Billionaire Bear Brotherhood Box Set

by Lily Cahill

  "I want you to complete me."

  Ava flicked a tear away from her eye. The silence was agonizing, but Liam had done everything he could think of. He'd poured his heart out, and now there was nothing left to do.

  Finally, Ava nodded.

  He ran toward her, closing the distance between them. She dropped the book and let her body mold into his. He grabbed her face in his hands and kissed her. His hands moved up to her hair. Warmed by the sun, it blanketed his hands. He picked her up, and instinctively she wrapped her legs around his waist. He put his hands on her ass, so happy that he was finally allowed to touch her again. He squeezed, loving how full his hands felt, and hitched her up higher. She bent her head to him and kissed his face, covering him from his forehead to his nose to his eyes to his mouth. Blindly he carried her through the house, kicking the bedroom door open and collapsing on top of her on the bed. She unhooked her feet and started to let her legs fall off his back but he stopped her, grabbing her thighs.

  "Don't. I want you wrapped around me."

  She craned her neck up and captured his lip in between her teeth, pulling him into a kiss and wrapping every part of her around him. She arched her back and ground her pussy into his hardening cock, kissing him. His hands tangled in her hair. Their limbs tangled around each other. Liam angled himself back and looked at Ava. Her hair splayed out around her in a perfect golden halo.

  Her sundress buttoned down the middle and he tore at it, popping the buttons off and exposing Ava's naked breasts and blue panties to him. Her pink nipples peaked upwards, beckoning to Liam.

  "I've missed your body so much. I've dreamed about your pussy. I've dreamed about fucking you every day since we've been apart."

  Goose bumps appeared on Ava's arms, and he bent to kiss them away. She lifted her hips, letting him remove the last garment keeping him from her.

  He slid his cock against her folds and eased himself in. The release of feeling her around him was like seeing the sun after a long spell of cloudy days. He bent forward, kissing her neck and nibbling on her earlobe.

  "You fit me so perfectly," Ava whispered to him, nudging her face into his. He thrust into her, deeper this time, finding all of her hidden secrets. She moaned and called out his name, throwing her head back. He kissed her neck again, waiting for her to come back to him. He locked eyes with her and eased himself in and out of her, holding on hard to her hand, interlaced with his and pinned above her head. He stared deep into her eyes, thrusting in and out. The connection between them, their eyes, their hands, his cock in her pussy, it was a lock sliding into place. The sensation building between them threatening to spill over. Liam kept his slow, methodic pace, holding on for as long as he could.

  "I love you," Liam whispered.

  "I love you," Ava whispered back, just before they both came, unable to deny the release any longer.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ava

  Ava stared at Liam, this man who had stolen her heart so quickly. She scratched her fingers through his beard and up onto his head. Liam arched his neck, pushing his head further into her touch.

  "Liam, there's something I have to tell you." She sat up in the bed, tucking the covers under her arms and holding it over her breasts.

  Liam trailed his fingers lazily over her upper arm. She took his hand in hers and laid it on the bed.

  "I'm ...," the words stuck in her throat. "I'm pregnant." Pregnant. The word fell out of her mouth one letter at a time.

  "I know." His eyes twinkled and his mouth twitched in a smile. "I saw the book in your bag the other day. And then I kind of forced your sister to confirm it."

  His smile faded. "I actually have a few things to confess, too." He took a deep breath. "There's a lot you don't know about me."

  Ava's stomach dropped to her feet. It was all too good to be true. He's married. He has a secret family. He has an STD. He's a robot! Her mind raced with all of the terrible things he could tell her that would make her kick herself for trusting him. She'd spent all this time resisting, and her fairy tale couldn't last more than one final good romp in the sack. She almost didn't even want to know what was wrong with him.

  "It's fine. Just go." She started to get up from the bed, making sure to keep the blanket tucked in close to her body. This was all such a mistake.

  "Wait." Liam grabbed her arm, but she pulled away. She just wanted to find her clothes, get dressed and move on. She pulled on a pair of panties, turing away from Liam as she shimmied the garment up her body with the sheet covering her like a dress.

  "It doesn't change anything. At least not for me. I want to be with you." He got up out of the bed and went to Ava, turning her toward him. "I want to be with you forever." She was still trying to look away from him, unsure of where this was going. He wouldn't have said that there were things she didn't know about him if there wasn't more. She waited with her arms folded over her chest. If he had to say it, whatever it was, let him do it and get out.

  "But not just forever. For eternity. Because you're my soulmate."

  Ava felt the same way about him, but she wasn't ready to give in yet. Was this him trying to let her down easy?

  "And I'm so sure about it. I'm so sure because I've never felt this way before. It was physically painful to be away from you, and even though this past week had been awful, waiting for you to talk to me and trying to win you back, it's the happiest I've been since you left. But I also know because this is how it works for my kind."

  "What kind is that?" Ava wanted to have an edge to her voice. She wanted to stay mad and accusatory, but she found herself feeling curious and hopeful.

  Liam looked at her bedroom ceiling like he was going to find an answer written there.

  "I didn't think I'd be this nervous." He let out a small half-laugh. "I'm just going to do this like pulling off a Band-Aid." He breathed in and out a few times, short and quick, amping himself up.

  "I'm a bear shifter. And a billionaire. And a twin. And we're fated to be together."

  After the words bear shifter, she stopped listening. She pushed him hard in the chest.

  "If you're not going to be serious, you can go." Stupid, stupid, Ava. She believed all that mushy crap only to be the butt of a joke. She should have known that nobody sincerely spoke that way, about soulmates and eternity. Anger and sadness boiled together like a storm in her stomach.

  "What don't you believe? I can prove it to you--all of it."

  "Everything you said was preposterous."

  Liam bent to his clothes on the ground and pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and opened up a photo. It was a picture of Liam, and someone else that looked exactly like Liam only without the beard, in tuxedos. It was the same man from the photo in the cabin, only she hadn't realized then they were twins.

  "This is from two weeks ago. We're identical." Ava could see that. She wasn't sure she would have been able to tell them apart if it wasn't for the beard. He closed out the photo and opened up an internet browser, pulling up the website for Bowen Enterprises.

  "Isn't that the solar panel company?" Ava asked, peering over his shoulder. She was more intrigued now.

  "Yeah. My brother and I built it. I'm technically still an owner. Even though I haven't been to a board meeting in years."

  Ava's head was swimming. She put two fingers to her temple.

  "I thought I was crazy for loving someone I barely knew, but now I'm sure I'm crazy."

  Liam dropped his hand that was holding his phone, forgetting about the proof he was scrolling through on the link. His head perked up toward hers, a smile breaking open on his face that made happy little wrinkles in the corners of his eyes. It was the pure smile she'd seen in the photo on his cabin wall. It made her swoon all over.

  "I love hearing you say you love me. Say it again." Ava didn't think it was possible, but his smile grew even wider.

  It was crazy that she still wanted to be with him after all of this. It was so much so fast, but when Liam had said that he wan
ted to be with her for eternity, the words just felt right. She wanted to be with him for eternity. She didn't just want a partner and a father for her child. She wanted Liam. She wanted him like she wanted air.

  "I love you." He got a goofy, moony look on his face, and Ava swatted at him, barely able to contain a smile that was creeping on her face. His was spreading so wide it was leaking onto her.

  "Okay, so you're a twin and a billionaire, but you can't be ...," she felt silly even saying the words. "A bear shifter. They're just an urban legend."

  Liam didn't say anything, but he started to transform right before her eyes. His nose elongated into a snout and his limbs thickened, growing hair at a rapid pace, covering his body completely until Liam was gone and a grizzly bear was in her room instead.

  She screamed and jumped up on her bed. She clamped both her hands around her mouth. Dumbstruck. No amount of warning or talking could have convinced her that there would be a bear standing in the middle of her bedroom. The bear laid down, placing his oversized head on his paws, and looking up at her like a domesticated house pet. He held her eye contact, and Ava felt her heartbeat start to return to a normal pace. His eyes, the bears eyes, were exactly Liam's eyes. She sat on the edge of the bed and reached her hand out to the bear. The silky texture of his fur even felt the same as his normal hair. He nuzzled into her palm and then shifted back, so her hand was woven into Liam's hair. The same brownish-red of the bear's coat transforming back onto Liam's head. Liam rested his head in her lap and let her cradle him there, not pushing for anything to make sense, but letting her make the next move.

  "A bear shifter." There was so much information flooding Ava's brain she didn't feel like should could process it all.

  "Have you always been this way?"

  Liam nodded his head. "The day I found you in the woods. I was a bear, and I heard you cry out. I don't think I would have even known you were out there if I had been a man at the time. But yes, I was born this way."

  "Is that why you lived in the woods? To be a bear?" In some weird way, everything was making a lot more sense now. Why Liam would live alone in the woods. Why his cabin was so comfortable. All the picture frames on the walls.

  "I built Bowen Enterprises with my brother and we shifted together. We were a part of the same brotherhood of bear shifters."

  "Are there are lot of you?" Ava blurted out. She was just getting used to the idea that Liam was a shifter, but a whole world of them made her feel dizzy again.

  "More than you would think. Anyway, I felt trapped in the city. He didn't. The business didn't need me any more, and I just felt like I had to make a change. To embrace living as a bear instead of a man."

  "What about now?" Ava lowered her voice. Now that Liam had bared his soul to her, she wasn't sure she could harden her heart against him anymore. All of this back and forth about whether she could trust him had left her weary, with no energy left to fight was she really wanted--to be with him. For eternity.

  "I don't care about that anymore. I think I'll always want more time in the woods to run and be free than my brother does, but I don't care about living that way. All I want is to be with you. I don't want to miss out on another minute of my life with you." He laced his fingers into hers.

  "So we're fated?" Ava said finally. She liked the sound of it in her mind. What they had here in this room felt perfect, even if it didn't fit in with the list she'd been so worried about.

  He nodded up at her. "So what does that mean?"

  "It means that we were made for each other. That you are the one and only person that I will ever want to be with for as long as I live. And it means that we can carry on the shifter legacy."

  "So this little guy," she pointed to her stomach and saw happy years fly across her mind. Images of Liam pulling a fussy baby from her arms and soothing him, Liam running with their child, the two of them holding hands watching their son grow into a man. She could see their entire futures and felt with sureness that the future she imagined would come to pass. "He's going to be ...?"

  Liam nodded again, putting his hand on her tummy. "A shifter."

  Part Five: Bonus Content

  Bonus Material

  You can call me Pablo. It's not my real name--not even close--but I keep my real identity close to my chest. In my role as liaison between the council of the Billionaire Bear Brotherhood and the wealthy shifters who make up the club's membership, privacy is my utmost concern.

  No one knows the names of the council, not even me. My own father could be among them and I wouldn't know. The council, including my position, is randomly chosen every five years. I have three years left on my tenure. Most of the time, my duties are onerous. The council only involves itself in matters of the utmost importance, and that means that I am the gatekeeper between them and the petty squabbles that can sometimes erupt between the members of the Brotherhood. From time to time, the council must be convened to deal with a particularly significant matter, especially anything that might jeopardize our secrecy as shifters. That means most of my time is spent in tense situations, making difficult decisions. But not today. Today is my favorite day of the year.

  It's Mate Initiation Day.

  I carefully spread a white silk cloth over a high table, placing heavy silver candelabras on either end to secure the cloth against the soft tropical breeze. This year's initiation is taking place in Belize, at an exclusive beach-side villa that belongs to the Brotherhood. The view is rather stunning--crystal clear water licking white sand, framed by swaying palm trees--but it is my duties that have my attention now. The ceremony has been honed over generations of shifters. More than any of my other duties, I want to get it right.

  First, I scatter tumbled stones over the table. They aren't precious, but each is beautiful and unique. Then the crystal chalice, empty for the moment. Last, the carved wooden bowl filled with multicolored rose petals. Their scent teases my nose, sweet and strong. Someday, I too will find my mate, and we will come here to pledge our lives to one another. The yearning for her is just as sweet and strong as the scent of the roses.

  I check my other supplies. Everything is in order. I am about to pull up the sleeve of my bespoke black suit to glance at my antique watch when I hear voices echoing against the marble of the hall. This house, like all B3 retreats, was designed with luxury and privacy in mind. Each wing has a separate stairway that spills out into a large, open portico. One by one, this year's couples descend.

  First, there is Marcus Sinclair and his mate Skye. She looks statuesque in a crimson gown that spills to her spiked heels, which almost make her taller than Marcus. Next is Everett Bowen and his mate Candace. She is sleek and stylish in WHATEVER CANDACE WOULD WEAR. They are followed by Caleb Ingram, the tech billionaire, and his scholarly mate Kam. Her black dress appears simple, but I know exquisite tailoring when I see it. Finally, there is THE LAST COUPLE, WEARING WHATEVER THEY WOULD WEAR.

  Watching these lucky men with their beautiful mates, I feel a pang of envy. I want what I see in their eyes when they look at their women. Passion, affection, certainty. I have always wanted it, but I am yet to find it. I tell myself that every year that goes by is one year closer to finding her. My mate. But still, the years pass, lonely and unsatisfied.

  The pop of a champagne bottle gets their attention, and they have all joined me on the patio by the time I fill the final glass. Behind me, the sky is exploding with sunset. I slip into a South American accent--part of my disguise. "Good evening. Thank you for joining me. The commitment you make tonight is the most important of your lifetime. Some of you are already married, but this ceremony is binding in a way that human rituals can never be. You commit not only to each other, but to the Brotherhood."

  Candace raised her hand nervously. "We won't have to do anything gross, right?" She cast a nervous look at her husband Everett, who seemed to be suppressing a laugh.

  I give him a quelling look. Although technically a shifter is allowed to share everything with his mate, I still
felt instinctively that our initiation ceremony for new members--which did, in fact, include several activities that might be considered "gross"--should be kept private. Perhaps I'll feel differently when I have a mate of my own. To Candace, I offered a smile. "I assure you, madam, nothing about this ceremony will be unpleasant."

  Emboldened by the question, Kam Ingram raised her hand. "How long has this ceremony been in practice? How has it evolved over the generations? Who created it in the first place?"

  I was saved from the barrage of questions by her husband Caleb, who laid a hand on her shoulder. "Save your questions for later, Professor."

  "I still don't see why I can't have my recorder," she groused. "It's important data, and--"

  He silenced her with a kiss. "You can corner Pablo later and ask him whatever you like."

  I made a mental note to avoid Kam Ingram like the plague. Trying to get back on track, I gestured to the table and said, "If you will all please step forward."

  The eight of them crowded around the table. "Choose a stone from this table. Take your time and choose the one that speaks to you the most."

  It took a few minutes, but eventually every one held a stone. "Turn to your mate."

  The group broke into units, and I felt the pang again--how lucky they were, to always have someone to turn to. "Each of you, give your stone to the other and repeat after me. This stone is my heart. I give it freely to you, knowing you will cherish it."

  They repeated my words. Though the words were rote, each one of them had real emotion in their eyes. Colors bled across the sky as the sun sank ever lower.

  I collected their stones and, working quickly, wrapped each with high-quality silver wire. After fashioning a link, I threaded them with long silver chains. "This silver is the Brotherhood. We protect you, we support you. We are here for you, always. Your love for each other only strengthens your commitment to the Brotherhood."