Bear Anchor (BBW Shifter Romance) (FisherBears Book 2)

by Becca Fanning

  Clay grinned. “That’s fantastic,” he said. “You have to know by now how much I like you, too,” he replied.

  Chloe felt a hot rush of adrenaline spike through her body.

  “Noah’s my son,” Clay continued. “And now I’m just happy that I get to be a part of your lives.”

  “What?” Chloe gaped. “Are you kidding me?”

  Clay shook his head. “Dead serious,” he said with a grin. “I donated sperm. It wasn’t supposed to be used, it was supposed to be for this…project,” he added. “But I was contacted recently, and told the truth. And Noah’s my son. I was looking for you,” he added. “And when I saw you, I just knew in my heart that I was going to love you forever.”

  “But-“

  “There’s more,” Clay said, “The whole point of that project was to do research on Bear Shifter DNA. I’m a Bear Shifter, Chloe, and that means Noah is too. I know this is a lot to take in, and if you need time to process-“

  Tears came to Chloe’s eyes. She sniffled and melted against Clay’s shoulder. “I should be freaked out right now,” she said softly. “But I’m not. I’m just excited. Is that weird?” She giggled. “I can’t believe that for once, my stupid intuition was actually right about something.”

  Clay wrapped an arm around Chloe and pulled her close. “I’m glad,” he said as he nuzzled her tousled blonde hair. “And I promise, I’ll always make sure your life is exciting. It’s not going to be like New York City, but Ithaca’s not so bad.” He winked at Chloe.

  “Really?” A tear ran down her cheek. “That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me before.”

  Clay winked. “As long as you like hiking,” he added casually. Chloe’s face fell. “I’m kidding!” Clay said quickly. “No hiking, I promise. Just lots of love, and lots of excitement.” He looked into Chloe’s eyes and she felt a flutter of love. “That sound good to you?”

  Chloe kissed Clay, closing her eyes and gently pressing her lips against his. When they broke apart, she sighed softly. “That sounds perfect. Me and my two Bears.”

  “Good,” Clay whispered into her hair. “Because I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Rust

  Secret Baby Bears V

  by

  Becca Fanning

  Blurb

  Samantha

  Rust was a man in pieces. He never had much going for him, truth be told. His broad shoulders and the golden shine in his Bear Shifter eyes meant he had few enemies, but that didn’t matter now. Haunted and tormented by a terrible event, he decided he’d had enough drowning in pity and sorrow. He would meet his fate, no matter the consequences. And if he could make someone’s life a little better in the process, so be it.

  Prologue

  “Hey, what about me?” Rust turned to the old lawyer. “What about my kid?”

  The men on the other side of the table settled into an uneasy silence.

  “Unfortunately, sir, there were complications,” Partridge said. “We wish we had good news for you.”

  Rust balled his massive hands into fists and slammed them down on the antique telephone table, shattering it into tiny fragments of wood.

  “God damn it,” Rust said. “Be straight with me.”

  Partridge swallowed uncomfortably. “I know this is probably difficult for you to hear-“

  “What are you saying?” Rust roared.

  Partridge’s cheeks flushed. “I apologize,” he said sadly. “There was simply nothing the doctors could do.”

  Chapter One

  Samantha Cardiff took a deep breath as the phone rang for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning. Her narrow blue eyes flashed with irritation. Don’t let it be Randy, she thought. Her micromanaging boss had been breathing down the back of her neck for two weeks now, and Samantha thought he was looking for any excuse to fire her.

  “Hello, thank you for calling the Langdon Center. This is Samantha, how may I help you?”

  There was no reply. Samantha frowned and tried as hard as she could to listen. There was nothing creepy – no one breathing or making lewd noises – but she had the feeling of being disarmed all the same.

  “I can’t hear you,” Samantha said cheerily into the receiver. “You’re going to have to speak louder.”

  When there was still no reply, she hung up and frowned at the phone.

  “That’s the second time that’s happened this morning,” Sam said under her breath as she situated herself in her orthopedic chair and turned her attention back to the spreadsheet on her screen. “I wonder what exactly is going on.” She frowned. Samantha had only been working as an administrative assistant for the Langdon Center for about a year. She didn’t exactly enjoy the job – on good days, it was tedious and on bad days, she went home with migraines – but she knew that it was good for her to be getting out of the house and staying active.

  “Hey there, Sam,” Randy said with forced cheer. He walked up to her desk and mimed a fist bump before putting his hands back in his pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet. “Almost ready for the weekend? Big three days off!” He let out an awkward guffaw.

  Samantha stared. “Right,” she said slowly. “Three day weekend. That’s exciting.” Her heart began to thud a little faster than usual and she swallowed. Not now, she begged herself. Not now, don’t think about it now, don’t think about it. “Are you doing anything?” She plastered a cheerful smile on her face as she looked at Randy’s face.

  “Oh, god, yeah,” Randy stretched his arms over his head and folded them behind his neck. “Family’s going swimming, to the beach, I think we’re even gonna have a barbecue!”

  “That sounds great,” Sam said mechanically. She turned her eyes back to the screen.

  “What are you doing?” Randy eyed Sam with curiosity. “Anything fun?”

  “I don’t think so,” Sam replied. She tried to smile again but it was physically painful. She and Randy locked eyes for a moment, then he loped off in the other direction.

  As soon as Randy had left her desk, Sam grabbed her purse and darted into the bathroom. She could feel her lip quivering and her eyes beginning to fill with tears. Don’t cry, she begged herself. Don’t start crying now. You’re at work, for fuck’s sake! Pull it together!

  Sam went into a stall and sat down on the toilet. She bowed her head so her thick black hair tumbled over her shoulders. She knew that the panic would pass, but it always took a few minutes to feel centered again. These panic attacks had been coming for about two years now, almost like clockwork, but recently they’d begun to ebb – just a little. Sam knew, deep down, that someday they’d likely go away. She just had no idea when that day would come.

  After a few minutes, Sam stood up and walked out of the bathroom. Thankfully, Randy was nowhere in sight and her desk was empty. Almost time for lunch, she told herself. So at least there’s that. Maybe I can treat myself today, get some Chinese food or something. Yeah, Chinese, I haven’t had that in—

  Sam jerked her head up as the front door to the Langdon Center opened. A tall, muscular man strode in. He had thick brown hair, tanned skin, and golden-amber eyes. There was a cleft in his chin and his sleeves were rolled up almost to his elbows, like he’d just come from working outside.

  Sam stood up, flushing at her quick response to the man. “May I help you?”

  “Yeah,” the man said. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. It was impossible not to notice how brawny he was. “I need to speak with you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said. She looked away. “What can I do for you?”

  “It’s personal, nothing to do with this place.”

  “Um, I’m sorry.” She looked back at the stranger and a weird little thrill went rippling through her body. “I’m not interested.” She blushed. “I mean, I’m not dating right now.”

  The man frowned. “I’m not asking you out.” He exhaled loudly. “I just need to speak with you.” He leaned over and Samantha jumped. When she realized he was re
ading her nametag, she blushed again. “You are Samantha Cardiff, right?”

  She frowned. “Am I in some kind of trouble?” Panicked thoughts began to run through her head – what if this guy is some kind of bounty hunter? Or a killer?

  “No, nothing like that.” The man swallowed loudly. “Please,” he added in a softer voice. “This is really important.”

  Samantha pursed her lips. “Okay,” she said. Shit! Why did I just agree? Who the heck IS this guy?

  The man seemed relieved. “Thank you,” he said. Samantha could tell that he was genuine. He handed her a slip of paper with a crudely written address. The handwriting was like a child’s – shaky and uneven. “This is a café a couple of blocks away,” the man said. “Can you meet me there in half an hour?”

  Samantha looked over her shoulder at Randy’s cubicle. It was empty.

  “Sure,” she said. “I’ll see you then.”

  The man turned heel and loped out of the office with an awkward, clumsy kind of grace. Samantha couldn’t shake the weird feeling in her stomach – who was that guy? She shivered, even though the office wasn’t air-conditioned and it was the middle of summer. Sam couldn’t remember the last time she’d met someone so intense.

  Twenty minutes later, Samantha sat sweating under the outdoor awning of The Corner Café. Her brow and the back of her neck were damp and she reached into her bag for a handkerchief, wiping the exposed skin. Her stomach was doing flip-flops – when the waiter arrived, she ordered an iced chamomile tea with mint and honey.

  “Anything else?”

  Sam swallowed and shook her head. “Not just yet,” she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

  When the man walked up a few minutes later, Samantha couldn’t tell if she was relieved or even more scared. He bowed his head to her and then lowered himself heavily into the dainty wicker chair.

  “Thanks for meeting me,” he said gruffly. “My name’s Rust. Rust Mondale.” He wiped the sweat off his brow and poured himself a glass of water from the carafe in the middle of the table.

  “I’m Samantha Cardiff. Well, Sam, really, but no one calls me that anymore.” She looked into his eyes. Despite the heat of the day, a chill ran down her spine. “But I have a feeling you already knew that.”

  Rust nodded. “I did,” he said. His voice was oddly formal, polite. “So, I’m sorry to ambush you like that. You were probably scared.”

  Sam gave a quick jerk of her head. “What is all of this about?”

  Rust sighed. “Wouldn’t you like to order first? Relax a little bit?”

  Sam shook her head again. “No,” she said. “I’d rather just figure out what all of this is about, if you don’t mind.”

  Rust sighed. He was fidgeting – Sam could tell he was playing with his hands under the table, flexing and cracking his knuckles. “Alright,” Rust said. He cleared his throat. “I was part of a research project, at Dodson University.”

  Samantha’s face went white. “That was the school in Erie,” she said. “I used to live there,” she added. “I just moved here….”

  Rust nodded. “Right,” he said. “Uhh, sorry, I don’t like drawing attention to it. Err, myself. What I am. Umm.” He looked off to the right and bit down on his lip. “I’m a Bear Shifter and I donated sperm as part of this project. It was at a lab. Speculon Laboratory. They’re a big national company,” he added, spreading his hands wide in the air. “It was supposed to be for research.” He paused. ”It wasn’t supposed to be used for implantation.”

  Samantha stared at him. “What are you saying?”

  Rust closed his eyes. “My sperm wasn’t supposed to be used for implantation. But it was. For you.”

  Tears welled up in Samantha’s eyes and her chin quivered. As the waiter darted between herself and Rust to place a sweating glass of iced tea on the table, she barely even noticed. Was my baby sick because of what he is?!

  “What are you doing here?” When she spoke, her voice was like metal. “Why are you telling me this?” She felt her expression twist into an angry scowl. “How the hell did you find out that it was me?”

  “We were summoned by a lawyer,” Rust said. “Me and the other four guys who were involved. There were a total of five accidents.” He cleared his throat. “Not accidents. Shit, I’m sorry. The other guys, my brothers, well, they all have kids now. And I know that your…our child was stillborn.”

  Samantha covered her mouth with her hands. “And they just told you my name?” Her voice became shrill. “What about doctor-patient confidentiality? What about HIPAA?” She was horrified. This scene was like something from her wildest nightmares, and she’d never felt so betrayed. I want to find that asshole who gave him my name and sue him within an inch of his life, she thought angrily. So much for privacy! You can’t trust anyone nowadays!

  Rust shrugged. “I didn’t expect them to give me your name,” he replied. “But I asked. And then they gave me your information. Everyone involved understood how unusual this situation was. I wanted to talk to you,” he added.

  Samantha’s shoulders sagged. A tear spilled down her cheek and she stood up abruptly from the table, spilling the iced tea. As it leaked onto her white slacks, she didn’t even feel it.

  “I have to go,” Samantha said hurriedly. “Don’t contact me again,” she added sharply. She took a couple of steps backwards and then broke into a run. When she was a few feet away from the café, the sobs began in earnest.

  I hate him, Samantha vowed in her head, closing her eyes as the hot tears leaked down onto her hotter cheeks. I hate him! How dare he! How dare he find me and try to make me feel bad for what happened! And I hate those doctors, too! And that stupid laboratory!

  As Samantha ran down the street, it didn’t even occur to her to go back to work. Instead, she ran into the parking garage and climbed behind the wheel of her sub-compact car. The air inside was hot and still and for a moment, Sam closed her eyes and let herself be cocooned. Then she burst into sobs. Burying her face in her hands, she closed her eyes. Sam hated thinking of that horrible day, but she could feel the memory coming on like one of her panic attacks.

  “I can’t believe it,” Samantha said. She gazed down at her giant belly, cradling it with her hands.

  “Believe it, baby.” Trevor leaned over and kissed her on the lips. As usual, Sam felt a tingle of excitement between her legs. Every time Trevor touched her, she felt so happy.

  “I don’t deserve this,” Sam said. She smiled at her fiancé, kissing him again. This time, the kiss grew more passionate. By the time Trevor pulled away, Sam was practically panting with lust.

  “Easy,” Trevor said with a grin. He winked at her and put his hand on her knee. Backing the SUV out of the driveway, he turned onto the road and began to speed up. “My parents are looking forward to seeing you, Sam. It’s been five months.” He laughed. “You didn’t even look pregnant the last time.”

  “And now I’m huge,” Samantha said, peering down at her distended stomach. “Trevor?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You think your parents will ever come around?”

  Trevor frowned. “I hope so,” he muttered. “They were pretty unreasonable at first.”

  An awkward silence fell over the car. Samantha and Trevor had been college sweethearts. After he’d asked her to marry him, they’d both gone to the doctor. Sam was eager to start raising a family, and at twenty-eight, she felt like she was the perfect age. She had a degree, a job, and a house – not to mention a charming and gorgeous fiancé.

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said suddenly. “I’m sorry that it couldn’t be yours.” She pulled Trevor’s hand over and rested it on her belly.

  “I know, babe,” Trevor said soothingly. “But it’s not like I’m not going to love our kid. I know he’s gonna be perfect.”