Shawn Spring Shifter Seasons

by Raines, Harmony

  “What’s wrong?” Shawn half turned to look at her.

  “Nothing.” She forced a smile onto her face. “Why would anything be wrong?” She sidled up to him and pushed her hands under his jacket, her fingertips massaging his toned abs.

  “You looked a little distant.” His mouth curled up on one side and she licked her lips before standing on tiptoes and kissing his crooked smile.

  Shawn’s arms folded around her and held her close, his lips moving against hers as she leaned into him. Her stomach clenched and her insides were in knots. Knots of desire that only he could unravel. There was a lot to be said for living in the moment.

  “I’m right here with you,” she said against his ear.

  He let her go as the elevator doors opened and reached for her hand. “I’ll order hot chocolate and whatever else you want. Maybe some food. Then we can go over the files.”

  They stopped outside the hotel room and she reached for the keycard in her pocket. “The files can wait.”

  “Can they?” Shawn gave her that lopsided smile again. “I don’t mind going through them. If that’s what’s worrying you.”

  “I don’t want you to think…” She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips. “I can get a little obsessive with cases.”

  He gave a wry smile and turned the handle, opening the door for her. “You should see me when I have a medical mystery to solve.”

  “Really?” Joanna followed him into the room and placed her purse on the coffee table.

  “Yeah.” His eyes widened and his enthusiasm for his work shone through. “If a patient is sick, it’s like this worm in my head that wriggles and niggles until I can find the answer.” He shrugged. “It’s part of the job.”

  “It is.” She gave a short laugh. “O’Malley tells me I don’t have an off button. He might be right.”

  “Then we’re perfect for each other.” He pointed to the sofa. “Make yourself comfortable and I’ll order hot chocolate.”

  “And some chips. I need snacks.” She went to her luggage and pulled out her tablet, switched it on, and then went to the sofa. “You’re going out?”

  Shawn was heading toward the door. “If you want snacks, I’ll head down to the grocery store we passed on the way in. I’ll call Jane while I’m out. That way you can get a head start with the files.”

  Joanna dropped her tablet on the soft seat of the gray sofa and went to him. Flinging her arms around his neck, she pressed her body close and kissed his lips. The fire inside her, the one that burned for him and him alone, flared up, its flames licking her insides and she was tempted to tell him to forget the snacks and make love to her.

  “I’ll be back soon,” he murmured against her ear as he let her go. “We can work together and when we’re done, we can make use of that tempting bed.”

  “Deal.” She pecked his cheek and watched him leave the room. Even when the door closed behind him, she didn’t move, instead, she pushed her senses out and locked onto him as he rode the elevator back down to the hotel lobby.

  She never wanted to lose her connection with him. She always wanted to be so close she could feel his presence.

  But that would likely lead to a strained relationship. Shawn was right, they both had demanding careers and putting extra pressure on each other would end in disaster.

  “Okay. Let’s take a look at these files.” She opened the protective case which covered her tablet and switched on the device. Tapping the screen, she scrolled through to her email and tapped her phone once more to download the file attached to an email from her boss.

  Joanna stared impatiently at the little green bar that slowly crept along to one hundred percent. Shuffling in her seat, she got herself comfy and prepared to read the file, confident she would find some clue in the words and images that told the story of Yvette.

  The first part of the file focused on the police report concerning the call to emergency services which resulted in Yvette, or Penelope as she was referred to in the report, being taken to hospital. There was no mention of baby Jane. Yvette had been conscious when the paramedics attended the scene but not coherent. Shortly afterward she’d slipped unconscious and according to the police report, she never regained consciousness. There was some information about the person who found Yvette, but Fiona was never named.

  Yvette’s case was left open and logged as a possible accident. It had been raining that night and the report insinuated she might just have slipped, fallen and hit her head. There were no witnesses despite the area being canvassed.

  Yvette, or Penelope, had been transferred out of the hospital, although the paperwork logging where she was transported to was inaccurate. Presumably, Fiona had lied to keep Yvette safe and cover their tracks. If anyone had gone looking for a woman taken to a local hospital with head injuries, they would not easily find her.

  Leafing through the background file on Yvette, it all began to make more sense why no one had filed a missing person’s report. Raised in a foster home, she had left care and made her own way in the world. She’d had no recent communication with her foster parents. In fact, Yvette had moved across the country, putting some distance between her and the people who raised her. That spoke volumes about her relationship with her foster parents. Although, Joanna could not allow herself to jump to conclusions.

  According to Fiona, Yvette was a hardworking young woman who had tried to do the right thing. However, that didn’t mean she’d been an easy kid to raise. She might have caused trouble for her foster parents and then decided to make more of her life once she was on her own.

  Joanna sighed and brushed her hair back from her face. It would be so much easier if she could simply talk to Yvette.

  “Hey.” Shawn came back into the room and placed a bag filled with food on the coffee table.

  “Hey. Oh, that smells delicious.” She accepted a takeout cup of frothy hot chocolate complete with cream, marshmallows, and cinnamon.

  “Anything?” Shawn indicated the tablet on her lap as she took a sip of the hot chocolate and wiped away her creamy mustache.

  “Not a lot.” She looked down at the file. “There’s no mention of Yvette’s relationship with Gerald Comer. No link at all.” She skimmed through the pages, then looked up suddenly.

  “What is it?” Shawn asked.

  Joanna held her coffee in two hands and rested the tablet on her lap. “Is Jane a shifter?”

  Shawn shook his head. “I don’t think so, I’ve never sensed that part of her.”

  “Do you think that’s what the problem might have been?” She was thinking out loud and it was good to have someone to bounce ideas off of.

  “That Gerald lined up an adoption for someone who wanted a shifter child and that child turned out to be a non-shifter. Or maybe whoever adopted her decided to return her like an unwanted toy.” Shawn wrinkled his face and then got up and paced the room. “What were they planning on doing to her?”

  “I don’t know but whatever it was forced Yvette into action.” She gulped her drink. “That’s why she acted the way she did. Yvette didn’t have the proof she needed but she blew her cover to rescue Jane.”

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Shawn agreed.

  “It does. Yvette was undercover.” Joanna snapped her fingers. “Then something happens. Something she can’t just sit back and watch. And that’s why she ended up in a coma.”

  Shawn sat down on the edge of a chair and put his face in his hands. “I don’t think I want to imagine what would have happened if Yvette hadn’t acted. She gave her life for Jane.”

  “And we need to make sure that she gets her life back, or that we at least bring her attackers to justice.” She stared down at her tablet, the words a blurred jumble as tears pricked her eyes. “Testers.” A word came into sharp focus. “Jester’s.” Two similar words.

  “You’ve found something.” Shawn rushed to sit down next to her on the sofa and looked at her tablet screen. “It’s the name of a bar.”

  “Yes. Y
vette helped install the computer system there.” Joanna leaned forward and grabbed the bag of snacks off the coffee table. She always thought better while she was eating, which probably accounted for the extra pounds she carried on her hips. And her stomach.

  Joanna closed her hand around a bag of potato chips and tore it open. Dipping in her hand, she took a couple of the salty chips before offering them to Shawn. “Thanks.” With furrowed brows, he skim-read the information on her tablet while crunching chips.

  “It’s the best lead we’ve got.” Joanna sighed heavily. “I need to go and check it out.”

  “We need to go and check it out.” Shawn lifted his head and locked eyes with her. “I know you can take care of yourself but look at what happened to Yvette.” His voice cracked with emotion. “I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you.”

  “I know.” She looked down at her tablet. “Let me just go through the rest of the file. I want to make sure I haven’t missed anything.”

  “Good idea.” He picked up the bag of snacks and rummaged through. “Don’t tell Jane I’m eating so much junk food,” he said as he ripped open the wrapper of a candy bar.

  “Your secret is safe with me.” Joanna stopped reading for a moment and leaned over, pressing her lips to his cheek. “And so is your heart.”

  His face cracked into a goofy smile. But he was still one hot doctor.

  And we haven’t even seen him in his white coat yet, her wolf added dreamily.

  “I wish we could just relax and enjoy being mates. I wish there were no mystery to solve, no crime to answer to.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders. “But seeing you in action. Not letting this go…” His eyes misted with tears. “It makes me realize how much I love you and how much I can’t wait for you to be Jane’s mom.”

  “You know that if we keep going with this there is a chance…” She couldn’t say the words.

  “Jane deserves the truth.” He took a bite of his candy bar and chewed thoughtfully, and she crunched her chips. “And if Jane’s biological mom is out there, surely she deserves to know her daughter is alive.”

  “She might not want to know.” Joanna winced. “That came out kind of wrong.”

  “No, I get it.” Shawn nodded. “If we do figure out who she is. If we do ever find her…the situation would have to be handled delicately.”

  “Come on.” She crumpled up the potato chip bag and finished drinking her hot chocolate, which was now lukewarm. “Let’s take our junk food and grab some coffee. It might be a long night.”

  “A stakeout?” Shawn’s eyes widened as Joanna nodded. “If I would’ve known, I would’ve grabbed some donuts, too.”

  “My waistline thanks you for not getting donuts.” She grabbed her backpack and rummaged through for a sweater that had somehow managed to get shoved to the bottom. Shrugging it on, she grabbed her jacket and purse. “Come on, rookie. Let’s go play cops.”

  As they left the hotel room, Joanna’s only hope was that things would not get too serious tonight and Shawn would not get hurt.

  And that we catch the bad guys, her wolf chimed in.

  I’d settle for proof that the mayor is involved, and we can bring him to justice.

  Justice for Yvette and Jane, her wolf snarled, ready to fight for what’s right.

  Chapter Seventeen – Shawn

  “That’s the place?” Shawn leaned forward and looked out of the window at the sign that read Jester’s. The bar looked like any normal bar. The parking lot was half-filled with cars and trucks and the occasional motorbike with people coming and going in a slow but steady stream. “It doesn’t look unusual.”

  “Most unusual places don’t look unusual,” Joanna told him. “It’s not like they advertise that they’re unusual. You know?”

  “Really? I was expecting a sign and everything.” He gave her a wry smile and she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “Amateur.” She leaned across and kissed his cheek. “But I’ll make you into a pro.”

  “Great. What better way to spend an evening with my mate?” He chuckled as she leaned back and looked at him. “That was a joke. I don’t mind being here at all. Chasing down bad guys is a good thing to do with my mate.”

  “It does have its rewards,” she confirmed as she turned her attention back to the bar. “Okay, we sit and watch for a while. Try to get a feel for the ebb and flow of people. Spot if there’s anything unusual about the ebb and flow.”

  “Like what?” Shawn asked as he passed her a candy bar.

  “Thanks.” She unwrapped it and took a bite. “Like whether there are more males than females.”

  “Wouldn’t there be?” Shawn asked as he ate his second candy bar of the evening and washed it down with caffeine. His patients had better not find out about his unhealthy snacking.

  “Yes. Probably. Although, it can depend on the area, the type of bar it is. The day of the week.” She shrugged. “There are so many variables.”

  “So what have you seen so far?” Shawn asked, wanting a peek into the inner workings of his mate’s mind.

  “More single men are going inside than I would expect.” Her eyes narrowed as she watched a young single male open the door leading into the bar. “They might just be here to meet friends.” Her eyes went out of focus. “Shifter.”

  “So the bar is frequented by shifters. That’s not unusual.” He pushed his senses outward trying to follow the man who had just entered the bar. It was all a jumble, bodies pressed against bodies, both shifter and human.

  “It’s unusual for this area.” She looked around. “We’re on the outskirts of a large town but it’s not a shifter town like Bear Creek or your Cougar Ridge.”

  “So the shifter-to-human ratio is skewed.” Shawn nodded. “Why?”

  She turned to look at him, but he sensed she still had part of her attention fixed on the interior of the bar. “Maybe they are drawn here for some reason and that reason is the link between what happened to Yvette and the babies.”

  “This doesn’t look like the kind of place where they would sell babies.” Shawn looked past Joanna toward the rear of the bar. “But there is a pregnant woman over there. Make that two coincidences.”

  “Okay. Now it got interesting.” She took a couple of pictures on her phone and then placed her hand on the door handle. “Time to go and ask a few questions.”

  “Together?” Shawn asked as he popped the door open.

  “No, I’m going around the back to speak to the pregnant lady and you are going to go in the front door.” She got out of the car and he followed.

  “And what am I doing going in the front door?” he asked.

  “You are a single male. Go figure out what those guys are doing.” She shut her car door and walked toward the pregnant woman who was hanging out with a friend and drinking from what looked like a beer bottle. He was certain one of them was smoking. The doctor in him wanted to go over there and lecture her on keeping her unborn baby healthy by giving up alcohol and nicotine.

  We have more important things to worry about, his cougar told him.

  Shawn waited for Joanna to get halfway across the parking lot before he headed toward the bar. He didn’t take a direct route. Instead, he circled around the other parked cars and strode to the bar from a different direction.

  If anyone was watching they would think it strange, but at least they might not link him to Joanna.

  I’m being paranoid, he told his cougar.

  No harm in that. His cougar swung his large head right and left, surveying the area around them. I don’t like this one bit.

  Me neither. But we need to figure out what happened. If we don’t, we’ll be haunted by what happened to Yvette. We’ll always be afraid that someone will show up on the doorstep and claim Jane as theirs. And above all, we owe it to Jane to find out who her parents are. If that’s possible. His cougar was right.

  Then let’s do this. Shawn straightened his back, rolled his shoulders, and pushed open the door leadin
g into the bar.

  Taking a step through the doorway, he paused, scanning the bar with his human and shifter senses. There seemed little out of place or unusual going on inside. People were sitting at tables or standing in small groups talking and drinking.

  No lonely males drinking alone, his cougar commented.

  Perhaps they’ve all met up with their buddies. Shawn walked slowly to the bar. “Beer, please.”

  The bartender, a woman of around thirty with curly blonde hair which fell across her face as she nodded and fetched a glass, gave him a cursory look. “Drinking alone?”

  “Yeah.” He gave her a fleeting smile. As she placed his beer on the solid wood bar, he handed her some cash before taking a sip of his drink. “Keep the change.”

  “Thanks.” She eyed him once more before shooting a glance toward the other bartender who was laughing with a group of five women. There was a whole lot of flirting going on but the bartender, an older man in his fifties, switched his gaze to Shawn.

  Pretending not to notice, Shawn glanced toward the door as it swung open and another single male entered the bar.

  Bear, his cougar announced.

  I got that. Shawn dragged his gaze away, not wanting to stare as the guy approached the bar.

  “What can I get you?” The female bartender approached the bear shifter.

  “I was looking for some company. And a beer,” he added nervously. He looked over his shoulder and scanned the room before turning his attention back to the bartender.

  The bartender’s mouth twitched up at one corner as she stared at the guy for a second or two longer, as if trying to assess him. Then she looked over her shoulder and called, “Wayne.” She inclined her head toward the guy sitting at the bar and then sauntered off without another word.

  Whatever this guy wants, the lady doesn’t approve, his cougar said.