Lucas cut him a look. "Of course not. I'd never mate a human."
Yeah, they stayed frail even when they became immortal. It was an odd combination. So Lucas must have his eye on a bear shifter. Bear ran through the available women. "Is she a member of the MC?"
Lucas rolled his eyes as they walked over the snowy pavement and past the garages. "You are being such a girl. Forget about it."
Bear clasped a hand to his chest. "Oh. She doesn't know you're alive."
Lucas growled. "I've been leading the Grizzlies. Of course she knows I'm alive."
Bear bit back a laugh. "She doesn't like you, then."
Luke hunched his shoulders. "Get your mind in the game. You're about to face a room full of shifters who'd die for you and a few humans who have no clue we aren't of the same species. You clear?"
Bear sobered. "I'm clear. When we're finished with this meeting, I need you to investigate a bar downtown called Slam and especially the bartender, a guy named Frank J. He hired out the hit on Nessa."
"Copy that," Lucas said. "We'll get right on it."
"Good. When you find the guy, I want to question him." Bear followed Lucas inside the warm rec room. The sofas had been pushed to the side again, but the place was pristine clean. Maybe the human prospects weren't so bad. Men and women sat around on chairs, on the bar, even on the pool table.
He looked around at the assembled group, recognizing most of them. Many looked back at him and gave relieved smiles.
"Welcome back," said Polly Risen, a bear shifter who'd been his friend for decades. Her long brown hair flowed around her shoulders, and her even darker eyes sparkled. "We missed you."
Bear smiled. Was Polly the woman Lucas wanted? He lifted his eyebrows at Lucas, who glared back. That might be awkward. Bear and Polly and torn up the sheets more than once-but just for fun and only as friends. Lucas had to know about that, so if it was Polly, then Luke had made peace with the fact.
Who cared, anyway?
Bear cleared his throat. "I'd first like to thank Lucas for covering me these last few months. He stepped up, and he did the club proud."
Catcalls, whistles, and clapping ensued.
Lucas just sighed.
Bear then lost his grin. "We had an overdose of Apollo in our territory, in our clubhouse, last night. The woman is fine now, however." He didn't mention the two dead bodies. The fewer people who knew about that, the better. The group instantly went sober. "I want to know this second if anybody here is messing with that poisonous drug."
Nobody moved.
"Who invited the guests who brought Apollo?" Bear growled.
"How are we supposed to know what guests bring in?" asked the human prospect Bear had thrown out the night before. A bandage covered his broken nose, looking right at home between his two black eyes. His arm was in a sling, and he sat slightly to the side as if in pain.
The room went deadly silent.
The kid moved on the seat uneasily.
Bear looked at him, unmoving.
The kid next to him, another human, swallowed loudly. "I agree. We're not responsible for what other people do."
And that was the exact wrong answer. Bear strode toward the five humans sitting together. "You're out. All five of you." He could barely make out Lucas's quiet sigh. "We don't need new prospects, and we sure as shit don't need dumbasses who invite people with Apollo into our world. Get. Out."
The second kid lunged to his feet, his chest bumping Bear's.
The hackles rose down Bear's back. He grabbed the kid by his T-shirt.
"Bear," Polly murmured. "Murder is illegal."
The kid paled.
Bear leaned into the kid's face. "Get your buddies and get out before I throw you, too. This time I might miss the door."
The kid jerked away and huffed toward the exit.
"Now," Bear said to the rest of the humans. "You have five minutes to get out of my territory. Then I get cranky."
They all stomped off, and the kid Bear had thrown stopped at the door. "This isn't over," he muttered.
Bear moved toward him, and he quickly escaped outside. Taking a deep breath, Bear looked at his brothers and sisters-all shifters, as they should be. "So. I guess we have a lot of work to do now."
Chapter 12
"Nessa? Stop it, baby," a low voice rumbled in her ear.
She jerked awake, her gaze catching on the rough interior logs of the cabin. The very first rays of dawn were trying to poke through the darkened window. A fire crackled happily and warmed the entire room, while the wind whistled furiously outside. Blankets cocooned her . . . and a hard body held her from behind.
She blinked.
Bear's arm was banded around her waist, and her butt was flush against a full erection. The bear slept in the nude. Not a surprise. His nose was tucked into her neck, and his voice had been hoarse and sleepy.