Undercover Bear: Portland: Shane Read online

  Undercover Bear: Portland

  Shane

  Terra Wolf

  Meredith Clarke

  Contents

  Copyright

  1. Shane

  2. Lydia

  3. Shane

  4. Shane

  5. Lydia

  6. Shane

  7. Lydia

  8. Shane

  9. Lydia

  10. Shane

  11. Lydia

  12. Shane

  13. Lydia

  14. Shane

  15. Lydia

  16. Shane

  17. Lydia

  18. Shane

  19. Lydia

  20. Lydia

  21. Shane

  Want more of the Undercover Unit?

  1. Giovanni

  Undercover Bear Series

  The End

  SHAREBEAR Newsletter

  From the Authors

  About the Author - Terra Wolf

  About the Author - Meredith Clarke

  ©2016 Pink Empire Publishing

  Undercover Bear: Portland - Shane

  All Rights Reserved worldwide.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, uploaded to the Internet, or copied without permission from the author. The author respectfully asks that you please support artistic expression and help promote anti-piracy efforts by purchasing a copy of this book at the authorized online outlets.

  This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences only. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Some may be used for parody purposes. Any resemblance to events, locales, business establishments, or actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is purely coincidental.

  All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.

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  1

  Shane

  A loud smack on my desk made me jump. I let out a long sigh as the rookie dropped another pile of folders. I reached over and reluctantly grabbed one.

  “How much more paperwork do we need to finish on this case?” I complained. For the last several weeks we had been dealing with finishing up the paperwork for the money laundering case. Hank Wilshire was healing up only to spend the rest of his days in prison, which in my mind was a perfectly suitable punishment.

  The thing I hated most was fucking paperwork. It was the bane of my existence. Every time we finished up a case, it was as if the department tried to drown us in paperwork. I knew it was all to cover their ass to make sure that we didn’t overstep our line, but still it fucking sucked to have to complete it all.

  I closed up the manila folder and threw it in the other pile of papers on my desk. I ran my hands through my reddish brown hair. I felt my bear bristle underneath the surface. He hated paperwork just as much as I did. I looked out the window and took in the Portland scenery. In the distance I could see the snow capped mountains and I wanted nothing more to shed this stupid fucking suit and tie and run through the outlining woods on my four paws.

  The phone rang, brining me out of my daydream, and I quickly picked it up. Please let this be a new case, I thought to myself.

  “Officer McAbbot here, how can I help you?”

  “Shane, it’s Gio.”

  A slow smile spread across my face. I hadn’t seen Gio since he went back to his precinct in Seattle.

  “Gio! How’s it going, man? How are things with Natasha?”

  Gio let out a laugh and I could practically feel his happiness from over the phone. After the incident here, Gio and Natasha got the start to their relationship that they really wanted. With Natasha’s company closing its doors after the investigation, she decided to follow Gio to Seattle and start a new life away from the drama that she left behind. It was a good move on her part. Not only was Gio one the best guys I have met, starting a new life after the hell she went through was the best thing for her. I was truly happy for them.

  “Things with Natasha are great. We’re all settled in our new place and she’s looking for a new job now. She’s thinking about changing up her career completely and becoming a math teacher.”

  I let out a loud laugh. I didn’t know Natasha very well, but I did know how much she hated waking up early, and the thought of her dealing with students before a cup of coffee made me smile.

  “How is she going to deal with those early mornings, Gio?”

  “God, I don’t want to even think about her grumpiness.”

  I chuckled. “So what’s up, man?”

  Silence came through on the other line. I felt my bear stir underneath the surface. It wasn’t like Gio to be at a loss of words. Finally Gio spoke.

  “It’s hard to explain, but I think there’s something going on at that shifter hospital.”

  “Why would you say that?” The shifter hospital had been open for about three months now. Ever since shifters came out in the open, I had been waiting for a hospital for us to open up. It just seemed like the next logical step for us to get specialized health care. Even though we were similar to humans, a lot of things were different.

  “Well, I’ve had some strange reactions to things.”

  “What kind of strange reactions?”

  Gio’s voice dropped and I could tell that he truly thought something was wrong. “Ever since I left, I could feel like my tiger was on edge. At first, I thought he was just being protective of Natasha, but now I think that it’s something more.”

  “Gio, you went through a lot a few weeks ago. I’m sure it’s just your being on edge and wanting to protect her.”

  “Shane, it’s different than that. It’s taken me longer to heal than it normally has in the past. Yes, I was shot, but I have been shot before, and my healing abilities kicked in and I was fine within a couple of days. It’s been several weeks now, and I still feel like I’m in pain.”

  That was strange. Our shifter abilities had helped everyone I know on the force heal quickly. It was unusual for Gio to still be in pain after several weeks.

  “You’re right, Gio. That’s not normal. I’ll see if there’s a way to look into it.”

  “Thanks, Shane. I mean, it might be nothing, but Natasha got a really bad feeling from the shifter hospital as well, and I just want you guys to make sure that they have good intentions.”

  Marco walked up to my desk. I quickly glanced up to him. He motioned for me to wrap up the call.

  “No prob, Gio. I’ll check it out.”

  “Thanks, man. Tell the rest of the guys hi for me.”

  I smiled as I hung up the phone.

  “What did Gio want?” Marco asked.

  “Gio thinks that something’s off with that shifter hospital.”

  Marco shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe there is, but that might have to wait. We got a meeting. A body has been found.”

  Our captain paced back and forth in the middle of the precinct. I looked around and noticed he had only grabbed our small squad of shifters: myself, Marco, and Logan. The captain was not a shifter himself, but he had brought us all together as one force. A lot of groups like ours were forming, including Gio’s unit in Seattle. The higher ups were finally realizing that we brought a special ability to the force. I smiled at the thought, knowing that shifters were creating their own places in society.

  The captain finally stopped pacing and turned toward us.

  “The body that was found was of another shifter.” Silence permeated the air around us. Our small unit never took any murder lightly, however, when it
was one of our own kind it got personal for us. The continuous noise of calls and typing around the precinct suddenly ceased to exist. It was as if the whole squad room had gone quiet.

  “How do you know for sure it was a shifter?” Logan asked.

  “They already brought the body to the morgue, and once they started to run their normal autopsy procedures, it became pretty clear that our John Doe was not only human.”

  He must have been a big cat then. Bears tended to have fairly similar anatomy to humans. Shifters like big cats or wolves are where the differences started to become more apparent.

  “John Doe?” Marco asked. “So there was no ID with the body?”

  The captain shook his head. “CSI units are investigating the area around the scene now, and hopefully they will find something. They are running his prints now, however they are only partial ones.”

  “How are they only partial?” Logan asked.

  “Who ever did this, tried to burn them off.” All three of us let out a low growl.

  “Where should we start?” I asked.

  The captain looked me straight in the eyes. “Go to the morgue and try to figure out why all his blood was drained from his body.”

  2

  Lydia

  I slammed my laptop shut with a harsh click, and shoved it away from me on the couch. I ran my fingers through my long honey colored hair and leaned my head back in frustration. It had been about three weeks since the company had closed its doors. I had been searching for a new job since then, and I had yet to find anything. I was always either too qualified for the position or expected to have twenty years experience. It was a complete joke. I needed to find something soon though, because the savings that I had worked so hard to put away were starting to dwindle.

  I grabbed my phone and scrolled to Natasha’s name. It had been a couple days since we had last spoken. In the few years we had worked together we had become close friends. I pressed her number and waited to hear her voice.

  “Miss me already?” she asked.

  “You know I do. It’s not the same without you here.”

  Natasha let out a sigh. After being friends for so many years, I could easily tell when she was worried or upset. And right now, she was worried, and I knew it was about me.

  “Natasha, I’m fine,” I responded. “I’m just frustrated trying to find a new job.”

  “You could always move here to Seattle. I’m sure we could find you something.”

  The truth was, I actually thought about making the move to Seattle. Getting away from Portland might be the thing I needed to get away from the past. Deep down though, I knew I could never actually leave because of my family. They were a lot to deal with sometimes, but they were my blood and I couldn’t just move away from them. Besides, my older brother Marco wouldn’t have it. He was the definition of protective older brother.

  “Nah, you know I could never leave here. Just promise me you’ll come back out to visit soon.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  “How’s Gio doing?”

  There was a long pause on Natasha’s end. For a moment, I thought the call had dropped.

  “Natasha?”

  She cleared her throat. “Yeah sorry, I’m here. I was just walking out of the room Gio is in. He doesn’t want me to worry you, because he thinks you’ll try and take matters into your own hands.”

  I let out a loud laugh. “Now when have I ever done that?”

  Natasha let out a chuckle. “He’s still healing. He seems to have this lingering infection where they did surgery to remove the bullet. It’s as if his immune system is depleted somehow.”

  “Have you gone to another doctor in Seattle?”

  “After that hospital in Portland, he’s refusing to go. He keeps claiming that his healing abilities will kick in and help him, but it’s been several weeks now and he’s still fighting things off.”

  I bit my lip in thought. For a tiger, that was very strange. Gio should have been all healed by now. Maybe Natasha was right about that hospital not being all that it seemed.

  “I’ll mention something to Marco about it. He’ll probably yell at me for butting in, but you’re my friend and I want some answers.”

  “Thanks for having my back, Lydia.”

  “Anytime, love. Go back to that gorgeous man of yours and come back and visit soon.”

  “I will, I promise.”

  I smiled as I hung up the phone. Even though Natasha and I were co-workers, we had become really close. Within the first week of us working together we had become inseparable. With everything that had gone down at the company, it made me question who I could actually trust. We were both pretty blindsided by all the illegal stuff happening, and because of that we seemed to grow even closer. One thing I knew few sure was that Natasha would always have my back and I loved her for it.

  I shuddered at the thought of how close she came to getting hurt. Marco, of course, didn’t tell me until after the fact that she had helped go undercover. I was livid at him for putting her in danger like that. Natasha should have never been put in that position. A shifter like me should have.

  Like my brother Marco, I was also a bear shifter. It was just something that I never really admitted to anyone. Natasha knew, since she knew my brother. But other than that, I had never really told anyone else outside the family. Being a female shifter, especially in the bear community, was difficult. The males always went out of their way to protect us, which at times was flattering, but ultimately was extremely annoying. I was strong, just like Marco. I had the same brute strength that was passed down from our father and mother. I just happened to be a female, and I hated that they used that as an excuse to protect me.

  I supposed the reason Natasha had to be involved with the undercover operation was because she got herself into that mess in the first place. I had always guessed that something else was going on. That she may have been helping clients outside of the company. But I knew she was smart enough to not get herself into trouble. I figured that she would tell me eventually when she was ready to. I also knew that if I needed to, I could step in and help her.

  But then everything got out of hand. Natasha got in too deep and worked with the wrong clients. I hated that I wasn’t able to see it all coming and protect her. My bear genes were forcing the protection instinct in me, and Natasha was practically family to me. No one was allowed to hurt my family.

  Even though several weeks had passed, I was still pissed at Marco for allowing Natasha to go undercover like she did. After the sting, Marco had called me and told me she was in the hospital. In that moment, I could have ripped off Marco’s head. I hated that I was kept in the dark for that long. There was certainly a lot of growling on my end, but once Marco explained why Natasha had to be the one to go undercover, I calmed down slightly. Thankfully, Natasha was fine and just needed her neck in a brace. As soon as she was better, I took her over to the shifter hospital to be with her as we waited for Gio.

  I stared at my closed laptop again and sighed in frustration. I grabbed my phone and contemplated if I should give Marco to see what he was working on, and if there was any way I could help. But I knew he would always say no. He would never let me work on the force with him, let alone do something like Natasha did. He claimed he didn’t want to put me in harms way, even though I could handle my own.

  My thoughts drifted back to Gio and his struggle to heal. There was something off at that hospital, and I was going to force Marco to believe me.

  3

  Shane

  I felt my skin prickle as I walked in through the double doors. I fucking hated the morgue. The smell of formaldehyde permeated my senses. I shut my eyes to fight the sting of tears threatening to spill over my lashes. I shuddered as we continued to walk down the hallway. All the death surrounding me freaked me out a little bit, causing my bear to stand at high alert. Marco looked over at me and let out a chuckle.

  “Come on, man, it’s not like they’re going to jump out at
you.”

  “Shifters exist, don’t they?”

  “Well, obviously…”

  “Then I’m not ready to count out zombies either.”

  Marco let out a loud laugh. “Touché.”

  The medical examiner was waiting for us at the end of the hall. He was a tall, skinny man who eerily looked like a ghost himself. His pale skin spread across his cheeks and I could easily imagine him as a stereotypical coroner from old horror films.

  “Hi boys,” Dr. Feingold said.

  We both nodded at him in response. Dr. Feingold pushed open the double doors for us as we walked into the examination room. I shuddered at the temperature drop. Dr. Feingold noticed and gave me a small smile.

  “The cold helps with the preservation process.”

  Lovely.

  We walked up to an examination table that held a body covered in a sheet. Dr. Feingold walked over and moved the sheet down, revealing the corpse’s face. The John Doe was young, probably somewhere in his twenties. He had a large frame, and by looking at him, I could easily tell that he was a tiger. He had the same frame that Gio had, and even though his eyes were shut I would bet money that they had a purple hue. Anger slowly bubbled up inside me.

  Dr. Feingold cleared his throat.

  “This is our John Doe. He was found in an alleyway downtown. At first we thought that he had died of natural causes.”

  “Why’s that?” I asked.

  “Because there were no markings or signs of a struggle anywhere on his body. It wasn’t until he was brought back here and placed on my table that I could tell what was going on. His entire body had been drained of his blood. I ran a toxicology screen on his tissues and the remnants of blood that I could find, and it all came back with several drugs in his system.”

  “I thought you said that there were no markings on him?” Marco asked.