Cindy Spencer Pape - [Guardian Investigations 01] by Heart of the Bear (html)

Heart of the Bear
    ISBN # 978-1-906590-69-7
    ŠCopyright Cindy Spencer Pape 2008
    Cover Art by April Martinez ŠCopyright July 2008
    Edited by Michele Paulin
    Total-e-bound books
    This is a work of fiction. All characters,
places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused
with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is
purely coincidental.
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    The author and illustrator have asserted
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artwork.

    Published in 2008 by Total-e-bound eBooks
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    Warning:   This book contains sexually explicit
content which is only suitable for mature readers. This story has been rated Total-e-burning .

 
    Guardian Investigations

    HEART OF THE BEAR

    Cindy Spencer Pape
 
    Dedication

    This one
is for the writer friends who seduced me over to Total-E-Bound so I wouldn’t be
left out of the fun: Desirée Holt, Bronwyn Green, Brynn Paulin, Lacey Thorn,
and Carol Lynne, and for Claire Siemaszkiewicz, who made her company look so
good I had to be a part of it.

    Trademarks Acknowledgement

    The author acknowledges the trademarked
status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work
of fiction:

    Klingon:   Paramount Pictures Corporation
    Google Earth:   Google, Inc.
    Jeep:    Chrysler,
LLC
    Kevlar:   E. I du Pont de Nemours and Company
Corporation
 
    Chapter One

    There was something in the air that night.
I sat in my grandparent’s
Simi Valley
backyard and tried to meditate, but I couldn’t relax. My whole body tingled and
twitched, like a storm was coming, though
Southern
California
was in the middle of a drought. I’d come up here for
advice, but all I’d gotten was more questions. I had three days left to make a
decision about my future, and all I knew so far was that something was in the
air. I felt it coming just like most people heard a freight train roaring towards
them down the track. I couldn’t tell what was looming, but I was pretty sure it
was going to hit me just as hard as the damn steam engine.
    “You going to stay out here all night?”
    I jumped at the voice, then I smiled. Not
many people in this world can sneak up on me, even when I’m moping. My
grandfather is one of them. Even at eighty-eight, he still has the stealth and
psychic power that made him one of the most successful Navajo intelligence
operatives in World War II. He put his arm around my waist, and I leaned into
his shoulder, just like I’d done since I was a kid.
    “No, Granddad. No answers in the wind
tonight. I think I’m going to head up to the cabin for the weekend. Maybe the
spirits will have more to say to me up there.” My grandfather had moved to LA
to be a cop after the war, but he’d always needed to spend some time away from
the city, so he’d built a cabin up in the Sierra Madres. Any of the family was
welcome to use the place when we needed a retreat. And I needed one right
now—big time.
    Granddad nodded. “You be careful up there.
Something—someone—is coming. I’d go with you if I could, little one, but you
need to face this challenge alone. Call once in a while, and let your
grandmother know you’re alive.”
    I nodded. We both knew it wasn’t necessary.
Nana was a Romany Gypsy. During the war, Granddad had rescued her from a German
death squad who’d planned to burn her as a witch. Her psychic