Read Detective Bear (Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (Bear Patrol Book 2) for Free Online Page A

away from her for her own safety.
    He sat in his sentry post and looked out at the broad expanse of forest below him. This location was so remote that it probably didn't get any visitors for years at a time. Not even cross-country hikers or hunters would make it up to these treacherous climbs.
    Justin was extraordinarily paranoid, but he had a reason to be. His operation was corrupting the entire population of Fate Mountain and all of the towns surrounding it. He had to know that the authorities of Fate Mountain were doing absolutely everything in their power to stop him.
    Gauge still couldn't understand the man's endgame. Clearly Justin Lockheart had a screw loose. How was addicting the humans of his hometown going to help him rise up against the shifter oppressors he hated so much? He would only have a bunch of strung out zombies who barely had the physical health left to continue shooting up and smoking their destructive drugs. They certainly wouldn't be able to take out shifters like the Bear Patrol.
    But it wasn't Gauge's job to understand the mind of a madman. It was his job to gather information and send the alarm when he believed it was the right time for the Bear Patrol to move in. He’d done the research and investigation up until this point. Now, he’d nearly achieved his goal of bringing down Lockheart's gang. He had to bide his time and wait. But most importantly, he needed to stay away from Lola Lockheart.
    Just the thought of staying away from her sent his bear into hysterics. He palmed his forehead and groaned. He heard a voice below him, shouting up at him.
    "What's wrong with you?“ Justin Lockheart's voice called out.
    Gauge hurried down the stairs and stood at attention in front of the man who ran the operation.
    "Are you backed up?" Justin asked. "Is that why you asked my sister Lola about the latrine?"
    "Must been the road rations," Gauge said.
    "Since you're the new guy, I'll let it slide, this once," Justin said wrapping his arm around Gauge's shoulder.
    He was at least five inches shorter than Gauge but something about his wiry strength fueled by drug addiction and insanity somehow filled him with a kind of dark power. "But if I ever hear about you speaking with my sister again, you'll never be able to take another shit for the rest of your life because your crapper will be broken from the broom handle that I ram up there until you hemorrhage."
    Justin said the words with such detachment that the cruel insanity of it was almost lost on Gauge’s ears.
    "I wouldn't expect anything less," Gauge said.
    Justin slapped him on the back. "Good man. I'm glad we have an understanding.”

8
    L ola’s one day off a week was on Monday. Justin at least gave her that much. She always wanted to sleep in, but somehow her body wouldn't allow her to. She got out of bed at six a.m. and washed her face and brushed her hair. Her hair was still clean from the last time she'd washed it, relatively speaking anyway. It would never be as clean as it was a year ago, before Justin had forced her to come live up on the mountain.
    They had gone through a hard winter and there’d been a point when she had mild frostbite on her toes. Even then, Justin wouldn't allow her to leave the mountain. He wouldn't allow them to light fires for warmth. They all huddled around tiny electric heaters inside the cave as the snow piled up outside.
    Unless they wanted to have the crystal fumes in their face all the time, they had to wear gas masks most of the winter. It had been grueling and horrific, and sometimes she didn't quite know how she had survived.
    The fear of another winter was still deep in her bones. The cold, the closeness of the men, everyone's general agitation, and that feeling of constant hunger that gnawed at her belly night and day from lack of food. In winter, even the wild game was sparse. Everything in her refused to believe that she would have to live through that experience again.
    She slipped into her boots and walked