Bearly Hanging On (Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance) (The Jamesburg Shifters Book 6) (21 page)

Grumbling, she shuffled back to her nightstand, got the old wire-rimmed glasses she'd kept for way too long, and returned to the window. There was a fire truck, and a pair of police cars, both with their lights and sirens going.

This is not normal
.

Even with her glasses, she couldn't make out much more than a general bustle of activity across the street from her house, which happened to be one of the several places in town that free water was given away to people without any - maybe they lived outside city water, maybe theirs was dirty, or they couldn't afford it - it was one of the very few things given freely in Jamesburg, but hey, at least it was something.

It was a blue, tiki-style building modeled after the most horrific tackiness that Dean Martin could ever manage in one of his Christmas specials. But oddly, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it, even though that's where all the cars had gathered. Instead, there was a small group of people beside the building, all in handcuffs, all sitting on the ground and refusing to go anywhere.

"Oh, shit," Jamie muttered. Cora, Marmite, Ryan, and his uncle and who she assumed was his aunt, were all sitting there, blank looks on their faces. "Why did I have to fall in love with this guy?"

In a flash, she threw on one of her pencil skirts that wasn't too dirty, and slipped out the window. Cold rain pattered against the thin skin between her wings as she sailed down to the street below.

"What the hell did you do?" she demanded, as soon as Ryan caught her striding up to him with a very sour look on her face. He gave her one of his smiles, but this time, it didn't work. "What did you do, Ryan?" she asked again.

"You know him?" Ash Morgan - the most senior of the Jamesburg PD's bear detectives, was on the scene and trying very hard to use a normal-sized notepad. He was the sergeant in charge of anything that could be too big or dangerous for a regular hyena beat to handle. The hyenas were tenacious and brave, if a little itchy, but controlling a bunch of bears and a couple pissed off koalas was probably a little much to ask of them.

Jamie nodded. "Yeah, Ash," she said. "He's... well, he's a friend of mine. What happened?" She chose to ignore the knowing look on the big bear’s face.

Ash shrugged. "Nothing, really. We got a call from the owner of this video store," he tilted his head backwards and to the left, indicating the single video rental store left in Jamesburg, and possibly the entire world. "Said they were sitting around the drink stand, making a scene."

She grabbed Ash's arm, pulling him away from everyone else. "What kind of scene? Did he hurt anyone?"

"Who? Prince Twinkle-eyes?" Ash asked. "Hell no, he didn't. The second I showed up, they all just stuck their hands out, waiting to be cuffed. I've seen some crazy shit in my time, but people who were that willing to be arrested? And for something this stupid? I dunno, Jamie, something doesn't seem right."

She snorted a laugh. "Yeah," she said. "Get to know him a little and you'll be saying the same thing. So, nothing happened? They were just sitting around? Seems a little strange for Todd to call you guys about that, especially considering the whack-jobs that hang around his place all the time."

"They're movie aficionados," Todd, the lion-shifter owner of the video store said. "They come in and enjoy films. That's all, there's no reason to try and degrade them."

Ash put a hand on Todd's shoulder. "Okay, fine. So, since you're here, I can just ask you. What were they doing that got you all upset?" He was really starting to struggle with the tiny-to-him notepad.

Todd was an old lion, gray around the temples, salt-and-pepper on his tail when shifted. He was crotchety, territorial, and given to dramatics. Especially when it came to people he didn't know.

"Upsetting my customers," he said, looking back and forth from Ash to Jamie. "Making a scene."

"Ah," Ash patted the old lion on the shoulder. "You sure they weren't just getting water? That's what it's there for, you know? For people who need water to get?"

"The young one," Todd jabbed a finger in Ryan's direction. "He was talkin' to my customers, telling them all kinds of things about how there's hungry old shifters and what-not, and—"

"That doesn't sound illegal to me," Jamie cut in. "Pretty sure you can still talk to people who happen to be outside at the same time you are."

Ash nodded his head. "This is a pretty big operation you called out for a handful of folks who weren't doing anything wrong. There something you're not telling us?"

Todd narrowed his eyes, frowning deeply. "They been here all week. Talkin'."

"To who?" Jamie asked. Her poor grammar struck her brain right after she said it, but she chose not to correct herself.

"Anybody that'll listen! That young 'un there, he just talks and talks. My customers say they don't want him to keep on hassling them."

"Oh, okay, disturbing the peace," Ash said with a note of disbelief in his voice. "You know you're supposed to call the regular station line for that, right, Todd? That you only call 911 in the case of an actual emergency, such as someone with a gun, someone having a heart attack – I trust you’re aware of necessitates a 911 call. Generally, someone irritating your customers by talking to them isn't really an emergency."

The crotchety lion was obviously trying to figure out something to say when Ryan finally pushed himself off his ass and strolled over beside them. "If there's a problem, we can go somewhere else," he said. "I didn't bother anyone who told me to go away."

"Maybe not the best time?" Jamie pushed him backwards, out of earshot. "What did you do?"

Ryan shrugged. "Really," he said. "I don’t know. I don't have much problem taking the blame for things I actually do, you know me well enough to know that, right?"

Jamie nodded. "So what did you do to piss off old Todd so badly that he called the cops on you? If it's legitimacy you're going for, getting arrested isn't really the way to do it."

"Worked for quite a few folks throughout history," he said. "But listen - Jamie - I'm being serious. We've been coming here every night for the last month or so, less three days when I was knocked unconscious by someone," he gave her a grin that made her feel both a little tingly and a little angry. "We have thirty families and twelve individuals, living on the compound. You saw some of them, right? The panda, the turtle, all of them?"

She clenched her jaws. “I know. I met some of them.”

"Yeah, well,” Ryan said, “they need water. A lot of it. The wells we have work, but they can't produce enough. So we come every night, get what we can, and go on our way. If anyone talks to me, I talk back. I didn't know I was supposed to pretend none of this was happening."

"You're not," Jamie said, looking back over her shoulder. Ash had managed to calm the lion down somewhat, as a three hundred pound bear who used to be a cage fighter will frequently do, and the two of them seemed to be engaged in something resembling calm conversation.

She turned her head to the truck that was sitting with the doors ajar, which she surmised must be Ryan's. In the back bed of it were no less than ten fifty-gallon drums.

"Uh, Ryan?" she asked. "Is that yours?"

"Yeah, of course. We take the drums back and empty them into a reservoir on the grounds. What's wrong with that?"

"Did you ever read the signs? The ones all over the drink stand? That say how much you can take?"

Jamie’s soul sank. She was going to have to sit here and watch the man who her heart had decided was her mate, along with four of the shifters under his care, get carted off to jail.

"Well, no," he admitted.

"A gallon. One. One single, solitary, reasonable gallon, Ryan." Jamie's voice was tired, strung out, and worn. "You're allowed to take one single gallon from the pump. That's it. Not five hundred. And not every day. Shit," she swore. "This was really, really stupid."

"Well then what's the point? What good is a gallon gonna do anyone?"

"Really? You're really asking me that? It's so everyone can get one. You being all clannish and thinking your little crew is more important than anyone else, that's going to ruin your whole little idea here. You, and no one else, is going to get what could have been an opportunity for progress and growth turned into a fucking nightmare. All because you didn't read a sign."

Ash walked over and clapped Jamie on the shoulder. "As the town council's representative, I'm gonna need to, uh, run a few things by you."

Jamie nodded. "Go sit down, Ryan," she said. "I doubt there's anything I can do, but..." she closed her eyes, tight. Imagining the way his hands felt on her skin, the way his lips tasted, she hated to say what she was about to say, but she did it anyway. "I doubt there's anything. Just go sit, okay?"

It was like he was struck by the gravity of the entire situation all at once. His eyes sagged, his shoulders slumped. His whole body took on the inglorious appearance of an uneasy pudding. "I'll figure something out," he said. "I always do."

Jamie watched him return to Cora, his aunt, and Marmite, his uncle, and sit back down. He said something to them, and Cora shot a smile in Jamie's direction. Jamie felt her eyes getting all misty, and had to turn away before mist turned into red streaks.

"Okay," Ash said. "So this is pretty bad. But you already knew that."

"Act like I don't," she said. "How bad is bad?"

The big bear cop lifted his notebook near enough he could see and tallied something. Partway through, he scratched out whatever he was scribbling, and started over. "This can't be right," he said. "No way."

"No way, what?" Jamie asked. "Come on, Ash, I know you’ve heard about us, there's no reason to take it easy on me, or on him."

Two huge shoulders lifted and then fell with a sigh. "This is bad," he said, repeating the earlier sentiment in slightly different words.

"What, damn it! Stop telling me it's bad and tell me how bad it is!"

"I'm not so good at math. Hold on."

Frustrated, and more than a little flustered, Jamie snatched his slightly-crumpled notepad, and his pen. The numbers he had been noodling with had a few zeroes after them, and then there was a dollar sign in front.

"What is this?" she asked. "Ash! What am I looking at?"

He took another deep breath. "Theft from a public resource. That's, er, well, that's the fine. Hundred dollars a gallon. Says so right on the sign. And they've apparently taken, well, at least a month's worth of this much. It's," he trailed off. "I'm sorry, Jamie, but it's on the sign."

"Right," she said. "The one time signs matter in Jamesburg. Sorry, I'm not mad at you, it's just..."

Ash patted her again, and left her to her thoughts.

"What if I paid it?" Ryan must've heard the conversation with those ridiculous bear ears of his. "It's just a fine, right? What can the fine for stealing water possibly be?"

Boston, his uncle, shot Ryan a really nasty glance. Ryan winked at him. "What's the damage?"

Jamie spun on her heel, which was bare, for once, and glared at him the same way his uncle was. "Do you want the real number, or something made up so you feel better?"

Ryan shrugged, in his easy, obnoxiously hot, way. "Whichever."

"About thirty-five thousand bucks. Not counting court costs and fees." She pursed her lips. "Got anything cute to say about that?"

"Get my checkbook," Ryan shot back. "I'll pay it."

Boston kicked him, but Ryan kept on. "Let me go get the money. No problem. I'll pay for that, and for whatever the bail is, if we're all actually being arrested. If this town is so ridiculous that the police will arrest four old shifters and the guy who takes care of them? Fuck it, I'll pay the whole bill, and I'll find somewhere else to go."

"Ryan," Boston hissed. "Shut your damn mouth, for once."

Jamie opened her mouth to say something, but it stuck in her throat. "You'll what?" she finally said. "You'll pay? All of it? With what money?"

Ryan shrugged. "Does it matter? Does it really? Let's say it's inheritance. That good enough?"

She didn't understand why he'd turned on her quite so viciously, and so quickly, but the longer she stared at him, the colder his eyes got until she hardly recognized him at all. "Who are you?" she finally asked.

"That doesn't matter either," he spat. "So what'll it be? You carting us all off to jail or can I just float the bill and not waste everyone's time being proven guilty, which I obviously am? And none of them had anything to do with it. Not a damn thing. They came along, but they didn't know, just like I didn't, that they were living in a place that didn't give a shit whether they lived or died."

Amidst the chaos, Erik rolled up, wearing his robe and yoga pants, and hopped off his bike. "What's the problem?" he said, striding up to Jamie.

"Oh," he said flatly when he caught a glimpse of Ryan. "What a surprise."

Ryan hissed, angrily, his eyes flashing rage. "Do whatever you want to me, Danniken," he snarled. "But leave these people alone."

Erik narrowed his eyes, obviously roused at the challenge presented those couple of weeks ago in the middle of his courthouse. He popped his neck one way, and then back the other. "Why should I?" he asked. "Why should I listen to a jewel thief who ran to Jamesburg to try and escape what he did for a decade? Huh?"

Ryan's nostrils flared, he took a step toward Erik, and at the same time, both Ash and Jamie grabbed one of the bear's arms.

"Leave him alone," Erik said. His voice was growing husky, his eyes going yellow. "If he wants to play this game, he can play it. I know the whole story, every bit of it. Our friend Branson turns out to not actually be an FBI agent, but something similar. He's been looking for you a long, long time, hasn't he? Although I admit it takes some incredible balls to not bother changing your name after all that."

"You don't know what you're doing, Danniken," Ryan snarled. "Do you think Branson cares about you? These people? This town? Do you think you're anything but a stepping stone to him? He proves the police in some weird, backward, unincorporated town in the middle of nowhere can't find a diamond thief, and then what? That's that?"