by Anya Nowlan
“I’ll catch up,” she yelled after them, getting a half-hearted wave from Solo in response.
Then she twisted around, coming to face Heath, and slammed both her palms into his chest in apparent aggravation. He didn’t move an inch. Damn hot, strong hockey player, impervious to her annoyance.
“What the hell was that?” she asked, not entirely sure if she was asking about her stepbrothers ending up strewn on the snow or the fact that he hadn’t hit her up on SassyDate after the game like she’d thought he would.
“What? They came for me. I defended myself. I didn’t kill them or even wound them that bad,” Heath said with a mild smile, his hands slipping around her waist and pulling her to him.
Sable gasped as she felt herself pushing up against him, her hands still on his wide chest but not trying to fight with him anymore.
“I saw that. I meant… never mind,” she said, looking down.
“Use your words, baby,” he said, his voice soft, almost a purr.
“I thought you wanted to see me after the game,” she said, feeling like a teenager.
“I want to see you all the time,” he said, his voice breathy.
Sable found her chin being tilted upward to face him, his green eyes filled with mirth at the sight of her pouting lips and confused expression.
“You didn’t text me though.”
“No cell reception down in the dressing rooms. Or in most of Shifter Grove, really. I get the feeling that the locals don’t really want to fix that.”
“Oh,” Sable replied, feeling… well, not any less silly than she had before.
“Are you supposed to leave?” he asked, his grip on her tightening as they peered into one another’s eyes.
“Yeah, I need to get on the bus.”
“Don’t,” he said, smiling softly.
“Why?”
“Because I love you and I want you to stay here,” he said, as if it was the most normal thing to say.
“I... what?! You just dump that on a girl, just like that?!” Sable gasped, though there was a quirk of a smile on her lips.
Love was a big word and getting a shifter to say it was even bigger. The realization of what it meant took a moment to sink in, though.
“Yeah, just like that,” Heath confirmed. “So don’t go. Stay here.”
“And do what?” Sable asked, her hands fisting around the material of his jacket.
“And fuck me until we’re both too worn out to move, of course,” he said, leaning in and kissing her.
She didn’t fight it, not one bit. No, she kissed him right back, sucking on his lower lip and eagerly conforming against his body. The rational side of her was telling her to be careful, to think about it… to give it time. But her heart told her to go for it and she’d been listening to her head too long. By the time they pulled out of the kiss, she’d made her decision.
“I’ll stay,” she said, smiling. “But you better promise to control your temper. I can’t always be there when someone wants to kick your ass.”
“Why not?” he asked with a smile.
EPILOGUE
Heath
A year later…
“Are you kidding me?! This is not what we ordered! Get this stuff right back to the goddamn Carolina bastards who sent them and tell them to read the contract for once in their lives!”
Heath ground to a halt on the ice, leaning on his stick as he listened to the sound of his lovely, blushing bride and the future mother of his firstborn scream at pretty much the top of her lungs at someone in the stands, and waving around a handful of papers. He chuckled, shaking his head as Cannon came up next to him, taking his helmet off.
“Wifey in a mood?” he asked with a smirk, cracking his neck.
“All for our continuous enjoyment,” Heath said noncommittally.
They’d been practicing wrist shots that afternoon. The regionals were close, and after the time they’d had at them the year before, Heath couldn’t wait for a repeat performance. A year had passed since the first game they’d had at the Shifter Grove Ice Arena, and this time they were going to be having the first two games out of state before returning home. The fact that they were going up against the San Diego Predators again, but this time in the regional playoffs, had everyone on edge.
Including, it seemed, his wife most of all. Sable Locklear. The light of his life.
“I better go see what’s going on,” he said, pushing off as Cannon returned to the drills, just in time to hear Coach tear him a new one for goofing off so close to an important game.
Some things never change, Heath thought with some amusement, stepping through the gate and onto the rubber-covered floors, picking up some bladeguards from the bucket hanging next to the entrance and slipping them on after taking off his gloves and helmet.
He put his stick away, leaning it against the partition, and sauntered over to Sable, who was busy shoving the stack of paperwork into Jake’s hands—who worked as her assistant now—since the supply line manager for the Shifter Grove Shovelers was one busy lady. Quietly, Heath slipped his arms around her, letting his palms come to rest on her big belly. Nuzzling her neck, he planted a soft kiss there, making her squirm against his touch and Jake flit off, sensing that the moment of escape was now or never.
“You better be Heath or someone’s cruising for a serious bruising. Don’t think I won’t hit you just because I’m pregnant,” she said with a giggle, wiggling back against Heath and making him growl softly.
He loved the way her body felt against his and as usual, his eyes were glancing around for a small enclosed space where he could pull her to and do horrible things to her. With a sigh, he settled for a quick kiss on the side of her neck and then nipped the delicate flesh there, her scent and taste driving him wild as they always did.
“It’s me, baby, don’t worry. I won’t let anyone touch you that isn’t me,” he said with a low growl, both teasing her and meaning every word of it at the same time.
As much as he’d calmed down over the last year of them being together, he was still Heath Locklear. And he’d crack some heads if things came down to it or his woman was in any way endangered or put into an uncomfortable situation.
“Oh, good. I was worried there for a moment,” Sable said, and he could sense her rolling her eyes from the way she said that.
She twisted around in his grasp, coming to face him, and Heath beamed down at her happy, smiling face. The pregnancy made her look even more delectable, those wide hips of hers begging to be touched and her joyous glow making him take notice more than ever before. The more his she was, the worse he wanted even more of her.
“How’s our little hockey genius?” he asked, putting a hand on her belly and rubbing it gently.
“Hey, don’t put expectations on him! What if he wants to be a pianist or something?”
“A werebear pianist? That’ll be the day,” Heath scoffed. “No, I’ll take a football player. Or if he really insists, he can become an engineer. No pianists in the Locklear family.”
“Even if I tell you that’s what he really wants to be?” Sable asked, batting her long lashes up at him.
Heath sighed, squeezing her carefully against him. “Fine. Maybe then.”
“That’s what I figured,” she said victoriously, tugging him down by his jersey to kiss him on the lips.
She was in a team jersey as well, but wearing Shifter Grove Shovelers colors—green and white—proudly. When Heath had first come to Shifter Grove, he couldn’t imagine settling in there or finding any kind of happiness. Now, though? He couldn’t see a way he could ever leave. It was the best place in the world to raise his kids, with plenty of open space, likeminded people and shifters, and a certain kind of camaraderie that he was sure he couldn’t find anywhere else in the world.
It was home. And with his wife by his side, Heath Locklear had finally found his center.
“I love you,” Sable whispered, pulling back slightly to look him in the eyes before he kissed her lig
htly on her lips again.
“I love you too, baby,” he murmured.
“Good. Because you’re going to need that love if you end up losing to the Predators this weekend. Who knows, I might move back to San Diego if that happens,” Sable said with a flourish, looking up to the heavens sorrowfully.
“Riiiight,” Heath said, nodding with a smug smirk. “You wouldn’t last a day in the heat anymore.”
“Oh, but I thought Heath brings the heat,” she teased, using the tagline his fans had given him way back when.
“Different kind of heat, baby,” he said with a snicker, planting a kiss on her forehead.
“Locklear! Get the hell back on the ice!” a booming voice called, shaking him out of his blissful moment.
With a sigh, Heath hung his head and let go of his wife.
“Duty calls,” he said. “Or at least his demonic watchdog, Coach.”
“You need to promise me you won’t obliterate my stepbrothers when we’re in San Diego though,” Sable said half-heartedly as Heath took off the blade guards once more and hopped out onto the ice as Sable leaned against the partition.
Heath crossed his heart, holding up his hand as he shoved his helmet back on.
“I’ll try my best,” he said, totally not meaning it.
Those two got what was coming for them every time they played together, and even after a year, there was no love lost between the Lynderly twins and Heath. Frankly, neither side seemed to care much. Heath got the girl, the life, and the calm he’d been searching for. Everything else came second.
Don’t miss the excerpt for the fourth book in the series, Bear No Defeat, on the next page!
Want more? Pick up one of Anya’s other Shifter Grove series:
Bear the Burn – First Book of Firebear Brides
Make Him Purr – First Book of Shifter Grove Brides
Did you miss the previous books in this series? Check them out here!
A Bear Victory
Bear No Loss
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BEAR NO DEFEAT EXCERPT
She had pale, icy blue eyes and her hair was pushed up into a messy bun, a few tendrils licking at her face as she pulled her hat down a bit to protect against the snowfall.
Holy shit.
It wasn’t the most eloquent thought Jax had ever had, but it encompassed his current emotions well enough. He must have been staring for quite a while, because when Memphis clapped him on the shoulder with a hearty laugh, Jax realized that Slate had already clambered down the stairs as well and was carrying Alice’s suitcase as they headed toward the two idling polar bears.
“I think you got it from here on, hockey bear. She’s a keeper, play nice,” Memphis said with a wink, clambering into his truck and speeding off before Jax could say anything for or against his assessment.
So much for solidarity, Jax thought wryly, peeling himself off the hood and walking to meet Alice and Slate, the local tiger shifter pilot.
He reached out a hand and grabbed the suitcase from Slate as soon as he was close enough, suddenly loath to think that any other man was touching anything of Alice’s without his express permission. It was a streak of possessiveness he hadn’t quite known himself to have, so it was all the more surprising when it lashed out so suddenly.
“You must be Jasper,” Alice said with the slightest smile, bringing the universe collapsing around Jax as she called him that name.
“Jax, yeah,” he said, pulling off his glove and taking her hand in a hearty shake. “You must be Alice.”
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WANT MORE?
Bear My Baby
Bear My Baby is a full-size novel and the first of a 4-book series, Shifter Squad Six.
She never knew danger, but now she can't get enough of the bear it follows...
Cassie Campton's lived a calm, settled life. Working for an eccentric billionaire, she's given plenty of time for the things she enjoys in life. Surprisingly enough, that makes a person complacent. So, when the man she's devoted years to suddenly draws her into an explosive chase, complete with bloodthirsty villains and the distinct possibility of death, Cassie can't help but wonder if she's gotten in way over her head. But when the commando sent to save you is as hot and as infuriating as hers is, does it really matter?
Connor McLaughlin is a werebear with a past, and not much in terms of future. Head of Shifter Squad Six, he's a gun for hire, a soldier of fortune. Every job's the same, except for this one. He didn't think he could ever love again, but one look at Cassie and the tough as nails ex-SEAL finds himself stumbling over his feet and words. They only have one night together and after that, Connor's never the same, for better or for worse.
Brought together by fate once more, Connor has to save his woman, maybe the world, and most heartwrenchingly, his cub he knew nothing about. Can Cassie and Connor overcome the lies between them and have a future together, or are they doomed to fail?
Billionaire Dragon’s Bride
This is a full-sized novel and the start of a 3-book series, Treasure Vale Dragons.
He's blazing hot and this dragon won't take no for an answer.
Devon Bluewing is a billionaire playboy like no other. Cocky, strong and sexy as hell, he's used to getting anything and anyone he wants. But when it comes a time to step up and stand as the head of his family, and the dragon council of Treasure Lane, Devon is met with an inexplicable problem. He needs a mate or his whole legacy could be in jeopardy. Now, that doesn't work at all for the fire-breathing bad boy, who's used to getting his own way.
Gemma Teeley can't stand injustice. She's sassy, smart as a whip and always ready to fight for what is right. So when the newest Bluewing heir decides to wrack up the taxes on her hometown, Gemma isn't about to stand for it. But what she doesn't know is that her fight against traditions might just get her into a whole lot of steamy trouble! The curvy, headstrong woman has all the fire of Devon, and when he gives her an ultimatum, they're both in for more than they bargained for.
Even if she'll play along, it doesn't mean that she'll make it easy on him. But it isn't just Devon whose making decisions for Gemma, and soon it becomes very clear that it's not only Gemma's pride that's in danger of getting burned...
Montana Wild Bears: Books 1-4 Bundle
Want to read more about Ryder and his struggle as an Alpha?
Strong, scorching-hot werebear Alphas and their sassy, curvy mates - could it get any steamier?!
The Montana Wild Bears series follows two werebear clans during the most difficult conflict of their lives, sparing nothing and no one in it's path. How can these determined, powerful Alphas keep their clans safe while also finding their fated mates? And will their mates allow them into their hearts, even when all odds stand against them?
Find out in these hot stand-alone books, each following one Alpha couple through the war between the clans. Expect some twists and turns and plenty of steam!
If you want your shifters hard, loving and dripping with testosterone and your heroines capable, smart and saucy, this might be just the boxed set for you!
The anthology includes the following books:
Find Her Bear - Book 1
Wanting Her Bear - Book 2
Saving Her Bear - Book 3
Needing Her Bear - Book 4
Sassy Shifter Brides: The Complete Series
What a shifter really needs is a good mate!
Shifter Grove only attracts the kind of shifters who are looking for something better... Something different. When Warren, Rake, Deacon and the Warfang decide to build a new life, they knew it wouldn't be easy. But it would be worth it. Still, hard work and making a better future for the buff, burly and completely Alpha s
hifters isn't quite enough for the men. Ever shifter knows that a home isn't perfect without the right woman and that's exactly what all of them need!
SassyDate is here to help! Each of the Alpha shifters will find a mate that's as if made for him... Just sometimes it isn't all sunshine and roses.
If you like your shifters hot, growly and determined and your women sassy, bbw and opinionated, this is the boxed set for you! You can find all five of the Sassy Shifter Brides books in this anthology and none of them will leave you disappointed!
The box set includes:
Hearts Laid Bear
No More Lion
Bear the Cold
Roar for Her
The Wolves' Bride
Smutty Shifter Shorts: Books 1-5 Bundle
5 hot, sizzling shapeshifter shorts sure to make you need a cold shower!
The Smutty Shifter Shorts series is all about bringing the naughtiest, sexiest werewolves right to you! Each story is a standalone short, but three of them can be read as a series.
If you want your werewolves growly, determined and hungry for more and your women curvy and sassy, this is just the boxed set for you! Expect some twists and turns and plenty of steam!
This anthology of bestselling shifter shorts includes the following books:
The Mate
The Chase
Outcast's Claim
Outcast's Pride
Outcast's Mate
Firebear Brides: Complete Series
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the bear's way...
Love scorching hot werebears? If so then this is the bundle for you, with four absolutely sizzling bear firefighter brothers looking for their mates in all the wrong (and right!) places!