by T. S. Ryder
Uh oh. This could be bad.
“Boyfriends, I mean.” Caleb gave him a patronizing smile.
“I thought for a second you meant shifters. You wouldn’t have a problem with that now, would you?”
“Well, we don’t allow animals in the building.”
Destiny tried to breathe slow to keep herself calm. But the rage was already trying to break free. She shut down her computer, grabbed her purse and stood.
“We were just leaving anyway,” she said.
Then Joshua came out from the back office and stood beside his brother. “What’s the problem, here?”
“No problem,” Destiny said, then, with a challenging look at Caleb. “Right?”
“This is Destiny’s bear friend—I mean, boyfriend,” Caleb said.
She went to Parker’s side and set her feet. They better let this go fast or someone was going to get hurt.
Joshua nodded. “Guess we’ll have to call the game control to get the wild animals out of the office.”
“You think that’s cute?” Parker asked. “Do you know anything about shifters or even bears in general?”
“I know they taste good when you cook them right,” Joshua said, narrowing his eyes.
“I would think lawyers would have more knowledge on the prejudice laws. You know, the ones that say you can’t discriminate against other races or species or it’s a hate crime.”
“People eat bear meat all the time,” Caleb said. “Didn’t you know?”
“Like that’s what you meant,” Destiny said.
“What else could I have possibly meant?” Joshua asked.
“What exactly is your problem with shifters?” Parker asked. “I genuinely want to know. Are you afraid? Curious? Think we’re strange or dangerous somehow?”
Caleb huffed. “You’re all a danger to society and should be kept in cages. All you hear about is shifter attacks.”
“You must watch a different news than I do then,” Parker said. “Because all I see is humans attacking each other and shifters. With guns, knives, fists, words.”
Caleb shifted his weight but said nothing.
“We’re in complete control when we shift. I might be stronger and faster as a bear, but I’m not going to hurt anyone I wouldn’t hurt in human form.”
“Unless you get mad enough to turn brutal,” Joshua said.
“That doesn’t happen,” Parker said. “Let me know show you what a shifter is really like.” In a matter of seconds, he had pulled off his shirt and slipped out of his pants and shoes, then changed.
Destiny was impressed at his speed. But then, he’d had years to perfect it.
Parker sat in the reception area in bear form, looking at them. The Greene’s shared glances, both looking horrified. Destiny petted behind his ear and rubbed her shoulder against him.
“He’s perfectly tame and gentle,” Destiny said. “Nothing like a wild bear. And you’ve both pissed him off, so you’d know if he weren’t capable of controlling himself while mad.”
They exchanged looks again and Parker shifted back, then dressed quickly. “It’s usually better once you’ve seen it. You know that we’re no more a danger than any other human with a weapon.”
The lawyers stared in silence for a moment, then a collection of whispers at the edge of the office caught their attention.
Joshua spoke first. “I’ll admit I’ve never seen that before.”
“It did seem very… calm,” Caleb added.
“I know we’re different,” Parker said. “And that can cause people to be uncomfortable. But there’s no reason to be cruel to Destiny because of it. She’s showing her compassion and ability to see past race and species. I’d think that would be a valuable asset in an employee. Unless you value things like racism, sexism, and specism.”
“No, we don’t,” Caleb said. “And you’ve made your point.”
“I hope so.”
“We better get back to that deposition,” Joshua said.
“Right,” Caleb said. “Nice to meet you… what was it?”
“Parker.” He stepped forward to shake his hand. “Parker Hartman.”
Caleb shook his hand, then Joshua did and nodded to him before leaving the reception area.
Destiny grinned at Parker. “That was very impressive. And effective.” She pressed her mouth to his. “Now let’s get out of here.”
They walked out of the building, and Parker took her hand as they passed the rows of cars. “I hope things get better for you now.”
“Me too.”
Destiny turned to kiss him, but a movement by one of the cars caught her eye. A man stood up from between two cars and rushed at them.
She saw the glint of metal in his hand and cried out, “Parker!”
He turned, but not fast enough. The man reached them and she heard the sick sucking sound of the knife being pulled out of Parker’s gut. He stumbled back, holding his stomach, then fell to the ground. Before he could land on his knees, his clothing exploded around him and he was on all fours in bear form.
Destiny was in such shock that he’d been stabbed, she didn’t even see that the man was running at her. Parker jumped up and pushed him out of the way, knocking the man to the hard cement.
Parker whacked the man with his paw and he grunted like he’d been punched. Parker kicked him, then swiped at him, tearing the front of his shirt and sending trickles of blood to the ground.
The man pushed himself to his feet, clutching his chest, and took off at a loping run. He vanished out of sight and Destiny ran to Parker.
“Are you okay? We need to get you to the hospital!”
She picked up her purse from where it’d fallen beside her. Parker shifted back, and leaned against her, naked and human.
Her mind was super focused on the next thing she needed to do. Get him in the car. He has to be in the car to get to the hospital.
She helped him slide in the back seat, then pressed hard on the gas. Turn left at this light, then it’s a quick right. She kept her eyes on the road, watching for cars and people and anything that might get in her way. She ignored the sounds of agony coming from the backseat. If she let her mind go there for even a second, the panic welled in her chest and fogged her brain.
She pulled up to the doors of the ER and left the car running as she ran inside to get a nurse and a wheelchair. They got him into the wheelchair and she parked the car in the first spot she saw, then ran at full speed back to the ER waiting room. Parker was sitting in the chair, talking to someone behind a desk in grunts and stilted words.
“What’s going on? Why aren’t you helping him?” Destiny said, looking around frantically at the stares they were receiving.
“I don’t know that we can do much,” the nurse behind the desk said. “We don’t usually treat shifters here.”
“What?” Her words came out like a shocking accusation. Here, at the hospital, where they were supposed to get the help they needed, even here, they were facing discrimination.
“Shifters’ bodies are different than humans,” the nurse said. “They require special care.”
“It’s just a stab wound! He needs stitches!”
Destiny couldn’t sit there watching any longer. She took off running. She passed the nurse’s desk, despite the voices calling to her, telling her she couldn’t go down the hall she was now charging down. She saw a woman in scrubs and ran to her.
“Do you have a problem with shifters?” Destiny demanded.
“With what?”
“Shifters?”
The woman looked around, horrified. “Is there one loose?”
Destiny pushed her out of the way and continued. She saw a doctor and nurse wearing pink scrubs up ahead and ran at them.
“Whoa, slow down,” the doctor said.
“Do you have a problem with shifters?” Destiny asked.
“They require special care,” the doctor said.
Destiny looked at the other nurse. The nurse said, “My brother i
s a shifter. He’s adopted, obviously, but I certainly have no problem with him.”
Destiny grabbed the woman’s hand and pulled her back, ignoring her protests and questions, to where Parker waited. “He’s been stabbed and they won’t help him.”
The nurse looked at the other nurse behind the desk, then at Parker. “He’s got a deep penetrating trauma. You need to get him to a trauma room now!”
The nurse behind the desk didn’t move. “We don’t have anyone to treat him.”
The nurse in pink shook her head. She pushed the wheelchair through a set of double doors and glanced in a room. “Here. Help me.”
They got Parker onto the table and the nurse pulled off his shirt. She started rifling through the supplies in the cabinets.
“Don’t you know where things are?” Destiny asked, panicking fully now that Parker looked so pale and this nurse seemed clueless.
“I’m a maternity nurse, not an ER nurse! This isn’t my department.” She pulled out a bottle of some brown liquid and squirted it on Parker’s stomach.
She worked hard, taking his vital signs, injecting him with things, putting pressure on the wound. The bleeding slowed, and she got his wound wrapped. Some of his color started to come back.
The nurse wiped the sweat from her forehead. “He’ll heal fast. We got it cleaned and that’s the most important thing so that infection doesn’t set in.” She handed Destiny a bottle of pills. “These are antibiotics so he doesn’t get an infection. Have him take one a day until they’re gone. I would take him home now.”
“Now? He doesn’t need to stay?”
“What I’ve just done might cost me my job. It’ll be better if you’re not here, and trust me, he’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Destiny threw her arms around her in a tight hug. “Thank you.”
“Don’t take him out through the ER.”
Destiny nodded and slid herself under Parker’s arm as the nurse left the room. She helped him along, but already he did seem a little better. They got many strange and nasty looks, but once she got him outside of the hospital, she went to get the car and then helped him in.
Chapter Eleven
She drove him to her house, then got him into her bed. She pulled the bloody clothes from him and used a washrag to clean him up.
“Do you need anything?” she asked.
He shook his head and closed his eyes, lying his head back on her pillow.
She checked on him through the night, sometimes just standing over him to make sure he was still breathing. She finally fell asleep sometime in the middle of the night, curled up on her couch with her phone in her hand, ready to call 911 if he showed any signs of going downhill.
She awoke to the feeling of someone stroking and kissing her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open. “Parker?”
He grinned at her. “You sleep okay?”
She sat up and looked him over. “Are you okay? You’re up! You need to take these. Are you in pain? Are you still bleeding?”
“Shhh.” He brushed back her hair and kissed her again. “I’m okay. Look.”
He peeled away the bandage to show her his wound. It looked days old instead of hours, already scabbed over and pink around the area.
“But…” She reached out and ran a finger gently over the scab.
“We heal about four times faster than humans.”
“So you’re really okay? You’re going to live?”
He chuckled. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“I was so worried.” She put her hand to his cheek and for a moment imagined Jaxon in his place. How would she be feeling right now if he’d been the one to be stabbed and had come close to dying instead of Parker? When she did, she knew she finally had her answer. “Parker. I can’t live without you. I want to be with you and only you.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “You do?”
“After all that happened, I know it would be painful to lose Jaxon, but to lose you would be unbearable.”
He kissed her fingertips one at a time. “Maybe you should wait a few days. It might just be your reaction to seeing me injured.”
“Parker.” She pressed her lips to his once, twice. “I love you. Only you. You’re the only one for me.”
She called Jaxon later that day. She had been in contact with him and the rest of the Tates once she’d gotten Parker home, but now she was calling for a different sort of update.
“How’s he doing?” Jaxon asked.
“Great. He’s healing nicely.”
“Good. Want me to come get him?”
“No. He’s going to stay here for a little while with me. Jaxon…” She took a deep breath. “I’ve fallen in love with him. I’m sorry.”
“Oh. Okay.” There was a long pause. “I knew it could go either way. I’m glad he has you, I really am. I would rather see you with him than anyone else.”
“Thanks, Jaxon.”
“And hey, if you guys ever want to do a threesome again, you know where my room is.”
She laughed. “Okay. Thanks.”
She hung up with mixed emotions. It’d been so easy for him to say goodbye to her. It stung a little, but at the same time, reassured her that she had chosen correctly.
When she went back to work after taking a few days off to care for Parker, even if most of that time was spent in bed taking care of him in non-medical ways, she put a photo of the two of them on her desk. She wasn’t sure if her bosses or coworkers would say anything about it or not.
When Joshua came out to the reception area, he nodded at the photo. “How is he?”
“He’s good. Healing really well. Will be back to fighting soon.”
“Look, I uh, wanted to apologize for my behavior. And for Caleb’s. Turns out that the man who attacked Parker was Michelle’s husband.”
“He was?”
Joshua nodded. “She’s been fired and while you were out, we had a sensitivity training for the staff. Specist remarks won’t be any more tolerated than racist or sexist remarks.”
She blinked in surprise. Maybe her threats of a lawsuit had affected them more than she knew. “Thank you.”
“We also wanted to offer our legal services to Parker, free of charge. I can’t say that Caleb and I don’t feel at least a little responsible, even if our part was doing nothing to stop the comments going on around the office.”
“I’ll let him know.” She didn’t know what else to say. It was more than she ever could have asked for.
Later that night when she got home and told him the good news, Parker pulled her into a fervent hug and kissed her. “You’re so amazing. I think you and I could really change the world.”
“We already have.”
*****
THE END
Bonus Book 4: The Shifting Billionaire's Baby
Description
A curvy BBW investigating a murder PLUS a hot billionaire business tycoon leading his pack PLUS a dangerous killer on the loose!
Roland Davis is no ordinary man. He's a werewolf and Alpha of his pack. As such, Roland has duties, and taking a mate and producing an heir to lead the werewolves after him are chief among them.
The problem is that there is only one female werewolf left in his pack, and though they’ve been trying for a baby, they haven’t succeeded yet. When she turns up murdered, Roland can't help but feel that he has lost his chance to protect his pack.
Until he meets curvy detective Claire Doyle...
Solving murders is Claire's specialty. Despite what her best friend thinks, she doesn't need anything else in her life. She's not looking for a man, not even a hunky billionaire like Roland.
But as something draws her closer and closer to him, she finds that what she doesn't want might be exactly what she needs.
When a one night stand has unintended consequences, Roland and Claire have to find a way to cope with dark secrets and an uncertain future. But is love really in the cards for them?
Chapter One
Roland could still smell
Melissa's blood, even though the police had covered her with a sheet. He stood on the opposite side of the room, watching them work with narrowed eyes. He wanted to stride over to them and demand answers, but this situation was not one where he could intimidate others into submission. They didn't know any more than he did at the moment.
Melissa was dead in his bed. Murdered.
As cameras flashed, taking pictures of the blood stains and possible footprints, Roland's hands clenched. Melissa had been a sweet, kind woman. A little too submissive for his personal preferences, but she didn't deserve this. When he learned who killed her, he would kill them. She was a member of his pack, and he was meant to protect her. Failing that, he would have revenge.
The head of security and his second-in-command, Adam, shifted closer to him. "You know they're going to ask for security footage. Last night—"
"I'm aware," Roland interrupted. Like Adam, he kept his voice too low for the police to hear. "They will no doubt find it suspicious that we turned off the security cameras."
The cameras had just been turned back on when Melissa's body was found. Roland had been the one to find her, laying in his bed, a knife still in her chest. He ground his teeth together. Apparently she was ready to try to get pregnant again. She had told him more than once that she wanted to be a mother. It was why she had agreed to try with him in the first place. Now she never would have the chance.
Roland and Adam were the only two born werewolves left in the pack. As Alpha, Roland kept his kind when the full moon rose and transformed his pack into bloodthirsty monsters. Adam, his Beta, had better control over himself than the others, but even he could not fully resist the full moon. Roland needed to take a mate that could bear him children. He needed an heir who would eventually take his place as Alpha, protecting the pack and keeping them in line during the three nights that their wolves took over.
Melissa had been the only female in the pack, the last since Roland's mother passed. Roland didn't love Melissa and she hadn't loved him. They never felt the connection of being mates, even when they were in bed together. They both knew their duty, though, and had been trying to produce young for the past year.