A Mate For The Bear: BBW Paranormal Alpha Shifter Romance (Bear Brides Book 4) (2 page)

Their messages were
affectionate but not sexual. They could chat about anything and
Joyce began to think of DJ as a real online friend. She realized
that “real online friend” was an oxymoron, but that was
what it was. Their friendship might just be online, but it was real.
DJ had asked to meet in person a couple of times, but she'd
hesitated and he didn't push the issue. He wasn't just looking to
get laid, that much was obvious. And he wasn't trying to scam her.
He never asked her for money or for any favors, sexual or otherwise.
Instead, he told her more about himself. He was a landscaper and he
lived in Moonstone Creek. When he asked if she lived near Moonstone
Creek, she'd just said yes without telling him her exact location.
They were in the same little town, and they could have passed each
other on the street without realizing it. She'd kept her personal
details vague, revealing only bits and pieces of her life. But she'd
finally confided to DJ that she was working as a stripper during the
weekends to pay off her ex-husband's debt.

To that, DJ had commented
that he was friends were some strippers and those girls were really
great, amazing girls. He wasn't crude or judgmental, and he made her
feel a whole lot better about herself.

Joyce read the joke on her
phone again and typed a quick reply to DJ, asking him his plans for
the evening. She told him she was at the club and was waiting for
her turn on the stage.

I hope I'll earn more
tonight
, she typed with a sigh.
I seem to be making less
money these past few weeks.

It was a while before she
received DJ's response.

'I know you've rejected my
offer before, but I have to ask again. Would you let me help you pay
off your debt? It'd be a loan since you won't accept a gift. And we
don't have to meet if you don't want to. I'll just wire the money
into your bank account, and you can take your time paying me back.
And I know what you're thinking so I'll say it again: No strings
attached. At all. You won't owe me anything but the principal
amount of the loan. OK? Sincerely, DJ.'

Joyce swallowed hard. Her
fingers twitched over the screen of her phone. She had been so
tempted to take him up on his offer when he first mentioned it to
her. But she'd held back.

No strings attached, he'd
assured her.

Could she trust him?

She had gotten herself into a
tangle because she had trusted the wrong man. She had married a
deluded, dishonest man, a man who did nothing but gamble away her
money and their future.

She'd learned the hard way
that there were always strings, strings that bound you and wound
around your neck like a noose.

Before she could type her
reply, she heard her name being called. “Jade! Randell wants
to see you in his office now.”

Joyce fumbled up and stuffed
her belongings hurriedly into her locker. Two bouncers were waiting
for her, and they escorted her into the small elevator at the back of
the premises. The club and the bar took up the first and second
floors, while the entire third floor was Randell's office.

Joyce gulped as the elevator
door closed.

Randell had never asked to
see any of the girls before. To the wolves, they were just cattle.

What did Randell Wyle want
from her now?

The wolf was up to something.

And Joyce had a feeling it
wasn't anything good.

Dalton Jameson was about to
get in his Jaguar when he saw four of his clan members jostling their
way to his gate.

“Are you going to a
strip club again, Dalton? Count us in!” Curtis hollered.

His twin, Connor, grinned and
added, “Take us with you, Beta. You know we never say no to
strippers!”

Dalton rolled his eyes as he
opened his automatic gate for them. “Fine.”

A cheer went up among the
four Nightfire werebears. “Which club are you checking out
tonight?” Bruno asked.

“Candybar,”
Dalton said.

“Ooh, the latest,
hottest spot in town,” Jason quipped. “It belongs to the
Crimson Wolves, right?”

“Yeah,” Dalton
said, still giving curt, one word answers. He wasn't in the mood to
make conversation. There was a lot on his mind. His clan members
might think that he was frequenting all these strip joints for fun
and pleasure, but the truth was he hardly paid any attention to the
girls strutting in front of him and shaking their tits and asses in
his face. He wouldn't be distracted from his mission. He was
searching for someone. Someone with arresting green eyes, a spine of
steel and a dry, cryptic sense of humor.

He didn't even know her name.
She called herself “JD”, and she'd told him that she
worked as a stripper during the weekends in a club near Moonstone
Creek. Heck, perhaps she was right here in Moonstone Creek but
refused to admit it to him. Well, he would start with the clubs in
town, and then gradually broaden his search. He would keep searching
for her. Even if it took him his whole life, he would find her.

His clan members thought
their Beta was just out to have fun and they were only too happy to
join him. Dalton used to hang out with his younger brother, Tony and
his cousins, Cole and Brad, but after they'd all found their mates
and became domesticated homebodies, Dalton had to contend with
hanging out with the rowdy, unmated members of their clan. Not that
he minded their company. The boys were good fun, and they knew how
to have a good time. But the majority of them were in their
twenties, young, single, carefree. Dalton was thirty-eight, in the
prime of his life, successful, rich and powerful. He was the Beta of
the Nightfire clan of bear shifters and co-founder of Nightfire
Landscaping, the landscaping firm he started with his cousin, Cole.
Business was good, more than good. They were up to their eyeballs in
work and new projects. The Nightfire clan wasn't that big, compared
to some of the other packs and clans in Moonstone Creek. But they
were united, and their members were solid and fiercely loyal. They
liked to let their hair down and play hard, but when there was work
to be done, every bear put his massive shoulder to the wheel and
pulled more than his weight.

Dalton got in the driver's
seat and waited for the four young werebears to stuff themselves into
his spacious Jaguar. Bruno, being the biggest and broadest of the
bunch, took the front seat. Jason was squeezed between the twins in
the backseat, and the three of them batted at one another as they
fought to make themselves comfortable.

“Are we...” Bruno
began impatiently.

Dalton revved the engine and
said sternly, “If I hear a single 'Are we there yet?', I will
turn the car around. Got it?”

“Yes, Beta,” they
chorused like good, well-behaved school children. They managed to
stay silent for a full minute as Dalton reversed his car out of his
driveway.

But the silence didn't last.
Even before Dalton could turn out of his street, the twins had
started whispering and chuckling. Jason scowled and elbowed them
hard.

Dalton glared into his rear
view mirror. “What's happening back there?”

“He started it!”
Connor pointed a finger.

“He started it first!”
Curtis shot back.

Bruno twisted round in the
front seat and gleefully joined in the bickering and ribbing.

Dalton shook his head and
concentrated on getting them to Candybar. Ever since JD told him
that she worked as a stripper during the weekends, he had been
checking out a different strip club every weekend without fail.
Dalton worked long hours during the week, and on some weekends, he
had to hole himself up in his study to catch up on some paperwork.
Cole had called earlier in the afternoon to ask if he wanted to join
Abby and him for dinner at a new restaurant, but Dalton had declined.
He had simply told his Alpha that he already had plans for the
evening. Which he had. He was planning to track JD down.

Dalton had wondered briefly
whether to tell Cole about JD, but decided against it. After all, it
was Cole who got them all on that dating site.

Cole knew that as a clan,
they had to grow and stay strong. That meant they had to plan for
renewal and leadership succession. But with less than half of their
clan members mated, they weren't producing enough cubs to grow their
numbers. If they weren't reproducing and growing, they were
shrinking and ageing. And an ageing, weakening clan would be preyed
upon by the other more ambitious, avaricious packs and clans in
Moonstone Creek. So Cole had gone ahead and signed Dalton, Tony and
Brad up for an online dating service.

Dalton had stoutly supported
his Alpha's plan even though he had been cynical at first. It was a
long shot they would find their mates through the dating site, but
Dalton figured they had nothing to lose. To his utter amazement, the
plan had worked. Cole found his human mate, Abby through the dating
site. And through Abby, Tony met Terri who was Abby's best friend.
Brad had found his mate, Lisha, quite by chance and was now the proud
father of twins, Daren and Rita.

Dalton used to scoff at the
dating site's arrogant claim that they could match their members with
their soul mates. How accurate could a computer algorithm be?

But he had seen Abby and
Cole's case. They had matched each other a hundred percent. They
were each other's perfect match.

Dalton had answered the
site's questionnaire briskly but honestly. Then watched in amazement
and horror as his inbox exploded with messages.

The females on the dating
site kept sending him sexy, flirty messages. He had stated that he
was a werebear in his profile, and he knew there were hordes of
shifter groupies around. When he was younger, he'd found sex with
these enthusiastic women fun and exciting. But sex was just sex, and
after many meaningless, unfulfilling encounters, he discovered that
there was such a thing as too much sex. His younger brother had
laughed at him then, but now, Tony wouldn't even glance at another
female. There was only Terri for him. Dalton was really happy for
his brother and cousins. He loved his brave, spunky sister-in-law
and cousins-in-law as well. And he absolutely adored Brad's twins.
But playing with Daren and Rita made him wish that he could have his
own cubs as well.

Almost all the messages he
received from the females on the dating site were inane and insane.
And they left his heart cold. The women either wanted to experience
shifter sex, or they were interested in his wallet. They asked about
the house he owned, the car he drove, how much money he made, but not
one of them asked him about him.

In exasperation, Dalton had
taken down his photograph from his profile page. He had been about
to delete his profile from the site and call it quits when her
profile popped up on his page. She was a ninety-nine percent match
for him.

JD was her profile name.

She sounded wary and cynical
when he first messaged her. She didn't believe in soul mates, and
she didn't think much of the dating site's members. Most of them are
just looking to get laid. They weren't on the site looking for a
real relationship, so she figured they didn't give any real answers
to the questionnaire. A ninety-nine percent match was just a fluke,
she'd scoffed.

She was straightforward,
unpretentious and she didn't try to flirt with him, unlike all the
other women on the site. The very first message she'd sent him was a
rude, rambling rant. She'd let him know just how shitty her day had
been when he sent her a short, innocuous message. She had messaged
back with an apology almost immediately. Her messages were both
funny and poignant. Dalton knew that she didn't have an easy life,
and he wanted to find her and help her. But she didn't want his
help. She'd refused to accept a loan from him, and she didn't want
to “get him in trouble”. Those were her words.

Her profile picture showed
only her eyes. And they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever
seen. Jade green, sparkling, soulful and a little sad.

JD had never even seen his
picture since he'd already deleted his photograph from the site. But
she didn't seem to care about his looks, or his species, or his
status and wealth.

For months now, he had only
interacted with her online, but he knew. His bear knew as well. His
bear had growled and almost mangled his phone with its claws when he
was typing out a message to her. His bear didn't want to just type
to her. His bear wanted to claim her.

Well, so did he.

But first he had to find her.
His mate.

“Are we there…?”
Jason began. A huge hand clapped over his mouth as Connor shushed
him furiously.

“Do you want him to
turn the car around?” Connor hissed

Jason shook his head mutely
as Bruno turned up the volume of the radio, perhaps hoping the heavy
metal would distract Dalton from Jason's slip.

As the four of them yelled
out the lyrics and began headbanging in time to the music, the car
swayed from side to side, and Dalton stifled a chuckle.