by Kyanna Skye
McConnell paused and grinned at the reporters. “The firm which assisted in our investigation would like to remain unnamed, but law enforcement here would like to thank them for their assistance in bringing a dangerous criminal to justice. There’s no doubt that this operation was greatly helped and speeded along by their expertise. This was both a complicated and serious case, one which was made much easier with their assistance.”
“That was big of him,” Alec said. “One of these days, we might have to rethink that policy about always keeping our names out of the news.”
“Maybe,” Kiefer conceded. “We’re a little too small to worry about that right now.”
“Not to be, well, I guess greedy,” David said. “But Amira’s father is paying for this? I noticed he didn’t mention anything about the threats against Jamaal.”
Kiefer nodded. “His money has already been deposited into our account. No need to feel shy about asking. We made an agreement to keep the threats against Jamaal out of the press. It may come out in the trial, but by then it won’t have much impact. He and his wife have been married for a few years already, so it’s not like it should be a big deal by the time this all goes to court. We made sure any pictures were destroyed.”
“Good deal,” David said.
“What about McConnell?” Alec asked. “Is he going to come over to Edgewater or not?”
“I think he will,” Kiefer replied. “I’m going to let him enjoy the nice suit for a couple days, let him think about it, and then ask him again. We might have competition though. After bringing in this collar the promotion which people have been buzzing about it at his fingertips. I think he’d be happier working with us but you know, we’ll see. It’s a change of lifestyle.”
“Got that right,” David said.
“Well, I have to go,” Alec stood, looking at his watch. “I’m picking Erika up for lunch.”
“I’m going to go over to Shari’s office,” Kiefer said. “She’s got a client she wants me to meet.”
“Before you go, I meant to ask,” David said. “Either of you guys heard from Jesse?”
Kiefer grinned. “Yes, I spoke with him briefly yesterday. I told him he should take a couple of weeks off. He and Amira are getting some things straightened out.”
Alec and Kiefer both said their goodbyes, leaving David alone. “Lucky bastards,” he whispered.
***
Amira was staying at Jesse’s house for the time being. They’d had breakfast together that morning, and then he went out for a run. When he got home, she was sitting on the couch, lost in thought.
“Sweetheart,” he said, dropping a kiss on her lips. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “I got a genuine surprise just now.”
Jesse walked to the bathroom, grabbed a towel and came back out. “What’s that?”
“I had a talk with my father.”
He held his breath for a long moment before letting it go. They had discussed what was going on in her country and her need to speak to her father about all that had taken place. It was a difficult conversation to have, but one which had been building up for years. Amira finally admitted to him that she didn’t want to pursue the throne. If she were to become a monarch at some point, she intended her life to be vastly different than the ones of others before her. In short, she did not want to become a queen and carry on the royal title after her father’s death.”
“It was very difficult,” Amira explained. “Before Jamaal abdicated I never had to think about being the next in line. I wasn’t raised for the job but more than that I have always prized my freedom. In some ways, Omar was right about me not being built for it. I wasn’t made for a position that’s going to strangle me. Anyway. I was expecting my father to fight really hard on this. He says that he and my mother have been discussing this for the last year or so. He wasn’t happy but he understood that this was going to be an issue.”
“What did he say?” Jesse asked, taking a seat on the sofa across from her.
“He told me that there is a precedent, in the past, of handing the monarchy down through the brother of a king. We have a bunch of cousins who would happily take up the position. But he also said there are ways my role could be re-envisioned. He knows how I love to travel. I told him that I want to live in the States. I could have dual citizenship, perhaps. This is the twenty-first century after all. The monarchy is symbolic—they haven’t actually ruled in more than two hundred years. There should be ways to see the best interest of my people without me living there full time, or giving up other pursuits. Or leaving behind people I love,” she said.
“That’s wonderful news!” Jesse said. “I know you couldn’t have expected he’d have that reaction.”
“No, I didn’t. Best of all, he’s healthy, so we shouldn’t have to worry about succession for a long time. But it’s good to know there are options. I know this will take some more talking too but it’s a good start.”
“I’m so happy for you,” Jesse stood up. “I’d hug you right now but I am sweaty.”
“Yeah,” Amira said. “You are. But maybe we could take a shower together.”
Jesse grinned. “Yeah, I’m all for that.”
The End
Thank you so much for reading Billionaire Protector! If you enjoyed the story be sure to grab Perfect Redemption, which is exclusively available for my subscribers and is book 1 of the Edgewater Agency series featuring Keifer. These are standalone series with no cliffhangers. I have also included bonus stories for your reading pleasure and an exclusive preview of my other book Rascal!
Paranormal Romance Collection
Protected by the Soldier Bear
Can Adeline escape from her crazy ex-boyfriend and finds happiness with Jay the werebear?
Adeline Hensley is a girl on the run. On the run from her sleazy ex, her old life, and desperately running from the fear-riddled person she has become. Her quest for a way out lands her straight into harm’s way, and straight into the arms of a mysterious man who saves her and steals her heart all at the same time.
Jay Macintyre, tired of the overwhelming violence of war, decides to make the switch from Military man to Private Eye. His army background and his supernatural werebear abilities make him one of the best Private Investigators in the city. Little does he know that the missing woman he was hired to find is hiding more secrets than he could ever best
Jay ends up protecting the woman he was meant to hunt down, at the same time realizing that not all is what it seems. He finally finds the girl, but will he lose his heart in the process?
Chapter 1
Jay looked into the sad, deep blue eyes of the gorgeous woman staring blankly back at him from the photograph. Her dark blond hair fell in soft waves to brush her shoulders, and she was wearing some kind of summery dress that had little lavender paisleys scattered like stars across the front. In the picture, she was standing next to a smiling man with his arm around her, but her posture screamed at him that something was off.
As a werebear he could tap into the natural instincts of his animal half to allow him greater insights into the things he didn’t always pick up with his human senses. It was a skill that was immensely helpful when he had launched his private investigation firm just over a year ago.
With his military background, and his supernatural abilities, it was a natural transition to the private sector after he’d finished his last tour of duty. Even though he was a born fighter, the violence of war had finally started to wear on him, and he had decided that a change would be good. Too many nights waking up in a cold sweat with images of falling bodies and the sound of bombs ringing in his ears.
His dark eyes were drawn back to hers. Adeline. Her husband, Blake Newcomb, had hired him to find his missing wife. He was the smiling man from the photo. He had come into the office begging Jay to help find her, saying the police weren’t doing anything. The man had been earnest, Jay would give him that.
There was still something off
, his bear instincts told him. He just had to figure out what. First thing first, he had to find the girl. He scanned the chart that was paper-clipped under the picture.
Five feet seven inches, blue eyes, blond hair, Jay flipped back to the photograph, and a knockout figure with lush curves in all the right the places. He curbed his wayward thoughts, bringing them back to her description. Probably going by her maiden name of Hensley. Adeline Hensley. It has a nice ring to it, he thought. Mentally saying her name, committing it to memory.
He knew he would have no problem remembering this woman. Despite himself, his gaze was drawn back to the photo. Her hourglass figure filled out the dress she was wearing in all the right ways, unable to deny the instant attraction he felt at not just her body, which was his version of perfection, but also the expression on her face. Intelligent, kind-hearted.
When he reached her eyes again, he felt the kick of his instincts. The same instincts that had saved him more times than he could count on the battlefield. He re-read the numbers he had scrawled hastily on the bottom, probably illegible to anyone else, but he didn’t really need to.
The address he had been given had led him to the seedy motel in a bad part of the city that he was now parked out front of. He had sat there, he checked the clock glowing red in the dash, for almost 2 hours. Just waiting. Luckily, patience was a virtue that came naturally to him.
He had watched older men with scantily clad girls on their arms easily half their age. Rough looking men eyeing everyone and everything with shifty, sideways glances as they disappeared inside, presumably to push whatever illegal substance they happened to pedal.
It all made the back of his neck prickle in unease, helpless to do anything but watch as he continued to sit there, hoping to catch sight of the woman he had been hired to find.
It had been surprisingly easy to track her down, either she wasn’t very good at hiding or she just hadn’t cared that much, but he was betting on the former. There was an innocent naiveté that came across loud and clear in the photo of her.
Jay sighed as he looked down at his empty coffee cup. He was wasting time just sitting there, he knew that. He had to make a decision soon. Either go in, try and find whatever room she was staying in, and potentially spook her into running again, or leave and come back tomorrow.
But she might just as easily be gone by the next day. He growled in aggravation. It could go either way, and he just wouldn’t know the answer until he rolled the dice. Pocketing his keys and his brown leather wallet, he casually opened the SUV door, got out, and threw it shut behind him.
He would just take a look around the building, case any exits, then walk up to the front desk and hope he got lucky. Slowly, he moved to the sidewalk, surreptitiously keeping an eye on the people he passed. She really couldn’t have picked a better neighborhood to hide in? He just shook his head.
Anyone trying to mess with him would be in for a rough surprise. He had specialized in hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention his size alone was enough to intimidate most people. At six and half feet of pure, lean muscle his physique closely mirrored that of his animal half.
As Jay neared the alleyway running behind the dilapidated motel, he paused, his instincts going on high alert. His unusually sharp ears had picked up something, he just couldn’t make sense of it. There it was again. A soft, almost imperceptible shriek, full of terror and completely feminine. What the hell?
Jay turned in that direction, and the sudden sound of a scuffle followed by a metal trash can being knocked over had him rushing around the corner to investigate.
Chapter 2
What he saw turned his blood to ice. A group of disreputable looking men was slowly advancing on a lone woman. He couldn’t see her clearly in the dim shadows of the dirty alley, but he instantly recognized the severity of the dire situation. This girl was in serious trouble.
His reaction was instantaneous. Years of training on top of his animal instinct had his body reacting almost before his thoughts had time to register. Something about the woman, now pressed up against the jagged brick, caught his attention and tried to distract him, but his iron will keep his focus on the five men still walking toward her tauntingly.
No one had seen him yet, his movement’s fluid as he advanced in the shadows, making sure he kept to the deepest parts. It wasn't fully night out yet, so there were still patches of dusty like flickering down the alley. He moved slowly, silently, and as he neared the last of the men, his muscles tensed in preparation.
He quickly read them. The one directly in front of him now seemed the weakest, he would go down first. The three men just to his right were obvious lackeys, but they each held a makeshift weapon. A piece of two by four, a short length of pipe that could be deadly for either himself or the woman.
The real problem was going to be the front man, the gang leader. He was the one the others followed, and he carried a wicked looking knife that glinted dully in the dim light. He tried to ignore the woman’s soft, terrified pleading as the men advanced on her even further but it hit him, causing his chest to tighten painfully as every animal instinct in him bellowed at him to save her, protect her. At all cost.
He shook off the intense reaction, knowing if he lost focus it could end really badly for both of them. Just as the lead thug opened he mouth, he struck. Still moving silently, he reached for the smallest man directly in front of him, placing hands on either side of his head, and with a quiet snap was lowering him bonelessly to the pavement.
The woman still hadn’t noticed him, but he wasted no time advancing on the three next men. The second went down as quickly as the first, and he moved with supernatural speed to cut the others off before they could surround him. He could see it in their eyes that they didn’t realize the extent of the danger they were in, confident they could take down one, lone man. But what they didn’t know was that he wasn’t just a man.
He used his supernatural strength to land a blow that had the third man falling with a wet squish as his body hit a dirty puddle. Uncertainty started to fill the last man’s eyes, and he cast a questioning look at his leader, who was just now turning away from his prey to take in what was happening behind him.
The guy’s beady eyes looked black in the darkness of the shadows as his eyes widened on Jay and the devastation he had wrought in his crew. Five had become two in a matter of seconds. The head honcho froze for a minute before a drug-induced rage and confidence had attacking when he really should have been running for his life.
Jay steeled himself, smelling the drugs on his skin as he neared. He knew this guy wasn't going to give up, unwilling or unable to process the reality around him. Jay assessed the situation. The woman, still huddled with her face covered, cowered against the wall safely out of his path. The two men, one holding a piece of pipe like a bludgeon, the leader still wielding that deadly blade as they both advanced to him, one in front and one in the back.
He made the tactical decision to go after the weaker looking one, the man holding the pipe, trying to take him down before the other could reach him. Two against one were more than fair odds for him, but it would make it harder to protect the now silent female.
He turned to look at her, noticing how silent she had gone, and found the biggest, deepest blue eyes staring back at him, opened as wide as they could go. The impact of her gaze hit him like a semi-truck. He knew this woman. This gorgeous, terrified creature. The hair was different, dyed some store bought shade of dark brown, but the features, the mouth, the curve of the cheek, and those eyes.
It was her. Adeline. Of all the women, it had to be her staring at him like a startled bird about to take flight. He let out an ummgph as his momentary distraction cost him a sharp sting across his left shoulder as the pipe made contact. He shifted forward, his body moving like water despite his size, so the blow just glanced off his back, but he shook his head trying to dispel the image of big azure eyes boring into him. He had to focus.
He turned quickly, avoiding the slashing
blade glinting evilly now at his back, and leapt toward the guy holding the pipe like a baseball bat. They had him at a disadvantage now. Shit. He cursed at himself, at his mental lapse as he couldn’t help but steal another quick glance at her.
Jay might be able to hold them off in his human form, but not bring them down and protect her at the same time, and his animal half was refusing to let him do anything but. He could practically hear the beast growling impatiently inside him. Bears could shift at will, and usually he felt in perfect harmony with his other half.
For the first time in his life, he could feel control slipping away as his instincts clamored like mad, screaming that he had to protect this woman, keep her safe. Never had Jay had a reaction this strong, and while mentally he tried to hold onto the image of his normal, human shape the pull to shift was overwhelming.
He felt the moment that he lost the battle. Bone re-knit and skin disappeared under fur almost instantly, the change happening seamlessly as he was mid-air, leaping towards the would be attacker.
He moved with a deadly grace despite the giant size of his bear form. The man holding the pipe fell within seconds, fear filling his face just before a sharp swipe from Jay’s massive claw had left him lying unconscious next to the others.