was supposed to be calm, cool and collected.

He was a wreck.

“Let’s get this over with,” he muttered as he pushed the button on his private elevator. He just wanted tonight to be done.

Tonight he’d let the elders choose his future mate. Perhaps then he could move on.

* * * * *

Adele couldn’t believe her luck. She had been waiting for a job like this since she had to leave the RCMP and open up her own private investigation firm.

Well, she didn’t
have
to leave the RCMP, but after her near fatal shooting over a year ago, which left her barely able to walk, a desk job didn’t appeal to her in the least.

“You’re nuts, you know that right?”

Adele turned to look at her older sister, who had dropped by for her weekly visit, which Adele both loved and loathed at the same time. Brianna had been her unofficial caretaker since her shooting. Brianna nursed her back to health when she was lying in bed for almost a year, clucking over her like a demented mother hen.

Brianna had argued with her when she decided to return to her apartment, and when she started up her private investigation firm her sister went off the deep end.

“This is a fantastic opportunity. Everyone knows Beare Enterprises is one of the most lucrative businesses. I’ll be working with their CEO Jared Stevens for several months. How can I pass up steady income?”

“Adele, you can’t handle private investigation work.”

Adele’s finger gripped the handles of her metal forearm crutches a bit tighter. “I’m not an invalid, Brianna.”

Brianna made a
tsking
sound, but didn’t respond. Adele knew what they all thought. Sure, she may have permanent femoral nerve damage, but it didn’t mean she wasn’t able to think clearly. It didn’t mean she couldn’t take care of herself, she had been living on her own again for three months.

She shuffled over to the counter and plugged the kettle in for some tea. It was then that she glanced at the wall and saw the photograph her parents had snapped the day she graduated from RCMP training. A lump formed in her throat seeing herself in her red serge and Stetson hat. Her parents beside her, so proud.

The red serge was gone and so were her parents.

“Adele, I’m sorry. I just…I just worry about you,” Brianna said as if knowing what she was thinking about. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Adele nodded and then turned to face her older sister. “You’re not going to lose me. It’s not like I’m going after some drug addicts or serial killers, I’m tracking down some missing funds. Apparently some money was misdirected by an accountant.”

Brianna cocked an eyebrow. “Still, I would feel better if you moved back in with me, Rob and the kids.”

Adele shook her head. “I’m an adult, Bri. I want to be on my own.” As if to prove her point she got the tea ready on the counter. The only thing she couldn’t do was bring it to Brianna, but she could damn well prepare it. One mug she could handle, two was too much, for now.

She was determined to regain functionality, even though her prognosis wasn’t the best.

Brianna got up and took her mug from the counter. “I guess I would feel better if—”

“Don’t you dare say that name,” Adele snapped. She didn’t want to be reminded of her ex, who left her the moment the doctors uttered the words disability and paralysis.

“I’m sorry, Del. I can’t stay around. I can’t be tied down to someone disabled.”

Just because she had nerve damage didn’t mean she’d never
feel
anything down there again. Quite the contrary in fact, but her ex-fiancé Elias didn’t stay around long enough to find out anything.