Free Red And The Bear (Grimm Bears 1) by Natalie Kristen Page B

backyard. I
think this trip might prove rather interesting and rewarding.”
    “Maybe you'll chance
upon the perfect location for our newest resort or theme park,”
Derek quipped.
    “Yeah. Maybe,”
Jack laughed.
    Jack got into his car and
snapped on his shades. He had sold his Bentley and bought a hardy
Range Rover.
    Saluting his brothers with
two fingers, Jack pulled away from the gleaming mansion. He looked
into the rear view mirror and saw his two brothers standing at the
front steps of his huge, imposing house, staring after his car.
    Jack grimaced and cut his
eyes to the road ahead. The mansion was grand and impressive, but it
no longer felt like home.
    It felt like a tomb.

CHAPTER
THREE

    Rose straightened the stack
of menus at the counter and filled all the pitchers with iced water.
She refolded a napkin and adjusted the cutlery on the corner table as
she made her way to the door. She flipped the sign to Open and
yelled to Nan, “We're open! Get ready to feed the hungry
horde!”
    “Bring 'em on!”
Nan hollered from the kitchen. “We're ready!”
    Rose shook her head and
laughed. There was no horde of hungry diners stampeding their way to
The Cottage In the Woods. If there was, they wouldn't be able to
cope. The restaurant was usually just half full during dinner time.
They had only ten tables, so it definitely wasn't a big crowd. On
some nights, the place filled up pretty quickly. There weren't many
restaurants in the tiny town, so there were more than enough
customers to go around. They were doing all right, and the business
kept them busy and happy.
    They'd opened early for
dinner today, so Rose expected the customers to start coming in about
an hour later. They'd be lucky if anyone walked in now.
    She was heading back to the
kitchen when the bell tinkled and their first customer pushed into
the restaurant. Surprised, Rose spun round, but almost immediately,
her smile wavered.
    The man standing at the door
wasn't anyone she knew, and she knew all their customers. He was a
stranger, and she scented something else about him right away.
    Rose couldn't always tell if
someone was a shifter, but she could always tell if someone was a
wolf shifter. She could literally sniff out the presence of the wolf
inside the person.
    Nan had told her that there
was no need to avoid all wolf shifters and she had nothing to be
afraid of, but Rose remained wary. She knew what happened to her
mother. She knew how dangerous, cold and cunning a wolf could be.
    Rose forced herself to step
forward with what she hoped was a welcoming smile. “Table for
one?” she asked pleasantly.
    The stranger nodded. He took
a sniff and she knew that he had caught her underlying scent. His
nostrils flared and he ran his eyes up and down her body as he
followed her to the table.
    Rose showed him to a table
right in the middle of the restaurant and handed him the menu. “I'll
be right back to take your order,” she said hurriedly.
    Rose retreated behind the
counter and took a big swig of iced water. She could hear Nan
humming a cheerful tune in the kitchen as she cooked.
    Rose pretended to busy
herself with some paperwork. She shuffled some papers, rearranged
the pens and finally chanced a glance up. She met the customer's
glowing yellow eyes and she instinctively reached for the shotgun
hidden under the counter.
    She had gotten the shotgun a
few years back. It was up to her to protect herself and Nan from the
wild animals that sometimes wandered into the town from the forest
and from dangerous, unsavory characters that passed through the town
from time to time.
    They had been robbed once,
but at that time, Rose was only nine and too young and scrawny to
defend her Nan. Nan had emptied out the cash register and handed
over all her hard-earned money to the bandits. When Rose asked Nan
later why she gave those thieving brutes the money, Nan had stroked
her hair and said, “I just wanted them gone. The money isn't
important. But you are,