Big Bear Mountain - The Complete Series

by Bianca James

  “Would that be so terrible, Rosie?”

  “I guess not. I’m still protective of my boys, you know and I still worry that with all these tourists people will find out about you and your special gifts,” she whispered the last part in case prying ears were nearby.

  “We all would have been lost souls if you hadn’t brought us together, here on the mountain. You made us a family, starting with me. I’ll never forget what you did for me in giving me a home and a purpose. I don’t know what would have happened if not for you, Rosie.”

  Tears sparkled in Rosie’s eyes as she quickly turned to take the plates to the kitchen. She didn’t want any of them thinking she was getting soft in her old age. But she smiled to herself and was comforted by the thought that Spider had finally found peace and a family of his own. He was a good man and he deserved it. She had a good feeling about Erin, too and knew she had a good heart and deserved all that Spider had to offer her.

  THE END

  Please keep reading if you’d like to enjoy the free bonus story (Unexpected Mate – Dragon Shifter Romance) included with this collection. But before you do that, perhaps you could take a moment to post a review on Amazon? Indie authors don’t have large publishing companies behind them to advertise and promote their books, so we rely heavily on readers posting reviews of our books and recommending our books to others.

  If you do post a review on Amazon, please email me at bianca.james888@gmail.com so I can send you a personal thank you.

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  Unexpected Mate

  Chapter 1

  Olivia

  The ancient, rusted bell above the door of the diner sprang to life as the door opened, allowing a cold wind to fight its way into the cozy, warm diner.

  Olivia noticed him straight away and felt the mood in the room change in a way that was almost palpable. Momentarily, she stopped wiping the cracked and aged counter top to look up at the customer who brought more than just the chill of the night air with him into the diner.

  She knew trouble when she saw it and there was no doubt in her mind that she was looking at a hell of a lot of it right now as he propped the door open with his helmet.

  “You plannin’ to shut that damn door any time soon?” she asked gruffly, hand on hip, hoping he’d turn his sorry ass around and close the door behind him.

  His piercing emerald eyes scanned the room as if he was looking for someone. Or just looking for trouble. Olivia couldn’t quite tell, but either way, she wanted the tall, muscular biker out of her diner before he found whatever the hell it was he was looking for.

  Without a word, he pushed the door shut and a silence hung in the air, no longer broken by the rush of wind through the doorway. Graceful as a panther and looking just as dangerous, he strode confidently toward the counter before taking a seat and placing his helmet on the seat next to him. Given the lateness of the hour, only a few diners were seated, finishing their meals, but all eyes were fixed on the stranger as forks of food remained poised in mid-air for fear they might miss something if they ate.

  “Menu, please?”

  “Excuse me?” Olivia asked. She’d heard him speak, but couldn’t make out what he said.

  “Can I have a menu, please?” he repeated calmly, as if he was used to women staring at him blankly.

  Olivia stared into his unnaturally bright eyes, and could almost feel the dusting of stubble on his skin on her fingertips as she imagined stroking his impossibly handsome face.

  “Miss?”

  Her cheeks flushed crimson as she tried to compose herself, fumbling with a menu as she poured him a glass of water. After taking a quick look at the menu, he returned his gaze to the sturdy, curvaceous waitress and waited for her to take his order.

  “What’ll it be?” she asked, with all the disinterest she could muster.

  “Burger. Rare. Very rare. Like, knock its horns off, wipe its ass and stick it in the bun, kind of rare. Hold the salad and the pickle.”

  Unable to break from his penetrating gaze, Olivia did her best to write his order on the pad that looked almost comically small in her large hands. She had no idea why he was having this effect on her. Actually, she knew exactly why he was having this effect on her and she hated herself for allowing her body and her heart to yearn for this … biker.

  Looking at his strong, thickly muscled arms, she knew exactly how it would feel to be wrapped in them, protected by them. To have them wrapped around her ample waist and to feel his warm breath tingling like butterfly wings on the nape of her neck.

  Suddenly, she snapped back to reality and snatched the menu from his hand as she turned to spike the order and ring the bell to alert the cook. She also knew how it felt to wake up one morning to a cold, empty bed without even a note to say goodbye. Of course, they all love you how you are and love every inch of your soft curves when they want something. Then, when they get what they’re after, they’re off to find someone younger, skinnier and prettier.

  She knew the type. She knew his type.

  Olivia mentally kicked herself in the ass for drooling over the blow in. She wanted him to eat his burger and get the hell out of her diner. She was done with his type. Hell, she was done with men altogether. Every last lying, cheating one of them.

  Chapter 2

  Declan

  Declan had been hunting most of the night and while his dragon could keep going relentlessly, his human could not. He needed food. Meat — as raw as he could get it. He was surprised, but relieved to find a diner in such and seedy part of the city that was still open for business, but being in this part of town had certain risks. You couldn’t be too careful when it came to dragon hunters and this was their hunting ground, too.

  Parking his rather large and recognizable bike in the alley around back, Declan surveyed the area carefully before entering the unassuming eatery and getting eyes on the motley collection of late night diners enjoying their well-cooked human food. Hunger can make you careless. Careless can get you killed. Or worse.

  His dragon sniffed the air as soon as he entered; holding the door ajar in case a quick getaway was needed. If a hasty retreat wasn’t called for after his reconnaissance was complete, it certainly wasn’t going to happen after he laid eyes on her. He saw her behind the counter as he stood in the open doorway. When she spoke to him, actually she yelled at him, he realized that he’d been holding his breath. She had literally taken his breath away and his dragon stirred deep inside him at the sight of her gorgeous, voluptuous figure. He was speechless as another part of him stirred to life inside his fitted jeans as he walked toward her.

  She was a treasure. An absolute jewel. And if there was one thing a dragon shifter prized and valued above all else, it was treasure, no matter what type of treasure.

  This was a woman built for endurance, not speed. A woman built to handle a dragon shifter without suffering the consequences, as was the case with most human women. This was a dragon shifters perfect mate, if ever he’d seen one. And until now, he’d never seen one.

  While he waited for his burger to arrive, Declan took inventory of his collection of injuries. It had been a rough night and although his shifter blood allowed him to heal faster than humans, that didn’t mean he wasn’t susceptible to certain infections. As he carefully removed a makeshift bandage from his bleeding hand, he winced at the flaps of skin hanging by a thread on his first two knuckles. Without a second thought, he ripped the loose skin off and flicked them to the floor.

  “Do you have a first aid kit I can use?” he asked the waitress who stared at the discarded skin on the floor and looked like she was going to hurl.

  “The sign on the door says ‘Mal’s Diner’, not emergency-fucking-room,” she said, pointing to the neon sign above the door with its near terminal, flickering ‘D’.
>
  “And we don’t want any trouble here, mister,” she continued “or I’ll be calling the cops faster than you can say ‘dope peddling biker’. Got it?”

  Declan looked down at his raw knuckles, then back to the waitress. “No, it’s not what you —”

  Olivia raised her hand to silence him. “Do I look like I care? I’m here to make minimum wage serving the likes of you. I don’t get paid enough to listen to your lying ass.”

  The bell in the kitchen dinged and she retreated to the serving window to collect his order, stooping to collect something from under the counter along the way. When she returned, she placed a small first aid kit beside his plate.

  “Pack it up neat like you found it when you’re done,” was all she said, trying to avoid his mesmerizing and fiery eyes.

  Chapter 3

  Olivia

  Olivia was exhausted by midnight, when her shift ended and Mal, the owner of the diner, who also happened to be the grill cook, finally flicked off the ‘open’ sign in the window. As she finished mopping the last section of floor, the idea of collapsing into a warm bed and sleeping for the next couple of days seemed like a tempting proposition.

  She would have done just that, too, if it wasn’t for the extra shifts she’d picked up in an effort to pay off the loans that had been weighing her down for the past year. Who knew that cosigning for a bunch of loans was going to end up a life sentence with no time off for good behavior? That’s what happens when you start following your heart instead of listening to your head and falling for a guy who promises you everything you ever dreamed of. A guy whose mouth writes checks his ass can’t cash. A guy who says he’s going to change his ways and settle down. A guy who’s willing to give up his bike and the open road to make a home and care for his woman.

  Lying sacks of shit, every last fucking one of them.

  No, there would be no all-day slumber for Olivia and her aching feet. Tomorrow morning she’d be back at the diner for the 6am breakfast shift. The finance companies had taken nearly everything she had and owned nearly every dollar she earned in wages and tips, but she’d be damned if they would break her spirit or steal her pride. She’d pay off her debts, his debts, if she had to work the rest of her life to clear her name and get them all off her back.

  Blood sucking pricks, every last fucking one of them.

  “Give me that, you look beat,” Mal said, holding out his hand to take the mop from Olivia’s tired hands. Mal put in longer hours than anyone, as the owner of the struggling business, but he was always happy to help out his employees when he could. “Go home. Get some rest, just lock the door on your way out, will ya?”

  “I’m too tired to even argue with you, Mal. Thanks, you’re a gem,” she looked down at him through her weary eyes and handed him the mop handle before untying her apron and gathering her handbag from behind the counter. She glanced at herself in the mirror and saw the dark circles around her eyes.

  I look like a raccoon. Perfect.

  “Be safe,” Mal called as she made her way to the door.

  “You think I’m gonna get attacked? Yeah, right … because large, curvy women with raccoon eyes are so hot right now. Tomorrow, Mal.” She waved him goodbye and locked the door.

  Chapter 4

  Declan

  Declan travelled light. It was the only way to move fast and not get caught. Moving fast and not staying in one place too long were all he had to keep himself alive and free, now that he no longer had the clan to watch his back. There was a time when he thought that being cast from his clan of dragon shifters was the worst thing they could have done to punish him, but now his new life seemed to suit him. He enjoyed the freedom, or at least his human form did.

  His dragon — not so much. His dragon needed to run free, hunt for prey and mete out justice to those who preyed on meek humans who couldn’t protect their families or defend themselves. That’s how it had been for thousands of years for dragons like Declan. That’s what they’d been bred for in ancient times. It was their raison d’être. Part of their DNA. But it wasn’t so easy to run free as a dragon in the middle of one of the largest and busiest cities in the world, which is why dragon shifters rarely ventured outside of their native lands.

  As he gazed at the Manhattan skyline, Declan was struck by the irony that a city filled with art deco buildings guarded by hand crafted dragon sculptures or gargoyles as the humans called them, should be such a hostile and lonely place for a dragon shifter to live.

  He missed his clan and being able to shift and soar among the clouds whenever he pleased. Sure, riding a motorcycle was a type of flying, or at least felt like it, but it was a poor substitute for stretching his wings and roaring to the heavens as he soared to impossible heights. The clan had all but clipped the wings of one of their greatest fighters and sent him away because he wouldn’t bend to the ancient custom of coupling with the mate chosen by the clan Elders.

  The yearning in his heart that longed to be filled was something they simply didn’t … no, couldn’t understand. Declan was the first of a new breed of dragon shifter and he’d known that from the time he was born. He’d always felt different and his own family knew it to be true, too. That’s why they tried so hard to keep his secret from the Elders. Being different was a danger to the clan. Their survival depended on unity and sameness. That’s how it had been for millennia.

  Only a dragon shifter can mate with another dragon shifter. Declan had always known this, despite his uncanny and frustrating attraction to human females. He’d always known that human women could never survive the rigors of a dragon coupling, so he accepted that he’d never find a mate and would be destined to roam the earth solitary and mate less.

  If he’d taken the mate chosen for him, he’d still have his clan, his family and his home. But he knew he’d never have his happiness of the true love that the kind and gentle heart, which beat within the powerful and menacing dragon body, ached for.

  So lost was Declan in his recollections, as he stared in awe at the city lights, that he almost ignored the unmistakable sound of a gunshot from a nearby street.

  Bring it on.

  He ran without hesitation to the source of the grim and foreboding sound, his dragon instincts guiding him unerringly through the network of dark, stinking alleyways while his dragon eyes glowed vivid red, cutting through the darkness and allowing him to see as if it were daylight.

  Even as he ran, he had to struggle against his dragon, which had begun to shift, in readiness for battle. His human form fought to regain control, to keep the dragon hidden until the situation had been appraised. That was the one skill he had never truly mastered, the ability to maintain total control of his shift. The very reason he had always believed he would never find a mate in the human world — because he couldn’t be sure of losing control during his coupling. The thought of harming his mate was unbearable and a risk he would never take.

  Turning the corner at full speed, his clawed feet gripping the pavement, Declan stopped dead. His mouth gaped open and a puzzled expression clouded his face as his eyes became human once more.

  Fuck me!

  Chapter 5

  Olivia

  It wasn’t often that anyone was stupid enough to mess with someone Olivia’s size and obvious strength, but being part of a gang often had a way of making people more fearless than they otherwise might be. Combine that with a few drinks and maybe some drugs, then stupidity and bravery start to combine into a dangerous, sometimes lethal cocktail.

  Olivia saw them slink out of a darkened doorway as she walked past. You didn’t walk home in this part of the city late at night without learning to take care of yourself and Olivia took pride in her situational awareness and her general ability to take care of herself. She wasn’t afraid. At first.

  Only when it became apparent that they were a gang of four and they were closing the gap behind her that she started to worry. But she didn’t panic. One of the first things she learned in her Krav Maga class was not
to panic, to remain in control of her emotions.

  Without warning, she stopped abruptly and turned on her would be attackers.

  “Can I help you with something?” she asked, hoping the tightness in her throat didn’t betray her fear.

  The three shorter ones looked to the tallest of the gang, the alpha, Olivia surmised, then at each other. Clearly they had done this before but that thought gave her no comfort as they lunged to snatch her purse, flick knives at the ready to slice the shoulder strap. Or her.

  With blinding speed and in one fluid movement she dropped her purse to the ground, altered her stance and lashed out with a vicious and unrestrained elbow strike to the nose of the nearest assailant. With a horrendous shattering of facial bones, he collapsed, gagging as blood erupted from his shattered nose.

  Paying no attention to the now disabled attacker, she threw her considerable weight behind a low kick to the leg of the second gang-banger, who made the mistake of stopping to look at the damage done to his buddy. Her brutal and well placed shin connected with his side of his thigh, taking out his sciatic nerve, dropping him like a brick on the hard pavement where he screamed like a little bitch.

  “You want some?” she said to the third and understandably hesitant mugger.

  He looked her in the eye, his fear clearly evident. Then he looked at the alpha gang-banger. His fear of him seemed to tip the balance against her and he lunged with his knife pointed at her stomach.

  Slapping her palm against his wrist with lightening speed, she deflected the weapon before immobilizing his knife wielding hand with an excruciatingly painful armbar that would have made Ronda Rousey proud. But with two other attackers in the wings, submission wasn’t enough. He needed to be taken out of the game. With a sickening crunch of tendon and ligament she hyperextended his elbow. He screamed a stomach-churning scream. Just as he thought it couldn’t get any more painful, Olivia brutally guided his wrist, which still clutched the knife like his life depended on it, toward his leg, embedding the sharp blade deep in his thigh muscle. His screams were earsplitting.