by Snow, Jenika
The BEARly Controlled Grizzly
Bear Clan, 1
Jenika Snow
THE BEARLY CONTROLLED GRIZZLY (Bear Clan, 1)
By Jenika Snow
www.JenikaSnow.com
[email protected]
Copyright © November 2018 by Jenika Snow
First E-book Publication: November 2018
Cover photo provided by: Adobe Stock
Editor: Kasi Alexander
Proofreader: Read by Rose
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.
Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.
Contents
The BEARly Controlled Grizzly
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Epilogue
Excerpt: Say You Want It
Say You Want It
Chapter 1
More by Jenika
About the Author
That first time I saw her—my mate—I’d been ready to kick some guy’s ass for even looking at her. I made no apologies for my possessive, territorial side. I was a grizzly bear shifter, after all. It was my nature to be over the top.
Bethany hadn’t known what to do at first—being mated to a shifter—one who was grouchy and burly and made no apologies for how rugged he really was.
But she wanted me, my sweet little human mate who could have brought a beast like me to my knees with just a look.
I’d wanted nothing more than to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my lair like a caveman. But I let her take the lead, even if my bear wasn’t happy, even if the alpha in me wanted to have my way with her right then and there.
And I would have my way with her. All the ways that counted, in fact. I’d claim her, mark her, and before it was all said and done, there’d be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Bethany was owned by a grizzly.
Warning: Holy moly, this hero’s crazy for his mate, but who wouldn’t want one OTT alpha bear shifter obsessed with you? This story is sweet and sexy, and oh so very filthy. Of course, you get a happily ever after … and a little somethin’-somethin’ at the end to wrap it up nicely.
Chapter One
Zakari
Even now I was harder than fucking steel thinking about her, the woman who I didn’t even know, had never even seen her face.
But she was out there, I knew it.
I felt it.
My mate, the one woman made solely for me.
I had to be patient, had to keep looking.
And when I did find her, I was going to claim her and claim her really. Fucking. Hard. She’d know exactly what it meant to be mated to a grizzly bear shifter.
I exhaled slowly, my thoughts moving at a fast rate, causing the animal inside of me to grow restless. At thirty years old, I still hadn’t found my mate, but I knew she was out there. I could feel her close, as if her very presence, her life force slowly pulled us together.
I looked over my shoulder at my cabin, the one situated on ten acres of thick Colorado Rocky Mountain forest. Five cabins spread out between those acres, even space for each of us, yet close enough if need be.
My brothers.
All without their mates.
All of them just as anxious and frustrated as I was to find that one woman that would make us whole. But, what we lacked in control we had in patience tenfold.
I stayed a few feet away from my cabin, staring off into the thick woods, my heart racing and my blood pumping through my veins. My grizzly was right below the surface, pacing, anxious to be released, to run free. I had a lot of pent-up energy, my animal side needing this more than I needed to breathe.
I started taking my clothes off and tossing them aside until I stood there naked, my muscles starting to grow bigger, my skin tightening. I felt the shift move through me, this tingling starting at the base of my spine and spreading throughout my whole body, consuming me, claiming me and having me submit to the power.
Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back, feeling the beast break free.
Bones breaking, skin tearing, everything realigning.
And then I fell forward, no longer hands, fingers and skin, but paws, claws and fur.
I slowly shook my big body, my skin and fur moving over my bones and muscles, my bear pleased he was finally out, ready to run, ready to work off the energy building within me. I wasn’t the bear and he wasn’t the human. We were two separate entities, working together, thinking, feeling, being as one the best we could.
I took off in the woods, running, twigs snapping beneath my massive paws, dirt digging under my sharp claws. In this moment both bear and man worked together. But right now, my animal side had the upper hand, called the shots.
He was brutal and savage, primal and animalistic.
I was alpha and possessive, territorial but rational. And together we made one crazy fucking pair, one that would never back down, would always fight for what we believed in, and who would go to the ends of the earth to find our mate.
And we would find her, no doubt about that.
That was my one mission in life, the one reason I was born, and my bear’s only need as well.
Find our mate, our one and only true love, and make her ours.
* * *
I stepped into the bar first, my five younger brothers trailing behind. We’d worked all fucking day, drawing up blueprints for new construction sites outside of town, working tirelessly with the red tape, the contracts, all of the headaches that went along with owning a business that handled architecture, zoning, scouting building sites, permits, and all that shit.
But that was our life, what we were used to.
Our presence around town was known, big and powerful, intimidating. We kept to ourselves, rumors having us being labeled as reclusive. And that was true.
We liked our privacy, liked the open space of the forest that surrounded our homes. We might be solitary in nature, but we were still a family and always would be. And when we found our mates, we would finally be complete.
I headed toward the back to the largest table, the one that was always empty because everyone knew it was ours, big enough to seat all of us, far enough away from everyone else that they felt relatively safe.
Taking my seat, I watched as my brothers took their seats at the table.
Cason, Asher, Damon, Oli, and Maddix, all of us born a year apart, similar in appearance and build, and all of us having one thing in common.
We were alphas of the Bear Clan, and God help anyone who stood in our way when we went after what we wanted.
* * *
Bethany
“Make sure you log everything in, Beth. The last person who had your position couldn’t keep track of half the stuff so I was short or extra every month.”
I looked up from my notepad and nodded at John, the bar owner and my new boss. “Will do.”
After being in the town of Blue Bear Ridge, Colorado for only a couple of weeks, asked to come to this little mountain town because my grandmother needed help after her fall and broken h
ip, I knew I’d be here a while. So I’d left home, driving two hours away from my one-bedroom apartment above the garage my father owned. Because of the fact he’d poured his blood and tears into building up that business, had no one else aside from me, I’d volunteered to take care of my grandmother.
It was the least I could do, even if she was a grouchy old lady who hadn’t said more than a string of words to me at any given moment, who had been absent in my life and was more of a stranger than a grandmother. She’d never been kind to my father, at least not when I was around, so I knew she probably treated him like shit when they were alone.
I’d never asked my father why she was the way she was. But the way he spoke about her, how he became distant when she was brought up, told me she’d always been this way and would be until the day she died.
But she was still his mother and he still loved her. He wanted to make sure she was taken care of, so that’s where I came in, why I’d told him not to worry about anything and that I’d handle it all, make sure she was better before I left and came back home.
And after moving in with her, I saw how distant she’d become, how apathetic and … sad. She’d never been the best person in my life, but I still felt love for her and saw her as my family. If she didn’t want to be in our lives that was fine, but she was stuck with us and I’d make sure she was healed, but then I was out.
But who knew how long it would take her to be back on her feet, if that was even an option.
So I’d immediately started looking for a job because I couldn’t ask my dad to pay me for a job I was no longer doing for him, which happened to be bookkeeping, and I’d been lucky enough to find a job here. Kind of. Cataloging liquor bottles was a little under my scope of knowledge, but hey, for just coming here a couple of weeks ago I was lucky to have found anything.
I could hear the loud music coming from the bar, and knew that for a Thursday at any other larger establishment things might not have been this busy. But for Blue Bear Ridge this was probably the liveliest place to be.
The sound of glass shattering had me straightening and glancing over my shoulder. I could see Rhea, one of the bartenders for the night, bent at the waist cleaning up shards of glass from a bottle she’d broken.
I knew what would happen before she reached out and picked up one of the pieces, slicing her palm clean open, and gasping in pain.
I tossed the notebook aside and rushed over to her, grabbing a rag on my way and helping her wrap up the wound. Looking at the cut briefly before wrapping it up, I knew she was going to need stitches. I glanced up at her and gave her a tight smile.
“You need to go to the hospital and get this looked at.” She shook her head and stood, keeping her arm close to her chest and the rag wrapped tightly around it. “It’s deep, Rhea. You’ll need stitches.”
“No, I’m good.”
I gave her one of those looks that told her without saying a word she was being crazy. “No, seriously. I’ll get John and tell him I’ll take you. Besides, you can’t be giving people drinks with blood dripping down your arm.”
She chuckled softly and nodded.
Just then the back door opened and John walked in, a large box of liquor bottles in his arms. He stopped when he saw us standing by the door, then looked lower to see the shards of glass and the blood on the floor. He set the box aside and rushed over to us in a matter of seconds, rambling about what had happened and looking at Rhea’s hand.
After telling him the story, he ran a hand over the back of his neck and exhaled. “We have to take you to the hospital, Rhea.”
“I can take her,” I said.
He shook his head. “No, I better since this happened at work and I’m her employer.” He smiled at Rhea and chucked her under the chin. “Besides, I feel responsible and want to make sure I hear everything.”
I nodded, understanding.
Rhea looked between both of us, this apologetic expression on her face, as if she’d meant to get cut and was saying sorry.
“What about my tables? Maggie can’t handle that crowd all by herself.”
“I got this,” I said instantly, even though I didn’t know the first thing about being a waitress. They looked at me like I might’ve been crazy and I smiled.
John looked a little apprehensive at first, and I knew it wasn’t because he thought I couldn’t handle it, but more because I would get overwhelmed. I was sure I would, but I could do this. If I could handle my grandmother’s crusty attitude on the daily, I could certainly handle a bunch of rowdy patrons in a bar.
“I got this,” I said again. “Go to the hospital and get your hand checked out.”
John nodded and then was heading out the back door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder, mouthing “thank you” before leaving with Rhea and closing the door behind him.
I cleaned up the shards of glass, then disinfected the blood. Adrenaline pumped through my body after everything was where it should be. Going over to the sink, I washed up and rested my hands against the basin, breathing out. It wasn’t like this was brain surgery. I was just going out there and giving drinks to customers.
Turning and heading out through the door that led to the main bar area, the scent of cologne, sweat, and beer filled my head. I looked to my left and saw the bar, a line of people around the raised, glossy top, drinks in front of them, the noise earsplitting.
Looking straight ahead, I saw every table filled to the max. Rhea hadn’t been the only waitress on duty tonight, but even with Maggie slinging drinks it was too much for her. The bar was filled to capacity, and already I could feel my nerves heighten.
Breathing out slowly, I gathered myself and went to the bar, ready to get this done. John had given me a chance with this job when I didn’t think anyone would. And Rhea had been friendly to me since day one. The least I could do was help out. Besides, it’s not like I couldn’t use the tips.
I went to the bar and started grabbing the drinks, taking note of where they went and making my way around the room. The music was blasting, filling my ears, already causing a headache, but I pushed past it and did my job.
I grabbed six large beers, set them on my tray, and all I could think about was falling on my ass and dropping the drinks everywhere.
I took another deep breath and focused, collecting myself.
Then I made my way toward the back where the drinks were going. I stopped for a moment when I saw the men at the table. They were huge, obviously tall even when sitting, their bodies bigger and more muscular than I’d ever seen before.
They couldn’t be human, not with their size, not with the air that surrounded them and the fact everyone seemed to stay away from their table.
Shifters. But what kind?
Wolves? Lions? Bears? Something more exotic?
I swallowed, my heart racing, my hands starting to shake. I held onto the tray tighter, my gaze landing on each of them.
And then I looked at one of the men in particular, his short dark hair slightly messy, his eyes so blue I could even make that out from where I stood. Something in me tightened, the blood rushed through my veins and I felt this pull in me. It was strong, the strongest thing I’d ever felt. It was this clenching in my belly, this realization that I knew him even though I’d never seen him before.
“Hey, I haven’t seen you here before.”
I turned and stared at the man who had just spoken, the stench of beer slamming into me instantly.
I smiled, the tray feeling heavy as I stood there, as if bricks were on top of it.
The drunk guy eyed me up and down, swayed a little as he held his beer, and grinned wider. “No, I’ve never seen you here before. You’re new.”
He took a step closer. “I can show you around, take you out, buy you some food.”
Buy me some food?
I almost snorted at that line.
“Although,” he said and came closer, “I can think of a much better time than eating a burger.”
“Yeah, thanks, but
I’m pretty busy.” I smiled and turned but felt his hand on my arm. I stopped and looked over at him at the same time I felt this intense sensation move through me, this foreboding that something was about to happen, something that would change everything from this point on.
Chapter Two
Zakari
I smelled her before I saw her, this addicting aroma that was sweet yet spicy, soft and delicate. It had my entire body tightening, had my heart racing wildly. I curled my hands around the edge of the table, my nails starting to turn into claws as my bear rose to the surface.
Ours.
My human mate.
My bear’s mate.
That lone word was a growl inside of me, this feeling of completion, acceptance filling me completely. I slowly lifted my head and saw her, long dark hair in loose waves cascading down her back. She was standing to the side, her profile perfectly displayed. A tiny nose and gorgeous, pouty red lips.
I lowered my gaze to her chest, where large breasts—a perfect handful for me—pressed suggestively against the material of her shirt. I growled low again, this time knowing my brothers could hear it. She held a tray of six beers. Our drinks. She was coming here, to this table, as if fate had perfectly aligned this moment for our paths to cross.
Take her.
Claim her.
Make her know she is ours.
I needed to know everything there was to know about her, what she liked, what her voice sounded like, how she felt beneath me. I needed to know how she looked when she was lying in my bed, her hair spread out across my pillow, her mouth open as she moaned when I pushed my thick cock deep within her pussy.