by Opal Carew
He felt her move. He looked over to find her leaning up on one elbow, smiling at him.
“So, what’s the verdict?”
Brody wanted to laugh. He should have known his Nell would take life by the balls and face whatever would come of their joining head on. He loved the way she didn’t back down.
He levered himself over her, kissing her and aligning their bodies, reveling in the feel of her softness beneath him. If all went well, he’d feel these sensations for the rest of his life.
But he had to tell her and see what she’d say. He couldn’t put it off any longer, even if he was just a tiny bit afraid of rejection. He had to be a man and face her. If she didn’t want to be his mate, he’d just have to spend the rest of his life finding ways to convince her. He could do that, couldn’t he?
Brody lifted his head, ending the kiss, and met her gaze.
“You’re mine, Nell. My mate. Now and forevermore.”
She gasped but didn’t say anything while his heart climbed quietly into his throat. Why didn’t she say something?
Finally, she took pity on him. Her smile gave him hope as she leaned closer to whisper against his lips.
“I like the sound of that. Because you know what? You’re mine too. And I’m not ever letting you go.”
She sealed her words with a kiss, nearly tackling him with her enthusiasm. She ended up on top this time, and he didn’t mind a bit. She sank down onto his hardness and began a slow, perfect ride that sent his senses soaring.
He let her do with him what she willed. He was her slave. Her partner. And her protector. Now and forever.
As that crossed his mind, another thought occurred, and he broke their kiss, taking her by the shoulders to still her movements.
“Does this mean you’ll marry me?” He had to know she was willing to be his in the eyes of the human world, as well as by shifter standards.
“You’re asking me this now?”
She was laughing, her face aglow with the dew of her exertions. He wanted to lick her all over. Her breath came in labored pants as she tried to squirm on him. She had been nearing a peak, and he’d stopped her as his thoughts overcame his instincts.
“I need to know,” he said softly, hoping she would understand.
But she was his mate. Of course she understood. He saw the softening of her expression as she looked deep into his eyes. He had the sensation that she could see down all the way into his soul.
“Yes, Brody. I will marry you. It would be my honor to spend the rest of my life with you and make this house a home.”
That’s all he needed to hear. He kissed her, rolling with her so he was on top. He took over the work of grinding into her, driving her pleasure as high as he possibly could before he took his own. She came at least three times before he lost count and joined her in bliss.
He’d found his mate, and she was going to marry him. More than that, she liked his den enough to want to share it with him. Life couldn’t get much better than that.
It was after they had both come back from the biggest climax yet and were laying side by side in the bed when she spoke again.
“We’re going to have to tell my sisters, you know.” She sounded both worried and amused.
He liked the little designs she was tracing over his arm with her finger, absently petting him in a way he knew he would love getting used to over the next several decades. He looked over at her to find her staring at the art he’d painted on his bedroom wall last winter. It was a mural of a grizzly being followed by two cubs. It had been a hopeful bit of whimsy on his part, a dream of what he hoped someday might be in his future. And now, with Nell in his life, he finally had a chance at a family, if the Goddess so blessed them.
“I’m trying to think how to tell them without scaring them,” Nell went on, oblivious to his deeper thoughts. That was okay. There was plenty of time to discuss both of their hopes and dreams for the future.
“I’ll have to clear it with the Alpha first,” Brody said, drawing her attention. “I’ll talk to Big John first thing tomorrow.”
“Do you think he’ll object?” Nell bit her lip, looking adorably worried. Brody leaned over to kiss her, then relented once he felt her tension dissolve.
“I’ll convince him,” he promised her as he drew back to look at her. “You’ve been here long enough for him to get to know you and your family. I know you can all be trusted, and my counsel counts for a lot with the Alpha. I’m one of his top lieutenants. Which means you’ll have a pretty high rank just by virtue of being my mate. Plus, everybody already knows you’re a total badass, which means you’ve already earned some clout of your own.” He winked at her, and she frowned.
“Where in the world did you get that idea? I’m no badass.”
“Are you kidding? That was a direct quote from Lyn after you threw Sig out of your store for coming in stinking of fish guts. You put the fear of Nell into him, and I can tell you Sig doesn’t scare easy.” Brody was laughing as he remembered the incident. “Sig’s a Kodiak when he shifts, which means he’s one big-assed bear. Nobody throws him out of anywhere if he doesn’t agree. Frankly, we were all pretty glad you told him off because most of us wouldn’t have dared tell him to take a shower before he walks around town after one of his week-long fishing trips.”
She chuckled, and he laughed with her. It was so easy to be with her. They just…fit.
The Goddess really knew what she was doing when She sent Brody his perfect mate. He had never expected his mate to be human, but he couldn’t argue with the Mother of All’s wisdom. Nell was perfect for him, and he would do all in his power to be the perfect mate for her.
Chapter 10
Brody talked to John the next morning, and as he’d thought, John had only slight reservations about letting the other Baker girls in on their secret. The Alpha was more than pleased by the news that Brody had taken a mate. A big celebration was being planned to commemorate the mating, which John said he hoped was the first of many in their new community.
But first, Brody had agreed to invite Nell’s sisters to dinner at his home, to break the news of their engagement and talk to them privately about his ability to shapeshift. Brody figured a demonstration would be necessary, but he didn’t mind putting on a little show for his sisters-in-law, if it would help them accept the truth. He was a bit nervous about how they would react, frankly, and he knew Nell was even more worried.
He’d given her a key to his home and knew she was spending her afternoon, after her shift at the bakery ended, up at their house. She was getting things ready for their family dinner that night, and Brody loved the way she was making herself at home in the den he had built with his future mate in mind. That she liked the place made something inside him stretch with pride. He’d built a house, and now, the Goddess had blessed him with a mate to make it a home.
Everything was going along great until that stupid koala got drunk and started waving a gun around the local pub. Brody had to wade in and break up the standoff, taking a shot in the shoulder before he could wrestle the peashooter away from the drunkard. It wasn’t a serious wound, but dragging the koala’s drunk ass down to the station and locking him up ate up precious time.
Brody was going to be late to the very important dinner he was supposed to be hosting at his den. Nell wouldn’t be happy, and being late wasn’t a good way to impress the in-laws either.
There was only one way he’d get there on time. Straight through the forest.
Brody shrugged out of his bloody uniform and left it on the chair in the back of the jail. Shifting to his bear form, he used one paw to open the back door of the jail and made a beeline through the forest at the back of the building, running on all fours toward his den. He could cover a lot more ground a lot quicker in his fur than if he’d had to drive around the long way on the winding road.
And shifting shape had mostly healed the bullet graze across his arm. He couldn’t do much about the blood until he got a chance to clean up, but
at least bleeding had stopped with his shift. The only blood left in his fur now was what had been on his body before he’d changed into his grizzly form.
He had left his watch and phone behind at the station, but he thought he might just make it before the sisters arrived. He saw his house and made for the side of it, hoping to sneak in from the deck, shapeshift, and clean up a bit before the girls arrived.
“Brody!” Nell met him in the woods a few yards from the deck, running to him and dropping to her knees to look at his shoulder. “John called and said you’d been shot in the arm. Are you okay?”
She was touching his furry front arm, her hands coming away bloody. There were tears in her eyes, and he knew he had scared her. Dammit. He hadn’t meant to worry her.
Brody shifted shape right then and there.
“I’m fine, Nell. It was only a graze, and it healed when I shifted.”
“But the blood…” She gestured with her faintly red hands.
“It stopped. Look.” He twisted to present his shoulder to her and waited while she touched him gently, probing the area around the wound, wiping away the residual blood with her fingers.
They were both still kneeling on the ground, and he urged her to her feet, taking her into his arms.
“I’m sorry you were scared. John shouldn’t have worried you like that.” He frowned. The Alpha was going to hear about making Brody’s mate cry. The tears in Nell’s eyes bothered Brody. A lot.
He rocked her gently in his arms. He was stark naked, but as a werebear, he was used to that after a shift.
“He said you were on your way, but that you’d been shot,” she said, tucking her cheek against his chest. She was trembling, so he held her closer. “I didn’t listen after that. All I could think of was that you were hurt. Thank God you’re okay.” She squeezed him tight, making his heart do a little flip at the undeniable evidence of how much she cared. She loosened her hold and moved back a little, meeting his gaze with teary eyes. “You are okay, right? You didn’t lose too much blood, did you? And the bullet didn’t go in, it just grazed your arm?” She looked at the wound again, as if making sure.
“Yes, I’m fine,” he assured her, smiling. “I didn’t lose much blood. It was just a scratch, and all evidence of it will be gone by morning. I promise.” He moved his hands to her shoulders. “I’m sorry you were worried. And I’m sorry I was almost late for the big dinner.” He lifted her off her feet and onto the deck, following close behind. “I need to get cleaned up before your sisters arrive.”
“Too late.” It was Ashley’s voice, coming to him from the far end of the deck.
Looking up quickly, he saw both Ashley and Tina seated at the table with half-full glasses of wine in front of them. They’d been there for some time already.
Dammit. He really was late, after all.
And naked.
Though that didn’t bother him as much as it seemed to bother Nell. She’d placed herself strategically in front of him, blocking the sisters’ view of his privates, for the most part.
Surprisingly, the sisters didn’t look all that alarmed. They had to have seen him shift. He hadn’t been all that far away from the deck when he’d changed.
Leaning down beside Nell’s ear as she stood with her back to his front, Brody asked, “Do they already know?”
“Oh, you’re going to love this,” Nell said, turning to face him. The expression on her face was a strange one. She looked sort of angry, but not at him, thank the Goddess. “Apparently, I’m the last one in the family to figure out the big secret of Grizzly Cove. They’ve known for weeks!” she said in an accusatory tone.
“How?” Brody frowned. Everyone in the cove knew to keep things quiet. If someone had been blabbing, he’d have to have words with them.
“Oh, come on,” Tina said, lifting her glass and taking a swallow of the wine. “You guys are terrible at keeping secrets. I saw your brother strip and shift the second day I was in town.”
“He shifted in front of you?” Brody was shocked.
“Hello? Roof garden,” she sing-songed, rolling her eyes. “We have a hell of a vantage point from up there. I was up there putting the planters together when I saw him getting naked in the woods behind our building. He’s kinda hot, so of course I watched. And then, he turned into a freaking bear.” Tina downed the rest of the wine and reached for the bottle to refill her glass.
“And he’s not the only one we saw from up there,” Ashley chimed in. “Nell, did you know that Dr. Olafsson can become a polar bear? He likes to skinny dip, then come up as a bear. And hubba hubba. Doc is built.”
“I had no idea you two were such voyeurs,” Nell said over her shoulder. She seemed more hurt than mad. Brody put his hands on her shoulders, stroking gently, hoping to soothe his mate. He didn’t like seeing her upset.
“See?” Tina said in an accusing tone. “That’s exactly why we didn’t tell you.” Tina drank more wine. “You would have totally spoiled our fun.”
“Can you believe them?” Nell said, moving more into Brody’s arms. “And here I was all worried about how we were going to tell them. I agonized over this big revelation, and it turns out I’m the only one who was in the dark.”
Brody tried to think of the best response. “Well, at least now you know they’re not going to run screaming into the night at the idea there are shapeshifters in the world.”
He tried giving her a lopsided smile, and she responded with a faint one of her own. He felt relief flow through him. She was recovering from both the shock of hearing he’d been shot and from learning that her sisters had known about the town’s secret all along and neglected to tell her.
“Ashley, Tina, we wanted to tell you that we’re getting married.” He let that announcement fall without waiting for a response. There would be time for congratulations later. First, he had to get some pants on and comfort his mate—not necessarily in that order. “Now, if you’ll please excuse us for a few minutes, we’ll be right back,” he said firmly, as he walked slowly backwards into the house, Nell still in his arms. The sisters watched but didn’t move from their seats on the deck.
Once inside, he couldn’t wait. He had to take her into his arms. He had to comfort her and hold her. The bear inside him demanded he make her happy again, and Brody could do no less than agree.
He dipped his head and claimed her lips in a gentle kiss that quickly turned into something much hotter.
“Way to go, sis,” Ashley called from the other side of the screen door while Tina let out a wolf whistle. Brody paid them no heed. He was way too busy kissing his mate.
Thanks for reading All About the Bear (Grizzly Cove #1). If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review.
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The next Grizzly Cove story is called Mating Dance. Scroll down for a sneak peek…
Excerpt - Mating Dance
by Bianca D’Arc
Tom Masdan was the one and only lawyer in Grizzly Cove, Washington, and he liked it that way. Tom figured if there was more than one lawyer in a town, they were obligated to fight things out in court, which is one aspect of his profession that he loathed. The conflict of the adversarial process annoyed his inner bear and made him want to scratch, claw and just beat his opponent into submission rather than wait to hear what some old guy wearing a dress and sitting on a podium had to say.
Tom thought, not for the first time, that maybe studying law hadn’t been the brightest idea he’d ever had. Then again, shifters needed legal representation every once in awhile, just like everybody else. That’s where he came in.
He enjoyed helping people like himself—people who lived under the radar of the human population. Shapeshifters had to learn to adapt to the modern, human world. That included following the laws of the countries in which they lived.
Tom had been born and raised in the United States. He’d gone to an ivy league law school back east. Since then, he had offered his services solely to the were of North America, or any foreign-bas
ed were that needed legal representation in the States. He filed claims, did a lot of paperwork, and helped shapeshifters of all kinds create the paper trail that humans found so necessary to their existence.
In his job, he had traveled all over, but had never found the one woman who could complete him. He’d never found his mate.
So when his long-time friend, John Marshall—known simply as Big John to most folks—proposed the idea of forming their own little enclave on the Washington coast, and putting out an open call for any bear shifters who wanted to move there, Tom was cautiously optimistic. The idea of gathering a relatively large group of usually solitary bears in one town was both novel and intriguing. It could also be dangerous as hell, but Tom trusted Big John’s ultra-Alpha tendencies to keep everybody in line.
John had asked Tom to begin the process of turning the large, adjoining parcels of real estate John had bought over the past several years, into a new town. There were lots of forms to file with the state of Washington, and quite a few building contracts to oversee. He’d also overseen the real estate deals of neighboring properties for each of the core group of bear shifters that had joined John on this quest. It had taken a good portion of the last several years of Tom’s life, but the town of Grizzly Cove had finally become a reality.
It was a really good reality too. The town was small by human standards, but already a few dozen bear shifters had answered John’s call for settlers. There were still more males than females, but with the recent decision to allow a few, select, human-owned businesses to open up on Main Street, things were beginning to change.
Just last week, the sheriff had found his mate in the human woman who, along with her two sisters, owned the new bake shop. It was a true mating, and Tom was happy for them.
But, it had become clear, that the so-called secret of Grizzly Cove hadn’t really been that much of the secret to the other two sisters. They’d taken the news about shapeshifters, in stride. It seemed they’d already figured it out.