by V. Vaughn
I gaze up at him. “You must miss her so much.”
“I do. Even though we’d only known each other for a few months, our connection was special.”
Jealousy seeps into my mind, and I blink as I try to keep it from taking over. Is he telling me he’s not ready? What the hell? I try to pull away, but Keith doesn’t let go. “Just like ours. I know you feel this, Tori. It’s because we’re meant to be.”
What? “I don’t understand.”
“I know.” He leans down to kiss me, and my mind races. I want to be with him more than I want to breathe, but how am I supposed to compete with a dead wife? The moment his lips touch mine, I cave in to my desire and kiss him back. I can’t help myself. I reach up and grasp his strong shoulder and lose myself in it. He’s gentle at first, but it becomes something more intense when his tongue begins to dance with mine.
We break apart slowly, and he kisses me lightly a couple of times before he finally stops. Keith’s voice is soft when he says, “There’s so much more I need to tell you. But know this. I love you, Tori. I love you as much as I loved my wife. Maybe even more.”
Emotion surges in my chest, and my throat thickens as tears fill my eyes. I love him, too. I whisper. “I love you.” I’m not sure if I’m asking a question or if saying it out loud helps me believe this is happening. But once the words are out, I’m sure, and I say it again with volume. “I love you.”
Keith captures the tear rolling down my cheek, and the pad of his thumb is warm on my skin. “You’re so young. I’m not sure why we’re supposed to be together, but I can’t deny it any longer.”
“You believe in fate?”
“I do. And soon you’ll understand why.”
I frown at him. “What does that mean?”
Keith asks, “What do you know about bear?”
Chapter 13
Annie
The news about Helga’s bipolar disorder rocked my world. And it gave me immense insight into Tristan and Isabelle. While my mate practices extreme measures of control to ensure he never loses it, Isabelle is searching for love and acceptance to heal her wounds. Her destructive behavior, followed by a forced mating with Luke, is all a reaction to the pain she suffers.
My immediate reaction is to want to fix everything, but I can’t undo the abuse the De Rozier twins suffered. So I do the next best thing. I take measures to protect the next generation. I will not let any child be alone with Helga ever again.
I open the door to greet our prospective nanny. She reaches out her hand and greets me first. “I’m Zoe. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Le Roux.”
Her grip is firm, and if it weren’t for the tiny freckles sprinkled over her nose and the bouncing ponytail, her self-assurance would make me think she’s older than nineteen. “Call me Annie. Come on in, the girls are excited to meet you.”
I consider myself a good judge of character, and the biggest test of it is to watch people with children. I introduce Zoe to the girls and leave them to play. I make myself busy in the kitchen to remove myself so I can listen and observe.
The mixing bowl clatters on the counter, and I open the fridge for butter. My first objective is to make sure our nanny loves the kids, but I had another need on my list. She must also be a fierce warrior, and my ex-boyfriend Ian gave Zoe a glowing recommendation. While I’d like to hope she’ll never have to fight Helga, I needed the peace of mind that she would be able to take action to keep the girls safe.
Sugar and butter scrape against the bowl as I cream them together. I glance up at the sound of giggles. Zoe is playing their favorite make-believe princess game, and she has a wonderful sense of humor as she pretends to be a bumbling prince. I grin, because she’s perfect. Those little girls need to laugh and enjoy life, and I plan to make it happen.
Tristan took his mother out for a run, and they should be back soon. The oven beeps to indicate it’s reached the temperature I set. Zoe’s next test will be what my mate thinks of her, although when I mentioned a nanny, he was visibly relieved. I don’t think he enjoys sharing our time with the children. It hurts my heart that sometimes he can’t find joy in his daughters. Usually it’s after he’s spent time with Helga, but perhaps that is part of the reason we were brought together. I think I’m supposed to teach him about family love.
I’m spooning out cookie dough on a baking sheet when the rhythmic thudding of Tristan and his mother’s heavy polar bear feet galloping towards us carries to me. They’ll shift back to human form and be dressed soon—just in time for the first batch of my cookies to come out of the oven.
I glance over at our kitchen table. Sven, the latest De Rozier to arrive, replaced the top for us, and it appears as if nothing happened. But when I look closely, I see nicks on the table legs that will always remind me of the deep-seated anger in my mate.
When Tristan walks in from the mudroom, I hold a cookie out to him. “Careful, it’s still hot.”
“Annie, love, you make it nice to come home.”
Helga enters and claps her hands like a child. “Cookies!” She grabs one, and I roll my eyes at Tristan.
I call out. “Girls, come have a treat.”
Everyone gathers around the table, and I watch Zoe interact as if she’s part of the family. As she listens intently to a Helga story, Tristan catches my eyes and communicates telepathically with me. “She’ll do.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Once snack time is over, Tristan takes the girls outside to run around while I go over the job specifics with Zoe. Starting tomorrow, she’ll work every day, and we’ll move her in once a room is ready for her. Thankfully Sven is here now, and it shouldn’t be more than a day or two for it to get done.
After Zoe leaves and Helga retires upstairs for quiet time, Tristan comes inside to talk to me. “That swing set you ordered is polar bear sized. The girls might never outgrow it. Wherever did you find it?”
“Really, Tristan. Don’t you think a family with a lumber company might know these things?”
He steps close and embraces me. “You are a treasure, my love. You can take care of children, an unsocialized polar bear, and an ornery husband. Is there anyone you can’t fix?”
“Well, Isabelle is next on my list. She’s going to be a challenge.”
“Yes, I suppose she will be.” He leans down and kisses me. I drink in my mate, and when things heat up, he pulls away. Tristan’s wink tells me what we’ll be doing later tonight.
I ask, “Did you hear Sven already found his true mate?”
“Really? Who?” Tristan twists a strand of my hair around his finger as he remains close enough for me to touch.
“Lucy Robichaux. She’s the daughter of the Robichaux alpha.” I smooth out a wrinkle in his shirt, and his heart pounds under my hand. “He’s a bit of a rough one, though. What’s his story?”
“Not all the bear in my clan were educated in human schools or had the opportunity to assimilate into societies of people. Sven has probably spent more time as a bear than as a human for the last few years.”
“Well then, Lucy’s a fantastic match. She’ll get him up to speed in no time. The Robichaux are quite wealthy.”
Tristan says, “Yes. That will be an interesting match.”
I step away as I get excited about how our clans are intertwining. “Just think. Carly is the next alpha of the Robichaux and the prima of the Le Roux, while I’m the sister of the Le Roux alpha and about to become the prima of the De Roziers, and Lucy is a Robichaux alpha’s daughter with a De Rozier. And we also have Sierra, who’s the mother of the next Veilleux alpha even though she’s a Le Roux.”
“It’s getting confusing, love.”
“And that’s the point. In two generations, we’ll no longer have clear-cut lines between the four clans. We’ll just be the Northeast Kingdom.” I take a deep breath and blow it out before I smile. “There will be peace between our clans. Isn’t that what we should all want?”
Tristan captures my hands and holds them
tight. His eyes don’t quite focus on me, as if his demons won’t let go. “You make me believe it’s possible, love.”
I step up on my toes to kiss him. “Because it is, Tristan. Just you wait and see.”
Tori finds out that Keith is a werebear, and is faced with the decision to remain human, or change her life forever. Next…
Part II
Part 5
Chapter 1
Tori
Finally. Someone’s going to explain the significance of the bear in my dreams. I’m at Keith’s house for dinner on our first date, and boy, what a date it’s been. After months of him refusing to get involved because of our ten-year age difference, he’s changed his tune. We’ve just had our first kiss and said the L word. When this guy makes a decision to do something, he doesn’t mess around.
The steaks are still sizzling when Keith brings them inside from the grill, and the aroma of beef makes my stomach growl loudly enough that he flashes me a toothy smile. I’ve already placed baked potatoes on the plates, and the salad is on the table.
He sets a filet on each of the dishes I hold out and says, “I’m glad you’re hungry. It means you’ll like my cooking even if it’s sub-par.”
“Somehow I don’t buy that you haven’t mastered grilling yet. Don’t guys start practicing that in college?”
“We don’t actually learn anything. It’s just an excuse to drink beer and play with fire.” Chairs scrape on his tile floor as we settle in to eat.
“I knew it.” I slice into my steak as if it’s butter, and juice oozes out when I do. The color is the deep red of medium-rare, and salty flavor coats my tongue when I place the bite in my mouth. After I swallow, I say, “Delicious.” I cut another piece but stop when I notice Keith watching me. I feel as if I’m the odd one, and I ask, “You were going to tell me about bears.”
Keith’s brow furrows for a second before he says, “Tori, your visions are real.”
I have potato in my mouth, and the buttery flavor seems to have been replaced by dirt. Keith’s knife thuds hard on his plate when he cuts his steak.
I swallow the lump of food in my mouth, and it sticks in my throat before it hits my stomach. “Visions? Am I psychic?”
Keith is holding a bite of meat midair, and he glances at it as if wondering how it got there. He snatches it off with his teeth, and I watch his powerful jaw work at chewing before he says, “Kind of. You’re seeing things that are going to happen in our future.”
Heat rises to my cheeks, because he’s basically saying we’re going to have sex. Awesome sex. But I frown when I remember the bear. The animal is never violent in my dreams, but he’s also too close for comfort. “Please tell me all of it doesn’t come true.”
Keith’s eyes widen, and I think he might be having a male pride issue, so I add, “I’m talking about the bear.”
He grins at me. “I knew that.” Oh my god. They never outgrow that insecurity? I roll my eyes at him. His smile disappears, and he says, “The bear is real. But like in the dreams, you have no reason to be afraid of it.”
I think of the beautiful cultivated forest behind his house. “Are you the bear whisperer or something?”
Keith reaches for my hand. His warmth wards off my chill. “I am the bear.”
I snort as I shake my head. “You’re the bear? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I’m a werebear. We’re similar to werewolves in the fact that we shift between the two states.”
“Seriously.”
“Seriously. And you were called here to be my mate.”
“Whoa.” I sit back, pull my hand from his, and cross my arms as I study the man before me who claims to be a werebear. There’s a whole world of believers for werewolves, and I suppose, like aliens, it’s possible. But I’ve never heard about werebears. “How do I know what you’re saying is true? Can you show me?”
“Do you want to see me as a bear?”
I shake my head quickly. “I was hoping for something not so scary.”
Keith places his hands on the table, and silverware rattles against the plates. “How about this?”
I watch as hair begins to poke out, and his fingers shrink back as long claws grow out. My voice is breathy as I say, “Oh, god.” I gaze up at him to notice he’s got fangs coming out of his mouth, and his eyes aren’t quite right. I flinch back, and he returns to human almost as quickly. I say, “That was creepy.”
“Sorry.”
I wince at my careless comment. “No. Not you. It’s just weird to think of you as a bear, that’s all.”
“It’s okay,” he says. “I know this will take some getting used to.”
Yeah, it will. I scan the body of the man in front of me, looking for features that should have tipped me off, but I don’t see any. “So my dreams brought me here to be with you, a werebear. Why?”
“Because my clan needs women to be able to continue. An ancient curse has made all of ours barren. A new spell was cast to call all fertile women with werebear heritage to come to Maine.”
I recall when Carly gave me my tattoo she told me she’d moved here from California, and that she and Sierra had been called too. I thought she was a bit of a fruit loop and didn’t think anything of it. “I have werebear heritage?”
“Yes, one of your parents is a werebear.”
My father. Or as my sisters and I refer to him, the one who shall not be named, since my mother refused to tell us about him. I thought it was because we had a wonderful dad who adopted us when we were very young, and Mom told us we disgraced him by wanting to know about the man who had never been part of our lives. But now I wonder if that was really why.
“Wow. That answers a few questions.” I poke at my salad as I process that I have bear in my genes. “So can I do the werebear thing too?”
“No. Not unless you’re changed.”
I grin at the absurdity and ask, “Let me guess. You have to bite me?”
Keith nods, and I say, “Yeah, well, that’s not going to happen. I cry over splinters, remember?”
“I know. I won’t ask you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
I think of my mother and wonder how she got involved with a werebear. We’re going to have a long conversation soon. But then I look at the gorgeous man across from me, and I get why she might not have cared either. Keith just told me he’s not human, and instead of running, I want to know if he growls when he comes. I shake my head at myself and recall how Carly and Sierra told me once I got the tattoo I wouldn’t be able to resist the call. I reach down to my hip and rub at the rough denim that covers my throbbing mark. They got that right.
Chapter 2
Tori
Not much keeps me from eating, and even though I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that I’m in love with a werebear, I manage to finish dinner. I peppered Keith with questions about the mundane, like “Do your clothes really rip to shreds when you shift?” I was a little disappointed to hear they undress first. How normal. But the burning question in my mind is: What happens to me now? I’m afraid to find out.
My mug of coffee is hot in my hands, and the scent of flavored creamer floats to my nose as I say, “So. Pretty big night for us, huh?” I give myself a mental eye-roll. Before Keith told me he was a bear, I thought tonight was only going to be about our first time having sex. Now it’s about a lot more.
Keith nods at me as he stands up from the dinner table. “Let’s go get more comfortable.”
As he leads the way to the living room, my mind imagines he means “get naked.” His powerful body is big, and I can’t help but picture him as a bear. The bear in my dreams. I sink into the plush cushions of the sectional couch while leaving a bit of distance between us.
I say, “So, earlier you said there are hundreds of you. I know Carly and Sierra are werebears, but is there anyone else I know?”
“You probably know quite a few. Most of us go to Orono instead of far away for college. Delta is a werebear frat.”
&nb
sp; Jax. The guy who I met at a Delta party and tried to like as a boyfriend all these months while I fantasized about Keith instead. I flash back to when he and Keith met the day of my final presentation. No wonder they got all growly. And it makes sense that the biggest guys on campus belong to that fraternity. I also think about the fact that Carly, Sierra, and I are big women. A lot of girls at Orono are tall too. Lucy.
Keith is watching me, and I bet he just saw me figure it out when I ask, “Lucy?”
He nods. Oh my god! Lucy? But why was she so against me getting my tattoo? I’d think you’d want your roommate to be in on your secret. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
Keith says, “Her new boyfriend, too. Only he’s not from our kingdom. He’s actually a polar bear.”
I raise my eyebrows. “A polar bear.” This is getting weirder by the minute, and I ask, “Kingdom?”
“Yes. In Maine we have a kingdom that is made up of three clans. The Le Roux, which is where Carly, Sierra, and I are from. Then there’s the Robichaux, which is Lucy’s clan, and the Veilleux.” A low rumble comes from Keith before he adds, “Jax’s clan.”
I grin at his jealousy as I swallow a mouthful of coffee. “So werebears are all over the world?”
“Pretty much.” He leans toward me, and I do too, as if he’s reeling me in.
“And humans just go about their business with no clue?”
Keith smiles. “Pretty much.”
I imagine what would happen if the werebears were exposed. I don’t think it would go over well. “You’re trusting me with a pretty big secret.”