Slade

By Becca Fanning

Veronica Harper was ready to let bygones be bygones. She'd spent enough years fighting tooth and claw to know that nobody won in a drag out brawl. It was better for all parties to come to the peace table. But being the leader of a Bear Shifter Clan meant many things, the most important of which was to be the kind of leader that the rest of the Clan would follow. That meant never losing face. Even if the person you're staring down is a handsome hunk with more charm than he realizes.
Slade Walker knew things were tense. This Clan rivalry was close to spilling into a war, and he didn't know how many casualties would be on each side. Too many, surely. But these women just wouldn't leave his Clan alone. From the problem with the hives to the fires and now this, someone had to make it clear to them that this was unacceptable. He hoped this would be a simple sit down and parley, but as soon as he laid eyes on their gorgeous leader, he knew he was in over his head.
This 15,000+ word novella has hot Bear Shifter action, a Happily Ever After, no cheating and no cliffhangers!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: May 23, 2021

Book preview

Fanning

Chapter 1

Slade Walker picked up his coffee mug and headed for the front door. The morning was already hot. The day would be a scorcher. He couldn’t wait to get back home after taking care of a few business tasks, and change into his bear form so he could run through the woods and feel the wind in his fur.

Today would be a boring day. He had to file some paperwork at the courthouse. Taxes, product information, and that sort of thing. This was the less fun part of his job, but at least it got him out of the house and into the city for a while. The Ozark Mountains were beautiful, but once in a while he liked to be around the tall buildings and congestion of the city.

He walked to his car, set his mug on the roof, and reached to unlock the door. But something wasn’t right. He walked to the front tire to inspect it more carefully. He set down his briefcase and bent to look closer. Yup. His tire wasn’t only flat as could be, it was damaged. Looked like someone had knifed it. He circled around the car to check the other tires, then cursed under his breath. All four, slashed.

And then he recognized the scent. It was the two of the women bear shifters in the area. The ones who’d been giving them nothing but trouble lately.

He’d have to take one of the guy’s vehicles. They had several between them. But as he walked from car to truck to car to check them, all he saw was flat tires. All slashed. They didn’t have a single vehicle undamaged, a single tire still holding air.

Slade slammed the house’s front door open and Dax jumped.

What gives? He stood in the doorway, looking like he was ready to head out himself in his suit and tie.

Every vehicle, every tire, slashed.

You’re kidding. Daxton pushed past him to run outside and see for himself.

Slade was standing in the doorway when he headed back. It had to be them. I recognize the scent.

Dax gritted his teeth and shook his head.

I’m waking the guys up, Slade said.

He hopped up the stairs, taking two at a time, and knocked on each door.

Get up! Emergency meeting, Slade called as he went.

He went back downstairs and paced in the dining room, waiting. Daxton sat in a chair, texting. One by one, the men came down until they sat at the table, looking up at their leader, who stood.

This has gone on long enough, Slade said, practically growling in his anger. We tried taking it to the police and that didn’t work. It’s time for us to take action against these women. To show them who’s boss and what clan rules in this town.

What do you want to do? Knox asked.

I think we should just go kick their butts, Beck said.

Don’t be unreasonable, Amir said. We’ll just get ourselves in trouble doing that.

Dax huffed. Yeah, like they did? They kill our hive, set fire to our building, try to steal our business, and get off with nothing.

Must’ve been sleeping with the cops or something, Knox said.

Amir is right, Slade said. We have to start out by being reasonable. Let’s go over there and confront them. Maybe they just need to know that we’re not going to back down. They might have gotten off with no jail time, but that’s not the end. We’re not going to let it go.

And make them pay for the tires, Dax said.

Seriously, Beck added.

What are we going to say to them? Amir asked.

We have to be intimidating, Knox said.

Slade nodded. Intimidating and forceful. We’ll make it clear that this is their final warning. We’ll demand they stop coming after us.

What about our vehicles? I have sales appointments today, Dax said.

Can you make some calls? Slade asked. Get some people out here to fix them?

Daxton nodded.

"I’m going to case the joint in a little while. Try to figure out who the leader is ahead of time so we’ll be prepared. I’d also like to get a look at their grounds and their honey processing building