Jade Crew: Haunted Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 2)

by Amelia Jade

  “Never mind,” Cole said, brushing it off. “So I’m worth it, am I?” he teased, trying to keep a serious face.

  He failed. Miserably.

  “You can wipe that smirk off your face any time now mister,” she told him sternly, though there was a smile tugging at her cheeks as she said it. “In all honesty though, I could use a breath of air.”

  She told Emma where they would be, and the two of them headed for the exit. They hadn’t got more than halfway across the floor when the jukebox next to the bar buzzed and began to emit the first few soft notes of a country ballad. Cole looked over, surprised, as there was very rarely any music playing at Ferro’s. To his surprise, he saw the bartender himself straightening up from in front of the musical device.

  The millennia-old dragon turned his way. If it weren’t so unbelievable, Cole would have sworn up and down to anyone who would listen that Ferro had winked at him before heading back to the bar.

  Was the old dragon shifter trying to help him?

  No. Impossible. Absolutely impossible. Ferro never got involved with the shifters, besides pouring drinks, collecting money, and on very rare occasions, stopping fights. But getting involved with a bear who had brought a woman? Never.

  “Ah, this is nice,” Trestin said, walking out onto the patio that ran along the front of the building.

  From the open windows, the music continued to drift outside.

  “I agree,” he said. “Though it really is the present company that makes it.”

  “Cole, I—” she started to say as he stepped closer, but he put a finger to her lips.

  “I’m not going to kiss you without your permission,” he told her, meeting her gaze and holding it. Instead, steeling himself against a sudden moment of hesitation, he reached out and grabbed her hands. Slowly, never moving his eyes away from her, he put one of her hands on his waist. His left hand went around hers, and his right continued to hold her hand. Then, in time with the music, he began to sway back and forth.

  “Oh,” came the muffled response as she realized what he had in mind. Tentatively at first, but with more confidence as they went, she moved in time with him.

  Another song came on after the first faded away, and this time Trestin pulled him closer until their bodies touched, her head resting against on his chest. He tried to breathe slowly, so as not to disturb the moment. It was perfect. Despite everything that was going on in his head, for just this one moment his bear was calm enough to allow him to enjoy it without trying to bed her. He only wished it would stay that way.

  “Cole?” she said softly as the music faded out.

  “Yes?” he whispered, afraid to speak louder lest he break the moment.

  “Kiss me,” she demanded.

  Without saying another word, he picked her up by the waist, effortlessly pushing her up against the wall. Her legs wrapped around him and their lips met in a fury of passion. This was no slow, lingering kiss like the first night. This was raw, pent-up desire being expressed through one single point of contact.

  His cock hardened, and Cole considered stopping as it began to press against her. Instead, Trestin, as if sensing his thoughts, began to grind her hips slowly against it through his jeans. Renewing his attack on her mouth, he parted her lips with his tongue, hungrily exploring her mouth as she moaned under him, her fingers gripping the sides of his face, pulling him in tighter.

  Drawing back for a moment, he opened his eyes, looking deep within her. What he saw ignited a new fire within him, the furnace blazing hotter as her desire for him was revealed. He had known it before, but now to see it right there in front of him—her unabashed, naked desire to be with him—he almost lost control.

  “I want you,” he told her, their gazes still locked. In it, he saw the answering flare of want, of loving that he wanted, no needed, right there, right then. Cole would have done anything she commanded of him, as long as it pleased her. However she wanted it, in whatever way, shape or form. His single thought was about granting Trestin as much pleasure as he could.

  “I want you too, Cole. I think you know that, and can see that. I’m not going to hide behind some veil of being unwilling to admit that much. But I need a moment to calm myself. This is moving much faster than I’m comfortable with. I’m willing to try and press through for you, but if I go too fast, it’ll be like the first night.”

  He wasn’t sure how to feel. On one hand, she was saying the words he wanted to hear in the moment. But in the other, she was telling him to slow it down. Cole’s bear was having a hard time accepting the fall in action, but he shut it down as best he could. For her.

  “Okay,” he forced out, as hard as it was. It wasn’t as hard as some other things at that moment.

  “I’m going to use the ladies’ room. Be here when I get back, okay?”

  “Promise,” he told her, meaning every word of it.

  As the door swung closed behind her, he leaned back against the building, his head hitting the wood siding with a dull thunk. He took several deep breaths, relaxing his body, all of his body.

  Which, as the door opened to reveal Garrett, made him profoundly glad he had done just that. The last thing he needed was to be talking to his Alpha with a raging hard-on. Not that—as Garrett raised an eyebrow ever-so-slightly—it appeared his Alpha wasn’t aware.

  “Everything okay out here?” Garrett rumbled, looking back over his shoulder at the door, his unspoken question of why Trestin had gone in by herself hanging heavy in the air.

  “Yeah, she’s just in the women’s room. Needed a break from my sheer unadulterated sexiness,” he said drolly, though he still straightened to a position of respect in front of his Alpha.

  “Have a seat,” Garrett gestured, motioning at the wooden chairs nearby.

  Like most chairs the bears built, they were Adirondack style. It suited their large frames well. He winced at the memory of how he had destroyed several of the ones at the Lodge.

  “By the way, you owe us three new chairs,” Garrett told him as they sat, as if reading his mind.

  “Three? I only broke two!” he half-heartedly protested.

  “I know, but the third one is for being a jerk. Though I think I can see why now,” Garrett responded.

  “I owed Joel a smack, but I shouldn’t have gone so overboard like that,” Cole said, owning up to the lack of control he had over his bear.

  “Why did you do it?” Garrett asked.

  Cole sighed. He couldn’t avoid his Alpha the way he could the others, and as the leader of the Ridgebacks, Garrett not only had a right, but a need to know about his crew. Besides, if he didn’t tell Garrett the truth now, the next time he lost control the Alpha may very well be forced to end him.

  Which, unsurprisingly, he objected to.

  “I have issues. Issues with controlling my bear.” He wasn’t ready to talk about it much more, and he hoped Garrett would leave it at that.

  “Can you fix it?”

  “I think so. When Trestin’s around, I just...” he paused, searching for the words as his hands ran through his hair. “She makes it easier, you know?” he said, looking up at his Alpha, his eyes pleading with him for understanding.

  “Actually,” Garrett said softly, “I do know.”

  Cole sighed with relief.

  “So,” Garrett began.

  Here it comes, he thought. The question he had both been anticipating and dreading.

  Chapter Six

  Trestin

  “Is she your mate?”

  Trestin froze. She was just inside the bar, but with the jukebox having died down, the wind was carrying in the words from outside easily enough for her to hear without straining.

  The voice she had heard was Garrett’s, which meant the Alpha was out there now, talking to Cole. She couldn’t interrupt that, but at the same time, curiosity drove her forward, eager to know what Cole thought. Had he already decided that she was his mate, the woman he would be with forever if she chose to have him?

 
It seemed too quick to her. Impossibly quick even, to the point that she felt anxiety clawing at her throat and in her stomach. But remembering Emma’s words, she fought it, beat it down, and pummeled it into submission.

  Not this time. Tonight, I’m just going to go with the flow.

  “I don’t know,” Cole replied, his voice drifting in through the open window too.

  Oh. That had not been the answer she had expected.

  “Maybe? I don’t really know.”

  “What does your bear say?” Garrett prodded. His voice was so gentle and caring for a walking titan, she thought. She saw a small glimpse just then of what Emma saw in him.

  It was similar to what she saw in Cole in the few moments where he wasn’t the confident shifter that was expected of him. She knew he had fears, flaws, and a gentle side. It was what had swayed her decision to come along with him tonight. Not because he was good-looking—which, she admitted, he very much was—but because he wanted her to meet his friends. His family. That obviously meant a great deal to him, and she liked that. He could open up to her like that.

  “I can’t trust it,” Cole was saying as she focused back on the conversation. “I just can’t.”

  “You’ll need to fix that to truly know,” Garrett told him.

  “I’m working on it, I promise.” There was pain in Cole’s voice. She wanted to reach out, to hold him, to tell him it would be okay.

  “How did you know that Emma was the one for you?” Cole asked.

  At first she thought it was a rather bold question to ask his Alpha. Why would he have to ask how someone else knew? Shouldn’t he have figured it out by now himself?

  Then it came to her. Shifters only mated once. So Cole had no idea. He wouldn’t know what it was like to find his mate, because he had never done it before.

  “She made life easier. Made dealing with everything easier. There was a natural fit that I had never felt with other women before. Things moved so fast, are moving so fast,” he corrected, “but I feel like I’ve known her for so much longer. It doesn’t feel rushed,” Garrett replied.

  “That’s how it feels with Trestin,” Cole said, realization of what that implied evident in his voice.

  Cole considered her his mate. Or at least, that the possibility was there. She felt tingly inside from it. Perhaps she was making the right decision tonight.

  “Then you should tell her that,” Garrett urged.

  That seemed like a good point to interrupt. She pushed on the door, heading outside. The two shifters rose as she approached.

  “Evening,” Garrett rumbled, the gentleness in his voice gone as he passed her by, heading inside.

  She walked up to Cole and wrapped her arms around him without hesitation. He didn’t react for a moment, startled by her sudden affection, but a second later his arms closed around her, the muscles pulling her into him tightly.

  “Hi,” she whispered up at him.

  “Hi,” he whispered back.

  “Can we go?” she asked him.

  “Absolutely,” he said, standing up, disentangling himself from her. “I can take you home,” he said, reluctance in his voice.

  “Not like that,” she giggled, poking him in the chest, before looking up to meet his eyes. “I want you to take me to your home.”

  She could see Cole swallow hard at her comment.

  “Are you sure?” he asked gently. It was so cute she wanted to laugh. That would have been the wrong response though, so instead she grabbed his head and pulled his lips down to hers, showing him that it was okay.

  “I’m nervous,” she told him as they broke for air, “I’m not going to hide that. It’s so out of the normal for me, but there’s something going on between us. I think you can feel it too,” she said and he nodded. “I need to be strong, to explore that, to see where it goes. Years down the road, I want to be able to say that I took a chance when it came my way, instead of clawing for space and safety like I always do.”

  Cole was positively beaming at her now. “I admire your strength of will,” he told her. “I don’t think even you know how strong you really are. But it’s attractive as all hell.”

  “It is?” she said as they made their way to his truck.

  “Very. When you walked inside at first, confident and firing back insults at people you didn’t even know, I could have bent you over the bar right there,” he said, his voice deepening to a growl as he spoke.

  “Oh,” she said meekly, almost overwhelmed by the waves of desire she could sense coming from him. He wanted her. It was like an aphrodisiac to her own body. She suddenly felt more aroused than she had in quite some time. Blood flowed rapidly throughout her body, and she felt warmth blossom between her legs at the thought of Cole taking her from behind like that.

  “Well,” she said coyly, “I’m not sure I’m up for it so publicly like that, but if you want to bend me over later, I won’t object,” she waited for a long beat as his hands tightened on the wheel. “Much,” she whispered into his ear, putting as much innocence into her voice as she could.

  She giggled at the way his knuckles whitened. “Don’t break the truck now,” she admonished. “You need to get me home first.”

  “You’re a tease,” he said.

  “I’m really not,” she said truthfully. “There’s just something about you though. It makes me feel extra bold.”

  She leaned her head over on his shoulder, reaching one hand up under his outstretched arm, laying it flat against his chest. The rumble of his growl of approval was so loud it vibrated over her hand. She loved that sound; it drove her wild.

  It felt so liberating not to be clamped down with fear at how quickly things were moving with Cole. She wondered if that was all because of what Emma had told her, or if part of it was because of the way she felt around him. There had been nothing but truth in her voice earlier when she had told him that there was something going on between the two of them, something that she had never experienced before.

  Trestin wanted to kick herself for all the times earlier in her life where she had let “caution” and her nerves prevent her from doing something new. This was living, she thought as her heart raced. There were still butterflies in her stomach, but for whatever reason, she was able to accept that as normal now, not something that she should try and eradicate before doing anything else.

  The rest of the drive passed in comfortable silence. Neither of them felt the need to say anything, knowing what was going to happen and not needing to discuss it any further. Instead, they simply relished being able to be near each other. It was comforting not to feel the need to speak, to make small talk. That was another new feeling for Trestin.

  In fact, she thought to herself, the next little bit is likely to be full of new feelings.

  A grin spread across her face as she dropped her hands south from Cole’s chest. Perhaps she didn’t have to wait until they were there...

  ***

  “Well, this is home,” Cole gritted out as he turned off the road into an old motel parking lot.

  “Okay,” she said innocently, removing her hand from between his legs, though not without a little bit of regret. He was so big! Part of her was a little more nervous now after discovering just how large he was. She’d heard the rumors that bear shifters were on average bigger than humans but she hadn’t expected it to be true. Her hand trembled with nervous anticipation now as she yanked on the door handle, swinging it open.

  “It’s not much to look at on the outside,” he told her with a wave of his arm at the rundown exterior. “Or even the inside really,” he said sourly. “We’re still working on it.”

  “I can see that,” she said, meaning it.

  The motel was shaped like an L. The long side ran parallel to the road, and there was a nice big deck that extended a good ten or fifteen feet out from the walls of the building. It had the look of new lumber to it, in sharp contrast to the sagging aluminum siding on the building itself. The deck continued three-quarters of the way
down the long side of the building. At the far right side, the building turned and ran directly at the road, forming what would be the bottom of the L when looked at from a bird’s eye view.

  The far end and the short side were all dark, devoid of the lights and repairs that had been applied to the rest. As she stepped up on the deck, following his lead, she noticed holes every so often down the length of it.

  “What are these for?” she asked pointing with one hand. The other was intertwined with his, as he showed her his home. His den, she corrected herself.

  “The eventual plan is we’ll remove this crappy aluminum and put wood siding up, and from there we’ll tear down this,” he said, pointing to the overhang that extended perhaps three feet from the building, “and replace it with a wooden one that extends out to those blocks. They’ll become the support posts for the roof.”

  “Ambitious plans,” she commented, imagining how the place would look once they were done with it.

  “Well, we do plan on being here for quite some time,” he said wryly.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” she said, looking him directly in the eyes as she said it, letting him know she liked the sound of that.

  Those golden-brown orbs were fascinating. She had never seen eyes with that color before, and each time she truly looked at them, she was amazed. So many bear shifters seemed hollow and empty of anything truly resembling a soul. But not Cole, she thought. There was too much visible in his eyes for him to be anything like the others she had met.

  “Which room is yours?” she heard herself asking boldly.

  Cole tensed, then pointed farther ahead. “I’m down there,” he rumbled.

  Before she could say anything more, his arm snaked out and went under her hips. Effortlessly he scooped her up so that she was sitting on his one arm. If ever Trestin had needed a reminder of the fact that he wasn’t entirely human, she was getting it. His single arm held her aloft as if she weighed no more than a feather. She could barely believe it, but there wasn’t so much as a tremor in his arm as he made a beeline for the door he had pointed toward.