Her Bah Humbug Bear (A BBW Paranormal Holiday Romance)

by Marie Mason

  “What brought this decision about? Mercy wanting to spread her wings a little? I can’t blame her; her aunt wasn’t a very impulsive person.”

  A grunt from Dirk was the only response he got and it made the bigger bear chuff. “Listen to me, asshole. I’m trying to tell you something here.”

  Dirk finally looked up, his eyes blazing. “What? That Mercy’s too good for me? That she deserves more than a damaged bear? Believe me, I know that already.” And it’s tearing me apart inside, he thought in anguish.

  “No, you idiot. I’m trying to tell you that Mercy coming here wasn’t an impulsive decision on her part. She knew exactly what she was doing when she let you fuck her.”

  Dirk roared as he tackled the other male, knocking him off the stool and throwing a punch before Marcus knew what was happening. In seconds, the two men were grunting and groaning as punches were thrown fast and furious. Even though Marcus outweighed Dirk, Dirk’s bear was closer to the surface, making him a much less civilized fighter.

  After a few moments, Dirk backed off. He stood in silence, his breathing heavy, blood streaming from cuts on his face and hands, his body already aching from the force of the other bear’s fists.

  Marcus had fared much better than the younger man despite Dirk’s dirty fighting. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, looking at Dirk with sympathy in his eyes. “And here I thought Jagger was the town’s fool for not claiming his mate. I see you’re trying to give him a run for his money.”

  “She’s not my mate.”

  Marcus threw back his head and roared with laughter. “You are so delusional man. Of course she’s your mate.”

  Dirk dropped back down on his metal stool, defeated. “She can’t be my mate. I can’t take care of her, protect her.”

  “Dirk, that’s not all a good mate does. A good mate does provide for his woman. A good mate does protect her—when he can. But the most important thing a good mate can do is love her. Take it from someone who knows—fate would not have given her to you if you didn’t deserve her.”

  Dirk wiped the blood from his hands and picked up another piece of pine when Marcus left. The older bear had given him a lot to think about. With a careful hand he started on another carving, his bear lending its spirit and magic. In just a few hours, a beautiful wooden Christmas ornament sat in the palm of Dirk’s calloused hand. When he looked at it, he felt a sense of peace wash over him. In his mind, he remembered the last Christmas he had shared with his parents and sisters. They had been a happy family, a loving family. He’d somehow forgotten that in the intervening years.

  That’s what he wanted, what he needed.

  Taking a sheet of tissue paper from his workbench, he wrapped the ornament carefully.

  Maybe, just maybe, with a little Christmas luck, and a whole lot of love, he would have that again.

  ****

  “What the hell did you think you are doing?”

  Mercy startled at the rough voice behind her, almost losing her balance on the stepladder she was using to reshelve books. She grabbed hold of the metal shelf before her as she swung around to face her visitor. Dirk. He looked as if he’d come straight from the forest, or more likely, straight from the acres of Christmas trees he helped to cut and process. He smelled of pine and freshly fallen snow. Instantly, her body heated for him, remembering the feel of him against hers as they’d made love.

  “You’ll have to be more specific than that, I’ve done a lot of things in the past few weeks that people wouldn’t approve of.”

  Like sleep with a bear shifter.

  That wasn’t all though. She’d invited Ally to the mall in the next town over and bought several hundred dollars’ worth of outdoor Christmas decorations. Now her Victorian house truly did remind one of a gingerbread house. She’d participated in the community choir, earning herself a solo spot at the Christmas festivities. Her aunt had never encouraged her to sing, saying music was the instrument of the devil.

  “You left.”

  Mercy flipped her hair out of her eyes, anger and hurt rising inside her. “No, I was ordered to leave. By a grumpy, old bear.”

  But even if he hadn’t ordered her away, she knew she would have left anyway. Oh, she might have had a day or two more in his arms, but she’d known it wouldn’t last. Couldn’t. She wasn’t his mate and he wasn’t ready for even a causal relationship.

  “What do you want, Dirk?” She needed to get him away. Away before the memories of their night together came rushing to the forefront. Her heart was already broken, there was no need to see if it could shatter into a million pieces.

  “I want you.”

  For a moment, hope flared inside her. Then, logic took hold. Yes, they had shared a wonderful night together. But, looking back, she’d quickly realized that it had been nothing more than two consenting adults satisfying a need they both had.

  A need to be held, touched. They had both been alone for so long.

  Not love.

  Not even want.

  Which was all he was declaring now.

  She climbed down from the ladder, ignoring the hand he held out to help her. Her stubbornness earned her a soft growl, but she ignored that too. Just like she was ignoring the warmth of his body as he stepped closer.

  Trying to buy time and get a handle on her muddled thoughts, she tugged at the hem of her Christmas sweater. It was a week before Christmas and she had continued to celebrate the season she’d been denied for so long. Celebrating Christmas was everything she had thought it would be. But she’d realized it was just an empty holiday without someone to share it with. Maybe that was the reason her aunt hadn’t celebrated.

  “Look, Dirk. I understood what was happening when I had sex with you—” Her words ended in a grunt as she was tugged into a mountain of muscle.

  “It was not just sex,” he growled into her face.

  Instinctively, her arms came out and were trapped between their bodies. She used them to push him away. It was like trying to move a mountain she thought as her fingers dug into the muscled wall of his chest. A wonderfully, warm, rugged mountain. Her feelings came roaring back to life, escaping the deep freeze she’d forced them into after their night together.

  “What was it then?” Her shy, introverted self was gone—well not entirely, but she was working on it. Her bravery now came from her heart. If there was a chance…

  She’d be a fool not to try, even though it might just break her heart again. She sighed when it looked as if her question had stumped him, or maybe just wasn’t one he wanted to answer. “If you’ll just let me go.”

  “Never.”

  Okay, now she was getting mad. If he wouldn’t say how he felt, that wasn’t going to work. She refused to be just a good-time booty call for the sexy bear.

  Her pussy clenched, remembering the size and strength of the man as he’d pounded into her tender flesh. Well, maybe she could—

  No, no, and double no.

  She loved Dirk. She did not want to be just a body that warmed his bed. She deserved more than that. And so did he. “I’m not your mate, Dirk. I know that.”

  “What makes you think you’re not my mate?”

  This time she huffed. “Uh, because you didn’t claim me.”

  “What did you think that bite was all about then?”

  “Kinky bedroom stuff.” Her shyness of course picked that time to wash over her again and she had to lower her eyes, unable to hold his dark, sexy stare.

  “Not the kind of kink I’m into.”

  Her head popped up, her eyes rounded at his words. Was he really into something other than normal sex? To her surprise, her body responded to that thought. She felt her nipples harden and press against the knitted fabric of her sweater. She felt her body soften and moisten at the thought of what he would do to her—or have her do to him.

  Mercy’s resistance to the big bear was fading fast.

  Dirk touched Mercy’s cheek and felt waves of tenderness cascade through his body. He
also felt protectiveness, possessiveness, and a damn flood of desire.

  Fuck, was this what it felt like to acknowledge your mate and hold her in your arms? He’d go up in flames when he took her to bed.

  The only question he had to ask himself was why the hell he had waited so long?

  “You’re right, Mercy, I didn’t claim you last night when I bit you.”

  She looked determined to pretend that nothing had happened—was happening—between them. That opportunity was long gone. She should have stayed away. Kept her damn chocolate cake to herself. He brought it inside and ate the whole thing once it was unthawed. She should have kept the temptation of her goodness away. She struggled to get out of his hold, but he just tightened his arms around her.

  “I know, Dirk. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

  “Listen to what I’m saying, love. As you and Marcus have been pointing out to me lately, I am a damn idiot and coward. I was afraid to allow myself to love again. But, I love you. My bear loves you. I want to claim you all over again and this time I want to mate with you.”

  He felt complete for the first time in a very long time. Inside his bear was laying down, content to let the man do all the work for now. His soul no longer felt battered and broken. He felt complete. Looking down into the face of the woman in his arms, he realized she had been the thing missing from his life. She had erased that blackness inside him that he’d feared would be a part of him forever. She’d filled in the cracks in his heart. Filled them in with love and expectation. Anticipation.

  No, he’d never truly get over the tragedy that had befallen him and his family. But he was ready now, ready to step back into the world of the living, no longer content to stay in the shadows.

  He had so much damn living still to do and he wanted to do it with this woman.

  Mercy.

  His mate.

  He walked her backwards until her back was pressed against the wall. With a little urging, she wrapped her legs around his waist and he held her in place with his big palms beneath the cheeks of her ass. “To mate you, I have to come inside you.”

  Mercy tilted her head. “I think we did that already.”

  “And I have to bite you as I come inside you.”

  “Again, didn’t we do that already?”

  “To mate, I have to ask you to be mine. Tell you that I love you. Tell you that you are mine to protect. To cherish. To love.”

  Mercy looked at him with tears in her eyes.

  “You didn’t do that.”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  He held her in place with one hand and reached inside the pocket of his jacket with the other. Taking out a small tissue wrapped object, he handed it to her.

  “What’s this?”

  “Us.”

  She gave him a quizzical look then slowly unwrapped his offering. Inside was a delicate wooden object.

  “I thought maybe we could start a tradition. You could teach me how to enjoy Christmas again and I’ll give you one of these each year.”

  The tears in Mercy’s eyes fell as she took the present Dirk had made for her. No bigger than the palm of her hand was a rendering of a woman stroking the fur of a bear sitting by her side a look of undying love on its face.

  She looked up and saw the same look on her bear’s face.

  “Is that a yes?” Dirk asked.

  “Oh, most definitely,” she smiled up at him, her heart filled with the Christmas spirit and love for her Ba Humbug bear. “And, I have an idea for next year’s ornament.”

  NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

  Thank you so much for choosing to read my story. I know your time is limited and I hope I have provided you with a way to escape your everyday problems for an hour or two. All women, and all men for that matter, deserve to be loved. I write about women who are on the curvy side, maybe a little plain, but always the most beautiful woman in the room… to her mate.

  If you are so inclined, please take a moment to leave a review for me. It allows more readers to find me and it gives me a thrill!

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marie Mason has always known, somewhere deep in her soul, that being a writer was what she was born to be. Thanks to the new and exciting world of self-publishing, Marie was finally able to make her dream come true. Part two of the dream is to be a full-time writer, spending the wee hours of the morning creating new and exciting characters for her readers. That part might take a little longer. If you’d like to contact her with a comment or suggestion, her email is mariemasonwriter@yahoo.com or you can find her on Facebook.

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  BOOKS BY MARIE MASON

  HER HOLIDAY BEAR

  As soon as she had seen the ad for an elementary schoolteacher in Riverton, Colorado, Ally Stephens had felt a pull to the shifter town. Okay, so maybe she’d filled her head with fairy tales and hoped she’d be some shifter’s one and only. She had nothing stopping her from answering the ad. No parents. No siblings. Taking a chance, she moved to the small town–and promptly lost her heart to the town’s sheriff, a gruff bear shifter who had no use for a mate. After months of exchanging panty-melting glances and light flirtations, Ally resigns herself to being alone again for Christmas–and possibly for the rest of her life.

  Bear shifter Jagger Houston was a loner by nature, both as a man and a bear. He didn’t believe in true mates, didn’t believe in love. However, he did believe in lust. He tried to convince himself—and his bear—that was all he was feeling for the curvy chocolate-haired schoolteacher who had come to town. It didn’t matter how good she tasted or how sweet she looked, neither he nor his bear wanted to be tied to someone for the rest of their lives.

  Or did they…

  STRANDED WITH THE WOLF

  THE MCCALL BROTHERS’ TRILOGY

  Who wouldn’t want to be…stranded with a wolf?

  When the snow started to fall in Chicago, everyone in Sara Allen’s office building quickly hurried home. Everyone except Sara and her boss, Jarod McCall. Why? Because her boss was CEO of McCall Holdings and a dominant alpha who made his own rules.

  Even if it meant being stranded until the city shoveled its way out from under a record snowfall. As the hours past, Sara became more than upset with Jarod. He’d stranded her in a building with little food, a heating system that powered down on the weekends…and with him! How could she keep her feelings to herself when he kept touching her…kissing her…loving her?

  Jarod was a big man with big appetites and he wanted his curvy assistant to satisfy them. Sara might think he was an inconsiderate jackass, but he knew exactly what he was doing…stranding her with the wolf.

  RESCUED BY THE WOLF

  THE MCCALL BROTHERS’ TRILOGY

  Wolf shifter Hunter McCall didn’t have time to form relationships and he certainly didn’t want any attachments that might distract him when he was on a mission.

  His destiny changed thanks to the winter storm blowing through Chicago—and the curvy brunette that needed to be—Rescued by the Wolf.

  Julie Monroe was content with her life. She’d recently been promoted, had friends to spend time with, a family she could count on and…well, that was about all she had. No family of her own, no man to hold her and tell her he loved her. At least she didn’t have three hundred cats. Yet.

  Traveling to a friend’s wedding, she suddenly finds herself stranded on the side of the road in a snow-covered city.

  That’s when fate decided to step in…

  SAVED BY THE WOLF

  THE MCCALL BROTHERS’ TRILOGY

  Logan McCall had always wanted to be a family m
an—in spite of—his playboy reputation. Find his mate, have a few pups and settle down into a long, loving relationship sounded good, real good to him.

  During a storm that rocked Chicago for three days, Logan found fate had a wicked sense of humor when it sent nurse Katie Wilson tumbling into his life. She was here for a weekend of loving with a man alright, just not with Logan.

  How can he convince a woman that his reputation as Chicago’s hottest bachelor is all smoke and mirrors and that what he truly longs for is a mate and a family he can love and cherish.

  Driving along a snow covered highway in the middle of a blizzard, Katie swore off men. It was a man who had put her in this dangerous situation. Well, a man and her stubborn pride. She’d been unwilling to waste the romantic getaway that had already been paid for at a scheduled mountain cabin just outside the city. So she decided to enjoy the weekend all by herself—if you didn’t count the adult toys she had packed in her suitcase and the multiple pints of ice cream she planned to buy on her way out of the city.

  The last thing she’d been expecting on her binge-eating, binge-crying weekend was being Saved by the Wolf.

  A WOLF'S CLAIM

  THE HOLIDAY BALL

  One night…three wolves…

  Hayden’s first official duty as alpha of the Barringer Pack was hosting the Holiday Ball. A Christmas dance that allowed single supernaturals to find a true-mate—or just hook-up. Hayden had avoided the events for years, not ready to take a mate. This year, he’d had no choice. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to enjoy himself. And the curvy witch hiding in the shadows looked like just the delectable morsel for his hungry wolf.

  Amber hated coming to the Holiday Balls. She left feeling sadder and lonelier than ever before. She’d accepted the fact that Santa wasn’t going to hand her a mate wrapped in a pretty red bow. If not for the edict from her grandmother, the coven’s matriarch, she wouldn’t be here tonight.

  Of course, she’d have to thank her grandmother later…