Trouble Bruin Read Online Free PDF Page A

its effects. I was starting to think you were a decent person. The way you look out for Titch…” He shook the thought off. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t turn you over to the Badlands bosses and let them decide what to do with you.”
    “Because…I’ll cut you in on the new supply,” she blustered. She tried to adopt the stance of someone who was totally at ease with criminal jargon and had struck more spur-of-the-moment drug deals than she’d had hot dinners. “It’s going to be a good, clean high,” she said. “No come-down, no side-effects, cheap to prod—”
    “Are you high?” Art had taken a step back, and the look on his handsome face was one of complete bafflement. “What the hell are you talking about? Starweed isn’t a narcotic – it’s a medication used to treat a rare blood disorder that affects male bear shifters.”
    Charlie scoffed. “Yeah, right,” she said.
    He held her gaze and he stepped closer. “Let me say this very slowly,” he said, “in simple words so you’ll understand,” and there was a rising tone of impatience in his voice. “Starweed is used as a medicine. It is not for fun. Without it, I will get sick. I will die.”
    Charlie put her hands on her hips and gave him a scornful look. “Riiiight,” she drawled. “Listen, buddy, I spent my childhood in the care system because my mom was too fond of her ‘medicine’, only in her case it was booze. None of the usual addict justifications are going to work on me.”
    He shook his head impatiently. “Read my lips. Starweed is used to treat a blood disorder. You might as well accuse me of chasing an insulin high or getting buzzed off antibiotics. What you’re saying makes no sense.”
    “And I suppose the super strength has nothing to do with it?” she demanded. “You don’t get high off the ability to…to rip off airplane doors and walk through bullets?” Her eyes fell to the bullet scars high on his chest, and she felt a strong compulsion to reach out and touch them, to feel the roughness of the scars pocking his smooth, caramel skin.
    He shook his head impatiently. “It’s unrelated. The blood factor that makes us dependent on Starweed also happens to boost strength, healing, endurance…”
    A horrified look came over his face. He paced closer, towering over her. There was a musky, animal smell to him that reminded her he had much more raw power than a mere man. It was frightening, but exhilarating too. A trickle of moisture dampened her panties, and she swallowed hard, betrayed by her own body’s reaction to his maleness. What was wrong with her?
    “That’s it, isn’t it?” he demanded. “They’ve isolated the genes that give us super strength. And the experiments controlled for aggression – increased aggression. They’re trying to get their claws into the only supply of a life-saving medicine so they can use innocent bears as super-soldiers,” he snarled – and it was a snarl. He was so furious his voice barely sounded human at all.
    “No,” she protested weakly. “They are doing genetic testing, and they have been working on a serum, but it’s to help Starweed addicts. To stop the berserker attacks that have been in all the headlines. You can get clean. You won’t need the wild-growing plants once they’ve—”
    “I only hope you really believe what you’re saying.” He stepped closer still. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, smell the earthy musk of his masculine sweat. His lips were only inches from hers as he spoke in a low, deadly tone. “Because that paperwork says different. You probably think I’m just a big dumb bear, but my years in munitions got me interested in chemistry, and when you’re by yourself out in the Badlands, you have time for a lot of bedtime reading. I know what I’m talking about.”
    “I…I’m not a chemist,” she stammered. I don’t know…”
    He leaned closer. “Don’t you think you should find out ?”
    That electrical