Bearliest Catch

by Bianca D’Arc

  Tales of the Were

  Grizzly Cove

  Bearliest Catch

  by

  Bianca D’Arc

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2016 Bianca D’Arc

  Smashwords Edition July 2016

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Tales of the Were – Grizzly Cove #6

  A woman of mystery…

  Jetty is a huntress of the deep ocean who finds herself fascinated by a man—a shifter—who sets anchor in her realm day after day. She is obliged to watch him, not fully understanding the fascination the handsome stranger compels within her battered heart.

  A man with hidden scars…

  Recovery from major injury isn’t easy. While Drew’s physical problems have been addressed and cured, the emotional scars from his battlefield catastrophe are harder to heal. He seeks the solace of the ocean even more than the welcome company of his former military comrades in the town of Grizzly Cove. When they give him a mission to make contact with an elusive mermaid, he’s more than willing to give it a try.

  A people in danger…

  Jetty and Drew will have to work together if they are to bring the mer people into the protection of the cove. They will both face the terror of the deep. Will they be strong enough to overcome its evil? And will their love be strong enough to overcome the injuries of the past that have left them both slightly broken in different ways?

  Dedication

  Special thanks to Peggy McChesney for her support and willingness to humor a crazy author. Thanks also to my family for giving me the opportunity to do what I love.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Other Books by Bianca D’Arc

  Chapter One

  Drew had to be careful when he took his boat out now that Grizzly Cove was besieged by a creature known as the leviathan and its friends. From what everyone was saying, this leviathan wasn’t from around here originally. Meaning, it wasn’t from the mortal realm at all.

  It was a creature from some darker, more magical place where evil ruled, and it had been let loose on the Earth’s oceans by a bunch of unscrupulous assholes known as the Venifucus.

  Drew knew a bit about the Venifucus. They were an ancient organization that had formed around the fey sorceress known as the Destroyer of Worlds. Her name was Elspeth, and she’d been banished to the farthest realms a few centuries ago after a series of major battles with the forces of Light that happened during the time the humans called the Dark Ages. They weren’t far off with that moniker, since Elspeth was a major player among the forces of darkness.

  Drew, himself, was an old soldier. He’d spent most of his life to this point fighting in all the hottest hellholes on Earth. He was also a shifter—a grizzly bear. So he was a bit more magical than most of his kind, but he’d only had to call on his innate magical abilities a few times in his life as a conventional soldier. Now that he’d retired with the rest of his unit and begun the social experiment that was the newly formed town of Grizzly Cove, Washington, he found himself using his magic more and more.

  However, Drew’s magical skills were a little bit different than most of his comrades. His talents lay in the areas of stealth. He had found out through trial and error that he could disguise his magical signature. He could erect a sort of shield, if you will, that would hide his magic—and that of anyone with him—from anybody who might be looking.

  He couldn’t cover large areas. He’d tried—without telling anyone else about his experiments—to shield the entire town once the attacks had started. Apparently, concentrating such a large group of usually-solitary bear shifters in one spot had made their little town an attractive target to the magic-sucking, soul-stealing leviathan.

  But all his attempts to project his shield over a large geographical area had failed. He’d been able to shield his friends and comrades in small groups on foreign battlefields, but shielding the entire town was beyond him.

  He had to have his shield up whenever he took his fishing boat out beyond the cove nowadays. He didn’t want to become an appetizer for the leviathan or one of its smaller minions, but he still felt the call of the sea just as keenly as he ever had.

  The peace and majesty of the ocean beckoned to him. Always had. That was one of the main reasons he’d jumped at the chance to settle in Grizzly Cove when his unit commander, John Marshall—who was also Alpha of this unlikely band of bears—came up with the idea to form a new community, camouflaged as an artists’ colony, on the rugged Washington coast.

  Settling on the coast sounded just about perfect to Drew, as was continuing to live near and work with the men he’d come to think of as his brothers during their years in Special Forces. They were family to him. Big John and the rest of the military bears were his people, and Drew would die for any one of them, as he knew they would for him.

  Not that they had expected things to be dangerous in their new community. They were retired from active duty. Burned out. At least in his case. Most of the other guys hadn’t been as close to the edge as Drew, but all of them were sick of fighting in mostly human conflicts all over the world. The luster of travel and being able to channel their beasts’ natural aggression had played out, and it was time to settle down and find a mate—if they could.

  Mates weren’t thick on the ground for bear shifters. For one thing, there weren’t as many female bears in any generation as there were males, so most males had to seek mates among other shifter groups or humans, if they were serious about not living out their long lives alone. John had put out a call for any bears who wanted to try life in Grizzly Cove to come join them. The town council—made up of the core group of the ex-military unit—vetted everyone.

  They’d hoped to attract single female bear shifters, and a few had come to the area and moved in, which was a good start, but not nearly enough to meet demand. So the town council had begun to allow humans to open a few select businesses in town. The first, a bakery owned by three human sisters, had been a huge success. Not only did they make delicious breads and pastries, but the sisters were now mated to three of Drew’s friends.

  The second business the council approved had been a bit more problematic. Two sisters had opened a book shop, but what nobody had known when they applied was that the Ricoletti sisters were witches. Italian strega, they called themselves. It had all come right in the end, but the town council had decided to delay the approval of any more businesses or new residents until they could be sure they weren’t letting more magic folk into what they had designed originally to be a bears-only town.

  Plus, there was the leviathan problem. The elder of the Ricolett
i sisters—Ursula—had helped tremendously with that already. She’d cast permanent wards to protect the cove itself, though the leviathan and its smaller nightmarish friends were still waiting, just off the coast.

  Ursula had mated the Alpha, surprisingly enough. Theirs was a true mating, it was obvious to see, and they were working hard to make the cove safe. Her younger sister, Amelia, was still unmated and reportedly working on some sort of potion-based magic that took a long time to prepare but would hopefully drive the leviathan and company even farther out to sea.

  Meanwhile, Drew still took his boat far off shore, in defiance of everyone’s advice. He knew he could hide his magic from the leviathan, and he also knew his inner bear needed the peace the ocean gave him. It was vital to his continued sanity. Drew needed the alone time and the quiet, with only the swishing of the waves against the hull of his boat and the soft sigh of the sea in his ears.

  He fished, too, but it was mostly as an excuse to be out on the water all day. He supplied his buddy, Sig, with fish for his shop and made a little money off the bounty of the sea for his trouble. The other guys had all taken on different jobs necessary to the running of the town when they’d set up their community. Drew had created the job of fisherman and never looked back.

  Oh, Sig fished too, but he stayed closer to shore, and he also ran a shop where he sold fresh fish, along with bait and tackle for those tourists who occasionally cruised through on their way down the coast.

  All in all, Drew was happy with his new existence. He was slowly recovering from too many years as a soldier. The sea was his therapy, and it was working.

  Drew popped open a beer after setting his lines and sat back in his favorite deck chair to enjoy the sunrise. He had a small piece of wood in his hands, and his pocketknife. Whittling occupied his mind in a good way, allowing him to relax a little, and the small figurines were fetching high prices in the art galleries in town, much to his surprise. He’d always liked carving miniatures, and if some silly tourist wanted to pay for his creations, so much the better.

  He’d motored out while it was still dark, being careful to keep his magical shield up and running at all times. He didn’t want to end up as a snack for the creature that haunted the depths out here, but he had to be out on the ocean when his internal demons came home to roost, as they had that night.

  Bad dreams often drove him out, onto his boat, in the middle of the night. He was lucky that fishermen often set sail before dawn. None of his buddies really knew how tortured his sleep was. He’d been able to hide it from them so far. But alone on the ocean, he could forget his troubles and just…be.

  Except…somebody was staring at him. Dammit. He’d felt this a few times before, but dismissed it. Now, of course, he thought he knew who it was.

  A few days ago, a half-dead mermaid had washed up on shore, and his friend, Jack, who had taken on the role of game warden, had found her. He’d nursed her back to health, and the Goddess must have been at work, because they had discovered a mutual attraction that turned out to be another true mating.

  The mer were some of the most mysterious of all shifters. Not much was known about them, but Jack’s new mate—her name was Grace—had been revealing little bits here and there. One of the things they’d told Drew in particular was that Grace’s hunting party might be looking for her and that one mer in particular, a gal named Jetty, might have occasion to swim near his boat from time to time.

  Grace had asked him to make contact with her friend, if at all possible, to let them know she was all right and staying on land for the time being, with her mate. Big John, the Alpha, had gone one farther and told Drew to deliver an even greater message. He’d offered the mer asylum in the cove while the leviathan prowled off shore.

  That was a big step, and Drew knew it. Inviting another group of shifters into their territory was monumental and impressed upon everyone how dire the situation with the sea monster really was. Not that they didn’t know already. Everyone had seen the thing attacking Ursula when she’d cast it out of the cove with her powerful, permanent, magical wards.

  It had been like something out of a horror flick. Massive. Multi-tentacled. And so evil it reeked.

  Drew was able to sense the creature and its minions to some degree and was able to avoid areas where he believed they were lurking. Part of his magic, in addition to shielding, was sensing danger—and occasionally, he got a little tingle when he was being observed.

  Like right now.

  “Hey, mermaid, if you’re the one called Jetty, I have a message for you,” he called out.

  He’d never tried to talk to her before. Of course, he hadn’t really been sure what—or, in this case, who—was watching him before. He’d thought maybe it was a dolphin or something. He hadn’t sensed any malevolence from the presence, just a sort of curiosity that didn’t really set off his spidey sense for danger.

  He figured now that he had some intel on what was watching him from the water, he’d try the direct approach. If that didn’t work, maybe he’d dive in and swim around with the fishes for a bit. See if that got any response.

  Though, of course, it was dangerous to go swimming with something that could breathe underwater when you couldn’t. He’d be a little nuts to do it, but Drew liked to live dangerously. If he didn’t, he’d have stayed safe in the cove, away from the sea monster and its evil children, and curious mer creatures who spied on him for no apparent reason.

  He kind of hoped the mer would respond to his direct approach. He’d never seen Grace in her shifted form, and he was really curious about what mer looked like. In human form, Grace was just like any other person, though even Drew had to admit, she was a lovely woman. Jack had lucked out, finding such a beautiful and genuinely nice gal washed up on his beach. The Goddess had truly been smiling on the bastard.

  “Your name is Jetty, right?” Drew tried again. “Grace told me you like to spy on my boat now and again. She’s all right, by the way. She sends her regards. The leviathan cut her up pretty bad, but my friend Jack found her, and it turns out they’re mates. You missed the ceremony, sorry to say.”

  “Grace is mated?”

  The sultry female voice came to Drew from the port side of his boat. He got up from his chair and approached the rail, peering over slowly so as not to startle the mer woman.

  Only her head and shoulders were visible above the water, but Drew had to clear his throat to buy himself some time. She was lovely in an otherworldly sort of way. Fine, pearlescent scales covered what he could see of her skin, making it flash in the sunrise, reflecting the peachy dawn light. Her eyes were the blue of the ocean and her hair slicked back and wet with ocean water. It was probably a deep black color, though he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t just a dark shade of brown. Either way, the combination of blue eyes, dark hair and pearly skin was breathtaking.

  And her voice… He wondered if maybe she was a sea siren with a sound like that. He wanted her to talk more, but that meant he’d have to talk first. He cleared his throat again and tried to think of something sensible to say.

  “Yes.” There. That was simple enough, but she only smiled, waiting for him to say more. “Grace mated one of my friends. His name is Jack.”

  “So you said before,” she replied, smiling in a way that told him she knew the effect she was having on him.

  “Are you a siren?” he blurted out the pressing question on his mind.

  Her tinkling laugh sounded over the water. “No, lucky for you. If you ever met up with a real siren, your fishing days would be over.”

  He was transfixed by her voice anyway. And her laugh sent ripples of pleasure right through him.

  “I don’t know about that, Jetty. I can call you Jetty, can’t I?” He tried for charming and was glad when it seemed to work.

  “You may, but what is your name, sailor man?” Her tone was teasing, her voice challenging in an attractive way.

  “I’m Drew. Short for Andrew. At your service.” He wanted to touch her, but s
he was way down there and he was too far away. “Do you want to join me? I have a cooler full of beer and some ham sandwiches I’d be willing to share.”

  “Ham?” She looked skeptical. “Got any with cheese too?”

  “As a matter of fact, I believe I do have a ham and cheese on rye along with the ham on wheat. The gals in the bakery set me up with a selection of sandwiches last night when I went in for dinner. I order ahead when I plan to spend the day out on the water.”

  “Do you have anything I can wear aboard?”

  Sweet Mother of All, it sounded like she was going to accept his invitation. Drew scrambled, thinking fast about the articles of clothing he’d thrown onto the boat.

  “I’ve got a terrycloth robe that would be large on you, but should serve the purpose. I’ve also got a change of clothes—a T-shirt and a pair of shorts—but they’d probably be too big for you. You’re welcome to them, though.” He was tempted to say she was welcome to anything he had, but that would be coming on a bit too strong for a first meeting. Wouldn’t it?

  “All right,” she agreed, making her decision. “Get the robe and open the hatch on the stern. I’ll jump up.”

  There was a utility door on the rear of the vessel that came in handy when pulling in overly large fish. He’d used it himself the very way she was proposing, so he knew it would work. All she had to do was launch herself out of the water and onto the boat. He used his grizzly strength to do it, but she was in her native element. Her tail would probably propel her upward, though she might land hard.

  Drew frowned as he grabbed the robe from the inside the wheelhouse. He used it when he occasionally went for a dip, so he kept it handy. Moving to the stern, he tossed the robe onto a deck chair and opened the utility hatch, swinging the little door all the way open and out of the way. Then he stepped back and waited.