Suspicious Mate

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment. Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage, the piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of author’s rights is appreciated. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental. Copyrighted 2023 by Delta James ____________________________ Editing: Lori White, Creative Editing Services Cover Design: Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs Proofreader: Melinda Kaye Brandt Created with Vellum SUSPICIOUS MATE A GRUMPY SMALL TOWN SHIFTER ROMANCE OTTER COVE SHIFTERS DELTA JAMES CONTENTS Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Epilogue Bonus Scene Also by Delta James About the Author Acknowledgments Dedicated to My Two Best Friends: Renee and Chris, without whom none of what I do would be possible and to the Girls, who bring joy to my life every single day CHAPTER 1 ZAK Too many years living by the sea—saltwater flowed through his veins. Those who served with Zak Grayson said it was what made him ice cold. That wasn’t it at all, but he suspected being a polar bear-shifter had something to do with it. There were some who said the moon was a cold-hearted bitch, but not tonight. She and the stars floated through the clouds like a ghost ship sailing the night sea out of Otter Cove, but still provided enough light that his enhanced vision could see things more clearly than a human wearing night-vision goggles. They had to complete this mission and then it would be time to return home. Zak had been gone more than two decades, and according to both Derek and Annie, things had gone from bad to worse on the home front. His father had always been a tyrant, but while his mother had lived, she had softened his edges. But she was gone, the victim of a poacher who coveted her pelt. The poacher hadn’t lived long enough to enjoy it. Afterwards, Zak’s father banished him from the clan ostensibly because he had killed the poacher, but in fact Zak believed it had been to keep Zak from challenging him for leadership. But Henry Grayson no longer had a death grip on Otter Cove. There was a proper council who more times than not overruled him. According to Derek, Zak’s younger brother, their sire encouraged the young bears in the clan to try their hand at poaching females from Kodiak Island, and then made excuses when Jax Miller wanted them held to account. It didn’t help that Jax had been forced to kill Zak’s older brother, Hugo, when he’d almost raped one of the females in Jax’s clan. Jax had challenged the younger bear to fight. Henry’s son upped the stakes to make it a fight to the death and his right to take the female in question to mate. Jax had accommodated him and roared in victory when the rogue polar bear had fallen at his feet, his throat and belly sliced open by Jax’s saber-like claws. When his father had gone to claim the body of his son, tensions and tempers had run high despite the fact that it was Hugo’s guilt and recklessness that was to blame. Neither had been in question, and yet the prospect of war had reared its ugly head under Henry’s leadership. Cooler heads had prevailed, however, and the two clans had maintained an uneasy truce since that time. Now, according to Annie, younger male members of their clan had been urged to poach from the bears on Kodiak. One of those bears happened to be his kid brother, Derek. He, too, had fought the alpha of the Kodiak clan and had been sent home wounded and with nothing to show for his efforts—only to be berated by Henry for his failure. No, the time to return home was now. He might not be welcomed home to Akiak Manor, but that didn’t mean Otter Cove wasn’t home. There had been a time the Otter Cove’s territory had included Anchorage, but Henry had given up the State’s largest city to an opposing clan, not only to avoid a fight, but for a boatload of cash. “Do you think we’re going to make it out alive?” whispered one of the new recruits who’d only barely made it through SEAL training but was on his first and last mission if Zak had anything to say about it. He was a good kid, but he didn’t have what it took to be a SEAL. “Suck it up, SEAL. We have a mission to accomplish. If you aren’t up to the task, hang back and you can provide cover if we need it,” Zak growled through tight lips. “We get the hostage and get out. Everybody makes it back alive, got it?” They moved the rest of the way to the hovel where the prisoner was being held like silent wraiths through the dark sky. As they closed in on the enemies’ position, he spotted movement in the shadows and raised his hand in a clenched fist, signaling his men to freeze in their progress. The shadow became a man as the glow of his lit cigarette could be seen. Zak watched as the dull light remained static. If the man was actually smoking, the end would become brighter as he inhaled and then fade back, but it wasn’t doing that. Odds were the enemy knew they were out here and was trying to lure them in. Raising his hand over his head, he made a circular motion to get his men to rally to