Night Shift

Sheriff’s Deputy Zak is one of the few black bear shifters in a colony of grizzlies. He’s used to taking guff from his comrades, but it’s all in good fun. He’s fought beside these guys for many years and it’s time they all stopped roaming and picked a place to settle. Grizzly Cove seemed as good a place as any when the idea was proposed, and Zak likes the slow-moving police work in the sleepy coastal town.

When his job takes him into closer proximity to the lovely Tina, though, he finds he can’t resist her. Could it be he’s finally found his mate? And when danger arrives at her door, will she turn to him, or run into the night? Zak will do all he can to make sure she chooses him.

CHAPTER ONE
Zak really liked the new duty Sheriff Brody Chambers had him working. Every night since a reporter had come to town to try to make trouble for Ashley, the middle of the three Baker sisters, the sheriff, who was now mated to the eldest sister, Nell, had sent Zak to watch over the youngest sister, Tina. Tina worked the night shift at the bakery the three sisters owned, and since it was the only place that served food in their new town so far, a lot of people frequented it.
The baked goods were downright delicious. The sisters used natural ingredients, including a lot of honey, which was a favorite of Zak’s and most of the town, for that matter. It was true that bears really did like the sweet stuff.
Zak had been admiring Tina from afar since she’d moved to town, but hadn’t really had much chance to get close to her since they both worked the night shift. He hadn’t had much reason to stop in at the bakery while on duty until now, and he was taking full advantage of the sheriff’s request that he keep an eye on the one remaining unmated sister.
Brody had claimed the eldest sister, and about two weeks later, Tom Masdan, the town lawyer had announced his relationship with the middle sister, Ashley. Turned out they were both lawyers, though Ashley had given up a high-powered career when a rat in her New York firm had made her look bad and inadvertently caused grief for her client. Unfortunately, the client had been very high profile, and tragedy had resulted from the poorly handled court case. Ashley had needed to go into hiding from the press, which she had, right here in Grizzly Cove, working at her sisters’ bakery.
In this tiny town, there were only two lawmen, at the moment. Brody worked days, and Zak overlapped in the afternoon, then worked the evenings alone, unless there was trouble. Both of them were always on call, but then again, since all of the men who formed the nucleus of the new community had served together in the military, just about everyone in town could act as backup, if needed. It was just that Brody and Zak had been handed the roles of sheriff and deputy when the Alpha, Big John, had been assigning tasks according to each man’s abilities and desires.
They’d all retired from the military now, though none of them were old by human standards. They were all bear shifters of one kind or another. The majority, including the Alpha, were grizzlies, but there was at least one polar bear, a couple of Kodiaks, a big-assed Russian bear and a few black bears. Zak Flambeau was one of the latter. Smaller than his grizzly friends, Zak was no less deadly. And though he’d taken his share of guff from his buddies over the years, he knew they respected his skills as a marksman and as a shifter. He was smaller, but that also meant he was a lot quicker and more agile than some of his larger comrades. He’d used that to his advantage many times in the field. But now, all that was over. He was retired from that life. It was a bit of an adjustment.
Big John had come up with the insane idea to build their own town from scratch. He’d been quietly buying up land over the years, and when the time came, he’d laid out his idea for the rest of his men. They’d balked a bit, at first. After all, Big John wanted them masquerade as an artists’ colony, for cripes sake. They weren’t artists. Although, most of the guys had given it the old college try and had come up with some passable objet d’art, Zak had to admit.
He couldn’t draw his way out of a paper bag. He couldn’t even do self-portraits of his bear half, using a chainsaw and a stump of wood. He left that to Brody. Zak didn’t have a talent like that. Nothing in the visual arts, anyway. If he had any talent at all, he’d have said it was for cooking, but he couldn’t see a way to turn his Cajun heritage of spicy, down home dishes into an art form that could contribute to the town’s artists’ colony status.
So he contented himself with being the deputy. Good ol’ Barney Fife to Brody’s Andy Taylor. That he could handle. Blindfolded. And with one hand tied behind his back.
Running security was second nature to him. Zak had left home at eighteen, leaving the bayou and his bastard father behind, striking out to join the Army. He’d never looked back. Not even once.
When his mate had died of illness, Zak’s father had turned mean. Or maybe he’d always been mean, and losing his mate just made him worse. Zak didn’t know for sure. His mother had died when he was still a boy. He missed her to this very day, but he felt like maybe, sometimes, she was watching over him from above—or wherever spirits went when they left this realm.
“You know, deputy, I’m going to have to start charging you rent if you keep coming in here every night.” Tina brought over the carafe of coffee, pouring him a fresh cup without even asking. She knew by now that he would never say no to good coffee.
“Just following orders, ma’am. Though to be honest, I’m enjoying these orders way more than any other I’ve been given to date in this town. It’s nice to have an excuse to sit here, drink coffee and eat your marvelous pastries.” He popped a slice of the danish he’d been eating into his mouth to emphasize his point.
“But you ran the reporter off. Nobody’s seen him since. I don’t think he’s coming back, and even if he did, I could handle him. I’d tell him to go straight to hell, like I did the first time he came sniffing around.”
Tina was a little more outspoken than her older sisters, and Zak liked that about her. She had spirit. But that sort of spirit could sometimes get a person into trouble.
“I won’t argue the point, but Brody asked me to keep an eye on the place, and I’m just as happy to do so. Come on, ma chere, don’t tell me you don’t enjoy my company, at least a little.”
The little bell above the door tinkled out its merry tune as the door opened, and every hackle on Zak’s body rose in alarm. He spun to face the newcomer, taking in the dark, wet clothing, the blood-red eyes and the hesitant gait.
“Holy shit.” Zak grabbed for his radio as the newcomer eyed him.
“Call your Alpha, little cub. I am hanging on here by a thread.”