Alpha's Rescue (Shifter Ops 5)

“Daisy, right?” I whisper back.

“Yep.” He chuckles. “She looks the part, doesn’t she?”

Daisy is wearing a floral print dress and a big headband affixed with fake flowers. It looks like daisies are sprouting all over her head. On her feet are wedge flip flops with a big single daisy glued to each top. I love that she’s stuck with the theme.

Daisy shuffles to the podium. She wobbles a little when stepping onto the raised platform that will help her reach the microphone. I hold my breath, but she makes it.

By the time she's finished adjusting the mic, the room has quieted.

“Welcome to this emergency forum for the town of Bad Bear. As you know, we’re in a bit of a kerfuffle.”

“That’s an understatement,” someone shouts from the back.

Daisy looks down her nose at the man in a dusty Stetson who interrupted. “I heard that, Abraham Benson. I see you haven’t changed since I taught you math in middle school. And didn’t your mother teach you to take off your hat in polite company?”

“Yes ma’am,” he mumbles and whips the hat off.

“That’s Abe,” Canyon whispers. “He owns the Leaky Bucket. Only Daisy can call him ‘Abraham.’”

“She taught school?” I whisper back.

“Seventh grade math for thirty years. If she was a bear, she’d still be hibernating.”

Daisy is still addressing Abe. “I’ll thank you for settling down now. And if someone starts throwing spitballs, I’ll know it was you.”

Abe leans back in his chair with a creak. “She always knew,” he mutters to the people around him, and they nod in commiseration.

“As I said, we’re in a bit of a mess, money wise. Fortunately, Mr. Medvedev is here to help us sort everything out. You know him as Darius, one of the “Terrible Twins.”

I twist to look up at Teddy. “Terrible Twins,” I mouth. Teddy rolls his eyes.

“Oh, yes,” Canyon says gleefully. “Teddy and Darius were the OG Bad Bears.”

“Shhh,” Hutch says.

On stage, Daisy has gone on to describe the “kerfuffle” as a “bit of a predicament” and introduce Darius as CEO of Medvedev Enterprises. Apparently his company completed successful real estate projects in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, investing in areas in need of housing and grocery stores, replacing food deserts with mixed use buildings that have shops, townhouses, sidewalks and tastefully laid out landscaping to lure people to live there happily ever after.

At least, according to Daisy, who sounds like she’s reading from a Medvedev Enterprises brochure. The more she gushes over Darius, the more rigid Teddy’s thigh muscles get.

“Please welcome Darius Medvedev,” Daisy finishes, and people clap politely.

Darius ascends the stage with a politician’s smile. He’s removed his suit jacket and unbuttoned his collar, balancing the slick CEO look with a more relaxed, down-to-earth facade. He kisses Daisy’s cheeks and helps her down the steps to her seat before bounding up to the microphone.

“Hello, good citizens of Bad Bear. First of all, I’d like to confess,” Darius says, “It was me who stole Old Man Luther’s boxers off his clothesline and ran them up the flagpole my junior year.”

“I knew it!” a stooped man in the back, presumably Old Man Luther, creaks.

From her seat, Daisy shakes a finger at Darius.

Darius ducks his head in mock shame, his hair flops into his face, making him look like a boy a decade younger. “I have a store credit at the Trading Post with your name on it, Mr. Luther, sir.”

“That’ll do,” Old Man Luther subsides.

The smile slips away from Darius’ face. “But seriously folks, I have to apologize. When I first approached the town council with the idea to issue a bond, I thought it was the answer to our problems. And it’s my fault the Adalwulf hedge fund took an interest in investing in us. I flew out to New York and spoke to the Adalwulfs personally. They’re great people, a family firm, but they run a business and need a return on investment like anyone else. But fortunately,” he raises his voice, “they’re willing to give us a little more time to make good on our debts. Especially when I showed them all the interest there is in developing the land and building high quality housing and shops that will showcase the beauty of our mountain.”

From there, Darius launches into his spiel. His presentation is clean and flashy. With the help of some stage hands, who look like teens recruited from the high school theater department, he sets up a few tripod stands. Each stand displays a presentation board that helps outline his project. There’s not much text, but a lot of pictures of happy looking people sitting on benches or walking their dogs, all in front of town houses built against the backdrop of Bad Bear’s mountain summit. From the look of it, the real estate development will solve the town’s debt problem, operate on zero net carbon emissions, and probably lower cancer rates and heart disease too.