Jade Crew: Fallen Bear (A BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) (Ridgeback Bears Book 7) Read Online Free Page A

everything.
    He saw that realization reach Garrett as well, but Gabriel spoke before it could go any further.
    “You’re all being set free.”
    Evan blinked. That was not what he had expected to hear. He had been ready to zone out while they grilled Victoria some more. To be told that he was finally being freed from his prison was the last thing on his mind. Which meant he was immediately suspicious.
    “What’s the catch?” he asked, standing upright and facing them through the bars.
    Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but Garrett laid a hand on his chest, forestalling his friend’s reply. Evan’s eyes narrowed some more as he watched Gabriel nod and step back.
    So this isn’t a Stone Bear thing. This is a Garrett/Jade Crew thing. Interesting.
    ”No catch,” Garrett said, his deep voice rumbling across the room. “We can’t spare the manpower to guard you anymore, and we’re not interested in letting you just die here either.”
    Evan wanted to give a sarcastic reply, about how people likely didn’t want to work with him, but he quelled that instinctive response. Something serious was going on. The revelation from Victoria that shifters weren’t getting into the Valley, and now the knowledge that the Stone Bears and Sentinels were needed elsewhere was ominous. Something big was about to happen.
    “What’s going on?” he asked softly. He noted but ignored the looks of surprise from the two Alphas at the seriousness of his tone.
    Garrett responded first. “We’re busy with other things.” His eyes flicked quickly to the cage to Evan’s left.
    He didn’t want Victoria to know.
    “So we just walk out of here, and that’s that?”
    Gabriel shook his head. “Not entirely. You’re still obligated by the contract you signed with LMC, and you’ll be required to see that through.”
    “So we’re going back to the mines,” Matthew said, speaking up at last. He was the nominal second of their little group, and Evan let him voice his opinion.
    “Yes,” Gabriel said without hesitation. “But you’ll be free of here, and free to do what you wish, as long as you don’t violate any of the rules of the Valley. Otherwise, a clean slate.”
    “Do you mean that?” Evan asked slowly.
    “I’m not thrilled about it,” Gabriel said, looking Evan in the eyes as he spoke. “But Garrett here seems to believe in you, and I trust him.”
    Evan’s gaze swiveled back to Garrett, but the Jade Crew Alpha just stared at him imperceptibly, his emotions hidden and the mask of stone on his face not revealing anything to his former crew member.
    “So I go back to being a Jade Crew member,” he said aloud. “But what happens to them?”
    Garrett shook his head. “You can’t come back,” he said quietly but firmly. “Not to the Jade Crew.”
    “Then what the hell am I supposed to do?” he asked, confused.
    “Do what you’re meant to do—what the rest of us can see in you but you have a hard time believing. Lead them. ”
    There was no preventing it; Evan’s jaw dropped open as the others reacted audibly.
    “You can’t be serious. Why would you give me another chance at leading my own crew?”
    Garrett smiled. “Two reasons. One, because we don’t have a choice. You’re a bunch of fuck-ups, but you all have potential. Two,” he said, ticking the points off with his fingers as he spoke, “because I know you can. I just need you to believe it.”
    Emotions warred within Evan. Excitement and terror. The opportunity to be an Alpha again, to lead a crew and mold them into the best team he could? It was a grand notion, but one he had always envisioned in his head. The idea sent his heart racing and his blood pumping.
    Everything crashed back down to earth as the terrible, unshakeable pressure mounted almost immediately, forming a block of ice in his stomach. He’d been given the role of Alpha of a mining crew once before. It hadn’t ended well. In fact, it had resulted in the deaths of several shifters and