Simply Bears: A Ten Book Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance Collection

by Simply Shifters

  The day traversed rather quickly. Heather and I spent most of the day with her piggy until her mother relieved us to go enjoy ourselves. It was probably the last hour before the fair was closed. Darkness settled over everything and the lights twinkled brightly within the large fairground.

  All she could talk about was how excited she was for Wilbur. He had been given second prize, which was honorary for pigs of his breed. It had been all she talked about for months now.

  “Let’s go on that,” she pointed to the Zipper. It was definitely a wild ride as I looked skeptically upwards. The cages were loose and rickety, people were screaming, and it looked beat up.

  “I don’t know if I should…” I hesitated, imagining how my stomach would feel after. Last year I puked all over and demanded to go home. However, there had been no way to get home since we didn’t have an extra car. Heather’s family had to stay after fair hours to pack everything up to take home.

  “Don’t be silly. You’ll be fine,” she jumped up and down, grabbed my hand, and physically hauled me to the entrance of the ride.

  Before I could react I found myself shut up in the cage praying out loud for my life to be spared. There was no way I could’ve described how terrified I was as we were locked in. The door locked and we waited.

  “I hate you,” I hissed to Heather with closed eyes. Sweat beaded my forehead and I gasped for air as claustrophobia stuck to my skin like tar, pulling me deep down into the depths of despair.

  When the ride was over I felt sick. I predicted this before getting on the ride, but Heather seemed to think it was the greatest thrill in the world.

  “You don’t look so good,” she voiced after glancing at my face.

  “No kidding,” I snapped while immediately burping. My stomach churned in a rather unpleasant manner. “I need to go home,” I moaned, leaning for a nearby trashcan as people sidestepped me to avoid collision. My head spun and I felt like puking my brains out.

  She nodded, not surprised by this outcome one bit. It was merely Deja vu from last year. “Wait at the truck,” she said. “I’ll get the keys and take you home.”

  I did as she requested and made my way to the parking lot. There were many cars but it wasn’t too hard to pick up the old white rusty truck from amidst the shiny new ones.

  I leaned my head against the window and breathed, hoping that I could settle the sour feeling in my belly. Not quite sure how long I had been like that, I suddenly heard footsteps.

  “Took you damn long enough,” I teased.

  “I’m sure it did,” a male voice reverberated through the darkness.

  My skin crawled on alert and I jumped around to see a pair of black eyes studying me.

  “You’re not Heather,” I said out of confusion.

  He nodded and then smirked. “Thanks for noticing.”

  His eyes pierced through me until I began to feel frail and insignificant. My heart stopped in my throat as I realized exactly what was going on.

  “You’re taking me home,” I questioned observantly, feeling stupid about stating the obvious.

  “If I may,” he presumed, waiting for me to step aside as he unlocked the truck door. He had a shirt on now. His beard betrayed his identity, but his voice was surprisingly smooth. He smelled alarmingly good for someone that had been sweating at the fair all day. I couldn’t help but notice the size of his arms or the thickness of his neck as he pulled open the door for me.

  “Um…sure,” I stumbled over myself, my face growing hot. “Thank you,” I managed to say before stepping into the truck.

  He didn’t reply but closed the door, made his way to the driver’s seat, and then hopped in. Suddenly the vehicle felt small. How had we fit three people in here so easily? I was inches from him but I felt so close, my heart beating fast for no known reason. I didn’t know if it was because some strange attraction had settled over me, or if I was hot from the sickness still grumbling in my stomach. Either way I didn’t care. The feeling was new and sensational; my body wrapped in this aura of intrigue.

  CHAPTER TWO

  We headed down the familiar long bumpy road. On some occasions it was all dirt, the truck squealing in protest from the rough terrain while the scent of pine whiplashed across my face. The windows were open now and the cool night air seemed to help settle my stomach. That was when I decided to approach any form of conversation.

  Clearing my throat I tilted my head back against the seat. “So, Heather told me you’re helping out her father for the summer.” It seemed a logical way to stimulate some sort of response.

  “She’s right,” his short reply followed.

  I nodded while wracking my brain for something else to say. He didn’t seem one for talking.

  He slammed on the brakes as something came within view. My heart almost leapt from my throat at the sudden stop. His arm immediately whipped forward, thrusting itself against my chest to hold me back in my seat, and pinned me with insurmountable strength.

  When the car skidded to a stop I gasped, looking at him as his arm lingered for a few precious moments. He looked at me concernedly. “You okay?” he asked, removing his arm from my breasts which now ached from the force. “I didn’t mean to…” he paused mid-sentence as the obvious point of his apology registered on my face.

  I fixed my blouse as one of the buttons managed to fall loose, revealing my perfectly plump C cup bosoms. His eyes wandered there for a second before realizing the awkwardness. He turned his head to look out the window.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I managed to say before he slammed open the door and walked outside.

  The darkness surrounded me with its nightly charm. I felt strangely alone even though he was just outside. Strange sounds pierced the air causing me to jump. Howls echoed in the trees not too far off, causing goose bumps to reconfigure the surface of my skin. “Please come back…” I muttered desperately as he bent down to look at the ground. For a moment he disappeared and I locked the doors while rolling the windows up simultaneously.

  Yes, I was in a state of panic. I didn’t like driving out in the middle of the woods to begin with, but stopping in the middle of God forsaken nowhere to identify something in the middle of the road was beyond crazy.

  Just as I was about to yell for him to come back inside, he popped his head up. He was lifting something, stepped back and dragged whatever it was to the side of the road, and then walked to the door. He tugged on it just before I released the locks. I pressed the button once more and stared at him apologetically. “Sorry,” I squeaked.

  “It’s all good,” he muttered before shifting back into drive.

  “What was it,” I asked out of raw curiosity.

  “Nothing,” he murmured while turning the radio on.

  My stomach churned just as he answered and I held up my hand. “I think I’m going to barf,” I groaned, half embarrassed and half not caring whether he saw.

  Again he stopped the truck and pulled to the side of the road. “Give me your arm,” he demanded, holding out a large strong hand.

  I looked at him quizzically. “What for?”

  “Trust me,” he said, his eyes softening.

  Complying with his request I gingerly placed my wrist in his hand. He flipped it upward and slid his fingers to the underside of my wrist. His touch was strong, warm, and gentle. I couldn’t believe I was letting him, but for some reason I couldn’t say no. He made me feel so trusting, which was rather odd for me considering how I had been raised.

  He placed his thumb onto my skin and pressed down on it…hard. At first I fought myself against protesting to his touch, but the longer my tiny wrist rested in his hand, the more comfortable I became. I liked the way it felt. I had never been treated like this by a man before and it rather intrigued me. The only male close to my age I was used to was Jared and he didn’t count. I just hoped he didn’t feel my pulse increase as his fingers lay so close to my artery.

  A few seconds longer he released me. “Feel better?” His voic
e sounded like honey to my ears.

  It took me a second to register the question. Did I feel better? I waited and then realized that my stomach had settled. Wide-eyed I stared at him. “What did you do?!”

  He laughed and then replied. “See if I told you then that’d be no fun,” he mused, smiling fully for the first time.

  I smiled back and dismissed the act altogether. The entire rest of the drive home his touch lingered.

  As we rolled up to my driveway I turned to him. “Could you drop me off here?” I requested. “I don’t want to wake everyone.” That in itself was no complete lie. I just trembled inside at the thought of father seeing me in the car with a strange handsome young man. The fit he would throw if that happened.

  The car came to a stop upon my request. He turned off the engine. “Perhaps I’ll see you again Miss…” He stopped short.

  We hadn’t exchanged names, which should’ve been Heather’s job, but as usual she wasn’t quite good at introductions.

  “Jewel,” I blushed, looking him in the eyes. Again I felt their depth wash over me, almost blacker than the night.

  “Liam,” he said.

  My heart stopped as I recalled the most recent dream I had been having. It couldn’t be…

  “Thanks for the ride Liam,” I replied with a smile, decidedly shaking off the memory as coincidence.

  “You can make it up to me later,” he winked before driving off.

  I stepped out of the truck and turned to wave. “Bye,” I fluttered shyly. My heart beat irately in my chest as I attempted to gracefully depart without humiliating myself.

  He drove off when I reached the porch of my home. I could hear the engine humming and disappear but I didn’t look back.

  A light flickered on the patio to reveal my brother sitting on the rocking chair glaring at me.

  “Jared,” I yipped surprisingly. “What are you doing up?” I froze realizing that he had seen me get out of Liam’s car. I should’ve had him drop me off down the road instead.

  “Thought you were out with Heather,” He said disapprovingly. “Since when do you lie to me?”

  My cheeks grew hot. “I-I didn’t lie. I was just…” My voice trailed off as he crossed his arms and stood up. Jared could seem very daunting when he wanted to be and especially when he played the role of my protective older brother. He wasn’t about to let any guy worm his way into my life without approving first.

  “Don’t tell Father,” I begged. It would do no good trying to explain the situation. Jared was a jealous one and it wouldn’t matter how much I babbled on about what happened. He would still be upset and threaten to beat the guy’s face in with a bat if he came around again.

  He took a deep breath and almost growled. “Father has more important stuff to talk to you about. He told me to wait till you got home. He’s waiting for you in the study.”

  That was all. Something must’ve happened while I was gone for Jared to completely keep his cool about what he had just seen. Normally he’d be throwing a hissy fit.

  “A note of advice,” he added as I walked past him to the front door. “I wouldn’t fight him on this.”

  What sort of situation had I gotten myself into now? Father rarely ever asked to speak with me, but when he did it was usually important. So I prepared myself for the worst.

  The house was dark as I gingerly removed my shoes and tiptoed down the wooden hallway towards the study. Father’s “study,” or so he called it, was actually located in the basement. He had turned it into his own man cave so to speak, decorated like a hunting lodge. It was quite magnificent really with a collection of taxidermy lining the walls. Sometimes it gave me the creeps to walk in there alone at night. On those occasions I could feel the dead glazed-over eyes staring at me from the confines of the walls, screaming out from their silent prison.

  The dim light grew in the distance as I approached. I could see it permeating from beneath his door. Before knocking I froze and bit my lip nervously. Heaviness settled on my heart from the dread building inside me. I really didn’t want to have a conversation with him tonight. Something deep inside of me knew that it wouldn’t end well at all.

  After gathering all the courage I could muster I knocked softly.

  “Come in,” came the reply from within.

  I nudged the door open and stepped inside.

  “Ah Jewels, have a seat.” He said upon looking away from the book he held in his hand. He didn’t look upset about anything in particular that I could tell. Sometimes Father liked to keep me in the guessing game until he felt it was right to reveal what was on his mind.

  “You wanted to speak with me?” My voice shook a little.

  He sighed as he usually did when something heavy weighed on his mind. “Yes, please have a seat."

  CHAPTER THREE

  Rain pattered on the windshield of the bumpy pick up. Blindfolded with a satin black sash I sat in the eerie silence waiting. There was nothing left for me to do but drown in my own sea of thoughts from the past night.

  My father’s voice rang clearly in my head as he bid me farewell that one final time.

  “Be wise little bird,” he so often liked to call me. “With this charge you will find your place in this world.” And yet again he was so full of cryptic promises.

  No one dared to refuse his wishes, even up to the point of changing my life forever. There were so many things I still didn’t understand. The secrecy was perhaps the biggest question of all. Why did Father find the need to hide this from me all of these years? The only reason I knew about the possibility of it all was because of Mom. She liked to tell me lots of stories when I was little. That was before she died.

  I remembered her smile. She was so pretty, reminding me of a pixie in summertime. She had long beautiful golden locks with bright wide blue eyes. They always looked on me with such kindness until death diminished their glow. She died when I was five or six years old. Father told me she got lost in the woods and was attacked. Naturally I never questioned it until now. He merely avoided talking about her in absolute.

  Then one day I was looking through some old boxes in the attic and I came across a dusty letter written some years ago. It was addressed to me. With the envelope having turned yellow I delicately opened its seal. She must’ve written it when I was born since the date was a few months past that of my birth.

  I read it over and over again, each time with tears renewing the loss I felt in my heart. She explained everything to me, even revealing the reason why Father was so protective of me. At first I thought she was crazy since the topic was so far off the chart of sanity. She spoke of our ancestors, a treaty, and a price to pay for the immunity of our family. But the more I read it and thought about it, the more such ludicrous ideas fit into the jigsaw puzzle of my life. And now, it all made perfect sense.

  “You are to leave us and go somewhere far away,” Father had said, his face blank of emotion. “I’ve already arranged things for your departure before the sun is up.”

  At first I stared at him incredulously. “I don’t want to go anywhere,” I replied confusedly. “Father, you’re scaring me. What the hell’s going on?”

  Anger flushed his face at my outburst. No one in our family talked to him that way, not even when he took away Jared’s truck for “shacking up” with a girl he didn’t approve of. Had Jared done it? Yes, most likely to spite father. He didn’t like her enough but “it had to be done” was all he said as he handed the keys over.

  “You dare to question my authority?”

  “No…no, no, no not at all. I just meant,” I paused for a second with pleading eyes. “I just want to understand Father, please.”

  He glared at me with bellowing eyes. “We have a standing contract with a group of families deep in the mountains just north of us. It was written by our ancestors and signed in blood. You don’t need to know much else now. All will be explained,” he hesitated and scratched his head before resuming. “But I have arranged your marriage to the man o
f your choosing before the next full moon, so choose wisely daughter. And remember, this is for our protection. You will understand once you get there.”

  My heart sank. I could refuse him and walk away, but where would I go? He would find me as he always did whenever I tried to avoid the inevitable.

  Biting my lip I nodded despite the nagging twitch in my stomach. Somehow I imagined my life having some other purpose than settling down to a marriage with a man I didn’t even know. The idea was completely perturbing.

  “Good girl,” my father smiled approvingly at my submissive obedience. How could I refuse when I knew nothing else of the world but what he allowed me to see?

  Later that night I packed my bag and waited to say goodbye to my home forever.

  When my thoughts once again came to, I realized that we were coming to a halt. The truck was whining with age as it squealed through the muddy pathway. The rain kept insistently playing drum beats on the window next to my head that I so conveniently leaned against. It was the only thing solid I could rest against comfortably.

  With the thick air growing chill I hugged my arms. Apparently the heat wasn’t working in the vehicle even when I felt around for the button.

  “Calm child, we’re almost there,” spoke the gruff raspy voice of the driver beside me. He hadn’t said a single word to me the whole way and I was beginning to question whether he was a mute.

  The air was thick with the smell of cigarettes.

  “Do you mind?” he asked before the click of a lighter interrupted the silence.

  I shrugged. “Does it matter?” I asked nonchalantly. At that point I couldn’t give two shits about what was going on in the truck besides me. Of course that changed real quickly when the appalling smell of smoke reeked into my nose and I began to cough.

  Desperately I fumbled for the button to open the window and discovered a crank instead. Turning it desperately I stuck my nose out into the fresh air and gasped. The rain stung, viciously hitting the bridge of my nose with a passion.