Primal Obsession: BBW Polar Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (Shadowlands Bear Shifters Book 3)

by Olivia Harp

  He got an idea, his big smile giving him away.

  “What?” she said, her smile joining his.

  “I know how to keep you warm.”

  “We’ll just snuggle, and—”

  “I’ve got a better idea...”

  “What is it you’re thinking of bear man?”

  “I can shift into my bear.”

  “Oh my, really?”

  He nodded.

  “Okay, don’t be scared, remember it’s still me.”

  He took a final bite of his sandwich and put the plate away. He rubbed his hands and jumped on the bed, Cassie laughed out loud.

  “Wait! Wait!”

  She rolled away and he roared playfully at her.

  Then his human “roar” turned into something more animalistic, and Cassie gasped in surprise. Raiden turned to her smirking.

  “I told you to get ready.”

  “Okay,” she said nodding.

  Raiden growled and turned around in the big bed and felt his bear coming out.

  The fury contained within burned in his body like a torchlight. Every inch of his skin, every hair on his body stood up and gave way to thin, white fur.

  His muscles began shifting, it was painful, but he’d grown used to that kind of pain.

  His mouth cracked, his gums got thicker, every tooth as if pulled out by an invisible force, but instead of them falling, they turned into fangs.

  Yes. The polar bear was coming out roaring.

  ***

  Cassie’s mouth hung wide open as she saw her man’s wide back crack and expand. White fur rose out of every pore in his body.

  She covered her mouth to hide her astonishment as Raiden’s eyes turned black, his mouth changed into a gaping maw, and just before his face fully shifted into his animal, he winked at her.

  A wink that said it was fine, that he was having fun. She would have laughed if she could, but she was paralyzed.

  He bent ahead and before his hands touched the bed they turned into great paws. Thick white-as-snow fur covered his body, and in a flash there was no longer a man, or even a man transforming into an animal.

  It was a huge, polar bear.

  She didn’t think they could be this big.

  The king size bed was almost not enough for him to lay on.

  His head was easily four times the size of a watermelon, it’s dark gray eyes the only remaining feature that had traces of his human form.

  The bear turned to her and growled softly. She jumped, her body instinctively reacting in self-defense.

  He was so close to her she could feel his hot breath on her skin.

  The wet wood fragrance of the cabin was now replaced by something different. It had traces of the bear, yes, but much more than that, it smelled like a really cold morning, the kind of smell that lingers in the air when the city is covered with snow.

  It smelled of ice, that’s the only way she could put it in words. But the bear was not cold. Quite the opposite.

  He stepped closer to her and his snout grazed her hand.

  He was hot. She put her hand in his head, her caress bringing her comfort.

  Holy molly, this must be a dream come true.

  Her pulse slowed down as the big, white bear laid on the bed and she stroked his fur, then leaned to it and touched its snout with her nose.

  Hi licked her mouth playfully and she turned back, laughing.

  The bear turned on itself as he lay, leaving a space for her to cuddle.

  She laid in there, cozying up beside him, snuggling in his fur. This was a dream she never knew she even had. Here, protected from the cold and rain, she felt as if nothing could ever harm her.

  As if the problems of the world were so small that they didn’t matter.

  The inhaling and exhaling of the bear at her side lulled her until she drifted into sleep with a big smile on her lips.

  Chapter 19

  The rain stopped in the early hours of the morning. His bear was perfectly calm, laying by her side.

  Cassie needed to go back to work so they drove back to the manor and said their good-byes. It had been a perfect evening.

  He drove to his house, he still had a lot of pending business, but first, he’d continue working on the greenhouse blueprints.

  He felt a strange sense of happiness. He loved being with Cassie, his daughter had gone on to The Walk. Life was going perfect, to tell the truth.

  They exchanged messages all throughout the morning. She’d continue working for the non-profit organization, Human Hearts.

  He was happy for her. On one side, it would give her exposure all over the country, on the other, the organization needed a million dollars to help the homeless reintegrate into society, what better way to gain exposure than that? It was challenging, fun and good for everyone.

  That’s why it was a fashion runway. What better way to expose the challenges of homelessness —where people have nothing— than contrasting it with an industry that is based on having everything?

  It was sort of a protest, too. But both sides agreed on doing it and it was going well.

  His greenhouse project, compared to that, was nothing.

  He’d read some books on organic crops and what was the quickest way to grow them on a controlled environment.

  He laughed just picturing Dee when he told her his plans.

  But the whole thing was taking him longer than usual. He couldn’t focus.

  His bear was too insistent.

  He tried pushing away the thought, but it insisted on claiming Cassie as his mate.

  He’d have to address that soon. For now, he would enjoy just being with her.

  Claiming her?

  That was a whole different story.

  How could he claim her? Even if his bear was right and she was his mate, they lived far apart from each other.

  He wasn’t a man who could live away from his mate.

  Claiming Cassie only to live away from her would be a stupid decision, it would break him. It would break any bear shifter.

  He could try it, if only it didn’t mean affecting Dee.

  He wouldn’t expose her to that, she was too young. What was he going to say? “Hey dear, this is my mate, you know her. Oh, by the way say good-bye she’s leaving for a month?”

  He had to put Dee’s happiness over his own. It was not even a question.

  As soon as that thought formed in his mind, his bear went crazy.

  Raiden knew what it wanted.

  It wanted him to take Cassie away from Seattle and bring her with him.

  But he couldn’t ask her that.

  “Stay down, beast,” he said out loud.

  His bear was savage. He felt his bones trying to expand, some of them cracking.

  He stood up and bent, growling with anger.

  “No,” he said.

  He stumbled out of the studio and walked down the stairs, opening the glass door leading back.

  He roared.

  He couldn’t fool himself. It wasn’t only his animal. He hated that. He hated having to leave Cassie.

  He shifted, ripping away all of his clothes.

  He needed time to think.

  ***

  It was mid afternoon when he came back.

  He was naked, half of the day gone now, but at least his anger had subsided a bit.

  He entered his house again, lights automatically turning on when they detected movement. He needed a shower.

  He went upstairs and picked up a towel, he sighed when he heard a soft beep in the studio.

  He peeked inside and saw his phone on the desk.

  Seven missed calls.

  What?

  He unlocked it and saw Deric had called him.

  His heart sank. They weren’t supposed to be back yet.

  He ran to the bedroom and put on the first clothes he found, calling them on the phone as he got on his SUV.

  Something bad was happening.

  Chapter 20

  His bear roared i
nside, furious. The phone rang three times, then Deric picked up.

  “Deric,” he yelled as he dodged yet another car on the highway, “what’s going on?”

  Some of the drivers honked at him but it didn’t matter. He needed to get to the estate ASAP.

  “Nothing bad, Ray, I’ll explain when you get—”

  “—Is Deeandra all right?” he interrupted.

  “Yes. Yes, don’t worry about her.”

  His whole body relaxed in a second, he didn’t even notice he was so tense.

  He lowered his speed, leaning back on the seat.

  “What happened? Why are you back—”

  “I’ll explain when you get here, drive safe.”

  “I’ll be there in a second.”

  ***

  He parked on the driveway and Dee opened the door to meet him.

  They’d been out for only a couple of days, but she ran out to him as if it had been months.

  “Hello, D-Tank, how are you?” he said picking her up, looking at her grandparents coming out of the house.

  “Great, dad, did you hear to the storm? It was awesome! I got under a tree and—”

  “Calm down, dear, calm down, I can barely understand what you’re saying.”

  Dee opened her mouth wide to catch her breath, she was super energized after shifting to her animal.

  “Hello, Raiden,” Deric said.

  Raiden nodded at him.

  “We had to come back early but we’ll go back again soon.”

  He let her on the ground and she grabbed his hand.

  “I’m hungry,” she said.

  “Me too,” Raiden replied, “why don’t you go get us a snack?”

  “Cookies! Yay!” she said running past her grandparents into the house, her voice echoing out, happy as ever.

  “Well... what happened?” he asked, none of his in-laws immediately responded, shuffling their eyes.

  Raiden didn’t say anything, he waited. He didn’t want to pressure them, especially now that he knew Deedee was fine.

  Elizabeth leaned to him, lowering her voice.

  “We felt something...”

  Raiden blinked.

  “Something...” he repeated.

  “Nothing to worry about, son.”

  “Tell me.”

  He opened his mouth to speak but the echoes of his child’s footsteps stopped him.

  Dee came out of the door, with a pack of cookies in her hand.

  “Aren’t you gonna give me some?”

  She took a bite of one and gave him the pack.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  She smiled and went inside the house.

  “You’re welcome,” she replied

  “We’ll talk later,” Elizabeth said.

  Raiden nodded and followed behind Dee.

  ***

  It was late now. Dee had gone to bed; Elizabeth was reading her a story.

  Deric brought Raiden a glass of whiskey and sat on a leather sofa in his studio.

  “What happened, Deric?”

  “It’s...” he said, then took a sip of his whiskey and shook his head.

  “You know our kind. Some of us felt a presence, like before.”

  “Before? You mean...”

  He nodded.

  Raiden’s insides flared up, he felt fury raising inside him.

  “Where?”

  Deric shook his head, “we don’t know yet.”

  “I checked the cave, as always,” said Raiden, “there was nothing there.”

  “It was more like a bad feeling, but it was real.”

  “Are you sure? It’s been ten years.”

  Deric’s eyes found Raiden.

  “You’re part of the family, Raiden,” Elizabeth said entering the room behind him.

  “But you can’t protect us forever. We need to be stronger.”

  “You taught us how. We’ve done a good job.”

  “I didn’t say otherwise.”

  “We can’t depend on you to be here forever,” Elizabeth said.

  “Let us deal with this, you have to trust us.”

  “The elders are looking into this right at this moment. It’s probably a false alarm. Weather wasn’t the nicest, and Deeandra here... well... some kids are still scared of big predators.”

  Raiden’s mouth fell open.

  “You gotta be kidding me.”

  “The young ones, at least. The tribe elders have nothing against her. It’s a miracle that she even exists.”

  “She can connect to our spirits, Ray,” Elizabeth said, “but she has the strength of your animal.”

  “So? She’s one of your kind, too.”

  “Yes, but... you know how kids are, they’re jealous, they’re scared. It’s probably them projecting all that angst, people got rattled and we thought it was better to come back for a few days.”

  “I haven’t felt anything.”

  Elizabeth and Deric shared a brief look, then she spoke.

  “What?” Raiden said.

  “We think the Elk tribes are more sensitive to incursions.”

  Raiden laughed.

  “Laugh all you want, bear, but you’re not automatically better at everything.”

  “We’ve been fighting this shit for years, Deric.”

  “That’s it. We haven’t. We’ve found the intrusions and closed them before the Shadowlands could enter our world. We’re experts at avoiding a fight. See what I’m saying here?”

  It took a few seconds, but Raiden finally conceded. He wasn’t so full of pride he couldn’t at least give the benefit of doubt to that idea. Still, if his daughter was in any danger...

  “I want to talk to the elders.”

  Deric was about to speak but Elizabeth raised her hand, stopping him.

  “It’s your daughter,” she said, “and we’re alive thanks to you, son. Of course you can talk to them.”

  Deric looked at her, took another sip of whiskey and sighed.

  “We’ll set it up tomorrow, okay?”

  Raiden smiled, it was perfectly okay.

  Chapter 21

  Cassie had a meeting with Rick Ashton, the marketing manager of a local, online house decor startup.

  “We want to have a more... friendly image,” Rick said as they entered the small warehouse room with a million different sized boxes. A tall, security mirror hung from the corner of the wall, she couldn’t help but look at her reflection.

  Her curvy ass and waist and chest looked good today. Hella good.

  This was business but her mind was elsewhere, this was an easy sell, she’d helped other companies in the same situation. Product and people pictures. Images for the offices and the site, etcetera... she kept nodding and following the man throughout the building, shook his hand, and finally had time to check her cell phone again.

  He hadn’t replied to any of her texts. She had that void in her stomach, that odd “did I do anything wrong?” that lingered every time she was into someone and it didn’t work out.

  But still, everything felt right with him. Even the crazy perverted sex was more than she could ask for.

  On the other side, she’d already sent four messages, all of them still unread, no signs of life from him since mid-day yesterday.

  He’s busy or something, stop being so childish.

  The last text she sent was a while ago but she wasn’t going to send another one. She’d look a little too desperate. No, she’d give him his space, and he’ would text back when he could, or wanted.

  She stopped for a Moka Cappuccino Frappe on her way to the studio, got another one for Paulie, he’s the one who hooked me on them, and put on her favorite 90’s pop music playlist. N’Sync never failed to help her mood.

  There was no chance, no chance at all, that she’d get her heart broken again.

  This was a promise to herself.

  ***

  We want to deal with the problem ourselves, no external intervention.

  The tribes can’t depend on anyone,
you understand.

  Nothing’s wrong with Deedee, everyone loves her Ray, she’s one of us.

  “Dad,” Dee said, taking him out of his thoughts.

  “What?” Raiden replied.

  “They called your name.”

  Raiden stood up and picked up his order. Dee wanted a hot vegetable wrap for breakfast and he conceded.

  The meeting had gone well.

  The elders were still trying to understand what was it that echoed inside of the tribe spirits, and if it was the Shadowlands or not.

  They weren’t very superstitious, but they had their customs. Besides, they were right.

  The White Paws had taught them how to close Shadowlands punctures a decade ago, and they kept their territory safe.

  Still, it was hard for the Elks.

  They had strength in numbers. They needed at least a dozen members to be able to do what a bear like him could easily do alone. Otherwise, the energy channeled into closing a puncture would take much of their vitality away.

  Some people have it easier than others, he thought, with a sigh, looking at his daughter.

  “What are we doing today?” Dee asked.

  “I don’t know, I need to work for a bit.”

  “Boooooring,” Dee said rolling her eyes, “dad we’re on vacation.”

  “That’s why I can spend time doing other projects.”

  “A project?” she said stopping mid bite, “we’re doing a project?”

  His stomach fluttered. He loved this crazy child.

  “Well,” he sighed, “I wanted it to be a surprise—”

  “What is it dad?”

  “It’s a... greenhouse”

  Her eyes shuffled for a split second, trying to understand the word.

  “What’s a greenhouse?”

  “It’s a small building where you control temperature and can grow vegetables and fruits.”

  She gasped, “can I pick the fruits dad? Please!”

  He chuckled, “I don’t know Dee-Tank, it depends.”

  “On what?” she said, defiantly.

  “If you’re good or not.”

  “I’m always good!”

  “Yeah, I wish! Now, we’ll see, finish your meal.”

  She nodded and took another bite of her wrap.

  Chapter 22

  Cassie opened the entrance door and the just-out-of-the-oven bread scent filled her. It had been a while since she came into Bakeosaur’s, a small, independent bakery.