Read Online Adam (BBW Bear Shifter Wedding Romance) (Grizzly Groomsmen Book 1) by Becca Fanning - Free Book Online Page A

everyone else on this crew, he’s the one you should worry about the least.”

    “I’ll admit, I’m not thrilled at the implication that I need to worry about anyone here,” Annie said.

    Leo chuckled. “You can relax. They won’t do anything to you as long as they know I’m against it, but they won’t be nice. Something tells me you can handle that, though. Next is Custer. Blond, prosthetic hand. Which, by the way, is the one that he masturbates with.”

    Annie blinked. “I… see.”

    “I could give you a detailed record of Custer’s varied failings,” Leo explained somewhat apologetically, “but honestly that’s the fastest way to give you a general picture of what he’s like. Other than his somewhat sadistic and maniacal tendencies, he’s a spectacular fighter and something of a jack-of-all-trades. He has basic knowledge of everyone’s jobs and goes where he’s needed.”

    “He sounds lovely,” Annie said.

    “You get used to him,” the captain said, shrugging. “He’s a basket case, but he’s loyal and a hard worker. Next are Hyde Jones and Dominic Banner. They’re closer to each other than the rest of the crew, but again, loyal and hard-working. Hyde’s the one with the eyepatch. He works our communications array and deals with whatever programming we need to keep the ship’s computer. He’s a sarcastic shit, but he’ll only get hostile if you pose a danger to the crew. Dom is our engineer. He’s blunt, and with any luck you’ll never see him shift. Actually, try not to ask him about shifting at all.”

    “Why?” Annie asked, intrigued.

    “Dom is a carrier for the DAI-O gene. It’s a gene specific to shifters,” Leo said as his smile dropped and a solemnness settles over his features. “It’s also called the ‘Berserker gene,’ which should give you a pretty good idea of what it does. The specific mutation of the gene that he has leads to Rogerson disorder, which, long story short, means once he shifts it’s extremely likely he won’t be able to control himself. Obviously, having an angry, feral bear on your hands is not an ideal situation, so for the most part Dom doesn’t shift.”

    “Is that common? Among shifters, I mean?” Annie asked, unsure how to feel about this new disease.

    “In bear shifters, there’s one in eight thousand who have it. I know that sounds like a lot, but remember, there’s not a ton of us to start out with and we’re spread out. And that’s just the stats for bears born with the mutation. Carriers generally don’t live as long as the rest of us for a variety of reasons,” Leo said soothingly.  

    “Okay, so, your crew is made up of one decent man who knows what he’s doing, a man who probably has kinks that most of the population would consider cruel and unusual punishment, a sarcastic coder who almost definitely hates me, and the smallest, angriest shifter of them all,” she said just to make sure she had all her information right.

    “You’re forgetting Leo Ingram, the suave, sexy captain,” Leo told her, waggling his eyebrows.

    “How could I possibly neglect my savior like that?” Annie responded, letting the sarcasm gained over a lifetime of pouring drinks for some of the galaxy’s worst and dullest color her tone.

    “Very impolite of you,” the captain said with a wicked grin. “But you seem to have acknowledged your mistake, so I’m willing to treat you to some of our five-star space safe cuisine in the kitchen, if you’re hungry.”

    “Starving,” Annie said, standing. The captain walked to the door and pressed the door to open it, then held and arm out to her. She crossed over to him, kicking her dress aside as she passed it, and put her arm in his.

    He cleared his throat as he led her out into the hallway.

    “You know, if you need to talk to someone about today,” he said a bit awkwardly, “Rick’s good with that sort of thing. I mean, I’ll listen if you want, but I’ve been reliably informed