Bearly Desire: A Bear Shifter Romance

by Liza Lightwood

  The bear was gone. In its place, Roman stood, hunched with a hand to his head. She gasped when his head jerked up and she saw the same wild eyes as the beast. Before she could scream, he lunged towards her. His lips were on hers in a burning kiss. She gasped, a mix of pain and pleasure.

  He sunk his teeth into her collarbone and she cried out. It was a blissful agony that surged through her entire body. She groaned as she fell back against the carpet and Roman slumped beside her.

  A small amount of blood pooled from his bite. She patted it wildly as she stared down at his unconscious form. What happened? Her mind refused to believe any of this was real.

  Footsteps descended, quick and hard, towards them. Robert’s panicked face emerged into the room as he rushed towards them.

  “Your Highness!” he yelled as he came towards Roman’s body. She stared, looking back and forth between the two men. “Prince Roman!”

  “Prince?” she muttered before everything went black.

  Chapter Seven

  “Fuck,” Roman groaned into his hands. His bitter expression didn’t soothe Josephine’s nerves. She’d finally come to, sprawled on a couch across from Roman’s reclining body. Robert hovered in between them, administering water and tending to her wound.

  “That’s about the thirtieth time you’ve uttered that,” Robert remarked dryly. Roman glared at him in response.

  “I think I deserve to curse in this situation,” he snapped and then sighed. Robert didn’t seem bothered as he handed Josephine an aspirin.

  She fingered the gauze on her collarbone with a sense of dread. “I don’t understand. What happened? What was all of that?”

  The two men exchanged glances.

  “We need to tell her,” Robert insisted. Roman grunted, his scowl deepening.

  “I know,” he replied gruffly and then his gaze flickered back to her wide eyes. “I’m surprised you’re even this calm. Most people would be screaming their heads off. You’re either in shock or shockingly open minded.”

  She offered a small shrug in response. Truly, she was surprised that she wasn’t screaming or freaking out, but her curiosity always trumped any other emotion. Even in the face of danger, a new discovery seemed stark against her own fear.

  “I want to understand,” she said softly. “If you’ll let me.”

  He nodded slowly and hoisted himself further up against the cushions. Every movement seemed to drain him. The dark circles under his eyes only served to make him more appealing, adding a primal edge that reminded her of their kiss in the library. Now, they’d kissed twice. And he’d bitten her. Clara wouldn’t believe her if she told her; especially that biting bit.

  “The Midnight Den is not just a social group,” he began. “We’re different. Special, if you will. There are groups that exist in this world that humans can’t begin to understand. My clan has existed for thousands of years with this particular power. We are bear shifters, as you saw. Most of the time, I can control it. We formed The Midnight Den centuries ago inorder to train our kind to control their powers. We wanted to coexist peacefully among humans. Our kind has since taken human mates, but even they have been shut off to the secrecy of the group. All the world knows about us from the outside is that we’re a secret society, a boys’ club that seems more like a fraternity than a bed of supernatural energy.”

  She stared as the gears in her mind turned. Bear Magic. It seemed unbelievable, but she’d seen it for herself. It explained everything. She turned to Robert with a surprised look.

  “Even you?” she asked. The thin older man nodded. “What about Leo?” She thought back to her comment about his height being like a bear’s stature and blushed when they both nodded. Well, that explained his laughing, at least.

  At that moment, one of the tall security guards popped in. “Sir, should I radio for any medical assistance?”

  Roman shook his head and dismissed him. She watched as the guard disappeared back into the hallway. Her employer caught her curious eye.

  “Leo mentioned that you had a military contract,” she said. “Do they know?”

  He and Robert exchanged glances. Finally, Roman turned to her and nodded. “My clan has served within the armed forces since the Revolution. Every man in my family does four years of service and then we technically leave with honor, but the government contracts us. As you can imagine, our abilities come in handy in some situations. They want this document as much as we do to ensure that my father lives.”

  She gasped. “Your father?”

  “Yes,” he said with a grave look. “My father has been ill since late last year. Our physician first suspected that it was natural, but he found traces of other magic within my father’s blood and now he thinks the werewolves cursed him.”

  “Werewolves can be quite shady,” Robert commented.

  “Werewolves?!” she echoed.

  “There are other shifters,” Roman explained. “You have to understand, there are deep tensions within the supernatural community that reach back to ancient times. I don’t even fully understand it. Nobody does. All I know is that my father and the leader of this wolf pack have been in a cold war situation before I was even born. There are fights over territories. This wolf pack is particularly aggressive. My father confronted them about some mysterious deaths among the homeless population in town.”

  “They killed them?” she asked, horrified.

  “Not all packs are like this, but this one targets people who won’t be missed. When my father confronted the alpha, they fought. I believe the leader cursed my father with an ancient form of wolf magic. That’s why I need to find this document. Bear shifters barely know anything outside of our own magic,” he explained.

  She nodded, slowly taking all of the information in. “So, this document contains information about wolf magic?”

  “Yes,” he said. “I should’ve suspected my mother might’ve had it. She was always interested in magic in all forms. I suspect she hid it because she didn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. If an unscrupulous shifter came across it, they might attempt something that could create havoc.”

  “And your father,” she said in a shaking voice. “How long does he have?”

  His eyes sparked painfully, but it was gone in an instant.

  “Not long,” he confessed. “A few months, according to our physician. If he passes away, I have to take his place. My clan and the military both understand that I’m not ready. There are rituals that must be done. They require time that we don’t have.” He finished his remarks in a desperate tone, one that she knew he must not use often.

  Her wound throbbed painfully. She hissed as she placed a hand on it. His eyes flashed to it.

  “How deep was it, Robert?” he asked slowly.

  The older man sighed. “Deep enough.”

  She frowned and looked between them. “What are you talking about? Deep enough?”

  Roman’s pale face turned to her. “I don’t know how to tell you this.”

  An icy feeling washed over her.

  His dazzling eyes met her fearful gaze.

  “We’re mated now, Josephine.”

  Chapter Eight

  Mated? Her mother had been taking bets with Josephine’s aunts for years about this. Now, she it looks like she had accidentally married her new supernatural boss.

  “Robert will move your things to the room beside mine,” he told her. Now she was practically hyperventilating.

  “Mated? Is that like married?” she repeated with wide eyes.

  “When shifters bite the neck of someone, it’s a mating ritual,” Robert explained calmly and then cleared his throat. “I’ll begin moving your things.” He flew out of the room, leaving her alone with Roman.

  “I’m sorry,” he muttered with his head in his hands. “I didn’t mean to bite you. Touching that statue, I just...it did something to me.”

  She winced when she noticed her ears were ringing. She sucked in a deep breath and gasped when her wound began to ache
again.

  “It hurts,” she confessed softly.

  “It’s because we’re connected now,” he offered. “When a shifter mates, it forms a sacred bond. The bite burns whenever your mate is in distress,” he explained and heaved a sigh. “I hate to admit that I’m in distress, but there’s no point in lying. I can’t believe I lost control like that.”

  “Your eyes,” she whispered. “Before you bit me, your eyes were clouded. You didn’t seem like yourself at all.”

  His lip twitched upward. “I wasn’t. My clan practices control. I can typically keep myself from shifting, but there are times when even I can’t stop it.”

  “When you touched the statue,” she added and he nodded.

  “I can’t explain it. I’ve never felt something as strong as that,” he said. His eyes flickered to the gauze bandage on her collarbone. “Apologies have never been my strong suit. For what it’s worth, I truly am sorry. There are things that might reverse it, but you don’t have much time.”

  She bit her lip, processing everything. Everything from the past few days replayed in her mind. This job, Roman, the danger…

  “Let’s talk about it after we find the document, Roman.”

  His eyebrows shot up and he leaned towards her. “You still want to help me?”

  “We’ve already this far in,” she said with a shrug. The movement reminded her of the bite when it stretched painfully, but she resisted the urge to wince. “I want to help you find that cure for your father.”

  His smile was warm, a gesture that she wasn’t used to. She shivered. His nostrils flared and he opened his mouth to say something.

  “Ready?” Robert asked as he walked in.

  “Ready,” she said.

  Her original room was already luxurious and her new digs connected to Roman’s quarters were even nicer. She admired the elaborate tapestries hanging on the wall and lowered herself to sit on the lush rug before the massive bed. Her eyes roved over the decorated ceiling arched high above her. It was a room fit for a queen.

  In a way, she was. Or a princess, at least. If Roman was the prince of the Midnight Den, then did that actually make her a princess in their eyes? She stifled a chuckle at the thought of herself with a crown.

  As the sun dipped and her room grew dark, she rose from the floor and climbed onto the bed where she snuggled underneath the luxurious comforter. Minutes ticked by as she tossed and turned against the silky sheets. She peeked out from beneath the blanket to stare at the clock beside the bed. An hour had passed. She groaned and collapsed against the pile of pillows behind her. Outside, the soft sound of crickets added to her insomnia.

  Finally, she pulled herself out of bed and pulled on the short kimono robe hanging nearby. She tiptoed over to the connecting door to Roman’s room. Her hand hovered above the polished wood, begging her to knock. She thought of him, his handsome sleeping face, and felt a wave of guilt. How could she wake him up just because she couldn’t sleep?

  Swish!

  The door opened suddenly. She tightened the robe around her with a sudden gasp. To her surprise, he was leaning casually against the frame in a second.

  “When you can’t sleep well, it affects me too,” he informed her with an amused smirk. She blushed as he walked inside and beckoned for her to follow. He climbed into his own bed and patted the space beside him.

  She gave him a pointed look. His smirk grew more wicked.

  “You don’t want to officially validate the marriage, Princess?” he asked in a sly tone. Her cheeks burned.

  “I’ll ignore that,” she said softly and went to the opposite side of the bed, sitting the farthest that she could away from him. He chuckled darkly. “So, it’s not just me. You can feel what I feel?”

  “Somewhat,” he said with a shrug. “It’s different for everyone. If you’re not compatible with someone then you’ll have a very hard time reading them.”

  But, he seemed to have no trouble reading her. She tried to steady her nerves, worried that he might be able to feel it.

  “Have you always been…like this, a shifter?” she asked.

  “Since I can remember,” he answered. “The women in my family can be affected too. My mother wasn’t, but she’d grown up around bear magic.”

  “You mentioned your mother earlier,” she said while lacing her fingers together anxiously. She still hadn’t told him about finding the symbol in his mother’s note. He only thought his mother was connected because she’d brought the statue with the symbol into the house.

  “She was amazing,” he said with a dazed look. “She passed away when I was young, but I can remember that she often studied different types of magic. Of course her specialty was bear lore, but she was familiar with other supernatural groups. I should’ve suspected that she was the one who hid the document.”

  Her heart throbbed as his eyes clouded with painful recollection. She couldn’t imagine losing her mother that young, even if the woman did drive her insane sometimes. He was without a mother, his father dying from something he can’t stop, and an impossible quest.

  “I’m so sorry, Roman.”

  He shook his head and emitted a half-hearted laugh.

  “Don’t be,” he rasped. “You should be glad that she didn’t have to watch her son grow up into a bastard.”

  “Don’t say that,” she cried.

  “Fine,” he said with a playful roll of his eyes. “You know, she always mentioned that she’d wanted to leave me rare treasures. I never gave it much thought. She always said she wanted to me to have a wonderful wife, as well.”

  “My mom doesn’t stop talking about marriage. If she heard what happened today, she’d freak out,” she said and they laughed together.

  “How did your mother meet your father?” she asked after a few moments.

  His face broke into another one of those half-smiles she was quickly growing fond of.

  “She was working intelligence for the government. They placed her with the Midnight Den due to her unique scholarly specialty,” he answered and she didn’t miss the distant gleam in his eyes.

  “Wow,” she muttered, truly impressed. “She must’ve been brilliant.”

  “She was,” he added. “Definitely brilliant enough to hide all of the rare magical documents she could get her hands on. She could’ve never guessed that we would need the wolf magic for good.”

  “Roman, I have a confession to make.”

  Then she told him everything about her excursion into his private library and eavesdropping on him and his mystery conversation.

  By the time she was down to her fortieth apology, he was almost laughing.

  “So, what? You looked at my books. I bit you,” he countered. “I still think you’re in the clear. Man, I’d forgotten all about that note. It was a gift from when I was young, too young to be interested in books, or even read anything that complex. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had that statue bewitched to prompt me to mate as soon as possible.”

  Could he really chalk everything that had happened up to the magic?

  Suddenly, he looked over at her and she stifled a gasp when she realized that she’d voiced her thought out loud.

  He gave her a wicked grin and then winked.

  “Magic works in funny ways.”

  Silence fell over them. Pushing his comment to the side, she was determined to focus on serious matters. She felt a rush of hope as her mind began working on everything they knew. His hair fell into his face as he looked over to the clock across the room. It was getting late. She should go back to bed, but her legs couldn’t seem to move. Her skin tingled as she realized that she was sitting on his bed. If she leaned over, she could brush against him. Heat rose to her cheeks.

  His deep chuckle interrupted her thoughts. She sucked in a sharp breath when his hand reached over to her own.

  “Josephine,” he told her with steady eyes. His cheeky expression turned her into jelly. “I can feel that.”

  “Feel what?” she asked, fei
gning ignorance. Her heart beat wildly.

  “I can feel your desire,” he whispered hoarsely as he leaned towards her. She shivered as his breath brushed her neck. “May I see it?” His fingers brushed the bandage.

  She nodded timidly. He pulled the bandage back and whistled lowly.

  “I know I’ve said it,” he told her while shooting her a look. “But, I’m still sorry.”

  “I know you didn’t mean it,” she said. When his hand brushed around the wound, it sent sparks of pleasure through her. She jumped. “What was that?”

  “A mate’s touch is a natural anesthetic,” he said with a grin. “It should be fully healed by morning. Of course, there are other ways to speed up the process.”

  She raised one eyebrow. “And that is…?”

  His grin turned naughty. She rolled her eyes, but they laughed again. Somehow, the serious situation felt lighter.

  “I should get to bed,” she said when the clock chimed to signal a new hour. He followed her to the open connecting door. Before she could walk through, his hand gently grabbed her arm. She gasped as he pulled her towards him.

  “Josephine, I know this isn’t ideal,” he said in a rumbling voice. She shivered as she felt the vibrations from his chest. “If you need anything, please let me know.”

  A sudden rush of bravery ran through her. “Answer me. Why did you kiss me?”

  His eyes glittered. “I kissed you because I wanted to. I had to. Your entire scent pulled me in.”

  She held her breath. No boyfriend, no lover, no man had ever told her anything like that. It made her feel gorgeous. She felt like a treasure, even if it was only temporary.

  “A goodnight kiss,” she told him. “That’s what I want.”

  His breathing grew heavier as he leaned down. “Are you sure?”

  “You’ve kissed me twice,” she told him. “That seems a bit unfair.”