Werebears of New Hampshire Box Set: Paranormal Romance BBW Bear Shifters

by Fox, Kim

  “Hey guys!” Roxy said, strutting into the kitchen. She was wearing cut-off jean shorts and a white tank top. Her auburn hair was tied up in a pony tail. Connor jumped up and wrapped his arms around his little sister.

  “I didn’t know you were in town,” Connor said.

  Roxy rolled her bright blue eyes. “It’s happening again,” she whispered.

  “Foxy Roxy,” Sidney said. “Just in time for eggs.”

  She glanced at the table with the greasy eggs and black bacon and frowned. “I, uh, had a muffin on the way over here.” She walked over to the table and sat in an empty chair. “But I’d love a coffee.”

  Connor ran over and poured a coffee for his only sister. Black, just the way she liked it.

  Roxy was watching Edwin as he ate with a curious look on her face. “Is this guy always naked?”

  Connor shook his head and grabbed a table cloth from the cupboard. He tossed it at Edwin. “Sorry about that sis. We don’t even notice it anymore.”

  “How’s the city?” Connor asked her.

  She sipped on the coffee and rolled her eyes. “Maple Ridge has a population of three hundred thousand people,” she said. “It’s hardly a city.”

  “It is for your bear,” Connor answered. “You should be living somewhere more secluded.”

  “Always the big brother,” she said, smiling at him.

  “It’s not healthy for your bear.”

  She rolled her eyes and turned to Sidney who was walking over with a mountain of eggs on his plate. “I’m insulted,” she said to him. “You haven’t made one lewd comment or stared at my ass once. I haven’t been going to the gym lately but come on…I’m still hot.”

  Sidney sat down, smiling at his eggs.

  “He’s in love,” Connor said.

  Roxy laughed. “With himself? Yes I already knew that.”

  “With a redhead,” Edwin said between bites. “Named Angie.”

  “She’s an angel,” Sidney said, stuffing a handful of bacon into his mouth. “She’s gorgeous and sweet and a genius.”

  “She can’t be that smart if she’s going out with you,” Roxy said, with a laugh.

  “Oh she is,” Sidney said, pouring hot sauce over his eggs. “And wipe those dirty thoughts out of your head. This ship has sailed.”

  “Oh shucks,” she said, smacking the table.

  “Now I just have to get her to call me back,” he mumbled.

  “What about you bro?” she asked. “Any imaginary, genius redheads that you bonded with?”

  He looked down at the coffee in his mug and smiled. Rebecca’s dreamy brown eyes and the delicious trail of freckles that danced on her upper cheeks swam into his mind, making him feel drunk. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said. “I’ll tell you all about her.”

  “She sounds great,” Roxy said. “I’ve never seen you glowing like this. It’s nice.”

  Connor walked with his little sister along the river. The sun was hitting their backs, warming their shoulders, while the river raced along beside them, gurgling and sloshing around. The trees were swaying gently in the breeze with the birds singing in their branches.

  “If you stay tonight than you can meet her,” he said, ducking under a branch. “She’s coming to visit tomorrow.”

  “I’d love to but I have to get back,” she said. “Work.”

  “Your bear is acting up again?” Connor asked.

  “Yeah.” Roxy picked up a small stone and tossed it into the river. “She’s being…difficult.”

  Roxy had always had a very unruly bear. Ever since she was a kid. Her inner brown bear and her were never at peace. They were always fighting. And it was really hard living with a bear that wasn’t on the same page as the human.

  Her bear was in a constant state of agitation. She was always demanding to be released at the most inappropriate times. Roxy always had trouble with her.

  “Why don’t you come move out here?” Connor asked. “It would really help things.”

  “Can you just help me without a lecture?” she asked with a sigh. “I really like my life in Maple Ridge.”

  But her bear must’ve hated it. It was just making the whole situation worse. But it was her life and Connor wasn’t going to tell her how to live it.

  “Alright,” Connor said, slipping off his shirt. “Let’s bring her out.”

  Roxy hid behind a tree and got undressed as Connor did the same. He summoned his bear to the surface and the phase began.

  Connor was Roxy’s older brother and was the only one who could calm down her bear. He was the closest thing to an alpha that her bear ever had. Every now and then she would come to him and they would spend the afternoon in their bear forms. Connor’s grizzly bear and Roxy’s brown bear would speak to each other in grumbles and purrs, and her bear would work out her issues.

  He had a peaceful, soothing effect on her bear that would last a month or two, and then she would come back for more therapy when it got really bad again.

  Roxy’s brown bear emerged from behind the tree, jerking her head from side to side. Her eyes were large and wild, like a meth addict who had been up for days.

  Connor’s bear walked over to her and nuzzled his nose against her shoulder, rumbling softly. Her bear snapped at him and growled.

  Connor’s grizzly placed his muzzle on her back and rumbled harder, trying to calm her. After a few minutes Roxy’s bear lowered her head and walked alongside him. Her eyes were already calmer and her breathing was back to normal.

  It was working.

  Connor walked onto the porch with two lemonades. Roxy was sitting on the porch swing, already looking more relaxed than this morning.

  Their two bears had spent the whole day together in the forest. Roxy’s bear had seemed to work out her issues thanks to the grizzly bear’s dominant and calming presence. But she would be back. This was just a quick fix. Roxy had to move to the forest and deal with her bear properly to be able to be at true peace with her inner animal.

  “Thanks bro,” Roxy said, taking the lemonade. She drank it down in one gulp. “I already feel much better.”

  But it wasn’t over. Part of her ‘treatment’ had to be done in her human form. Connor also had to calm and soothe her bear when she was in her inner, dormant stage.

  Connor took a sip of his lemonade and placed the glass on the table. He sat down beside her on the swing and breathed in, long and slow.

  Roxy closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. Connor closed his eyes and placed his hands on her head. Her inner bear growled and jerked around angrily inside her.

  Connor could sense her, could smell her and could talk to her. He cleared his mind and let his dominant bear do all of the work.

  His bear purred and rumbled softly, sending tiny vibrations through his fingertips into her head.

  Roxy’s bear resisted at first but after a while she calmed down, settling into a peaceful state. The grizzly bear purred as Connor stroked his sister’s hair.

  Connor’s eyes flew open and he got jerked out of the calming mental state when he got a whiff of her. His hands dropped down to his sides. It couldn’t be. She’s only supposed to be here tomorrow.

  Roxy peeled open her eyes like someone being woken up after a massage. “What is it?” she mumbled.

  “I think-” he jumped off the porch, not waiting to finish his sentence, and ran up to the road. He looked left than right but it was empty. He dropped his shoulders and sighed. It must’ve been his mind playing tricks on him or he caught an old smell of when she was here. He would have to wait until tomorrow.

  “Twenty four hours,” he mumbled to himself as he walked back to his sister.

  four

  Rebecca pulled into the parking spot of her old apartment looking like a zombie. Her eyes were dry and scratchy and her mouth was parched. It felt like all of the liquid in her body came rushing out of her eyes on the seven hour drive home, pouring out until she had nothing left.

  She glanced up at the grim apart
ment building through her bug splattered windshield. She didn’t know why she came back here but she had nowhere else to go. She couldn’t face her nosy mother with all of her questions of why she was back so early and not gone for the week like she had originally said.

  Rebecca was devastated. Even more so than when Mark had cheated on her, which she found strange. She had only known Connor for a little over twenty four hours but it felt different with him. It felt like they were soul mates. Boy were you wrong.

  She had driven yesterday until she was exhausted. From crying, from driving and from berating herself. She had pulled into a small motel and curled up on the hard bed in a fetal position and stared at the peeling, flowered wallpaper all night. She awoke in the morning to the sound of a semi-truck in the parking lot and rushed to the dirty bathroom to throw up again.

  Rebecca sat in the car and stared at the steering wheel. Where could she go now? This wasn’t the ideal place but she didn’t have a whole lot of options.

  Her phone buzzed. She had gotten a text from Grace:

  Have fun! I want to hear all about it! :)

  She turned the phone upside down and squeezed her eyes shut. She wasn’t going to tell Angie and Grace about this. How could she? Their guys were in love with them. Their guys weren’t just using them as a one night toy. Their guys didn’t make a fool of them.

  Rebecca startled, her hand flying to her chest, when someone knocked on her window.

  It was Mark.

  She rolled down the window and looked up at his brown eyes. He had a new hairstyle. It was shorter and cleaner. It looked good.

  “Becky,” he said in a soft voice. “What are you doing here?”

  She squeezed the steering wheel and looked down at her lap. “I had nowhere else to go.”

  “Are you okay?” He opened the car door and squatted down. “What’s wrong?”

  Her body shook as a fresh wave of sobs came on. Mark wrapped his arms around her. “Come upstairs. I’ll make you some breakfast.”

  He walked her upstairs to the apartment that she lived in for four years. She sat at the table that she had bought at Ikea when they first moved in, while Mark pulled out a pan and opened the fridge.

  She glanced around. Nothing had changed. The large flower painting that Mark always hated was still hanging up over the couch. Her romance novels were still in the bookshelf. It felt familiar and familiar was what she desperately needed right now.

  Their cat Lucky jumped up on her lap and rubbed her little orange head on Rebecca’s stomach. Rebecca dug her fingers into the cat’s soft fur and kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m so happy that you came back,” Mark said, making a pot of coffee. “I’ve been wanting to explain to you what happened. It was all a misunderstanding.”

  Rebecca watched Lucky as she purred in her lap.

  “Those texts that you saw,” he said, shaking his head. “It wasn’t meant for Kathy.”

  Rebecca closed her eyes. She was innocently looking on Mark’s phone for their wedding coordinator, Kathy’s, phone number when she came across the most lurid texts. He was saying what he was going to do to her. Sexually. That was when Rebecca canceled the wedding and left.

  “They were sent to her,” Rebecca whispered.

  “I mean they were meant for her,” he said, stumbling with his words. “I was telling her what to write in a card. A card for you.”

  Rebecca looked up at her ex-fiancée. He was standing behind the kitchen island with his hands on the counter, palms up. “I swear to you,” he said, pleading. “I wanted to place a dirty card on the bed in the hotel on our wedding night. I was telling her what to write in it. I promise you,” he said, “it was all a misunderstanding.”

  Rebecca didn’t respond. She was too tired. Too beaten to say anything back. She just stared at Lucky as she ran her fingers through her fur, not knowing what to believe anymore.

  Mark walked over behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders and started massaging her tense body. She began to relax under his fingers.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” he whispered. She closed her eyes wanting to believe him. “I’m so happy you’re home. I love you. I would never do that to you.”

  Rebecca’s chest was aching. She was exhausted. She didn’t know what to think or what to believe. All she wanted was to escape the sadness and sleep in her bed.

  Mark’s fingers were providing the comfort that she desperately needed, his words giving her exactly what she wanted to hear.

  They could be lies, and they probably were, but she was too crushed to refute them, too disheartened to argue. All she wanted was to sleep.

  Mark guided her to the bedroom, with his arm helping to hold her up. He pulled out her favorite pajamas and closed the door while she put them on. He came back in and tucked her in, her bed feeling better and more comfier than ever.

  Her head sank into her soft pillow as Mark pulled the comforter up to her neck. He kissed her on the temple. “Welcome home,” he whispered as she closed her eyes.

  There was a faint smell of vanilla and honey on her pillow. That’s strange she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

  five

  Connor stood outside at the end of the driveway and stared down the empty dirt road. He glanced up at the sun. It would be setting soon.

  She should have been here hours ago.

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket for the eightieth time. He dialed Rebecca’s number. It went straight to a recorded message.

  “This number has been blocked. Please contact the phone comp-”

  Connor hung up and stared at it, shaking his head. What’s going on?

  He rubbed his sweaty palms together as he paced up and down the road. His chest felt so tight. Something was not right. His bear could sense it too. He was grumbling inside.

  “Still not here boss?” Sidney asked, walking up the driveway.

  Connor shook his head as he stared down the road, willing a car to drive up it.

  “She’s probably just in traffic or something,” Sidney said.

  Connor never took his eyes from down the road.

  “Dinner is ready if you’re hungry,” Sidney said.

  Connor shook his head. He had an uneasy fluttering in his stomach. He couldn’t eat even if he wanted to.

  Sidney nodded knowingly. “I’ll bring some out for you.”

  Connor finally walked back to his cabin at three twenty six in the morning. His phone had died from trying to call Rebecca so many times. He glanced back at the road one last time, desperate to see headlights lighting it up. There was nothing. Only a happy raccoon eating the dinner that Sidney had brought out and left on the side of the road, hours ago.

  Two days later Connor was sitting by the river squeezing a rock in his hand as Edwin spoke on the phone with Grace. Against all odds, the feral, socially awkward shifter was the only one out of the three of them who was having any kind of success with their mate.

  “She doesn’t want to see you,” Edwin said bluntly after he hung up the phone. “She isn’t interested anymore.”

  “Thanks for breaking it to me easily,” Connor said.

  Edwin jerked his head back and frowned. “Huh?”

  Connor threw the rock into the river. That was exactly what he was worried about. Why? They had gotten along so well. What happened?

  “Did she say why?” Connor asked.

  Edwin shook his head. “Grace doesn’t know. Becca won’t tell them. She has moved back in with her ex.”

  Connor’s world started spinning and slowing down at those words. With her ex? “No,” he muttered over and over again as he struggled to breathe. It can’t be true.

  But it all made sense. Her not showing up. Her blocking his phone number. Maybe she changed her mind. Maybe she was never interested in the first place.

  “Are we eating lunch soon?” Edwin asked.

  Connor looked up at him, his arms hanging slack by his sides. “Ask Sidney,” he mumbled.

&nbs
p; Edwin ran off, leaving him alone. And alone was what he needed right now.

  It was too hard to think. It was too painful to be human.

  Connor slipped off his shirt and shorts and drew his bear to the surface. The pain of the phase felt good. It felt right. He’d take any physical pain over the emotional pain that he was feeling right now.

  His bones snapped and his tendons stretched as his bear surged forward, rescuing him from this aching sadness. Connor sunk down inside his animal, his thoughts muted and dulled as his bear took over, bearing the brunt of the pain.

  This is what it felt like to be spurned by your mate. This is what he would have to live with for the rest of his miserable life.

  six

  Rebecca laid on the couch and flipped aimlessly through the TV channels. She clicked through them faster than she could see what was playing. She stared at the screen with glossy eyes, stopping when something caught her eye. She turned back to the channel. A muscular man with brown hair and an easy smile. It reminded her of Connor.

  She smiled for a second and then all of the sadness and hurt came rushing back to her. She shut off the TV and then rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling.

  Lucky jumped onto the couch and climbed onto her stomach, looking for some love. Rebecca pet the cat and closed her eyes.

  Mark had been the perfect gentleman to her over the past two days, just like when they first started dating. He was sweet, thoughtful and listened to her attentively when she talked. He was just what she needed right now.

  Maybe he had learned his lesson. Maybe this was a new Mark that would finally make her happy. But how could he ever really make her happy? How could he make her happy when he wasn’t Connor?

  She had decided to give him a second chance. What choice did she have, really?

  Maybe he did have an affair. But so did she. They were even now.

  It wasn’t quite the same since they were broken up when she had her fun but she was willing to put all of that behind her and sink back into her old life. Now all she had to do was figure out how to stop thinking of Connor all of the time.