Bearly Ever: An Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Arcadia Knights Book 1) by Olivia Gayle Read Free Book Online

expect. Still, he stalled. “How do you mean?”
    She gave him a dirty look, but answered anyway. “When I went looking for a house, the first four places I visited shut me down hard. Like, I’d step out of my car and barely say hello before they’d tell me the house was taken, or otherwise unavailable.”
    “I’m sure it wasn’t that…”
    “Four times,” she interrupted over his excuses. “In a row, one right after the other. They’d look at me, screw up their noses like I stunk, and send me on my merry way. And then there’s that woman at the hotel, Carly, her reaction when you introduced me. Seriously, do I like have a wanted posted plastered around town? She looked almost scared of me.”
    “Some people in Arcadia like their privacy.”
    The scathing glare Ever gave him could have peeled paint, and Aidan knew he had to tell her. She’d get to the bottom of it eventually, or see an errant child Shift. It had been close with little Amanda, and perhaps that would have been easier.
    Ever seemed like a realist. Even if he told her the truth, she’d probably need physical proof. A child was one thing, but having her see him turn into a giant bear might scare her off. Permanently.
    He couldn’t risk that.
    “So where are we going anyway?”
    “To talk to the owner of that house your sister lived in. Well, what’s left of it anyway.”
    “We should have gone last night, that information must have been found easy enough.”
    “It was after eight when we left my father’s house.”
    “I don’t care who I have to wake up if it means my sister OH MY GOD!”
    The last words were screamed as a truck right in front of them suddenly moved fully into their lane. Aidan hit the brakes, and as the last minute swerved to the right. The truck followed, clipping the front bumper and sending the patrol vehicle into a tailspin.
    Straight into the deep embankment alongside the road.
    All the airbags deployed the moment the bumpers collided, but that didn’t help at the car tipped sideways, then they were rolling. Aidan heard Ever’s scream over the shattering of glass and metal, then he blacked out.
    When he came to, they were stopped but top down in the thick wet grass. Aidan groaned, blinking his eyes blearily and touching his skull. It came away bloody but he knew his name at least so hopefully that would heal up quickly. He moved around, testing his body, and found that his legs were pinned beneath the dash. Putting his hands on either side of the steering wheel, he pushed and heard plastic crack, but the damned console wouldn’t budge.
    The smell of gasoline and oil surrounded him, as well as grass, mud and blood, not his own. The last one startled him, and with a rush he remembered his passenger. His fragile human passenger.
    “Ever,” he wheezed as smoke filled the cab. He looked over to see her passed out in the passenger seat beside him, a red gash on her forehead dribbling blood into her hairline. One cheek was puffy, likely from where she hit the airbag, but she wasn’t responding to his shakes. Gas and oil had been lit somewhere nearby, and it was only a matter of time before it engulfed the car.
    The dash wasn’t budging, even when he pushed at it with his free leg. His seatbelt held him inside the vehicle, and unhooking that he lowered himself gently to the roof. His leg wasn’t broken, just stuck, and nothing he did seemed to help.
    More smoke was billowing inside the cab, choking Aidan. Ever began coughing, although her eyes stayed closed. He’d need to do something fast or neither of them might make it.
    His preternatural strength in bear form was easily four times that in his human form, and Aidan was out of time. He kicked off his shoes and started the Shift, the change rippling up his body. Socks split, torn asunder by the sharp claws, and the car shifted as his wedged foot grew as well. This time the dash caved in easily, giving him a handhold so he could stick a paw in and peel up the