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

by Olivia Harp

  She went silent, Raiden was about to say something but she spoke first.

  “It didn’t work out. Maybe it’s the timing, I don’t know. Maybe it’s fate.”

  “That’s bullshit.”

  His voice rippled inside of her. But she promised to not let herself fall so easily again. She had made a decision.

  “I need to go talk to our main sponsor, Ray. Tell him the whole freakin’ show is a sham and the main talent is not coming. Please, don’t make this harder than it should.”

  She walked past him, regaining her courage, losing herself among the people backstage.

  Chapter 30

  Raiden’s bear was raging. He clenched his fists, the bulging veins in his neck and forehead the only sign of him containing the beast.

  He was red with anger. He fucked up hard. She was right in one thing: the timing had been shit.

  He knew she was his mate and he would not let her go so easily. Not like this, in the worst possible moment. He would give her the million dollars the foundation needed if that meant preserving her reputation.

  Even if she didn’t want him anymore.

  He broke her heart, he felt like a piece of shit. His chest hurt, the pain of loss flooding him.

  He let her down. All because he was blind. He didn’t see how Dee was not a helpless kid, she could think and feel and sway and channel the emotions of the Tribes.

  All because he wanted to solve everything with his fists —or worse, his paws— and the world didn’t work that way.

  “Most of the time, it doesn’t,” he said harshly out loud. His bear, a second ago fighting to come out, stayed put.

  He breathed in and out. In and out. He calmed himself. Then he opened his eyes.

  He saw him. Tony Zhen. The lead designer who’d given time and money and put his name on the line for the foundation. He was throwing a fit, not ten yards away from him.

  He was a slender, mid-forties, bald guy, dressed in a gray sweater with black, slim pants.

  Amidst the chaos he heard him talk to his assistant, a young, beautiful Hispanic girl with a headpiece. She nodded and nodded.

  “She fucked it up, Cassie Bennett fucked it up,” he said, “tell Alondra to give the announcement, tell everyone that asshole isn’t coming. Then we start—”

  That’s what everyone was going to hear from now on. Cassie was going to be the industry’s laughing stock for not securing a guy.

  “Hell no,” Raiden said, slowly walking towards the man, clenching his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.

  He was taller than everyone around.

  Every step he took was full of power. People started looking at him, their face glued to this strange, magnetic man.

  Tony Zhen looked up to see him, adjusting his glasses in the process to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

  “We’re not doing that,” Raiden gruffed.

  “Who are you?” Tony said.

  “I’m your fairy godfather you dumb bastard.”

  Tony’s eyes opened wide, his mouth hung open, everyone around was listening.

  “We don’t have much time so I’m only going to say it once. Pay attention.”

  As he told them the plan, Tony Zhen’s surprise turned to excitement.

  “Everyone! You heard the man!” he clapped his hands and the staff ran to their positions, “let’s execute, execute, execute!”

  Chapter 31

  That was it. The dreaded moment.

  Cassie shouldered her way to the VIP area, where the sponsors waited for her. She first had to go past the press, guests and the Human Hearts foundation executives.

  She was going to be in the middle of them all right when the announcement was made. So be it. She’d take the flak, even though her inner instincts told her to flee.

  She found her seat, turned to the big brands representatives and nodded their way. She’d face the fallout straight on, like a professional.

  “Cassie,” her assistant said beside her, “should we begin?”

  Cassie nodded.

  The show must go on. What mattered right now was getting as much funding as possible for Human Hearts. She’d work on her reputation later, that was secondary.

  The lights dimmed and a low, electronic pulse began. Huge flat panel screens on both sides of the runway showed dark, cloudy skies, a bolt of lightning accompanied by the beat of simple, minimalist music.

  The DJ and video artists had worked hard on this.

  “Good evening,” the hostess said, and thank you for coming to the Human Hearts drive, “we’re focused on helping people get their lives back together. On bringing them back to society. On making them understand that the world has not forgotten them, and that we’re all in this together.”

  Photographs of homeless men, women and children appeared on the screens. All of them were victims of circumstance, wrong choices or illness.

  They weren’t invisible to her anymore, and the foundation provided a means for them to grow.

  The electronic beat got louder, the droning bass beneath it like a blanket, and little by little, a melodic chord arrangement tried to burst out but didn’t, as if it was held back by the music itself.

  “The rumors are true,” the hostess said, and Cassie’s belly tightened. This was it, the announcement. “Jacob Turin could not join us today for circumstances beyond our control.”

  People around Cassie groaned and gasped. There it was. She continued looking ahead, at the show, but could feel the eyes of all the people she’d invited fixed on her.

  Some people were shaking their heads, two or three photographers looked back, with an “are-you-freakin-kidding-me?” face.

  “But we’ve got something better,” the hostess finalized and fireworks exploded in a spectacular showcase of colored smoke and sparks. Right through the smoke, a big silhouette of a monster appeared and roared harder than ever.

  Everyone inside the place gasped audibly, Cassie was shocked. What was happening?

  A huge polar bear pounced through the colored vapor into the runway, the screens behind it contrasting the whiteness of its fur with colorful videos.

  Some people stood in their seat, unable to understand if this was part of the show or not.

  Music accompanied every step of the huge beast on the runway stage. It got to the edge and stood on its hind legs, it’s majesty like thunder in everyone’s heart.

  It roared again and fireworks went off from the floor in a blinding flash, tinted smoke surrounded the beast. Multicolored paper butterflies fell from the ceiling, and three staffers graciously hid the bear behind a veil for a second or two before disappearing in the darkness.

  The smoke cleared and there stood a man, tall and strong. His dark, silvery hair contrasted with his more youthful appearance.

  Everyone cheered maniacally. He slowly searched through the crowd and finally found her among the hundreds of guests. She felt butterflies in her stomach again. It wasn’t fair.

  “I love you,” he said pointing at her and she almost melted.

  Then he roared like the huge bear he was. Everyone stood up on their seats, clapping, a million camera’s flashed around him as he turned back on the catwalk and swaggered away, letting the next model show his piece.

  Cassie was stunned. There was a kind of anarchy around her, a good kind of anarchy. She turned around and she knew the show was saved. Everyone was laughing, excited, talking to each other with big smiles on their faces.

  An older lady put her arm around Cassie’s shoulder and took a quick selfie.

  Everyone came to see Jacob Turin, but they’d gotten something much, much better: one of the rarest sights in the world, a Polar Bear Shifter.

  They had been lucky.

  She had been lucky.

  Chapter 32

  The fashion show had ended and people filled the room with their chaotic energy.

  Photographers shouted at people to get into position as they snapped the final pictures of the night; people talked loudly,
excitedly. The background music just a barely audible whisper beneath all of the noise.

  Cassie wanted to run backstage, find Raiden and slap him for standing her up. That was a good plan, but she was probably going to kiss him.

  “Cassie! Cassandra!” She turned to see an older woman, thin, white hair, shouldering her way to her, it was Rita Westley, head of the Human Hearts Foundation.

  She was a determined woman; she’d set most of this event up almost by herself. Cassie admired her. She’d seen her earlier that day but got busy when she learned about Turin not being around.

  Rita hugged Cassie hard, taking the air out of her.

  “You did it!” she said, “complete success, congratulations!”

  “Thank you,” Cassie replied, almost whispering.

  “My God, Cassie, I thought we were going to have a PR shitstorm but you pulled it off, you’re my hero! CBN just called me, they want an interview, the foundation is taking off!”

  “Really?”

  “Yes! We’ll get our funding and more. You can’t imagine how many people we’ll help with this, thank you!”

  Rita hugged her again. Cassie was floating. She was happy everything turned out fine in the end... but where was Raiden? She needed to see him. She needed to hear his voice.

  She ran through the crowd and looked around backstage. The whole place was packed with models, decoration, staffers, reporters. It was hard enough to navigate on regular conditions, right now it was impossible.

  Tony Zhen was giving an interview for a local TV Station, several microphones on his face. He’d made it, too. Then he turned to her and yelled her name, the cameras going to her face.

  She didn’t imagine the bright light would be so annoying but yes, yes it was. Some people can handle this better than others, I guess.

  Tony pulled her and hugged her, forgetting the interview, “Oh. My. God. Dear, that idea was the best, you saved the show!”

  “What idea?”

  “What idea?” Tony let out a high pitched laugh and slapped her shoulder, “the shifter, dear! My God, what a man! I think this is the first time a Shifter does something like this, the public went wild! Thanks for bringing him in!”

  “I brought him?”

  “It’s even better than that d-bag Jacob Turin, what an ass! I bet he’s gonna regret not coming now!”

  She smiled.

  “There he is!” Tony yelled.

  She turned to where he pointed and saw Raiden surrounded by dozens of girls and reporters. Some of them even dared wrapping themselves around him, the Instagram likes would be through the roof.

  They’re getting a little too comfortable with him, she thought, rolling her eyes. But then she realized that he wasn’t paying attention to them.

  He was searching through the chaos.

  Looking for something. Or someone.

  Until he found her. The way his face lit up when he did send shivers throughout her body.

  Both of them stood amongst the crowd, among the choruses of strangers vying for their attention, it seemed to her that everything was shrouded in darkness and a single light shone over them.

  He bolted to her, leaving all of the other women behind.

  The noise faded and people pushed and pulled as they passed by their sides, but it didn’t matter.

  Only they existed.

  He smiled and reached her and right in the middle of the sea of people he lifted her up and kissed her.

  People clapped all around, laughing excitedly. She pulled back and said “You disappeared.”

  “Never again.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her again, his soft lips parting hers, filling her with warmth.

  She had the sudden realization that everything would be fine. The loud chaos around them didn’t matter. Only him and her.

  They were in their own love bubble.

  Chapter 33

  — One Year Later —

  The movie ended with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan looking at each other, their love about to flourish.

  Cassie wiped a single tear off her eye and sighed.

  “I love Sleepless in Seattle, I swear they don’t make movies like that anymore,” she said, cozying herself up under Raiden’s arm.

  “I’d never seen it before. It was great.”

  “I told you you’d like it.”

  He smiled and held her tighter. The cold weather outside was held back by the air conditioner, she knew, but the chimney was the thing that made snuggling even more comfortable.

  She loved being up there with him, in the mountain.

  “Do you miss it?” Raiden asked.

  “Do I miss what?”

  “Seattle, living in the city... you know, lots of things to do, thousands of people around—”

  “Traffic jams, being so stressed out my neck feels like rock at the end of the week, perpetual rain, spoiled brats trying to convince me to work at their parties so they can get more likes on Facebook. Besides, Paulie’s doing a much better job with the business than I ever did. There’s nothing to miss.”

  He smiled and pecked her on the cheek.

  “I love you,” he said, and butterflies fluttered in her belly.

  She’d found someone who completely loved her. Every inch of her. That supported her in her endeavors.

  He was the one who pushed forward the idea that made her a star.

  Shifters of the world was a series of one-hundred and ninety-nine photographs that showed the men and women behind the animals.

  She’d started with the White Paws, of course. Their mates, their lives. Of course she hid the details. The Shadowlands and the Rot was a high level secret, but not the guys themselves.

  Then he took her to the wolf ranches down south. She then traveled east and found about Ravens and other bird shifters. Their numbers were very low but they were strong.

  After that, they traveled to Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa. In the end she’d met Lions, Panthers, Elks, of course... and even a Hyena pack in Tanzania. They all told their stories.

  The exhibit was an instant hit. Cassie did TV interviews, got invited to dozens of galas dedicated to her work, and museums kept calling, trying to book her collection.

  Humanity got a glimpse of some of the shape-shifters life, and in return, the shifters were thankful for sharing their stories.

  She was an artist, she took pictures of men and women who bared their souls to her and humanity could share those moments through the lens of her camera.

  At last she felt her work was something more than just pretty imagery. It was doing something good for the world. It was transcendental. Life was perfect.

  “I love you too, Mister Bear,” she said, kissing him softly.

  He kissed her back, his hands pulling her to him.

  She wanted him. Always wanted him. She admired and respected him, not really believing that she found someone like him. But he always told her he was the lucky one.

  He always said it was fate, how they met.

  And she was glad. Not only she’d found love. He was insatiable.

  Just like her.

  She couldn’t even look at him dirty without knowing he’d make her pay.

  To be desired like this. Loved like this, it was something she thought only existed in fairy tales.

  His kiss moved to her earlobe and neck, then down to her chest. She was starting to lose herself in the warm sensation of his hands and lips when his cell phone alarm rang.

  “Woops” she said, sitting back up.

  Raiden turned the alarm off.

  “It’s time,” she said.

  His grip on her body was firm, as if letting her go was a struggle he could barely win.

  “It’s time,” he repeated, smiling, his eyes fixed on hers.

  They had to go pick up Dee at school, she had been rehearsing a play for a month now.

  She and a bunch of her friends adapted one of Dee’s favorite movies, Die Hard, to the stage, but this time it was a girl cop saving his
estranged husband.

  The whole thing sounded so fun Cassie wondered why no one had done it before.

  Raiden helped her up the sofa and she put on her coat.

  “Where’s my jacket?” Raiden asked.

  She looked around but didn’t see it.

  “Maybe it’s—”

  “Oh crap, it’s in the greenhouse, come on, let’s go get it.”

  She followed him to the back of the house, but what she was thinking was that he said the word “crap.”

  Dee’s scolding worked. A year ago he would’ve said... something worse.

  Raiden finished building the greenhouse seven months ago. It wasn’t huge but it served its purpose, Dee loved caring for the plants and vegetables.

  They skipped out of the house and into it as fast as they could, to avoid exposure.

  Cassie was shaking off the sleet on her coat when she smelled it.

  The usual farm smell, wet compost and dirt mixed with grassy tones was completely gone, replaced with the flowery, sweet scent of lilacs and gardenias.

  She looked up and the ceiling was covered in them, hung by colored strings, beneath the transparent glass ceiling. Raiden had arranged the garden inside and all the veggies were now set against far glass walls.

  He waited for her at the center of the room, just a few yards away.

  He took a remote out of his pocket and pressed a button, turning a thousand colored lights inside the glasshouse on. The windows reflected pink and purple hues.

  She gave small steps towards him, looking everywhere around the small building.

  “What is this?” she said, almost whispering.

  “Cassandra,” he started.

  Her heart raced, her eyes opened wide and her lips pursed. She was almost trembling.

  “You fill my life with color,” he continued, “I never believed I could find someone like you: intelligent, incredibly sexy and with a smile that takes me straight to heaven.”

  She was shaking, Raiden stopped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, his imposing frame contrasted by her own.