Bearly Apart (Big Paw Security Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

dead. Joe had fled through a broken window. Clive stood at the window, looking out.

    “I can't believe he attacked us,” Marcus said, getting to his feet with the help of Russ and Zoe. “I had an uneasy feeling the whole time while he was lying to us, but I never expected him to explode like that. I hadn't seen him shift for nearly 10 years. Since before he took over the Clan. Guess he still has it in him.”

    Addy rushed over to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his huge chest. He wrapped his good arm around her, holding the other out to the side as Russ bandaged it.

    “He's gone. Should I follow him?” Clive asked.

    “No, let him go,” Marcus answered.

    “We'll lose his scent, Marcus.”

    “I know. But we're family. I know where he's going to go.”

Marcus had initially said no, but Addy was persistent in joining him to find his Uncle. Now, she sat next to him in an old car, driving silently down the road. She wanted to talk to him, to help him, but she knew that he was dealing with what had just happened in his own way.

    After all, his only surviving family member had betrayed him. She knew it was one thing to suspect it, but it was an altogether different thing to actually have him leap across the table and attempt to kill Marcus himself. She knew shifter life wasn't always easy and was often very dangerous, but seeing it up close shook her, too.

    She was still reeling from her own decision to step back from her Clan, something that had ruled her whole life up to this point. She wondered what opportunities in life she had missed out on. Then she looked over at Marcus, and realized it didn't matter. Everything had led her to Marcus, the man who she had not only helped, but who had helped her.

    “Thank you for coming with me,” Marcus said, eyes focus on the road. His bandaged arm rested in his lap. They were driving slowly, as if Marcus was in no rush to confront his Uncle.

    “I thought you didn't want me to,” Addy asked.

    “I don't want to put you in harm's way, but I didn't want to have to do this alone. You're the only one who understands what I'm going through, trying to take a step back from the Clan. It's not something any of the other guys would understand. Betrayed by my own Uncle and friends. For what? All because they don't want any outside influence? Times are changing, and Joe just can't accept that.”

    “A lot of shifters oppose change. Only the brave accept it.”

    Addy placed her hand softly on his hand, linking her fingers over his. He squeezed gently, but even with his injured arm, she could sense the strength in him. Marcus was ready for whatever was to come.

    “So what is the plan?” she asked.

    “Not many other shifters know it, but Joe owns a bar up the road. It was always a place for him to lay low when Clan business got to be too much and he needed to hide out from my father. After he took over as Clan Leader, he stopped going. I'm sure that's where he went to hide out for a while. He has an office in the back.”

    “What are we going to do once we get there?” Addy wondered out loud. She had a terrible feeling that Marcus would take all of his anger, pain, and frustration out on Joe and end up going too far. She'd known of shifters going too far – and once many of them crossed that threshold, there was no going back. She remembered Judge. The man was dangerous, but she suspected he hadn't always been like that. He'd pushed himself too far and hadn't been able to turn back.

    In response, Marcus reached behind the seat, pulling up the tranquilizer gun that Emma had used on Lockwood only hours earlier. “We're going to throw the book at him. He'll want to die, but that's letting him off too easy for what he's done. We're taking him down and taking him to jail.”

    “Glad to hear it,” Addy responded, relieved that Marcus was thinking clearly. At that moment, Marcus turned the car off of the road, gliding up to an old bar. The neon lights, those that