“Do you know where it is?” I asked hopefully.
A few snickers erupted from the crowd, confirming my worst fears, and the bear stepped closer. “That’s what I just asked you.”
My eyes widened. “Wait…you think I have it?”
Bellamy did too…had he tipped these guys off? No, he was way too lawful good to send these thugs out to get me.
The giant bear scoffed. “Wouldn’t waste my time asking you if I didn’t.”
“No! I have no idea where it is.” I didn’t need to know these bears by name to know that they thought that was complete bullshit. “No way I’d cause my Nana so much grief. The whole clan is up in arms about this.”
You’re saying way too much, my bear warned. Only give them what they ask for.
The alpha nodded. “Okay, so you don’t have it. Let’s try this another way. Tell us where it is.”
“Listen, I wish more than anything right now that I could do that. But I can’t.”
The alpha jerked his head, and the rest of the clan started closing in on me. Heat rose in my body, but my bear knew there was no way we could fight.
Ugh. Why did Bellamy have to reject me? It totally served me right, but he lived for this do-gooder, saving the damsel shit.
No, I was not a damsel…
“What are you doing?” I shrieked. If one of them touched me, I would shift. And make things so much worse.
But two of them shifted into their human form and came for me.
“You’re coming with us,” the alpha declared as the two naked giants lifted me from my feet.
“No!” I kicked and squirmed and punched, but I was nothing more than a toy to them. Something to play with, something to break. “Why are you doing this?”
Any time my bear wanted to show up would be great.
The alpha watched his thugs wrap rope around my arms and legs with satisfaction. “We think you might be even more valuable than that talisman, Clover Crowley. So we’re gonna keep you while we find out.”
Fuck. They thought I had my Nana’s magic.
What would they do to me when they found out I didn’t?
Chapter
Three
A Nana Walks into a Bar…
Bellamy
“You should come out for a drink with us,” Brad suggested a couple days later. “You’ve been glued to that desk ever since Barrett left for his mate moon.”
I scrubbed my hand over my beard. “We’ve never been this busy before.”
Most of the week had been spent getting the guys up to speed on their new cases. Barrett had trusted me to assign them. There were a few smaller things I’d taken care of, and now I was working on pre-screening for a new season of The Real Werewives.
“And it will probably stay this way, now that everyone knows we exist.” Brad was one of newer recruits who was showing the most promise. Even though he didn’t earn the honorary title of second-in-command, I’d given him the most complicated case to see what he could do with it.
Wasn’t quite sure what to do with Beau yet. Maybe giving him extra responsibility wasn’t the answer.
“You can’t work around the clock. You’ll start missing details. And you know they matter.”
