Scottish Werebear: A Second Chance: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Scottish Werebears Book 6)

by Lorelei Moone

  “But…”

  “Yes?” Penderton frowned at her. “We need an experienced journalist on this story. You’ll understand.”

  “So what am I meant to be doing?” Charlie spoke wearily.

  “Culture. Human interest. How do they live; what do they eat? You get the drift.”

  Charlie sighed. Typical. Everyone else was working on the most exciting stories ever, and she would once again be reduced to writing columns about recipes and other inconsequential stuff.

  She knew better than to argue, though. Penderton ran a tight ship. He didn’t tolerate subordination.

  So she would do as she was told, and at the same time go off on her own to get him a story that showed her worth. In this business, you had to show initiative to get ahead.

  The only thing she needed was for Ella to call with something tangible…

  Charlie looked around the office; her colleagues were scrambling. Those who weren’t hunched over their computers researching this brand new phenomena were on the phone, asking anyone and everyone of their usual informants for information about these shape shifters.

  They didn’t even seem to know where to start.

  The moment Ella’s contacts would come up with something, Charlie would be miles ahead of the rest of the office. It was hard not to feel a little smug, at least on the inside.

  “Boss, I’ve got a tip,” Diane, called out from across the office.

  Oh crap, Charlie groaned on the inside. All her optimism had vanished in an instant.

  Penderton joined her at her desk immediately. Charlie watched their discussion with bated breath. The story Diane was now working on had been her idea. How in the world had she already found something?

  Their hushed voices made it impossible to overhear anything from Charlie’s position, so she picked up her mug and approached the coffee maker in an effort to get closer. Of course, this meant she was forced to stand with her back toward them.

  “Blacke, yes,” Penderton mumbled.

  “He will be…” Diane’s voice went low again. “Perhaps I can intercept…”

  “Good. Go ahead.” Penderton said.

  Charlie caught herself. She’d been standing here too long with her mug in hand already. Behind her, footsteps dispersed.

  She turned and took a sip, before walking back to her desk. Penderton was long gone, while Diane was flitting around her cubicle, packing up her things. Damn. She must have found out something big for Penderton to let her out of the office at a time like this. If only Charlie knew where she was going.

  Of course, she couldn’t just ask. That would be way too obvious, and she wouldn’t get a straight answer anyway.

  Charlie sat down behind her desk and started on her own work instead, even if the speculations about Diane’s discovery barely allowed her to focus. How did these shifters live? What did they eat? Did they even have their own separate culture, or had they integrated completely into human society?

  Where to begin?

  Charlie closed her eyes and was greeted with just one image. James.

  She had known him so well before he left or so she thought. He seemed like any other teenager at the time. Okay, actually that wasn’t quite accurate. But then again, Charlie hadn’t been an ordinary teenager either.

  Charlie’s parents both worked, so they’d mostly hung out together at her place or gone out to the park. But she’d met his parents, briefly, and although they were the sort of people who kept to themselves and didn’t socialize much with the rest of the neighborhood, they hadn’t seemed too unusual either.

  If he was a shape shifter, that meant that his parents were too, right? It was hereditary, surely?

  Charlie opened her eyes and started to take notes of everything she thought she knew about James and his family. There were precious few facts and a lot of conjecture.

  Considering she had had no idea about his true nature until last night, she probably never knew him very well after all.

  She sat back in her chair and looked over her list.

  Outdoorsy, fit, loner, massive sweet tooth, protective, quiet - except with her…

  And it went on. All this was just stuff she remembered about him, though. She couldn’t simply assume that every one of them shared the same traits, could she?

  Charlie flinched when her phone buzzed on top of her desk, the otherwise inconspicuous sound resonating and multiplying against the laminated wood. She checked the display. Ella.

  Hell yeah!

  She looked around to see if she might be overheard, then answered it as quickly as she could.

  “Hey, what have you got?” Charlie said.

  “Easy, tiger! How about a ‘hello’ first?” Ella teased on the other end.

  “All right. Hello. Happy now?”

  “Ask me how I am.”

  “Oh come on! You have no concept of the kind of day I’ve been having so far.”

  “It’s only ten; how bad could it have been?” Ella quipped.

  “Get to the point. You wouldn’t be calling me unless you’ve got something, right? And you’re making this as painful as possible, so whatever it is, it’s good, yes?”

  Ella chuckled. Charlie tightened her grip on the phone so much her knuckles turned white.

  “Okay, I’ll tell you. Remember Todd? Well, he managed to find out that a certain someone you know booked a flight into London early this morning.”

  Charlie let go of her phone, holding it tightly between her shoulder and side of her head instead and found a fresh page on her notepad. She scribbled down what Ella said as fast as she could. James. London. Early flight.

  “Did he travel alone?” Charlie asked.

  “Nope. Two others.”

  “Okay, that all?”

  “They rented a car,” Ella said. “I’ll send you the details.”

  “Cool. I totally owe you!”

  “We’ll be even once you introduce me to those guys, yeah?”

  “Okay, whatever.” Charlie hung up and stared at her phone for a moment. This was it. Soon she’d have her chance to show these people what she was really made of.

  “Charlotte,” Penderton’s voice brought her back to reality. “What’s that you’ve got there?”

  Charlie grabbed her notepad and held it up closer to her face; just out of view from where he stood.

  “I’ve been working on what you said, boss. Researching their culture.” Charlie looked up at him and forced a smile. The last thing she needed was to be grilled.

  “Good. Found anything?”

  Charlie remembered the list of supposed shapeshifter qualities she’d noted down based on her interactions with James. “They seem to be a lot like us, sir. Not very exciting.”

  Penderton nodded and scratched his chin. “Very well. Keep digging.”

  Charlie felt her grip on the pad tighten. She intended to keep digging, but couldn’t do much about it while she sat here at this desk. Meanwhile, Diane was out and about making actual progress.

  He was about to turn and walk off again when she spoke up again.

  “I may have tracked down someone who knows more about their habits and traditions. Would it be okay for me to go interview them?”

  Penderton raised an eyebrow. “You want to go into the field? As a junior reporter? This is highly irregular. If this-”

  “Look, I don’t know if this person is for real, and I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. I’m sure everyone else has more important things to work on…” Charlie smiled again, hoping to high hell it looked as innocent as she intended.

  “Fine. But you come back with something, you hear?”

  Her heart skipped a few beats. He had actually let her follow up on a fictional lead. This was major, and no doubt inspired only by necessity. The others were too busy to go on a wild goose chase after what he probably assumed was a nonsense tip anyway. Baby steps.

  “Yes, sir. I will.”

  Charlie packed up her things just like Diane had done earlier. This
was her chance to make an impression, and she wasn’t going to waste it. If she hurried to the airport, she could catch one of the afternoon flights to London herself. And then…

  Crap, would she need a passport? No, she wasn’t leaving the country so any form of ID would do…

  Her heart was racing now. This was a massive risk. Penderton had allowed her to leave, but that didn’t mean she had a travel budget. Any expenses would come out of her own pocket.

  Charlie grabbed her bag and took a deep breath before racing out of the office. She could feel her colleague’s eyes on her as she left. She was the rookie. Her early departure would spark a lot of speculation and gossip.

  Let them talk, Charlie thought when she reached the elevator. What do they know?

  Instead of worrying about her reputation anymore, she checked her wallet. She had a twenty and some change. That was all. In the compartment behind her driving license and unused gym membership card awaited the one thing that would make her crazy plan possible. Charlie retrieved the carefully wrapped up little packet and peeled away the sticky tape that sealed it.

  After making the final payment last year, she had promised herself not to use it unless it was absolutely necessary.

  The blue and white logo greeted her like an old friend. Charlie checked her watch. There was no other way to get to London on time. She had to hurry. She had to find James.

  She had no choice but to use her emergency credit card.

  Chapter Five

  James looked out the window as they drove through Central London. Red double decker buses, black cabs, and famous landmarks greeted him.

  He had never expected to be invited along on Henry’s trip to London to meet with human government officials. In fact, he would have preferred for himself as well as the rest of his group to stay home as planned. They were courting danger; as they’d checked in for their flight, he was certain they’d get caught.

  But Blacke was here too, doing the exact same thing, potentially with a head start. And James knew Blacke the best out of everyone in the New Alliance. He was the one most likely to predict his behavior.

  So he’d agreed to make the trip. And so far, it seemed that the human authorities hadn’t caught on to them yet.

  The local New Alliance leader Eric had done his part and set up a meeting with his local Member of Parliament; he was a constituent after all. But that wouldn’t be enough. Blacke would be planning to meet with someone much more important, and they had to somehow achieve the same.

  As they drove along Whitehall, James just about managed to take a peek into Downing Street, where the Prime Minister’s residence and office was. So this was it. The center of the human power structure.

  It was a far cry from the comparatively modest and small Alliance HQ in Stirling where James had worked for years. Sure, the Stirling mansion was impressive, but it was just one building. These people had an entire borough dedicated to the government it seemed.

  The security around this part of London was equally impressive. Armed police guarded important streets and buildings. Did it always look like this? Or was it due to last night’s big reveal that security had been stepped up? Were they perhaps on the lookout for James and the other occupants of this otherwise inconspicuous rental car?

  James had never been to London before. Still, his mind refused to stop analyzing what he saw.

  No doubt this was exactly the reason Henry had asked him to come along.

  James glanced at his fellow passengers. Henry, Gail, and Eric looked determined. They were working towards one firm goal: get some kind of deal with the government in place before Blacke managed to do the same. Or at least minimize any damage Blacke was going to cause.

  As they came up to Westminster, their expressions changed, except perhaps Eric’s. He looked ahead with the same stoicism he had shown throughout. The others showed awe more than anything. James followed their line of sight.

  Ahead stood Westminster Cathedral; a building he’d only seen before on TV. It was beautiful. As were the Houses of Parliament beyond. How many people came here, just like them, hoping to make a difference? How many had succeeded?

  He preferred not to dwell on it. Instead, he pulled out some notes he’d made on the flight over. Blacke’s likely talking points and strategy. They had to somehow find someone with enough influence to stop any of this from happening.

  The last thing any of them wanted was for Blacke to trade his precious tracker program for the promise of power here. All they’d worked so hard to achieve would be wiped out if Blacke was successful. They wouldn’t be free but just controlled by another master.

  Eric pulled over into a nearby bus stop to let his passengers out.

  “Go on inside. I’ll join you once I find a place to park,” he said.

  Henry shook his hand and stepped out onto the pavement, Gail opened her door and followed. James, meanwhile, got out from the roadside and joined his comrades once Eric had pulled away, but not before stealing a glance up in the opposite direction. Big Ben towered over them from the other side of the road. This was a very strange place. Very humbling.

  The three of them didn’t waste any more time. They had an appointment with a Conservative Member of Parliament. And hopefully that would be just the first step.

  The meeting with the MP had gone well.While Henry had done most of the talking at first, but when the time came to explain Blacke’s background, James had taken over.

  And the man himself, Oliver Teese, who had started off visibly reluctant to hear them out, had been won over. He was going to help them and take this up the chain. Not out of the goodness of his heart of course; James was certain he was just trying to gain points with more senior members of his party.

  Clearly, Politics worked much in the same way everywhere, whether inside the Alliance or out of it.

  Either way, the short meeting they’d had had paved the way for bigger, better things. But it wouldn’t be until the next day before they had their meeting with the Home Secretary’s aides, and then perhaps the woman herself.

  “Good job,” Henry said as they made their way towards the Central Lobby of the House of Commons. “We’ve made some real progress today.”

  James nodded. He still could hardly believe that the three of them had just been allowed inside to meet with someone, without much security at all. Sure, they had been searched, and passed through a metal detector on the way in. But considering their special abilities, that was hardly enough. A shifter even without weaponry posed much more of a risk than these humans seemed to realize.

  All it took was one bad apple to ruin it for all of their kind. Surely that wasn’t was Blacke was planning; he’d be way too keen to come to a diplomatic arrangement of some sort. But if it didn’t work out… Was Blacke crazy enough to initiate an attack if things didn’t go his way?

  James wasn’t sure.

  And so he remained thoughtful and quiet, keeping his eyes on the floor, while Henry and Eric discussed the meeting in more detail beside him.

  “Something wrong?” Gail, who had been similarly quiet, finally asked him.

  James looked up at her. “Nothing. It’s a lot to take in.” He did have a nagging feeling that something significant was about to happen though. But it wasn’t tangible enough to mention it to anyone, not even Gail - his former colleague from the Alliance HQ.

  She nodded. “If all goes well tomorrow, we’ll be well placed against Blacke.”

  He had to agree.

  They walked on towards the exit when a figure caught his attention from the corner of his eye.

  “James,” a female voice called out to him. “James Finch.”

  He instantly froze. He knew this voice from a long time ago.

  James turned around. There she was; a ghost from his past.

  Charlotte McAllister blinked a few times, but maintained eye contact from the moment he’d noticed her. Those bright, intelligent eyes seemed to bore right into him, uncovering his deepest, most secret d
esires.

  “Yes,” he responded, more out of reflex than anything else.

  It was unmistakably her, though there was something different that didn’t match up with his old memories. Something in the way she looked at him had changed. Her eyes were colder, more guarded now than they used to be.

  Of course, you idiot. You shared a kiss and abandoned her. Of course she’s going to be different now, so many years later.

  “Your presence here has been leaked to the media. They’re all waiting outside,” Charlotte nodded towards the main entrance halfway across the hall they currently found themselves in.

  Henry cleared his throat and shot James a concerned look. “Friend of yours?”

  He turned to face Charlotte and continued. “Anyway, we’re not opposed to speaking with the media, but we prefer to do it on our terms. Now is not the time.”

  “Well, I can show you another way out, then you can avoid them.” Charlotte smiled at Henry briefly, then continued to stare at James.

  It had occurred to James that going public himself could have unforeseen consequences. But he’d had no way to predict a reunion with the one person from his past who could have changed his entire life. At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. But as soon as he found out that his own sister had taken a human mate… He’d often worried that he’d made a huge mistake.

  “Fancy seeing you here,” James mumbled.

  Charlotte frowned, then turned on her heel and started walking. “This way if you want to avoid the craziness outside.”

  Henry, Gail and Eric didn’t waste time and left James behind scratching the back of his head. Was this a coincidence? He wasn’t sure he believed in coincidences when it came to relationships.

  He forced himself into motion and caught up with the rest of his group just as they entered a small corridor that veered left from the main hall. There they passed by the cloakroom and bathroom facilities, before ending up at a doorway to the outside world flanked by two guards who barely took notice of their departure.

  Outside, the wind had picked up, but there was no sign of much activity - press or otherwise.

  “Which way to the car?” Gail asked.