Undercover Bear: Grady (BBW Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance) Read online

  “I am comfortable with that.”

  Michelle nodded and stared into my eyes as if she was trying to catch me in a lie. I pushed my back harder into her leather chair as her stare started to make me more uncomfortable. Suddenly, she smiled again, as if I had passed her unspoken test.

  “Perfect. We will get you started today with the de-sensitivity training, and once that’s completed, you will be briefed on the new position and your responsibilities.”

  “De-sensitivity training?” What do I need to be desensitized from, I wondered.

  “The research that you undertake requires matters that are difficult to discuss, so we require that all of our personnel undergo de-sensitivity training to ensure that they are able to keep their emotional responses out of the research.”

  What could be so emotional about curing an infectious disease?

  3

  Grady

  “You can’t talk me out of this, Harrison.”

  Harrison let out a long, frustrated sigh. The team had been trying to talk me out of my plan for the last hour, and I wasn’t budging. I knew that they were all just trying to look out for me, but deep down, I knew that they knew I was right. I was the only one without any ties. If I failed, Purest wouldn’t try to use one of my loved ones against me. I was the one with nothing to lose.

  “You have no idea what the hell you’re about to submit yourself to!” Harrison growled. “I saw the cages and all the testing labs. You saw for yourself how they broke Tasha.” Harrison walked up to me and grabbed my shoulders. “They will hurt you, Grady. Do you not understand that? There’ll be no one to stop them from testing on you. If it gets too rough, there would be no way for you to contact us. You would be completely alone. You could end up like one of the discarded bodies, drained of your blood!”

  I dropped my head into my hands. Harrison was right, the plan was shit. I would be tortured and tested on. There would be no back up to swoop in and save me if everything went to hell. The success of the mission would depend solely on me. I would need to find someone to trust on the inside, which, by the way Harrison described everyone working there, would be a nearly impossible task. I would then need to use that person to help me escape my cell and destroy the lab. It was a complete suicide mission, and I understood that. But we had no other options. We did not have the luxury to wait on the justice system, which was probably corrupted by Purest, to stop them. Our unit needed to find a way to do it and this was the only way that made sense.

  Since Harrison and Tasha’s escape, Purest had moved around their lab so many times that our unit was no longer able to keep track of their location. Every time we got close to Purest, our entire operation would fall apart. I knew now that the only way to take care of Purest would be by force. Purest would hide behind every legal connection they had and get away with everything. In order to finish them, we would need to hurt them where it counted. The longer we waited, the more time they had to develop something that could destroy all of us.

  That was not a risk I was willing to take.

  Purest would expect us to go undercover again with another guard like Harrison. They would expect us to try and find another witness for us to use. What they wouldn’t expect was for one of us to be willing to be thrown in their cages.

  “I know that this whole undercover operation throws all our rules out the window,” I said to the squad. “But we’ve run out of options. With Purest having ties to the judicial system, who knows how much deeper they’ve infiltrated. The only way to finish this is to destroy everything they have. Once I’m inside, I’ll find someone that sympathizes with me.”

  Getting captured by Purest would be easy. All I needed to do was to expose myself as a shifter in public, and they would hunt me down and take me away. It had been the pattern of all the other shifters that had gone missing in the area. Purest seemed to have eyes everywhere, so once I shifted, they would find me.

  The hard part would be finding someone on the inside to help me. Based on Harrison’s undercover operation, we weren’t sure who at Purest knew what. According to Harrison, only a select few security personnel and lead scientists knew exactly what was going on at the facility. After Tasha’s escape, though, everything could have changed. Since we were unable to locate their lab, we weren’t able to gather any intel. I would be going in there completely blind, with no confirmation on who I could potentially trust.

  “And how do you even know that you’ll find that, Grady?” Harrison asked. “All the workers there seemed to be brainwashed into thinking that what they were doing was for the greater good.”

  The honest truth was that I didn’t know if I could find someone inside willing to help me. And as much as I did not want to admit that to my team, that scared the shit out of me. For all I knew, I could end up being captured by these crazy people, unable to ever find a way out. However, I could not let myself think that way. I was the only one capable of this mission. My years of training at the academy prepared me for this purpose. I would find someone on the inside to help me, or die trying.

  I was the only one with nothing to lose.

  “I have to try, Harrison.”

  Harrison let out a long sigh and dropped his head in his hands.

  Sarge and the rest of unit had been fairly quiet during this discussion. I looked up at Sarge and met concern in his deep purple eyes.

  “As much as I hate to admit it,” Sarge said. “Grady is right. We do not know how deep Purest runs, and for all we know, they could have spies here in our precinct. The only way to make sure that every shifter is safe is to destroy all their research. We won’t be able to go undercover as a guard or another employee like we did last time. We need to go in as something they’re not expecting.”

  “You’re going on a suicide mission, kid,” Harrison said, shaking his head. “There has to be another way. ”

  I clapped a hand on Harrison’s back. “There is no other way. We already tried doing this the legal way. But now, with Tasha and Gavin on the run, and Penny and your son in yet another safe house, we need to take matters into our own hands. No other squad at our precinct is going to try and stop Purest, because they’re not shifters themselves. They don’t give a shit about what happens to us. We have an obligation to protect the rest of our kind. And the only way to do that is to destroy everything.”

  Harrison let out a long sigh and finally nodded, because he knew I was right.

  “I want this whole thing planned out,” Sarge said. “I want to make surprises as minimal as we can. And if shit hits the fan, you find a way out, Grady. I don’t care what you have to do, just get yourself out of there.”

  I nodded.

  “We’ll track you until you’re taken to their lab. From there, you’ll be on your own until you can find a way to reach us.”

  I looked around the room at the guys that had taken me in and made me feel like I was a part of something bigger. For the first time in years, I actually felt like I had a family, and I would do this for them.

  4

  Ava

  I walked into a dimly lit room and sat down at the first open chair that I could find. A handful of other employees were in the room with me, patiently waiting for the de-sensitivity training to begin. I reached down into my purse and pulled out my notebook and pencil. I had no idea what to expect during this training. I just hoped that I would finally find out what it was that the lab was working on.

  A tall gentleman walked into the room and stood in front of us. He had on a tailored suit and had a slightly receding hairline.

  “Welcome to de-sensitivity training. Here, you will learn how to separate your personal emotions from the work you do here. Let us begin with a video.”

  My eyes slowly started to glaze over as the video began to play. I had always hated videos in class when I was in college. With the combination of the lowered lights and the usual boring subject matter, I always had the tendency to doze off. I fought to keep my eyes open, but the droning sound of the narra
tor lulled me to sleep.

  I was jolted awake when the lights in the room were flicked on, and the gentleman said that we would discuss more about our clinical trials at training tomorrow. I quickly looked around me to make sure no one noticed I had fallen asleep and let out a sigh of relief when I realized I was saved from that embarrassment.

  I quickly walked back into my lab area and let out a frustrated sigh at myself. I was a better student than that, I thought. If they continued with the videos in the training, I would need to bring some coffee with me next time. When I opened my laboratory’s door, I let out a slight groan when I saw a large stack of papers that needed to be recorded and filed. I sat down and got straight to work at sorting through the massive pile, which felt like it was as tall as I was.

  As I typed up the notes, I tried to make sense of all the different results I was recording. However, it seemed that the research was still in testing stages. All the research was on adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine, which were three major stress hormones. I found these tests odd because I thought our lab was researching an infectious disease, not hormone stress levels. I shrugged my shoulders and moved on to the next pile of papers on my desk. I was sure I would eventually find out what this all meant with my new position.

  I had just finished typing the last page of results when there was a knock at my lab’s door. I stood up and walked over to open it and was surprised to see Michelle standing in front of me with a frazzled look on her face, which was not like her at all.

  “Hi Michelle, what can I do for you?”

  Michelle quickly walked into the lab and shut the door behind her. “We’re going to need you to start your research position slightly earlier than anticipated.”

  “Oh all right, I thought I needed to undergo some more training?”

  “Well, we’ve had a bit of a surprise and we’re currently understaffed. I need you to start right now and have you learn as you go. Your first clinical trial just arrived on site, and will be arriving at your lab momentarily.”

  My first clinical trial? But I had no idea what I was supposed to be testing for. “Will there be someone assisting me?”

  “No, all of our staff is currently occupied, and I have some meetings to attend to.” She shoved a binder into my hands. “This explains everything that you need to do in order to in-take the subject for the clinical trial. You’re a fast learner, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.” She looked down at her watch and then looked back at me and smiled.

  “Good luck!” And with that, she left the lab.

  I stood there dumbfounded as I thumbed through the pages in the binder. I had never seen Michelle frazzled since I had started working here over a year ago. The arrival of the test subject for the clinical trial must have been very unexpected for her. A pit of anxiety formed in my stomach. How the hell was I supposed to run a clinical trial on something I hadn’t been trained for? A wave of nerves coursed through my body, and I forced myself to take a deep breath. Calm down, Ava, I told myself. This was my chance to prove myself. Prove that I could be thrown into the water headfirst and swim. I could do this.

  I walked over to my lab desk and sat down. I flipped through the rest of the pages in the binder and was startled by a loud knock at the door. I jumped up from my chair and opened it. Outside stood a large security guard.

  “Ava Markette?” he asked.

  “Yes?”

  “We have your test subject for the clinical trial.”

  I stood aside from the door and allowed the guard to enter the lab. My test subject was not at all what I expected. Instead of a human participant following him, there were two other guards pushing a large cage. I did a double take when I realized what was inside the cage. A very large grizzly bear.

  “Um, sir, I think you’re mistaken. I’m not a zoological research assistant or a veterinarian. I think this bear belongs somewhere else.”

  The guard looked down at his paperwork and frowned. “No, he belongs here.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, but no words would come out. What the hell was I supposed to do with a massive grizzly bear?

  “No, really, there must be some mista—” Before I was even able to finish my sentence, the guards secured the cage and left the lab. I stood there, motionless, trying to figure out what to do. I wasn’t a veterinarian or a zoologist. I didn’t know the first thing when it came to grizzly bears. How the hell was I supposed to conduct a clinical trial on something that couldn’t speak?

  Suddenly, there was noise from the cage behind me, and I fully realized that I was now alone in a room with a very large and very angry bear. Fear shot up my spine as I slowly turned around to face the animal. But when I turned, there was no animal in the cage at all. In the bear’s place was the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. His bright blue eyes caught mine, and then he suddenly passed out.

  5

  Grady

  An ear-piercing scream jolted me awake. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few times to regain my focus. I reached my hands up and realized that I was in a metal cage. I glanced outward from the cage, and right across from me was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She had long brown hair down to her shoulders, plump lips, and a sweet, round face. I looked up at her honey colored eyes and realized she was completely freaked out. She slowly started to back away from the cage.

  Shit. Where the hell was I? Did I scare some innocent bystander? I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to remember what had happened.

  The unit had tracked me as far as they could when Purest came for me. We had set up a whole other identity for myself, but luckily, I was able to keep my real name. I hated using fake names when I went undercover. I was afraid I wouldn’t answer to a different name right away.

  Once we had my new identity set, it was pretty easy to get Purest’s attention. I went to one of the local bars where the latest victim was last seen. I found the meanest dude in the bar that I could and I picked a fight. Sure, it was stupid, but I knew I needed to make a scene. The douchebag and I eventually got dragged out of the bar by the bouncers, and our fight continued in the parking lot. I smiled when a crowd had formed around us. I let him get one last punch in before I shifted forms. The dude, of course, lost his shit, and ran away screaming. Once I shifted back to human form, I felt eyes on my back, watching me from a distance. I knew that there were other shifters inside, and did not want to get them involved, so I led my tail away from the bar, to a place where they were only focused on me. I left the parking lot and went down a small alleyway, and within a few blocks, I felt their presence behind me. Had I not wanted to be captured, I could have easily lost them, but I needed to be taken in.

  I heard the darts before they pierced my skin, and holy fuck, did they burn. It felt like fire was coursing throughout my veins, and I slowly started to lose my vision. I knew Sarge and the rest of the guys were watching me from afar, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t scared for a few moments. Leave it to me to have second thoughts about this whole mission once the tranquilizer darts were sticking out of my back.

  Deep down, despite my fear, I knew it was the right thing to do. I was the only one that didn’t have something sweet waiting for me back home. The plan was for me to get in, somehow contact the unit about our location, and then get as many shifters out as I could out before we blew up the place.

  I looked back up at the woman and realized that she had calmed down a little bit. Thank God. I didn’t think my pounding head could take another one of her screams. Her body still remained tense, but she at least kept her mouth shut.

  “You’re a shifter,” she said. Her voice was sweet, and I realized that I liked the sound of it. It was somehow calming.

  I slowly nodded.

  “I wasn’t expecting a shifter,” she half mumbled to herself. She cautiously walked toward her desk and sat down. She eyed a binder and quickly flipped it open. “Hell, I wasn’t even a expecting a bear until you were carted in.”

  She seemed to be truly
taken off guard. Was she one of the people that had no idea what was going on here? I cleared my throat. “I didn’t mean to startle you, but I didn’t really have any control over it.” Her eyes shot back up to mine, as if she was surprised I could speak. She gave me a tight smile and went back to flipping through the pages of the binder.

  “Aren’t you worried about someone coming back in to check on you?” I asked.

  “For what?”

  “Well…” I ran my hands through my hair and looked around the lab, taking in my surroundings. “You were screaming pretty loudly there for a second.”

  “The lab is soundproof, so no one heard me, probably. Well, except you.”

  They had soundproof labs. That was good to know. I looked back at the door and noticed that we were in a closed room. There were no windows or other doors to the outside. There was a long black lab desk in the middle of the room with a sink at the end of it. Along the walls were shelves with several different binders, and behind her was a set of large coolers that looked like they contained racks of test tubes.

  I looked back at the beautiful woman seated at the lab desk. If she was telling the truth, then she really was not expecting a shifter, which meant she probably didn’t know the full extent of what Purest was actually doing. Maybe she could be the one that I used for help. I needed to keep her talking, get to know her as best as I could. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.

  “It looks like I’ll need you to tell me some of your medical history, before we begin your trials.” She lifted her head from the binder and finally looked at me in the eyes. “I’m glad you’re in your human form, because asking these questions to a bear would have been a little difficult.”