by M. L. Briers
BEAR-LY VALENTINE’S
BY
M. L. BRIERS
AND
A. B. LEE
Copyright © 2017, M L Briers
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced whatsoever without written permission of the author, except for brief exerts in reviews. Any unauthorised reproduction or distribution of the material herein is illegal and may result in criminal proceedings. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to the internet or distributed via electronic or print without prior consent.
Note from the Author;
All names, places, and incidents contained herein are purely fictional and have no basis in actual events or linked to actual Humans, Witches, Vampires, Werewolves, Lycans, Werebears or persons living, dead or undead.
Copyright © 2017, Cover Design; KShipley.
Table of Contents
BEAR-LY VALENTINE’S
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER ONE
~
Lorelai was more than grateful to dump her backpack down onto the hardwood floor from her aching shoulders. At the start of the day it hadn’t been that heavy, but someone sure must have been adding rocks into that pack as the day had gone on, because now her shoulders hurt … the skin felt as if it had been sunburned … and her back ached like she’d been digging over the garden.
Her chocolate brown eyes scanned the bar … spit and sawdust, just what she didn’t need … and she made a mental note of the occupants. One really big mountain man down straddling a stool at the far end, and two powerhouses sharing a table off to the right. It was the jeans and shirt brigade … another thing that she didn’t need.
There was a woman off to the back that was chatting with an older man, and then there was the bartender. Not exactly bursting at the seams and being in danger of closure due to overcrowding, and none of them presented themselves as a solution to her problem.
Gut instinct told her to wait it out, see who came through those doors next. Trouble was, she was in the middle of nowhere and she’d hardly seen any traffic pass her on the road into this little nook of civilisation.
“You want something or just lurking?” The bartender’s deep voice brought her attention right around towards him.
“Coffee, black,” she used her hands against the counter to push up onto the barstool. It wasn’t that short at five three, but still it felt like a climb after the day that she’d had.
“There’s a food place about a mile…” The rapidly becoming unhelpful man hooked a thumb over his shoulder, but the man mountain at the end of the bar piped up.
“Ron, just make her a coffee, man.” Jack said, not looking up from the beer that he seemed to be studying.
His gravelly voice drew her attention, like someone had turned up her hearing and she was finally able to hear with startling clarity for the first time in her life. Strange, but she guessed her senses were heightened.
Lorelai shot him a sideways look. He still wasn’t looking at her, but now he was staring straight ahead, and nursing the bottle of beer between his large hands.
“Judy, coffee, black,” Ron shouted across the bar, bringing the clipping of the woman’s high heels towards them from the back.
“You lose the use of your hands, Ron?” The sharp stinging tone of the woman’s voice kind of sounded like nails down a chalkboard after listening to her benefactor’s voice, and she couldn’t help but frown.
“I serve booze. I’m not a friggin’ social worker,” Ron grunted in resentment, before he set off down the bar away from her; disappearing out of sight around the corner.
Lorelai felt like a very unwelcome visitor. Like relatives at Christmas, only Christmas was in the rear view mirror along with the rest of her life.
“Thanks,” Lorelai offered towards the guy that seemed determined to pay her no mind, but she noted the nod of his head, and guessed that was going to be the sum total of their conversation.
She dragged her eyes away from him. Trying to ignore him the way he was her.
At least she was getting coffee, and she needed it. Hot, sweet, black coffee would give her body the kick that it needed to keep going, move on, and get the hell out of the bar and onto the next place in her travels.
Maybe once she got to that food place that the bartender was on about, she might also find somewhere to stay the night. It was getting bone achingly cold outside, and she really didn’t relish going out there again.
“You want me to get you anything else, Jack?” Judy asked as she clipped on by him in her heels, coffee cup in her hand, and Lorelai could swear that she could actually taste it on her tongue already – her need was that desperate.
“Heading out before this place fill up,” Jack muttered.
His words surprised Lorelai. The thought of the bar being full seemed like an alien vision.
“Here you go,” Judy placed the cup down in front of her, added the sugar sachets and a spoon, and eyed Lorelai.
“Thanks,” Lorelai looked away from her stare, eager to get the warming brew into her system as fast as possible, and make herself as unforgettable as possible to the waitress.
“You need anything else?” Judy asked, and strangely enough that felt like the woman was trying to peer into her very soul.
“No thanks,” Lorelai shook her head and was grateful when Judy went to turn away, “Actually,” she halted the woman in her tracks. “I’m looking for a ride up the mountain. I don’t suppose you’re off shift and heading…?”
“Sorry,” Judy shook her head. “My shift just started, maybe you could ask…” she lifted her hand and pointed a finger towards Jack and Lorelai’s eyes noted the way that the man’s shoulders tensed.
“That’s … okay,” Lorelai gave a small shake of her head.
She was grateful to the man for getting her the coffee, but she wasn’t about to jump in a car with someone that looked like a whole lot of trouble. She’d been on her feet all day … a few more hours wouldn’t kill her … hopefully.
~
~
~
Jack sat there hunched over his drink and continued to stare in the mirror at the stranger. From the moment that she’d walked into the bar his whole body had been on edge and he wasn’t sure why.
His bear had already been on alert from having the Crane brothers in the bar with him, two shifter brothers that were as loud as they were trouble. But the longer that the woman stayed around; the more his beast seemed to be interested.
She was human that much was obvious. He’d have sensed her fur if she’d had any, even without the need to scent the air, which he hated to do around humans.
She wasn’t a witch … he didn’t get that whole alarm bells ringing thing from her. She looked more waif and stray than anything.
What kind of a female goes up onto the mountain on foot in winter? He asked himself and felt a slow boil of annoyance within him, w
ithin his beast at the thought of her out there on foot, especially as night was closing in, and the scent in the air said bad weather was coming.
Bear and wolf shifters inhabited the mountain, and maybe she was one of those lust struck females that was looking for a night with a freak, but he didn’t think so. He knew by experience that those woman weren’t slow to check out any man built well enough to fit the bill or checklist that they came looking for.
She’d tried to keep her eyes down since she’d walked in. She was either a mouse or looking to merge with the background noise of the bar. Unlucky for her then that she chose a slow hour to show up.
The bar did a pretty good trade after work. Shifters and locals tended to fill the place from wall to wall, and he’d considered it a good investment when he’d bought the place a few years back … that investment was paying off.
“Well, what do we have here?” Elmore Crane started a slow stalk towards the woman as if she was his prey.
Jack didn’t like that one little bit as his eyes snapped from the female to Elmore, watching in the mirror as the man gained ground on her. His bear perked right up, showed a real interest in what the wolf shifter was doing.
“Is that another one of those ladies looking to party?” Jed, his brother, chuckled, still at his table, bottle of beer in his hand as he watched his brother’s progress.
“Might just be, brother,” Elmore grinned to himself. “Tell me, sweetheart, is it me you’re looking for?” he had a tune in his voice.
Lorelai shot him a quick look out of the corner of her eye. She really wasn’t in the mood.
“No,” she answered simply. She didn’t need any more misunderstandings in her life.
“Nooo?” Elmore teased, but there was a hard edge to his voice that set her nerves on fire.
“The lady said no, Crane.” Jack growled a little, couldn’t help himself, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn her head to look at him, but his gaze was fixed on Elmore’s reflection.
“She’s just playing coy, Jack,” Elmore chuckled.
The man seemed a little worse for the beer, and that made him dangerous. It meant that he wasn’t thinking straight, and a shifter could be mighty volatile at times like those.
Lorelai felt the hairs on her body standing to attention. She felt that tight fist inside of her stomach that always seemed to signal when trouble was around, and she was both resentful for the big guy’s intervention, and grateful for it.
It felt as if he was saying that she couldn’t stand up for herself, couldn’t cope on her own. Maybe she couldn’t, maybe he was right, but she didn’t need to be reminded of the fact by a complete and total stranger.
She wasn’t looking for a knight in shining armour or some kind of champion to look out for her. She just wanted people to leave her the hell alone.
“Walk on, Elmore,” Jack warned.
His bear was getting agitated at the thought of trouble brewing. Jack was too.
He didn’t know if it was the size of the woman – short and compact – or the fact that he just really couldn’t stand the brothers … he’d probably go with the first, but she just brought out his protective side.
Maybe it was because she reminded him of a stray.
He’d already calculated the distance from where he sat to where she was.
He’d already taken into account where Elmore was coming from and how long it would take for the man to reach the female, and even for how long it would take him to intervene.
He’d even considered the other brother in the equation.
He knew that he had a window to make his move … right then he was in a holding pattern.
His bear might have wanted to burst out of him and kick the man and his fur out of the bar. But Jack knew that would only bring more trouble to his door in the long run.
He wasn’t scared of trouble, but he didn’t need it at the bar.
She had her eyes on him again. He could feel them as if she’d touched him with her fingertips.
He liked that feeling. Like it a hell of a lot. Might even prefer the real thing.
She intrigued him. He wanted to know more, and for the life of him he didn’t know why. Not many females caught his attention and held it.
His instincts said that she was different, and from the moment he’d caught sight of her all he could think about was seeing those brown eyes of hers flare when he took her deeply.
“Come on, Jack, I’m just playing,” Elmore gave a damn wolfish grin and Jack could feel the man’s fur just under his skin.
“I’m not. You’ve got a few choices. We could stand toe to toe and see who comes out the victor. I could ban you from the bar, and good luck finding somewhere else to drink, or you can walk on and chalk it up to not interested.” He put a little growl behind his words and noted just how uneasy she looked on her stool.
Elmore stopped in place. His eyes narrowed on the back of Jack’s head and he debated his options.
There wasn’t many shifters around those parts that were stupid enough to go toe to toe with Jack. He’d made his money to buy that bar in bare knuckling fighting – he was good at it – damned good. But to some that was a challenge in itself … and shifters like to rise to a challenge.
“Leave it, man,” Jed growled out. “I don’t feel like hauling my butt miles to get a drink.”
“Yeah, but…” Elmore felt his wolf’s interest in Jack’s offer to see who came out the victor. He’d often wondered about how good the man actually was…
Jack slowly turned on his stool and brought his gaze towards the shifter. He gave a slow shrug off his shoulders, like a challenge without words, and Lorelai held her breath.
CHAPTER TWO
~
“Trouble, Jack?” Kiel’s dulcet tones made her turn her head and that really annoyed the hell out of Jack…
Damn voice of the vampire…
“Don’t think so,” Jack bit back the growl that was brewing in his chest.
He wasn’t sure at that point if that growl was for the vampire of the wolfman, but he knew that she didn’t need to hear it … she was twitchy enough as it was.
“Look,” Lorelai dropped to her feet from the stool and reached down for her backpack.
“Don’t move,” Jack warned her.
Lorelai fisted the strap of the backpack and lifted it from the floor with an internal groan. She’d hoped to have a little longer to allow her body to recover … now she just wanted out of there.
She hadn’t realised that she’d walked into a shifter bar. Just looking at that guy should have tipped her off, but as tired as she was, she guess she’d just overlooked it.
If she’d known, she probably would have kept walking.
“I’m just gonna leave … no me, no problem,” Lorelai said, starting to back away towards the door.
Elmore’s eyes snapped towards her. His beast was thinking territory.
He’d seen her first and he was interested … everyone else there were just interlopers.
“Lady …” Jack bit out, and something in the tone of his voice made her hold in place.
His eyes weren’t on her they were firmly locked onto the wolf shifter and the way that the man’s pulse was hammering inside of him. The way that Elmore’s eyes were locked and loaded on her … he definitely didn’t like that, not one little bit.
“Stick around, we’ll have a party,” Elmore growled.
Jack’s bear scratched under his skin. It wasn’t yet clawing and demanding out, but that could change at any moment, especially if Elmore took one more step towards the female.
“I wouldn’t,” Kiel bit out the warning to the wolf shifter.
“Kiel, I’ve got this,” Jack growled.
“I like to be helpful, take the woman and leave,” Kiel said.
Jack could see the logic in that. Out of sight out of mind and the wolfman might see something shiny to capture his attention. And yet, right then and there, he wanted to rip Elmore’s damn arm off
and beat the man to death with it.
“Don’t try marking this as your territory, Crane,” Jack growled, and there it was … the truth of it, and Elmore knew it.
The bar was Jack’s. Jack’s territory, and the man would defend his territory with his life.
Elmore bit down on his wolf’s need to burst free, challenge the bear, the man… He lifted his hands and forced a smile to his lips for the woman.
“Just playing,” he offered, but his eyes said otherwise. “No offence.”
“None taken,” Lorelai shot back.
She wasn’t yet sighing with relief. She wanted out of there, away from the man, and trouble.
She started backing towards the door when Jack’s eyes snapped towards her… Her heart stopped beating – it was just one beat – maybe two – but it felt like an eternity until it kick-started again with a violent beat against her ribs.
It was the first time that the man had actually bothered to look at her. His eyes were jet black with emotion and they narrowed on her with a hard stare, every bit as much as Elmore’s eyes had.
“What part of don’t move don’t you understand?” He growled.
~
~
~
Lorelai wished that she could move faster. The backpack was weighing her down, but she wasn’t about to leave it behind. Everything that she now owned was inside that pack.
She’d left everything that she couldn’t carry behind her. Maybe she should have left more, but she’d needed clothes and essentials.
She’d second guessed leaving her car a few towns back when it had broken down, now she wished she hadn’t. Moving on foot was a damn sight harder than by car.
Getting out of that bar had been a matter of sheer willpower and instinct. He’d berated her for moving for God’s sake. Who did that?
She’d told him she was leaving and he couldn’t stop her and that had felt good – damn good – like she finally had a voice in her life. Choices.
The sound of something meatier than a car was coming up behind her, and she shot a quick, nervous glance back over her shoulder. She was kind of praying for a little old lady who wouldn’t turn out to be psycho axe murderer, but in the pit of her stomach she knew that life wasn’t that kind, and little old ladies seldom drove pickup trucks.