by Meg Ripley
“And I imagine it needs to blend in with the surroundings,” Gabe added.
Hudson nodded. “Absolutely. There will be four of you, so we know we need at least that many apartments within the HQ building. The new comm officer will need to work closely with Hudson, and our med sergeant can do all the exams since Drake can’t be here. That just leaves Amar and Jude. We don’t have any information about your immediate families yet, though.”
Gabe understood what they were asking, and he shook his head. “It’s just me.”
“I’ve got a few places lined up to evaluate this afternoon if you’d like to come along,” Garrison offered. “There’s nothing for us to do until everyone else gets here, anyway.”
“Sure. Let’s go.” Now more than ever, Gabe was desperate for something to do. Checking out buildings for sale would give him the chance to see more of the city while also getting to know some of the men he’d be working with for the foreseeable future, even if it was only by long distance.
Garrison drove as they checked out the first place, an ample office space that took up one level of a massive glass building, but Gabe’s mind was on anything but real estate. Somehow, the question of whether or not he lived alone had struck a chord with him. Growing up, Gabe had been incredibly close to his mother. His father had left when Gabe was just a kid, leaving her to raise her three cubs on her own. Gabe had immediately taken up the position of man of the house, but at first, he had no idea how to do it. He didn’t know how to provide for them, and he wasn’t even old enough to learn that lesson.
It hadn’t really hit home for him until he’d gotten out of bed one night when he couldn’t sleep. Gabe could still see the memory clearly instead of all the palm trees and glittering glass around him. His mother sat at the kitchen table with papers spread all around her. Her back was hunched over, and at first, Gabe thought she’d fallen asleep. But then he’d noticed her shoulders shaking and heard the sound of her weeping.
“Oh, Gabe,” she’d said when he came forward and put his arm around her shoulders. “There are many things I hope for you and your sisters, but the one thing I want for you most of all is not to have to choose between feeding your family and paying your bills.”
Gabe’s mind had drifted to the pantry, which he knew was nearly empty. His sisters had been complaining about it earlier in the day, and so had he. Guilt washed over him.
“Life isn’t easy, Gabe,” his mother had continued. “And kids are wonderful, but they’re also very expensive. I want you to make me a promise.”
He was only ten; he didn’t know what to make of any of this. Gabe had never seen his mother cry unless they were watching a sad movie. She hadn’t told him she couldn’t pay the bills, and in that moment, he wished she hadn’t. He didn’t know what it meant or what he should be doing about it, but he didn’t feel he could ask, either. “All right.”
“Promise me you will never start a family and then leave them behind. Family always takes care of family. It might not be easy. We won’t always get along and agree on everything. But you must always take care of your family.” Her dark eyes, eyes he hadn’t inherited from her, implored him to do as she asked.
“Okay.” He hadn’t known what he was agreeing to at the time; Gabe only wanted to make his mother feel better. In time, he’d come to understand that she meant she didn’t want him to make the same mistakes his father had. At the moment, though, he’d understood it in a completely different way.
Within a week, Gabe had a job delivering papers. It meant getting out of bed before the sun came up, taking his bike across town to fold and stack his newspapers for the day, and feeling like he’d had a complete workout before he’d even started school. He got home just in time to help his sisters get ready, something that always seemed to take a few of the worry lines out of his mother’s face.
At the end of his first week, he once again found her at the kitchen table with her bills spread out on the battered surface. He set his pay down in the middle of all of it, a smile on his face.
“What’s this?”
“It’s what I earned this week, and I’ll do the same again next week. Mr. Robinson even gave me a tip.” He’d felt so proud of himself, knowing he was keeping his promise to his mother.
“No, sweetheart.” She gently pushed the cash back toward him. “That’s not right. You keep your money.”
He’d stared at those crumpled bills, bewildered and confused. “But there are bills to pay. I want to help, Mom. I can do this.”
She pressed her lips together, still uncertain, but finally, she nodded. “All right. You have enough here to take care of this one.”
He watched as she filled out the payment slip and put it along with the money in an envelope. Gabe went to bed that night knowing he was a real man, one who took care of his family the way he should. And from that point on, he’d never looked back.
“What do you think?”
“Hmm?” Gabe had let himself get so lost in his thoughts that he’d hardly paid attention as they toured the building.
Garrison gave him a look. “I was asking what you think of the place. We can do whatever we want with this floor when it comes to remodeling and such, but being in a district full of office spaces might pose a problem.”
He looked around, suddenly realizing he’d come a long way without paying a lick of attention. He hadn’t officially started his new job with the SOS Force, and already he was failing. “I agree. Something a little more out of the way might be better.”
They followed the realtor to another building that they wouldn’t have to share with anyone, but it was still located at a major intersection. Another warehouse had ample space and wasn’t too close to traffic, but it didn’t meet Garrison’s expectations on something he could make habitable.
The realtor, Mrs. McKeal, stood on the sidewalk flicking through listings on her tablet, her long fake nail tapping faintly against the screen each time. “I think I have one more place. It might not be quite what you’re looking for, as it’s currently a residential building, but if you’re running a private business that doesn’t require a lot of foot traffic, I think you’ll be okay.” She’d seemed a bit sour over the fact that they didn’t like anything yet.
Garrison nodded. “We’re open to anything.”
“Okay, but it’s a little expensive.”
Her sedan slid through a gate and into the driveway of a sleek and modern house. It didn’t look like much from the road, but the fact that it butted up against state park land was certainly a bonus. He got out of the rental car and smiled, finally starting to feel good about moving there.
“We’re looking at six bedrooms and seven baths,” Mrs. McKeal announced as she let them in through the front door. “It’s just over four thousand square feet. This is the perfect place if you like to be outdoors with the number of patios and outdoor living places it features. Here.” She strode through the main room, sailing past the fireplace and the twelve-foot ceilings toward the back of the house.
At the push of a button, large sections of the back wall began to move. They receded into themselves like pocket doors, making the living room more of an outdoor space with not so much as a door separating them from the private pool out back.
It was impressive, and it was certainly a nicer place than Gabe had ever lived before, but what intrigued him most was when they made their way up to the second floor.
“Like I mentioned, there are a lot of outdoor spaces,” Mrs. McKeal reminded them before opening a patio door with a flourish.
Gabe stepped out, warm fingers of sunshine brushing against his skin as he took in the scenery. The wild hills, with their scrubby brush and soaring trees, were calling to him already. The grizzly bear that lived inside him lashed and growled, demanding that he shift immediately and jump over the rail. He’d make it safely to the ground, and then it would only be a short run before he was in those hills that called to him.
When he turned back to the senior SOS Force
members, Hudson and Garrison were discussing details while Mrs. McKeal stepped into the other room to answer a phone call. “It’s not the norm,” Hudson admitted, “and I’m certainly jealous compared to the space we get to call HQ. But there’s no doubt you can fit plenty of people in here. Even if one of the recruits has a mate or a family, I think we can make it work.”
Garrison nodded. “The layout of the house certainly lends itself to be used the same way as our other buildings. All the common areas like the kitchen and the living room are centralized and the bedrooms are already made like suites with their own bathrooms. I don’t think we can go wrong. Gabe? You’re the one who’s going to be living here.”
He grinned as he gestured over his shoulder to the gorgeous scenery. “You’re damn right I am.”
To keep reading, you can find Secret Baby For The Soldier Bear HERE. Available with Kindle Unlimited.
Books available in the Special Ops Shifters: L.A. Force series:
Book 1: Secret Baby for the Soldier Bear
Book 2: Saved by the Soldier Dragon
Book 3: Bonded to the Soldier Wolf
Book 4: Forbidden Mate for the Soldier Bear (pre-order)
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Special Ops Shifters: Dallas Force Box Set
Special Ops Shifters Box Set
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Werebears of Big Bend Box Set
Werebears of Glacier Bay Box Set
Werebears of the Everglades Box Set
Werebears of Acadia Box Set
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Forever Fated Mates Box Set
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Daddy Dragon Guardians: The Complete Series Box Set
Shifters Between Worlds: The Complete Collection
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Dragons Of The Darkblood Secret Society Box Set
Dragons Of Sin City Box Set
Marked By Werewolves: Packs of the Pacific Northwest Series Box Set
Reverse Harem & Other Romances Co-Written With Lark Sterling
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meg Ripley is an author of sizzling shifter romances. A Seattle native, Meg can often be found curled up in a local coffee house with her laptop.
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