Bear Cop: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant Page A

raking across Chris’ back. But this time, Eve was there, making use of the moment of distraction to thrust the burning branch right into the side of the jaguar. The sound that it made could only be described as a shriek. Eve gripped the branch with all her strength and pushed until the stench of burning fur filled the air, and the jaguar finally let go.
    Even before the cat hit the ground, Chris was on it in a flurry of rage. There was a loud crunch—and then the jaguar turned back into a human, leg bent at an unnatural angle, knocked out cold in the grass.
     
    ***
     
    Chris checked the knots once more to make certain that both of the jaguar shifters were securely tied up. One was still out cold—the other, who seemed to have broken his leg, had come to his senses enough to snarl at Chris in fury. Chris gave him a cold smile and tied him with an extra rope. Chris was still bleeding from the wounds on his chest and legs, and had deep slashes across his back. He wasn’t feeling a whole lot of compassion for a broken leg right now.
    “This is your last chance to talk. I guess you have around an hour until we’ll have a full search and rescue squad out here. So either you talk now, or we’ll let them deal with you.”
    “You can’t prove anything,” the man spat in a snarl. His limp hair was hanging into his face. He looked as though he hadn’t washed for days.
    Chris wondered how long they’d roamed the forest as animals.
    “I don’t need proof,” Chris pointed out. “You attacked us! You tried to kill us!”
    “And your wounds will be healed before your buddies get here,” the shifter hissed. “Anyway, those are bite wounds. Some wild animal must have got you. What does that have to do with us?” The man’s grin widened. “What, you gonna tell the judge we transformed into large cats?”
    Chris grabbed a fistful of the man’s hair and slammed his head back into the tree he’d tied him too.
    “I’m warning you,” Chris said with a growl. “This is your last chance. You threatened my mate. I’m not playing. Either you give me a reason for why you’re here, or—”
    Eve’s gasp interrupted his sentence. A moment later, she was by his side—not scolding him for not taking care of his own wounds, as he had feared, but to peer at the unwashed face of their prisoner.
    “Oh my God!” she said softly, then recoiled as the man snarled at her again. “That’s him! I know him—that’s one of my dad’s friends! The friends that got him into trouble—that’s his friend Desmond!”
    The shifter gave her a derisive laugh. “Took you a while! Little Eve—imagine my surprise when I saw your face on TV a month ago. You thought you could run from us. You thought you could take the gems and hide from everyone, but we got you in the end. This isn’t over, Eve. This won’t be over until you give us the jewels.”
    Chris bit back a growl at the threat to his mate. “No more games now. It's over. This is your last chance to confess.”
    Desmond laughed. “A confession? For what, asshole? Your mate has something that belongs to us. We've worked hard for those goods, you know. Months of planning. And then her father went to jail, and the fucking jewels were nowhere to be found.”
    “You set him up,” Chris said, triumph rising in him when it all began to make sense. Not only was Eve innocent, but so was her father.
    Desmond hissed again. “We thought that drunk fool had no idea of what was up. We took his keys, and he went to jail instead, just as planned. But the jewels. The jewels weren't there. Which means that he set us up instead. And I'm sure little Eve here knows everything about it.”
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Eve straightened, although Chris could see her trembling.
    Chris took her hand and squeezed it in support, and she gave him a grateful look before she took a deep breath.
    “I never had anything to do with what happened then,” she told Desmond furiously. “I