Derek Holt was humbled, completely and utterly for the first time in his life. Those words seemed to have the power to take away a lifetime of pain and suffering, to replace the evils he’d suffered as a child and the almost constant fear of being found out that he carried with him on a daily basis and reduced them to nothing but bad memories.
He took a long breath, his body slowly morphing back into his human form.
Audrey embraced him, burying her head in his neck.
“I love you,” she whispered again. “I love you.”
“Audrey,” Derek replied tenderly, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please.”
Derek sank down low onto one knee, taking her hand in his.
“Marry me. Let me love you forever, you and Zach, for as long as I’ve got breath in my body. I’m not interested in a life without you by my side. I’m tired of fighting how I feel about you, tired of not being the man I want to be when I’m with you. Say yes.” Derek laughed out of nervousness. “Please, say yes, Red.”
Audrey sank down, tears in her eyes.
She clutched his hands with her own.
“Yes, of course, yes!”
Epilogue
They sat around a roaring fire, sleepy after a huge meal and too cozy and comfortable to move.
Derek had Audrey in his arms, her legs stretched out across the sofa, her head leaning against his chest. Zach sat on the floor, playing with Legos.
Tanner and Heather sat on the other sofa with Chloe curled up on an armchair reading a book.
They had spent a day on the ski slopes. Everyone skied except Chloe, who was into trick snowboarding. As a result, her backside was feeling tender, and she cradled a thick hot chocolate.
Derek looked around the room with peaceful contentment. He couldn’t believe that this was his life now, an existence that was far beyond his wildest dreams. After the summer, Audrey had quit her job, preferring to enjoy a part-time role volunteering in Zach’s first-grade class. She was over the music industry, and now, with Derek as her husband, they both had their fill of it.
Derek still toured, but quite a bit less now. He spent more time in the studio, which he found far more fulfilling creatively. He also found that being around his family was the most fulfilling thing in his life. Zach had swiftly become his best friend. He never tired of the kid’s vast imagination or inquisitiveness.
Their home was full of laughter, with Audrey telling him tales of odd or amusing things the children had said, or Zach telling them the (often embellished) lessons he’d learned at school. They lived in Chicago for the most part, but Derek had kept the cabin, purchasing it from the elderly couple, and now spent most of their summers renovating it. For Audrey, the negative events that had taken place that first summer were outweighed by the love that had sprung up between them, and the hope their future held.
This Christmas, they had returned to Jackson Hole, mainly because Audrey wanted to spend time with Heather and Chloe, and Derek’s bear got restless in Chicago.
“Oh, Chloe,” Tanner broke the silence, “Wesley called earlier. Asked how you were doing. I’ve got a number if you want to call him back.”
“No, thanks,” Chloe replied sharply.
Everyone looked over at her. Chloe adored Wesley, always had, and she rarely snapped at anyone.
Derek kept quiet. He was the only one who had seen Wesley since he left. He called Tanner occasionally to check in, but that had been all. Derek suspected that Chloe was brokenhearted.
“Are you okay?” Heather asked.
Chloe put her book down and smiled sadly. “I’m fine. I’m sorry. Just sleepy I guess.”
“We should all get some shut-eye,” Derek agreed. Sleeping was the last thing he wanted. He and Audrey were trying to have another baby, and trying to impregnate Audrey was one of the most enjoyable exercises Derek had ever taken part in.
“Can I have a ride before bed?” Zach asked. “Please?”
He looked up earnestly at Derek, his eyes pleading.
“It’s pretty cold, buddy,” Derek replied, looking at the trenches of thick snow outside.
“I’ll put on my scarf, and my coat. Dad, please.”
Audrey laughed. “Zach, if you are going out, you need to put on your snowsuit.”
“Yeah, I will!” He jumped up, realizing that his mom was agreeing, and now Derek would be a complete pushover.
“Chloe, are you coming?”
“I think I’m a bit too old,” she smiled. “I don’t want to break Dad’s back!”
“I can take it!” Tanner laughed. “I’m not that old and feeble. Am I?”
Despite the cold, the whole group tromped outside. Derek ran around the side of the house, leaving his clothes in a neat pile and shifting. He approached Zach, walking on his hind legs and mock roaring. Zach found it far more entertaining when Derek first pretended to be ferocious.
Next, Zach clambered on Derek’s back, to generous applause from everyone. Derek marched him around as Zach tugged on his hair to turn him left and right. When they were done, and Zach was too cold to continue, Audrey lifted Zach off the bear and gave Derek a kiss on his muzzle.
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered. “Soon you’ll have another little one to give rides to. I’m pregnant.”
Derek pawed at the ground in joy, half-infuriated his wife had told him the news when he was in bear form and couldn’t reply. He nudged her instead, delirious with joy.
“I love you too,” she replied happily. “I hope it’s a shifter, like you.”
Derek nuzzled her stomach, still flat, but soon to be growing. Derek couldn’t wait, he just wanted to give Zach a sibling and he and Audrey one more person in the family to love.
THE END
Quarterback Werebear
Book 3
STORY DESCRIPTION
**5 years after Book 1**
Wesley Reed always regarded Chloe as a kid sister. Until he didn’t. One fateful night he learned two terrifying facts—one, he can shift into a bear, and two, Chloe is his mate.
Determined not to ruin her promising future, Wesley leaves Jackson Valley. Permanently.
Chloe Holt has had a crush on her dad’s ranch hand, Wesley, since she was eight years old. She always hoped that one day he’d see her not as a girl, but as a woman. Instead, he vanished—gone without a single goodbye.
Years later, fate causes Chloe and Wesley to cross paths. Will they finally get the chance they’ve been denied?
1
Five years prior…
The house was silent. The last light had flickered off a while ago from an upstairs window, but to the creature outside, hiding in the shadows, the house still retained a cozy, warm appeal that made his insides ache.
He had turned from boy to man on this land.
He had helped Tanner Holt, the ranch owner, manage the vast acres of grazing pastures and the wilder, uninhibited outcrops that bled out into the Wyoming mountains. Day after day, whatever the season, he had sweated and toiled to keep the Jackson Valley ranch a home for healthy livestock—herding oxen, buffalo and angsty, snappy goats to pasture and back again. In return, he had been given a place within the Holt family. More than just a place, he’d been welcomed with open arms as one of them.
Tanner was the only father he had ever known. When he’d arrived at the ranch, a homeless kid of barely fourteen, he’d known next to nothing about farming—or life. He’d been taught it all, firmly and kindly, through Tanner’s seemingly bottomless pit of patience. Alongside Tanner was Josiah, the older, more experienced ranch hand who had been working the Wyoming land practically since birth. He’d been another steady male figure in Wesley’s life, a grouchy but gold-hearted grandfather who was always quick to praise when something was done right.
Heather, Tanner’s wife, had arrived around ten years back—arrived in the literal sense. She’d been a mail-order bride. Tanner had recognized her as his mate almost immediately, and in turn, Heather had fallen head-over-he
els in love with the man who was now her husband. Heather had embraced the rest of the family easily, fitting in as if she’d always been one of them, extending her affections to him and Josiah with maternal warmth and devotion. She had made the ranch a home. Fragrant cooking smells of fresh cut herbs, mouth-watering pastries, and the aroma of fresh baked bread now constantly surrounded the place. He would miss Heather’s cooking.
He would miss them all.
But the memories of Tanner, Josiah and Heather would all pale in comparison to the ache he felt leaving Chloe.
She had been eight when he’d arrived at the ranch. The most outspoken, imperious and hilarious nine-year-old he’d ever met. She had Tanner, Josiah and him running round in circles after her. The day she decided to release all the hens from the henhouse stood out in his mind. She’d been determined to free them and let them fly away, deciding it was too cruel to eat their eggs. He and Josiah had had to herd them all back save one, the one that Chloe had squirreled away in her bedroom—barring the door to entry. It had taken a long time, and plenty of Mabel’s prize winning pie to coax her out.
He and Josiah had become half ranch-hand, half babysitter to Chloe. They both loved her dearly. He’d never been annoyed by her persistent questions or demands, his heart lifting when he saw her skipping across the fields, the sunlight glistening off the strands of her hair, the same color as the golden wheat. He had always regarded Chloe as the kid sister he’d never had.
That had all changed six months ago.
* * *
Chloe had turned sixteen—a big milestone for her. But, as it turned out, she wasn’t the only one to experience a milestone. That day had turned Wesley’s world on its axis.
The night of Chloe’s sixteenth birthday was the night Wesley first shifted.
He had attended her birthday party, a huge celebration. Tanner and Heather had gone all-out, decorating the yard with beautiful flowers and tea lights, transforming the grounds into a fantasy-land for Chloe and her friends.
Wesley had felt awkward as soon as the guests started to arrive. The girls screamed and gasped at the decorations, playing music as loud as it would go. Wesley had tried to join in with the rest of the family, but all the girls mooned over him, trying to get him to dance, tugging at his shirt and giggling in corners of the yard while looking directly at him. Tanner and Josiah had ribbed him, telling Wesley he was like a stud in a mare yard. Wesley had shrugged off their teasing, and taken the whole thing good-naturedly, but had found the afternoon overwhelmingly exhausting.
As dusk drew in, Wesley finally found Chloe on her own. She was delirious from a day of bright sunshine, dancing and a sugar overload. Her white lace dress, drawn in at the waist with a lavender sash, had been spoiled earlier by a friend’s Dr. Pepper, but Chloe barely noticed.
They’d sat down in the gazebo in the side yard, well away from the other guests and a frantic Heather who had spent the day running to and from the kitchen, bringing out culinary delights more suited to an upper East Side debutante ball, and dealing with spillages and giggling girls.
“Did you have a good birthday?” Wesley had asked.
“The best,” she sighed happily.
Wesley had fumbled inside his jeans pocket, bringing out a small box wrapped in brown paper—he hadn’t wanted to draw attention to the present and decided not to put it out on the gift table which was laden with gifts from Chloe’s many other admirers. Plus, gifts were not his forte, and his wasn’t from one of the upscale stores Chloe and her friends shopped at. He wasn’t sure it was quite good enough for a sixteenth birthday.
Chloe had taken the present from his hand as if she was handling a rare gem.
“I’d thought you’d forgotten,” she’d said, blushing with embarrassment.
“Forget to get you present for your sixteenth?” Wesley had replied, “how could I? You’ve been talking about nothing else for months, Miss Holt,” he’d teased, suddenly feeling even more awkward than he had when he’d been faced with the squadron of ogling teenage girls.
She’d opened the wrapping carefully, and when she saw what it contained, she’d gasped. She picked up the thin, silver chain so the amulet shone in the pinkish sunset. It was a small figure of a bear, molded from silver. Wesley had made it himself, spending days carving out the mold in wax till it perfectly resembled a bear in mid-step. Then he’d melted down his only possession, a silver chain bracelet he’d been given at birth, and poured it into the mold. It was meant to be a copy of the massive grizzly that so often roamed the outskirts of the ranch, never attacking any of the animals, but acting like it owned the place anyway. Josiah had called it ‘Tanner’s Bear’—something Wesley had, at the time, thought was a joke. He knew better now.
“It’s exquisite,” Chloe had gasped. “Oh, Wesley, I love it so much!”
Her appreciation seemed genuine, making Wesley flush with warmth.
“Glad you like it,” he’d replied gruffly, clearing his throat.
“Love it,” she corrected.
To his surprise, Chloe had quickly darted her head forward, landing a soft kiss on his cheek.
Wesley had been taken aback. The kiss was nothing out of the ordinary, he’d planted kisses on her cheek, and she his, plenty of times when she was a kid. He’d carried her for miles on his back, swept her up in his arms when she was misbehaving or upset. They had always had an affectionate relationship.
The difference was that this time, Wesley had an unexpected reaction to the kiss. The moment her lips made contact, his skin felt like bare flame was licking over it. His heart had instantly started to pound—almost vibrate—in his chest. It was not the response he usually had—nor one he wanted.
In that moment, the brotherly affection he felt for Chloe instantly vanished, replaced by something else entirely. He looked at her, for what felt like the first time in his life, as if Chloe Holt was a stranger. A beautiful, captivating stranger, but a stranger none the less.
He had always thought Chloe was a pretty girl, but her features suddenly took on new dimensions. He noticed the grey flecks in her sky-blue eyes and the thick brown lashes that surrounded them, their tips lighter where they caught the sun. Her rose-bud lips didn’t seem sweet, or slightly comical anymore, but ripe and firm. He wanted to lean forward and kiss her—the way a man kisses a woman. He wanted to be the first to taste Chloe’s mouth, to mark her lips with a kiss of his own. His eyes travelled down to swell of her breasts, rising up against the lace of her dress.
He had turned his head away in disgust, utterly bewildered and ashamed at himself. She was only a teenager, and he had watched her grow from a little girl! The incredible shame he felt when he thought of how Tanner, Josiah or Heather would feel if they knew the thought that were suddenly tumbling through his head about Chloe made him stumble up to his feet.
“Happy birthday, Chloe,” he had muttered, desperate to get away.
He had strode toward the kitchen, determined to help Heather tidy up. She had strictly told him to go and enjoy himself, so Wesley had left the party instead—slinking away unnoticed like a thief.
In bed that night, his body had started to burn like fire, as if he had a high fever. His bones had ached, his muscles starting to spasm uncontrollably. Wesley had honestly thought he was dying. His breath came in rapid gasps, a knot of pain deep in the pit of his stomach, and the worst of all—a constant tugging, pulling sensation which felt like his body was trying to rip itself apart.
He had cried out. Loudly.
There had been no one around to hear him. He and Josiah slept in the bunkhouse which was a renovated barn just off the main property. Josiah had still been at the main house when Wesley tried to raise himself out of bed to get help, but he’d stumbled and fallen.
The moment his body hit the hardwood floor, the change began.
The pain was nothing like he’d ever experienced before, splitting him inside out, the pain of a branding iron tearing at his skin and burning his very soul.
&nb
sp; He was astonished, moments later when the pain had receded, to open his eyes and discover that he was standing on the floor on all fours. Where skin had been, there was now fur. Where he’d had nails and teeth, he now had claws and ferocious fang-like incisors which he delicately ran his tongue along, feeling their sharpness.
He had run from the barn like his ass was on fire, tracking through the forest that surrounded the ranch, terrified he would eat one of the livestock, or worse, harm any human that crossed his path.
It hadn’t been that way, though. In bear form, he had thought only of Chloe. Desperate to follow her scent to the ranch, knowing that he shouldn’t. But, he kept tracking there, no matter what course he set himself on, and then with willpower he hadn’t known he possessed, tearing himself away and forcing himself to run in the opposite direction.
The change happened again the next night. And the one after that.
With each successive change, the process got easier and less painful. The tugging, insistent ball of energy that appeared in his gut as a warning each time would never be comfortable, but he’d gotten used to it. His muscles had bulked out a lot. Wesley had always been strong, working a ranch day in and day out would do that to a person, but as a boy of fourteen or fifteen, it had tended to be in a leaner way. After a few years, he had started to bulk up, his shoulders broadening, his biceps and thighs becoming thicker and as solid as rock.
More teasing had ensued from Josiah and Tanner, mostly about sending him off to the NFL to play quarterback, and making a fortune off him.
It hadn’t taken Wesley long to hunt out the other bear that appeared on the property regularly. They met in the forest one evening, Wesley more amused than afraid. The present he’d given Chloe had suddenly taken on a whole different meaning. The other bear seemed friendly enough, disinclined to brawl over territory and more curious than anything,
Jackson Valley Shifters Complete Series: Bear Shifter Romance Page 19