Bear's Heart: BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance (Bear Heat Book 5) by Natalie Kristen Read Free Book Online Page B

from the door and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
    “Y-you look mad...at
Lindy,” Jade stammered.
    “I'm not mad at her.”
Dylan raked a hand through his hair. “It's just that...if she
tells Big-Mouth Bax, the whole clan will know. And...”
    “Big-Mouth Bax?”
Jade had to laugh. “Is that what you call him?”
    Dylan shrugged. “I
call him a lot of things.”
    “But Lindy is Baxter's
mate. They won't keep anything from each other,” Jade said
simply.
    Dylan growled and stared at
his watch.
    Sure enough, his watch beeped
as if on cue.
    It was a message from Ethan,
his alpha. Dylan's face was caught in both a smile and a scowl when
he read the message.
    Ethan had given him the
assignment. He had been officially assigned by the Group as Jade's
bodyguard.
    Dylan knew that the Black
Bears Group usually didn't send a senior lieutenant to be anyone's
bodyguard. A junior Black Bear would be able to do the job
competently.
    Dylan took a long breath as
he recalled those wide-eyed looks the Black Bears had given him just
before the ambulance doors slammed in their faces. His attention had
been solely on Jade then and he had ignored his clan completely.
That had never happened before. He never ignored his team members.
He always looked out for them and did a headcount before and after
each mission. His team would realize that he was acting way out of
character. He thought he'd heard Baxter's low chuckle as he rushed
headlong into the ambulance to be with Jade. Disconcertingly,
Baxter's and Lindy's chuckle sounded exactly the same. Did mates
laugh the same way?
    Dylan muttered an oath. Just
what had those two told their alpha and the rest of the clan?
    “Eh...is everything
okay?” Jade asked, looking worried.
    “Yeah.” Dylan
cleared his throat. “I, um, got the job. I am officially your
bodyguard.”
    “You...don't look happy
about it,” she mumbled, squirming.
    “What?” Dylan
spluttered. “No! You...I...I want to be your bodyguard!”
he blurted out at last. “And I'm not letting anyone else take
this job! No male is going to be hanging around you and watching you
and scenting you and being so damn near you all the time!”
Dylan found his hackles and bear rising at the very thought of
another male being so near Jade and watching her, observing her
movements and getting to know all her habits and quirks so
intimately.
    He almost burst a blood
vessel just thinking about it.
    Jade canted her head at him.
There was laughter in her eyes, but she managed to keep her face
straight. “The Black Bears Group could have sent me a female
bodyguard,” she pointed out.
    “Yeah,” Dylan
snarled, more at himself than anything else. He realized that he
sounded possessive and territorial, but goddamn it! She was his, his
to protect!
    But Jade wasn't fazed by all
his growling and prowling. She simply yawned and smiled drowsily at
him.
    “You should rest,”
Dylan said immediately, coming to her side to tuck her in. “You
must be exhausted after that long, grueling interview with the
police.”
    Jade shook her head sleepily.
“I feel better after talking to the police, and to Lindy.
She's right, you know.”
    “About what?”
    Her eyes were already closed,
but she murmured with a smile, “About you. You—are the
best.”

CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN

    Jade clutched the strings of
the cheery, colorful balloons and leaned against her brother's arm.
The balloons were the only things that Dylan and Luke agreed to let
her hold. Her bags, the baskets of fresh fruits and flowers, even
her medication, were all loaded onto their muscular arms.
    Dylan unlocked the door to
his apartment and held it open for them. Luke helped her carefully
across the threshold, and made her sit on the sofa. She had finally
been discharged from the hospital but Luke and Dylan had firmly told
her that she could not go back to her own apartment. It wasn't safe,
they said.
    Dylan had a spare bedroom, so
it was agreed that she would stay with Dylan for