C.O. Bear
Justice Squad Book 4
Scarlett Grove
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Also by Scarlett Grove
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Chapter 1
Hawk Barlow threw another log on the fire, and then turned toward the window. The first falling leaves of the aspen trees flitted through the air. He loved this time of year, when the trees turned gold, orange, and yellow and the air became crisp with the promise of the harvest.
Halloween was just around the corner. Soon he would go down to the local pumpkin patch to buy a dozen pumpkins to carve for the holiday. He’d put them out on his porch and wait for the children in their princess and cowboy costumes to come knock on the door for trick-or-treats.
Hawk poked the fire and watched the sparks fly, thinking about how adorable they all were in their costumes. He longed for a family of his own. He'd been waiting so long to meet his beloved mate that sometimes he thought it would never happen.
He felt his cellphone buzz in his pocket. The same old sense of anticipation bubbled in his chest as he reached for the phone, hoping that this time it would finally be a notification from mate.com, telling him they’d found his mate.
But it wasn't.
Instead he found an encrypted text message from his superiors in Washington, prompting him that a meeting in the secret room of his house was about to commence. He took a deep breath and let it out, turning to the bookshelf on the other side of the living room.
He pulled the lever and a secret door opened. He slipped into the operations headquarters for his clandestine operation, the Justice Squad. He and his men had been working tirelessly on the hyena terrorist problem for years now.
It seemed as if every time they cut off one head of the monster, another three sprang up. It wasn't that his men weren’t doing their job. The hyenas multiplied like rabbits, using any means necessary to increase their numbers. Now, even other types of shifters were beginning to fall prey to their propaganda that promised power and prestige to all shifters who joined them.
The hyenas wanted to control the world, dominating the humans, taking over governments, and radicalizing institutions. It had been this way for twenty years. The Shifter Equality Act had promised equality for all but that wasn't enough for the hyenas.
During the Great War, shifters had done their duty for their country and had helped bring the war to a peaceful resolution. The shifters who had come out of hiding just years before had been given equal status with humans after the war, and human-shifter integration had become the norm during that post war time. But those few peaceful years had ended when the hyenas began demanding that shifters were not equal to humans. They believed they were superior.
Young female shifters had been kidnapped and forced to bear the young of males who were not their fated mates. It was a tragedy and horror for an entire generation. And Hawk and his men were doing everything they could to bring an end to the terror.
He sat at the table before a large computer screen and clicked on the remote. The image of a five-star military general appeared on the screen. Hawk stood and saluted, and General Partridge told him to sit at ease.
“We have an important mission for you and your crew, Colonel Barlow.”
“We stand prepared.”
“We have located an arms dealer in Eastern Europe who is one of the primary suppliers for US hyena terrorists. We want you to infiltrate and then raid their compound. Recover any information you can on their customers. Leave no stone unturned. Taking the gangsters into custody is preferred, but you have full immunity to take them out if necessary.”
“Yes sir,” Hawk said.
“Full intel will be uploaded into your encrypted computer now. A jet is prepared to take off from the Fate Rock military base at a twenty-four hundred hours. When you arrive in Poland, you will be stationed in a private compound near the target to complete your mission. Good luck, Colonel.”
The general saluted and the screen went blank. Hawk’s computer downloaded the mission brief and he printed it out for his men. Then he contacted each of his crewmates and told them to come down to his house immediately.
Within the hour, all his men were sitting around the table in the private mission headquarters.
“We move out tonight,” Hawk told them.
“But Stephanie is getting so close to her time,” Max Johnson objected. He was the rookie of the squad, but Hawk figured he should know that missions that required the entire crew were not negotiable.
“Darcy and Arabella will look after her,” Rider said, gripping Max’s shoulder.
“I know,” Max said. “But I don't want to miss anything.”
“This mission will only take a few days. Stephanie has a month left in her pregnancy, Max. You're being over cautious.”
“I have first-time dad jitters.”
“We are all very happy for you, Max. But you need to keep your head in the game,” Hawk said.
He couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy that the newest member of his squad had already found his mate and was expecting a child.
“Yes, sir,” Max said. “I know how important this is. We need to take down these hyenas. I don't want my daughter to come into a world where there are people like that running around kidnapping girl shifters. We need to put a stop to it for our wives, our daughters, and the future of our world.”
“That was very eloquent,” Zander said, raising an eyebrow.
Max growled.
“I suggest you return home and tell your mates you are preparing to leave. Full military gear. We meet at the military airfield at twenty-four hundred hours. You're dismissed.”
Hawk walked the guys out of the secret room and to the front door. Everyone drove away, but Zander had chosen to walk, saying he
preferred to take in the fresh air before going out on such a dangerous operation.
Hawk knew the risks of their job. And sometimes he wondered if it was fair to want to bring women and children into their lives when they went into some of the most dangerous situations possible. No matter how risky his missions, he had a duty to his people and to his country. But that would never take away his desire for a mate and a family.
Chapter 2
Elena Kroll pulled her rental car up to the front drive of her father's house. She let out a deep full-bellied sigh and tried to remember her center. “This is the last time,” she said. “The last time.”
Elena had been at an ashram in India for the last five years, studying yoga and delving deeply into spirituality. She hadn't seen her father in all that time, but she knew she had to return home one last time before moving on.
She stepped out of her rental car and into the crisp fall air of rural Poland. It was so different than the balmy intensity of southern India.
Her father's servants scurried out to greet her and snatched her suitcase out of her hand. Living as a disciple in the ashram meant that Elena had spent long hours in meditation and even longer hours doing manual chores. It was all part of the discipline. She had become accustomed to doing things for herself and for others. She was so far removed now from the girl she had once been. The daughter of a powerful gangster who was feared and hated by many.
She had made peace with her past, but she still felt the familiar downward pull on her heart when she thought of where she'd come from.
The servants moved inside as her father stepped out onto the porch of his mansion. His arms were stretched wide, and his round belly protruded from under his three button vest. He held a cigar pinched between his thumb and index finger, and his gold rings glinted in the sunshine. No matter how well he dressed, or how much opulence he surrounded himself with, it could not disguise the darkness of the soul that lay beneath.
Elena had prayed for so long that her father would change, and eventually had come to accept that he never would. Only she could change how she felt about him and the kind of father he'd been. In some ways, she was grateful for her past. It had given her the kind of perspective that had driven her deep into her spiritual practices. At least, that was what she had come to in India.
But now, standing before the man she hadn't seen in five years, the old sense of repulsion sank deep into her bones. He waddled down the stairs toward her and took her into his arms, enveloping her in a bear hug. He smelled strongly of cologne and tobacco, so harsh compared to the pure scents of incense and oils in the ashram.
“Elena, you are so thin. How do you expect to catch a man without your God-given curves,” he said in Polish.
Elena had been speaking Hindi almost exclusively for years, except when American or English yogis came to the ashram. Her native tongue felt foreign on her lips.
“We live very simply at the ashram. My body has become accustomed to it.”
She couldn't even imagine the type of man her father would want her to “catch with her curves.” She had been celibate for five years, and the touch and taste of a man had almost disappeared from memory.
But in the last year, Elena had to begun to wonder if she would ever find love or become a mother. The desire for children had become so strong that she had finally told her guru of the intrusive thoughts.
After a great deal of meditation and contemplation, she had finally decided to take his advice to leave the ashram and go out and make her way in the wide world.
Standing here with her father, who smelled of vodka and tobacco, she almost regretted her decision to return home for his birthday. But she would not be staying here for long. She planned to go meet up with an English friend she had met in the ashram to work with her at her yoga studio in London. The hustle and bustle of the city would be jarring to her senses at first, but Elena hoped that, in time, she would become accustomed to it.
“We have made a feast for your arrival. And now I see that you need to be fattened up. Cook has made lamb and pork stew.”
“We didn’t eat meat at the ashram,” she said.
“No wonder you're so skinny. Come in. We don't want you standing out in the weather for too long. It’s going to rain.”
Elena followed her father into the house, the familiar sights and smells filling her senses. The decorations were a mixture of traditional Polish architectural detail and the opulence and garish taste of a man who sold weapons to terrorists. Gold filigree clashed with hand-hewn logs. The delicate folk-art patterns beloved by her late mother were covered by leopard print tapestries.
Elena took a deep breath and let it out, following her father through the house to the dining room. She could smell the scent of traditional Polish dishes cooking, and it brought back memories of her childhood.
It hadn't all been bad. Her mother was a gentle, loving woman. But she was so traditional that she never questioned her husband’s decisions. She believed it was her duty to keep the house and the family. As she’d been a girl from an impoverished village nearby, she counted herself lucky to live in such a comfortable home with such a powerful husband.
As Elena grew up, she'd come to believe that her mother suffered from some form of delusion. She told herself her husband was just an ordinary businessman, doing good work for the community, regardless of the sounds of the bullets and screams in the night. Elena, however, had never suffered from such delusions. She'd been aware of what her father was from the time she was eight years old.
She’d come to see her mother as a sweet and innocent child and her father as exactly what he was: a murderer, a criminal, and a psychopath. No matter how many times she told herself she forgave him, she could never forget the things she'd witnessed. She'd come home to say goodbye for the last time, and to put to rest the memories of her youth.
She dipped her spoon into the stew and took a bite of lamb broth. A surge of nourishment flowed through her and she took another bite. She couldn’t believe how much she’d missed her native food. She dug into the meal with abandon.
“Good girl,” he said with a satisfied smile. “We'll get you fattened up in no time.”
“Yes, yes. I feel better already.” She might not have agreed with her father on much, but on this, maybe he was right.
After dessert, Elena escaped to her bedroom and found her things already unpacked. She sat on the bed and let out a deep sigh. She might have enjoyed the traditional Polish cooking, but she didn’t enjoy being around her father.
“What have I gotten myself into?”
She pulled off her traveling clothes and changed into a simple linen tunic and pants. She pulled the rug from the floor and began to practice her asanas, breathing deeply through the movements. She felt stronger than she had in years. Maybe it was the lamb stew. Maybe it was being in her native land. But Elena felt like her body and mind were waking up for the first time in a long time.
After an hour of yoga, she sat in meditation. Stilling her mind, she brought herself to a state of peace and acceptance. When an hour of meditation was complete, she opened her eyes. That same nagging feeling about wanting a family popped into her mind.
She took a deep breath and let it out before standing and walking to her purse. She pulled out her phone and checked her emails, hoping that Bridget, her English friend, had returned her last correspondence. She found an email from Bridget and tapped it open.
“Everything is set up and ready for you to arrive. You can stay with me until you find a place of your own. I'm so looking forward to having you here and helping me at the studio. It's going to be just like old times. I know that you will bring a whole new level to what we offer. On a side note, I just joined this shifter dating website. I know that you said you wanted to start a family, and it got me thinking about my own. I know with the hyenas that a lot of people are becoming reluctant to get involved with shifters, but I know a girl who recently found her fiancé on mate.com. She couldn't be happier. I th
ought I'd give it a try. I haven't been matched with anyone yet, but here's hoping.”
There were several emojis after that. Elena's finger hovered over the link that Bridget had sent to the dating website. She had hoped she would find her soulmate in person. She imagined their eyes would meet across a crowded room and they would just know they were meant to be together. She didn't want anything less than that kind of deep soul connection. She didn't care about anything else.
She knew from a shifter who had come to the ashram once that shifters had one special fated mate. And that their connection was like what humans called soulmates. It didn't happen often for humans, but for shifters, it was the only way. They had one true match, and most would settle for nothing else.
She clicked on the link and the site opened. As if in a dream, she went through the motions of signing up for the website, answering the questionnaire, and waiting for her matches to load. It wasn't until the pictures began to populate the screen that she realized what she just done. She'd opened herself up to something she hadn't been open to in five years.
The first picture on the screen was of a handsome young man who was an 82% match. As she scrolled down the screen, she found matches of increasing compatibility. 87%, 92%, 96%, and then at the bottom of the screen she found her 100% match.
She gasped and covered her mouth, seeing a man with eyes as blue as the sky, face raw and rugged and ready. Someone who could be the foundation upon which she could build her life.
C.O. Bear (Justice Squad Book 4) Page 1