Bear Clan Complete Series Boxed Set

by Jenika Snow

  And one thing I was sure most humans didn’t know, one thing that shifters kept tightly guarded, was the fact that the more times we let our animals out, the more times we shifted to let it be free, the more primal we became.

  I was right on the verge of just saying fuck it all and being a bear full-time. But I’d miss a lot of shit being human afforded me: enjoying a nice meal, sitting around the campfire with my brothers and shooting the shit.

  I’d miss a lot of fucking things about being a human.

  But the truth was, it was easier to be a bear. Less hectic, less confusing. There were no responsibilities or expectations. I lived off the land and just let my basic urges run free. And it was incredible. It was exhilarating and liberating. But whether I was in human form or shifted as a bear, there was one thing that was deeply rooted in me, something that grew by the second.

  My mate.

  It was this growing feeling inside of me, like this seed that was planted deep inside of me and every year it grew until one day it would just burst free, tearing me from the inside out.

  I had one sole purpose on this planet, and that was to find my mate, to claim her, mark her, to get her swollen with my child. And the very thought, the picture of her big and round, my baby growing inside of her, my mark on her neck, was nearly enough to send me into a frenzy of possessive need.

  I didn’t know where or who she was, but what I did know for certain was that if I ever did find her, I was going to claim her so fucking hard, there was no turning back.

  I just hoped I wasn’t more animal than human when that time came.

  Epilogue One

  Ainsley

  I was covered in sweat, probably had dirt all over my face, but in this moment, as the sun beat down on me, no breeze in sight, and my muscles aching, all I could feel was happiness.

  We’d been working on the renovations to the cabin for months, for what felt like an eternity. But there was a light at the end of this long-ass tunnel. We were working on the finishing touches of the last room that needed remodeled, and despite the fact I was exhausted, I kept on going.

  Because I knew as soon as this was done, I could devote my time to Asher.

  Just thinking about him had my heart racing. Only three months since our mating and I felt like every day was a new beginning for us. We learned things about each other constantly. I found out he didn’t even like tea, which gave me a chuckle seeing as that was the first drink I’d offered him all those months ago.

  He preferred his steaks nearly raw, but liked his grilled cheese sandwich almost burnt. He rarely drank alcohol, but when he did he preferred beer, craft to be exact. But the one thing he told me was his absolute favorite, that he was completely addicted to ... was me.

  I felt my cheeks heat as I remembered him saying those exact words just last night, his head buried between my legs, his mouth glossy because he’d just eaten me out, drawn an orgasm from me.

  A shiver raced up my spine as I remembered the pleasure he brought out in me, how despite everything moving in fast forward, it felt like we were going in slow motion.

  I looked down at my left hand. The engagement ring wasn’t anything extravagant, but that’s because that’s what I wanted, because that’s the one I’d picked. It wasn’t even a diamond, but a sapphire, a light blue one that matched Asher’s eyes.

  When he proposed just a month after our mating, most people would’ve thought it was insane to jump headfirst into that kind of commitment, but the truth was that entire month before he proposed felt like a lifetime.

  I had never said yes to something so fast.

  The sound of a hammer banging filled my ears, and I looked to the right to see Asher putting up one of the baseboards in the spare room. Although we were now engaged, we hadn’t officially moved in together. I thought it was kind of complicated seeing as he had his own house and I had mine. But he refused to stay away from me, which had every feminine part of me coming alive.

  So, although technically we weren’t living together, he was at my cabin every single day and night, and not just for the renovations. He slept in my bed, had his own toothbrush, held me every night, and told me how much he loved me. A girl could get used to that.

  He stopped hammering and stood, a line of sweat dampening the back of his white T-shirt. His muscles were pronounced, perspiration dotting his forehead.

  God, seeing him work, how masculine he was, turned me on.

  I watched him inhale, his chest rising before he turned his head and looked at me, this low growl leaving him. His bear flashed to the surface, and a second later he was stalking toward me. I dropped the hammer and smiled, no doubt suggestively, right before he scooped me into his arms and lifted me easily.

  I wrapped my legs around his waist, the hard outline of his already stiff cock pressing against the sensitive folds of my pussy. He pressed my back to the wall, his mouth on my neck, the prick of his canines already evident.

  “Let’s just go to the courthouse and get married right now.” His words were a low rumble against my throat.

  I was tempted to cave in and just do that, but I knew my mother and father wanted to see me get married. And I wanted that too.

  He pulled back and looked me in the eyes, his canines flashing for just a second as he gave me a sexy grin, his eyes flashing from his bear.

  “That sounds pretty incredible, but I want us to have a wedding. I want us to have those memories with our family and friends watching us get married.” I saw his inner animal retreat slightly, his human coming forward, a small smile playing across his lips. And then he nodded, leaning forward and running his nose up the length of my neck.

  “Yeah, when you put it like that it makes sense and sounds pretty damn incredible.”

  I closed my eyes and rested my head back against the wall, feeling my arousal pump harder and faster through my veins. “But I’m not really into the whole waiting before marriage thing,” I teased and heard him growl.

  I squealed in delight when he pulled me away from the wall and headed toward the bedroom.

  And I was more than ready for all he had to give me right then and there.

  Nothing like having a possessive, growly bear shifter ready to give you exactly what you wanted.

  And I knew Asher was most definitely up to the task.

  Epilogue Two

  Asher

  I was the luckiest fucking bear shifter in the world.

  As I watched Ainsley sleep peacefully beside me, I kept thinking that over and over again. She was the mother of my son, pregnant with our daughter, and the reason I breathed every day. I moved closer to her and gently pulled the blanket lower so I could see her rounded belly. I placed my hand over her swollen stomach, smiling as I felt our little girl kick. She was due any day now, and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.

  Before Ainsley and our children had come into my life, there was a moment where I thought I’d never find my mate, never have a family, a real life. I lived every day just surviving, wanting a mate, silently begging for one. But I had also come to realize that might never happen. Not all shifters mated. That was just the way it worked.

  “She’s active tonight. Hope that doesn’t mean she’ll be ready to party in the middle of the night,” Ainsley whispered, but I saw the smile on her face, scented the teasing notes coming from her.

  “If she’s like Max, then she’ll probably be a night owl.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right.” We both chuckled.

  She opened her eyes and looked up at me. I still had my hand on her belly and felt the baby kick.

  Ainsley placed her hand over mine, and for long seconds we just lay there in silence, basking in the fact that things were good. Really good.

  I rubbed my hand over her belly for several long seconds, and then I answered, “I better start cleaning my shotgun for when boys come knocking for dates with her.”

  Ainsley snorted. “That’s a ways off, and by then you’ll be too old to
care.”

  I grumbled out, “Never. I’ll be ninety, and in a wheelchair, and still expecting she’s a virgin and guys are smart enough to stay away.”

  Ainsley laughed and snuggled in closer to me.

  “One thing for certain is you’ll be the fiercest dad around.”

  “Damn right,” I affirmed.

  I kept my hand on my mate’s belly, felt our daughter kick again, and knew I’d protect what was mine at all costs.

  Every day I loved her more. She was my mate, my wife, the very reason I breathed. I’d die for her if it meant she and our children were safe and happy.

  “Do I make you happy?” I asked softly. It had been years since we’d mated, but even still I needed to hear her say it.

  After a second she pushed herself up and braced her upper body on her elbow, staring at me. “Every day I’m happier than the last,” she whispered and leaned down to kiss me soundly. “You make me happy,” she said against my mouth. “You’re such a good husband, a wonderful father, and an incredible mate.” She pulled back and looked down at me. “I love you, Asher.”

  “And I love you,” I growled out. I cupped the back of her head and pulled her an inch closer. For long seconds I just kissed her, pleased when she melted against me. “You and our children are my life. I’d do anything for you.”

  I slid my hand down the back of her head and to her nape. Then I moved my palm to the side of her throat and ran my thumb along the mark on her neck. It would stay with her forever, a reminder, a warning to all others that she was taken. I pulled her closer and just held her. She was mine and nothing would take that away. It had been years since we’d mated, and things had changed for us so much in that time. But it had all been for the best. All of it.

  “Momma.”

  The sound of Max’s little voice had Ainsley stirring and then sitting up. Max stood by the doorway rubbing his eyes, his tiger-striped pajamas disarrayed because he’d probably been tossing and turning, something he’d been doing since he started shifting. It was normal, natural, and in time he’d come to understand he didn’t have to fight with his bear.

  Parenting was hard, the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life if I were being honest, but damn, was it rewarding.

  “Come here, baby.” She held her arms out to him and he ran to her, climbing up on the bed and snuggling in closer. Max was definitely a momma’s boy, bear shifter or not.

  Our three-year-old rambunctious little bear shifter was the spitting image of me. Even right down to when he shifted into his bear. I admitted that made me proud, happy, and I felt like I was on the top of the fucking world. To look into the eyes of your child and see yourself was … well, it was pretty damn incredible.

  I wrapped my arm around Ainsley when she rested back on the bed, and moved my fingers through Max’s dark blond hair. He was already falling asleep.

  I had a beautiful family, a healthy son, a daughter on the way, and my mate was healthy, content, and cared for. That’s all I could ask for, hope for.

  These two, soon to be three, people were my world, and nothing and no one would ever change that.

  I was content, my bear was whole, and I knew as time passed my love for Ainsley and our children would grow exponentially. I felt it increase every day, so much so I didn’t even know how I could contain it all.

  I held Ainsley, Max curled up beside her, and felt myself start to drift off to sleep. I kept my hand on her belly, rubbing it slowly, smiling softly.

  This was what it meant to find your mate and finally be complete, finally have purpose.

  I had that and I was never letting it go.

  The End

  The BEARy Possessive Grizzly (Bear Clan, 5)

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  Jenika_Snow@Yahoo.com

  Copyright © October 2019 by Jenika Snow

  First E-book Publication: October 2019

  Cover model: Andrew England

  Cover photo provided by: Andrew England

  Cover designer: Designs by Dana

  Editor: Kayla Robichaux

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  Cason

  I devoted my life to working, building a career and business, making sure I was secure and stable in my life for the sole purpose that I’d find her, that everything would be ready and perfect for her.

  My mate.

  The one woman who would complete me.

  The one woman who was born to be mine alone.

  Watching my brothers find their other halves hadn’t been easy, but I knew I would never give up. I couldn’t. My mate would make all the bullshit disappear. She’d make my life have purpose. And that’s the only thing that mattered to a bear shifter. To me.

  If there was one thing I knew without a doubt, it was that once I found her, I wouldn’t go easy. I would make her see that, once she was mine, that was it. There was no going back.

  Mena

  Half bear, half human. That’s what I was.

  My human side dominant. No shifting, no primal urge to be in my animal form. But I was okay with that.

  I’d grown up with parents who wanted only the best for me, and that meant not being with a shifter, because of the politics that went along with it, because my father was an outcast for loving my mother—a human who wasn’t his fated mate.

  Love who you want. That’s what they said. That’s what they lived by.

  But I needed to find myself, needed to find what I wanted out of life. And so I took an impromptu camping trip. I wanted to get away, to reconnect with my bear side, even if she was buried deep down within my human genetics.

  But I wasn’t alone. He found me, this alpha grizzly bear shifter who looked at me like I was the sun he’d been searching for his entire life.

  His mate.

  Mine, he growled out like the feral animal he was.

  And in that moment, I knew there was no going back.

  Prologue

  Cason

  I stood on my deck, leaning against the railing as I stared off into the forest. The sounds of birds filled my head, and the sight of animals scurrying deep within the woods was something I was able to pick up with my shifter vision. I was shirtless, my sweats hanging low on my hips, wild energy pumping through my veins. I already shifted twice today, let my bear free, let him be wild, but I was ready for round three.

  If I were being honest, I was not the type of person who particularly enjoyed being around others. I liked my solitude, my little piece of land away from everyone and everything. I’d built my cabin far away from my brothers—not because I didn’t enjoy their company, but because it was just easier for me to be with my own thoughts.

  And now that four out of the six of us had found our mates, with only Damon and myself without our other halves, it was a lot fucking easier to be on my own. Seeing my brothers happy and content, their fated mates by their sides, their families growing, had this ache settling deep within me.

  So yeah, being alone was really fucking good for me.

  As the years passed, and the idea of my female grew further and further away, I realized that being out here was for the best. I’d started becoming grumpier, more animalistic. I let my bear out more than I was sure any other shifter consciously did.

  One thing I was sure most humans didn’t know, one thing shifters kept tightly guarded, was the fact that the more times we let our animals out, the more times we s
hifted to let it be free, the more primal we became.

  I was right on the verge of just saying fuck it all and being a bear full-time. But I’d miss a lot of shit being human afforded me: enjoying a nice meal, and sitting around the campfire with my brothers and shooting the shit.

  I’d miss a lot of fucking things about being a human.

  But the truth was, it was easier to be a bear. Less hectic, less confusing. There were no responsibilities or expectations. I lived off the land and just let my basic urges run free. And it was incredible. It was exhilarating and liberating. But whether I was in human form or shifted as a bear, there was one thing that was deeply rooted in me, something that grew by the second.

  My mate.

  It was this growing feeling inside of me, like this seed was planted deep inside me and every year it grew until one day it would just burst free, tearing me from the inside out.

  I had one sole purpose on this planet, and that was to find my mate, to claim her, mark her, to get her swollen with my child. And the very thought, the picture of her big and round, my baby growing inside her, my mark on her neck, was nearly enough to send me into a frenzy of possessive need.

  I didn’t know where or who she was, but what I did know for certain was that if I ever did find her, I was going to claim her so fucking hard there was no turning back.

  I just hoped I wasn’t more animal than human when that time came.

  Chapter One

  Mena

  “When are you going to find a nice man, Mena honey?”