First Fae-Bear Baby

by Charlie Hart

  First Fae-Bear Baby

  Charlie Hart

  Copyright © 2019 by Charlie Hart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  First Fae-Bear Baby

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue I

  Epilogue II

  The Wife Lottery Blurb

  Want More Diablo Falls?

  Charlie Hart

  First Fae-Bear Baby

  She's bear-ing their baby.

  A Bite Club Short Story

  My mother warned me to never go to Diablo Falls.

  But I never was a rule follower.

  When I see a crazy-pants ad on a DF Forum from a supposed bear pack, looking for a woman to breed, I’m curious.

  And more than a little aroused.

  It’s not long before I find myself on the doorstep of a cabin with three burly men ready to claim me.

  It’s all fun and games until they shift.

  Then sh*t gets real.

  Turns out my mother warned me for a reason.

  I’m more than a rule-breaker - I’m a freaking Fairy Queen.

  Chapter One

  Maisie

  My head is pounding, and I rub my temple as I listen to the lecture my boss at the Canyon City Gazette gives me through the receiver.

  “You write for the travel column,” Andrea says with an exasperated breath. She’s at the end of her rope with me, which wouldn’t feel so bad if she hadn't been my mother’s best friend.

  I hate disappointing her after she gave me a lifeline when I needed one. And honestly, it’s been one hell of a year, the last thing I need now is to lose my job.

  “Maisie, you’re a great writer, but please, just write about something touristy,” she says. “No more articles on food banks and women’s shelters. I need ad revenue.”

  “Fine,” I say, sighing with resignation. I want to write about the things I care about. Helping people. Making the world a better place. “But I don’t want to write about vacations that the people of Canyon City could never afford.”

  “Then don’t,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be a fancy-pants resort. Just something that can generate cash flow for us.” She sighs. “I hate to say it, but it’s the truth. It’s all about the bottom line, Maisie. And articles on helping the homeless won’t pay anyone’s bills.”

  I nod, wishing things had ended up differently for me. I was all set for grad school, planning on becoming a social worker, but then Mom fell sick and plans changed. I spent months at her bedside before she passed away. It hasn’t been a year yet, and the pain of losing her is just as strong as ever.

  Thankfully my mother’s best friend had a spot for an entry-level journalist at the newspaper she owns. But as much as I am trying to grin and bear it, it’s a struggle. I feel like I’m in a holding pattern, waiting for my life to begin.

  If I had some family left, maybe I wouldn’t feel so lost. But Mom never told me anything about my father. All I know is the town where I was born - and she made me promise to never visit.

  “You know, my mom mentioned a small town called Diablo Falls,” I tell Andrea. “Have you ever heard of it?”

  I can hear her frown through the phone. “That city is...creepy.”

  My mom used to say that the place was dangerous. But I’d always wondered if there was another reason she told me never to visit. I’d respected her wishes when she was alive, but now I wonder if maybe there’s a piece of the puzzle of who I really am there.

  “I’ve done some research on the place, it seems cute, quaint. A great place to spend a week in the summer.”

  “If you’re looking for cottage country, why not check out Roselake.”

  “Sure,” I say, even though I can’t help but feel pulled to Diablo Falls. I’ve only ever seen pictures, but the place seems like some hidden gem, with its own waterfalls and natural springs, and a quaint little town lined with Ma and Pa shops.

  A place people could afford to visit, or even just to go hike the mountain trails.

  “How are you doing, sweetie?” Andrea asks, switching to her aunt-voice. She may not be related to me, but she’s the closest thing to family I have left.

  “I’m hanging in.”

  “Call me if you need to talk. And please—”

  “I know, I know...no more bleeding-heart pieces. I got it.” I sigh as I hang up and open my laptop, deleting the article about the downtown animal rescue center that I’d been working on before she called.

  Instead, I type in Roselake. The place is about as middle-class cookie cutter as they come. Boring. Andrea’s right, people would probably eat up an article about summer tourism there.

  But I’ve never been good at following rules.

  I open a new tab and google Diablo Falls. It’s well past midnight when I finally look up from my screen. The place is amazing, with its crazy folklore and rumors of mythological creatures roaming the woods of Blackthorne Mountain.

  I’ve never been fascinated by fantasy, my mom always made sure I was grounded in reality, but the psychology of the stories, the way social norms seem to be tossed aside, is intriguing.

  Especially when I come across a post on one of the Diablo Falls forums.

  Kodiaks Seeking Breeder, or possible mate.

  Respond only in person.

  Nothing else. No phone number. No address. Just a cryptic post about breeding, mates, and bears.

  “What the hell?” I mutter, leaning back on the couch and shaking my head. I can only imagine what that means. My first thought is there must be some kind of cult. Maybe a bear cult. Whatever it is, I’m already hooked.

  And I know I’ve found my next story.

  The sun isn’t even up by the time I’m in my Wrangler and headed east toward Diablo Falls.

  Excitement bubbles inside me, a feeling I haven’t felt in a long time. As the mountain comes into view, the sun rising behind it, the sky filling with oranges, pinks, and purples, it’s like a thousand little bees take flight inside me.

  Buzzing. That’s what it sounds like at first. A hum that reverberates inside me. It gets louder and louder the closer I get, and when I pass the sign that reads Diablo Falls, the noise is so intense I have to pull over.

  It’s like a shrieking now, and there’s a blinding light that I can see even when I close my eyes. I cry out as it reaches a crescendo, billowing around me, and then just as quickly as it started, it stops. It’s like the air around me breaks into a billion little crystals, settling on my skin. For a moment, I swear my skin glows, like it’s illuminated from inside.

  A horn blasts from a rig that passes by. I jump in my seat, and when I blink again, the sound, the light, the glowing, it’s gone.

  “Maybe I should have slept more,” I mutter, restarting my Jeep and pulling back onto the highway.

  When I spot a place called The Lucky Devil Motel, I pull up to it and get a room. The woman behind the counter eyes me suspiciously, and I swear she’s almost hesitant to hand me over a key.

  “How long you staying?” she asks.

  “Not sure. A couple days, maybe more. I’m a journalist for the Canyon City Gazette—”

  “People around here don’t like strangers poking their noses where they don’t belong.”

  “I’m just writing an
article on tourism.” I smile at her, but she doesn’t smile back. “It might help bring some more business.”

  She just holds my gaze, face giving away no emotion and places a key on the counter. “Room fifteen.”

  “Great,” I say, taking the key. I start to turn, then stop and ask over my shoulder. “Do you know where I can find the Kodiaks?”

  The woman’s right eye twitches and she purses her lips before saying, “Take a right on Serpentine Road, head a mile up the mountain.”

  I’m not sure if those are directions to a house, or to my certain death, but I give her a forced smile anyway, and say, “Thanks.”

  After a quick nap, shower, and a bite to eat at Blackthorne Burger’s next door, I get back in my Wrangler and follow the vague directions. As the forest gets denser and the dirt road becomes rougher, I’m glad I charged my cell. But when I check it, there’s no signal.

  “This may not have been one of your better decisions,” I mumble to myself. But I’ve come too far to turn back now.

  Finally, a cabin comes into view. It fits into the landscape so well that I almost miss it. But as I pull to a stop, and take in the large log cabin structure with its floor to ceiling windows and wrap around porch, I’m awed by its beauty, so much so that I don’t pay attention to my surroundings when I get out of the Jeep.

  Because if I had, I would have noticed the enormous bear standing a dozen feet away, staring straight at me.

  Chapter Two

  Keegan

  The woman’s scent fills my nostrils, enticing and delicious, and stirring the primal part of me to growl with need. The need to take. To claim. To mate. The woman is human, but something else, something that I can’t place.

  There are dozens of different creatures that roam these woods. Creatures who have come to Diablo Falls as a sanctuary. And I thought I’d come across most species. But the gorgeous blonde who’s now staring at me in wide-eyed horror is something I’ve never encountered before.

  It’s when I see the terror in her blue eyes that I realize she has no idea what I am. She thinks I’m just a wild bear, not a shifter, which means she’s not from around here.

  So, what the hell is she doing on my mountain?

  I think about shifting and asking her that very question, but I’m pretty sure she’d pass out from fear. So, I do the only sensible thing, I turn around and saunter back into the woods.

  Behind me, I hear her let out a sigh of relief and a small whimper, “Oh my God. What just happened?”

  My bear claws at the ground in frustration as I head deeper into the woods. And I know what it wants - a mate. I’m thirty-three years old, and I should have mated years ago. If I was anywhere else in the fucking world, I probably would have.

  But I’m a Kodiak in Diablo Falls, which means the same mating rules that other bear shifters follow, don’t bind me. Here we have our rules. Rules that bind bears not just to mates, but to other Kodiaks.

  Some call our groups sleuths, others call us packs, but since my bear bonded with Aiden and Maddox when we were orphans running wild on this mountain, we just call each other family. And I love the men like brothers. Even Maddox, who’s one moody ass bastard at times.

  He’s the reason we haven’t mated. The man is picky, or his bear is. Shit, we’ve met women who would have more than satisfied our sexual hunger. But the man always wants more.

  I shift back into my human form and pull on the jeans where I’d stripped out of them, and dress before heading down to the cabin. I expect the woman to be gone, but her Jeep is still parked outside when I come through the trees.

  Inside, I can hear Aiden talking. And then a soft, feminine laugh rings out. A laugh that goes straight to my balls.

  Both Aiden and the woman are sitting on the couch when I walk through the front door, and they both turn to me.

  The woman’s eyes, a pale shade of blue land on me, and I see her pupils widen, hear her soft intake of breath when her gaze skates down my bare chest, then back up to my face. I glance at Aiden, knowing he’s most likely responsible for whatever reason the woman is here for.

  He just gives me one of his easy-going grins and brushes his fingers through his dark blonde hair. But that damn dimple of his, the one that always tells me when he’s up to something flashes.

  Before I have a chance to ask what trouble he’s gotten us into now, Maddox walks in behind me. His dark eyes go even darker when his gaze lands on the woman.

  “Oh good, you’re both here,” Aiden says.

  “Where else would we be?” Maddox growls out, clearly in one of his moods. “This is our home.”

  “You all live here?” The woman’s brows raise.

  Aiden nods, a grin spreading across his face. “Yeah, we’re a family, we’re just missing one important piece.”

  Maddox scoffs and says to Aiden, “You think you might fill us in on what the hell you’re up to?”

  Standing, Aiden grabs a bottle of whiskey and four glasses. “You might want a drink for this.”

  Frowning, I take the glass he offers. I sit down opposite the woman, noticing how comfortable Aiden seems to be with her. He’s known her what, thirty minutes, and already it’s like their old friends. When he hands her whiskey glass though, their fingers brush and it’s like a jolt of electricity pulses through the house. I know my bear brothers felt it too, because Maddox starts pacing the room.

  “Just spill the goddamn beans, Aiden,” Maddox grunts.

  “For roommates, you seem a little tense.” Her brows rise as she watches Maddox pace.

  I snort. “No, we’re tense because it’s mating season.”

  Her eyes widen and she takes a gulp of the whiskey. I can’t help but smile at that. I like a woman who likes it neat.

  “Maisie came here today because she saw an ad, on the DF Forum,” Aiden explains as if this were a totally normal occurrence.

  “The what?” Maddox grunts. “That some online shit?”

  Aiden updates the website for our logging business, beyond that, none of us bothers with technology. Or at least so I thought.

  “What kind of ad?” I ask, fully aware of Maisie’s scent, how it’s growing in intensity the longer she sits here, smelling like honeysuckle and strawberries. And it’s causing my cock to twitch like a motherfucker.

  I know she’s getting worked up too because she has pulled her blonde hair into a messy bun on the top of her head and she’s fanning herself with a sheet of paper.

  She waves the paper in her hand and smiles. Her teeth are white, and her eyes are bright and damn, she is adorable. Wearing a little red sundress that hugs her tits and shows off her curves - during mating season, no less.

  “Kodiaks Seeking Breeder, or possible mate. Respond only in person,” she says. “The lady at The Lucky Devil pointed me up this mountain. Aiden here tells me I’m in the right place.”

  “What the fuck did you do?” Maddox growls, I feel his inner bear fighting to stay put.

  Aiden lifts his hands in defense. “We need a mate. I’m done waiting. It’s time we grow our family, settle down, have cubs of our own.”

  “She’s not from here,” I say, pointing out the fucking obvious. “Why were you on that forum anyway?” I ask her, needing to understand her intentions.

  She licks her lips, sweat pooling between her tits. “I was curious. I heard about this place and wanted an adventure. I saw the ad and thought—”

  “What?” Maddox asks, stalking toward her. “You thought you’d come here and find the Kodiak shifters? Have some fun and leave with a good story to tell?”

  She stands, indignant, eyes flaring. But it’s not with anger, it’s with lust. “You don’t know anything about me, Maddox.”

  “Like hell I don’t. I know exactly what you need.”

  My cock twitches as I watch them facing off. Seconds from kissing, from so much more. My need for Maisie pulses loud in my body, my bear hungry for her strawberry lips.

  I don’t hesitate. It’s mating season a
nd I’ve gone far too long without a pretty pussy sinking down against me.

  Aiden may be a charmer. And Maddox may be an ass.

  But I’m the alpha of this pack, and I’m claiming what is mine.

  What is all of ours.

  Chapter Three

  Maisie

  I don’t know what comes over me. Over all of us. One second, we’re discussing the ad that Aiden apparently took out in secret, and the next I’m ten seconds away from doing the deed with three growly men.

  Bear men, maybe. Who the hell knows at this point? They called it mating season, and it must be, because my pussy is so hot, my body humming to life, my mind focused on one singular thing - getting off. Hard. With all of them.

  Thoughts of my life back in Canyon City seem a million miles away. The moment I stepped into this cabin, it was like a force field surrounded me, making me think things I never considered before.

  Like actually sleeping with these three strangers. They wanted a woman to breed and yes, that might sound crazy under normal circumstances - but this isn't normal.

  This is Diablo Falls where there’s no cell service, where legends grow, where secrets that my mother wanted buried are hidden.

  I’m here for a reason, and I’ve never felt more certain of anything than when Keegan’s lips press against mine.

  Also, I’m so freaking hot. My skin drips with sweat and my pussy hums with need and when Keegan’s firm hands hold me in place, I don’t move. I kiss him back. Our lips part and the inferno of this cabin seems to grow, everything is a blur of warmth when he holds me in his arms.