I’ll be safe. His boss will find the money, and I’ll have a police officer to protect me, she told herself.
The thought didn’t make her feel much better. Detective Kramer might be good at solving crimes, but he looked like he spent more time eating donuts than chasing down criminals. And while the detectives she’d spoken to had been nice, several of the patrol officers had openly ogled her curves when she’d walked through the station.
With the luck Ellie was having that night, she’d probably get Officer Creeper, one step up from a mall cop. He’d stare at her generous breasts and big ass, get in her way as she tried to work, lurk creepily in his car outside her apartment at night, and shed a trail of donut crumbs wherever he went. He’d breathe heavily and stand way too close to her. And if anyone attacked her, he’d be so out of shape that she’d have to protect him.
Worst night of my life, Ellie thought.
Chapter Two
Hal
Hal Brennan was exercising alone in the gym of Protection, Inc., when he got the call.
Stinging sweat dripped into his eyes, and even his powerful muscles felt the burn as he lifted the bench press bar high. But one of the advantages of owning your own private security company was having your own private gym. He and the other shifters on his team could lift weights heavier than any human could manage without having to worry that some outsider would see them and contact the Guinness Book of World Records.
Weight-lifting wasn’t his favorite form of exercise. That honor went to hiking in the woods, preferably as a grizzly bear. But as far as gym-based exercise went, lifting was the best. Living in a city— hell, being human— was so damn complicated. It made him appreciate things that were simple. And lifting was as simple as it got. No rules to tie him down. Just Hal vs. the iron. It was as close as he could get while human to feeling like a bear, with a bear’s straightforward desires.
The shrill tone of his cell phone broke his concentration. It was his private phone, with a number he gave out only to a select few. Which meant that the call was from his parents, or from one of his team, or an emergency. Whatever it was, he couldn’t ignore it.
Hal replaced the bar on its rest and reached down from the bench to pluck his phone from his gym bag. He glanced at the screen. Yep. Parents.
“Hi, Dad,” Hal said. “How’s it going?”
His father’s deep, gravelly voice, which everyone said sounded just like Hal’s, rumbled out from the phone. “How’s your search for a mate going?”
Hal grimaced. “It’s not.”
“Why not?” Dad demanded, as if they hadn’t had this conversation a hundred times already. “Get out there and look for her! Your mother wants grand-cubs.”
“You mean, you want grand-cubs.”
Unruffled, Dad replied, “The entire clan wants grand-cubs.”
There was a scuffling noise, and then he heard his mother’s voice. “It makes us so sad to think of you all alone in the big city.” She gave a melodramatic sigh. “Aaaaall alooooooone.”
Hal was torn between the desire to laugh and the urge to throw the phone across the room. “I’m hardly alone. I have my team. You know how close we all are. We’re like brothers and sisters.”
As if she hadn’t even heard him, Mom repeated, “Aaaaall alooooooone. The city is no place for a bear. It’s full of violence and loud noises and electric things. Bears need a peaceful, quiet life, fishing and eating honey and sleeping in the sun. Drop this silly city thing and come back to the woods.”
“Mom,” Hal said, trying to keep a grip on his patience. “Dad. We’ve had this talk. I’m not like you. I need excitement. I need danger. I need to make a difference to people. And I’m not going to find any of that in the woods. There is absolutely nothing in the forest that can threaten a bear.”
“Who wants to be threatened?” Dad asked.
At the same time, Mom exclaimed, “I want cute, furry grand-cubs to love and spoil! Go find a mate and settle down!”
“Mom...” Hal sighed. “I don’t want a mate. And I don’t want to settle down. I like my life exactly the way it is. I do my own thing, and no one tells me what to do. My job is dangerous and unpredictable. I have to run off to deal with emergencies on a moment’s notice. No woman is going to want a man who lives like that. And I don’t want to make some nice woman miserable trying to change me into something I’m not.”
“You’ll think differently once you actually meet your mate,” said Dad. “You’ll be willing to make any sacrifice.”
“You need a mate,” Mom said earnestly.
“I don’t need anyone,” Hal argued, frustrated. “I can handle anything the world can throw at me. By myself!”
“All bears need a mate,” Dad replied.
Hal gave up. “I have to get back to work. Talk to you later!”
He hung up, then settled back down on the bench, returning the cell phone to the bag. Hal loved his parents and his clan, but he’d lose his mind if he had to live with them. The forest was great for a vacation, but he wasn’t made for a peaceful life, and he had absolutely no desire to settle down.