Chapter 2
Lincoln
I called for a meeting of our clan, the Canyon Hollow Clan, and everyone had just arrived. Our Alpha, Ford, was standing in front of the fireplace, with all of us gathered around him. We had a big job in hand, and just like with other jobs, we needed to put it through a vote. Just a few years ago, our bear shifter clan was the underdogs in Nashville. Since shifters had come out in public, humans had been a bit wary of us. Understandably so. But once the found out what we can do, a lot of them wanted to work with us. As the Beta of the clan, I was responsible with making sure we were headed in the right direction.
“What do you have for us today?” Ford asked and the buzz in the lodge died down. The others were all looking at me.
“Last night, I got a call from a guy who works for Andrew Williams,” I began.
“Andrew Williams? You mean the real estate developer?” Jackson asked. Jackson and I had been friends a long time. We both experienced our first shift at the same time. We’d grown up near the Canyon Hollow Clan and knew once we experienced our shift, we would officially be a part of the clan.
“Yeah, him. As you can guess, the guy is loaded,” I said and some of them sniggered.
“What does Andrew Williams want with us?” Ford asked.
“Protection,” I replied and I could see the smile spreading on Ford’s face. This was going to mean big money for us.
“What kind of protection? Give us the details, brother,” Jackson said. I knew he was already counting money in his head, trying to figure out the accounts.
“He’s hosting some charity auction. Two days from now, and he wants us to cover him,” I told them.
“Cover him at a charity auction? Why? What did he steal?” Jackson spoke up with a laugh in his voice.
“Apparently, he’s been receiving death threats. Something to do with the business. He’s shitting himself, basically,” I told them and Ford smiled even wider.
“And he can’t go to the cops?” Jackson asked and I shrugged.
“He said he wanted stronger protection that just the cops. But my guess is he has something to hide too. But do we care about that?” I said and Ford drew in a deep breath.
“Lincoln’s right. Why he’s not going to the cops isn’t our concern. It just means more business for us.”
“He’s not told his family either, apparently. He has a wife and a daughter and he’s afraid for their lives too. He just wants us to cover him at the event and make sure everyone is safe. Eliminate any threats,” I explained and another buzz broke out in the bar.
“So, it’s going to be a one-time thing?” Grant clarified and I shrugged again.
“That’s what it is for now, but if we manage to get him out of there alive, I could work out a more permanent situation with him. Maybe he’s testing us out,” I said and the others nodded.
“How much money are we talking about?” Jackson asked and I turned to him with a smile.
“It’s a lot of money,” I replied. I knew Jackson could tell from the smile on my face that I wasn’t fucking about. This job was probably going to make more money for us than we made in several months. Andrew Williams was stinking rich and he was willing to do anything for him and his family’s safety.
“Vote?” Grant asked.
“All those in favor of taking up this job?” Ford spoke up. I raised my hand and looked around to find everyone’s arms raised as well.
“We’re going to a charity auction!” Ford declared with a laugh.
I was pleased. This was another step up for us from the smaller protection jobs we were involved with. If a guy like Andrew Williams hired us and we managed to do a good job of keeping him and his family safe—it would mean more jobs like this in the future.
I was determined to keep our clan on good terms with the humans around us. The more benefit we had to them, the less men we’d lose. This way, both us and the humans could live together in peace.
Ford and I shook hands, and then I gave Jackson the details on how much money would be coming in from this job. After a quick chat with my brothers, I left the lodge so I could go for a run and clear my head.
This was a pattern I’d developed. Before any big job, I liked to shift and run out alone so I could plan a strategy in my head. I didn’t know much about Andrew Williams and nothing about his family. All I knew was that I needed to keep him, his wife and his daughter out of harm’s way.
My second step would be to go and check out the venue for the event. That way, I’d know where to position my men and the spots to keep a lookout for, and cover all the blind spots. I was determined to do a good job with this, and hopefully bag a bigger contract with Andrew Williams. Full time protection of a guy like him would get us in the big league of the protection game.
I stepped outside of our secluded cabin. And took a long breath of fresh air. Our clan had set up in a group of cabins in the woods surrounding Canyon Hollow. While shifters were known to humans, and they used us a lot for protection services, that didn’t mean they trusted us. Over the years we found that living separate from them allowed us to be ourselves. We could shift when we wanted to, without having humans panic around us.
As I took another deep breath, I felt my bear shifting underneath my skin. Once my paws hit the ground, it was as if a huge weight left my shoulders. My mind cleared and instead of worrying, I was able to focus at the job at hand.
As I ran through the wood, I knew I should have been thinking about the task in hand; but ever since I met Charlotte, she was literally all I could think about when I had a moment to myself.
Charlotte…with her strawberry blond curls and her big blue eyes. I saw her at the campgrounds, standing with her friends, trying to figure out how to set up their tent. Even from a distance, I’d picked her out instantly and knew that I had to have her.
She was wearing the shortest of denim shorts; revealing her long curvy legs. Her thighs were fleshy and sweet, just like her big bouncy breasts that made her blouse stretch. She had an angelic sweet face and a pouty red mouth and I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame.
The truth was that I’d gone to the campsite for work, and not looking for a fuck. It was easy for me to fulfill my base desires. There were always girls hanging around our lodge, just waiting for the moment when one us looked in their direction. Shifters were the new “thing” and it seemed like every woman wanted to try one. I got to fuck as many women, as much as I wanted—and that was the way I wanted to keep it. I wasn’t looking for anything more than that.
But with Charlotte, from the first moment I saw her; I knew I was a gonner. She was going to be more than just a quick fuck in the woods. I knew that already.
And now, I couldn’t get her out of my head. Her beautiful voluptuous body stretched out on my bike, her legs wide open so I could reach the throbbing wet mound between her thighs. The soft moans she made when I sunk my cock in her tight warm pussy. She was a good fuck, but I’d had great sex before, so it wasn’t just that. I knew it because I wanted to hold her hand.
I wanted to protect her. It made my blood boil when I caught other guys looking at her. I wanted to claim her and make sure nobody else ever got to touch her. And what’s more, so did my bear.
But that wasn’t going to happen. From the beginning, Charlotte told me very little about herself. Other than her first name, I literally knew nothing else about her. She could have come to the campsite from anywhere in the country. It was a pretty popular spot for tourists. In fact, I had no idea what she was even doing there.
Even though I could sense she was trying to fit in, I knew she was not used to this sort of scene. She was out of place, in a good way. She was smart and well-spoken and rich. Not something she could hide, and definitely not something I could see in the other people at that place.
I wanted to know why she was here, but I didn’t ask her. Everyone was entitled to their secrets.
But now, it had been over five months since that week and I still couldn’t get her out of my head. I regretted not knowing who she was, not asking her questions about herself.
I tried to focus on the job coming up, as I ran, but I was filled with regret instead. I would have given anything to see Charlotte again, to have her on my lap and feel her legs around me. My bear growled at the thought of her. She was the sexiest thing I’d ever fucked and one week was not going to be enough.
But I had no way of finding her. I had no clue who she was. Now, the only thing I could do was hope that this feeling eventually went away. Charlotte, the mystery woman, was never going to be mine.