Stone Bear: Sentinel (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Stone Bears Book 1)

by Amelia Jade

  “It’s not your fault, Ajax. There is absolutely no way you could have known. Nobody did. And besides,” he added, “it was Alex’s choice to take the drug in the first place. It wasn’t forced on him.”

  “I hear what you’re saying Gabriel, and I appreciate the words of condolence, but that doesn’t make this an easier pill to swallow, to put it poorly.”

  Gabriel winced at the drug reference. “Well, if we get the chance to do something to those that put the pill in his hands, do I have your support?”

  The voice that came back was hard enough to snap steel. “Count on it,” Ajax snarled, then hung up the phone.

  Gabriel sat back in his chair. Something wasn’t adding up.

  Where was the drug coming from? That was what was bothering him. The Sapphires weren’t idiots, but he didn’t believe they were smart enough to concoct a brand new drug all on their own. That was just way beyond their capabilities as far as he was aware.

  So where was it coming from? Who was supplying it? Was it even being made in the Valley?

  He had a feeling he didn’t want to know the answer to those questions. That didn’t discharge him from his duty to find out, however, and he knew the one person who might know them.

  Heaving his large frame to his feet, he sighed deeply and headed deeper into the mansion complex. He was going to have to go ask someone who would know, as little as he might want to.

  Reluctantly Gabriel’s legs took him toward Marcus’s office.

  Chapter Ten

  Caia

  Caia had just finished telling Marcus that she and Gabriel were convinced it was a drug that was causing the problems within Genesis Valley.

  Marcus sat back in his chair and contemplated what she had said.

  The door into his office, the one that she had never been allowed through, banged open suddenly. She never saw Marcus move, but he was on his feet and halfway to the door before he stopped.

  “What in the name of hell do you think you’re doing Gabriel?” he snarled.

  Caia froze, not wanting to get involved in a fight between the two of them.

  “The drug isn’t coming from within the Valley. It can’t be. It has to be coming from an outside source.”

  This is what he interrupted for? Anger flared in her brain. Caia had already arrived at the same conclusion. Why couldn’t he have let her meet with Marcus herself? This was just as much her case as it was his. Besides, she needed the respect of Marcus more than he did. Caia was still trying to prove herself. Gabriel had had the past eight years to earn that trust. She hadn’t had eight weeks!

  “I was just about to cover that bit with Mr. Kedyn,” she said coolly into the silence as Gabriel wandered over to her side of the desk, warily watching his boss. She forced herself not to smile at Marcus, who looked like he had had his feathers ruffled more than he was willing to admit by Gabriel’s entrance.

  Something had him on edge, she realized. That couldn’t be good.

  “Thank you Gabriel, but that will be all,” he said, sitting down.

  This time Caia did allow herself a little grin as he was summarily dismissed before her and Marcus continued talking.

  Serves him right for interrupting, she thought.

  “What are your next steps then?” he asked, looking at her directly. “We’ve already lost one brand new crew to this stuff. I really do not wish to go through the effort of forming and training another one before we have it snuffed out. But at the same time, we’re falling behind in our quotas as well. That is not good,” he said icily.

  Gabriel was just pulling open the door when someone else walked through it first. Caia’s heart quickened as she recognized Marcus’s brother Valen. The atmosphere in the office became instantly cooler. Valen was nowhere near as social, polite, or willing to put up with his employees as was Marcus. In fact, he spent most of his time out of the office as much as possible, much to the relief of the staff. When he was present, he was generally a walking nightmare.

  Caia profusely hoped he wouldn’t be long, because she had to ask Marcus a question that she really did not want to, and she feared that Valen would jump all over her if she asked it while he was there.

  Marcus explained quickly what she and Gabriel had discovered. She expected Valen to brush it off, but to her utter shock, he exchanged a look with Marcus that reeked of worry.

  “What?” she asked, speaking into the silence far more boldly than she felt.

  Four eyes swiveled to look at her, imploring her to be silent, but she wasn’t going to.

  “You know something that you aren’t telling the rest of us, don’t you? Is this bigger than just the drug?” Their silence did not reassure her. “What does it encompass? If it’s so large, why do you have me on it? I’m so new to everything, this is probably way beyond my abilities! What are you not telling us?!” she cried as they continued to look at her in silence.

  To her surprise, it was Valen who spoke. “Actually, it may just be that a human is exactly what is necessary. A tenacious, strong human, who looks at things differently than the rest of us. Or,” he glanced over at Marcus, “it may be that it will take several of you. There is something going on, Caia Rowan, but we do not know what it is. Not yet, at least.”

  She evaluated his expression, trying to see if he was telling the truth, but she couldn’t pick up on anything.

  “Have you talked to the Dragon Council yet?” she asked, throwing her last card on the table.

  The Dragon Council was the ruling body for the most powerful race of shifters. They also settled large-scale disputes between the other races as well, along with providing knowledge and wisdom to those who asked on rare occasion.

  “We have,” Marcus said, though his tone told her not to take any hope from that.

  “And?” she pressed.

  “You must remember, Caia, that dragons do not operate the same as others. Even we,” he gestured at his brother and him, “seem young and impetuous to them, and yet we are both in our third century of life.”

  She fought to remain in control as he revealed his age to her. It was one thing for her to read that certain shifters lived extremely extended lives. It was another entirely to have one admit it with such confidence that she knew it in her core to be true.

  The things they must have seen…

  Marcus was still talking, she realized after a moment. “This little hiccup and slowed rate of discovery is nothing to them. In fact, many of them will likely sleep through it,” he said, stressing just how long-lived the dragons were. “If it were to begin to stretch into multiple decades or a century, then they would begin to take notice. I often find the days blurring by myself, so it does not surprise me that they have no interest or worry over what is going on at this time.”

  Caia felt the finality of that last sentence hit her like a ton of bricks. What Marcus was saying was that whatever was messing with them they would have to deal with on their own.

  “The only reason that I do notice it, however, is because I spend so much time around you humans in the operations of this company. If I were to hang around with my own kind, or dragons, I would likely have a much similar mindset. When dragons hang around each other, they tend to become even slower to act. It is only because I don’t that I have a different perspective.” His eyes bore into hers at that last sentence, but he didn’t say anything more.

  Caia’s eyes narrowed. Marcus was trying to tell her something without outright saying it. She knew he interacted with humans regularly. That wasn’t knowledge, and she wasn’t asking him for more information. She was asking him to ask the dragons. Dragons. That had to be what he was getting at. Something about them. The Council always stayed together, and they almost never met with humans either. In fact, the vast majority of dragons, like Marcus had said, all stuck with each other.

  Except for one, she realized with a start.

  Ferrovax.

  He lived in the Valley, and to her knowledge, had lived there amongst humans for a lo
ng, long time. Marcus was telling her that she should go talk to him, because he might have a different perspective on things. Actually, Caia corrected herself, he’s very carefully not telling you to go talk to him. But why wasn’t he saying it outright? There was a reason for that, she realized, which she hoped might become clear when she talked to Ferro.

  “I understand,” she said aloud. “I’ll keep working on the case then, and see if I can’t find anything more.”

  “Very good,” Marcus replied.

  “I’ll report back when I find something,” she said, and left the office behind, her mind whirling.

  Gabriel was waiting for her. The moment the door shut, he closed the space between them until he was no more than a few inches from her.

  “I want you,” he said, his voice thick with desire as he leaned in to kiss her neck.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed, reluctantly pushing him away. His lips felt like fire on her neck, a delicious burning bliss that she yearned for more of. “You’re going to get us both fired!”

  He looked around. “There’s nobody in here, and there’s no cameras. Come on, just one kiss,” he pushed.

  She fought back a smile, looking up at him as she bit her lip. Glancing past him, she confirmed that there were indeed no people in the room, and then she hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.

  Their lips met furiously as passion exploded between them. Gabriel lifted her up on to her desk, scattering some paperwork as their arms became entangled with each other.

  “Okay. Stop,” she said urgently, pulling back, her breathing already labored from the brief outburst. Her lungs rising and falling with the increased effort, she slid off the desk and put a few feet between the two of them.

  His eyes hungered for more as she looked up into them, and a part of Caia yearned to be able to indulge him. But she had to keep her head straight. Something was going on, and Gabriel needed to know.

  “What is it?” he said, his eyes all of a sudden piercing and inquisitive. He must have seen something in her expression that told him something serious was going on.

  “First,” she said with a smile, “thank you for that.” She winked. “Secondly,” her face turned grim. “Whatever is going on has Marcus and Valen worried.”

  That got Gabriel’s attention.

  “Valen was there?”

  She nodded. “They’ve already been to talk to the Dragon Council too.”

  Gabriel’s eyebrows hit the roof. “Without our prodding they went to them?” He swallowed hard. “That’s not good at all. What did the Council say?”

  Caia shook her head. “Nothing. Apparently they aren’t worried enough. A few months of things being odd isn’t enough for them to be concerned.”

  Gabriel nodded. He had more experience with shifters, so it came as no surprise that he instinctually knew why that might be.

  “But Marcus hinted that perhaps we should go talk to Ferro.”

  “He hinted?” Gabriel looked confused.

  “You look so cute when you’re lost,” she said, leaning forward and planting her lips on his very quickly. “We’re going back into town today. If my hunch is right, Marcus can’t talk to us for some reason, but Ferro may be able to.”

  “The Tongue & Flame?” he asked, confirming their destination.

  “Exactly,” she confirmed.

  “Okay, let me grab my stuff and I’ll meet you outside.”

  He leaned forward, gave her another kiss, and then before she could react, reached around and gave her rear a full-handed grab. “See you in a bit, beautiful,” he whispered in her ear, and before she could react, he was gone.

  Caia stared after him for several minutes, doing nothing but smiling.

  He sure makes it easy to fall in love with him, doesn’t he?

  Caia’s eyes flew open. She had never used that particular word to describe their relationship before, and her brain’s subconscious use of it had caught her completely off guard. Did she love Gabriel?

  Just as importantly, did he love her? She loved spending time with him, but that was different from actually being in love with him. That was a lesson she had learned when she was younger, and a difference she had been sure to understand in her relationships since.

  But with Gabriel it was different. He was strong and confident, unafraid of the world and yet at the exact same time, completely unashamed to show her his true self and the side that he hid from the world. He had opened up to her completely and totally, without hesitation, telling her about his childhood and the things he had seen and done since. Not once had he hesitated, afraid of her judgment. Instead, he had trusted her outright from the start, and as a result their relationship had blossomed at an incredible pace.

  Clearly it had grown faster than she was aware of if part of her already thought she was falling in love with him. Not that he was a bad choice, she thought with a smirk. He certainly kept things…interesting.

  Her phone buzzed. She took a look at it.

  Raph and Uri just got back from a dual pickup. I should really help them with the paperwork and delivery. Can we meet at T&F for 5? <3

  Caia smiled. He was also a good man, always wanting to help out his comrades, and that was something she deeply respected. After texting him back, she decided that perhaps now would be a good time to do some of her own paperwork.

  Glancing at the stacks of it on her own desk, she sighed. Not her preferred way to spend the afternoon.

  ***

  “Holy hell,” she breathed as her SUV wound down the S-shaped driveway that led from the main road to the gravel parking lot out in front of the Tongue & Flame. This was her first time seeing the bar since it had been destroyed, and although she had only passed by it once before, never having actually entered it, the evidence of destruction and repair was clear. Several parts of the two walls she could see looked brand new, and the deck out front was still under construction. Or re-construction, she supposed.

  Part of her didn’t even want to go inside. If the outside had needed this much work, she wondered if the inside was even still functional. But the “Open” sign was on, which meant that Ferro was at least there, though she wondered just how busy he was these days.

  She took a quick glance around, but didn’t see Gabriel’s truck anywhere. That meant she was early, but perhaps that was a good thing. It would give her an opportunity to talk to Ferro without him around. The two of them had a prior relationship, she knew, which could help, but it almost might be a hindrance. Ferro might feel more compelled to talk to someone of “official” status than he would an old friend. If not, she would let Gabriel do the talking, but doing it her way wouldn’t hurt.

  There were duel wooden swinging doors that moved easily as she pushed them inward, exposing the brightly lit interior. It was still a work in progress, but the ceiling looked to be almost complete. She recalled having heard of it as a dark and dingy dive bar, so the brightness caught her off guard.

  Only part of the floor was finished, but it conveniently led from the door where she stood directly to the bar, along the middle of the left-hand side of the bar. She surreptitiously surveyed the bar as best she could while moving to stand in front of the giant piece of mahogany that covered the surface. It had been shined to a beautiful sheen, and she kept her hands on the raised front piece to avoid marking it up.

  There were only two people in the bar that she could see. The man behind the bar had to be Ferro, since he matched every description she’d heard of him. The other man she didn’t know, however. That didn’t mean much because of how new she was to Genesis Valley, but she still didn’t like it. There was no way for her to determine if she could talk while he was around or not.

  The bar itself was a block U-shape, with the long side facing out into the rest of the bar. She took a seat along the short side nearest her, which also happened to be the complete opposite end from the other man.

  Ferro stared at her for a long time before he approached, one hand hold
ing a towel that constantly wiped the mug in his other hand, though it was long since dry.

  “What can I do for you miss?” he asked politely.

  “I’ve been told that the house beer here is excellent. Are you still producing it these days?” she asked, looking around at the damage.

  “Of course,” he said with a nod, setting the glass down in front of her. He walked smoothly back to the middle of the bar and grabbed a brown bottle. One deft twist of his hand and the lid went spinning neatly into a recycling bin at his feet. The entire process took no more than five seconds before he was pouring the bottle into the mug.

  He spoke once more, his voice much lower. “How can I help you today?”

  Her eyes wanted to narrow, but she kept a straight face. “I work for the Mining Consortium, LMC,” she told him.

  He nodded in understanding, but didn’t speak. She had a feeling that he preferred to speak as little as possible, which meant that the words he had already spoken must have had great import to them.

  Could he possibly know why I’m here? Caia wasn’t sure how to proceed from there. She had been hoping to get Ferro on his own, but something told her that wouldn’t be feasible. She would have to dance around the subject.

  “I was just looking for some peace and quiet,” she said at last. “I work as an assistant for Marcus and Valen Kedyn. I’m sure you know who they are.”

  She saw the understanding in Ferro’s eyes as to her true point. Of course Ferro knew who they were. He recognized that she wasn’t truly as oblivious as she was pretending to be. By acknowledging that he knew who they were, he understood that she was referring to the fact that they were gryphon shifters. Which meant she was here because he was a dragon shifter.

  Or at least, she hoped he realized that.

  “I’ve met them a time or two, yes. Good folks,” he said. “Like me, if they can help you out, they will.”

  Caia forced herself to remain calm. Had his eyes truly flicked over at the other man, or had she imagined it?