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

out the front flap of her tent, carrying her berry picking basket in her hand. Her walks into the forest to gather wild food were some of the only times that Lola felt at peace. As long as she didn't try to escape, no one bothered her when she collected huckleberries, mushrooms, or pine nuts. They watched her, making sure she didn't make a run for it, night and day. As long as she stayed, they left her to her own devices when she wasn't working.
    It had been so long since she'd been part of society, since she'd had any friends of her own. Except Chris, who wasn’t really her friend so much as Justin’s.
    What would she do if she ever got off this mountain? Where would she go? How would she survive? Without Justin, she had nothing. There was no inheritance or money waiting for her. There was no job. She'd never gone to college and started a career. She’d barely finished high school after her mom died.
    There was no hope left. She had no idea how to function in the world, even if she could gather the courage to run away.
    She'd been raised on fear, fear of shifters, fear of anyone different. Fear that there was always someone out to get her and that she had to be hypervigilant at all times. Maybe it was true and maybe it wasn't. But that didn't mean Lola had any idea how to function out there.
    She remembered a time when she was just a normal girl, before her mother married her stepfather. She remembered having friends and the soccer team and how it felt to be included and involved with her community.
    It was everything that she wanted again. If she could only get back to those days. Maybe she could learn to become the woman she was meant to be. Maybe she could heal all of this darkness and find the light that still remained in her soul. That's when she thought of the man she'd been matched with on Mate.com.
    Who was he? Why had he asked her to wait for him? She would never know now since Justin had taken her phone away. He’d probably even erased her account. She would never have a chance to find her mate again.
    Her mother had told her she had a good heart, and that she was pure and good and kind. Lola's mother was that way too, from what she could remember anyway. Why she'd married a man like Justin's father, Lola still didn't understand.
    Justin's father had been a powerful member of the human community. He didn't hold any positions in town, but he did have the ear of a lot of people. He was the leader of an anti-shifter motorcycle gang back then. And was already cooking crystal when Lola's mother married him. Lola didn't think her mother ever knew about his drug activity until right before her death. They were really nothing alike.
    Her mother had succumbed to Justin's father's charm. And she had lost her life for it. Lola was convinced that her mother's death was not an accident. But she could never prove it.
    Justin was so much like his father he might as well be a clone of the man. In fact, Justin was worse. Part of her believed that it was Justin who had actually killed her mother. Perhaps it was at her stepfather's command, but she somehow knew that it was Justin who pulled the trigger.
    She walked further into the forest, her dark thoughts swirling in her mind. She couldn't push them away, even in the beauty of the wood. The tall evergreen trees and the animals who lived in the wood were her only comfort. She loved the quiet peaceful sounds of the birds chirping in the boughs overhead and the squirrels chattering with their pine nuts and acorns.
    She looked at a soft blanket of pine needles and wistfully thought of lying down and allowing herself to be absorbed back into the earth. What was there to live for anymore? She was damned no matter what she did. She could stay with Justin and remain a hostage or she could leave and be an uneducated, homeless ex-criminal. No matter what she did, there was no salvation.
    She knelt on the ground, her empty pail in hand as she slowly spread herself out over the pine