Chapter Three
Daniel let out an unhappy grunt as he shuffled the papers around on the desk for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon. Feeling fed up, he pushed them away and propped his chin on his hands. God, I hate desk duty. But he didn’t exactly have a choice. Well, it was this or take a couple of days off, but he knew they were already short-handed as it was with the influx of visitors to the mountains. Which of course, was his fault.
He groaned and buried his face in his palms. All I wanted to do was stop an assassin, not turn my life into a circus. What was I thinking?
Actually, he wasn’t thinking in that particular moment. When he saw someone jump on the stage with a gun, pure instinct had driven him to stop the man before he could do any harm. Really, he knew anyone would have done it, and he just happened to be at the right place, at the right time.
With the vice president’s visit, security was tight around town and the Blackstone Police Department had asked the rangers for volunteers to help with crowd control. He had signed up because it sounded like a cool opportunity. They assigned him right up front near the stage. VP Baker had been in the middle of the speech when the man in the hoodie jumped up on stage.
Daniel had seen the glint of the gun in his hand and leapt up on the stage and tackled him. Secret service agents swarmed them in seconds, and then everything erupted into chaos. He’d been taken into custody, mostly for his own safety, and after a few hours of being interviewed by the head of the VP’s secret service detail, they released him. And when he got out, his life had turned completely upside down.
First, it was the reporters. They ambushed him as he left the precinct and shoved cameras and microphones in his face. Then they followed him as he went home, and he rushed inside without talking to them. It was only when he turned on the TV and checked his phone, he realized the how bad it was. The video of him tackling the assassin and his picture from the official Blackstone Ranger website were all over the news and Internet.
He thought it would all die down by morning, but it got worse. Apparently, he had become some sort of celebrity, and aside from the reporters camping outside his home and the Blackstone HQ, they were also inundating his phone and the lines at work, trying to get him to do interviews or TV appearances.
The media was easy to ignore, but the ordinary people coming up to him while he was trying to shop or go out to eat or just do his errands were the worst. He couldn’t even get gas without being stopped and asked for a selfie or a chat. Raised to be polite, he couldn’t tell them to buzz off even though he was getting tired of it all.
Now they were bothering him at work too. Though Blackstone Mountain was private property, it was open to visitors who wanted to go camping, explore the forests and trails or hike up to Contessa Peak. Summers were always busy, but now they were seeing an influx of visitors who all wanted to get a glimpse of the man who saved the vice president. When some overeager admirers rushed into the offices when they saw Daniel, Damon Cooper, the chief of the Blackstone Rangers, declared he’d had enough and put him on desk duty, away from the public eye.
His grizzly was not happy being cooped inside.
Yeah, well neither am I.
Actually, his bear had been acting strange the past couple of months. He’d never really had a problem with his inner grizzly; his father had taught him all the basics of controlling the bear but not smothering it, allowing it to have freedom, but not enough to take over. In fact, he’d always gotten along with his animal, and they worked as a team, making him really good at his job.
But lately, the grizzly inside him had been moody, irritable, and downright unpleasant sometimes. The smallest things would set if off, and he was having a hard time keeping it in check.
And frankly, if he was honest, he felt strange too. Perhaps it was those weird dreams he’d been having.
It was hard to describe them really. It was all flashes of something. Black lace. Warm tawny skin inked with a yellow, blue, and red design. Gloriously thick caramel hair. Plump lips. Or a feeling or a sweet scent he couldn’t name. He’d wake up sweating and aroused, but at the same time, like there was a hole in his chest that he couldn’t fill. Maybe it had been too long since he’d been with a woman. He had a few numbers on his phone he could easily call, girls who were always up for a night of fun, but he couldn’t bring himself to contact any of them. In fact, his inner bear practically tore him up from the inside if he even thought of finding relief with anyone.
Drumming his fingers on the table, he shoved the chair back and got to his feet. Being in here bored him to death, but he couldn’t go out and do his real job. May as well get outta here and get some work done around the house.
Two years ago, when his parents had retired to Texas, they left him their sprawling five-bedroom house, and he had begun renovating and updating it himself in his free time. It was almost ready, and he only needed to work on the backyard and decorating the interior, but he couldn’t bring himself to give up his apartment and move in. Sure, it had
