Bear Naked Truth (Southern Shifters Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

thinking long and hard about whether she wanted to share with him her reasons for being there.
    Finally, her hand slid back down her side and she exhaled a heavy sigh. "I need to talk to him okay? I need his help."
    Kitty snorted behind him. "You must not know Bhric then. He doesn't help strangers. Especially not your kind."
    Jessa's eyes narrowed as she moved from face to face. "My kind. You mean human?"
    Kitty hissed under her breath and Calder heard a rather nasty curse word come from Niki behind the bar.
    "Yes, I know all about shifters. That's why I'm here. I need to talk to Bhric because I need asylum."
    "You need protection?" He could hardly believe his ears. She'd implied more than once earlier that she knew he was a bear shifter and he'd deftly ignored her comments. A lot of deniability came from never confirming the questions. Except in this case, that idea had been blown out of the water. His little human had walked into a shifter bar and declared she knew everything. A dangerous statement that would sit well with no shifter ever.
    Niki came to her senses first and she rushed past him into the crowded poolroom that had gone silent during Jessa's little outburst. "Everyone out. We're closing early tonight."
    "That's not right," one of the customers complained while the men around him agreed.
    "I don't give a shit what you think is right, Bud. I said the bar is closed and that means the bar is closed. This isn't a debate."
    When Bud narrowed his eyes at Niki with the faintest edge of yellow around the pupils, Calder thought about butting in and putting the wolf in his place. But two things stopped him.
    One, Niki would probably try to castrate him in his sleep if he interfered. While motherhood had mellowed her to a degree, she'd lived her life before Dean as a born and bred assassin. She was more than capable of taking care of a few surly wolves.
    Secondly, if they didn't keep the situation as low key as possible, they risked someone shifting in front of the lady human and that came with an entirely new set of issues.
    "Calder, why don't you take her upstairs to talk to Gage. With Greer out of town, this situation is going to fall on you and him to figure out. But if you need Dean, I can call him back."
    Calder shook his head at Niki. "I can handle this."
    He gently tugged on Jessa's arm where he'd wrapped his hand around her bicep. "Come with me."
    "I don't think so." She pulled in the opposite direction and rather than frighten her, he dropped her arm. "I don't know what's going on here, but I came to talk to Bhric and Bhric alone." She grasped her hands in front of her and twisted them tightly open and closed. A clear sign this situation made her nervous. His bear reared forward. While Calder wanted to get to the bottom of what she needed from Bhric, his bear only wanted to protect her. He cared little about politics or rules.
    He took a deep breath, willing the bear to settle enough to get them both out of there. After a few seconds he felt the bear concede, but only a little.
    "Bhric is not here. He's out of town."
    Her eyes shuttered closed. "Who's in charge then?"
    "Normally that would be Greer, but he's not here either. So it looks like you'll need to talk to me." And why she seemed dead set against telling him what she needed clawed at his insides. He'd done nothing to earn her distrust.
    "But—"
    Calder reached forward and gently touched her face. "Whatever it is you can trust me to help you. No one here wants to protect you more than I do."
    Her eyes softened and she lifted her head to meet his eyes. "Why is that? You don't even know me. Why would you want to help me?"
    He dug through his brain for a reason that wouldn't send her running in fear. Telling her now that he felt a mate connection to her probably wasn't the best course of action. Not when he sensed her flight instinct barely being restrained.
    "You smell good," he blurted, cringing right after the words left his mouth.
    She backed away from