Free Bearly Begun (BBW/Bearshifter Romance) (Bachelor Bears of Yakima Ridge Book 1) by Isadora Montrose Page B

until he found the license plate he had photographed the day he caught the boys stealing. He went down the ladder and around to the front of the house. The second skip of new shingles was still wrapped in shrink wrap. Hunter and Cord had each picked up a bundle of shingles from the first one and were carrying them to where they would be needed.
    The driver of the panel van was making peremptory gestures with his hand. Cord shook his head and scurried away. He ran right into Len. “Son, you put that down where Miz Winnie told you,” Len said. “Then go in the house and see if Gwen and Gabby need help with the coffee.” Cord sped off.
    Hunter was looking uneasy. He seemed relieved when he spotted Len. “Friend of yours?” asked Len.
    “My dad’s friend.” Hunter gulped and looked unhappy.
    “What does he want?” Len asked calmly.
    Hunter swallowed again and looked even more miserable. He shook his head. “I haven’t asked.”
    “Can you guess?” Len asked.
    Hunter nodded.
    “I’ll take care of it. Would you tell the first man you see that we have a visitor?” Len sent the boy off.
    Hunter’s raced off with the package of shingles bumping on his shoulder without looking at the van or its driver again. Len sauntered across the street. The guy inside the van glared at him and took off with squealing tires . Subtle. Len turned around to see his cousins Gideon and Asher Bascom standing behind him.
    “Trouble?” asked Ash.
    “Could be,” admitted Len. “I think that sumbitch just tried to get Hunter and Cord to steal our materials.”
    Gideon and Asher instantly looked like the deadly shifters they could be. The family resemblance between them and Joey and Lenny was evident. Right now the three huge men looked like fierce, battle ready warriors—instead of the genial, easy-going, regular guys they usually appeared to be.
    “Those young’uns looked a mite uneasy,” Gideon said matter-of-factly despite his grim expression. “Do we need to advise that feller that those boys are off limits?”
    “We might just have to do that,” allowed Len. “Let’s see what Hunter and Cord have to say first.”
    The boys knew the driver as their father’s friend Blow. They didn’t know his real name. He lent their dad the van sometimes. Sure they knew his house. He lived over on forty-seventh in a big house with a porch.
    “You come get me if he comes back,” Len said. He put a hand on Hunter’s shoulder and turned him so he could see Cord. “Blow means you no good. Neither one of you. If he has a message from your pa, maybe it’s a true message, maybe it’s a con. If he comes back, you come get me or lock yourself in the house. Hear me? I don’t want him speaking to you.”
    “He said that Dad needs money for when they release him,” Cord blurted out.
    “Oh, and when is that going to be?” Len asked him.
    “I dunno.” Cord shuffled his feet. “He said that Dad went to prison instead of us.”
    “Your dad broke the conditions of his parole all by his lonesome.” Lenny paused to let that fact sink in. “You think a fine, upstanding citizen like Mr. Blow would make up a tale to get you to steal stuff for him?”
    Cord’s eyes widened. Hunter looked grim. “You think he was lying,” he growled.
    “Ever known him to lie, son?” Len asked quietly.
    Hunter scowled. “Everybody lies,” he said.
    Len said, “If you can’t trust a man’s word, it isn’t good for much is it?” He put a reassuring hand on both boys’ shoulders. “We best go get ourselves some of that cake Erin made, before my cousins eat it all.”
    Both boys bolted for the kitchen. Gideon, Asher and Len followed more slowly. “Could be those boys need a complete change of scene,” Asher remarked. “What you might call a holiday from crime.”
    “I’m working on it,” Len assured him.
    * * *
    At the end of the meal, when the chocolate cake and ice cream and pie were demolished, Len took the opportunity to rise to his feet.