Black Market Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Genesis Valley Book 2) Read Online Free

line of “favors” he might be looking for.
    The smile faded and the man looked at her seriously. “Don’t treat me like that,” he said with a tinge of anger. “You know better. That wasn’t what I was referring to, and you know it.”
    Strangely enough, she did know it. Something about him screamed that he didn’t lie, that he was telling her the truth.
    “Very well,” she said in a small voice. “What did you have in mind?”
    “I would like to talk with you,” he replied, his head turning to eye the person walking down the street, who passed close to them. At his glance, the stranger pulled his jacket tighter and increased his pace, putting distance between him and the giant.
    “About what?” she asked, trying to keep any ill emotion from her voice.
    “Benjamin Martin.”
    Arianna’s eyes snapped up to focus on him with renewed interest. “What do you know about him?” she asked, instantly on guard.
    “Easy,” the man reassured her, putting his hands up to calm her. “I’m looking for him as well. I’m a friend.”
    Her brows narrowed suspiciously. “That’s easy enough for anyone to say. How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
    The big man paused for a moment, considering her question. Then he squatted down smoothly, so that his head was at her height.
    “My name is Ajax. I was asked by a friend of Benjamin’s to look into him. They became worried when he stopped replying to messages. That was a week and a bit ago now.”
    Arianna pursed her lips. “That’s about when he went missing.”
    “What do you know about him?” Ajax asked.
    She paused, trying to decide what to do. Should she tell him? Everything she was reading from his body language told her he was a friend. There was nothing threatening, and in fact, she was positive he was all but exuding a calming influence.
    “Are you a shifter too?” she asked.
    After a brief hesitation the big man nodded, obviously seeing no harm in disclosing that particular fact to her.
    “So was Benjamin,” he said. “Which is why I want to find him.”
    Something flashed in his eyes as he spoke, but it wasn’t hostile, so she let it go.
    “Corner of Ninth Avenue and Rickard Street. Tonight. Six.”
    He frowned. “What’s that?”
    Arianna leaned out and grabbed hold of her door once more. “A meeting place. I have to go to work now.”
    She pulled the door closed and sped off. She tried her hardest not to glance in the rearview mirror, but her willpower failed after three seconds or so, and she split her attention between navigating the road in front of her and admiring the form in the mirror behind her.
    “What are you doing Ari?” she asked herself aloud. “You work alone. Why are you bringing him into this?”
    She bounced a hand off the steering wheel, frustrated. This whole thing was…weird.
    Still, she smiled. It had given her another chance to spend time with Mr. Muscles. It couldn’t be all bad.
     
     

Chapter Three
    Ajax
    “Charming,” he said as another car crawled by, bass pounding from the window as clouds of smoke from something most definitely not a cigarette poured from the windows.
    What was it with Benjamin and the people he knew choosing such neighborhoods? According to Valen, he hadn’t been up to anything nefarious. Couldn’t they have picked at least a slightly more upscale part of town? He hadn’t expected a five-star hotel either, but he was pretty sure the sound he had heard a few minutes ago had been gunshots.
    It wasn’t his safety he was worried about. As a shifter, gunshots were more of a nuisance than anything, unless they were big enough to pierce the strong bone of his skull. Even then a shifter could repair a lot of damage. They were just naturally tough beings to kill. But the woman—whose name he still didn’t know—was human, and much more susceptible to any sort of harm. Ajax felt a protective urge settle over him.
    He looked up at the street signs. They read Ninth Avenue running east to