Gauge squeezed Lola’s hand and smiled into her bright brown eyes. He adored her beyond anything he could have ever imagined and wanted to share his life in the community of shifters with his beloved mate.
Everyone on the Bear Patrol already knew Lola, but he hadn’t introduced her to the Rescue Bears and their mates yet.
Lola had been talking about going back to school and Gauge had a favor to ask Corey Bright of the Bright Institute for shifters. Lola wasn’t a shifter, but she still needed help. Maybe more than the average shifter nowadays. Gauge knew the Bright Institute was one of the best educational opportunities in the country.
Gauge saw Commander Bear Rollo and his jaguar mate Zoe Bright sitting at a picnic table in the sunshine. Zoe wore stylish sunglasses and deep red lipstick.
She smiled and waved Gauge and Lola over to their table. Zoe stood and kissed Lola on both cheeks like a European. Zoe had spent a long time overseas. He’d even heard Zoe and Zach’s mate Maisie speaking French on a few occasions.
“It’s so good to see you!” Zoe said, inviting the couple to join her and her mate Rollo. “You look amazing, Lola.”
It was true. Lola was wearing a brightly colored maxi dress that skimmed the manicured grass. She had her toenails painted pink to match her fingernails and a strappy pair of sandals. Her naturally curly hair was arranged in tight ringlets that hung around her toned, chocolate colored shoulders.
“I can see the new diet is working,” Zoe teased.
Everyone had been helping Lola put on the weight she’d lost while living as a captive in her stepbrother’s compound.
“I know Gauge likes it,” she said, giggling.
That couldn’t be more true. Gauge loved Lola no matter what she weighed, but he loved seeing her fill out into a healthy roundness that made her glow.
“I have my swimsuit on under my dress. Do you want to go swimming?” Lola asked Zoe.
“I’d love to. Maybe we can convince the guys to go swimming too,” she said.
“I thought cats hated water,” Gauge teased, trying to get out of going swimming.
As a polar bear, he loved the water. But he didn’t want to be the only guy on his crew swimming with the women and children.
“I love water, and so does Rollo,” Zoe said, grinning at her mate.
“I promised her I’d go swimming. So I guess we’re all going.”
“Let’s go!” Zoe said, stripping off her own maxi dress.
Lola giggled and sprang up from her seat, following her new friend toward the shore.
“Those two have become fast friends,” Rollo observed.
“Lola needs people,” Gauge said. “This picnic is perfect for her right now.”
“Your mate has been through a lot. The shifter community is more than happy to help.”
“That reminds me. I need to talk to Corey Bright.”
“He and his mate Willow are down by the water,” Rollo said, slipping out of his shirt. He was left bear chested in his board shorts.
Gauge ripped off his own shirt. He and Rollo sauntered down to the water. Gauge found Willow in her swimsuit, sitting in a deck chair on the beach.
“Hi Willow,” Gauge said. “Where’s your mate?”
“He’s out there,” the pretty author said. She had a headband tied around her kinky black hair and smiled up at him from behind her sunglasses.
Gauge didn’t know much about it, but he understood that Willow was a famous romance author that most of the women of Fate Mountain adored.
She pointed out into the water at Corey who was throwing Shane Keenan’s nine-year-old son Theo into the water. The little bear shifter was known for his crazy antics and clearly it was a well-earned reputation.
Theo flew into the air, twisting and flipping head over heels until he dove back in head first.
“Do it again,” Lily Keenan, his mother, yelled.
“I need to ask him a favor,” Gauge said to Willow.
“Oh, what is it?”
Gauge watched Lola and Zoe dive into the lake in their sexy two piece swimsuits. The sight of his mate’s curves momentarily distracted him from his conversation with Willow Bright. He also noticed Zoe’s tiny baby bump rounding out her tummy.
“I wanted to ask him about the Bright Institute.”
“I’m cofounder. I also make decisions for the Institute so you can ask me.”
“Okay,” Gauge said, sitting next to Willow in the warm sand.
“My mate missed out on a lot of her education because of her crazy stepfather and stepbrother. She really wants to get herself together and go back to school. I know the Bright Institute is one of the best educational opportunities in the country.”
“And you wanted us to allow your human mate to go to school there,” Willow said.
Gauge gulped, hoping he wasn’t being presumptuous. He wasn’t going to turn Lola into a shifter, or get her pregnant, any time soon. The woman had been through too much and just needed to be taken care of before she had any more changes like that.
“Yes,” he said, feeling slightly embarrassed.
“You know what, Corey and I have been talking about the very same thing. I’m still human. If you didn’t know.”
“I can scent it.”
“And with what just happened with Justin Lockheart’s influence on Fate Mountain, we’ve been talking a lot about opening enrollment to humans. Especially locals.”
“Won’t your school be flooded with applicants?”
“Probably, but we expect our students to be shifter allies. And as a mate of one of the Bear Patrol, Lola definitely qualifies as an ally.”
“Really?”
“Really. Just have her come down to the Institute and we’ll get her enrolled.”
“Thank you!” Gauge said, with a huge grin on his face.
He stood and barreled off down the beach, jumping in the water to dive to his mate. He swam up next to her and grabbed her in the water where she stood beside Zoe. Lola screamed with delight as he wrapped his wet arms around her.
“I have good news,” Gauge said.
“What is it?”
“Willow Bright just said you could go to the Bright institute. They’re opening enrollment to shifter allies.”
“Are you kidding?”
“It’s true,” Zoe said, splashing Rollo. Rollo splashed her back and tickled her until they were both thrashing and laughing in the water.
When she finally caught her breath and stopped laughing she continued. “I’ve been talking to Corey about it.”
“Talking to Corey about what?” Zoe’s brother Corey asked.
“About opening the Institute to humans. Lola will be your first human student,” Zoe informed her brother.
“Willow just gave us the go ahead,” Gauge explained.
“Well, welcome aboard. You’ll be an excellent addition to our student body, Lola Lockheart.”
“I’m not going to go by Lockheart anymore. That’s my stepfather’s name. It isn’t even legally my name. I’m still Lola Jackson.”
Gauge wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek with his wet mouth.
“I love you, Lola Jackson.”
Everyone giggled and congratulated her just before Shane Keenan announced that the BBQ was ready to eat. The friends all climbed out of the water and dried off on the beach before slipping their clothes back on and standing in line for food.
The BBQ was better than Gauge remembered the last time he’d come to a picnic at the Lodge. Shane’s cooking seemed to get better and better.
Lola and Gauge sat with Rollo and Zoe. The rest of the Bear Patrol promised to drop by before or after their shifts. Gauge hadn’t expected to see Damien so soon, but the Tech Bear came sauntering through the grass, and whispered in Rollo’s ear.
“I need to go,” Rollo said.
“What is it?” Gauge asked.
“Come with us down to the station,” Damien said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.<
br />
“I can get a room at the Lodge tonight,” Lola said. “Go ahead and go and then come back.”
“This better be important enough for me to leave my mate alone at a party,” Gauge grumbled as he followed Damien and Rollo out of the picnic.
“Lola will be fine,” Rollo said. “This is important. And we’ll need your help.”
When they got back to the station, the rest of the Bear Patrol was there already.
“I need to inform you all of a situation that has come to my attention,” Damien said. Knox and Heath listened to Damien as Rollo sat down. Gauge crossed his arms and grumbled, wanting to be back at the Lodge with his mate.
“There is a group connected to Justin Lockheart that makes what he did look like child’s play. I have reason to believe they are operating out of Fate Mountain.”
“What is it?” Heath asked.
“Human trafficking. Sex slaves in route to Alaska on the highway between southern California and the Canadian border. They have a camp somewhere in the mountains.”
“How did you come across this information?” Rollo asked.
“Using Corey Bright’s random probability generator.”
“And you believe that?” Knox asked.
“I went to the Bright Institute,” Heath said. “Corey Bright is a genius.”
“I was playing with some input information and came up with these results.”
“Still, it could be nothing. Just because the software comes up with something, doesn’t mean it’s true,” Rollo stated.
“That’s correct,” Damien said.
“You pulled me away from my mate for this?” Gauge grumbled.
“I want us all to be on the lookout for the possible presence of a human trafficking ring.”
“I haven’t seen anything,” Knox said, crossing his arms.
“Just keep your eyes open,” Rollo said.
“Will do, Commander,” Gauge said. “I need to get back to my mate now.”
19
Lola was a bit disappointed that Gauge had to leave the picnic without her, but she knew that police business was a priority over a party. Ever since he had gotten her off the mountain, he’d been spending a lot less time working, according to him.
Lola appreciated how much time and focus he had given to her, but at the same time, she was beginning to feel like she needed to have something of her own. Having Corey Bright invite her into the Bright Institute for Shifters was a serious boon for her. She couldn’t even imagine what Justin would have said about her going to a school originally intended for shifters.
Corey and the rest of the bears of Fate Mountain had shown her, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that shifters were not anti-human. In fact, the shifters of Fate Mountain seemed to be as concerned about human happiness and prosperity as the human community. And why wouldn’t they be? Shifters had a long history of finding their mates among humans.
Of all of the shifters that Lola had met, one of the core similarities between them all was that they each believed in a world where shifters and humans lived peacefully together. She had no real desire to be changed into a shifter herself, but she did want to live in a world where shifters and humans got along.
It was exactly the world that Justin had been fighting against. Lola walked into her living room of her suite at the Lodge and looked out the window at the full moon glowing over Lake Fate. She couldn’t wait to share this view with Gauge. It was so beautiful.
That was one of the things she loved the most about Gauge. On one hand, he was his own man, totally an alpha male through and through. But at the same time, he was immensely gentle and patient. He loved her femininity and wanted nothing more than to be a foundation for her to stand upon and to flourish. He was a better man than she ever could have expected to bond with. And now that they were together, she couldn’t imagine her life without him.
Just the thought of how far she’d come since the time she’d spent on the mountain gave her a sense of pride that she never wanted to lose. Gauge had saved her life in more ways than one, and she knew that she could never repay him with anything greater than her absolute adoration and pure, unadulterated love. She flipped through the TV channels and landed on one of her favorite soap opera reality TV shows and curled up on the couch under a soft throw blanket.
A little while later, Gauge opened the front door and saw her curled on the couch. He smiled and sat beside her, taking her feet and legs up onto his lap.
“What did Damien need to tell you?” she asked.
“The random probability generator came up with some data that he wants us to look out for. Something about human trafficking,” Gauge said.
“Human trafficking? That’s terrible.”
Lola knew a thing or two about being kidnapped and held against her will. The idea that there was something on a larger scale happening to more people on Fate Mountain was horrifying. It had to be stopped immediately.
“It’s nothing for you to worry about now, babe. You’ve been through enough of your own trauma.”
“I just don’t want others to suffer as I have,” she said, feeling the warmth of his body under her bare legs.
“That’s one of the things I love so much about you. You have so much compassion and goodness in your heart.”
“I was going to say the same thing about you,” she giggled as he started rubbing her feet.
“Have you thought about what you’d like to study at the Bright Institute?”
“Maybe I’d like to study sociology or something where I can help people.”
“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Gauge said.
His hands ran up her legs, sensuously caressing her sensitive flesh. She took a deep breath and let it out, looking up into his handsome face.
“That feels so good,” she whispered.
“I have a few other ideas of what might feel even better,” he said with a grin.
“Oh?” she teased. “Why don’t you share these ideas with me?”
“That’s exactly what I intend to do, mate,” he said, lifting her up onto his lap. “But first, I have a gift for you.”
He pulled a little box out of his pocket and handed it to her. She lifted open the lid and found the surprise inside. It was her mother’s cameo, fashioned in a new setting of pure yellow gold. It looked absolutely perfect.
“Gauge,” she gasped, lifting the cameo out of the box. It was attached to a long gold chain that she slid over her head. “I can’t believe you did this.”
Fixing her mother’s cameo was more precious to her than all of the gold and diamonds in the world. Gauge showed her that he really understood who she was and what mattered to her most. She couldn’t help the flood of emotions that welled up inside her. Hot tears slid down her cheek as she grasped the cameo in her hand.
“I knew you’d like it,” he said. “Look under the velvet.”
“There’s more?”
“Yep.”
She lifted the velvet flap inside the small box and found another layer underneath. She gasped at the sight of the diamond ring staring at her. Blood rushed to her head, leaving her fingers numb. She could barely talk.
“Gauge,” she gasped. “What did you do?”
“Lola Jackson, will you marry me?” he asked, slipping the ring on her finger. It was a perfectly princess cut diamond in a yellow gold setting.
“Yes,” she breathed.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and rained kisses down on his cheeks, lips, and face.
”You are the best man ever,” she said with delight in her voice. “You know that right?”
“All I want is to be the best man for you.”
With that, he picked her up off the couch and carried her in his big strong arms to the bed. They made love to each other at a leisurely pace, knowing that they had forever to spend in each other’s arms.
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Also by Scarlett Grove
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Braving Darkness Series
Marked By The Alpha Wolf (Book One) Braving Darkness 1
Marked By The Alpha Wolf (Book Two) Braving Darkness 2
Marked By The Alpha Wolf (Book Three) Braving Darkness 3
Touched By The Dragon Lord (Book One) Braving Darkness 4
Touched By The Dragon Lord (Book Two) Braving Darkness 5
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Desired By The Archangel (Book Two) Braving Darkness 8
Detective Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Bear Patrol Book 2) Page 9