Bear Home for Christmas: BBW Holiday Paranormal Bear Shifter Romance (Christmas Bear Shifter Romance Book 1) (18 page)
Authors: Ariana Hawkes
Three months later
The town hall looked beautiful. The clan had worked so hard at turning it into the perfect space for both humans and shifters to celebrate, and they’d done an amazing job. There was a huge barbecue, and plenty of outside seating for everyone to hang out and relax. There was a jazz band, of course, and a full bar. The sun was shining, the sky was a perfect blue, and a few of the trees were turning to russet gold, signifying that fall wasn’t far off.
Dina looked around in wonder. As a little girl, she’d thought she’d get married in the town hall, but when she’d grown up, the chances of that happening seemed slimmer and slimmer. And now here she was, being united with the most amazing guy in the world.
She’d made out to her friends that she and Logan had married spontaneously during a weekend away in Vegas. They couldn’t have a legal marriage, because he was a shifter and didn’t have a regular birth certificate. They’d already had a shifter-only ceremony in the forest with the clan. It had been ancient and mysterious, involving complicated rites. Now, they were having a symbolic ceremony with all their friends and family. Dina’s mom had been crying the entire time, and her dad looked like he was going to burst out of pride. Once they’d seen the venue looking so beautiful, Melissa and Kristin had forgiven her for apparently not including them in her wedding. She knew they’d understand once the shifter secret was revealed to them. They were her bridesmaids of course, along with Lauren. They were all wearing mint-green dresses in raw silk, cut in different styles to flatter their figures. Lauren’s dress had been the most challenging to design, as she was almost six months pregnant, and her baby bump was getting big. She was blooming, her skin glowing with health, and she looked deliriously happy.
Dina stood in a spot where no-one could see her, looking at all the happy guests waiting for the ceremony to begin. Logan came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.
“Are you ready, baby?” he asked, gently rubbing her belly. She wasn’t yet beginning to show, but she could feel the new life inside her, alive and kicking, and growing day by day.
“I’m more than ready, Logan,” she said. She lifted her chin, and he leaned over her shoulder and kissed her tenderly. He looked so handsome in his gray suit and button-down white shirt. Dina was wearing a stunning white satin dress, and a headdress with a long train.
As they walked out into the garden together, all eyes turned on them. Dina looked from one friend and family member to another, and her heart almost burst with happiness. They reached the end of a flower-strewn aisle that the clan had created for them, and the girls took their place behind her, lifting up her train.
Tamika was waiting at the other end of the aisle. Dina and Logan were making out to all the human guests that she was an official wedding celebrant, and she looked the part, in a striking white suit. The jazz band began to play the wedding march, and they walked down the aisle slowly, Dina wanting to savor every single second of it. They stopped in front of Tamika, beneath an arch entwined with passionflowers, just like the one at the garden party.
Shyly, they spoke their vows to each other, a simpler version of the ones they’d spoken at the shifter ceremony, where they’d promised to be each other’s life-long mate. When they’d each said “
I do”
– the two little words that completed their union – Logan lifted Dina’s veil and kissed her. Their friends and family broke out into clapping and cheering.
“Congratulations, darling!” Tamika’s husky English voice boomed, and Dina hugged her. She knew she’d be grateful to her forever for connecting her with Logan. Then she turned to her bridesmaids and hugged them too. She looked from Melissa to Kristin with excitement. Once the shifter ceremony was complete, she was allowed to share the secret with either one of them. She’d been too busy preparing for the human ceremony to have time to do this yet, but once she and Logan returned from their honeymoon in Mexico, it would be top of her list. The only problem was figuring out which one to tell.
THE END
Although Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love Dating App Romances can be read in any order, turn the page for Kristin and Roman’s story, the second book in the series.
Want to Swipe Left for Love again?
Read Kristin and Roman’s story, the next book in the series,
here
!
Want to Swipe Left for Love yet again?
Read Adaira and Leigh’s story – the latest book (a complete, full-length novel) in the series
here
!
Sign up to her
mailing list
to be notified when her next book is coming out!
She also loves to connect with her readers, and you can reach her here on
Facebook
,
Twitter
and
www.arianahawkes.com
.
Turn the page for more books by Ariana Hawkes, including the other parts of the Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love Dating App Romances.
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Kristin
The second book in the Hope Valley Dating app series
To the outside world, Kristin Pasternak is a feisty, statuesque, auburn-haired journalist. Only those close to her know that she suffers from PCOS, a condition that has left her unhappy with her body, and scared that she won’t be able to have children.
When best friends Dina and Lauren introduce her to Shiftr, the secret dating app for curvy girls and shape shifting men, she thinks that none of the guys will want her - especially smoking-hot tiger shifter, Roman, whose profile says that he definitely wants cubs.
But, according to the app, Kristin and Roman are a 100% match, and when Roman scents Kristin for the first time, he seems to know her body better than she knows it herself.
Will the sexy tiger be able to convince Kristin to let go of her insecurities and abandon herself to the crazy attraction that sizzles between them?
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Melissa
The third book in the Hope Valley Dating app series
Melissa Ericson has a panic attack as her best friend Lauren is giving birth, but sexy shifter doctor, Harley, is on hand to calm her down. When she later finds out that he’s not only on Shiftr - the secret dating app for curvy girls and gorgeous shape-shifting men - but is also a great match for her, she’s ecstatic.
But there’s something about Doctor Harley that keeps tugging at Melissa’s mind, and suddenly she’s drawn back into a place she never wanted to think about again.
The past is so confusing and painful for her, but will the smoking-hot werewolf prove to be her destroyer or her savior?
Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love – Andrea
The fourth book in the Hope Valley Dating app series
Ruthlessly ambitious and fixated on a big-city career, Andrea Bianco returns to Hope Valley after nine years of living in New York. She claims she’s on a break from her high-powered job, but old friends Melissa and Kristin just know she’s hiding a big secret from them…
Meanwhile, sexy, sophisticated lion shifter Magnus Adams has made enough money to never have to work again. The only thing missing from his luxurious life is his mate. Luckily, someone’s told him all about Shiftr – the secret dating app for curvy girls and shifter men – and he comes to Hope Valley hoping to find his match.
It’s no surprise that Shiftr identifies the two extroverts as being purrfect for each other, but neither of them have dealt with their baggage, and Magnus’s reckless urges soon offend Andrea’s insecure nature, and the wrong type of sparks start to fly.
Magnus has a cunning plan for making it up to the curvy beauty. But will she be able to forgive him? And if they ever meet again, will Andrea’s secret make her more irresistible to him, or will it be the end of them?
