Bearly Ever: An Alpha Werebear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Arcadia Knights Book 1) by Olivia Gayle

try to absorb the raw power she felt beneath that fur. But right now, they had other things to worry about. She didn’t realize a tear had leaked from one eye until she pulled away, and scraped at it with the cuff of her shirt. “Find that son of a bitch,” she murmured.
    The bear nodded, a human gesture that looked odd on the animal, and resumed its roaming of the area. Both Mac and Ever followed behind him, the spinning red-and-blue police lights creating odd shadows in the growing darkness. The trees that lined the street blocked out the sun, making it feel later than it was.
    Ever knew when he found something, because a shiver went through the bear’s body. The thick hair rippled as if with a breeze, but there was no wind. Then he turned down the driveway, his thick legs propelling him fast toward the street. Ever turned to follow him, only to have Mac’s hand on her arm stop her.
    “You won’t be able to keep up. Come on, we’ll take the car until he leaves the road.”
     
    *
     
    Only in Arcadia would a giant bear running down the street not seem like a problem to any citizens.
    Aidan was moving at a fair clip down the neighborhood streets, obviously following a trail of some kind. He’d occasionally stop as if checking his direction before taking off again. The speedometer of the car almost got to forty miles per hour when he finally turned off the road and off into a copse of trees.
    “Looks like we’re on foot here.”
    Mac parked the car and Ever popped out, jogging after the bear. Aidan had slowed his pace quite a bit which was good, because there was no way she could have kept up otherwise. The ground here was uneven, and came to an embankment where a seasonal stream had clearly carved out a gully. Aidan leaped down it no problem while Ever made her way more carefully, sliding along her butt. She reached the bottom only to have Aidan cut her off, his eyes on something across the wash.
    “Don’t come any closer, Sheriff, or I’ll do it.”
    Atop the opposite embankment stood a young man, one arm raised high. Ever couldn’t see what he held in his hand, but it wasn’t pointed at them so it probably wasn’t a weapon.
    She hoped.
    “Kevin, what the hell?” Mac sounded incredulous as she joined them. The muddy ground didn’t seem to bother her much, and belatedly Ever wondered what kind of shifter the other woman was. “Since when do you resort to vandalism?”
    The way the deputy spoke to the stranger made him sound like a teenager, but he looked to be about the same age as Ever. In her experience however, human shifters were notoriously difficult to age so maybe was old enough to be Ever’s grandfather.
    Maybe someday, she’d be able to get her head around that better.
    Even without her glasses, Ever could see the sneer on the other man’s face as he stared down at them. “You’re all so pathetic,” he called out. “Living out your lives, doing nothing with the gifts you’ve been given.”
    Aidan’s attention was fixed on the man but Mac glanced at the bear, then at Ever, a concerned look on her face. “Kevin,” she said in a soothing voice, “just put the lighter down.”
    Lighter? Only when she heard that did Ever notice the red container beside the man’s feet. The wind shifted, bringing with it the faintest hints of gasoline. A sick feeling settled in Ever’s chest.
    A high-pitched laugh, laced with lunatic joy, spilled from his lips. He raised both hands to the heavens. “Luna, I give myself unto your embrace!”
    “Kevin, no,” Mac cried out, sprinting toward the other man.
    Too late.
    Flames erupted seemingly out of nowhere around the man, and the insane laughter almost immediately turned to shrieks of pain. Ever was frozen in place, unable to look away from the horror before her.
    The man called Kevin, or a flaming shape of him, ran a few yards down the embankment, still screaming, before tripping over a tree and falling. Mac was on him in an instant, batting at the