Bearly Alive: A Crimson Hollow Novella

by Marissa Dobson

The front door opened and Liam’s scent drifted toward Jase, followed by some of the other trusted members of the team. “Jase?”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.” He grabbed his jeans and boxers from the floor and slid them on. “In the closet, you’ll find some clothes for you. Ginger forced the guys to stop so she could get some things for you as well. Once you’re feeling better, we’ll go get anything else you and Billy need. If there’s anything missing that you need now let me know and I’ll have someone get it for you.”

  “You think of everything.” With a nod, she disappeared into the walk-in closet.

  “I can’t take credit for that—it was all Ginger. I’d have kept you naked if I had a choice.” He tugged on his boots and laced them up, smiling to himself.

  “There’s too much to be done. We can’t be spending all of our time naked in bed together.” She came back into the bedroom wearing a pair of jeans that hugged her curves and a sweater in hand. “But I’m pretty sure we can make time for it.”

  “Trust me, baby, we’ll make time for it. I can be a grumpy bear if my needs aren’t met.” He went to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her tight against his body.

  “What about my needs?”

  “Those are first on my priority list. You’re going to be a very happy and satisfied mate.” He pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss before stepping back. “This meeting shouldn’t take long but if you’re not up for it, I understand.”

  “I’m fine.” She slipped the deep forest green sweater over her head and ran her hand through her hair, fluffing it the best she could. “I’m your mate and it’s time I help where I can. Plus, I want to know if they’ve found anything new. The Saviors need to be stopped.”

  “Let’s do this.” He slipped his hand into hers and headed down the steps to where everyone was waiting for them. They had barely reached the bottom of the stairs when they were met with commotion from the dining room, which also acted as their meeting space.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Noah snapped.

  “Hear me out…” Karri begged.

  “Lovers’ quarrels need to be handled before you come here.” Jase and Becky entered the room to find Noah and Karri squared off, while Liam, Sin, Garret, and Roger were already seated at the table. “We’re about to have a meeting here so Noah if you need to deal with this now, take it outside. We’ve got bigger problems to worry about than your mating struggles.”

  “Jase,” Becky hissed, squeezing his hand.

  With a glance in her direction, he realized she thought he was being insensitive. Maybe he was but his team knew this wasn’t the place for things like couples’ disagreements. If there was an issue he could help with, then his door was always open but most times, newly mated couples had quarrels over minor issues that could be worked out between themselves. Right now, they had a bigger problem to deal with—The Saviors.

  “Sir…” Karri stumbled over her words as Jase eyed her. Everyone knew he didn’t like to be called sir. It might have been out of respect but it only served as a reminder that every single member of the tribe was relying on him.

  “Karri,” Noah growled in warning.

  She didn’t even look at him; instead, she kept her attention on Jase. “I’m sorry and while Noah disagrees, I need to speak up. I need to make this right. Please—”

  “Why doesn’t everyone sit down and we can bring Jase and Becky up to speed?” Sin suggested before glancing at Karri. “Once he knows what we’ve found, you can tell him your suggestion.”

  “Our suggestion.” Arlene stepped into the room from the living area. “I apologize for intruding but I knew Karri would go against Noah’s wishes and speak with Jase. My sister is hardheaded but this won’t work without me.”

  Jase’s gaze narrowed in on Noah as he wondered just how much the Captain of Sin’s guards had told her. Arlene was human with no connection to the tribe except through her sister Karri. Jase had opened the tribe to her after she’d brought them information concerning The Saviors but he wasn’t about to trust her with the same information the team had. She was barely eighteen and without being mated to one of his members, there was no way to ensure her loyalty.

  “Nothing, Jase, I swear,” Noah told him as if reading his thoughts.

  “It’s my fault.” Karri took a step to the side, so that she was in front of her mate. “You approved me to assist him in whatever way I could. He had me following up on leads. That’s when I found out that Pat Guttenburg was responsible. I was arguing with Noah when Arlene came down and overheard us. In my anger, confidential information was leaked and for that, I apologize. I accept responsibility and whatever punishment you feel is necessary, but leave Noah out of this. He worked too hard to gain his position here; don’t take it away because of my negligence.”

  “Karri.” Noah stepped up behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

  “This topic isn’t closed but we’ll deal with this later. Now tell me who Pat Gutternburg is and what you’ve found.” Jase led Becky over to the head of the table and pulled out the chair for her. After she sat down, he grabbed another one, pulled it alongside hers, and sat.

  “What about her?” Sin nodded toward Arlene who was standing in the entryway leading from the living room.

  “Seems that she already knows about this part so I guess let her stay.” He turned to face the young girl. “Anything you learned in Noah’s house or here needs to be kept in the strictest confidence. You cannot discuss any of it with anyone outside of this room and even if brought up in conversation with one of us, it needs to be done in private, where no one can overhear you. If you don’t take this seriously, it will put all our lives in jeopardy. Do you understand?”

  “I’m not stupid. I know what’s at risk.” Arlene crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Arlene,” Karri snapped at her sister’s rude tone.

  Jase let go of his mate’s hand and rose from the table to stand in front of the young girl. “Listen to me, Arlene. I might not be your Chief, but I still demand your respect. My tribe put themselves on the line by bringing you into our home. We protect you—”

  “Because I brought information to you,” she snapped. “Evidence that kept Karri alive when people put a bounty on her head.”

  “Those people…you mean your parents.” He paused briefly to let that sink in. “Yes, you brought us information that your parents and other members of your hometown were aiding The Saviors. Those same people demand for Karri to be killed because she was friends with Kat and her shifter boyfriend. The people you considered family and friends would have done the same to you as soon as they learned you were passing information to shifters about their activities. That’s why some of The Saviors’ planned attacks were unsuccessful. Do you not think that after the attack in the woods, that you claim you didn’t know about beforehand, they would have become suspicious? Other attacks you did know about turned out to be a failure but this one was successful. Seems to me it wouldn’t have taken long for them to figure out you were leaking information. So how long before you had a bounty on your head?”

  “I…” She shook her head, unsure what to say.

  “Fine, I’ll tell you then. The Saviors had a bounty on your head the minute the attack in the woods was over. Kaden found your name on the discussion board. They wanted you dead because they suspected you were betraying them. How long could you have survived out there on your own?”

  “Enough.” Karri stepped away from Noah and came to Arlene’s side. “I thought you weren’t going to tell her.”

  “You knew about this and didn’t tell me!” With tears in her eyes, Arlene pulled away from her sister. “How could you?”

  “I was trying to protect you.” Karri took a step toward her sister but stopped before going any further. “I know what it’s like to realize your family turned their backs on you. That hatred toward shifters overtook the love that was supposed to be there. I didn’t want you to have to deal with that.”


  “You still never said anything when I said I would go back there. I would have gone there and told them I made a mistake by going to you and trusting shifters, that they were right. You knew they would kill me and you never said a word. Talk about betrayal.” Arlene moved toward the door but Karri caught her arm.

  “I’d have never let you go.”

  “Screw you, Karri!” Arlene stormed out of the house, leaving an eerie silence in her wake.

  Noah went to his mate and wrapped his arms around her. “She’ll come around.”

  “I’ll go talk to her.” Roger rose from the table, only to have Jase raise a hand and stop him.

  “Stay. Liam asked you here for a reason and I’d like to get down to business. You can talk to her after the meeting.” Jase came back over to the table.

  The silence stretched on for a moment before Becky slipped her hand into his and looked over at Noah. “I guess Jase and I are the only ones who don’t know who Pat Gutternburg is, so maybe we could start there.”

  “He owns a tactical supply store in the town I grew up in.” Karri took a seat at the table but wouldn’t look at Jase. “The store always seemed out of place to me. What did our small town need with something like that? Some of the men would hunt in the winter but that wasn’t enough to keep the shop afloat. It wasn’t until a few days before I left for college that I learned what he did in that backroom.”

  “Pat Gutternburg created the bombs that blew up Becky’s house.” Noah nodded to Roger who placed an e-table in front of Jase from his seat across the table. “He started supplying The Saviors with their weapons months ago and is now providing them with bombs.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Jase stared down at the information displayed on the screen. “How did we miss this?”

  “Garret and I went through every aspect of that town and found nothing about it.” Sin leaned forward, placing her forearms on the table, and watched Jase. “We only found it now thanks to our team. Kaden showed Roger how to access The Saviors’ discussion board online without them knowing we were watching them and he’s been monitoring it.”

  “There was an increase in the information on the online board so Noah asked me to help Roger,” Karri explained. “While we were digging through all of it, we found the post that mentioned the bombs for Becky’s house were ready. It didn’t say her name, just BL and the location, but it was obvious.”

  The knowledge of who’d supplied the bombs comprised a big part of bringing down the bastards who had hurt his mate. Jase wanted to jump in his truck and go after Pat Gutternburg but he couldn’t. They needed a plan. It would be easy to turn this information over to the police and allow them to handle things, but it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying. My mate, my responsibility.

  Chapter Nine

  All the information hit Becky like a freight train, overwhelming her, but the one thing she could make out through all of it was Jase’s rage. He wanted to go after Pat and anyone else they could link to the attack on her. She knew he wanted to do it for her, to protect her and Billy, but she was terrified of losing him. She’d rather direct the focus to the ones who’d carried out the crime. “Do we know who received the bombs?”

  “Polo Gutternburg, Pat’s brother.” Roger nodded toward the e-tablet that was still in Jase’s hands. “Second tab is an image of both brothers. The one on the left is Pat and the other is Polo.”

  “Is he one of the two the police arrested? Has he rolled on his brother, Pat?” Becky stared down at the pictures, taking in the two siblings in it.

  “That was what I didn’t understand at first.” Roger shook his head. “The two in custody haven’t mentioned either of the Gutternburg brothers. I figured these two were fall guys and The Saviors must still need the brothers for other plans. The nagging question was, how did your neighbor miss Polo?”

  “Are you sure he was even there?” Jase asked.

  “The discussion board has a post from him, describing things. If he wasn’t there when the bombs were planted, he was there sometime. He knew too many details about the house, which he wouldn’t have known unless he was inside. Still, I couldn’t let it go, so I dug deeper. Turn to the next image; you’ll see proof he was there.” Roger nodded to the tablet. “He coordinated planting the bombs with the two guys already in police custody. Your neighbor and the police both missed him because he came in a different way, parking several blocks away, and using the alley as cover.”

  “Jase, I know you’re going to make your move on them. To drain their financial accounts so they cannot support The Saviors is not sufficient any longer.” Karri let out a deep breath. “I request to be part of it. These are people I’ve known my whole life. They betrayed me and Arlene, and they’ve come after the people I care about above all. I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

  “We’ve already talked about this, Karri; it’s out of the question,” Noah growled. “I will not have you putting your life on the line.”

  “But it’s okay for you?” she snapped.

  “Stop it, both of you.” Becky pushed back her chair and stood. “These people are dangerous and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. There’s got to be another way. Can the authorities do anything to stop The Saviors?”

  “With pressure from Brett, they’ve been working on it but there’s only so much they can do until the laws are changed,” Garret told her.

  “You’re right, Karri. We’re going after them.” Jase took his mate’s hand in his. “I’m going to ensure you and Billy are safe and that what happened to you doesn’t happen to someone else.”

  What if something happens to you? Fear coursed through her but she couldn’t voice her uncertainties before he turned back to the team.

  “I want you to gather everything you can on every resident of that town, especially Pat and Polo. See if you can pinpoint where the key supporters of The Saviors will be tomorrow evening. We’ll meet back here at eight tomorrow morning to put together a plan of attack. Tomorrow night this town will be all but a memory.” He glanced at Karri before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I truly am, but they’ve left us no other course of action.”

  “Let me go with you,” she begged.

  “No.” There was no wavering in Jase’s tone. “Sin, Becky, before either of you get any ideas, you’re staying, too.”

  “Then so are you.” Sin shot up and slammed her hands down onto the table. “I’m tired of you rushing out there to deal with whatever comes up. You’re the Chief here and you have a duty to this tribe, which means you can’t keep risking yourself.”

  “I agree.” Becky turned in her seat to face Jase. “I don’t want you doing this for me. If you really want to do something for me, stay here. We’re about to begin our lives together; don’t rip that time away from us before we even get started.”

  “I can’t.” He cupped the side of her face. “Baby, please understand, I have to do this.”

  “That’s what you always say,” Sin argued.

  “I’ll make you a promise.” He lifted his gaze to eye his sister—the tribe’s Deputy—before finishing. “After this, I’ll stay here and allow the others to do their job. This time it’s personal.”

  Becky didn’t know what to say, but she couldn’t sit there any longer. She needed to get out of the room and allow herself time to process all of the madness. Shifter life was dangerous enough without Jase risking himself to extract revenge. She didn’t want or need it. What she desired was a quiet life for her and Billy.

  “I need some air.” She stepped behind his chair and headed toward the front door. As she wrapped her hand around the handle, the door came open, someone pushed it toward her and she was forced to step back. “Ahh!”

  “Jase.” A man stepped into the house before his gaze landed on her. “Becky…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Brett—Brett Oaks. Is Jase here?”

  “Kitchen.”

  “What’s going on?” Jase stepped up behind them. “Brett, what are you doing here
?”

  “Arlene took off. She said she had things to take care of and you knew about it. The guards at the gate didn’t stop her. I only found out because I caught her scent at the gate while I was out doing rounds and asked them about it.”

  “We’ve got to go after her!” Karri turned to Noah. “She’ll go home and get herself killed if we don’t find her first.”

  “Roger.” Jase spun back around to look at him. “Go with Brett; follow the scent. Find her before she can do anything stupid. If you haven’t found her in thirty minutes, stay on the trail but give me a call.” Roger nodded and then headed for the door with Brett.

  “I’m going, too.” Noah pressed his lips to Karri’s forehead. “Don’t worry, I’ll find her.”

  Jase shook his head. “No, you’re going to suit up. They’ve got thirty minutes to find her. If they don’t, we won’t be able to wait until tomorrow night. We’ll have to take care of this tonight.”

  “I need—” Noah’s tone and ridged body warned Jase that he was going to argue.

  “I already told you what you need to do. Now go.” He turned away to find Sin behind him. “Sin, I need you to find Kaden. I want financial proof the bombs were purchased from Gutternburg. Then I want Karri and Arlene’s parents’ account drained. Make it look like they sent it all to The Saviors. Put the funds in the account that Kaden started last time for the sisters. They can do what they want with the money. Obviously, our last warning wasn’t enough so hopefully this will make things clear for them. I want to know if there’s been any further financial payments to The Saviors from anyone else in that town. When this is over we’ll give the financial information to the police, including all evidence gathered of the multi-business fraud that they’re part of, and let them deal with it. Give a little, take a little. But first we’re going to deal with Pat and Polo Gutternburg. We’re going to bring them down, every single one of them.”

  As Becky stood there listening to Jase, she wanted to applaud what he said because she knew what he meant by bringing them down. He wanted them dead. These were human beings and yet she couldn’t feel anything more for them than she would feel if she’d stepped on an ant. Had she lost her humanity? No, it wasn’t she that had lost her empathy; it was them. They chose to attack shifters because they were different. How long had they thought shifters would just sit back and take it all without doing something? Now, shifters were fighting back and the humans responsible for the threat to them were becoming the hunted. How could she feel sorry when they were getting exactly what they had done to shifters?