Bear Mated: A BBW Bear Shifter Paranomal Romance (Pine Ridge BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance Series Book 2) by Belinda Meyers Read Free Book Online

know something that will cheer
you up,” he said.
    “What?” Sounding wary.
    “The eagles. I saw where their
nests are. Big ol’ nests up high in the trees.”
    She seemed to be thinking about
that. “And they’re all shifters?”
    “Near as I can tell.”
    “And they … live out here? I mean, the thief, he had a car, clothes …”
    Rick nodded. “He was living like a
man. He must have a place in town. I think I know where he was headed in that
Honda. There’s a campsite not far away—you can get to it by the road just a
little ways down.”
    “Yes, I know it. I had to break up
a fight there not long ago. The park rangers called me in.”
    “Well, I think the thief was headed
toward the campsite parking lot when he got stuck at the bridge and had to lam
it. If he’d had his way, he probably would’ve left his clothes in the car when
it was parked at the lot and Shifted, then flown his loot to his nest.”
    “I don’t understand. Why would an
eagle shifter be a serial burglar? And does he live in the nest most of the
time, or in town?”
    “Some bear shifters live in caves
part of the year and houses or trailer homes the rest of it. I’ve done it
before. That’s how I found this place.” He rapped his knuckles on the stone
wall of the cavern. “I guess that’s what he does. Maybe all of his clan are
like that, or maybe they just send one of their people out to live among
people. Their eyes and ears in the human world, if you know what I mean. I’ve
heard of that before.”
    “You shifters are so mysterious.”
She sounded interested now, not pissed. That was some improvement, anyway. He
would take it.
    “You’re interested in my kind?” he
said, just to keep her talking.
    “Sure. You’re fascinating. You
know, you never answered the question about why your Great Alpha ordered your
crew to take over the ski resort.”
    He shrugged. “It’s a public
relations thing. Everyone wants to know about bear shifters after we came out
of the den. Well, all they see are lumberjacks and the like. We used to be
lumberjacks, but the Great Alpha didn’t think that was the right image for bear
shifters everywhere. I don’t know why not. The ladies didn’t seem to mind. But
he wanted what he called a beacon. A flagship. A symbol representing all bear
shifters everywhere. So he had a lumberjack-off—don’t joke; okay, well you can
joke a little—and our crew won. So we got the gig of restoring the old resort.
It’s a lot of work, harder sometimes than woodcutting, but I can’t wait to see
the place up and running.”
    “It would be nice,” she admitted.
“For the town, I mean. It’ll bring a lot of business in.”
    “Exactly.”
    “But I still don’t get it. I mean,
there are a lot of shifters in Pine Ridge. Why? And then you guys buy the
resort. There’s something not quite right about it all. I know you know what I’m talking about.”
    “You and your conspiracy theories.
I’m going have to call you Agent Scully, not Officer Hotpants .”
    She studied him again, and he knew
she was searching for signs of duplicity. He tried to keep his face
honest-looking, but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded. She had a way of looking
right through him, or at least through his façade. Anyway, the last thing he
wanted now was for her to sense that he was lying about something. Her eyes
were narrowing, though, and she looked suspicious.
    He released a breath. “If there is
a secret,” he said carefully, “it’s secret for a reason.”
    “So,” she said with some finality,
as if she were Hercules Poirot solving a murder
mystery. “There is a secret.”
    “Maybe,” he allowed. “But if there
is, only members of the crew can know what it is.”
    “Only other bear shifters, you
mean.”
    “Only Pine Ridge Crew shifters.” He
chewed on his lower lip, then added, after some deliberation, “And their
mates.”
    Her eyes widened, just slightly. He
could see her start to look evasive, as if she didn’t