by Lola Kidd
Beastly Bear
Shifters Brides Everafter
Lola Kidd
Copyright 2017 by Lola Kidd
Cover Design: Melody Simmons
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the express consent of the author.
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About This Book
Bear shifter Beckett Hansen wants nothing to do with the human world. All he wants is to be left alone in his mountain home. But a chance encounter with an eccentric professor brings the human world to him. The man begs for Beckett’s help and refuses to go away until he gets it.
Lenni Belle is having boy troubles. Her wolf shifter ex won’t leave her alone and it’s starting to freak the people in her life out, especially her father. She knows he’d never hurt her, he’s just has trouble taking “no thanks” for an answer.
When Beckett agrees to help Lenni, he ends up doing more than he bargained for. His bear takes a liking to Miss Belle and doesn’t want to let her out of his sight. There’s a pull deep inside him that’s getting hard and harder to ignore.
Will Beckett be able to keep Lenni safe from her ex and keep his distance? Find out in the second book in the Shifter Brides Everafter series!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Epilogue
A Taste: Taken by the Shifters
Other Books by Lola Kidd
Chapter One
Beckett pulled his long hair back in a messy bun and grabbed his sweatpants from the floor. His stomach rumbled. Technically, it was closer to lunchtime, but he was in the mood for French toast or waffles or pancakes. Anything he could drown in syrup. Maybe he should just skip the food and down a bottle of maple syrup instead. Decisions, decisions.
He left the master suite and descended the long staircase. "Potter?"
She didn't come at his call. He frowned. She was usually waiting with at least a cup of coffee when he got up. It didn't matter how late it was in the day.
He checked the kitchen and found it empty. He growled low in his chest.
"Patrick? Emily?" He called for the butler and maid as he went through each room on the lower level. He rapped at their bedroom doors and was greeted with more silence. Beckett kicked the door to Patrick's room open just to be sure no one was hiding inside.
Empty.
Had all of his servants taken the day off without asking?
He checked the calendar Potter had hung in the kitchen and got his answer. Penciled in was Staff Town Visit.
What the heck? He knew that wasn't there the day before. He had a few things from town that he needed, but it was a few days before the trip was planned.
He opened two cabinets and found three bags of instant coffee. He studied all three, smelling the beans to try to figure out which was his brand. He knew that Potter kept a stash for herself that was flavored. But all the bags had some kind of flavor. There was a vanilla, a hazelnut, and a pumpkin. He was sure that pumpkin wasn't for him, but after smelling it, he decided to give it a try.
The coffeemaker took another few minutes to figure out. He was ready to throw it against the wall before the thing started working. He was never going to argue with Potter again when she asked for a replacement. He would find one this afternoon after work. It should never be this difficult to make a single cup of coffee.
After waiting for a minute, he got bored waiting for water to boil. The sun was beckoning him. He needed to check on the progress the landscapers were making anyway.
He'd hired them to fix the mess his dragon shifter friend had made of the grounds. Jasper Collins was one of his oldest friends and one of the most prominent shifters in the entire country. When he'd needed to lie low for a while, Beckett couldn't have been happier to offer him a place to stay. He loved living in his mountain fortress, but sometimes it got lonely. He wished there were more trustworthy shifters in the area. When Jasper had made the call, Beckett knew it was going to be a great few weeks.
Jasper had been nursing a broken heart and had been down with roughhousing whenever possible. Beckett loved when he got the chance to let his bear run free and Jasper's dragon hadn't held anything back. The resulting mess had been fine with him, but Potter had hated looking at the charred grass and broken trees. He didn't want her to be unhappy, so he'd found the best landscapers money could buy and flown them in to fix what he and Jasper had done.
The team was worth every penny. In less than two weeks, they had already undone much of what the damage. While he was surveying the work, he spotted his beloved nanny-turned-house manager. "Mrs. Potter! I've been looking everywhere for you. Where is everyone?"
She sat up on the chaise she'd dragged from the porch. "In town. We needed some supplies."
"Why are you out here?"
Mrs. Potter hated the sun and the heat. She spent most of the summer in the cool air-conditioned house. He wondered why she'd risk getting sun damage on her unblemished skin. She wasn't even wearing a hat. For a human, she looked much younger than her age. Some of that was due to the mate mark from her late husband, but also because she avoided the sun. She'd been studious about for as long as he could remember.
"I couldn't bear to stay in there and listen to that man for a second more." She glared at Beckett. "Don't you think you could speak to the poor man and put him out of his misery?"
He shrugged. "I don't even hear him anymore. He'll tire of this and go away soon."
"He will not. I don't understand why you won't talk to the man."
"I told you," he said. "If I speak to this human, more will come. I'll lose my mysterious persona. They won't be afraid of me anymore."
"Well I can't take this. Call the police or talk to him." Mrs. Potter turned her attention back to her Kindle with fierce determination. He would be making his own breakfast this morning.
He walked back to the house muttering curses. He should have known better than to ever talk to a human when he was in town. He shouldn't have even gone to town in the first place, but he'd been craving a slice of pizza. That fateful weekend, he'd already given the servants the weekend off and Jasper had left for home after being reunited with his mate.
Even though he was sad seeing his friend go, Beckett had been in a great mood. He loved seeing people he loved find their mates. Feeling magnanimous, he'd given the staff the whole weekend off and let his rules slide. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He had made his rules for a reason. If he'd followed them, he wouldn't be in this mess
now.
He wouldn't make that mistake again. And he was going to get a gate. That had been his plan when he'd first moved here, but Potter had convinced him it was unnecessary. He was already "shunning the world" so there was no need for a big menacing gate around the property. She'd been right too. He'd never even gotten door-to-door salesmen or anything of the sort. Until he'd been stupid enough not only to go to town but to talk to a damn human once he was there.
His favorite pizza place didn't deliver to the mansion and without any servants, he had to go get it himself. When he got there, he had to wait a few minutes for his food. They were so busy and the place was packed. He'd stood patiently and scrolled through his phone as he waited. Even though he hadn't made eye contact with anyone and tried to look busy, an old man wearing odd clothes had struck up a conversation with him.
The old guy had seen something on a tabloid cover that he was apparently dying to talk about. It had been some crazy story about the Collins family. Real salacious stuff, like that Jasper's mom stayed looking young because she sacrificed virgins or something. The old man was agitated and was telling Beckett how insane the story was. The man knew a lot about shifters and Beckett had been glad to hear a human smart enough to know the crazy rumors were all horse shit.
He'd talked with the man and expressed how much he admired a man who did his own research. It was a short conversation on Beckett's part. He hadn't said more than four sentences, five tops. But he'd left the place feeling good and had a great night eating pizza and watching movies.
That initial good feeling was deceiving. The guy who had seemed so sane was anything but. Two weeks later the man had turned up on his doorstep. Beckett had no idea what he wanted, but he'd asked the butler to tell him to go away. The man had gone but had been back the next day and again the day after that. He'd come back every single day. He came and knocked on the door calling for Beckett. It was incredibly annoying. Didn't he have a job or a family? Beckett didn't even know how the man had found him.
Mrs. Potter had said to just call the police, but Beckett thought that was going too far. He didn't want to ruin the guy's life. He just wanted him to get off his doorstep. Now it looked like he wasn't going to have much choice. He could make his breakfast once a week, but if this guy annoyed Potter enough to shirk her duties, Beckett was having none of it.
He stomped to the front of the house and threw open the door. He let his shifter side show, his teeth and nails elongating.
He pulled himself up to this full height and glared at the man. "What do you want?"
Chapter Two
"Oh no!" Lenni Belle ducked behind a stack of books. She frantically motioned to her boss to get his attention. "Mr. Brooks. Psst. Mr. Brooks."
He turned slowly and raised an eyebrow from across the small bookstore. "What is it, Miss Belle? And why are you whispering? We're the only ones here."
"Shhh!" Her heart pounded in her chest and the hair on her arms stood up. She was sure that Ned was looking in the store and would spot her. "Don't look this way. My ex is outside."
Mr. Brooks shook his head and scowled. "Are we still doing this? I have half a mind to call the police myself at this point."
He went to the front door turned the sign to Closed and pulled down the front blind. He craned his neck looking out the front windows. "I don't see anyone out there."
Lenni came out from behind the books and breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart was still pounding. She had to look for herself to be sure. Her eyes swept around the empty parking lot three times before she could breathe easy. "Thanks. I don't have the energy to see him today."
Mr. Brooks took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Lenni, this boy is stalking you. I don't care how you want to romanticize it, this is dangerous. I've spoken to your father about this and we both agree that this situation has gotten out of hand."
Lenni's face burned. "You talked to my father?"
Mr. Brooks nodded. "I had to. I had hoped that he would be able to talk some sense into you, but I can see that isn't the case."
"I know that Ned come on a bit strong, but he means no harm." She wrung her hands together. "He would never hurt anyone. He's a big softie really. His bark is way worse than his bite."
Mr. Brooks went to the register and took the drawer. He took the notepad he used for counting down the register each night from under the desk. "I don't know how a girl like you falls for a boy like that in the first place."
"He's actually very romantic...well at least he was when we first started dating," Lenni said. They had met using a dating app. She wouldn't tell her boss that though. MateMe! was fun to use and she was hoping to find a new match soon.
The app was new and she was lucky to even get an invite to use it. There weren't many humans on the shifter dating app. Unless you knew someone, you couldn't even open a profile. Luckily, she knew a pelican shifter who'd been able to give Lenni an invite.
Lenni had never thought Ned would end up being such a jerk. She had spent almost a year dating the aloof wolf shifter. He was very attractive and had a great body, like most shifters. Most of the time he was very nice to her, but he had a way of making snide comments about her looks or her life choices. He's said that her going to community college was "a waste of time" since she only got a general business degree. With a body like hers, she was made for breeding. No point wasting time learning when she could be making babies.
His babies of course. Because she was his mate. He'd told her that every day since their first date. At the time, she had laughed off his remarks as funny, but over time they grated on her. Was that all he was interested in? Making babies and keeping his home on the pack grounds clean? It didn't sit right with her. She was more than a breeding factory. When she would bring up how much she hated it, he told her she was overreacting. He was giving her compliments after all. She was the only person in all the world who was good enough for him. She was the most beautiful, special woman in all the world.
It did sound sweet. She had been so excited when they'd first met and became exclusive. She supposed it was nice for a good-looking man to tell her there was something intrinsically special about her. And her father spent a lot of time talking about the pack and shifters in general. She had romanced the idea of dating a shifter. The reality wasn't so nice even if the guy was hot.
At least not with Ned. She had to break it off with him when he started asking her to move in with him. It didn't feel right and she knew the relationship had run its course. He took the breakup hard. He still texted her every day to let her know that he loved her and would do anything to make it work. He forgave her for her "little misstep." But it wasn't a misstep. She didn't love him anymore. She didn't want to be with him.
She did still want to date a shifter though. She hadn't given up on the idea of being someone's mate yet. One day, she might find the right shifter for her. Or not. Maybe she was meant to be a human man's wife. But she was still sticking to the MateMe! app. She would get out there as soon as she got Ned off her back. The wolf shifter seemed to be popping up everywhere. It was starting to creep her out and her paranoia was making things difficult for the people she cared about.
"You didn't have to close early on account of me," she told Mr. Brooks.
"It wasn't like we were going to have a rush of customers," he said placidly. He handed her the stack of cash to count and the paper to write down her final number on.
"You don't know that." She started counting the ones and then the fives. "Some people like to shop after work."
"No one likes to buy books in stores anymore." Mr. Brooks looked around. "At least not in little stores like this. We only get a rush when we have a guest speaker."
"Yes, but that's more than enough." Lenni finished counting the tens and started on the change. She liked counting the money but hated how little the total was on regular days. "Maybe we should add more guests for the summer. I could try finding more people to speak. I could use social media to contact autho
rs too."
"Thanks Lenni. You're the best worker a boss could ask for." He hugged her around her shoulders. "That's why I want you to be careful with this whole Ned thing. You don't know this boy that well and don't know what he's capable of. At least promise that you'll speak to your father about it."
Lenni shrugged and made a noncommittal noise. She hadn't seen much of her father for the last few weeks. He was out on one of his nature walks. She had dropped him off hours earlier. He spent the days she worked roaming around the mountain. He said he was trying to get in shape and wanted to search for shifter artifacts, but that was a bogus claim. There were no shifter pieces in the mountain.
She worried about him out on the mountain alone, but he had a phone and knew the area well. He was an adult. He could take care of himself. As long as he stuck to the trail, getting some air and stretching his legs. After all, it was only a year ago that she was telling him he spent too much time cooped up in his office.
It was difficult striking a balance with her eccentric father. She wondered how her mother had put up with it for so long. Not only put up with it, seemed to love it.
There was an ache deep in her chest remembering her mother shaking her head with chagrin at a crazy idea her father was describing. By the end of it, she had only laughed and caressed his cheek. She loved her "mad professor" so much. If she was still around, things would be so much easier.
"Done." She wrote her number on the pad and blinked a few times to stop the tears from falling. Her mother had died more than twenty years ago. It was far too long ago to shed tears over.
"Our numbers match. We're good." Mr. Brooks packed up the money and locked it in a drop bag. "You don't have to follow me to the bank. I don't think anyone is going to rob me for one hundred fifty dollars."
She checked the parking lot twice and had Mr. Brooks check around outside before she left the shop.
"Have a good night, Ms. Belle, and please consider calling the police," he said when they were next to her car.