by Ophelia Bell
The Way to a Bear’s Heart
Aurora Champions Book One
Ophelia Bell
Text copyright ©2018 by Ophelia Bell
Cover Art Designed by Willsin Rowe
Edited bya Wyrmwood Editing and Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used.
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Contents
Become a Beastie
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
Keep in Touch
About the Author
Also by Ophelia Bell
Become a Beastie
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Prologue
Gerri Wilder settled down at her desk and took a sip of tea. She tapped her mouse to switch her net feed to Nova Aurora on one screen while she worked her way through her email on the other. The Arena League season was over, and with its end came the end of an era. The Blackpaw had retired, which meant she expected a call from him any day now.
She listened to the Aurora newsfeed with one ear while she filed messages, always on the lookout for the ones she could act on immediately. News of Blackpaw’s retirement had gradually dwindled now that the season was over, making way for buzz about the annual Hot Wings summer bet.
Shaking her head, she tutted softly. Champions were an odd, superstitious bunch who believed mating in their prime was a recipe for failure. True, the Champions with the most successful careers had been unmated. Blackpaw was one example, as was the Ebon Claw, who was still in his prime and going strong. But their beliefs were nothing more than superstition. Someday they’d figure out that having a strong relationship with a mate only made them more invincible.
She’d be ready for them when they figured it out. In the meantime, she would happily make her wager for the annual contest to see which of the Hot Wings duo bedded the most females during their summer off. Her money was going on Bryer Vargas this year.
As Gerri glanced away from the newsfeed, one email caught her eye. Ah, there was the one she was looking for. “I’m Ready,” was all the subject line said, and the return address was from Nova Aurora. The Blackpaw had emailed her to tell her he’d be on Earth soon and wanted to meet.
“I’m a step ahead of you, Gaius Osborn.”
The next email, from a woman who had been a thorn in Gerri’s side for the past two decades, would hopefully be the answer to Gaius Osborn’s request.
“Oh, dear,” she said when she read the email from Nina Baxter. She immediately opened her desk drawer and took out her communicator.
She placed the cross-galaxy call, and a second later, a vivid hologram appeared of a solemn-looking woman close to Gerri’s age. Deep lines of grief framed her eyes.
“Mrs. Wilder. Thank you so much for calling.”
“Nina, please. We’ve known each other for more than twenty years. You can call me Gerri. I am so sorry to hear the news. How are you and Nessa holding up?”
Nina Baxter’s lip quivered and she wrung her hands. “Oh, as well as can be expected. Gordon passed in his sleep. He is at peace now, but I fear Nessa is taking it much harder than I expected.”
Gerri nodded. “She and her father were always very close.”
She avoided venturing into the topic she knew Nina really wanted to discuss. The woman would have to broach it herself if she wanted Gerri to take action.
Nina was a sweetheart of a bear shifter, but an opportunist to the core. Gerri had always suspected Nina had mated Gordon Baxter for his connections to the upper classes of the shifter community. As a renowned chef, those connections allowed Nina to rub elbows with families such as the Karstens, the rich dragon shifter family her husband had been employed by for much of his career. And more recently, she had begun working her way up the social ranks of the southern Hill Clans, thanks to that recognition.
“Well, Gerri, you know how much I love my daughter. I hate to see her hurting. I think the best way to help is to finally find her a mate. Have you had any luck? The clan leaders’ sons are all coming of age within the next few years.”
“That they are. But it would be unethical of me to orchestrate a date unless they have reached out to me asking for one. Trust that the perfect mate will come along for your daughter when the time is right.”
Nina’s brows knit together in a faux frown that Gerri saw right through. Now came the manipulating pleas. “Oh, but it must be soon. I’m sure you know how important it is that my daughter mate one of her own kind. She spends so much time with those dragon boys. I just can’t countenance the idea of her winding up mated to one of them.”
Gerri gritted her teeth in her effort to maintain patience with the other woman. Her husband had just died, so she should tread carefully. The “dragon boys” in question were none other than the Hot Wings duo: Ignazio Karsten and Bryer Vargas. While the pair were most certainly manwhores of the highest degree, they were both honorable men and famous in their own right. Nessa could do a lot worse than having one for a mate.
But Gerri had observed them together early on when Nessa’s mother had first secured her services as a matchmaker. Nessa had barely been out of diapers at the time, and while Gerri preferred to work directly with the individuals who were seeking their own mates, it wasn’t unusual for upper-class parents to request her services for their children if a valuable inheritance was on the line. They trusted Gerri’s choices implicitly, and she never let them down.
Nina Baxter’s intentions were noble, though perhaps a little selfish. Not to mention Nessa Baxter was one of the most headstrong young women Gerri had ever met, even as a toddler. She was a lovely, talented young woman now, following in her father’s footsteps as a chef, and likely the last thing on her mind would be finding a mate, especially not in the wake of her father’s passing. Not all pairings could happen with a single date. Some required more planning, and much more patience.
“I understand your criteria for a mate for Nessa. It’s in her file. You need to trust the process, Nina. In fact, I have someone in mind for her who I think is ideal. He’s from a noble bear shifter family, and I am meeting with him soon. But even if he is ideal, it may not happen right away.” She spoke as gently, yet firmly as possible. Parents were the hardest to work with sometimes, and she had t
o emphasize that finding the perfect mate for someone often wasn’t instantaneous.
These two in particular would require some finesse, not to mention placating an anxious, grieving mother who really only wanted to see her daughter happily mated. Both Gaius and Nessa were headstrong, stubborn individuals. The age difference would also likely be a roadblock if she were to attempt to set them up on a blind date.
No . . . their relationship would need to build organically, and if Gerri’s instincts were correct, Nessa and Gaius were already on a collision course toward each other. With the death of Gordon Baxter, Ignazio Karsten would need a new chef, and Nessa was ideal to fill her father’s shoes in that role.
Gaius Osborn was one of Ignazio’s oldest friends and had just purchased land near the dragon’s northern estate.
If Gerri’s instincts were right—and they never failed—within the next two years, Nessa and Gaius would be within each other’s sights, and from there, fate would take its course.
Nina’s lips pinched together as though she were about to protest, but she thought better of it. Good old shifter superstition—Gerri’s perfect record spoke for itself. Not even Nina’s social aspirations would make her question Gerri’s methods.
“Thank you, Gerri. Please call me the very second you have a potential mate for Nessa. I hope it’s soon.”
“You have my word, Nina. Be well.”
She ended the call and pulled up her files on the two individuals in question. She’d preemptively created one for Gaius, anticipating his call, and her file for Nessa went back to her mother’s first contact around two decades earlier. The Champion had enjoyed a highly successful career in the arena for two full decades, which made him nearly two decades older than Nessa. Bear shifters on Nova Aurora aged slowly, so he was still in his prime, and probably even better mate material for having waited so long.
Nessa she knew less about, but the girl had certainly shown her colors when she was a child, already bossing around her dragon patron’s son despite their difference in age. That was one reason she knew for certain Nessa and Ignazio were not mate material for each other. She had the culinary sensibilities to satisfy a dragon, but the wrong temperament to tolerate certain other . . . appetites a dragon might have.
Gaius was most definitely the man for her. They just needed to receive a little nudge in the right direction.
Gerri’s meeting with the big Champion the following week only reinforced her conviction that the pair were right for each other. She gave him the same vague directive to “trust the process” and that she would contact him when she found someone. Gaius grumbled a bit, but as an older bear, he would settle into a routine in his retirement. The test would be how he reacted once that routine was disrupted by an enticing, tenacious young woman.
Meanwhile, she fielded monthly calls from Nina Baxter, who was “just checking in” on Gerri’s progress. Nina received the same reminder that it took time, and Gerri made subtle suggestions that Nina give her daughter the freedom to move forward with her career, telling her it was what her late husband would have wanted.
Indeed, it ultimately took nearly two years before the wheels began turning at a quicker pace. It began when Nina called to agonize over her daughter’s decision to move to the Karstens’ northern estate and fill her role as chef there. Ignazio Karsten was maturing, if he was finally choosing a permanent residence. But it also put Nessa Baxter within a few miles of Gaius, who now had a successful career as a builder.
Everything was falling into place. All Gerri needed to do now was watch and wait.
1
Nessa swallowed her tears. The emotions tangled in her belly were half frustration, half anticipated homesickness. She was eager to get on her way, yet sad to go, and her mother’s nervous hovering wasn’t helping things.
“I’ve got to get packed, Mama. Ig’s waiting.” She surveyed her bedroom for any last-minute items she thought she’d need over the next few months.
“I know, honey. But you know it won’t be that long a trip. Gerri Wilder could call any day to tell us she found you a mate. The clan leaders’ sons are all at the age when they should find mates, and no doubt they’ll be going to her. She’s the best matchmaker there is!”
Nessa suppressed a long-suffering sigh and instead just nodded at her mother. “Well, if that happens, I’ll be on the next transport home. I promise.”
The truth was she put little stock in the likelihood of the matchmaker hooking her up with an actual clan leader’s son. That was her mother’s dream, not hers. Not that she wouldn’t entertain the idea if it happened—the trio of ancient bear shifters who led the Hill Clans all had sons worthy of any woman’s attention. But the three elders who made up the council were still hale, robust leaders, and their sons weren’t actually required to mate until they assumed the mantles of leadership.
At this stage, it was all just a little girl’s fantasy to be the mate of one of them. She’d outgrown those dreams in her father’s kitchen, learning to love cooking for their rich dragon patrons. The Karstens felt more like family than any of the southern bear clans did, even though her parents were their employees. She’d grown up with Ignazio, looking up to the young dragon shifter like she would an older brother.
Now that Ignazio was a famous Arena League Champion, he had begun carving his own path. He’d stepped out from his late father’s shadow, but hadn’t forgotten Nessa’s family.
She snapped her luggage closed and turned to give her mother a hug. Her mother’s sweet honeysuckle scent pervaded her senses, and she inhaled despite the surge of sadness that nearly overwhelmed her. She wished her father were here to say farewell to her, and to beam and chuff about how proud he was.
“I only want you to be happy, honey, you know that,” her mother said softly. “I want you to have what your father and I couldn’t give you.”
“I know, Mama,” Nessa said, wiping her eyes. “But this is what I want more than anything. Now that Papa’s gone, it only makes sense for me to work for Ig. And with him moving, it’s my chance to . . .” She shrugged. “Have my own kitchen.”
She was also ready to step out from her father’s shadow, which had lingered long after his death two years earlier. Her dad had been a master chef for more than a century to the Karstens and their entire extended family of dragon shifters. It wasn’t as prestigious a position as working for the leader of the Nova Aurora dragon clans, but it was close.
Her mother patted her cheek and gave her a patient smile. “Soon enough you’ll have your own staff to cook for you. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”
Nessa almost strained herself to avoid rolling her eyes. There was no getting through to her mother that the thing she loved most was cooking. It was the closest thing to making magic that she could think of. But then her mother wasn’t a chef. It was her father’s first love, and he was the one who had instilled that love in Nessa practically since birth.
She hauled her heavy suitcase off the bed and carried it through the door, heading down the stairs with her mother close behind. Ignazio sat at the breakfast table, silently sipping his tea. He looked up when she came in and she gave him a little wave. “Ready when you are.”
“Excellent!” he said, standing and approaching her. “Thank you for agreeing to this, Ness. Your dad’s old kitchen misses you. You’re going to love it at the lake. It’ll be like old times.”
“Until you’re mated, anyway,” her mother interjected. “I will call you as soon as I hear from Mrs. Wilder.”
“Can’t wait, Mom!” Nessa gritted through her teeth. She shared another teary hug with her mom, then extracted herself and shut the front door behind her.
“You’re not going to run off and get mated on me, are you?” Ignazio asked on the way to his transport. The cargo hold at the back was filled with her belongings, mostly kitchen supplies, along with any other things she couldn’t live without. He carefully loaded her suitcase in the last available spot and closed the dome-shaped hatch.
/> “Hell no. Mama means well. I think she’s always idolized the upper class and sees me as her chance to become part of it before she gets too old to enjoy it.”
Ignazio frowned as he started up the transport and they lifted off the ground, hovering in mid-air for a moment while the engines warmed up. “I thought you guys were always happy working for us,” he said. “If you ever need anything . . .”
“Oh! Ig, please. Don’t let my mom’s behavior give you the wrong idea. I’m beyond thrilled that you asked me to be your chef. And by the way, thank you for not letting it slip that you’re renovating the lake house. If Mom knew, she’d have tried to make me wait until it was finished.”
“Well, you can’t very well give your input on the new kitchen if you aren’t there. I’ve hired one of the best builders for this project. He’s ready and waiting to work with you on every detail. And I mean that—whatever you want, you just tell him. You’ve got carte blanche on the kitchen.”
She grinned at him. “I can’t wait!”
2
“Wow, you’re really gutting the place, aren’t you?” Nessa said as Ignazio gave her a tour of his lake house and a rundown of his plans for it.
“You have to admit it’s pretty dated. But the best part about it was always the view and that’s not changing.” They paused in the empty interior, gazing out the floor-to-ceiling windows to the lake beyond.