Brave Bear

by K L King

  Deacon kissed the side of her head. “Yes, we do. And a honeymoon.”

  She squealed. “That you still won’t tell me about.”

  Deacon laughed. “You made me promise.”

  She sighed deeply, snuggling into his chest. “Yes, yes, I did, didn’t I?”

  With her arms wrapped around her mate, she turned her head to survey the others in the room—her new family. Strong Ted and steady Annie. Wounded but hopeful May. Powerful but strained Tessa. Stoic, stern Heath. Devoted, dauntless Deacon. A wedding would provide a little light in the otherwise grim future that faced them all. They would work together and survive. There was no other choice.

  Epilogue

  The wedding was wrapping up. It was just about time for Iris and Deacon to have their last dance of the night and then take off for their honeymoon to a still unknown location. Well, unknown to everyone but Deacon and Heath. May was still pissed she hadn’t been able to get the location out of either of them.

  The ceremony and reception had been a great success. Deacon and Iris couldn’t take their eyes off each other the whole night. The guests seem to have had a wonderful time. The food was delicious. Iris’s cake was especially a standout. The four-tiered blush-colored fondant-covered creation was decorated with wildflowers from Annie and Ted’s backyard. Each layer of the cake was different and scrumptious. Iris and Deacon had chosen two flavors each, every tier consisting of two layers and a filling. Lemon cake filled with vanilla mousse, coconut cake filled with key lime, graham spice cake filled with marshmallow, and a tiny pink champagne flavored tier at the top filled with rum infused custard. As soon as they got back from their honeymoon, Iris was going to be extremely busy with requests for custom cakes if what May had been hearing from the guests was to be believed.

  “This was a really nice wedding. Were you able to have fun, or were you too busy?” a deep voice rumbled from behind May.

  She turned and looked up, and then up some more, and saw the very large figure of Beau Shanley standing there in a collared shirt, tie, dress pants, and shoes. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in an O. She had never seen him wearing anything but T-shirts or flannel, jeans and work boots. “Whoa. You look nice,” she said in a stunned voice.

  His cheeks above his barely tamed dark beard turned red. He let out a loud laugh. “I do have some nice clothes. I just never really have anywhere nice to go. I think this is the first non-family wedding I’ve been invited to. It was nice of Deacon and Iris to invite me. And you look magnificent.” He smiled, rendering him positively stunning, at least to May. She knew that most people in town thought he looked like a grizzly bear even in his human form. He was enormous, muscular with a huge frame, taller than Deacon’s 6 feet 5 inches, and that made most people steer clear of him.

  May stared at him with a dumb smile on her face. Slowly she realized he was waiting for her to answer a question. She shook her head. “I’m sorry. What did you say?” she asked, confused.

  He smiled again. “I asked if you were able to have any fun with all the work you did helping plan this party? You seemed very busy all night. I didn’t see you sit down for more than five minutes the whole time.”

  “Oh, yes, I did have some fun. I wasn’t able to dance, though.” She frowned.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “No one asked me, and now it’s the last dance. It’s too late.”

  “You like to dance?”

  “Not really, but I like weddings. I always like to dance at weddings. You know, get the full wedding experience. Everyone—well, mostly everyone—is in a good mood at weddings. The food, the cake, the music and dancing, I love it all. The last time I danced at a wedding, I must have been nine or ten. Since then, no one has asked me. I think all the men are afraid of my brothers and dad.” She scowled. “Pussies.”

  Beau let out a belly laugh. “Oh, my god. You just called all the males in your pack ‘pussies.’”

  “No,” she said in an even tone. “I just called all the men in this town ‘pussies.’” She stared up at him as if challenging him to disagree.

  But Beau just continued to grin at her. “Well, now. I would have asked you to dance, but you appeared to be busily shuffling the bride and groom between all the guests. I didn’t want to bother you. You seemed too busy.”

  “It’s OK. At least you talked to me and stayed with me in the hospital, too, so I guess I can’t call you a pussy.” She smiled and patted one of his thick arms like she was petting a puppy.

  The music came to an end, and the bride and the groom started to make their way to the front of the function room of the yacht club. “Ah! I need to get in front,” May shrieked, grabbing Beau’s arm. “Help me get through this crowd.”

  Beau laughed and led her carefully through the group of very happy wedding guests. “Uh May, why do you need to get to the front?”

  “Because Iris is going to throw her bouquet, and I have to catch it.”

  He laughed again. “I have no idea why, but if you want the bouquet, you’re going to get the damn bouquet.”

  Right at the entrance, Deacon and Iris thanked their guests and looked as if they were heading out the door, holding hands, before Iris stopped and remembered the bouquet of yellow roses in her hands. She turned to face the door and threw the flowers up over her left shoulder high in the air.

  Shit, May thought, it was going to fly right over my head. Before she realized what was happening, Beau had lifted May by her waist and launched her in the air over his head. She reached up in the air as if she was catching a football and caught it with both hands and then landed back in Beau’s arms like a baby.

  “Yes!” she shouted in glee, clutching the bouquet to her chest. She reached up and threw her arms around Beau’s neck in a hug. “Thanks, Bobo. Nice toss. Great work.”

  He just froze. May had her arms wrapped around him. This was the best and the worst night of his life. The massive gray grizzly bear that he worked so hard to keep relaxed and serene so he would not rip Grey Lake apart would not be able to handle a firecracker like May. As he stood there like a statue, he could feel someone watching him. He forced his eyes away from May’s beautiful face and looked up to see her big brother Heath giving him a grim death-like stare. Great, he thought, way to piss off the chief of police. He went to slowly lower May to the ground and found his arms wouldn’t move.

  The grizzly bear inside him let out a fierce roar that only he could hear and then became very quiet. Beau’s chest tightened when he heard the bear’s voice in his head utter one word, “Mine.”

  About the Author

  K.L. King is a new author in the world of fiction. A lifetime voracious reader of mystery, paranormal, historical, fantasy and contemporary romances, this is her first published novel. When she’s not reading, writing or working her daytime job, she lives with her husband, son and two gigantic fur babies in the wilds of New England.

  She can be found at instagram.com/klkingauthor.