Free Cole: Black Bear Outlaws #3 (Mating Fever) by Kenzie Cox Page A

call Amberly, to make sure she was all right. But she was with my brothers’ mates, Katrina and Claire. The three of them were more than capable of taking care of themselves.
    The door crashed open, and Holt yanked a young man through the opening, holding him roughly by the neck.
    “Let go!” the guy yelled, trying and failing to pry Holt’s fingers away from his throat.
    Chase followed and calmly closed the door behind him. “It appears perhaps Holt was telling us the truth.”
    I sat up, relief flooding me as I stared at our old friend.
    He stared back, and then nodded as an understanding passed between us. The old bonds were still there and whatever we were about to find out, Holt was still in our corner.
    “This is Brian, my twenty-year old stepson,” he said, his tone cold and unforgiving. Holt opened the file with his free hand and produced one of the checks. “And this is Brian’s handwriting.”
    “Jesus Christ,” I muttered. “Why?”
    Holt yanked the slumping kid up and ordered, “Explain yourself.”
    The boy clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
    “Do it. Now.” Holt’s muscles bulged as he tightened his grip on the kid.
    Brian’s face turned red and his eyes looked like they were going to pop right out.
    “Let him go,” I said. “He’s not going anywhere.”
    Holt growled, letting a bit of his inner bear out, but he obliged.
    Brian slumped into a chair, holding his neck with one hand.
    I moved to stand in front of him and crouched down so we were eye level. “I’m just going to ask you this one time. And if you don’t answer truthfully, we’re going to take all our evidence and hand it over to the LAPD...after we break both of your arms. Got it?”
    He nodded, fear emanating from him in toxic waves.
    “Why did you target Amberly Matthews?”
    He swallowed, glanced at his stepfather once, then back at me.
    “Chase? Cyrus? You two ready to snaps some bones?”
    They moved in, but Brian squirmed and shook his head. “Wait. I’ll tell you. If I do, you won’t kill me, right?”
    “That’s right. No killing. No bone breaking. If you tell us what we want to know,” I confirmed.
    “Okay, okay. Jesus. I didn’t know he was going to take it that far. I swear to God. He was only supposed to scare her. Make sure she didn’t come back to L.A. for a few months.”
    “Why?” I snapped, already losing patience with the sniveling little idiot.
    “Because...” He grimaced, and his face turned a dark shade of maroon. “My girlfriend asked me to.”
    “Who’s your girlfriend?” I asked, already pulling my phone out.
    “Breela Paulson.”
    I froze, instantly recognizing the name. “You mean the actress Breela Paulson? The one who’s now starring in Amberly’s movie?”
    Brian stared at his feet, and when he didn’t answer, Holt sighed and nodded. “That’s the one.”

Chapter 9
Amberly
    T he nightly news blared in the background as I touched up my makeup. It was the first time Cole was going to accompany me to an industry function—the premier of my movie Ceri.
    It had wrapped six months ago, and since then we’d been splitting our time between L.A. and Bayou Basin. We’d been making a home for ourselves in each city and trying to avoid the never-ending media crush connected to the trial.
    Brian Davies and Breela Paulson were both on trial for attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a murder, and a host of other charges. After Brian’s confession, Brex Holt had immediately picked up the phone and, to his stepson’s horror, reported the crimes to the police. Theft and petty crime were one thing, kidnapping and murder were entirely another. He had gotten his stepson a good lawyer, but that’s as far as he’d gone to help the misguided soul.
    Breela, as it turned out, had been the mastermind behind the entire thing. She’d planned all the attacks, instructed Brian on what to do, and had even been the person who’d referred me to Holt Enterprises after the first attack,