by Anya Nowlan
MONTANA WILD BEARS: BOOKS 1 - 4 BUNDLE
BBW PARANORMAL SHAPESHIFTER ROMANCE
BY
ANYA NOWLAN
Montana Wild Bears: Books 1-4 Bundle is the complete collection of the popular series, following the lives and love of two werebear clans during the most intense war that ever shook either camp. Join the werebears on their quest to find their mates while also keeping their kin safe. Each book is a stand-alone romance tale of 25 000 – 30 000 words.
Find Her Bear - Book 1
Wanting Her Bear – Book 2
Saving Her Bear – Book 3
Needing Her Bear – Book 4
A SMALL OUTTAKE…
His hands wrapped around her body and pulled her tight against him, Tess feeling the beating of his heart through her thick coat. She drank hungrily from his lips, reveling in his taste and the warmth of his mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed and her chattering mind quieted, in awe of the sensation of his lips on hers. When his tongue dipped into her mouth, she moaned breathily and that drew a growl from him, one that rattled through her core and made her dive deeper into the kiss. Their tongues mashed together, twisting and discovering each other with the strength of emotions that have been kept at bay way past their breaking point. Tess found herself almost in his lap, her hands pawing at the front of his jacket and his fingers trailing up her spine, leaving a blazing trail wherever they went.
The kiss was long and full of heat, the two souls coiling together under the starry sky. When Jackson pulled away from the kiss, they were both breathless, heaving for air. Tess’s face was inches from his and she bit into her lower lip, shocked and stunned by how the growly man had come around.
I can’t believe this is happening, she thought wanting nothing more than to continue the sensual exchange and to ignore everything else that could possibly be going on in the world. The animal attraction that she had been feeling for him was finally coming to pass, and she couldn’t possibly say no to it a second longer. Jackson stopped her gently with a finger on her lips, inches from his face. He smiled and the softness in his eyes made her whimper with longing.
“Are you sure you want to do this, Tess? I… well, I think we need to talk about something…” he said, a kind of shakiness creeping into his voice that Tess had never heard before in his speech. She nodded her head without hesitation, throwing one leg across his thighs and straddling him with the newfound courage of a woman who knows what she wants and is determined to get it. There was plenty of time to discuss things later.
Copyright © 2015 Anya Nowlan
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
Montana Wild Bears Bundle
Books 1 - 4
All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Anya Nowlan. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
Cover © Jack of Covers
You can find all of my books here:
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A SMALL OUTTAKE…
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FIND HER BEAR
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
EPILOGUE
WANTING HER BEAR
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
SAVING HER BEAR
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
NEEDING HER BEAR
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
EPILOGUE
WANT MORE?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
FIND HER BEAR
MONTANA WILD BEARS
BOOK 1
BY
ANYA NOWLAN
CHAPTER ONE
Tess sighed under her breath, clinging to her cardboard cup of coffee and keeping a deathly grip on her big suitcase. She was tired, beaten and grumpy, but she would have been lying if she said she wasn’t excited. Her high heels clattered across the tiled floors as she weaved a path through the throng of people surrounding the exit gate, waiting for their loved ones and generally making it way too difficult for her to get where she was going. Tess took a sip of her coffee, reveling in the murky taste of caffeine going down her throat and spreading throughout her exhausted limbs.
Thank lord for strong coffee, she thought with mild bemusement as she spotted the way to the rental car service.
In retrospect, she really hadn’t chosen the best clothes for travelling across the country. But, she had wanted to make a good first impression. It wasn’t often that she was allowed out of the stuffy research laboratories and given a chance to do some actual fieldwork. The thought of getting out into the wilderness made her heart swell with excitement and her step get a bit more of a spring to it. It had been years since she had actually seen a bear in person and she couldn’t wait to dust off her hiking boots and get some hands-on work done.
I just hope I can keep up with the guide! Her excitement tapered off a bit at that thought, a frown flashing across her delicate features. As if. Maybe if I had bothered to go to spin class more instead of watching Scandal. Oh well.
Getting the car was mercifully easy, but getting her suitcase in it was anything but. The young redheaded scientist hoisted the overstuffed thing into the trunk, muttering a few choice salty words that would have made a sailor blush. She glanced around herself sheepishly and grinned when she saw that only a man fumbling around with his own rental had paid any attention to her. He gave her a friendly smile and a wave. It was almost like being back in California, only the people were nicer. But the weather was certainly colder. Tess hadn’t noticed the cold nipping at her nose until she stood victorious over her conquered suitcase. Suddenly, the adrenaline wore out and she was left as she had been when she stepped off the airplane – tired and in need of a good sleep.
Hanging her head, she slammed the trunk shut and clambered into the driver’s seat. When her high-heels sunk into the plush mat on the floor, she was reminded once again why travelling was supposed to be done in comfort, not style. Tess slipped the shoes off and stored them on the floor in front of the passenger
seat, enjoying the feeling of blood finally returning to her toes. Beauty required sacrifices, right? Well, she wasn’t sure if she was interested in going down that particular road of self-mutilation again for a while.
With certain resignation, she turned on the car and cranked up the heat. It was time for the five-hour drive far, far away from civilization. She made it out of the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport easily enough and when she got onto a highway that at least seemed to be heading in the right direction, she exhaled deeply. Her sense of direction had always made people travelling with her want to tear their hair out and usually left the girl with a split lip from chewing it too much. It was a nice change to not be lost for once.
Nailed it, Tess congratulated herself. The radio was blaring Taylor Swift and she couldn’t help but bob her head along with the beat, taking whatever help she could get in keeping her awake for the long journey. Coffee could only do so much, after all.
The trip had almost come out of thin air. One day, there had been a hurried phone call, demanding to know if she was Tess Laurelton, PhD, the woman who published the article about grizzly bear mating habits and territorial behavior. As it happened, she was just that person. The next question had almost floored her. The supervisor of the Mountain Ridge National Reserve wanted her, the lab rat, to go out to Montana right away and try and figure out what was happening to the bear population in the park. Apparently, it had been increasing noticeably as of late and the usual head counts were coming up a lot bigger than expected. It made some people, with just enough money to fly a scientist back and forth, perk up in interest, and Tess was served the chance of a lifetime on a silver platter. Naturally, she jumped at the opportunity. It wasn’t every day that someone offered to pay for all her travel and accommodations to allow her to do what she loved most – learn about grizzly bears, the most magnificent creatures in the whole country! Just the thought of it made her delirious with glee.
Tess grinned to herself, taking a deep sip from her almost drained cup. The bustle of the airport and the hum of the nearby city was falling to the background and giving way to the wide expanse of gorgeous Montana scenery. The mountains that littered the horizon filled her with a sense of freedom she had long wished for, cooped up between the gloomy walls of the libraries and laboratories. Although it was just the beginning, it felt inexplicably liberating to get this far on her impromptu journey. The blue skies and full, gorgeous tufts of forest hinted at things to come, and despite her reservations about going into the field to work, she didn’t have a single hint of regret about her. She was prepared, excited and rearing to go, and nothing could dim her mood. Well, at least for now.
***
Tess squinted her eyes at a nearly incoherent wooden sign, pointing her up yet another barely driven road on a secluded mountain. She had been driving around in what seemed like circles for the better part of two hours now, deep within the expanse of the reserve. The thick forest enveloped her and her windows were rolled down to breathe in the crisp air. The directions she had got for the lodge of the head groundskeeper had supposed to be spot on, but whoever had sent them to her either had a wicked sense of humor or just plain didn’t want her to find the place. She’d been up and down rolling mountainsides and oohed and aahed at the majestic wilderness until she was out of breath, but the one thing she absolutely could not find was the place she was supposed to arrive at hours ago. With her lips pursed and her formerly positive mindset thoroughly trampled on, she turned her tiny rental car up the faded road, hoping and praying once more that this one actually lead to something other than a dead end.
I’m going to have some words with you, Jackson Arder, if I ever find you, Tess thought sourly, glancing at the clock on the dash. It was pushing on 7 PM and the sun was going to set soon. If there was one thing she didn’t want to do, then it was to spend her night in a car in the middle of nowhere.
The red Ford rounded a corner and Tess breathed a sigh of relief. There, on a hilltop with a killer view, sat a small cottage with a big pick-up parked in front of it. A sign on the wall read “Groundskeeper Arder” and Tess almost felt like smiling, even though her stomach churned painfully, and her vision was blurred with annoyance that was waiting to burst forth and be directed at the first unsuspecting innocent. She parked the car and as she was climbing out of the driver’s seat, wrestling her heels back on, the door of the house flew open with a bang. Tess straightened up and her breath caught in her chest. The surly man that stood before her, legs slightly apart and his arms crossed on his chest, made a shiver run down her spine. She felt her voice die in her throat and her mouth go dry – the usually boisterous scientist reduced to a stammering girl with a pink blush on her cheeks. He quirked a brow at her, his jaw squared and his lips pressed into a thin line as he eyed her over. For a moment, she thought she noticed a spark of softness run through his features, but his posture quickly hardened and his expression became steely.
Oh my god, I hope this isn’t him… she thought, trying to make sense whether her belly was tossing with irritation or if those were butterflies she was feeling. Something about the tall, handsome devil of a man made her weak in the knees, and that was the last thing she had expected to happen. Spending time alone in the forest with the likes of him was certain to lead her to think of a number of things other than whether or not the bear population was doing well in those parts. Like what his body looked like under that plaid shirt and if he liked his girls curvy and redheaded, and whether he growled when he was on top of her, and…
Tess, goddammit. Stop it!
“Hello,” she finally managed, her words muffled by indecision. The mute man nodded, tossing a glance at her less than terrain-ready car and then back to her. It looked like he was measuring her by the same standards as he was the car and found her lacking. Tess went redder in the face and indignation shot up like a thunderbolt, bringing her voice with it. “I’m looking for Jackson Arder. I am Tess Laurelton. I believe he is expecting me.” The man exhaled deeply and his shoulder slumped a little, the rigid stance softening around the edges.
“I am Jackson, Miss Laurelton. I was expecting you, but that was a few hours ago,” he said, the last words stabbing her right where it hurt. Her gray eyes narrowed and she had to bite down on the sarcasm that wanted to burst forth and smack him right across his smug, ruggedly attractive face.
Stop it, Tess. You’re here to work. Play nice.
“I’m sorry, I got lost. Must have not read the directions right. I hope it didn’t put too much of a damper on our plans, “ she said, forcing a smile. His eyes seemed to track the smallest of her movements, like the eyes of a predator on unsuspecting prey. It made her a bit uneasy, but his very presence seemed to dull her sourness and instill a sense of warmth and safety, even if his demeanor seemed to be quite the opposite. His chestnut brown eyes made her want to wriggle where she stood, her hands still clutching the door of the car. It was as if he saw right through her, and she stood naked before him, helpless in front of his piercing gaze. She’d never thought herself particularly easily affected by men, no matter how damn cute they were, but this one did quite a number on her rational faculties and made her want to giggle like a schoolgirl. Tess was half-relieved when his glance went up to the sky, regarding it with the same quiet contemplation as he had her.
“Well, we won’t be going out tonight, that’s for sure. May as well get your things, Miss Laurelton. Seems we’re camping here for the night.”
Tess smiled, relief all too evident on her. Sharing a tent with him in her current state of near-unraveling would have likely just led to her making a fumbling fool of herself.
“Great, I’ll just…” Her words were cut off by the door slamming shut again, the man having disappeared into the cottage as suddenly as he had appeared. Tess stood in place for a moment, gob smacked.
“I thought cowboys were supposed to have good manners,” she murmured to herself, her frown taking a solid perch on her brows. Tess banged the car door sh
ut with equal parts annoyance and humiliation and teetered towards the trunk to retrieve her heavy suitcase. Her heels were making her less than stable on the gravel and she was well-aware she was going to spend a good bit of time feeling indignant about having dressed up for that brute of a man.
Remember, grizzlies. Just think about the grizzlies.
CHAPTER TWO
The lodge was beyond nice. The carefully sanded hardwood floors and log walls made for a rustic, homey feel, and the granite countertops and thick leather couch tied it all together. It was haven in the middle of the wilderness and she felt immediately at ease in there. Jackson’s touch was evident wherever she looked. Despite only knowing him for a few minutes, his constrained, masculine style was unmistakable. The house was just like its owner – rugged, rough, but somehow put her at ease.