Bearly Royal_Brion Read online

  Table of Contents

  Brion

  Sabrina

  Bear Again

  Sophia

  Liam

  Ranger Bear

  Untitled

  Kyle

  Whitney

  Preview of Delta Bear

  Bearly Royal: Brion

  Ally Summers

  Head Over Heels Press

  Copyright © 2018 by Ally Summers

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  1. Brion

  2. Sabrina

  3. Brion

  4. Sabrina

  5. Brion

  6. Sabrina

  7. Brion

  8. Sabrina

  9. Brion

  10. Sabrina

  11. Brion

  12. Sabrina

  Bear Again

  Bear Again

  1. Sophia

  2. Liam

  3. Sophia

  4. Liam

  5. Sophia

  6. Liam

  7. Sophia

  8. Liam

  9. Sophia

  10. Liam

  11. Sophia

  12. Liam

  13. Sophia

  14. Liam

  15. Sophia

  16. Liam

  17. Sophia

  18. Liam

  19. Sophia

  20. Liam

  21. Sophia

  22. Liam

  23. Sophia

  Ranger Bear

  Untitled

  1. Kyle

  2. Whitney

  3. Kyle

  4. Whitney

  5. Kyle

  6. Whitney

  7. Kyle

  8. Whitney

  9. Kyle

  10. Whitney

  11. Whitney

  12. Kyle

  13. Whitney

  14. Kyle

  15. Whitney

  16. Kyle

  17. Kyle

  18. Whitney

  19. Kyle

  20. Whitney

  21. Whitney

  Preview of Delta Bear

  1

  Brion

  I pulled the shades closer to my dark eyes. The sun beat down on me as I maneuvered through the countryside. The top was down. Radio blasting. And I had outrun my security detail. They were ten kilometers back, maybe less. I could put more between us if I kept this speed. I never had the chance to run like this. I had to take it.

  I’d catch hell later for ditching them, but if I had to go to Sangreaux, then I was going to do it on my terms. The town was in the middle of nowhere. What in the hell was I supposed to do?

  My phone rang through the speakers in the expensive sports car. I quieted the music.

  Damn it. It was my royal manager Julianna.

  “Yes, love?” I pretended things were normal when I answered.

  “Don’t love me,” she snapped.

  I let my foot off the accelerator slightly as I rounded a seaside cliff. It was gorgeous here. I started to wonder why I’d never spent any time in this part of the country.

  “Brion, what do you think you’re doing?”

  “Driving a car,” I stated.

  I could hear her sigh even with the wind whipping over the windshield. Damn, I loved to drive. I loved the speed. The thrill of seeing how fast I could go before something irreversible happened.

  It was the animal inside me. I couldn’t be the man I wanted to be, so I looked for adventure in dangerous places. Today that place was inside a fast car.

  “You know exactly what I mean. The Duke of Marquis shouldn’t be driving his own car. You have no security. What if something happened? What is wrong with you? Why would you do something like this?”

  “No one cares that I’m headed to Sangreaux, Julianna. No one even knows. Besides, since when did you start becoming so bossy? I always thought you were one of the more laid back royal managers.”

  “I have never been called laid back.”

  I laughed, knowing I had struck a nerve.

  “Pull over and stop driving. Let the royal guard locate you and escort you into town. It’s safer. There’s no reason to take a risk like this.”

  My good mood was starting to dissipate. I didn’t like it. I had to calm my inner bear. He liked the wind. He liked the freedom behind the wheel. The last thing either of us wanted was to be told what to do.

  “I’m already taking orders from the king. You aren’t on the list of people I take orders from. It’s the other way around, if I’m not mistaken. You are my royal manager. So right now, I’m driving into the village. Alone. I don’t need an escort. And I don’t need royal security. If my cousin has a problem with it, he can call.”

  “You can’t be serious. Your cousin is the King of Galona. It’s my job to make sure he doesn’t find out about things like this.”

  “Good. Then my adventure will give you something to do while I’m away. Keep me off his radar. Make sure he doesn’t hear about this spectacular joyride.”

  There it was—the good mood, coming back into focus. I was putting more distance between myself and the crown. I could feel the chains starting to loosen. This was what freedom was supposed to feel like.

  I could picture Julianna’s face frowning and fretting about how to keep my accounts out of the lodestar. The king’s daily briefing on the royal family was a detailed account of everything we royals did. I ended up in there more times than I could count.

  He had a lot to keep up with. The man had to run the country, and family full of secret shifters. I was glad it was his nightmare and not mine.

  Alaric didn’t care if I drove a car, but Julianna didn’t know that. She was paid to worry about this kind of shit. As a member of the royal family she was assigned to me, just like my brothers had royal managers, and the princes and princess. It was part of the title. It was her life’s duty to serve the crown.

  I understood her dilemma. I was almost sympathetic, but not entirely. I didn’t need a babysitter.

  For the first time I wished the road to Sangreaux was longer. “Gotta go, love. I’m almost at the hotel.”

  “But, Brion. Just wait for your detail. Please. Sir.” It was only when she was desperate did she become formal with me.

  I laughed. When had I ever listened to her?

  “If they catch up, I’ll offer one of them a ride. All right?”

  I hung up before she could fire off another mandate. I turned the radio to full blast, waving at a farmer on the side of the road as I cruised into the tiny village.

  It might have only been a few hours, but a few hours of freedom tasted good.

  2

  Sabrina

  I tried to remember the last time I’d actually been tasked with this kind of assignment. As far as I was concerned, tailing the royal family was about as low as it got. This was a slap in the face to the features I had brought to the paper.

  As we sat in a parked car on the border of the quaint village, I couldn’t help but feel as if I was trying to capture a bank robber in action, or a slimy politician sneaking out of his mistresses apartment. This didn’t feel like high-level journalism to me. I scanned my phone again, looking for an update on the duke’s location. This wasn’t even a story. It wasn’t worth the camera man that tagged along with me, but I didn’t have a say on my assignment.

  Luis had it in for me. There was no other explanation for it. My position at La Freychon wasn’t something I worried about until now.

  The camera man Jacques swatted in my direction. “I s
ee a car.”

  “A car?”

  He crouched low in the backseat. “If it’s his detail I want to get a picture of him coming into town.”

  That’s really what this was about. Pictures. Tabloid fodder. Why was I even here? I couldn’t write a story based off a picture of a motorcade. I had to fight the paranoid feeling I had that that was what Luis wanted. A complete failure on my part. The inability to deliver a viable story to the editors.

  I was a good reporter. Most editors would appreciate the research and details I brought to a story, but Luis wasn’t that kind of editor. Instead, he seemed threatened by my writing. Worried that my success would somehow make him look bad. We’d been at odds since my first day at the paper. Giving me this story was more a death sentence than a reward. I sighed.

  I didn’t have much time to think about Luis and his constant attempts to derail me at work. I heard the sound of an engine roaring in our direction.

  “Holy shit. Who is that maniac driving?” I watched as a tiny red sports car whizzed past us. Dust flew around the wheels and small rocks kicked to the shoulder of the road. I gripped the wheel out of instinct.

  Jacques popped up like a gopher from the backseat. “That was him. The duke. Let’s go. Go.”

  “What?”

  “Just go,” he shouted. “Hit the gas and follow him. Don’t lose that car.”

  I cranked the engine and maneuvered us away from the curb. I kept a close eye on the red car speeding through the quaint village.

  “He’s going to run over someone,” I whispered. “This guy is crazy. Someone should give him a ticket. This is too dangerous.”

  Jacques threw one leg and then the other over the front seat until he was next to me. I’d never chased anyone before. I liked to talk to my subjects. Ask questions. Really dig deep into their motivations. Chasing them in a high-speed chase wasn’t something that had ever occurred to me. Despite my instincts, it was hard to ignore the adrenaline that zinged through me. It was kind of fun.

  Jacques huffed. “A ticket? You realize that’s the duke. He can do anything he wants. He could wrap that million-dollar pole around a car and no one is going to care.”

  I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t the first time someone alluded to the royalty in this country getting away with whatever they wanted. They lived with a different set of rules than everyone else.

  The camera clicked in succession as Jacques captured as many shots as he could of the duke speeding through Sangreaux. The car finally stopped in front of the three-story hotel in the center of the town square. He barely missed clipping a fountain out front.

  “Did he just jump over the door?” I asked. The duke was a blur, running into the lobby. I couldn’t make out any of his features, but I agreed with Jacques. It was definitely him. Who else would presume to be above the law?

  “He did. These pictures are going to be incredible.”

  “Pictures of what? A man driving?” I mocked.

  Jacques pulled the camera from his eye and looked at me. “Anytime the royal family does something, it’s news.”

  “What is news about this? Nothing happened. You said it yourself. Speeding isn’t a crime for a royal.”

  He shook his head. “Sabrina, stop acting like a rookie journalist. Look.” He pointed to a caravan of black cars rounding the corner and surrounding the duke’s car.

  I watched the scene unfold as the men in suits checked the car, scouted the sidewalk, and walked inside the hotel. Someone was on a phone, while the other talked into his wrist.

  “He ditched his security. That’s not normal. I’ve never seen it before.” Jacques’s eyebrows waggled. “There’s your story.”

  “But—” I still wasn’t convinced that was much to write about.

  My journalistic sidekick jumped out of the car. “Are you coming? Don’t you have people to interview? Find out what happened. Why was he traveling alone?”

  I groaned. This was ridiculous. Did anyone really care? “Yes. All right. I’m on it.”

  I turned off the ignition and placed the keys in my purse. I pulled out my recorder and reporter’s pad. Depending on the subject, not everyone was ok with being recorded. I’d have to grab my suitcase later. I only packed for two days, hoping the duke’s trip was a quick one. Or either I was called back to Freychon to cover legitimate government business.

  At least I knew now where we were staying tonight.

  I looked up at the hotel. Whether I liked it or not, my story was inside.

  3

  Brion

  I hadn’t reached my room before my security goons tracked me down. Fuck. I hadn’t put enough kilometers between us as fast as I thought. I suppressed a growl as they caught up to me.

  “Your Highness,” the first guard called. His voice was firm, but flat. He would be out of line if he told me how displeased he was. I could fire him for that. But it was there in his voice. He didn’t have to say it.

  I turned around in the hall. “Yes?” I wondered if Julianna knew they had found me quickly. It was times like these I wondered if I had a tracking device in my neck.

  It was absurd, but it was hard not to feel like I had been caged at times. My royal blood line was more of a prison than a privilege.

  He stared at me. It was as if there was an invisible pair of handcuffs hanging in the air between us. If I reached my arms forward, the officer would shackle my wrists. He might as well.

  “Sir, we were concerned you had been compromised. We didn’t have your location.”

  I shoved my hands in the pockets of my fitted dress pants. I always traveled in a suit. Anything less would be un-royal.

  “Compromised?” I huffed. “Do you think that’s actually possible?” I was six-two and played rugby in college. I wasn’t sure who they thought could stuff me in the back of an unmarked van. Not to mention, there was a secret I was hiding. The Marquis clan didn’t need protection. There wasn’t a man in this country who could attack us without risking his life.

  I knew my fangs and claws would prevail, but we had to keep up the pretense that we were human. It was an exhausting exercise.

  “I would have been fine,” I argued.

  He nodded, folding his hands against his belt buckle. “Your safety is our priority. Nothing else matters to this detail. It is our job. Our duty.”

  “I understand.”

  I didn’t know this guard, or any of the others. They rotated through the royal family, serving each member for a week or maybe only a day before being positioned at another station. My sister Josephine had a detail of her own, but she was an exception to the rule. I was fine with not being personally acquainted with them. It made it easier when I did things like I did today.

  “Is there anything you need, sir?” He stood aside as two more officers walked up next to him. I had to assume they were here to stand outside my door.

  “No,” I replied. “Unless you’re interested in turn down service.”

  “Sir?”

  “It was a joke.” I shook my head, rotating toward my room. “I’ll be in here until the breakfast with the mayor tomorrow.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  It was like listening to a robot speak. They were all the same. Trained in the same royal guard. I exhaled, twisting the door knob in my hand.

  I locked the door behind me. I searched the room for a mini-bar. I opened the drawers and cabinets, but came up empty. I couldn’t find a single airplane bottle. What in the hell? Was the best hotel in Sangreaux dry?

  I whipped the door open. I remembered speeding past a bar when I drove into town. There was a sign for martinis and pints. It was a few blocks from here, but the walk would be nice.

  “Sir?” An officer stepped in front of me.

  “I’m going out,” I explained. “We’re going out, I guess,” I corrected. Wherever I went, they would be on my tail.

  “Sir, I believe we are in a code purple situation,” he reported.

  “What is a code purple?” I glared
at him.

  “The premises have been sealed, sir.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me. Did you hear what I said?” I looked at him. “I’m going downstairs to the lobby, out the front doors, and around the corner to that local bar. I’m headed out for a drink. Why don’t you join me?” I offered.

  He was as serious as the security captain. “I’m not allowed to drink alcohol, sir.”

  “Good to know. I guess that should make me feel safer,” I joked. “You can follow me if you like, but that’s the destination.”

  The second guard moved from his post, walking over to intervene. “Sir, under a code purple, that’s not possible. Code purple requires the entire premises to be on lock down.”

  I felt the anger pulse in my fingertips. I balled my hands into fists. I’d never considered knocking out my officers until now. I could see it now. They would fall like dominoes with one punch. My bear was ready to surface. He wanted to break through my skin and ramble down the hall. But how would I explain an entire unconscious squadron of royal security?

  I had to reign it in, before my bear was out of control. Once again, I had to deny him the satisfaction of giving into his nature.