by T. S. Joyce
“They came for Bear Valley a few years ago, and I lined up for battle there to finally avenge my people. But as the fighting started, the Long Claw’s new alpha called an end to the war. Eventually, the Long Claws who had ordered my clan and the Kodiaks to be annihilated were overthrown and killed. They’re a reformed clan now with new, ironclad alliances with Bear Valley. I try to tell myself that, but my bear only understands vengeance. There was no justice for my people. Now, I’m broken. You’re the only thing that has soothed me in the seven years since I lost them.”
Hadley rubbed her cool palm over her forehead, like it would calm the headache that was forming behind her eyes. No wonder Colin kept his secrets so guarded. His ability to keep them meant the safety of an entire group of people whose survival depended on humans not knowing about their existence. Oh, she could guess what people would do if they found out men who turned into grizzlies walked among them. They’d snuff bear shifters out entirely.
“Who else knows?”
“Shifters and human mates only. There are only a couple in Bear Valley. Riker, the alpha of Bear Valley has a human mate, and his sister is mated to a human, as well. You’re the only one outside of my people I’ve ever talked to about this.”
“Human mate? Is that what I am to you?”
“Yes.”
She clenched her hands as his words of devotion filled her with hope that they could have a future. She dipped her voice to a whisper. “When you asked me to be your Valentine, were you really asking me to be your mate?”
Such raw openness pooled in his eyes as he held her with his gaze. “Yes.”
A familiar fluttering filled her stomach, and she closed her eyes at the relief. Colin being a bear shifter didn’t change how she felt about him. It didn’t change who he was. He’d been more caring toward her than anyone she’d ever been with, and not even a hidden grizzly could change how pure and good his heart was.
Colin watched her with something akin to hope in his eyes. He approached slow and knelt down in front of her. He held her hands in his and brought her knuckles to his lips. He laid a long, tender kiss there as he searched her eyes for something she couldn’t fathom. “Is what you said out there still true? Do you still love me?”
She couldn’t help the slow smile that stretched her face. “Your bear doesn’t matter. I was scared when you turned into him because I didn’t expect it, but you’re still mine, Colin Cross, bear shifter of Blood Den. You’re a broken alpha, and I love you enough to want to shoulder that burden with you. You aren’t alone with this anymore. Now, you have me.”
Colin was meant for more than the life he’d forced himself into. It wasn’t his fault that his clan had died. The blame was on the clan who’d gone after his people. Anyone with eyes could see Colin bore the scars for his people. He’d tried to protect them at the cost of his body and soul, but she would do everything in her power to heal him.
No Valentine’s Day gift could ever touch the one he’d given her tonight. The one where he shared his deepest secret self with her and asked her to accept all of him. She did. She loved him more now because of his bravery. Her Bearman.
Someday, somehow, he would be the alpha of Blood Den again.
And it started with her.
She reached up and traced the curved scar across his cheek, the mark she’d grown to adore because it told of her mate’s strength. “Now, I’m Blood Den, too.”
Other Books in This Series
For more in this KDP All-Star series, follow the links below.
Bear Valley Shifters
The Witness and the Bear (Book 1)
Devoted to the Bear (Book 2)
Return to the Bear (Book 3)
Betray the Bear (Book 4)
Redeem the Bear (Book 5)
Bear Shifter Romance Newsletter Sign-Up
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Sneak Peek
THE WITNESS AND THE BEAR
(Bear Valley Shifters, Book 1)
Read on for a sneak peek of the thrilling first book in the Bear Valley Shifters series.
Chapter One
Today was as good a day to die as any.
Jimmy’s fingers dug into her shoulder as he shoved her out the window. “Hannah! Stop fighting me. If you don’t run now, it’ll be too late.”
Another tremendous crash rattled the room. Stone’s men were coming in sooner than later and the men protecting her were sitting ducks to the hell on the other side of that door. Jeremy watched her with an eerie glow to his dark eyes. Fluorescent lights and dingy walls had that effect on him. Braced against the door, he snarled, “Get out of here!”
“And what about you?” she snapped, lunging for the window and gripping the edges with straining fingers. “Huh? They’ll kill you! There is no end to their reach. They’ll keep coming until I’m dead and I’m tired of running. Just let them have me.”
Defeated. After the last time they’d found her, she’d skimmed the insanity train. Paranoia ruled her life. And not the I-smoked-a-joint-and-now-the-government-is-after-me kind. This fear didn’t end with the high. It stretched on and on until she would drown in it. Burn in it. Fall into the darkness wider than the known world and tumble forever, hitting every rock crevice on the way down until her mind was shredded. She was so damned tired of it.
“I’ll never forgive you,” Jeremy said. His cold eyes threw ice that pierced her heart. Gray hair cropped short, wrinkles that textured his face, and most of them were probably from trying to keep her safe for the past year. Witness protection gone horribly wrong. He’d given too much for her to give up now. He knew it, and begrudgingly, she knew it too.
“Jimmy,” she breathed, tears burning her eyes.
His grip on her shirt tightened and he shook his head, slow. Bright blue eyes filled with sadness so deep, she didn’t know how he could draw a breath. Jimmy and Jeremy wouldn’t come with her this time. Their last stand would be here, in this filthy apartment in Ashland, Oregon.
Crash. Plaster spewed from the walls and ceiling and Jimmy shoved her out onto the fire escape. “Climb down and run. Don’t stop until you know they aren’t following. Take this.” He shoved a Glock into the palm of her hand, the metal cold against the perspiration of fear. “Shoot ‘em if you’re cornered.”
Jeremy flew backward with the force of the next blow and Jimmy shoved her in the back. She fell forward, catching the grate with her knees and crying out at the sudden pain. Gunfire peppered the tiny space and she tumbled down the stairs, caught herself on the railing at the bottom and shot one last look to the window, then pounded the pavement with the soles of her sneakers.
Jeremy who’d given up his life as a civilian to protect her. Jeremy, who’d calmed her fears when Stone’s men got too close. Jeremy, who’d become more like father figure than friend. He was trapped in the middle of the rattling explosions.
A sob wrenched from her throat. The last good parts of her would die with him. His death was on her. She’d made the choice to testify against Stone and his men, and that decision had caused an earthquake that rippled through her life and killed people she cared about. If she lived a minute or a decade, she’d never curse another person with her love.
A hand reached out from the darkness and wrapped around her throat like a manacle. She tried to scream but her wind wouldn’t come through his crushing grasp and as the man emerged from the shadows, the flickering street light illuminated a long scar across his forehead.
Spinning, he slammed her against a brick wall hard enough to rattle her skull and blur her vision. Sparks whipped this way and that through the edges of her vision and warmth trickled down her neck. Yanking her long, honey colored hair out of the way, the man grunted a satisfied noise and the crack of metal on metal was deafening as he cocked his gun.
Definitely one of Stone’s enforcers. No one else would be interested in the scar that marked her.
Gravel met the flesh of her cheek as he slammed her to the ground, and when his weight disappeared, she rolled over. No way was she going to die with a bullet in her back. The least this asshole could do was look in her eyes when he pulled that trigger. Gunfire had tapered off from above, and the apartment behind his shoulder had gone dark. Her breath trembled, filling the night air with the traitorous proof of her fear. Heart hammering against her sternum, she glared at the sneering man.
“Go to hell,” he said, lifting the barrel.
“You first,” she snarled, pulling the trigger on the Glock Jimmy had gifted her.
His gun discharged at the exact same moment as hers, and pain ripped through her, shredding her insides until there was nothing left. The man sank to his knees with a shocked look as his unloaded weapon clattered to the cracked pavement. She struggled to breathe as he brought searching fingertips to his chest and pulled them back crimson.
The last thing she’d do on this earth was rid it of an evil man. Pride surged through her as he fell forward. Her hand lay limp in front of her, smattered with blood. It felt detached from her body. Everything did. Nothing worked except her lungs, dragging air in, and pushing it out, and even that small movement was failing.
The man’s eyes dimmed until the dark orbs saw nothing at all. Her lungs rattled with every breath, but she smiled despite the pain. Stone won the war, but at least she’d go out on this tiny victory.
Her vision shattered inward and she winced at the blinding pain.
Nearby, an animal roared loud enough to rattle her bones.
If it was her death the creature sought, he was too late.
She was already gone.
THE WITNESS AND THE BEAR
Available Now
Amazon
Other Series by T. S. Joyce
Hells Canyon Shifters
Call of the Bear (Book 1)
Fealty of the Bear (Book 2)
Avenge the Bear (Book 3)
Claim the Bear (Book 4)
Heart of the Bear (Book 5)
Wolf Shifter Series
Wolf Brides
Wolf Bride (Book 1)
Red Snow Bride (Book 2)
Dawson Brides (Book 3)
Standalone Shifter Romance
Coveted by the Bear
Amazon
About the Author
T. S. Joyce
T.S. Joyce is devoted to bringing hot shifter romances to readers. Hungry alpha males are her calling card, and the wilder the men, the more she'll make them pour their hearts out. Experienced at handling an alpha male of her own, she lives in a tiny town, outside of a tiny city, and devotes her life to writing big stories. Foodie, bear whisperer, ninja, thief of tiny bottles of awesome smelling hotel shampoo, nap connoisseur, movie fanatic, and zombie slayer, and most of this bio is true.
Bear Shifters? Check
Smoldering Alpha Hotness? Double Check
Sexy Scenes? Fasten up your girdles, ladies and gents, it’s gonna to be a wild ride.
For more information about T. S. Joyce and her work, visit her website here.
Contents
Copyright
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Other Books in This Series
Newsletter Sign-Up
Sneak Peek
Other Series by T. S. Joyce
Wolf Shifter Series
Standalone Shifter Romance
About the Author